It was important for me to find someone who lived within Ontario, ideally close to me (within 100 kilometers) who had contributed to the field of education and technology. I was delighted and honoured to learn about Dr. Ron Owston.
Dr. Ron Owston is University Professor Emeritus and Senior Scholar at York University, as well as former Dean of the Faculty of Education, and founding Director of the Institute for Research in Learning Technologies. Throughout his career he has conducted a tremendous amount of research in teaching and learning with the web, online and blended learning and teacher professional development.
In 1997, he published his first article titled The World Wide Web: A Technology to Enhance Teaching and Learning? The article questioned if the Web could promote learning and suggested that more research must be conducted in order to validate this theory. Throughout his career, he was an advocate and leader for technology and learning in the field. In 2016, he together with Professor Kurt Thumlert and doctoral candidate Taru Malhotra, as well as two external contract researchers, were requested by the Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board (HWDSB) through the Ontario Ministry of Education’s Technology and Learning Fund to lead the study “Transforming Learning Everywhere: A study of the second year of implementation”. The results of the study identified that inquiry-based learning with the support of 1:1 technology tools (i.e. the iPad) could positively impact student learning, increase both teacher and student engagement and increase opportunities for collaboration among teachers and students.
Dr. Ron Owston held a 35-year career with York University. Not only has he spoken at numerous national and international conferences about blended learning, but also, he has authored/co-authored more than 50 commissioned studies, and published over 60 articles in journals such as the Journal of Research and the Journal of Computer Based Instruction to name a few.
I cannot help but consider that regardless of his contributions to research, I continue to think about his impact on education – more specifically how he as a professor, lecturer and keynote speaker inspired educators throughout the world on learning and technology. I would suggest his contributions left an impact on anyone who met him. I know they certainly did for me!
https://twitter.com/ronowston/
http://www.yorku.ca/rowston/TLE2016.pdf
http://www.yorku.ca/rowston/article.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1G_FZU_4bE
References
mullern. (2017, December 14). Research shows inquiry-based learning used with technology enhances education. [Blog Post]. Retrieved from https://research.info.yorku.ca/2017/12/research-shows-inquiry-based-learning-used-with-technology-enhances-education/
rosten, (n.d.), About [Blog Post]. Retrieved from http://ronowston.blog.yorku.ca/
Searchable Directory of Canadian Researchers in Online, Blended and Distance Education, (n.d.) Retrieved from: https://teachonline.ca/tools-trends/searchable-directory-canadian-researchers
Thumlert, K., Owston, R. and Malhotra, T. (2018), “Transforming school culture through inquiry-driven learning and iPads”, Journal of Professional Capital and Community, Vol. 3 No. 2, pp. 79-96. https://doi-org.ezproxy.royalroads.ca/10.1108/JPCC-09-2017-0020
September 15, 2019 at 2:07 pm
Great find, Caroline! I loved the fact that you took time to highlight an individual that was closer to home. I found that his work with the Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board (HWDSB) to lead the study you had mentioned. It’s great to know there are organizations and experts collaborating to further understand and determine better solutions for the use of edtech in school boards.
September 18, 2019 at 6:45 pm
Hi Eunice – thank you for your comments. I am not familiar with edtech in the school boards so all the information is very interesting/intriguing for me. If the students of today are our future leaders and teachers of tomorrow, we need to ensure they are well versed in edtech and the benefits of it.
Caroline
September 15, 2019 at 2:17 pm
Caroline,
Great perspective on someone local to where you are. I went down the rabbit hole and got hooked by the article you linked in your post – the ‘Transforming School Culture Through Inquiry-Driven Learning and iPads”. I was a particularly interested in the challenges they faced. I wish they would have spoken to the infrastructure and other unanticipated findings in more detail-they glazed over this. I am a “devil in the details” guy and I was wondering how the schools were supported, could the students take the iPads home, what apps were allowed, were they iPads operating completely independently or did they allow entry into to the school LMS etc. In my domain that is often the challenge for educators who wish to implement technology. There is so many layers of approval needed that sometimes those with great ideas just get frustrated. Exacerbating this is what is allowed in some Federal Government departments and what is not allowed. Many of the systems believe it or not operate without WiFi,cloud based storage and programs and Bluetooth are forbidden. I also wonder how the IBL programme merged with the traditional prescribed learning outcomes of the Hamilton School Board for those grades. This then led me to think if other pedagogies would consider technology. For example Montessori uses tactile learning (especially in the lower grades). Could this be assisted by iPads?
Also thank-you for the link to the searchable directory.
Arv
September 18, 2019 at 6:37 pm
Hi Arv – thank you for your comments. You definitely went down the rabbit hole. I do not have answers to your questions, but you certainly have me thinking about possibilities. Out of sheer interest only, I’m going to do a little research into iPad use in the lower grades to see what are some of the opportunities for growth and successes to date. Thank you for providing me such a thought provoking comment.
Caroline