Cognitive Load Theory as a Tool for Expertise Development

This special issue is dedicated to recentdevelopments within cognitive load theory (CLT)and identifies some instructional implicationsof the interaction between informationstructures and cognitive architecture. Thepresent article discusses the different studiesin this special issue. An important conclusionis that recent CLT research recognizes thelearners' level of expertise as an importantfactor mediating the relation between cognitivearchitecture, information structures, andlearning outcomes. In this context, we discussthe role of expertise in CLT research and therole of CLT in expertise research. Based onthis discussion, the use of CLT as a tool todevelop expertise is identified as a verypromising approach.     

Examining evolutions in the adoption of metacognitive regulation in reciprocal peer tutoring groups

We aimed to investigate how metacognitive regulation is characterised during collaborative learning in a higher education reciprocal peer tutoring (RPT) setting. Sixty-four Educational Sciences students participated in a semester-long RPT-intervention and tutored one another in small groups of six. All sessions of five randomly selected RPT-groups were videotaped (70 h of video recordings). Analyses were focussed on identifying time-bound evolutions with regard to (a) the frequency of occurrence of metacognitive regulation, (b) the low-/deep-level approach to regulation, and (c) the initiative (by tutors/tutees) for metacognitive regulation. Logistic regression models allowing change points were adopted to study evolutions over time. The results indicated that RPT-groups increasingly adopt metacognitive regulation (i.e. orientation and evaluation) as the RPT-intervention progressed. Regarding RPT-groups’ regulative approach, the results revealed a significant evolution towards deep-level metacognitive regulation (i.e. orientation and monitoring), despite a dominant adoption of low-level regulation strategies. With regard to the initiative, the results demonstrated that tutees started to initiate RPT-groups’ monitoring significantly more frequently as they became familiar with the RPT-setting. Orientation, planning, and evaluation remained tutor-centred responsibilities.     

Database Problem Behavior: A Literature Retrieval System for Professionals Dealing with Problem Behaviours of Individuals with Intellectual Disabilities

Knowledge of the literature among professionals in the area of problem behaviours and developmental disabilities is most likely soon out of date as several hundred useful studies appear each year. A literature database may be a useful tool for clinicians and researchers to conveniently retrieve needed information, preventing them from collecting, reading, processing, and storing all the available material. This report describes a database (i.e., Database Problem Behavior) encompassing information that goes far beyond presenting abstracts only. The third version of the database encompasses 885 empirical studies on the (functional) analysis, and behavioural and pharmacological treatment of problem behaviours (e.g., self‐injurious behaviour, aggressive behaviour, depression) for persons with developmental disabilities.     

Chinese teachers’ perceptions of an online teacher course and its results

Learning Environments Research - We investigated teachers’ perceptions of an online inservice teacher course in China and its outcomes, as well as connections between these two types of...