Web‐based reading annotation system with an attention‐based self‐regulated learning mechanism for promoting reading performance

Due to the rapid development of information technology, web‐based learning has become a dominant trend. That is, learners can often learn anytime and anywhere without being restricted by time and space. Autonomic learning primarily occurs in web‐based learning environments, and self‐regulated learning (SRL) is key to autonomic learning performance. Moreover, sustained attention to web‐based learning activities can be challenging for students. Therefore, a web‐based reading annotation system with an attention‐based self‐regulated learning mechanism (ASRLM), which is based on brainwave detection, is designed to enhance the sustained attention of learners while reading annotated English texts online, and thereby promote online reading performance. In total, 126 Grade 7 students in four classes at a junior high school in New Taipei City, Taiwan, are the participants. Among the four classes, two classes are randomly distributed to the experimental group and the other two classes are randomly distributed to the control group. The experimental group utilizes the ASRLM to support their reading of annotated English texts online, whereas the control group is not supported by the ASRLM while reading annotated English texts online. Experimental results show that sustained attention and reading comprehension of the experimental group are better than those of the control group. Moreover, the web‐based reading system with ASRLM support promotes the sustained attention and reading comprehension of female learners more than those of male learners while reading annotated English texts online. Additionally, learners with high‐SRL ability in the experimental group have better sustained attention and reading comprehension than those learners with low‐SRL ability. Furthermore, the sustained attention and reading comprehension of the experimental group are strongly correlated, and the duration of sustained attention strongly predicts their reading comprehension performance.     

Mindfulness for Teachers: A Pilot Study to Assess Effects on Stress,Burnout, and Teaching Efficacy

Despite the crucial role of teachers in fostering children's academic learning and social–emotional well‐being, addressing teacher stress in the classroom remains a significant challenge in education. This study reports results from a randomized controlled pilot trial of a modified Mindfulness‐Based Stress Reduction course (mMBSR) adapted specifically for teachers. Results suggest that the course may be a promising intervention, with participants showing significant reductions in psychological symptoms and burnout, improvements in observer‐rated classroom organization and performance on a computer task of affective attentional bias, and increases in self‐compassion. In contrast, control group participants showed declines in cortisol functioning over time and marginally significant increases in burnout. Furthermore, changes in mindfulness were correlated in the expected direction with changes across several outcomes (psychological symptoms, burnout, and sustained attention) in the intervention group. Implications of these findings for the training and support of teachers are discussed.     

Key issues for research in self‐directed learning

This paper consists of two parts. The first part gives an overview of two major paradigms which have influenced research in education; the positivist/empiricist and the interpretive. It is argued that research into self‐direction has been dominated by the positivist/empiricist paradigm and that, because of a fundamental incompatibility between the assumptions underlying positivism and those underlying ‘self‐direction,’ research into self‐direction has been ‘blocked.’ It is suggested that the adoption of an interpretive paradigm promises to reinvigorate and redirect research into self‐direction in learning.

The second part of the paper represents an attempt to develop a research agenda into self‐direction from an interpretive perspective; that is, one which takes account of the learner's subjective construing of the learning situation. This subjective construing includes pur elements: (1) the learner's view of learning in general; (2) the learner's view of the specific learning endeavour being researched; (3) the learner's view of assistance or direction received; and (4) the learner's view of autonomous leaming and the development of personal autonomy. It is also suggested that any adequate research into ‘self‐direction’ should ideally take account of the perspective of the facilitator or other person offering help and assistance, since learning situations depend largely on the quality of the relationship established between the learner and the ‘helper’.     

The use of self,peer and teacher assessment as a feedback system in a learning environment aimed at fostering skills of cooperation in an entrepreneurial context

Education is criticized for producing inert knowledge and for paying too little attention to skills such as cooperating and problem solving. Powerful learning environments have the potential to overcome these educational shortcomings. The goal of this research was to find out ways in which a ‘learning enterprise’ can best be supported (coached) in order to constitute a powerful learning environment aimed at teaching certain cooperative skills in a business context. This ‘learning enterprise’ constitutes an entrepreneurial context in which students in secondary or higher education are working together to conceptualize and eventually commercialize a product. In this research, the impact of different ways of supporting a learning enterprise will be compared. These ways are based on existing guiding principles for the design of powerful learning environments and on a further elaboration of these principles in what is conceptualized as an ‘equilibrium model’. In this model, the balances that are needed between motivating students, activating them towards self‐regulated learning, coaching, structuring and steering the learning processes have been elaborated. Based on this model a differentiation between a ‘student‐controlled’, a ‘teacher‐controlled and a ‘coached approach’, as an equilibrated way between the various approaches to coaching a learning enterprise, has been worked out. We hypothesize that the coached approach will give the best learning results in relation to cooperative skills. A combination of self, peer and teacher assessment of these skills, and an adequate feedback‐strategy based on these assessments, should be an important part of approaches used. These approaches were put into practice in a design experiment, and the impact was compared by means of a pre‐test/post‐test design. Results confirmed the postulated hypotheses that there will need to be a balance between, on the one hand giving students enough freedom for self‐discovery and self‐regulation, and on the other hand steering the students in such a way that certain problems can be avoided and that every student can get optimal learning chances. An adequate assessment‐strategy is needed to search for this balance. Further, a systematic action research of the design experiences resulted in more information on how best to coach a learning enterprise. This information has been summarized in the form of general guidelines.     

How Adults Learn from Self‐Paced,Technology‐Based Corporate Training: New focus for learners,new focus for designers

How do adults learn from self‐paced, technology‐based corporate training, which they select based on its relevance to their current employment responsibilities? Specifically, how do adults use the following learning strategies: prior experience, reflection, metacognition, conversations, generative learning strategies, and authentic experiences? Based on a recent dissertation research investigation, the author found that learning starts with, and is sustained by, metacognition which was defined as self‐assessment and self‐correction. While learners using metacognition is by no means a new phenomenon, learners using metacognition significantly more often than other learning strategies has important implications for the design of new generations of online distance instruction. Similarly, that learners frequently use conversations to learn from self‐paced, technology‐based training strongly suggests that dialogs and discussions are important in the design of these new ways of learning.     

Enhancing student self‐worth in the primary school learning environment: teachers' views and students' views

This paper reports the findings from a study of teachers and students' views regarding self‐worth in the primary school learning environment. The revised New Zealand curriculum recognises the importance of self‐worth in students' motivation and ability to learn. While the need to enhance self‐worth in the classroom has been well established in the literature, similarities and differences between teachers and students' understanding of the impact of various classroom interactions on self‐worth has not received the same attention. The purpose of the research reported on in this paper was to provide further insight for teachers, thereby enabling them to strengthen classroom relationships and their students' learning experiences in ways commensurate with enhancing students' feelings of self‐worth.     

Self‐Processes of Acceptance,Compassion, and Regulation of Learning in University Students with Learning Disabilities and/or ADHD

University students with a learning disability (LD) represent a growing fraction of the student population within North America. Although past research has focused on cognitive aspects of living with an LD and/or attention‐deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), social–emotional factors have received less attention. Such factors may play an important role in self‐regulation of learning. This study investigated the relations among self‐compassion, self‐acceptance of an LD, and self‐regulated learning in university students with an LD and/or ADHD. Participants were 78 university students who self‐identified as possessing an LD and/or ADHD. Variables were measured using an online questionnaire. These students had lower self‐compassion scores than found by researchers in other studies. Correlational analyses revealed significant associations among self‐acceptance of an LD, self‐compassion, and self‐regulated learning.     

The Relationship between Behavioral Inattention,Meta‐Attention,and Graduate Students' Online Information Seeking

Success in postsecondary education requires proficiency with academic online information seeking. Navigating the internet to find information is a complicated task that is vulnerable to lapses in attention. This study examined the relationships among Canadian graduate students' self‐reported behavioral inattention symptoms, awareness and regulation of attentional focus (meta‐attention), and online academic information seeking abilities. One‐hundred and thirteen (99 female) graduate students (83 master's level, 27 doctoral level) completed an online self‐report questionnaire examining domain‐ and strategic‐experience, behavioral inattention symptoms, meta‐attention, and online information seeking ability. Results indicated that self‐reported inattention symptoms, both components of meta‐attention and domain experience each significantly predicted unique variance in online information seeking ability. Implications for research and intervention are discussed.     

Learning in the visual arts and the worldviews of young children

This paper reports a research study into the effects of rich, sustained visual arts instruction on 103 inner city 9‐year‐olds in two major US cities. We use the lenses of social learning theory, theories of motivation and self‐efficacy, and recent research on artistic thinking to investigate the programs' effects on children's self‐beliefs and creative thinking. The study enlisted a pre–post measure, treatment‐comparison group design along with structured observations of participant and comparison group classrooms. The arts students made significant comparative gains on a self‐efficacy scale and on an ‘originality’ subscale of a standard creativity test. These effects are attributed to children's engagement in art and to the social organization of instruction including reinforcing peer and student–adult relationships. Relationships between self‐efficacy beliefs and tendencies to think originally are explored.     

An empirical investigation of students' behavioural intentions to use the online learning course websites

With the development of the Internet in the era of knowledge‐driven economy, e‐learning is experiencing rapid growth. The online learning course websites are drawing more attention as well. This research combines the innovation diffusion theory and the technology acceptance model, and adds two research variables, perceived system quality and computer self‐efficacy to propose a new hybrid technology acceptance model to study students' behavioural intentions to use the online learning course websites. This research finds that compatibility, perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, perceived system quality and computer self‐efficacy were critical factors for students' behavioural intentions to use the online learning course websites. By explaining students' behavioural intentions from a user's perspective, the findings of this research help to develop more user‐friendly websites and also provide insight into the best way to promote new e‐learning tools for students.     

A model for self‐regulated distance language learning

The role of learner autonomy and self‐regulated learning in distance education has received much attention. The application of these concepts impacts course design and, potentially, learner achievement. In the case of distance language learning, course designers must consider not only how to help learners gain communicative competence but also language learner strategies that support success. Although the concepts of autonomy and self‐regulated learning share some similarities, they have been variously defined and applied to distance education. Current research and discussion has not synthesized the ways in which these factors can be more fully utilized to improve distance education. Based on a critical review and synthesis of the literature on autonomy and self‐regulation, this article contributes a new model for distance language learning. The model provides guidance for course designers and assists instructors in supporting their students.     

Challenges for self‐assessment in religious education

This article explores the place of self‐assessment in religious education in the light of general research into self‐assessment, particularly as part of assessment for learning. In particular, it analyses the problems of ‘enculturation’ of learners into classroom assessment practice in religious education. The distinction between assessment of learning and assessment for learning is described and, applied to the distinction between learning about religions and learning from religion. The four types of self‐assessment are set out, with an analysis of the challenges facing teachers in getting pupils to apply common current assessment criteria to their own work. Overall, four problems arise from pupils using current assessment criteria. They are identified as: (i) the issue of ‘plasticity’, (ii) the timing of self‐assessment processes, (iii) the problem of assessment of affective qualities, and (iv) the confusion between self‐assessment and learning from religion. Finally, the implications of these problems for both further research and for pedagogy are discussed.     

The Multiple Subfunctions of Attention: Differential Developmental Gateways to Literacy and Numeracy

Attention is construed as multicomponential, but the roles of its distinct subfunctions in shaping the broader developing cognitive landscape are poorly understood. The current study assessed 3‐ to 6‐year‐olds (N = 83) to: (a) trace developmental trajectories of attentional processes and their structure in early childhood and (b) measure the impact of distinct attention subfunctions on concurrent and longitudinal abilities related to literacy and numeracy. Distinct trajectories across attention measures revealed the emergence of 2 attentional factors, encompassing “executive” and “sustained–selective” processes. Executive attention predicted concurrent abilities across domains at Time 1, whereas sustained–selective attention predicted basic numeracy 1 year later. These concurrent and longitudinal constraints cast a broader light on the unfolding relations between domain‐general and domain‐specific processes over early childhood.     

AN EXAMINATION OF THE ASSOCIATION BETWEEN OBSERVED AND SELF‐REPORTED CULTURALLY PROFICIENT TEACHING PRACTICES

A critical next step in advancing our understanding of teacher practices that can equitably engage and support learning in diverse classrooms is determining the effectiveness of culturally responsive interventions. Yet, quantitative measurement indicators of the effectiveness of culturally responsive teaching interventions are scarce. Most research relies exclusively on self‐reports, with limited attention to issues of social desirability, and few studies observe teacher practices. Data come from 142 K‐8 teachers in six schools who were assessed via the Assessing School Settings: Interactions of Students and Teachers (ASSIST), an externally‐conducted observation, and who also provided self‐report data of cultural responsiveness. Analyses indicated that teachers self‐reported higher rates of culturally responsive teaching strategies than were observed on the ASSIST. There were, however, significant associations between observations and teachers’ ratings of self‐efficacy. Findings suggest a need for additional research to develop and validate efficient, multi‐informant approaches for assessing cultural responsiveness in the classroom.     

Interrelations between self‐efficacy and learning approaches: a developmental approach

Two major theoretical frameworks in educational psychology, namely student approaches to learning (SAL) and self‐efficacy have been used extensively to explain and predict students’ learning and academic achievement. There is a substantial body of research studies, for example, that documents the positive interrelations between individuals’ self‐efficacy beliefs and their approaches to learning. In particular, evidence ascertained from structural equation analyses suggests both a positive sense of academic self‐efficacy and deep learning approach combined to influence students’ academic achievement. More recently, albeit limited, research has focused on the study of developmental changes of these two constructs over time. As a contribution to this approach, we used latent growth curve modelling (LGM) to explore the initial states and trajectories of self‐efficacy and the two major learning approaches – surface and deep – over a two‐year period. Furthermore, we regressed both gender and academic experience as possible external correlates that could account for the change in the two theoretical frameworks. Two hundred and fifty‐two (116 females, 136 males) university students were administered Likert‐scale inventories on three occasions. SPSS AMOS showed a few major findings – notably, for example, the negative impact of academic experience on the change in self‐efficacy and the positive impact of academic experience on the initial states of self‐efficacy and surface learning approach.     

A sociocultural analysis of organisational learning

The concept of organisational learning has been widely debated and frequently contested by educationalists, but the specific processes and actions which constitute this form of learning have received relatively little research attention. This paper reports a three‐year empirical investigation into organisational learning in a large industrial complex, with the aim of clarifying the practices of organisational learning and interpreting them within sociocultural learning theory. A sociocultural model is proposed which identifies dialogue as the fundamental process by which organisations learn, and relational practices as the social structure which embeds the dialogue and makes it sustainable in a potentially conflictual environment. Three relational practices are analysed in detail: opening space for the creation of shared meaning, reconstituting power relationships and providing cultural tools to mediate learning. A pedagogy of organisational learning is defined in terms of participation in these practices, either as the carrier of a practice or as the facilitator of participation by others. The theoretical requirement that adult learning must be autonomous is reconciled with the concept of collective learning in pursuit of organisational goals by rejecting the notion of an individually‐contained self in favour of a relational concept of the self, in which autonomy is achieved by building relationships with others.     

Reflections on self‐directed adult learning: some implications for educators of adults

Self‐directed learning has attracted intense interest among researchers, theoreticians and practitioners in adult education and human resource development. This paper explores some general reasons for this, before examining several different perspectives on self‐directed adult learning. The main theme is that attention needs now to be focused less on process and more on the self‐directed learner. The key element in self‐directed learning, it is argued, is reflection. This concept is analysed and implications drawn for the educator of adults.     

Student Self‐evaluation Processes in Student‐centred Teaching and Learning Contexts of Australia and England

Student self‐evaluation processes and their impact on pedagogy, in the promotion of sound reflective student [1] practices, are the focus of this article. The ways in which students self‐evaluate and teachers integrate these self‐evaluative processes into their teaching practice in Australian and English contexts are analysed. The educational sites chosen for focus are engaged in implementing student‐centred teaching and learning practices. This article is based on research that draws on data analysed using case‐study methodology. For a period of 6 months student self‐evaluation processes were examined in both an Australian secondary high school and an English Further Education (EE) college which was piloting the advanced General National Vocational Qualification (GNVQ) science programme. The introduction of the skills of self‐evaluation to students offers an added dimension to the current learning environment. It provides students with opportunities to take increased responsibility for, and a more active role in, their own learning. An underlying assumption of this research is that there exists a need to examine how learning in the classroom is structured, and that it is this dimension to teaching and learning that makes a difference. A fundamental premise is that student self‐evaluation is an educative activity.     

Assessing Readiness for E‐Learning

ABSTRACT Today, e‐learning is a common delivery media for education and training within many organizations. Yet, while both the supply and demand for e‐learning opportunities has risen in recent years, many professionals are beginning to question whether e‐learn‐ers are prepared to be successful in an online learning environment (e.g., Gug‐lielmino & Guglielmino, 2003; Watkins & Corry, 2005). After all, a learner's demonstrated success in a conventional education and training classroom may not be an adequate predictor of success in an e‐learning classroom. One way of gauging a potential online learner's readiness is through self‐assessment. As a first step in defining an instrument that measures an e‐learner's readiness, with the cooperation of volunteer participants from the U.S. Coast Guard, this study looked into the validity and internal consistency of items within a self‐assessment of e‐learning readiness that is under development, and provided data for the continuing development and revision of the instrument. Having demonstrated evidence of internal consistency and construct validity, the self‐assessment now provides a tool for continuing research into the prediction of e‐learning performance. Funding for this study was provided by the International Society for Performance Improvement.     

The Feeling of Thinking in Professional Self‐study

Studying one's own professional work is no straightforward matter and adopting the reflective mode is not simply a cerebral activity. As we study our teaching, we are studying the images we hold of ourselves as teachers. Where these established self‐images are challenged, questioned and perhaps threatened in the learning process we may experience feelings of instability, anxiety, negativity, even depression. This is especially so if the ‘self we come to see in self‐study is not the “self we think we are, or the ‘self we would like to be. Thinking about our work In self‐evaluation can thus be a highly charged emotional experience, one from which we may be tempted to retreat, thus endangering further learning. If, on the other hand, we have the support of caring, sensitive and interested critical friends to help us through these potentially dangerous processes of self‐evaluation, we are more likely to remain open to further learning and professional development. The company we keep and the circumstances under which we enter into self‐study may have a significant effect, for better or worse, on our professional learning. These issues are illustrated by the experience of two award‐seeking teacher action researchers who used video in their classrooms to aid their self‐study. The paper argues for greater attention to be given to the nature of the learning climate in which self‐study, self‐evaluation and developmental self‐appraisal take place. If the learning climate is not ‘right’, self‐study may become self‐defeating.