A distinctive theory of teaching and learning for older learners: why and why not?

In the wake of the world’s fast-growing ageing populations and the increasing recognition of the benefits of later life learning towards successful ageing, opportunities for elders and senior persons to engage in learning have proliferated, resulting in an array of programmes and activities being planned and organized by governments, universities, schools, non-government organizations and even hospices in many parts of the world, particularly in developed regions and economies where the opportunities and challenges brought forth by an ageing populace are more pronounced. Amidst the rising importance of elder learning and the increasing provision of learning opportunities for older adults, attention is drawn to the differences in the teaching and learning of this particular group of learners, who are experiencing significant social and psychological transitions in addition to personal changes in senior adulthood. Yet, does the mere fact that they are different from other learners, such as children and younger adults, merit a distinctive theory of teaching and learning for this unique group of older learners? The aim of this paper is to present arguments for and against such a proposition on the grounds of pedagogical principles, needs and motivations as well as difficulties and barriers, pertinent to the learning and teaching of older learners as they advance into a later stage of the lifecycle. Also, suggestions are offered regarding the approach, methods and strategies to be used for the facilitation of learning and the planning and organization of learning opportunities, be they formal, non-formal, or informal, which are appropriate for older learners.     

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。     

I don’t need peer support: effective tutoring in blended learning environments for part-time,adult learners

ABSTRACT

Given the rise of social media engagement within society, there are challenges for tutors in blended and online contexts to provide opportunities for social constructivist learning experiences within their institutional learning environments. This article proposes a module approach to teaching, learning and assessment for learners undertaking part-time, vocationally related degrees. A mixed methods approach was adopted to conduct a detailed exploration of eight tutors’ practice with data gathered from three principal sources. Interviews with tutors explored their approaches to delivery and considered factors that impacted on quality; students’ perceptions of their learning experiences were assessed using an attitude survey; and an analysis of the content and communications in the virtual learning environment provided insight into tutors’ online practice. Analysis of modules suggested limited online peer-to-peer interaction, with tutors noting the difficulties of promoting engagement. The article argues for a constructivist approach in this context with a need for tutors to promote a simple module structure, focused around assessment, that creates space for learning. This structure appeared appropriate for these learners, enabling them to manage the influence of daily events, together with pressures and time constraints of work. The findings could aid tutors in designing and delivering courses for similar groups of learners.     

Autonomy supported,learner-controlled or system-controlled learning in hypermedia environments and the influence of academic self-regulation style

This study focuses on learning in three different hypermedia environments that either support autonomous learning, learner-controlled learning or system-controlled learning and explores the mediating role of academic self-regulation style (ASRS; i.e. a macro level of motivation) on learning. This research was performed to gain more insight in the conditions under which learning in hypermedia environments is effective. Sixty-nine grade five students from a primary school answered short essay questions using video material from a hypermedia environment. The effects on task motivation and test performance were measured. It was found that learners in the autonomy supported hypermedia environment reported lower levels of controlled task motivation, compared to the learners in the system-controlled and learner-controlled hypermedia environments. But there were no effects of hypermedia environment on autonomous task motivation or the reported need fulfilment for autonomy. Furthermore, learners in the learner-controlled hypermedia environment scored lower on a delayed, In-Depth Knowledge Test compared to learners in the other two environments. Moreover, learners in the autonomy supported hypermedia environment watched more (unique) videos compared to learners in the system-controlled and the learner-controlled hypermedia environments. As for the role of learners' ASRS, we found no interaction with the type of hypermedia environment on task motivation or performance. Learners' ASRS did, however, affect the learners' motivation for the task. And, when presented with advice (as in the autonomy supported hypermedia environment) learners with an autonomous self-regulation style followed more advice, compared to learners with a more controlled self-regulation style.     

Preparing preservice teachers for self-regulated learning in the context of technological pedagogical content knowledge

The present study investigated effects of two hypermedia environments on 95 preservice university teachers' self-regulated learning (SRL) in the context of technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPCK): hypermedia with metacognitive instruction (HYP + META) and without (HYP). The study combined online reflections with self-report measures to assess SRL processes. Results showed that exposure to metacognitive support using the IMPROVE self-questioning method may enhance preservice teachers' ability to reflect on and regulate their learning processes. This, in turn, can develop their TPCK, both as learners (comprehension skills) and as teachers (design skills). Further analysis indicated high correlations within SRL measures (self-reports, online reflections) and between SRL and TPCK tasks. Implications are discussed for teacher training in SRL-integrated TPCK contexts.     

Meaningful learning and creativity in virtual worlds

Virtual worlds open new possibilities for learners, prompting a reconsideration of how learning takes place, and setting education in a context of playfulness, delight and creativity. They provide environments in which it is not only possible but also necessary to generate and try out ideas. They therefore offer opportunities to explore new possibilities related to teaching and learning about creativity and to challenge assumptions about the creative capabilities of young learners. The research reported here focuses on a group of teenaged learners who worked together online in the virtual world of Second Life®, as well as using other online tools. It applies thematic analysis to a 120-post forum discussion carried out over two weeks, in which 19 learners and educators debated how to develop their virtual island, and sets this discussion in the context of ongoing interaction within this group. Their focus widened from building plans to cover the creation and maintenance of a community, creatively synthesising considerations relating to environment, ethics, governance, aesthetics and purpose. The teenagers’ creativity when dealing with this authentic problem extended well beyond the elements identified by England's National Curriculum, and was supported by staff's active and supportive engagement in the debate.     

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.     

ZPD-activated languaging and collaborative L2 writing

Recent second/foreign language (L2) research has witnessed the application of sociocultural tenets to L2 classrooms. This study aimed to probe whether Iranian L2 learners’ engagement in ZPD-activated collaborative dialogue, or ‘languaging’, mediates their learning process and, specifically, their appropriate use of metadiscourse to address content, organisation and audience issues in writing. English-as-a-foreign-language-writing classes at two universities were assigned to four different instructional conditions, namely, ZPD-activated collaborative, ZPD-free collaborative, fine-tuned L2-input provision and prevalent teacher-fronted approaches. The data comprised metadiscourse-oriented writing test scores, weekly writings and audio-recorded in-class collaborative dialogues of the ZPD groups. The results demonstrated the ZPD-activated collaborative writing approach significantly facilitated the learners’ appropriate use of metadiscourse. Complementary interpretative analysis of the ZPD participants’ metadiscourse-related episodes showed that the initially-other-regulated (undistributed) writing tasks became progressively reciprocal with less-skilled peers displaying microgenetic use of L2 metadiscourse resources and dynamically assuming more participatory roles in regulating the writing tasks. The findings suggest engagement in ZPD-activated ‘languaging’ is crucial to shaping opportunities for L2 learners’ microgenetic learning and to their longer term cognitive development. In sum, the application of sociocultural tenets and notions has shown to be highly fruitful in explaining the social genesis of L2 development as a higher order psychological functioning.     

Factors influencing the pursuit of personal learning goals in MOOCs

MOOCs are promising opportunities for lifelong learning, but as promising as these learning opportunities seem, many learners do not succeed in pursuing their personal learning goals. Barriers to learning are the main reason for not finishing the intended (parts of the) MOOCs. This study addressed the question whether the factors age, gender, educational level, and online learning experience affect barriers faced while learning in MOOCs. The results show that it is challenging to combine work and family life with lifelong (online) learning activities, especially for learners in their early adulthood and mid-life. However, more experience with online learning positively affects individuals’ ability to cope with these challenges. Also, learners with a lower educational level may experience a lack of knowledge or difficulties with the course content. These findings may serve as input to inform potentially vulnerable learners about these issues and support them in successfully achieving their personal learning goals.     

Older learning engagement in the modern city

Abstract

This research employs novel techniques to examine older learners’ journeys, educationally and physically, in order to gain a ‘three-dimensional’ picture of lifelong learning in the modern urban context of Glasgow. The data offers preliminary analyses of an ongoing 1500 household survey by the Urban Big Data Centre (UBDC). A sample of 1037, with 377 older adults aged 60+, was examined to understand older learner engagement in formal, in-formal, non-formal and family-learning contexts. Preliminary findings indicate that all forms of older learning participation are lower than younger and middle-age counterparts. However, there is a subset of ‘actively ageing’, socially and technologically engaged older adult ‘learner-citizens’, participating in educational, physical, cultural, civic and online activities (including online political discussions and boycotts). These older learners were more likely to be working, caretakers and report better health overall. Long-term disabilities were associated with less engagement in non-formal learning activities. Additionally, engaged older learners’ GPS trails show more city activity than their matched non-learning-engaged counterparts. Place-based variables, such as feeling safe and belonging to the local area, moderated adult participation in learning activities. The full data-set will be accessible to researchers and the general public via UBDC, providing a complex data source to explore demographically diverse learners’ within an urban context.     

在职教师网上学习困难之调查报告

网上学习为在职教师提供了一种灵活的进修机会,促进了教师终身学习的发展。然而,通过几年的实践,学员们在这一新的学习模式下会产生哪些困难呢?本研究以华东师范大学网络教育学院在职进修教师为样本,采用网上问卷调查的方法,旨在探讨在职教师网上学习的主要困难及影响因素。本研究收回的有效问卷为196份。研究发现,教师网上学习的困难包括基础设施条件、操作技能、资源,以及个人等方面,影响网上学习主要因素包括网上教师水平、网上学习环境、网上学习支持等等。根据在职教师网上学习困难的综合分析,作者提出了一系列改进网络教学的策略性建议,可供网上教学工作者参考。     

学历继续教育学习者在线自我调节学习现状与影响因素研究

在线自我调节学习是增强学习者在线学习投入、提升学习绩效的重要保障。当下在线开放课程在各级各类教育中广泛深度应用,国内外学者主要关注高等教育全日制学习者在线自我调节学习的相关研究,对学历继续教育学习者的关注较为罕见。采用混合研究法,对疫情防控期间,陕西、广东、云南等三省参与在线课程学习的学历继续教育学习者在线自我调节学习的现状、影响因素及优化策略进行了系统研究,结果发现:研究样本在线自我调节学习现状不是很理想,主要受个人因素、课程因素、文化因素和管理因素的影响,最终从优化课程、重构学习空间、加强过程监控等三个方面提出了调节和优化策略。     

Older Australian's Motivation for University Enrollment and Their Perception of the Role of Tertiary Education in Promoting Healthy Aging: A National Cross-Sectional Study

The aims of this study were to describe the characteristics of older Australian university students (aged 60+ years); to identify the factors that motivate late-life, tertiary-level learning; and to capture older students’ views about the role of tertiary-level learning in promoting healthy aging. In 2012, an invitation to participate in the study was sent to all 39 Australian universities, seeking their support and cooperation to recruit students aged 60+ years into the study. Eligible participants were asked to complete an online survey that comprised a range of closed and open-ended questions related to their university study. Narrative data were coded into themes using an inductive approach in QSR NVivo. A total of 626 older students completed the online survey. Just over half (55%) of the sample were women, 86% were aged between 60–70 years of age, 49% held a graduate qualification, and the majority (69%) were born in Australia. Participants cited a range of personal and vocational motivations for enrolling in a university course. They believed that university-level learning kept the mind and brain active; enabled access to an interesting, challenging, and purposeful activity; promoted social engagement and intergenerational communication; and improved confidence, knowledge, and skills. Future prospective experimental studies of older learners are required to objectively assess the impact of university-level learning on their health and wellbeing, including cognitive function. These data will quantify the benefits of tertiary-level learning to older people and society.     

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.     

在线学习者学习风格测量初探

文章研究的目的是通过在线学习者的浏览行为来测量在线学习者的学习风格,研究中作者借助于Hopfield神经网络分析在线学习者在利用网络课程进行学习的过程中所建构出的概念图来确定学习者的学习风格。     

A Framework for Transition: Supporting 'Learning to Learn' in Higher Education

In this paper, a framework for developing first‐year students' learning is proposed. Its aim is to increase university managers' and teachers' awareness of two issues: (1) that the currently predominant ‘skills’ approaches to the enhancement of student learning are based on a deficiency model and achieve little more than remedying the overt problems of individual students and (2) that a holistic, subject‐specific approach is needed to support all students in the complex process of learning to learn in higher education. The framework aims at facilitating transition to university by helping students to understand what is expected from them at university, by addressing their conceptions of learning and knowledge and by gradually developing their competence as independent learners as well as their competence in constructing knowledge in their discipline. Different contexts are used to apply complementary methods for the development of learning. As the framework relies on the engagement of academic teachers, it is critical that university managers and policy makers give appropriate recognition to effective teaching. This involves instigating changes in conceptions of teaching, providing opportunities for educational development and setting incentives for teachers' commitment to student learning.     

基于ISM与AHP的学习者在线学习投入影响因素研究

在线学习投入程度影响在线学习质量,探究在线学习投入影响因素对于改善在线学习效果具有重要意义。将解释结构模型（ISM）和层次分析法（AHP）相结合,在文献研究与专家访谈基础上建立在线学习投入影响因素多层次结构,确定各层级因素的综合权重系数。研究结果表明：学习动机、自我效能感和教学方法是最直接影响因素,网络技术环境、学习动机、自我效能感、教师参与度、学习支持服务和在线交互环境为最主要影响因素。提出引导和激励在线学习者,提供良好的情感支持;提升教师存在感和参与度,提供充足的教师支持;营造积极的在线交互环境,提供多元的学习支持等策略,提升学习者在线学习投入。     

Course Format and Student Learning Styles: A Comparison of Political Science Courses

ABSTRACT

This study investigates whether differences in learning styles exist between students in online and face-to-face (FTF) sections of political science courses taught by three instructors. Some studies suggest that student preferences regarding online or FTF formats are influenced by their preferred modes of learning. Independent learners, for example, may prefer online courses since they provide individualistic opportunities to study outside of the traditional classroom. This study uses original survey data to assign students one of six learning styles in order to assess whether independent learners are more common in online courses. Our analysis finds no significant differences in independent learners when comparing the two formats. This finding runs counter to studies that argue that independent learners tend to prefer online courses. In fact, the only learning style where we observe a meaningful difference among online and FTF formats is among dependent learners. Contrary to expectation, students enrolled in online versions demonstrated a greater tendency toward dependent modes of learning. Further survey responses suggest that student lifestyle drove course format selection rather than learning style. These findings have important implications for universities that increasingly turn to online courses to address decreasing enrollments and attempt to remedy the high attrition rates associated with those courses.     

It's a New World: Multiculturalism in a virtual environment

The notion of multiculturalism is vital in our global society. The emergence of efficient and effective distance learning technologies has permitted the integration of innovative techniques in the delivery of multicultural content to individuals who need flexible and convenient education and training opportunities. Strategies form the instructional foundation that promotes engagement of learners. Integral to these strategies are those that relate to personal belief systems and extension of those belief systems to behaviors. This article will add new ways of teaching and learning in the areas of diversity and multiculturalism by offering a model for building highly supportive, engaging online environments, where instructors, trainers, and instructional designers use multiple strategies to build virtual environments that foster a sense of dignity, respect, and understanding: all critical elements in a global environment.     

在线协作学习中小组学习投入的分析模型构建及应用

在协作学习中学习投入与学习成效紧密相关,是学生进行有效参与和深度学习的必要条件。但目前的研究大多针对个人学习投入,缺乏在协作学习中小组学习投入的相关研究。在前人研究基础上,本研究从认知投入、行为投入、社会投入、情感投入四个维度构建了在线协作学习中小组学习投入的分析模型,并通过实证研究进一步探索小组投入分析模型各维度与小组学习成绩之间的关系。结果表明,在小组学习投入中行为投入、社交投入与小组成绩呈显著正相关关系,而积极、消极、困惑三类情感投入则与小组成绩呈负相关关系。研究同时发现,高分组在中立情感投入、认知投入的问题和元认知维度中的均值都高于低分组。最后,通过分析在线小组学习投入与成绩之间的关系,为今后优化学习支持服务以及提高小组成员协作质量提供了依据。