Learners’ perceptions and illusions of adaptivity in computer-based learning environments

Research on computer-based adaptive learning environments has shown exemplary growth. Although the mechanisms of effective adaptive instruction are unraveled systematically, little is known about the relative effect of learners’ perceptions of adaptivity in adaptive learning environments. As previous research has demonstrated that the learners’ view towards a learning environment strongly influences their learning outcomes and learning process, it can be discussed whether program-defined adaptivity is not only effective because of the underlying learner models, but also because the adaptivity is perceived and experienced as such by the learners. In this study, we apply the cognitive mediational paradigm and hypothesize that perceptions of adaptivity mediate the relation between adaptive instruction and learners’ motivations and learning outcomes. The results do not fully support the claim of the cognitive mediational paradigm. Both adaptivity and perceptions were related to motivation, but learners’ perceptions did not act as a mediating variable.     

THE DYNAMICS OF LEARNING SCIENCE IN EVERYDAY CONTEXTS: A CASE STUDY OF EVERYDAY SCIENCE CLASS IN KOREA

With recognition of the importance of scientific literacy for the nation and yet the increasing students’ disinterest in science through school science curriculum, the Korea Science Foundation launched an innovative program called ‘Everyday Science Class (ESC)’ in partnership with universities and local government offices in 2003. In this work, we introduce the structure and dynamics of the ESC program in K-district through examining (1) how everyday contexts helped learners’ perceptions and attitudes toward science and (2) how the dynamics of learning environments effected learners’ learning process. We employed interviews and video recording of classes for data collection. To analyze the data, we used the process of thematic coding to understand the outcomes and effects of ESC program. The research findings showed that everyday context and a unique environment of learning with parents in the ESC program could bring forth learners’ understandings on the connection between science and their everyday lives and positive attitudes toward science learning. We also found that there were certain issues to be taken into account in terms of children’s cognitive development for further development.     

Improving self-regulation, learning strategy use, and achievement with metacognitive feedback

Comprehension of science topics occurs when learners meaningfully generate relationships and conceptions about what they read. In this generation process, learners’ cognitive and metacognitive regulation is one of the most critical factors influencing learning. However, learners are not always successful in regulating their own learning, especially in computer-based learning environments (CBLEs) where they are alone. Based on this rationale, the present study was designed to examine the effects of two scaffolding strategies—generative learning strategy prompts and metacognitive feedback—on learners’ comprehension and self-regulation while learning the human heart system in a CBLE. Participants were 223 undergraduate student volunteers. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was employed to conceptualize and empirically test a model that explains mediating processes among variables. Results revealed that the combination of generative learning strategy prompts with metacognitive feedback improved learners’ recall and comprehension by enhancing learners’ self-regulation and better use of highlighting and summarizing as generative learning strategies.     

Self-processes and learning environment as influences in the development of expertise in instructional design

A major challenge for learning theories is to illuminate how particular kinds of learning experiences and environments promote the development of expertise. Research has been conducted into novice-expert differences in various domains, but few studies have examined the processes involved in learners’ expertise development. In an attempt to understand the development of expertise in instructional design (ID) among graduate students, this study aimed to investigate (1) the patterns of expertise development among ID learners over an extended period; (2) the roles of expert modelling, peer feedback, self-reflection and participation in a supportive learning community in learners’ expertise development; and (3) the interactions of individual differences and the learning environment in learners’ expertise development. A qualitative design was used to investigate students’ expertise development across a range of dimensions. The participants were two cohorts of 11 graduate students in a program on instructional psychology and design. Data, including observations, interviews, design documents, metacognitive essays and peer feedback, were collected for triangulation and in-depth analysis. The results showed that the two cohorts exhibited similar patterns in their ID expertise development. These development processes were influenced by both self-processes and social influences. Self-processes are determined by the perceptions, motivation and prior knowledge that students bring into the learning environment. Social influences are characterised by a learning community that encourages peer interactions and feedback and is supported by expert modelling and scaffolding.     

Investigating strategies for using related cases to support design problem solving

Case-based learning has long been used to bring students into contact with the complexity of real-world situations. Despite this popularity and considerable history, research into how case analysis can support future problem-solving has been limited. The study reported in this paper investigated learners’ understanding of multimedia instructional design and development derived from the analysis of two richly detailed cases, and how this understanding then supported learners in their own design projects. A qualitative case study approach was used to follow a class of Masters students engaged in a technology-supported, case-based learning environment. Student work from case analysis, group project and reflective tasks was the key data source, complemented by interviews with students and their instructor, observations of class meetings, and the collection of online discussion list records and electronic resource files. The study found that the case analysis task raised learners’ awareness of design approaches and project management strategies, and that discussion and reflection play critical roles in developing students’ understanding. The study also highlighted some limitations of the case approach, suggesting the need for strategies that support learners’ thinking and reasoning.     

The effects of diagrams and time-compressed instruction on learning and learners’ perceptions of cognitive load

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of diagrams and time-compressed instruction on learning and learners’ perceptions of cognitive load. The following design factors, visuals (visuals and non-visuals) and time-compressed instruction (0%-normal paced, 25, and 50%) were presented to 216 university students to analyze learning in a multimedia environment. Participants listened to audio instruction of the heart and those in the visuals condition viewed 19 diagrams that corresponded to the verbal instruction. The dependent variables consisted of four achievement tests: drawing, identification, terminology, and comprehension. Review behaviors (back and replay buttons) and learners’ perceptions of cognitive load served as additional dependent variables. The results of this study indicate that listening to normal or moderately compressed (25%) instruction in a multimedia environment supports learning. At these speeds, cognitive load is not increased thus allowing learners to gain a conceptual understanding of the material.     

The effects of levels of elaboration on learners’ strategic processing of text

In the current work, we examined learners’ comprehension when engaged with elaborative processing strategies. In Experiment 1, we randomly assigned students to one of five elaborative processing conditions and addressed differences in learners’ lower- and higher-order learning outcomes and ability to employ elaborative strategies. Findings indicated no significant differences among conditions on learning outcomes. However, learners better able to employ elaborative processing strategies performed better on outcome measures. Experiment 2 extended this research and addressed whether there would be differences across elaborative processing conditions in learners’ comprehension at delayed testing. We also examined the role of motivation in performance and strategy use. Findings indicated no differences on the outcome measures at delayed testing; however, there were significant differences in learners’ performance on an integration outcome at immediate testing. In addition, significant positive correlations were indicated for several outcome measures, strategy use and mastery orientation. Future research should further consider instructional scaffolds to promote learners’ strategic processing and critical individual difference variables as they effect elaborative processing.     

Scaffolding cognitive and metacognitive strategy instruction in regular class lessons

The quality of teachers’ knowledge about how people learn influences students’ learning outcomes. Similarly, the quality of students’ knowledge about how they learn influences their engagement in self-regulated learning and consequently, their learning achievement. There is a gap between research findings that support these two premises and teaching–learning practices in classrooms. In this paper we describe attempts to reduce this gap. In Study 1 we surveyed early adolescent students’ cognitive and metacognitive strategy use and demonstrated that students’ cognitive and metacognitive strategy knowledge has substantial room for improvement. In Studies 2 and 3 we collaborated with teachers to embed explicit cognitive and metacognitive strategy instruction, using learning protocols, into regular class lessons. Studies 2 and 3 showed that the learning protocols slipped readily into teachers’ typical lesson designs, scaffolded teachers’ delivery of strategy instruction, and scaffolded some students’ acquisition of strategy knowledge, although progress was sometimes slow. Recommendations are presented for supporting teachers and students to engage with cognitive and metacognitive strategy instruction.     

Using the known to chart the unknown: A review of first-language influence on the development of English-as-a-second-language spelling skill

Currently, there is a practical demand and necessity for research on how English-as-a-second language (ESL) learners acquire literacy skills, such as spelling. One important issue of this research agenda is how ESL learners apply first-language knowledge to learning to spell in English. Twenty-seven studies were reviewed that investigated the influence of the first language on ESL learners’ development of English spelling skill. Evidence was found for both positive and negative transfer of first-language knowledge and processes to ESL learners’ English spelling. These results are in agreement with theoretical propositions about the interdependence between first- and second-language academic skills [e.g., Cummins, J. (1981). In California State Department of Education (Ed.), Schooling and language minority students: A theoretical framework (pp. 3–49). Los Angeles: Evaluation, Dissemination, and Assessment Center, California State University, Los Angeles]. The findings are discussed in relation to the ESL learner’s first-language proficiency level and distance between first language and English. Comparisons are drawn between ESL learners’ and English monolinguals’ spelling development and suggestions for future research are provided.     

Connecting the dots: social network structure,conflict, and group cognitive complexity

The current paper combines arguments from the social capital and group cognition literature to explain two different processes through which communication network structures and intra group conflict influence groups’ cognitive complexity (GCC). We test in a sample of 44 groups the mediating role of intra group conflict in the relationship between communication network density and fragmentation on the one hand and groups’ cognitive complexity on the other hand. The results show that network fragmentation has a positive effect on GCC by fostering task conflict, while network density has a positive impact on GCC by reducing relationship conflict in student groups. The paper makes an important contribution to both theory and practice in the field of collaborative learning, by exploring how groups’ affective and a cognitive dynamics impact on emergent collective cognitive structures.     

Expertise reversal effects in writing-to-learn

This article presents two longitudinal studies that investigated expertise reversal effects in journal writing. In Experiment 1, students wrote regular journal entries over a whole term. The experimental group received a combination of cognitive and metacognitive prompts. The control group received no prompts. In the first half of the term, the experimental group applied more cognitive and metacognitive strategies in their journals and showed higher learning outcomes than the control group. Towards the end of the term, the amount of cognitive and metacognitive strategies elicited by the experimental group decreased while the number of cognitive strategies applied by the control group increased. Accordingly, the experimental group lost its superiority on learning outcomes. In order to avoid these negative long-term effects of prompts, a gradual and adaptive fading-out of the prompts was introduced in the experimental group in Experiment 2 while a control group received permanent prompts. The results showed that, over the course of the term, the fading group applied increasingly more cognitive strategies while the control group applied fewer and fewer cognitive strategies. Accordingly, at the end of the term, the permanent prompts group showed substantially lower learning outcomes than the fading group. Together, these results provide evidence for an expertise reversal effect in writing-to-learn. The more the students became skilled in journal writing and internalized the desired strategies, the more the external guidance by prompts became a redundant stimulus that interfered with the students’ internal tendency to apply the strategies and, thus, induced extraneous cognitive load. Accordingly, a gradual fading-out of the prompts in line with the learners’ growing competencies proved to be effective in mitigating the negative side-effects of the provided instructional support.     

Learning from Learning Kits: gStudy Traces of Students’ Self-Regulated Engagements with Computerized Content

Researching self-regulated learning (SRL) as a process that evolves across multiple episodes of studying poses large methodological challenges. While self-report data provide useful information about learners’ perceptions of learning, these data are not reliable indicators of studying tactics learners actually use while studying, especially when learners are young children. We argue that self-reports about SRL need to be augmented by fine-grained traces that are records of learners’ actual activities as they study. We describe how gStudy software unobtrusively collects detailed trace data about learners’ use of study tactics as they engage with content presented in learning kits—collections of documents (e.g., texts, graphics, video clips) and tasks (e.g., notes, concept maps) on which learners operate to study. We suggest that trace data can advance research about how learners select, monitor, assemble, rehearse, and translate information to learn it, and provide raw materials for mapping SRL and its effects. Examples from the Life Cycles Learning Kit that supports grade 1 students learning about the life cycles of humans and frogs are given.

E-learning in life long education: A computational approach to determining listening comprehension ability

E-Learning is the use of telecommunication technology to deliver information for education and training and it is emerging as the new paradigm of modern education. Because of the increasing amount of technology integration in the learning environment, more and more studies focus on examining “how people learn with technology” This study was conducted to find out how computer assisted language learning contributes to learners’ ability to develop listening comprehension. The results revealed that learner computer anxiety, instructor attitude toward e-Learning, e-Learning course flexibility, e-Learning course quality, perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and diversity in assessments are the critical factors affecting learners’ perceived satisfaction.     

Learning materials recommendation using good learners’ ratings and content-based filtering

The enormity of the amount of learning materials in e-learning has led to the difficulty of locating suitable learning materials for a particular learning topic, creating the need for recommendation tools within a learning context. In this paper, we aim to address this need by proposing a novel e-learning recommender system framework that is based on two conceptual foundations—peer learning and social learning theories that encourage students to cooperate and learn among themselves. Our proposed framework works on the idea of recommending learning materials with a similar content and indicating the quality of learning materials based on good learners’ ratings. A comprehensive set of experiments were conducted to measure the system accuracy and its impact on learner’s performance. The obtained results show that the proposed e-learning recommender system has a significant improvement in the post-test of about 12.16% with the effect size of 0.6 and 13.11% with the effect size of 0.53 when compared to the e-learning with a content-based recommender system and the e-learning without a recommender system, respectively. Furthermore, the proposed recommender system performed better in terms of having a small rating deviation and a higher precision as compared to e-learning with a content-based recommender system.     

A comparative study of computer and mobile-assisted pronunciation training: The case of university students in Taiwan

Education and Information Technologies - English pronunciation training for real-world communication tasks is crucial in EFL learning because it is essential to learners’ listening...     

Learners’ perceptions of instructional design practice in a situated learning activity

This case study investigated learners’ perceptions of value from participating in a learning activity designed to model professional instructional design practice. Learners developed instructional design products for a corporate client in the context of a classroom-based course. The findings indicate that learners perceived different kinds of value which varied according to the degree of integration of learners’ goals with client’s goals, ranging from (a) co-constituted value (in which learners perceived the value of their participation as being inextricably bound to creation of value to the client) to (b) satisficing value (in which learners engaged with the activity so as to generate value for themselves while providing sufficient or good enough value to the client) to (c) salvage value (in which learners did not participate in the activity in the manner intended, but attempted to salvage some personal value from their participation). A framework relates these learners’ perceptions of value to three main features of such learning activities: what you do, how you do it, and who you are accountable to. The relative worth of these different kinds of value is discussed, and proposals for influencing learner perceptions of value are presented.     

Adaptive Human Scaffolding Facilitates Adolescents’ Self-regulated Learning with Hypermedia

This study examines the effectiveness of three scaffolding conditions on adolescents’ learning about the circulatory system with a hypermedia learning environment. One hundred and eleven adolescents (n = 111) were randomly assigned to one of three scaffolding conditions (adaptive scaffolding (AS), fixed scaffolding (FS), or no scaffolding (NS)) and were trained to use a hypermedia environment to learn about the circulatory system. Pretest and posttest data were collected to measure the qualitative changes in students’ mental models of the topic and quantitative changes in their declarative knowledge. Verbal protocols were collected during the 40-minute learning task to examine how each condition affected the way in which students regulated their learning. Findings revealed that learners in both the AS and NS conditions gained significantly more declarative knowledge than did those in the FS condition. Also, the AS condition was associated with shift in learners’ mental models significantly more than the other conditions. Associated with these significant shifts in their mental models, learners in the AS condition regulated their learning by planning and activating prior knowledge, monitoring their cognitive activities and their progress toward learning goals, using several effective strategies, and engaging in adaptive help-seeking. By contrast, those in the NS condition used fewer effective strategies, while those in the FS regulated their learning by using several regulatory processes which seemed to impede their learning. Implications for the design of scaffolds for fostering students’ self-regulated learning with hypermedia are presented.     

Efficacy of Two Different Instructional Methods Involving Complex Ecological Content

Teaching and learning approaches in ecology very often follow linear conceptions of ecosystems. Empirical studies with an ecological focus consistent with existing syllabi and focusing on cognitive achievement are scarce. Consequently, we concentrated on a classroom unit that offers learning materials and highlights the existing complexity rather than following linear conceptions. We developed an educational unit consisting of 14 individual lessons (”ecosystem lake”) with the aim of increasing pupils’ cognitive achievement in 8th and 9th grade secondary schools. To evaluate our approach, we chose a quasi-experimental design and five teachers with ten classes participated in our study. A matched-pair tandem-design was provided by five German teachers using first his/her conventional approach in one class (instruction-1; control group) and second, our modern ecological approach in their second class (instruction-2). Pupils subjected to the latter performed better, i.e., achieved higher scores, especially in the delayed post-test. Further, we found a teacher effect and an interaction between treatment (i.e., whether treatment or control class) and the teacher regarding the class test. Teachers had a significant influence on the learning outcome irrespective of the educational unit, i.e., some teachers generally produced higher achievement than others. Further, the interaction showed that some teachers coped better with their traditional teaching. Nevertheless, in retention (delayed post-test) all classes of the modern approach scored higher than the traditionally taught ones. Boys and girls benefited equally from our program and pupils from the modern approach rated the educational unit better. Figure 1 Overview over the educational unit “ecosystem lake”