Louise Mifsud

Oslo Metropolitan University · Department of Primary and Secondary Teacher Education

Computational thinking (CT) is often regarded as providing a ‘soft start’ for later involvement with artificial intelligence and, hence, as a crucial twenty-first century skill. The introduction of CT in primary mathematics curricula puts many demands on teachers, and their understanding of CT in mathematics is key to its successful introduction. I...

Computational thinking (CT) has acquired the status of a necessary 21st-century skill and is currently being introduced in school curricula around the world, despite a lack of consensus about what it entails. The aims of this review are to provide an overview of the existing literature on CT activities in primary mathematics education, and to artic...

In vocational education and training, the acquisition of relevant skills by learners is vital for their employability. It has been argued that institution–workplace collaboration facilitates this acquisition of relevant skills through availing authentic real-life learning situations. This study used the cultural–historical activity theory to identi...

This paper explores the knowledge and understanding of cyberethics held by preservice teachers across three European countries. The study was conducted via an online survey and yielded a total of 1,131 responses from preservice teachers in Spain, Norway, and Malta. The facets of cyberethics included in this study were specifically related to behavi...

This paper explores the development of policies dealing with teachers' digital competence in Norway, Ireland and Spain. Using a documentary research approach, the study analysed relevant policy documents from each country over a thirty-year period to the present day. Analysis of the documents highlights historical differences and similarities in ho...

This study examines student discussion fora in a Master’s programme. Previous student evaluations of the course highlighted the students’ dissatisfaction with the technology chosen for communication and recommended the use of Facebook instead. In this article, we raise the following question: ‘How do various digital discussion fora engage students...

This qualitative study explored the opportunities and challenges of wearable computers for supporting learning activities. Specifically, we address the following: 1) whether, and if so how, wearable technologies can be used to support learning in and across different subjects and 2) concerns that wearables raise regarding cyber ethics. Our findings...

In this article, we analysed the collaborative use of tablets (iPads) in a third-grade primary classroom in Norway where the pupils created fairy tales. The pupils worked in groups of five and shared an iPad in their group. We observed and recorded the story’s development, which lasted a week, using video recordings and field notes. We explored the...

In this paper, we describe our efforts to combine generic (domain general) and domain-specific skills' practice in the same digital learning environment. We have implemented part of the social studies subject curriculum for lower secondary education in Norway (grades 8 to 10) in Minecraft for pre-service teacher education. By leveraging Minecraft's...

This paper presents analysis and findings from a research-driven experimental study that was designed to explore the possibilities and challenges in using wearable computers for supporting learning activities The overall aim of the study was to explore whether the use of data produced by the pupils in physical education lessons could serve to make...

In this paper we present findings from a the collaborative use of tablets (iPads) in a third grade primary classroom in Norway where pupils worked on creating fairy tales Pupils had been using iPads since their first grade The pupils worked in groups of five, sharing an iPad We observed and recorded the whole trajectory of the story development, wh...

We describe our experiences with two networked learning environments: Adobe Connect (AC) and Second Life (SL) for supporting teaching and learning in distance education courses. We collected data in two separate case studies: one in Norway (AC) and the other in the United States (SL), using different but comparable methods of data analysis (qualita...

Teacher education has recently been criticised for not fulfilling its obligation to adequately prepare teachers to utilise digital tools in the classroom. In this paper, we raise the question of why Norwegian teacher education does not prepare student teachers to integrate digital tools into their teaching as required by the Norwegian curriculum. W...

In this paper, we present and discuss preliminary findings from an on-going study on the use of iPads in a primary school in Oslo, Norway. We adopt a domestication perspective in order to analyse the integration of iPads as a pedagogical tool in the classroom. In the paper, we raise the issue of how a new type of mobile technology such as the iPad...

In this paper, we present our findings from an on-going classroom study at an elementary school in Oslo, Norway, where teachers and pupils use iPads for learning purposes. To obtain the present results, we studied pupils' use of iPads over a period of one year. The key question we explore in this paper is whether the iPad's interaction designs affe...

This paper reports on the results of a survey-based study designed to collect data on first-year student teachers’ digital competence. The study was based on students’ self-assessment and identified first-year student teachers’ use and knowledge of certain digital tools and applications. The results indicate that while frequency of use correlates w...

The use of socio-material perspectives as a perspective for understanding new technologies in education has experienced a resurgence. At the same time, mobile learning as a concept is growing fast. This paper takes up the notion of mobile learning and classroom practices from a socio-material perspective, and looks at what socio-materiality has to...

In this paper, different perspectives on the role of the teacher in a classroom equipped with personal digital assistants (PDAs) are presented. We report on four classroom studies conducted in two countries, Norway and the USA. The overall aim is to understand the use of new tools in different contexts. The key question that we explore concerns the...

Mobile technology is ubiquitous and diverse and permeates many aspects of daily life at home, during leisure activities, and in public spaces. The study presented here is of two sixth grade classes in Michigan, USA and two seventh grade classes in Norway. The students and the teachers in these four classrooms were equipped with mobile technologies...

In this paper we describe primary school students' use and personalization of handheld devices (PDAs). The paper reports on a case study in a 6^th and 7^th grade classroom in Norway. The findings revealed that personalization is an important component in many educational activities and that it can lead to more motivated use. Thi...

ICT-implementation in education has mostly been aimed at enhancing learning informal arenas-the classroom. However, accepting that learning does not only forego in the formal learning arenas, it is proposed that mobile technology can be used as a bridge between the formal and informal learning arenas. The question is whether the bridge between scho...

Postman pointed out that the term literacy continues to change as the means of communication change as way back as 1971 (Tyner, 1998). The term 'digital literacy' is relatively new, grounded in what appears to be a widely held perception that society needs a 'new' literacy as a result of new communication technologies and, in the context of educati...

Many children already have access to a number of handheld and mobile devices for private use. However, this mobile trend does not appear to be reflected in the school. There are many barriers and triggers for such use, and in this paper we focus on the teacher's perception of mobile technology and its affordances for pedagogical practices and activ...

This paper investigates the some of the perceptions that students using handhelds in class have. The study is based on obsevational data, series of interviews with students and teachers as well as student work. The preliminary analysis is used to identify some of the characteristics that contribute to evaluating the use of handheld technology in th...