A comparative study of student attitude,learning and teaching practices in Pakistan and Britain

Good teaching is open to change and it involves constantly trying to find out what the effects of instruction are on learning, and modifying that instruction in the light of the evidence. Similarly, the ultimate outcome of instructional practice is effective student learning. Therefore, in this perspective, adequately meeting the varying needs of students is a major challenge for the modern education system in every country. As the title indicates, this paper attempts to explore students’ attitudes to studying and learning in order to help encourage greater engagement with quality learning. The study is based on primary data with regard to postgraduate education and learning in respective British and Pakistani education institutions—i.e. Moray House School of Education (Edinburgh University) and the Institute of Education and Research (University of the Punjab, Lahore). In the context of the collaboration of these two institutions, the paper focuses on the ways and means to enhance the system‐wide capacity for research‐based practice.     

浅谈远程教育中网络教学的障碍

远程教育理论普遍认为,教学支持服务作为网络教学的一个关键因素是必不可少的,通过网络的实时动态交互功能应能解决远程教育中师生分隔的问题。但事实并非如此。云南电大的学生并不热衷于网络学习,而且网络教学也没有达到提高学生学习效果的目的。这是一个现象。如何从多角度解释这一现象？如何深入了解学生的所思所想？是我们电大工作者需要探讨的问题。     

Development of an Augmented Reality Game to Teach Abstract Concepts in Food Chemistry

One of the most pressing issues for many land grant institutions is the ever increasing cost to build and operate wet chemistry laboratories. A partial solution is to develop computer‐based teaching modules that take advantage of animation, web‐based or off‐campus learning experiences directed at engaging students’ creative experiences. We used the learning objectives of one of the most difficult topics in food chemistry, enzyme kinetics, to test this concept. Students are apprehensive of this subject and often criticize the staid instructional methods typically used in teaching this material. As a result, students do not acquire a useful background in this important subject. To rectify these issues, we developed an interactive augmented reality application to teach the basic concepts of enzyme kinetics in the context of an interactive search that took students to several locations on campus where they were able to gather raw materials and view videos that taught the basics of enzyme kinetics as applied to the production of high fructose corn syrup (HFCS). The students needed this background to prepare for a mock interview with an HFCS manufacturer. Students and instructors alike found the game to be preferable to sitting in a classroom listening to, or giving, a PowerPoint presentation. We feel that this use of gaming technology to teach difficult, abstract concepts may be a breakthrough in food science education and help alleviate the drain on administrative budgets from multiple wet labs.     

The relationship between web enjoyment and student perceptions and learning using a web‐based tutorial

Web enjoyment has been regarded as a component of system experience. However, there has been little targeted research considering the role of web enjoyment alone in student learning using web‐based systems. To address this gap, this study aims to examine the influence of web enjoyment on learning performance and perceptions by controlling system experience as a variable in the study. 74 students participated in the study, using a web‐based tutorial covering subject matter in the area of ‘Computation and algorithms’. Their learning performance was assessed with a pre‐test and a post‐test and their learning perceptions were evaluated with a questionnaire. The results indicated that there are positive relationships between the levels of web enjoyment and perceived usefulness and non‐linear navigation for users with similar, significant levels of system experience. The implications of these findings in relation to web‐based learning are explored and ways in which the needs of students who report different levels of web enjoyment might be met are discussed.     

推进成人教育创新,提高人才培养质量

在终身教育体系中,成人教育是当之无愧的主体,是终身教育的有机组成部分。而我国现阶段的成人教育存在着不足,需要与时代相适应的创新教育。现代远程教育工程,是基于网络环境下,运用现代化教学设施,利用多种教学媒体资源,以学生为主,教师引导下自主、协作完成的教学活动,这种新型的学习形式为成人教育创新教育的实施提供了崭新的平台。因此,成人教育如何创新教学,如何提高教学质量就显得尤为重要。     

Investigating the factors that influence higher education instructors’ decisions to adopt a flipped classroom instructional model

The flipped classroom is an instructional model which allows for more advanced learning activities during in-class time while introduces subject knowledge to students prior to class. To address a gap in the recent research regarding higher education instructors’ experiences, perceptions and adoption decisions of the flipped classroom instruction, this study aimed at investigating the critical factors which were predictive of a higher education instructor’s decision to adopt a flipped classroom instructional model through exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and multiple regression in a US university. The results revealed that performance expectancy and technology self-efficacy were significant predictors. Although facilitation condition was significantly correlated with instructors’ adoption decisions, it was not a significant predictor. This study suggests that in order to improve higher education instructors’ adoption decisions of the flipped classroom and other active learning instructional models, it is of priority for institutions to remove the internal barriers to instructors’ adoption decisions of these instructional models, such as improving their performance expectancy and technology self-efficacy.     

Are they the same? Comparing the instructional quality of online and face‐to‐face graduate education courses

As instructors adopt web‐based learning environments, they must consider how students’ evaluations of learning reflect the overall quality of instruction. Traditional course evaluations are used for faculty retention, tenure and promotion decisions, but also provide instructors with valuable information on the quality of their instruction. This study looks at response rates and compares instructional quality, using student course evaluations along with additional data from online and face‐to‐face graduate education courses, to evaluate the effectiveness of instruction. A statistical analysis of students’ course evaluations showed no significant difference in instructional quality based on the format used. Together with comparisons of student work, these results provide additional evidence in support of the finding of no significant difference between formats in the area of instructional quality.     

Computer‐Assisted Instruction and Conceptual Change

Abstract

In this study, the question was addressed which instructional conditions are required to teach students how they themselves can initiate and perform learning activities aimed at conceptual change. The CONTACT‐2 strategy (a computer‐assisted instructional strategy for promoting conceptual change in the domain of basic physical geography) served as starting point for the design of several training procedures aimed at enhancing self‐regulated learning. With the first experimental condition, strategic support was gradually withdrawn ('faded') within each instructional step, while, with the second experimental condition, the number of steps was reduced as the training continued. The original CONTACT‐2 condition served as control condition. Subjects were 65 fifth‐ and sixth‐graders (primary education). Dependent variables concerned students’ abilities to initiate and perform learning activities aimed at conceptual change, the quality of their conceptions, and their learning performance. Results suggested that ‘fading’ can be a fruitful instructional approach to foster self‐regulated learning aimed at conceptual change, provided that the ‘fading’ procedure is tuned to the students’ actual level of self‐regulated learning: external control should not be withdrawn until students are able (and prepared) to initiate and perform the learning activities being required. When these conditions are met, designing effective training procedures aimed at ‘learning for conceptual change’ seems possible.     

Learning from web-based instructional systems and cognitive style

Two of the principal issues, which have been addressed in assessments of the benefits of web‐based instructional systems, are firstly, whether the segmentation of information provided by the web structure aids users in apprehending the interrelationships between the units of information featured in the web. Secondly, whether providing the user with an overview of the web system assists in facilitating his/her learning. It is suggested in the present study that these two issues may be more effectively understood by a consideration of an individual's cognitive style. Fifty participants were assigned to one of two web‐based instructional systems featuring information on the subject of psychological ethics. The information in one of the web systems was segmented to a greater degree than the information in the other. Half the participants using each web system were given an overview of the system and half were not. After a given time using the system, participants were tested on the information from the web. The findings suggest that cognitive style and segmentation had an effect on performance, although the provision of the overview had little effect. The results are discussed in terms of a consideration of cognitive style in the design of web‐based instructional systems.     

Adopting Web‐Based Learning and Teaching: A case study in higher education

Most universities worldwide are becoming distance education providers through adopting web‐based learning and teaching via the introduction of learning management systems that enable them to open their courses to both on‐ and off‐campus students. Whether this is an effective introduction depends on factors that enable and impede the adoption of such systems and their related pedagogical strategies. This study examines such factors related to adopting a learning management system in a large multicampus urban Australian university. The research method used case study approaches and purposively selected the sample consisting of innovative teaching academics from across the university, who used web‐based approaches to teach both on‐ and off‐campus learners. The data were analyzed using a combination of Rogers’ theory of diffusion of innovations and actor‐network theory and revealed a series of enabling and impeding factors faced by pioneering technology‐adopter teaching academics, some of which are technology related while others are policy related and common to large multicampus institutions. The study found that safe adoption environments recognizing career priorities of academics are a result of the continuous negotiation between the evolving institution and its innovative and creative staff. The article concludes with a series of conditions that would form a safe, enabling, and encouraging environment for technology‐adopter teaching academics in a large multicampus higher education setting.     

基于活动的高校网络课程教学设计

网络课程教学设计环节是建设一门优质网络课程的重要保障,而学习活动设计又是网络课程设计的核心之一.因此,在高校网络课程设计的基础上注重增加各类网络教学活动将有助于学生对知识的掌握,以网络教学活动支撑教学目标及教学策略的实施.     

Application of bayes’ theory in designing computer‐based adaptive instructional strategies 1

Presented are variables and conditions for design of a computer‐based adaptive instructional system. The design strategy uses Bayes’ theory of conditional probability to determine an instructional sequence according to individual student characteristics and needs. The adaptive strategy uses prior estimates based on student pretask and on‐task performance in an algorithm that makes selections of instructional sequence from a table of generated values. The computer system provides a dynamic environment which updates each students on‐task learning progress and modifies the instructional sequence accordingly. The purpose of this adaptive strategy is to improve the effectiveness of the learning environment, resulting in reductions in student learning time while improving task acquisition.     

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.     

NEW TECHNOLOGY FOR HOME‐BASED LEARNING: THE CHALLENGE TO CAMPUS‐BASED INSTITUTIONS

Although there may be little expansion for conventional higher education on campus in the next decade, there is an unmet and growing need to provide home‐based continuing education. This will require an effective means of delivering learning materials to homes on a greater scale than can be handled by broadcasting alone, as well as the production of high quality software appropriate both to the means of delivery and the needs of students. There are several developments in technology which hold out promise for home use; these need to be developed as part of a wider learning system. Campus‐based institutions are well placed both to develop the hardware and to produce suitable learning materials, but this means that higher education institutions must show a much more flexible attitude to continuing education and to co‐operation with other organisations.     

Designing Effective Learning Environments for Continuing Education

Advances in technology for distance learning present better‐than‐ever opportunities for designing learning environments that bring optimal features of the conventional classroom to distributed learners. Yet, with the advantages of reaching learners come corresponding challenges for meeting many and varied cognitive, motivational, and organizational needs. Anchoring design of distance learning instruction solidly in current research from cognitive science and motivation, as well as utilizing tested principles of instructional design theory, provides for optimal balance of strategic decision‐making and appropriate management of trade‐offs in design of effective learning environments. This paper shows how Bransford, Brown, and Cocking's (1999) four characteristics of effective learning environments can be developed for continuing education, to maximize learning, transfer of learning, and motivation. As illustration, I will focus on the process of translating traditional continuing education (CE) from lecture‐based, on‐site instruction to Web‐based instruction, a trend in many institutions of higher education.     

Emotion recognition and communication for reducing second‐language speaking anxiety in a web‐based one‐to‐one synchronous learning environment

e‐Learning is becoming an increasingly popular educational paradigm because of the rapid growth of the Internet. Recent studies have argued that affective modelling (ie, considering a learner's emotional or motivational state) should also be considered while designing learning activities. Many studies indicated that various learning emotions markedly impact learning outcomes. In the language education field, many studies have investigated anxiety associated with learning a second language, noting that anxiety has an adverse effect on the performance of those speaking English as a second language. Therefore, how to reduce anxiety associated with learning a second language to increase learning performance is an important research issue in the language education field. Accordingly, this study employed a sensor, signal processing, wireless communication, system‐on‐chip and machine‐learning techniques in developing an embedded human emotion recognition system based on human pulse signals for detecting three human emotions—nervousness, peace and joy—to help teachers reduce language‐learning anxiety of individual learners in a web‐based one‐to‐one synchronous learning environment. The accuracy rate of the proposed emotion recognition model evaluated by cross‐validation is as high as 79.7136% when filtering out human pulse signals that have bias. Moreover, this study applied the embedded emotion recognition system to assist instructor's teaching in a synchronous English conversation environment by immediately reporting variations in individual learner emotions to the teacher during learning. In this instructional experiment, the teacher can give appropriate learning assistance or guidance based on the emotion states of individual learners. Experimental results indicate that the proposed embedded human emotion recognition system is helpful in reducing language‐based anxiety, thus promoting instruction effectiveness in English conversation classes.     

优化网上资源完善导学功能

网上教学资源要满足学员开展自主化学习的需要并体现教师网上导学的作用,应着重从以下四个方面进行网上教学资源建设:强调“个性化”服务,引导学员自主学习;优化网上教学资源,激发学员学习热情;丰富交互手段,发挥导学作用;加强媒体应用管理,保障网上资源建设。     

Science Education and Students with Learning Disabilities

Students with learning disabilities (LD) are increasingly expected to master content in the general education curriculum, making the need for effective instructional supports more important than ever before. Science is a part of the curriculum that can be particularly challenging to students with LD because of the diverse demands it places on cognitive performance. In this summary we review a number of strategies that have been validated for learners with LD. The strategies include supports for (a) verbal learning of declarative information, (b) processing information in texts, (c) activities‐based instruction/experiential learning, (d) scientific thinking and reasoning, and (e) differentiated instruction. We also summarize the research regarding the impact of teacher behavior on achievement for students with LD in science education. The strategies reviewed yield tangible and positive effect sizes that suggest that their application to the target domain will substantially improve outcomes for students with LD in science education.     

The effect of different chunking strategies in complementing animated instruction

The purpose of this exploratory and small‐scale study was to examine the instructional effects of different chunking strategies used to complement animated instruction in terms of facilitating achievement of higher order learning objectives. Eighty‐five students were randomly assigned to three treatment groups: animated program instruction, simple visual‐text (static images and verbal explanation) chunked animated program instruction and the animated complex visual‐text chunked program instruction. The difference between simple and complex chunked instructions is the content. Simple chunks only deal with one content area while the complex chunks explain two or more related content areas. Students interacted with their respective web‐based instructional treatments and completed four criterion measures. Results (ANOVA) indicated that significant differences in achievement were found to exist in facilitating higher order learning objectives when chunking strategies were specifically designed and positioned to complement the animated instruction. Results also indicated that complex chunking is more effective in reducing the cognitive load present in an animated instructional environment, and that students need prerequisite knowledge before being able to profit from animated instruction designed to facilitate higher order learning outcomes.