Online self-assessment with feedback and metacognitive knowledge

The present work describes an experience of educational innovation in a university context. Its aim was to determine the relationship between students’ frequency of use of online self-assessment with feedback and their final performance on the course, taking into account both learners’ motivation and perceived usefulness of these resources for their learning process. Furthermore, we studied the relationship between metacognitive variables and academic performance and/or execution of activities aimed at learning the course content. To this end we created self-assessment material with the Hot Potatoes educational program and assessed the degree to which students took advantage of the tool, their satisfaction with it and their perceived knowledge, using ad hoc questionnaires. The results indicate better academic performance in those students that use interactive self-assessment. It should be pointed out that even students with low motivation levels made use of this teaching tool. Finally, a relationship was found between metacognitive variables and students’ effort and performance. We discuss the need to include self-assessment in the curriculum, with a view to improving students’ metacognitive knowledge.     

Online learning: Learner characteristics and their approaches to managing learning

Using cluster analysis this study investigated the characteristics of learning strategies learners use in online courses with one-on-one mentoring. Three distinct approaches were identified: “Mastery oriented”, “Task focused” and “Minimalist in effort”. Despite the widespread concern that students will have difficulty managing their time in online courses with high level of student freedom, this study found that the vast majority of learners were very effective in their learning strategies. The findings speak well for the potential of distance education environments to provide high quality self-paced learning, accommodating different learning strategies, which is difficult to do in group-paced courses. We further explored how these approaches relate to and interact with, participants’ background and their levels of satisfaction and self reported learning.     

Online peer assessment: effects of cognitive and affective feedback

This study reports the effects of online peer assessment, in the form of peer grading and peer feedback, on students’ learning. One hundred and eighty one high school students engaged in peer assessment via an online system—iLap. The number of grade-giving and grade-receiving experiences was examined and the peer feedback was coded according to different cognitive and affective dimensions. The effects, on both assessors and assessees, were analyzed using multiple regression. The results indicate that the provision by student assessors of feedback that identified problems and gave suggestions was a significant predictor of the performance of the assessors themselves, and that positive affective feedback was related to the performance of assessees. However, peer grading behaviors were not a significant predictor of project performance. This study explains the benefits of online peer assessment in general and highlights the importance of specific types of feedback. Moreover, it expands our understanding of how peer assessment affects the different parties involved.     

Institutional Efforts to Support Faculty in Online Teaching

Effective processes, practices, and infrastructure are essential components of successful online teaching and learning efforts; and they lead to a sense of faculty ownership of online teaching as well as enhanced support from an institution’s administration. The institution’s recognition of faculty members’ efforts to teach online in relation to the traditional concepts of scholarship, tenure, and promotion is an important motivational factor for sustaining effectiveness in the online learning environment. This study examined institutional efforts to alleviate or overcome challenges faced by faculty members in creating and teaching online courses, and we investigated faculty members’ perceptions regarding these institutional efforts.     

Teachers' Attitudes Towards Mainstreaming and Their Pupils' Perceptions of Their Classroom Learning Environment

In spite of the widespread adoption of policies on mainstreaming, and more recently on inclusive education for children and young people with special educational needs, little is actually known about the relationship between what teachers think about such policies and the type of learning environments that they provide. In this study in New Zealand, a sample of regular primary school teachers (N= 63) were categorised according to ‘high’, ‘moderate’ or ‘low’ scores on a scale which measures their views on mainstreaming policies and practices. The pupils (N= 1729) of these teachers also completed a scale measuring perceptions of their classroom learning environments. Children taught by teachers who espoused highly positive attitudes towards mainstreaming were found to have significantly higher levels of classroom satisfaction and marginally lower levels of classroom friction than children taught by teachers with less positive attitudes. Implications of these findings are discussed for further research on the role of teacher attitudes in the successful inclusion of children and young people with special needs and for policies on the implementation of effective inclusive practice. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Conceptions of,and approaches to,teaching online: a study of lecturers teaching postgraduate distance courses

This paper presents the outcomes of a study into online teaching. It builds upon previous research and conceptual frameworks produced by Kember and Kwan (Instr Sci 28(5):469–490, 2000) and Roberts (Instr Sci 31(1–2):127–150, 2003). It advances research on conceptions of, and approaches to, teaching by examining teaching in a novel context: distance-taught courses at the postgraduate level. Lecturers were interviewed from a Faculty of Health Sciences in a research-intensive Australian University. Relationships between conceptions and approaches found in previous research were confirmed in this study. However, it was found that the conceptions of online teaching proposed by Roberts (Instr Sci 31(1–2):127–150, 2003) did not adequately distinguish between the conceptions held by the lecturers interviewed in this study. Three modified conceptions of online teaching are proposed: ‘for individual access to learning materials and information; and for individual assessment’; ‘for learning related communication (asynchronous and/or synchronous)’; and ‘as a medium for networked learning’. Some of the dimensions developed by Roberts to describe approaches to online teaching were not applicable in this study setting and needed further modification. Two broad approaches emerged: ‘informative/individual learning focused’ and ‘communicative/networked learning focused’. Contextual influences on teaching reported by Kember and Kwan (Instr Sci 28(5):469–490, 2000)—that is, institutional influence, nature of students and subject and curriculum—were revealed in this study to have different levels of influence over approaches to online teaching: the first two being the more relevant ones.     

Using a New Learning Environment Questionnaire for Reflection in Teacher Action Research

This article reports the development, validation and use of an instrument designed to provide teachers with feedback information, based on students’ perceptions, about their classroom environments. The instrument was developed to provide teachers with feedback that they could use to reflect on their teaching practices and, in turn, guide the implementation of strategies to improve their learning environments. To determine the validity and reliability of the new instrument, data from 2043 grade 11 and 12 students from 147 classes in 9 schools were analysed. The Rasch model was used to convert data collected using a frequency response scale into interval data that are suitable for parametric analyses. During an action research process, reflective journals, written feedback, discussions at a forum and interviews with eight teachers helped to illuminate the processes used by teachers during action research. This article reports the views of these teachers in general and examines more closely how one of the teachers used student responses to the learning environment questionnaire as a tool for reflection and as a guide in transforming her classroom environment. This case study helped us to gauge the extent to which action research based on students’ perceptions of the learning environment was useful in guiding teachers’ improvements of their classroom learning environments.     

Effects of an online sharing and feedback programme on preservice teachers’ practical knowledge,learning preferences and satisfaction

ABSTRACT

This study investigated the effects of an online sharing and feedback programme (OSFP) on preservice teachers’ practical knowledge (PTPK) and attempted to determine the relationship between satisfaction with online interaction and changes in three types of learning preferences (collaborative, competitive and individualistic). In this study, a quasi-experimental pre- and post-test control-group design was employed to examine these factors. The OSFP was designed, focusing on peer interaction on topics regarding field experiences. The analytical results reveal that the OSFP improved practical teaching knowledge, one of the forms of PTPK. Additionally, satisfaction with online sharing and feedback on the topics of interpersonal affairs strengthened preservice teachers’ preference for collaborative learning and decreased their individual preference. Notably, this study demonstrates that collaborative learning preferences positively change when learners are satisfied with online sharing and feedback on the topic of interpersonal affairs.     

如何提升在线教学效果?——在线学习满意度影响因素研究

基于社会性和探究社区理论框架,通过多元回归分析、结构方程模型等数据分析方法,本文探索了社会性、临场感与在线学习满意度之间的关系机制。研究发现,在线教学的社会性能够促进学生的教学临场感、社会临场感和认知临场感,而这三大临场感又能够显著提升学生的在线学习满意度;社会性与在线学习满意度之间存在链式中介效应,即社会性能通过促进教学临场感,进而促进学生的社会临场感,而社会临场感又能够促进学生的认知临场感,最终促进学生的在线学习满意度。研究结果有助于理解社会性学习环境对在线教学效果的影响机制,有助于广大教师开展更高质量的在线教学活动。     

Integrating e-learning into the Direct-instruction Model to enhance the effectiveness of critical-thinking instruction

The Direct-instruction Model favors the use of teacher explanations and modeling combined with student practice and feedback to teach thinking skills. Using this paradigm, this study incorporates e-learning during an 18-week experimental instruction period that includes 48 preservice teachers. The instructional design in this study emphasizes scaffolding, observational learning, mastery of critical-thinking skills, guided practices, cooperative learning, providing feedback, self-reflection, online discussions, and active participation in an online learning community. This study employs 2 critical-thinking tests, 2 inventories, and 1 open-ended reflection questionnaire; and students’ scores on the pretest and posttest are compared via the Repeated Measure Analysis of Variance. The primary findings are as follows: (a) all participants preferred the instructional design in this study; (b) the experimental instruction effectively improved the preservice teachers’ critical-thinking ability as well as their professional knowledge and personal teaching efficacy concerning critical-thinking instruction; (c) the mechanisms contributing to the effectiveness of the experimental instruction mainly included discussing and sharing, observational learning, self-reflection, guided practice, and the learning community.     

Urban Students’ Perceptions of Teachers: Views of Students in General, Special, and Honors Education

Students’ satisfaction with school experiences has been linked to their sense of belongingness, connection to school, and achievement. Though the extant research addresses students’ perceptions of school climate and sense of belonging, there is a paucity of research about students’ views of teacher–student interactions. Five hundred and seventy-seven students from one ethnically and academically diverse urban high school were surveyed and interviewed about the nature of teacher talk with students. Findings from this mixed-methods investigation indicate students from general, special, and honors programs experience a wide range of interactions based on academic services received, gender, and ethnicity. More frequent perceived punitive feedback was reported by all students in special education as well as males in general and honors education programs, while Hispanic students indicated a greater frequency of perceived supportive feedback. Findings also reflect a wide range of attitudes and feelings about teachers, the educational system, and learning.     

Motivation and learning in an online, unmoderated, mathematics workshop for teachers

As hypermedia, online teacher professional development (TPD) should ideally support diverse learners to work with online content effectively because it involves multiple representations and a nonlinear format. Differences among participants in motivation and learning provide challenges for design. The present study is a use-inspired, mixed-method study of 164 teachers’ motivation and learning in an unmoderated online workshop. It addresses participants’ demographic and motivational profiles, participation in this type of workshop (e.g., the frequency, duration, and focus, as well as their work with technology-enhanced, nonroutine challenge problems and journal assignments), the predictive value of the initial questionnaire, and implications for design. Findings indicate that while three clusters of motivational profiles could be identified (low interest, low self-efficacy, and less math; low interest, high self-efficacy, and more math; high interest, high self-efficacy, and more math), whether the teachers continue to participate appears to be related to the structure and content of the workshop, not just these profiles. Findings are interpreted as suggesting that the potential of hypermedia lies in its designers’ abilities to support participant stake by providing for multiple ways into thinking and working with disciplinary content—design that both accommodates and supports those with differing strengths and needs. Implications for studying motivation and learning online are also discussed.     

Integration of an intelligent tutoring system in a course of computer network design

INTUITEL is a research project aiming to offer a personalized learning environment. The INTUITEL approach includes an Intelligent Tutoring System that gives students recommendations and feedback about what the best learning path is for them according to their profile, learning progress, context and environmental influences. INTUITEL combines efficient pedagogical-based recommendations with freedom of choice and it introduces this tutoring support in different Learning Management Systems. During the INTUITEL project various software and pedagogical testing procedures were defined to provide the development teams with feedback, both summative and formative. The current paper describes the initial user test, which was conducted at the University of Valladolid for the course “Network Design”. The experiment was focused on real learners’ reactions to INTUITEL recommendations received by an INTUITEL-enabled LMS. Nineteen students participated in a two phase testing procedure in order to analyze the learners’ behavior with INTUITEL, as well as obtaining information about how learners perceive the influence and usefulness of the tutoring system in online learning courses. Results show that students with INTUITEL follow learning paths that are more suitable for them. Besides, the general satisfaction level of participants is high. Most learners appreciate INTUITEL, would follow its recommendations and consider the messages shown by INTUITEL as useful and caring.     

Tips,Tools, and Techniques for Teaching in the Online High School Classroom

The growing availability of online learning in K-12 education requires understanding of the tools and pedagogy necessary for effective teaching and learning. This paper provides recommendations to advance teaching and meaningful learning in online high school courses. Additionally, it provides principles of practice for teachers, students, and school and district level administrators. It concludes with a list of “best practices” for online, high school teachers. All recommendations are based on the findings from the author’s research in three secondary online learning settings.     

Student learning experience as indicator of teaching quality

The purpose of the study was to develop an improved teaching evaluation questionnaire based on students’ learning experiences and selected teacher characteristics identified as indicators of teaching quality. Teaching evaluation questionnaires are commonly designed either based on agreed indicators of teaching excellence, students’ suggestions of characteristics of excellence, or dimensions identified from interviews conducted with excellent teachers. In this study, however, students’ evaluation of their own learning experiences in learner centered classes and a hypothesized framework derived from the literature were used to develop the items for the questionnaire. Students attended to courses designed in a learner centered paradigm and evaluated their learning experiences. Based on the hypothesized framework and students’ reflections of their experiences, items were designed and validated at various levels. Exploratory factor analysis resulted in a 24-item Student Evaluation of Learning and Teaching Questionnaire (SELTQ) that comprises four factors: assessment and feedback; course organization and presentation; student self evaluation; and students’ level of engagement. As opposed to the questionnaire widely used in higher education institutions in Ethiopia that focuses on the evaluation of selected teacher characteristics, the new measure enables students to evaluate teaching in terms of their own learning progress.     

Students' insights on the use of video lectures in online classes

Video lectures (VL), considered an effective means for delivering course content and infusing teaching presence in the virtual environment, have become very popular in education. The purpose of this study was to investigate online student experiences with VL focusing on their opinion of usefulness of VL, their satisfaction with them and their perception of learning derived from them. Our findings show that students' satisfaction with VL has a strong relationship with positive overall learning experience and perception of impact of video on learning. Furthermore, VL can enhance a feeling of engagement with content because of learners' control of the media and instructors' presence. The findings also alert us on the importance of careful planning and balanced integration of VL with other course materials. This provides important information on the effectiveness of video-lectures in college teaching and learning and implications for practice in online course design.     

Professional Development of Physics Teachers in an Evidence-Based Blended Learning Program

The present study examined continuity of learning between face-to-face and online environments in a “blended” professional development program designed for 16 physics teachers. The program had nine face-to-face meetings as well as continuous online exchanges between them through a website. The program focused on “knowledge integration” (KI) innovative activities in physics classes using an “evidence-based” approach: The teachers implemented the activities, collected and analyzed data about their practice and their students’ learning, and reflected on the evidence with their peers. Five reflective tools were used to promote continuity: Your Comments, Hot Polls, Smashing Sentences, Hot Reports, and Mini Research. Continuity was assessed with regard to the ideas discussed by the teachers and the reasoning patterns that they employed. Analysis of the online exchanges in relation to teachers’ face-to-face discourse revealed that the teachers discussed the same ideas (KI, evidence and learner-centered pedagogies), employed the same reasoning patterns (e.g., forming generalizations), and extended ideas in re-visitation. The online and face-to-face environments played different and complementary roles in the teachers’ learning. This study shows that appropriate use of an online environment in a blended program can lead to a continuous course of learning and can transform a “9 once-a-month-meetings” workshop into a “9-month” workshop.     

Educational Benefits of Multimedia Skills Training

The use of multimedia technologies in education has enabled teachers to simulate final outcomes and assist students in applying knowledge learned from textbooks, thereby compensating for the deficiency of traditional teaching methods. It is important to examine how effective these technologies are in practical use. This study developed online learning-teaching resource platforms using Flash multimedia, providing interactive and integrated features in an easy-touse user interface, in order to discuss Computer-Aided Drawing (CAD). The study utilized a teaching experiment with a non-equivalent pretest-posttest control group design to test and discuss students’ professional cognition, operating skill cognition, and level of learning satisfaction during the learning process. No significant differences emerged between the groups in regards to professional cognition or operation skills cognition. However, a significant difference in learning satisfaction was noted, indicating that the coursework with multimedia Flash produced greater satisfaction than with traditional learning methods. Results are explained in detail and recommendations for further research provided.     

Transforming an Introductory Programming Course: From Lectures to Active Learning via Wireless Laptops

Within the framework of MIT’s course 1.00: Introduction to Computers and Engineering Problem Solving, this paper describes an innovative project entitled: Studio 1.00 that integrates lectures with in-class demonstrations, active learning sessions, and on-task feedback, through the use of wireless laptop computers. This paper also describes a related evaluation study that investigated the effectiveness of different instructional strategies, comparing traditional teaching with two models of the studio format. Students’ learning outcomes, specifically, their final grades and conceptual understanding of computational methods and programming, were examined. Findings indicated that Studio-1.00, in both its extensive- and partial-active learning modes, enhanced students’ learning outcomes in Java programming. Comparing to the traditional courses, more students in the studio courses received “A” as their final grade and less failed. Moreover, students who regularly attended the active learning sessions were able to conceptualize programming principles better than their peers. We have also found two weaknesses in the teaching format of Studio-1.00 that can guide future versions of the course.