Using a blended learning approach to support women returning to STEM

ABSTRACT

This paper examines a blended learning model designed to support women returning to STEM after a career break and its delivery in a unique partnership between an online distance education provider and a community-based equality organisation. Through this partnership additional activities such as networking events, returnships, career clinics and webinars were used in conjunction with a structured online Badged Open Course (BOC), which enabled a successful return to employment for many of the participants. This article outlines the results and implications of this integrated model and argues that blended learning approaches need to be flexible and adaptable to be able to incorporate the needs of learners at different life-course stages, taking into consideration gender and other diversity characteristics.     

Foundations of dynamic learning analytics: Using university student data to increase retention

With digitisation and the rise of e‐learning have come a range of computational tools and approaches that have allowed educators to better support the learners' experience in schools, colleges and universities. The move away from traditional paper‐based course materials, registration, admissions and support services to the mobile, always‐on and always accessible data has driven demand for information and generated new forms of data observable through consumption behaviours. These changes have led to a plethora of data sets that store learning content and track user behaviours. Most recently, new data analytics approaches are creating new ways of understanding trends and behaviours in students that can be used to improve learning design, strengthen student retention, provide early warning signals concerning individual students and help to personalise the learner's experience. This paper proposes a foundational learning analytics model (LAM) for higher education that focuses on the dynamic interaction of stakeholders with their data supported by visual analytics, such as self‐organising maps, to generate conversations, shared inquiry and solution‐seeking. The model can be applied for other educational institutions interested in using learning analytics processes to support personalised learning and support services. Further work is testing its efficacy in increasing student retention rates.     

Kahoot! Using a game-based approach to blended learning to support effective learning environments and student engagement in traditional lecture theatres

ABSTRACT

Traditional lecture theatre environments present significant challenges in higher education, in light of increasingly large and diverse student populations. This small-scale study explores how blended learning through the game-based platform Kahoot! can be used to enhance the learning experience offered to students in these spaces, from the perspective of 44 final-year primary education undergraduates. An action research approach was employed with data collected from pre- and post-lecture surveys. Findings suggest that the integration of synchronous online learning in lecture theatres presented no technical difficulties and that gaming was successful in enabling active participation and interactive learning. Students valued its competitive nature, the immediacy of feedback on their knowledge and structured opportunities for further discussion. Students reported improvements in engagement, concentration and retention, although results for the latter were more ambiguous and would benefit from further investigation.     

Using learning analytics to explore self-regulated learning in flipped blended learning music teacher education

Blended learning (BL) is a popular e-Learning model in higher education that has the potential to take advantage of learning analytics (LA) to support student learning. This study utilized LA to investigate fourth-year undergraduates' (n = 157) use of self-regulated learning (SRL) within the online components of a previously unexamined BL discipline, Music Teacher Education. SRL behaviors were captured unobtrusively in real time through students' interaction with course materials in Moodle. Categorized by function: (1) activating—online access location, day-of-the-week, time-of-day; (2) sustaining—online frequency; and (3) structuring—online regularity and exam review patterns, all six SRL behaviors were revealed to have weak to moderate significant relationships with academic achievement. Results indicated access day-of-the-week and access frequency as the strongest predictors for student success. Findings regarding access regularity when viewed through results from previous SRL-LA research may suggest the importance of this SRL behavior for successful students within several BL discipline areas. In addition, the role of learning design (eg, flipped instruction) in potentially scaffolding students' choices toward specific SRL behaviors, was revealed as an important context for future researchers' consideration.     

An investigation of blended learning to support reading instruction in elementary schools

Educational technology research and development - Research is needed to address the possible benefits of blended learning as a form of reading instruction in elementary schools. Blended learning...     

浅谈巧用信息技术提高幼儿学习效率

信息技术对当代生活有着重大的影响,在这以多媒体计算机技术和网络通讯技术为标志的时代,信息技术改变着我们的学习方式、生活方式、工作方式。在幼儿教育中,信息技术的运用就是指把文本、图形、图像、声音、影像等经过处理后融合为一体,它的特点是运行的实时生动。在现今时代信息技术已快速融入教学领域,为提高教学质量促进国际教育业的发展打下坚实的基础。     

Strategy orientations,learner activity,and learning outcomes: Implications for instructional support of learning

Investigated were the differential effects of strategy orientations (memory strategy, organization strategy, application strategy, and read-and-study control) orthogonally crossed with learner activity (guided versus active) and outcomes (memory, organization, and application). Subjects were 136 undergraduates, randomly assigned to 1 of 8 treatments. One day after they studied a passage on the topic of radar, outcome measures were completed. Guided activities were found to be superior to the learner-active counterparts on a composite achievement score. The hypothesized interaction of strategy orientation and kind of measure was supported. Performance was highest, in every comparison, on the outcome measure that paralleled the strategy-orientation treatment. The main effect of strategy orientation on the total achievement score was not significant. These findings were discussed in terms of the transfer-appropriate processing theory, the encoding specificity principle, and generative learning theory, with implications for further research and instructional design.     

Using contrasting cases to improve self-assessment in physics learning

Self-assessment is essential to scientific literacy as stated by the National Research Council Committee on Conceptual Framework for the New K-12 Science Education Standards and has since been incorporated into the Next Generation Science Standards. However, little empirical evidence documents which instructional tools are beneficial in improving students’ self-assessment in science learning. As such, we conducted a classroom-based quasi-experiment to test whether contrasting case-based instructional supports improved 390 introductory high school physics students’ accuracy in self-assessment and academic performance when solving physics problems. We compared the effects of providing students with content knowledge and contrasting cases (contrasting good and poor solution) on students’ physics problem solving and their ability to self-assess, with the effects of either presenting them with content knowledge and good solutions or teaching only content knowledge. We found contrasting examples improved the accuracy of students’ self-assessments, promoted content learning, and enhanced the development of self-assessment strategies.     

Activity-based learning of statistics: Using practical applications to improve students' learning

Many obstacles are involved in teaching statistics to undergraduates, including high attrition rates, students' anxiety, and a limited ability to grasp difficult concepts. These concerns can be addressed effectively by implementing strategies that require students to be actively engaged in the learning of statistics. First, we discuss how activity-based strategies and information technology can be an effective way to teach a statistics course. Second, we discuss how we changed a statistics course to include activity-based strategies. Finally, we discuss how cooperative learning, as a type of activity-based strategy, can increase students' understanding of statistics.     

In search of attributes that support self-regulation in blended learning environments

Blended forms of learning have become increasingly popular. Learning activities within these environments are supported by a large variety of online and face-to-face interventions. However, it remains unclear whether these blended environments are successful, and if they are, what makes them successful. Studies suggest that blended learning challenges the self-regulatory abilities of learners, though the literature does little to explain these findings; nor does it provide solutions. In particular, little is known about the attributes that are essential to support learners and how they should guide course design. To identify such attributes and enable a more thoughtful redesign of blended learning environments, this systematic literature review (n?=?95) examines evidence published between 1985 and 2015 on attributes of blended learning environments that support self-regulation. The purpose of this review is therefore to identify and define the attributes of blended learning environments that support learners’ self-regulatory abilities. Seven key attributes were found (authenticity, personalization, learner-control, scaffolding, interaction, cues for reflection and cues for calibration). This review is the first to identify and define the attributes that support self-regulation in blended learning environments and thus to support the design of blended learning environments. This study may serve to facilitate the design of blended learning environments that meet learners’ self-regulatory needs. It also raises crucial questions about how blended learning relates to well-established learning theories and provides a basis for future research on self-regulation in blended learning environments.     

Using learning sets to support UK delivery of off-shore learning in Africa

This account of practice focuses on the delivery of Action Learning Sets in Swaziland and Malawi as part of a UK university's remote Master's degree teaching programme. It draws upon the experience of an Academic delivering the programme and the efforts made to refine the approach to action learning given time, understanding and resource challenges. The outcome of limited research on the benefits of Action Learning Sets is shared within this context.     

Using problem-based learning to increase computer self-efficacy in Taiwanese students

In Taiwan, teaching focuses around lecturing, with students having little opportunity to interact with each other. Problem-based learning (PBL) is a means of instruction where students learn the subject by being active participants in the pedagogical process, with the emphasis on problem-solving. In this study, the authors investigated whether PBL would enhance self-efficacy better than common lecturing with children who had little access to technology outside of school. Two sixth-grade computer classes, both with 32 students in each and both located in the mountainous regions of eastern Taiwan, served as participants. A quasi-experimental, non-equivalent control group design was used with one class utilizing PBL principles, while the other used traditional lecturing. A pre-/posttest was administered, using the General Self-Efficacy Scale with data analysis employing the Mann–Whitney test and Pearson Goodness-of-Fit. The results indicated that PBL is superior to lecturing, with respect to an increase in computer self-efficacy.     

Using mimicking gestures to improve observational learning from instructional videos

Abstract

This study, generated from considerations of embodied cognition, observational learning, and cognitive load theory, investigated the effect of mimicking gestures on learning to play piano tasks. Fifty university students from an Australian University, with two different levels of piano-playing experience, were randomly assigned to one of the two different gesturing conditions in a 2 (gestures vs. no-gestures) × 2 (novice vs. more expertise) design. All groups viewed an animated video presentation of four musical scores being played on a piano with the hand motions visible, accompanied by the sounds of the notes played. Participants in the gesturing condition were required to gesture while watching the presentations, but in the no-gesturing condition, gesturing was prohibited. Test results indicated a significant learning advantage to gesturing with reduced cognitive load. It was also evident that the efficacy of gesturing was influenced by learner expertise and task complexity.     

运用教练技术辅助体育教学提高学习效率的尝试

本文通过问卷调查和对乌兰察布各高校的实地考察,了解体育课中教师在安排课程时侧重体育达标,忽视学生学习兴趣和综合能力的培养,与终身体育脱节等现状。针对这一现状本文通过文献资料的研究和对集宁师范学院学生进行将教练技术在体育教学中的提高学生学习效率的实验。研究表明,将教练技术应用在体育教学中有助于提高学生的学习效率,拓展学生的综合能力。本文作为体育教学研究,旨在探索教练技术在体育教学中的辅助作用。     

Using Facebook groups to support social presence in online learning

Building interpersonal connections in asynchronous online learning is important, but it is harder to achieve compared to face-to-face learning experiences due to its mostly text-based nature. Facebook is a popular social media platform and has been used as an outside-class communication space in formal learning contexts to supplement cognitive and affective aspects of learning. In this study, we used Facebook groups as supplemental social spaces in two asynchronous online master’s-level courses to understand if it impacted students’ perceptions of social presence (i.e., copresence, immediacy, and intimacy), learning interaction with faculty and peers, as well as sociability of the online learning environment. The results indicated that students felt more positively about social presence and learning interactions with other classmates and their instructor and perceived the course as having more sociability after they joined the class Facebook group. Findings have implications for supporting social impression formation in online learning.