Collective reflective assessment for shared epistemic agency by undergraduates in knowledge building

We examined the facilitation of shared epistemic agency through a knowledge-building (KB) design that included analytics-supported collective reflective assessment (AsCRA). Forty undergraduate students taking a Liberal Studies course at a university in central China used the promising ideas tool and the knowledge building discourse explorer to self-analyze the online discourse they had created in Knowledge Forum® (KF), an online discourse environment; 34 students in a comparison section of the same course used KF but did not use the additional tools. Both classes were taught by the same teacher and studied the same inquiry topics. Multifaceted analysis of students' interaction in and the quality of discourse on KF, an educational online platform, indicated that analytics-supported reflective assessment helped them to develop high-level shared epistemic agency in the KB process. Qualitative analysis showed that AsCRA helped students to focus on high-level goals (idea negotiation, synthesis of ideas and rise above thinking) in KB, and to engage in continuous assessment, reflection, and action planning to regulate and improve their discourse. The findings have important implications for the design of technology-rich environments to support learners, and may help teachers identify the potential uses of such environments to encourage learners to engage in productive collaborative inquiry and develop metacognition and agency.     

Engaging first year students using a Web-supported inquiry-based learning setting

This paper describes a study that explored the utility and efficacy of the application of a Web-based tool to promote learner engagement among first year students in a large class in an undergraduate communications degree. The Web-based tool was developed to support an inquiry-based learning approach that was characterised by strong learning scaffolds, meaningful contexts, feedback and support and administrative efficiencies. The study explored the forms of engagement that the Web-supported inquiry-based learning approach was able to engender among first year undergraduate students and the factors that were found to influence students’ levels of engagement and achievement in the approach.     

Use of Paper-Based Support Tools to Aid the Acquisition of Cognitive Skills During Unsupervised Practice

This paper describes how graduate students used paper-based support tools to help them acquire a complex cognitive skill during unsupervised practice, and explains why the tools were able to support the practice. The paper also explains how to design such tools and describes a comparable computer-based performance support system. Ohlsson's (1996) theory of learning from performance errors states that people learn a skill by detecting and correcting errors while performing the skill. Learners must have sufficient initial competence and an informative task environment in order to detect and correct errors and make sound decisions. The support tools were successful because they supplied learners with initial competence and an informative task environment. Tools that support learner error-trapping are more likely to help learners eventually perform without support than systems that correct errors for the learners.     

走向深度学习:地方本科院校学生学习方式的变革

作为“互联网+”时代全新的教育理念和学习方式变革,深度学习成为地方本科院校学生学习质量的重要表征。深度学习是高阶思维的认知重构过程,是深度参与的交往互动过程,也是积极投入的主体成长过程。地方本科院校学生从浅层学习到深度学习的演进经历了接受学习、参与学习和创造学习三个阶段。从认知内容、学习动机和社会互动三个维度来看,地方本科院校学生深度学习的实现机制和发展价值是:从原理记忆到项目实践的认知内容高阶化,促进学生文化性发展;从被动接受到主动创新的学习动机内化,促进学生自主性发展;从主客体互动到实践共同体的社会交往深化,促进学生社会性发展。基于此,促进地方本科院校学生深度学习的实践策略为:重视价值观引导和生涯规划、重构充满“获得感”的课程体系、创建学习实践共同体、打造智慧学习生态。     

Collaborative Online Teamwork: Exploring Students' Satisfaction and Attitudes with Google Hangouts as a Supplementary Communication Tool

This study examined differences in student satisfaction and perceptions of online teamwork in two cohorts of an undergraduate educational technology course: one delivered fully asynchronously and the other incorporating synchronous Google Hangouts sessions in student online teamwork. Participants included 50 undergraduate students at a large university in the northeastern United States. Results indicated that the cohort that used synchronous Google Hangouts as a tool supplementary to the asynchronous communication components such as discussion boards and e-mails had a higher level of satisfaction with online teamwork when compared with the cohort that used only asynchronous communication tools. In addition, students reported that synchronous communication using Google Hangouts helped them develop a sense of community. Implications of the results are discussed.     

Using representational tools to support historical reasoning in computer-supported collaborative learning

Abstract

In this article the authors focus on how features of a computersupported collaborative learning (CSCL) environment can elicit and support domain-specific reasoning and more specifically historical reasoning. The CSCL environment enables students to collaborate on a historical inquiry task and in writing an argumentative essay. In order to support historical reasoning the authors compared two representational tools: a graphical representation (argumentative diagram) and a linear representation (argument list). As it is assumed that an argumentative diagram can support both cognitive and interaction processes, it was expected that using this tool would result in more qualitative historical reasoning, in the chat as well as in the essay. However, the results of this study did not show a significant difference in the amount of historical reasoning between the two conditions. A possible explanation can be found in the way the students make use of the representational tool while executing the task. The tool does not only function as a cognitive tool that can elicit elaborate activities, but also as a tool through which students communicate.     

基于任务驱动的计算机专业毕业设计的实践

毕业设计是本科毕业生在大学阶段必须要经历的实践环节,学生只有顺利完成毕业论文才能够圆满结束四年的学习。本文分析了目前计算专业毕业设计存在的问题,将任务驱动法应用于计算机专业的毕业设计中,让学生带着任务主动地进行探索式学习,有助于激发学生的兴趣,培养其创新精神和实践能力。     

微信移动学习的支持功能与设计原则分析

微信是一款具有通讯、社交、平台化功能的移动性应用软件。在大学生群体中使用广泛,构建了移动互联网环境下一种新型的学习支持环境。在已有文献梳理的基础上,研究了微信的移动学习支持功能,从语音文本交互、微信群、自动回复响应、订阅推送和内容分享等角度进行了分析;对微信、QQ、微博主要社会媒体的学习支持特征进行了比较,并分析了微信与学习者个人学习环境要素间的协同关系。在移动学习通用设计准则的指导下．从定位、功能、内容、交互、学习方式、网络服务的层面,探讨了微信移动学习的设计原则。最后,从不同情境下讨论了微信移动学习的具体应用案例。通过对微信移动学习支持功能与设计原则的探索．旨在对本领域的研究与实践提供理论上的借鉴和参考。     

Peer tutoring in conceptual design

A peer tutoring scheme has been introduced into the Department of Engineering at the University of Liverpool to help 2nd year undergraduate students tackle conceptual design problems. Conceptual design is an iterative process consisting of a series of generative and evaluative stages, which gradually converge on a preferred conceptual solution. Students are generally less comfortable with the task of generating, evaluating and presenting ideas and this leaves them less able to tackle a conceptual design project without the help and intervention of available teachers or experts. Formally, the students were taught through lectures, coursework and critique sessions. Peer tutors were trained to facilitate group sessions whereby the students were able to discuss ideas, evaluate new concepts, generate solutions and learn to communicate more effectively within a non-threatening environment. The students developed problem-solving skills, became more confident and took more responsibility for their own learning. The peer tutoring process also had a positive effect on the tutors, who felt they had become more responsible and employable, improved their communication and leadership skills and deepened their own understanding of design, as a result of the peer tutoring experience.     

Exploring the Roles of Social Presence and Gender Difference in Online Learning

Online learning has become more popular in higher education with its advantages of flexibility and accessibility. However, there have been challenges to students’ learning experience in online learning. One critical challenge would be providing interactions between students and instructors as good or effective as in the face‐to‐face environment. However, providing face‐to‐face interactions in online learning is not feasible because students and instructors are not physically present together. In this study, we introduce and empirically investigate social presence as student learning experience in online learning in which physical presence does not exist. Drawing upon the social presence and online learning literature, we propose a research model to explore how the interactivity of communication tools can drive social presence and student satisfaction in online learning. Furthermore, this study examines gender difference as a moderator in the model. Data were collected from undergraduate students who were taking online business statistics courses where an interactive communication tool was required to use for class communication and collaboration. The results showed that social presence driven by tool interactivity had a significant impact on student satisfaction in online learning. We also found that gender difference moderated the relationship between tool interactivity and social presence in online learning.     

网络环境下适宜成人英语学习的协作学习方式研究

结合自己多年的教学实践经验,综合分析研究了在网络环境下适宜成人英语学习的协作学习方式。在协作学习过程中,学生相互支持,交流沟通,共同完成学习任务。协作学习不仅提高了学生学习英语的兴趣,同时还培养了他们的自主学习能力和团体合作精神。因此,协作学习可以帮助学生有效形成良好的学习品质,从而大幅提高他们的学习效率。     

＂校园网安全配置＂学习情境教学设计

＂校园网安全配置＂是＂数据通信网络组建与维护＂学习领域的一个学习情境,介绍了该学习情境的详细设计,包括学习情境设计目标、教学条件分析、工作任务描述,以及教学环节详细设计,明确学生该学什么能做什么,以及教师和学生可能要进行的活动等,最终给出学习过程的评价方案。通过这样的情境设计,可以让学生在轻松有序的环境下达到该学习情境的学习目标。     

Research results of two personal learning environments experiments in a higher education institution

This paper focuses on institutionally powered personal learning environments (iPLEs). The concept of the iPLE can be seen as a way universities can incorporate learner-centred approach into the architecture of their technology-enhanced learning environments. The aim of this paper is to pose that there are other ways to learn complementary to virtual learning environments, such as using distributed Web 2.0 tools from personal learning environments (PLEs). With that aim in mind, this paper presents an exploratory study with two different iPLE configurations, analyses how they modify the learning–teaching process, and reports their perceived usefulness from the students' point of view. These two case studies were carried out by a research group of educational technology from a Spanish university in graduate and postgraduate courses. As reported by other case studies, the results revealed that students use the environment basically in the academic context and this usage is conceived as another time and effort requiring task. This fact can be observed in the low level iPLEs customization. The overall conclusions we can extract are, on the one hand, that the new environment to integrate informal and formal learning should be flexible and adaptable to the student's needs and preferences and, on the other hand, that academic tools might someday become personal tools.     

Development of educational software for the teaching of telecommunication engineering by using MATLAB

The characteristics of a set of software tools developed for teaching are exposed in this work. This package is designed for telecommunication engineering students in order to facilitate the study of applied electromagnetism and communication theory concepts: theoretical guided propagation, practical training in radiation and radiocommunication laboratory. The programs are made under a MATLAB environment which provides great capabilities for graphical purposes. The programs are designed as user-friendly and interactive tutorials and they can be used as a powerful tool for improving the teaching process.     

Social anxiety in learning: stages of change in a sample of UK undergraduates

Social anxiety in learning is prevalent amongst traditional-age students and has a marked effect on their engagement with higher education. It receives little attention from academic or support services and there is a presumption that students will manage their anxieties. Yet it is unclear what psychosocial resources they might bring to this task and how these may develop through the undergraduate years. This study sought to identify possible change processes in student social anxiety by analysing qualitative responses obtained from Level 2 undergraduate students (n=39) in relation to their experience of learning situations such as lectures, seminars and group presentations. Thematic analysis suggested a four-stage developmental progression for students in terms of their experience and orientation to coping with social anxiety. Implications for staff development and student support are outlined.     

Neuroanatomy,the Achille’s Heel of Medical Students. A Systematic Analysis of Educational Strategies for the Teaching of Neuroanatomy

Neuroanatomy has been deemed crucial for clinical neurosciences. It has been one of the most challenging parts of the anatomical curriculum and is one of the causes of “neurophobia,” whose main implication is a negative influence on the choice of neurology in the near future. In the last decades, several educational strategies have been identified to improve the skills of students and to promote a deep learning. The aim of this study was to systematically review the literature to identify the most effective method/s to teach human neuroanatomy. The search was restricted to publications written in English language and to articles describing teaching tools in undergraduate medical courses from January 2006 through December 2017. The primary outcome was the observation of improvement of anatomical knowledge in undergraduate medical students. Secondary outcomes were the amelioration of long-term retention knowledge and the grade of satisfaction of students. Among 18 selected studies, 44.4% have used three-dimensional (3D) teaching tools, 16.6% near peer teaching tool, 5.55% flipped classroom tool, 5.55% applied neuroanatomy elective course, 5.55% equivalence-based instruction-rote learning, 5.55% mobile augmented reality, 5.55% inquiry-based clinical case, 5.55% cadaver dissection, and 5.55% Twitter. The high in-between study heterogeneity was the main issue to identify the most helpful teaching tool to improve neuroanatomical knowledge among medical students. Data from this study suggest that a combination of multiple pedagogical resources seems to be the more advantageous for teaching neuroanatomy.     

Wiki Laboratory Notebooks: Supporting Student Learning in Collaborative Inquiry-Based Laboratory Experiments

Recent examples of high-impact teaching practices in the undergraduate chemistry laboratory that include course-based undergraduate research experiences and inquiry-based experiments require new approaches to assessing individual student learning outcomes. Instructors require tools and strategies that can provide them with insight into individual student contributions to collaborative group/teamwork throughout the processes of experimental design, data analysis, display and communication of their outcomes in relation to their research question(s). Traditional assessments in the form of laboratory notebooks or experimental reports provide limited insight into the processes of collaborative inquiry-based activities. A wiki environment offers a collaborative domain that can potentially support collaborative laboratory processes and scientific record keeping. In this study, the effectiveness of the wiki in supporting laboratory learning and assessment has been evaluated through analysis of the content and histories for three consenting, participating groups of students. The conversational framework has been applied to map the relationships between the instructor, tutor, students and laboratory activities. Analytics that have been applied to the wiki platform include: character counts, page views, edits, timelines and the extent and nature of the contribution by each student to the wiki. Student perceptions of both the role and the impact of the wiki on their experiences and processes have also been collected. Evidence has emerged from this study that the wiki environment has enhanced co-construction of understanding of both the experimental process and subsequent communication of outcomes and data. A number of features are identified to support success in the use of the wiki platform for laboratory notebooks.     

An Online Collaboration Environment

Helpmate is an Internet based software application that helps teachers, students, executives, managers and teams achieve their strategic goals. Utilising an easy to learn and use, multi panel, web browser based, user interface, users can communicate in real time via a chat room, engage in a video/audio/whiteboard session, communicate in a multi-lingual fashion through real-time translation, see tutor controlled demonstrations on their local PC, view historical data and interact with other students to form a self organising, self help group. It is the only tool of its kind which has the potential to serve senior executives who need to establish that an organization's critical collaborative goals and initiatives translate into successful, multinational, multilingual team projects which produce superior results in internet time.The purpose of this effort is to conduct research directed toward the development of an electronic environment to support a lecturer who wishes to conduct a series of lectures online to a group of undergraduate computer science students. This paper is concerned with the feedback and lessons learnt from this endeavour.     

Implementing Effective Internships: A Case Study of Work-Integrated Learning in a Chinese Undergraduate University

Chinese local undergraduate universities are in a process of transition into universities of applied sciences. Important aspects of this include strengthening cooperation between universities and industry, cultivating applied talent needed in industry, improving students’ employment rates, and promoting economic development. Internships are an important way to help students gain practical experience and deepen university-industry cooperation. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the challenges of the existing internship process in an undergraduate university in China and give suggestions to improve internship quality. Qualitative data from 35 students and 12 administrators/faculty were collected at a local undergraduate university, H University (HU), in central China, which is currently undergoing the process of becoming a university of applied sciences. The findings of the study show issues with the university’s model, including communication between industry and university, internship evaluation, student guidance, and internship quality. Recommendations based on the literature are provided.