Exploring the relationship between clout and cognitive processing in MOOC discussion forums

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between clout and cognitive processing in massive open online course (MOOC) discussion forum posts. Cognitive processing, a category variable generated by the automated text analysis tool, Linguistic Inquiry Word Count (LIWC), is made up of six sub-scores (insight, causation, discrepancy, tentativeness, certainty and differentiation). Clout is a nontransparent summary variable in LIWC that can be used to understand the level of confidence conveyed in the text. Because clout is nontransparent, we do not know the algorithm used to calculate its value. To better understand this variable, this study examined cognitive processing alongside clout. In this study, a series of linear mixed models were fitted to evaluate, after controlling for gender, degree and type of post, if the focal relationship between each sub-score of cognitive processing as the predictor variables and clout as the dependent variable changed across courses with different pacing (self-paced or instructor-paced). Next, the focal relationship between each predictor and clout was examined with or without regard to pacing. Findings showed words classified as showing discrepancy, certainty or differentiation were negatively associated with clout scores.     

Linkages between cognitive and social dialogue patterns during collaborative small-group discussions

BackgroundCollaborative small-group discussions have the potential to promote reading comprehension, critical thinking, and argumentation. However, few studies have gone beyond cognitive processes to understand the social characteristics of dialogue and their potential contributions to students’ cognitive processing in turn-by-turn dialogic exchanges.AimsThis study closely examined dialogues between speakers and addressees regarding their levels of cognitive processing (i.e., cognitive dialogue patterns) and social processes reflecting social cohesion (i.e., social dialogue patterns). The aims were to understand, first, the relations between students' cognitive dialogue patterns and their social dialogue patterns, and second, the relations between students' cognitive dialogue patterns and peers’ social dialogue patterns.SampleThis study included 4070 speaking turns generated by 120 fifth-graders in 60 small-group discussions.MethodsStudents participated in small-group discussions, called Collaborative Social Reasoning. Dialogue between pairs of group members formed social networks, based on which Exponential Random Graph Models (ERGMs) were specified.ResultsFindings showed that speakers' social dialogue patterns were associated with their cognitive dialogue patterns. However, receiving social dialogue patterns from peers did not always predict students’ advanced types of cognitive dialogue patterns.ConclusionsThis study demonstrated that cognitive and social aspects of small-group discussions are intricately linked, and that encouraging social cohesion does not guarantee that students will engage in collaborative and critical discussions.     

Motivation and social cognitive theory

This article discusses motivation from the perspective of Bandura’s social cognitive theory. Motivation refers to processes that instigate and sustain goal-directed activities. Motivational processes are personal/internal influences that lead to outcomes such as choice, effort, persistence, achievement, and environmental regulation. Motivation has been a prominent feature of social cognitive theory from the early modeling research to the current conception involving agency. The conceptual framework of reciprocal interactions is discussed, after which research is summarized on behavioral, environmental, and personal influences on motivation. Key internal motivational processes are goals and self-evaluations of progress, self-efficacy, social comparisons, values, outcome expectations, attributions, and self-regulation. Critical issues confronting the theory include diversity and culture, methodology, and long-term effects of interventions. The article concludes with additional recommendations for future research on contexts, conceptual clarity, and technology.     

The microworld of Phoenix Quest: social and cognitive considerations

The present paper explores social and cognitive considerations in the context of a computer-game microworld or learning culture environment. Forty-one boys and 57 girls, aged 8 to 12 years (Grades 4, 5, and 6) were observed playing a computer game called Phoenix Quest. This computer game, featuring an adolescent female protagonist, is an interactive, mystery-adventure with embedded language and mathematics activities. The issues discussed include (a) the development of a computer game learning culture or microworld, (b) interdependence in the process of learning social skills, (c) computer game-playing strategies, (d) gender differences in computer-game play, and (e) mathematics concepts explored in the Phoenix Quest environment. These findings not only contribute to the understanding of how students create and shape a microworld around a computer game like Phoenix Quest, but also indicate some of the inherent teaching and learning limitations of educational software when the guidance of a teacher is absent.     

How teachers perceive their expertise: The role of dimensional and social comparisons

Teachers' self-concepts have shown correlations with the effectiveness of their teaching, but we know little about the development of their self-concepts. According to the generalized internal/external frames of reference (GI/E) model, social and dimensional achievement comparisons may affect not only students’ but also pre-service teachers’ self-concepts. Thus, we extended and applied this model to examine relations between estimates and self-concepts of 430 pre-service biology teachers’ professional knowledge in three domains: content knowledge (CK), pedagogical content knowledge (PCK), and pedagogical and psychological knowledge (PPK). Structural equation modelling provided strong support for the GI/E model’s capacity to explain teachers’ self-concepts: with positive paths from CK, PCK, and PPK to the corresponding self-concepts, indicating social comparison effects, and negative paths from CK and PPK test scores to the PPK and CK self-concepts, respectively, indicating dimensional comparison effects. In addition, CK was negatively related with the teachers’ PCK self-concept. The results are discussed in terms of their implications for both teacher education and the proposed GI/E model.     

Integrating moral and social development within middle school social studies: a social cognitive domain approach

Eleven teachers and 254 urban middle-school students comprised the sample of this study examining the social and moral development outcomes of the integration of social cognitive domain theory within regular classroom instruction. Participating teachers were trained to construct and implement history lessons that stimulated students’ moral reasoning and conceptions of societal convention. In comparison with baselines and controls, teachers reduced didactic instruction and increased the proportion of class time devoted to small group discussions. Student engagement in transactive discourse significantly increased in participating classes with significantly greater post-test levels of moral reasoning, concepts of social convention, and cross-domain coordination. Student production of operational versus representational transacts through transactive discussion was associated with growth in moral and societal concepts. Teachers continued teaching lessons constructed in the project a year after the research ended.     

The relationships between social participatory roles and cognitive engagement levels in online discussions

Understanding the relationship between social interaction patterns and cognitive engagement levels has critical implications on collaborative learning theory, pedagogy, and technology. This study used a multi-method approach to examine the relationship between students' social participatory roles and cognitive engagement levels within asynchronous online discussions. Results showed that students' social participatory role was a critical indicator of cognitive engagement level. Socially active students made more cognitive contributions to knowledge inquiry and knowledge construction. But there were exceptions: after taking leadership roles (i.e., discussion designers and facilitators), some students moved from peripheral participation to active participation. Second, there was a progressive development process: individual students' deep-level knowledge inquiry could trigger peer interaction, which could further advance group knowledge construction. Third, students had a tendency to keeping social-cognitive engagement patterns throughout discussions. Based on the result, this study proposed implications for collaborative learning theory, pedagogy support, and tool development.     

Empowering teacher voices in an education policy discussion: Paradoxes of representation

This article investigates the problems and paradoxes of attempting to empower teacher voices within the context of an international conference of policy-makers, academic researchers and practitioners. We examine the distribution of talk within a teacher workshop: who spoke, how, and to whom did the group and broader audiences listen? We trace the emergence of ideas in the workshop discussions and their trajectory into the joint teacher-policy-maker panel in the conference and in the post-conference summary report. We identify four factors shaping the realisation of teacher voice – repertoires, social position, topics and gatekeepers – and highlight paradoxes of teacher representation.     

Influence of social cognitive and gender variables on technological academic interest among Spanish high-school students: testing social cognitive career theory

This study tested social cognitive career theory (SCCT) in the technological domain with 2,359 high-school students in Asturias (Spain). Path analyses were run to determine the influence of gender on the SCCT model and to explain the influence of personal (emotional state, gender-role attitudes), contextual (perceived social supports and barriers), and cognitive (self-efficacy beliefs, outcome expectations) variables on technological interest. The results almost entirely confirm the SCCT model for Spanish high-school students in both the boys’ and girls’ samples. Further, the results show that girls and boys do not differ significantly as far as the different variables are concerned.     

Achievement motivation and gifted students: A social cognitive perspective

The purpose of this article is to provide an illustrative review of recent research on achievement motivation and gifted students from a social cognitive perspective. The review discusses several constructs that have been a focus of motivation research: perceived competence and self-efficacy, attributions, goal orientations, and intrinsic motivation. For each construct, motivational research from the general motivation literature and from the field of gifted and talented studies are critiqued and compared. The review suggests that a general social cognitive perspective is a useful theoretical framework for research on motivational processes involved in the intellectual and personal development of gifted and talented students and that a process-oriented model is superior to a static model for research on both giftedness and achievement motivation. Implications of the review for future research on motivation and talent development are discussed.     

社会体制改革总体框架及其路径探析

在分析社会体制改革关联度大、涉及面广、系统性强的基础上,提出了社会体制改革的总体框架,分析了具体的实现路径：保障生存权发展权;促进公平正义;协调利益关系;优化公共社会资源配置;构建公共财政体制;加强法制建设;政府社会公民“三位一体”。     

后现代视角下的二语习得研究——认知派和社会派论战与对话

近年来,二语习得认知派和社会派一直交锋不断。《现代语言》(The Modern Language Journal)分别在1997年和2007年召集双方代表人物撰写文章,阐述各自观点。2014年《二语习得研究》(Studies in Second Language Acquisition)再次发表专题文章,介绍最新研究成果,重新认识两派分歧。为了厘清这场论争本质,本文以三次专刊为线索,将两派互动大致划分为三个时期(论战、关注和对话时期),重点讨论后现代思想起源、核心思想以及对二语习得研究对象、研究主客体关系、研究方法的影响。     

Scaffolding cognitive and metacognitive processes in low verbal ability learners: Use of diagrams in computer-based training environments

This study investigated how instructionalstrategies can support learners' knowledgeacquisition and metacomprehension of complexsystems in a computer-based trainingenvironment, and how individual characteristicsinteract with these manipulations. Incorporating diagrams into the trainingfacilitated performance on measures ofintegrative knowledge (i.e., the integrationand application of task-relevant knowledge),but had no significant effect on measures ofdeclarative knowledge (i.e., mastery of basicfactual knowledge). Diagrams additionallyfacilitated the development of accurate mentalmodels (as measured via a card sorting task)and significantly improved the instructionalefficiency of the training (i.e., higher levelof performance was achieved with less mentaleffort). Finally, diagrams effectivelyscaffolded participants' metacognition,improving their metacomprehension accuracy(i.e., their ability to accurately monitortheir comprehension). These beneficial effectsof diagrams on learners' cognitive andmetacognitive processes were found to bestrongest for participants with low verbalability. Results are discussed in terms ofimplications for the design of adaptivelearning systems.     

Working in groups: social and cognitive effects in a special class

Judith Watson, Reader in Education at the University of Edinburgh, considers the potential of social-constructivist ideas of teaching and learning for pupils with learning difficulties and reports on the introduction of social learning experiences within a special unit for pupils with moderate learning difficulties.     

The effect of social network diagrams on a virtual network of practice: a Korean case

This study investigates the effect of the presentation of social network diagrams on virtual team members’ interaction behavior via e-mail. E-mail transaction data from 22 software developers in a Korean IT company was analyzed and depicted as diagrams by social network analysis (SNA), and presented to the members as an intervention. Results showed that the SNA diagrams presented were effective in increasing the quantity of e-mail transactions among the members and in forming a community of practice. The findings suggest that SNA diagrams can be used as a cost-effective intervention strategy for virtual team members to actively share knowledge and collaborate as members of a network of practice.