Synthesizing research evidence on self-regulated learning and academic achievement in online and blended learning environments: A scoping review

The present study synthesizes research evidence on self-regulated learning (SRL) and academic achievement in online and blended learning environments from intervention and cross-sectional studies. We examined 163 studies conducted in various countries and different learning contexts in terms of study characteristics, methodology, and SRL features. The current study found that SRL in the online and blended learning contexts has been an important topic and has received increased attention. The results revealed the importance of SRL for improving students' academic performance in the STEM field. It also demonstrated that the majority of the studies adopted multiple SRL strategies throughout mixed phases. This study confirmed the effectiveness of SRL on academic achievement in online or blended learning. However, the present study also identified that research on children's and adolescents' SRL strategies in online learning contexts is urgently needed and most of the available research did not focus on the preparatory and planning phases of SRL which are extremely important.     

Growing in digital maturity: students and their computers in an academic laptop programme in Singapore

Using data collected through two focus group interviews with 14- to 16-year-olds involved in a one-to-one laptop academic programme in a Singapore secondary school, this paper shows some student disengagement and dissatisfaction in class, and this poses questions about the relevance of the school's laptop programme. Our findings illustrate low productivity in the students' use of their computers as they respond to their teachers' instructional agendas. Our work indicates research into one-to-one laptop learning needs to pay greater attention to the minds, motivations and hands of students as they embark on learning they do not fully understand or can control for themselves. We determine that educators and policy-makers need to know a lot more about how growth in students' digital maturity operates. In the final analysis, we understand and explain the students' views about how their learning experiences might be improved, and their behaviour (as a digital wisdom journey centred on learning) to be digitally mature.     

Do we click in the right way? A meta-analytic review of clicker-integrated instruction

Clickers, formerly known as instant response systems, have gradually become an integral part of the classroom. Though several reviews on research into clicker-integrated instruction have been published within this decade, the controversy over whether clicker-integrated instruction is effective to enhance students' learning gains has not been settled because the early reviews mainly focus on students' perceptions toward and acceptance of clicker-integrated instruction. Furthermore, so far there is no consistent and clear framework to explain why the use of clickers is effective or ineffective to facilitate academic learning outcomes. Based on the literature from the 1970s to the early 2010s, this review article identifies and summarizes the theoretical aspects accounting for possible relations between clicker-integrated instruction and academic learning outcomes. The theoretical aspects are subsequently evaluated and expanded in reference to primary studies. The results suggest that the superior effect of clicker-integrated instruction, compared to conventional lectures, stands on firm empirical ground. In addition, engaging students in explaining and justifying their answers to clicker questions is highly recommended because such an instructional strategy is associated with positive and strong effect sizes on academic learning outcomes.     

Analysis of assessment practice and subsequent performance of third year level students in natural sciences

Abstract

Summative assessment qualifies the achievement of a student in a particular field of specialization at a given time. Questions should include a range of cognitive levels from Bloom's taxonomy and be consistent with the learning outcomes of the module in question. Furthermore, a holistic approach to assessment, such as the application of the principles of the Herrmann Whole Brain Model, needs to be used to accommodate learning style diversity. The purpose of this study was to analyse, assess and compare the summative assessment of two third year level modules in the Bachelor of Science degree programme, namely Biochemistry and Zoology as part of action research with a view to enhancing the professional development of the lecturers involved. The questions posed in summative assessments were classified in terms of Bloom's differentiation of cognitive levels and the four different learning styles determined by Herrmann. Spearman's non-parametric analysis indicated that no correlation existed in this study between cognitive level and student performance based on achievement. In addition, there was not much difference between the cognitive levels and student performance between the two disciplines. Although the students seemed to do better at application level questions, the authors need to reflect on whether the assessments were valid with respect to the learning outcomes, methods of facilitating learning, and the assessments based on cognitive levels and learning style preferences. We conclude that continuous action research must be taken to improve the formulation of learning outcomes and students' achievement of these outcomes and quality of student learning – the main aim being the successful completion of the modules.     

Changes in Students' Use of Lifelong Learning Skills During a Problem‐based Learning Project

ABSTRACT In a climate of continual change and innovation, lifelong learning is a critical professional development objective which has a direct impact on organizations' effectiveness and ability to compete and innovate. To help learners continually upgrade their skills and knowledge so they can effectively address emerging organizational and professional needs and opportunities, educators must prepare learners for their professions using teaching methodologies that develop learners' capacity for and disposition toward lifelong learning. Problem‐based learning (PBL) is one such method. PBL uses professional problems of practice as a starting point, stimulus, and focus for student activity, and one of PBL's stated educational outcomes is students' use of lifelong learning skills. This study examined the changes in students' use of lifelong learning skills while participating in a PBL project. Twenty‐six undergraduate university computer science students completed a 15‐week C++ programming course. Using guided reflective journal responses as process data, students were observed to increase their application of lifelong learning skills during their PBL experience. Design and research recommendations are shared.     

Internationalism: A Need in American Education

The author's middle school has created a mediated set of electronic learning resources designed to more effectively meet students' research needs. These research strategies help students with a variety of reading skills and allow students, and their teachers, to focus on higher-level thinking activities because the resource collections provide time-saving shortcuts through open-ended Google searches.     

The Practice of Usability: Teaching User Engagement Through Service-Learning

Pedagogical and scholarly discussions of the process of usability tend to focus more on methods than on practices, or specific, tactical performances of and adjustments to these methods. Yet such practices shape students' learning and determine the success of their usability efforts. A teacher research study tracking students' understanding and enactment of usability and user-centered design over the course of a service-learning project illustrates the importance of practice-level struggles—and the thoughtful preparation for and facilitation of these struggles—to the development of students' flexible intelligence (metis) and rhetorical translation skills.     

Learners and Learning in Environmental Education: A critical review of the evidence

Recent analyses of the field of environmental education research have highlighted its rapidly expanding size and increasingly diverse nature (e.g. Hart & Nolan, 1999). This article reports on a review of a particular part of this field - namely, recent empirical studies of learners and learning in primary or secondary school environmental education. The review focuses specifically on the nature and quality of the evidence generated by the work in this area. The concern with evidence is motivated by the tendency of previous reviews to focus on methodological trends more than research findings. Claims have also been made that environmental education theory and research have overlooked 'the children who are the subjects of environmental education' (Payne, 1998a, p. 20). This review contends that efforts to address such shortcomings need to be informed by a thorough and grounded understanding of what studies have, and have not, been undertaken on students and learning, and what is known, and not known, from the evidence that these studies have generated. In its methods, the review seeks to be systematic, comprehensive and analytical. Its findings are based on careful scrutiny of over 100 journal articles, books and reports, published between 1993 and 1999. It proposes that the current evidence base on learners and learning can be understood in terms of six concentrations or nodes of evidence. Three of these are well established (students' (i) environmental knowledge (ii) environmental attitudes and behaviours, and (iii) environmental learning outcomes), while three can be regarded as emerging (students' (i) perceptions of nature, (ii) experiences of learning, and (iii) influences on adults). The recent research evidence and key messages associated with each of these nodes are discussed in successive sections of the review. Overall, the review suggests that the evidence base on learners and learning, while considerable in size, is less diverse in terms of methodological and theoretical approaches than the wider environmental education research field within which it is situated. The evidence base also provides more information about students' environmental knowledge and attitudes than about their educational experiences and preferences, and more about learning outcomes than about learning processes . These characteristics, however, are not static. The research and evidence base on learners and learning is developing and changing as new foci emerge, bringing with them different methodological and conceptual approaches. The review identifies issues and challenges arising from the recent evidence on learners and learning for research users, researchers and future reviews of the field. As well as highlighting possible practical implications of the research, it makes a case for studies focused more explicitly on learning and the role learners play within this process. It also suggests a need for user reviews as well as academic reviews in the field of environmental education.     

Does blended instruction enhance English language learning in developing countries? Evidence from Mexico

Despite steady investment in English language education made by developing countries over the past few decades, results continue to be constrained by lack of high-quality instructors and language learning resources. Thus, using technology in language instruction has increasingly been recognized as a potential approach for addressing these constraints. This study uses administrative data from a large public university in Mexico to examine the impact of a technology-enhanced blended program on students' English course grades and course completion rates. Specifically, we focus on a campus-wide policy change in all compulsory English language courses that replaces half of the traditional face-to-face class time with an interactive online learning environment developed by a leading technology-mediated English language learning and assessment provider. Our results suggest that, compared to traditional face-to-face instruction, blended learning had a significant, positive impact on students' course grades and course completion rates. In addition, the enrollment-teacher ratio increased after replacing half of the face-to-face instructional time with online learning, suggesting that blended learning environments hold promise for providing high-quality and cost-effective language instruction.     

Moving across physical and online spaces: a case study in a blended primary classroom

With the introduction of digital tools and online connectivity in primary schools, the shape of teaching and learning is shifting beyond the physical classroom. Drawing on the architecture of productive learning networks framework, we examine the affordances and limitations of an upper primary learning network and focus on how the digital and physical elements involved in set design shape teachers' pedagogical approaches and students' learning processes. The findings suggest that blended spaces support teachers' distributed orchestration of classroom activities across tools and resources while also leveraging students' engagement in reciprocal teaching and collaborative learning.     

The Effects of Reciprocal Imitation on Teacher–Student Relationships and Student Learning Outcomes

Neuroscientific and developmental psychological research in imitation has yielded important insights into building teacher–student relationships and enhancing students' learning. This study investigated the effects of reciprocal imitation on teacher–student relationships and students' learning outcomes in one‐on‐one teacher–student interactions. In a within‐subjects design, participants learned eight English vocabulary words under two conditions: one condition paired with teacher's imitative behaviors and the other with teacher's random behaviors. Students' self‐rating surveys and quiz scores on new words were assessed. When the teacher imitated the students' behaviors in interactions, the students reported significantly higher perceptions of rapport, more confidence in and satisfaction with learning outcomes, and had significantly higher quiz scores. Results had important implications for teachers in using imitation as an effective teaching tool to build teacher–student relationships and enhance students' learning.     

Factors affecting perceived learning of engineering students in problem based learning supported by business simulation

Although literature about problem based learning (PBL) is not scarce, there is little research on experiences about learning methodologies that combine PBL and the use of simulation tools. This lack of studies is even more notable in the case of engineering courses. The motivation for this study is to show how such a combination of PBL and simulation has been designed in a group work course for engineers and to analyze how the underlying factors of this methodology are related to perceived learning. This exploratory study focuses on how perceived enjoyment, interaction, collaborative learning, perceived satisfaction, and time dedicated to the course affect the learning perceived by the students in an engineer's degree course. The outcomes of this pilot study show that only three of these factors (satisfaction, time dedication, and collaborative learning) affect the students' perceived learning. Despite the high ratings obtained for interaction and perceived enjoyment, no significant relation between these factors and perceived learning was found. The reasons behind these findings are discussed.     

Quality in blended learning: Exploring the relationships between on-line and face-to-face teaching and learning

This project draws on a large body of seminal research showing that the approaches students take to learning, and the subsequent quality of their learning, is closely related to their perceptions of their learning experience. Recent research has demonstrated these findings also hold for non-standard modes of delivery such as distance education using on-line strategies. However, there is currently little research about how predominately campus-based students' experiences of the on-line part of their course are associated with their experience of the course as a whole. The present study extends previous research into the domain of blended learning, by exploring the relations between student perceptions of the e-Learning environment, approaches to study, and student grades.     

Identifying Science Understanding for Functional Scientific Literacy

Students' questions play an important role in meaningful learning and scientific inquiry. They are a potential resource for both teaching and learning science. Despite the capacity of students' questions for enhancing learning, much of this potential still remains untapped. The purpose of this paper, therefore, is to examine and review the existing research on students' questions and to explore ways of advancing future work into this area. The paper begins by highlighting the importance and role of students' questions from the perspectives of both the learner and the teacher. It then reviews the empirical research on students' questions, with a focus on four areas: (1) the nature and types of these questions; (2) the effects of teaching students questioning skills; (3) the relationship between students' questions and selected variables; and (4) teachers' responses to, and students' perceptions of, students' questions. Following this, some issues and implications of students' questions for classroom instruction are discussed. The paper concludes by suggesting several areas for future research that have significant value for student learning.     

Advances in research on classroom dialogue: learning outcomes and assessments

The goal of this special issue is to examine how certain modes of classroom dialogue might contribute to students' learning outcomes. The articles in this special issue share the idea of classroom talk as a problem-oriented dialogue. In other words, an interactional configuration based on exchanges among students and teachers that go beyond the predominantly monologic approaches of classroom talk. In each of the contributions to this special issue, different types of learning outcomes were studied as a result of specific ways of orchestrating classroom dialogue. All in all, the studies in this special issue yield a picture of the field as a productive research area: they provide evidence for the plausibility of the assumption that dialogic orchestrations of classroom talk may produce various desired learning and developmental outcomes in students, depending on what outcomes we want to articulate, and how they are assessed. Although the studies in this special issue yield promising results for future improvements of classroom practice more (preferably longitudinal) research is required.     

Implementing a case‐based e‐learning environment in a lecture‐oriented anaesthesiology class: Do learning styles matter in complex problem solving over time?*

This study explores how students' learning styles influence their learning while solving complex problems when a case‐based e‐learning environment is implemented in a conventional lecture‐oriented classroom. Seventy students from an anaesthesiology class at a dental school participated in this study over a 3‐week period. Five learning‐outcome tests and two course‐satisfaction surveys were implemented during the case‐based instruction using a blended approach (online and face‐to‐face). The results of one‐way ANOVAs with repeated measures revealed that the four learning styles (active–reflective, sensing–intuitive, visual–verbal, sequential–global) did not influence students' learning experience and learning outcomes during the implementation of case‐based e‐learning. However, the pattern of the students' performance graph and further analysis with a liberal approach implied that the active–reflective learning style may influence learning outcomes slightly at an earlier time during the case‐based learning implementation; however, as time passed, this learning style no longer influenced their learning at all. Thus, learning styles may not be considered important or may be considered only during the early stages of instructional implementation in order to facilitate the students' transition to the new case‐based learning environment. It is more efficient to encourage students to adapt to different learning environments than to design adaptive systems in order to embrace diverse learning styles.     

同伴指导对大学生学习结果的影响研究——基于30项实验或准实验研究的元分析

学界对于同伴互动对大学生学习结果的影响效用尚未达成统一结论。本研究采用元分析方法对30项实验或准实验研究展开系统量化分析。研究结果表明：同伴指导对大学生学习结果呈中等偏上的积极促进效应,合并效应值为0.782;同伴指导对大学生学业成绩和专业技能的促进作用突出,但对情感态度发展的促进作用较小;其效应受指导时长、指导形式、指导年级和课程类型等调节变量的影响。高校应优化制度环境,建立协同、可持续的同伴指导机制,选择短周期、跨年级和小组指导的同伴指导模式,从而更为有效地提升大学生学习结果。     

Using Activity Theory to Examine How Teachers' Lesson Plans Meet Students' Learning Needs

How is lesson planning useful? This research study used Cultural Historical Activity Theory and intersubjectivity to answer this questions. This research explored to what extent teacher candidates' lesson plans (i.e., alignment among objectives, assessment, and instruction), and analyses of assessment data mediate their thinking about students' learning needs. Four to five daily lesson plans with corresponding videos and commentaries from 10 elementary school (K–6) teacher candidates were used in this study. Qualitative analyses revealed that teacher candidates seldom considered their students' learning needs and seldom anticipated how instructional activities facilitated students' thinking. One teacher candidate, however, used assessment data to consider students' learning needs and to plan future lessons to meet students' learning needs. The implication of research findings suggest that teacher education programs must improve in developing teacher candidates' skills of aligning lesson plan features and using assessment data as tools to mediate their thinking about students' learning needs.     

Transition and technology—Evaluation of blended learning delivered by university staff to 6th form students

This paper tackles two issues which are closely related: transition from pre‐entry learning to studying at university and the role blended learning strategies might have in supporting this transition. It draws on the pilot delivery of two credit‐bearing modules which were delivered in two pre‐entry institutions. The modules followed two different models in terms of their alignment to the pre‐entry curriculum and in their mode of delivery. They were evaluated through questionnaires and focus groups with students. Both university tutors and coordinators at the schools were also interviewed in order to identify barriers in the process from their perspectives. This paper contributes to research in this field by identifying, from the key stakeholders of students' and deliverers' vantage points, factors that are specific to the blended learning process and contribute to a more structured and positive transition experience for the students. It looks at how blended methodologies can enhance the transition process, as well as what some of the barriers might be. As a consequence, the paper will provide some suggestions as to how institutions may overcome some of those issues identified in order to replicate the practice successfully.