E-books and digital storytelling for Emirati school children: Project-based learning for pre-service teachers

Zeina Hojeij, Rana Tamim, Amir Kaviani and Chrysavgi Papagianni
Zayed University, United Arab Emirates

This paper presents the perceptions of two university professors regarding the use of project based learning (PBL) in teaching a children's literature course. Students enrolled in the class created an original storybook in the form of an e-book as their final project for the course. The data was collected through in-depth interviews with the professors. The interviews with both faculty members led to important findings regarding the benefits of integrating technology and PBL in the course, such as achieving autonomy of learners, collaboration among peers, authenticity of culture integration, and motivation of learners. However, some challenges were observed, mainly the need for more training and time to achieve better results. The paper concludes with some recommendations for future research in areas such as technology use and evaluation of PBL projects.
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Authors: Dr Zeina Hojeij (corresponding author) is an Associate Professor at Zayed University and currently the Associate Dean of the College of Education. She holds an EdD in Educational Leadership and Administration from Saint Louis University. She is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. Her research interests include educational leadership, English language education, mobile learning technology, and teaching and learning. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7417-6610 Web: http://www.zeinahojeij.com Email: zeina.hojeij@zu.ac.ae Dr Rana Tamim is a Professor of Educational Technology at Zayed University and currently serving as Advisor to the Provost. She has extensive experience as an educational leader, researcher, and instructional designer. Besides her expertise in qualitative and quantitative research methods and analyses, she also has extensive experience in systematic reviews and meta-analytic procedures and techniques. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0571-5289 Email: rana.tamim@zu.ac.ae Dr Amir Kaviani has a PhD in language teaching and learning from the University of Auckland, New Zealand. He is an Assistant Professor at the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at Zayed University, Dubai, United Arab Emirates. His research interests include educational psychology and philosophy, teacher education, assessment and testing in higher education. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4384-8365 Email: amir.kaviani@zu.ac.ae Dr Chrysavgi Papagianni holds a PhD in American film and literature from the State University of New York at Buffalo, USA. She has taught film, literature and writing at SUNY Buffalo, at Athens University, Greece, and at Zayed University, UAE. Dr Papagianni is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of English and Writing Studies in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at Zayed University, UAE. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2665-6492 Email: chrysavgi.papagianni@zu.ac.ae Please cite as: Hojeij, Z., Tamim, R., Kaviani, A. & Papagianni, C. (2021). E-books and digital storytelling for Emirati school children: Project-based learning for pre-service teachers. Issues in Educational Research, 31(4), 1067-1087. http://www.iier.org.au/iier31/hojeij3.pdf