Perspectives on continuing professional development in and through information and communications technology

This paper considers the role and development of meaningful dialogue in digitally mediated learning (DML) in UK higher education for teachers. It argues that more research is vital in the field of meaningful dialogue if we are to avoid the risk that pedagogic values in DML become increasingly driven by market forces toward ‘data vending’ without sufficient contextualisation of learning as social practice. Three data collection sources are interpreted. The first is the narrativised experiences of a DML development team transforming an MA Education award; the second is some key reflections on the experiences of MA participants on a newly transformed DML module and the third is a brief analysis of student results and evaluations. The key focus for the paper is how important and challenging it can be to nurture a dialogic academic community online that clearly supports and nurtures the professional development of teachers across the education sector. Using a methodological approach incorporating Ulrich’s notion of ‘reflective competence’, the paper considers the pitfalls of transforming face-to-face modules into DML, arguing that both staff and participant preparation for DML must be at the forefront of such transformations. The paper concludes with a consideration of the vital role in DML of pedagogies which promote emotional engagement and ‘kindness’.     

Perfecting Lessons Learned for Criminal Justice Online Graduate Education: Reflection,Integration, and Application

Criminal justice programs are seeing an increase in the number of online classes both at the graduate and undergraduate levels. At the graduate level, criminal justice online education requires students to achieve mastery of higher ordered thinking and advanced analytic skills. Some students may believe that online education is simply a matter of reading postings and writing simple responses to queries. In order to counter the view that modern online courses, particularly those at the graduate level, are not academic enough, online graduate faculty must find ways to engage students through useful course design and meaningful assessments that promote deep learning. Such engagement requires faculty and students to show reflection in design as well as the integration and application of course materials in a consistent and significant way. This paper will discuss our attempts to reframe graduate criminal justice online classes in order to enhance student engagement and, ultimately, their deeper learning.     

Designing and implementing peer formative feedback within online learning environments

With increasing need to achieve appropriate balance between learning support and self-regulation within the context of online learning, formative feedback has been identified as a viable means to achieve meaningful engagement. Specifically, this study sought to establish how peer–peer formative feedback was facilitated in an online course and to what extent this engaged students in meaningful learning experiences. This case study entailed an in-depth investigation into the design and implementation of an online course in a New Zealand university. The studied course was part of a postgraduate programme in continuing (in-service) teacher education. The study adopted a case study methodology with a bias on qualitative techniques. Online observations, analysis of the archived course discourse and interviews were utilised as sources of data. The data from multiple sources were subsequently triangulated to corroborate the evidence. The findings indicate that peer formative feedback promoted active learners’ participation and meaningful engagement. The findings further showed that opportunities for dialogic peer formative feedback promoted learning support and self-regulation.     

Interpersonal dimensions of community in graduate online learning: Exploring social presence through the lens of Systemic Functional Linguistics

This exploratory case study considers the interpersonal dimension of collaborative learning in an online graduate community that is based on a cohort approach to education which is characterized by the social construction of knowledge. Discourse data from two graduate courses are analyzed for interpersonal elements associated with social presence through the lens of Systemic Functional Linguistics. A general profile of the interpersonal dimension of the learning community is provided along with a consideration of cognitive engagement and the interpersonal dynamics of two dilemmatic situations. Data analyses indicate that social presence is much more than social chat and that the nature of the collaborative learning process is deeply intertwined with interpersonal engagement among participants.     

高职学生在线学习投入量表构建与实证分析

学生的学习行为投入是影响学习效果的重要因素。为了了解疫情防控期间高职学生在线学习行为投入现状,在学习行为投入、在线学习行为投入内涵界定及测量研究的基础上设计了6个维度的高职学生在线学习行为投入测量量表,并基于学校电子商务学院2018级237名学生在安徽省网络课程学习中心(e会学)平台上进行在线学习的系统后台数据以及课后针对学习过程调查的问卷数据,对20个测量指标进行描述性分析、阶段性变化分析以及与终局性在线考试成绩进行相关分析。最后提出有效激发学生在线学习行为投入的实践启示,包括强化线上教学的过程管理;丰富线上教学设计,激发学生学习积极性;坚持线上教学的高要求。     

在线学习准备度对大学生在线学习投入度的影响

在线学习投入是保证"停课不停学"期间在线教学质量的重要条件。对大学生开展调查,运用描述统计和回归分析法对疫情期间大学生在线学习准备度的现状、大学生在线学习投入度的现状进行分析,可以发现在线学习准备度对大学生在线学习投入度的影响以及在线学习自我效能感、感知教师支持、在线学习平台体验在其中的中介作用。结果表明:大学生在线学习准备不足;大学生在线学习投入整体不高;大学生在线学习准备度对大学生在线学习投入度具有显著影响;在线学习自我效能感、感知教师支持、在线学习平台体验在在线学习准备度和在线学习投入度之间存在中介效应。因此,可以从技术支持维度、在线学习资源设计维度、教师支持维度着手提升学生的在线学习投入度。     

参与式学习和网络教学法

人们对新学习机会的需求持续增长以及新的信息系统和通讯技术不断涌现,使得在线学习成为了教育实践中的中心话题。我们有必要建立一个框架,使那些有着不同文化、语言背景的远程学生产生有意义参与学习的经验。我们使用新术语“Cybergogy“来描述建立在线参与式学习所采用的策略,描述了为不同背景的远程学生创设认知、社会和情感三方面的学习经验。Cybergogy的核心是参与式学习,在参与式学习中学生自己确立学习目标、探索适当的资源、与其他人进行小组协作并以有意义的方式建构知识。我们所建立的“参与式学习的cybergogy模型“包括三个相互重叠/交叉的域:认知域、情感域和社会域。这一模型综合了当前的思想、观念和理论框架,它们是关于学生参与在线学习的这三个域上的程度和性质的。教师可以利用这一模型来描述每个学习者,然后设计针对每个人的策略,我们称这一过程为“customized engagement“。这样,学生不仅有机会实现自己的学习目标,而且将积极地参与学习过程。     

Technology‐enhanced learning in higher education: How to enhance student engagement through blended learning

Blended learning has risen in popularity in the last two decades as it has been shown to be an effective approach for accommodating an increasingly diverse student population in higher education and enriching the learning environment by incorporating online teaching resources. Blending significant elements of the learning environment such as face‐to‐face, online and self‐paced learning leads to better student experiences and outcomes and more efficient teaching and course management practices if combined appropriately. Hence, an appropriate systematic and dynamic approach of blended learning design is crucial for a positive outcome, starting with planning for integrating blended elements into a course and creating blended activities and implementing them. Evaluating their effectiveness and knowing in which environments they work better and improving the blended activities designed from both the student’s and instructor’s perspective are critical for the next delivery of the course. This article aims to increase awareness of higher education educators about how traditional face‐to‐face learning can be transformed into blended courses so as to develop student engagement with both in‐class and online approaches, whilst being time effective for the instructor.     

“Deaths in Prison Custody” Capstone Course: Engaging Final-Year Law Students In Service Learning and Public Value

Capstone service learning courses are designed to overcome the negative effects of fractioned knowledge by enabling students to consolidate and apply what they have learned over a program of study. They also promote a scholarship of engagement. This article documents the learning experiences of students on a Deaths in Prison Custody capstone service learning course. Though such a criminal justice course requires significant staff input and involves some loss of educational control, it has many benefits including enhanced learning, meaningful service, public value, and civic engagement. The focus on this article is on student learning experiences. It outlines how the pragmatic focus of such a course made knowledge and student learning relevant and actionable. It also describes how the deliberately unstructured design of the course, together with its emphasis on pubic value, encouraged autonomous and self-directed learning, prompting the students to take greater ownership of their learning.     

Course evaluation: reconfigurations for learning with learning management systems

The introduction of online delivery platforms such as learning management systems (LMS) in tertiary education has changed the methods and modes of curriculum delivery and communication. While course evaluation methods have also changed from paper-based in-class-administered methods to largely online-administered methods, the data collection instruments have remained unchanged. This paper reports on a small exploratory study of two tertiary-level courses. The study investigated why design of the instruments and methods to administer surveys in the courses are ineffective measures against the intrinsic characteristics of online learning. It reviewed the students' response rates of the conventional evaluations for the courses over an eight-year period. It then compared a newly developed online evaluation and the conventional methods over a two-year period. The results showed the response rates with the new evaluation method increased by more than 80% from the average of the conventional evaluations (below 30%), and the students' written feedback was more detailed and comprehensive than in the conventional evaluations. The study demonstrated the possibility that the LMS-based learning evaluation can be effective and efficient in terms of the quality of students' participation and engagement in their learning, and for an integrated pedagogical approach in an online learning environment.     

The role of students' motivation in peer‐moderated asynchronous online discussions

This study conducted a content analysis of online discussions to understand the nature of computer‐supported collaborative learning and discover how students' motivation, which is a crucial factor to the success of collaborative learning, relates with their interaction and knowledge construction in peer‐moderated online discussions. Discussion contents from 23 students in an online class were analysed. The results indicated that perceived value, competence and autonomy were critical factors that influenced lower level interactions; intrinsic motivation was the critical factor that influenced the individualistic elaboration interactions, whereas relatedness was the critical factor that influenced the collaborative elaboration interactions. The results also indicated that autonomy and relatedness were the critical factors that influenced the moderation behaviours. The findings suggest that teachers in online classes should promote students' motivation, and more importantly, scaffold student moderators in meaningful learning during peer‐moderated online discussions.     

Autonomy Support for Online Students

Despite the rapid growth of online learning in higher education, the dropout rates for online courses has reached 50 percent. Lack of student engagement rank as a critical reason for frequent online course dropout. This article discusses autonomy support as a strategy to enhance online students’ intrinsic motivation and engagement. Drawing from current theories and research, three guidelines are offered to provide choices, rationale behind why assignments are designed in particular ways, and flexibility in completing more personally meaningful assignments. Each guideline is accompanied with examples from existing higher education courses. This article is intended for educators and designers of online learning to employ autonomy support strategies to engage students in active participation and successful completion of the course.     

远程教育中在线学习投入与学习绩效关系的实证研究

提出了在线学习投入评估模型以及评估模型的具体度量指标,通过聚类K-means算法对国家开放大学样本数据进行聚类分析,结果表明在线学习投入与学习绩效的关系可以分为四种类型.在线学习投入与绩效关系的分类,有利于了解学习者学习投入特征,为开展个性化学习提供支持服务,为学习者提高学习质量提供数据支持和参考依据.     

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.     

学习者信息素养、在线学习投入及学习绩效关系的实证研究

中国在线教育“质量革命”已经到来,以学习者视角的在线学习分析与评估至关重要。该研究基于“学习预备—学习过程—学习结果”的3P分析框架,构建了学习者信息素养、在线学习投入、深度学习动机与策略,以及在线学习绩效各要素之间的在线学习影响因素关系模型,并采用结构方程模型法分析其作用关系和影响效应。研究表明,学习者信息素养对其在线学习投入、在线学习绩效、深度学习动机和策略均具有直接正向影响;在线学习投入对在线学习绩效具有直接正向影响;在线学习绩效对深度学习动机和策略具有直接正向影响;在线学习投入是信息素养与在线学习绩效的中介变量,但未达到关键程度;在线学习绩效是信息素养到深度学习动机和策略的关键中介变量,且对深度学习动机影响力大于深度学习策略。最后,文章提出优化学习者在线学习效果的相关研究建议。     

促进学习的评价:在线开放课程中同伴互评投入度研究

后疫情时代,提质增效是在线开放课程内涵式发展的重要抓手。重申促进学习的评价,强调学习者的深度参与,探究学习者参与同伴互评的特点及现存问题具有重要的现实意义。文章基于国内一门在线开放课程,采用学习分析技术从结构化与非结构化数据入手,分析在线开放课程同伴互评过程中学习者的投入度,并进一步探究同伴互评投入度与学习绩效的关系。研究结果表明,在线开放课程中学习者同伴互评的行为投入及认知投入不高,但是参与同伴互评能够识别更有动力通过课程的学习者,且其认知投入度能够预测其学习绩效。基于FBM(学习行为模型)模型提出促进同伴互评投入度的两阶段干预策略,从而提高学习者参与同伴互评的投入度,并为教师及平台提供更具针对性的策略建议。     

Strategies for Designing Engaging Online Kinesiology Courses Based on the Community of Inquiry Model

Technology integration has become an ever-present phenomenon in institutions of higher education. This has led to an increase in online learning experiences that make higher education accessible to those who previously experienced barriers, such as having full-time jobs. One issue that affects online education is the challenge of engaging the learner in meaningful learning experiences that they subsequently use once they are in their careers. This article uses the Community of Inquiry (CoI) theoretical model to explain how instructors can increase student engagement in online kinesiology courses. By focusing on the CoI constructs of teaching presence, cognitive presence, and social presence, instructors can design engaging online classes that can help to positively influence each student’s experience with online education.     

基于系统动力学的在线学习投入度影响研究——学习生态观视角

为全面系统分析在线学习投入度影响因素,提升学习者在线学习质量,从学习生态观视角出发,使用系统动力学方法,构建学习者在线学习投入度影响因素系统动力学模型。采用层次分析法对模型进行仿真分析,结果显示：教学环境、社会交互环境、情感心理环境对学习者在线学习投入影响较强,物理环境和制度规范环境影响较弱。进一步分析表明,教学活动设计、与教师交互和情感体验是影响在线学习投入的高杠杆因素。从精心设计教学活动,优化教学环境;发挥教师主导作用,构造多边良性循环的社会交互环境;增强学习者情感体验,构建各子系统协同共建的情感心理环境等方面着手,致力于提升学习者在线学习质量,能促进在线学习系统平衡、协调和可持续发展。     

Conceptualising online knowledge sharing: what teachers’ perceptions can tell us

This study questions the current dependence on theories of social learning and communities of practice in research on teachers’ online learning and online knowledge-sharing behaviour. It employs the interpretative approach to examine how teachers conceptualise their engagement with two USA-based online knowledge-sharing platforms within the context of their broader teaching practice. The findings suggest that the platforms, together with teachers’ engagement with them, are intimately connected with, and must be understood in reference to, both the online and offline contexts in which they operate, with each setting providing unique affordances that shape engagement and outcomes. Teachers’ engagement was largely motivated by their individual knowledge requirements and practice-based needs, resulting in learning primarily being individually rather than socially mediated and constructed.     

Meaningful interaction in web-based learning: A social constructivist interpretation

Interaction is an essential ingredient in any learning process. However, every interaction does not lead to increased learning. When interaction has a direct influence on learners' intellectual growth, we can say the interaction is meaningful. The precise meaning of meaningful interaction is strongly related to the learning theories underlying the development of particular learning environments. The primary goal of this paper is to re-conceptualize online interaction in terms of meaningful learning based on the learning theory known as social constructivism. Analyzing interaction through this theoretical framework may yield design principles needed to improve the quality of Web-based learning environments. A secondary goal of this paper is to present the implications of meaningful online interaction for researchers and developers.