A concept map-embedded educational computer game for improving students' learning performance in natural science courses

Many recent studies have reported the benefits of educational computer games in promoting students' learning motivations. On the other hand, however, the effect of digital game-based learning in improving students' learning performance has been questioned. Several previous studies have reported that without properly integrating learning strategies into gaming scenarios, the effectiveness of educational computer games could be limited, or may be even worse than that of the conventional technology-enhanced learning approach. In this study, a concept map-embedded gaming approach is proposed for developing educational computer games by integrating concept mapping as part of the gaming scenarios to help students organize what they have learned during the game-based learning process. Moreover, a role-playing game has been developed for an elementary school natural science course based on the proposed approach. From the experimental results, it is found that the concept map-embedded gaming approach can significantly improve the students' learning achievement and decrease their cognitive load. Moreover, the students who learned with the proposed approach revealed a significantly higher degree of perceived usefulness than those who learned with the conventional game-based learning approach.     

A prompt-based annotation approach to conducting mobile learning activities for architecture design courses

In this study, a prompt-based annotation approach is proposed for developing mobile learning systems for architecture design courses. To evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed approach, an experiment was conducted by assigning 56 freshmen randomly to an experimental group and a control group. The students in the experimental group adopted the mobile learning approach with a prompt-based annotation strategy, while those in the control group learned with the conventional in-field instruction and annotations. From the experimental results, it was found that the proposed prompt-based annotation strategy not only promoted the students' self-efficacy, but also improved their learning achievements. In the meantime, it is interesting to find that the experimental group students had medium cognitive load during the field trip, while the control group had rather low cognitive load. This implies that the prompt-based annotation approach engaged the students in mobile learning tasks with reasonable challenges and efforts.     

Effects of mental process integrated nursing training using mobile device on students’ cognitive load,learning attitudes,acceptance, and achievements

Clinical nursing training is important to nursing educators and student nurses in nursing education since safe and competent care depends on good clinical problem solving skills. Therefore, developing better cognitive problem-solving strategies or tools are essential for clinical nursing practices. Moreover, learning diagnosis is also a critical determinant in the acquisition, processing, and application of clinical skills in nursing practices. Bearing this in mind, this study aims to develop a mobile interactive learning and diagnosis (MILD) system to support problem-based learning (PBL) in a clinical nursing course based on the testing-based approach. Using mobile devices as a learning tool to integrate both real-world and digital-world resources for students and adopting PBL as a learning strategy to facilitate the development of the clinical problem solving skills. To show the effectiveness of the proposed approach, an experiment was conducted in a foundations of nursing course at a nursing college in Taiwan. The experimental results show that the proposed approach is helpful to students in improving learning performance and reducing cognitive loads. Moreover, it was also found that most students showed positive perceptions toward the usage of the proposed system.     

A hybrid approach to promoting students’ web-based problem-solving competence and learning attitude

Fostering problem-solving abilities has long been recognized as an important issue in education; however, past studies have shown that it is difficult and challenging to find effective learning strategies or tools for improving students’ problem-solving abilities. To cope with this problem, in this study, a hybrid approach that integrates the cognitive apprenticeship model with the collaborative learning strategy is proposed for conducting web-based problem-solving activities. Students’ problem-solving performance is examined in such a hybrid learning context. Furthermore, past studies indicate that cognitive load could affect learners’ performance; thus, the influence of cognitive load on students’ problem-solving effectiveness with this new approach is investigated in depth. The experimental results show that middle- and low-achievement students in the experimental group gained significant benefits from the hybrid approach in comparison with those who learned with the traditional approach. Accordingly, a discussion of how to accommodate the needs of different learning ability groups is provided.     

Interactive augmented reality system for enhancing library instruction in elementary schools

Due to limited budgets and manpower, most elementary schools in Taiwan do not plan or provide library instruction for students. Although students can use libraries, they typically lack the knowledge needed to use library resources effectively. Consequently, students have difficulty finding the books they need and can easily become overwhelmed by the massive amount of information in libraries. Computer-assisted instruction for teaching basic library skills to large numbers of students is an appealing method. Particularly, developing augmented reality (AR) technologies for learning have garnered considerable attention in education research. Many researchers and scholars believe that integrating teaching and AR enhances student learning performance and motivation. This work develops an educational AR system based on situated learning theory, and applies innovative augmented reality interactive technology to a library’s learning environment. Student library knowledge can be enhanced via the proposed augmented reality library instruction system (ARLIS). Experimental results demonstrate that student learning performance is improved significantly by using the proposed ARLIS. Moreover, this work demonstrates that using the proposed ARLIS for library instruction results in the same learning performance as conventional librarian instruction and there is no gender difference on learning performance between the proposed ARLIS and conventional librarian instruction. Moreover, the proposed library instruction system overcomes shortcomings of personal teaching skills of librarians that may adversely affect student learning performance by conveying the same learning content to all students. Additionally, the proposed system results in better learning performance for learners with the field-dependent cognitive style than learners with the field-independent cognitive style. Further, the proposed system provides more benefits in terms of library skills of application and comprehension than conventional librarian instruction. Moreover, the learning performance of students is not affected by their gaming skills. Therefore, student gaming skills do not need to be considered when adopting the proposed system in library instruction programs.     

Effects of an integrated concept mapping and web-based problem-solving approach on students' learning achievements,perceptions and cognitive loads

Although students could effectively search for web data with proper keywords and select web pages related to the studied core issue, however summarizing or organizing the retrieved information remains a difficult task for them. Concept mapping is known to be an effective knowledge construction tool for helping learners organize important concepts related to a core issue. To address the problem, an integrated concept mapping and web-based problem-solving environment, CM-Quest, has been developed; moreover, an experiment has been conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of the approach on students' learning performance, learning satisfaction and cognitive load in an elementary school social studies course. The results show that the concept map-integrated approach can significantly enhance the students' web-based problem-solving performance, although the students showed lower degrees of technology acceptance and learning satisfaction in comparison with the conventional web-based problem-solving approach. Moreover, it is found that the students in the concept mapping group revealed higher cognitive loads than those in the control group, which could be the factor contributing to the lower technology acceptance degree and learning satisfaction. As a consequence, it is concluded that the integrated concept mapping and web-based problem-solving approach is helpful to students in guiding them to learn in a more effective way. On the other hand, it remains an open issue to find a suitable way of integrating concept maps into the learning process without introducing too much extra cognitive load so as to promote students' acceptance degree of using technology for better learning.     

A contextual game-based learning approach to improving students' inquiry-based learning performance in social studies courses

Inquiry-based learning, an effective instructional strategy, can be in the form of a problem or task for triggering student engagement. However, how to situate students in meaningful inquiry activities remains to be settled, especially for social studies courses. In this study, a contextual educational computer game is developed to improve students' learning performance based on an inquiry-based learning strategy. An experiment has been conducted on an elementary school social studies course to evaluate the effects of the proposed approach on the inquiry-based learning performances of students with different learning styles. The experimental results indicate that the proposed approach effectively enhanced the students' learning effects in terms of their learning achievement, learning motivation, satisfaction degree and flow state. Furthermore, it is also found that the proposed approach benefited the “active” learning style students more than the “reflective” style students in terms of learning achievement. This suggests the need to provide additional supports to students with particular learning styles in the future.     

A formative assessment-based mobile learning approach to improving the learning attitudes and achievements of students

The advancement of mobile and wireless communication technologies has encouraged an increasing number of studies concerning mobile learning, in which students are able to learn via mobile devices without being limited by space and time; in particular, the students can be situated in a real-world scenario associated with the learning content. Although such an approach seems interesting to the students, researchers have emphasized the need for well-designed learning support in order to improve the students’ learning achievements. Therefore, it has become an important issue to develop methodologies or tools to assist the students to learn in a mobile learning environment. Based on this perspective, this study proposes a formative assessment-based approach for improving the learning achievements of students in a mobile learning environment. A mobile learning environment has been developed based on this approach, and an experiment on a local culture course has been conducted in southern Taiwan to evaluate its effectiveness. The experimental results show that the proposed approach not only promotes the students’ learning interest and attitude, but also improves their learning achievement.     

Web-based Personalised System of Instruction: An effective approach for diverse cohorts with virtual learning environments?

The Personalised System of Instruction is a form of mastery learning which, though it has been proven to be educationally effective, has never seriously challenged the dominant lecture-tutorial teaching method in higher education and has largely fallen into disuse. An information and communications technology assisted version of the Personalised System of Instruction using a virtual learning environment is promoted here based on the authors’ longitudinal design research into this pedagogy. The particular elements of the virtual learning environment which are promoted are short video clips, online formative tests and an assessment management system. The authors present their experiences of developing and deploying this pedagogy for the teaching of introductory discrete mathematics to large classes of Computer Science students at two UK higher education institutions both with whole cohorts and ‘at risk’ groups of students. In particular, this method is promoted as particularly helpful to students who do not adopt a deep approach to learning as many students fail to do. Moreover ‘at risk’ students using this method (n = 71) demonstrated an average Glass effect size of 0.83 compared with other ‘at risk’ students who did not (n = 35). Based on these experiences, this pedagogy is promoted as an effective approach to teaching in higher education, especially the teaching of cognitive skills to diverse cohorts of students on foundation level modules.     

Exploring the relation between visualizer-verbalizer cognitive styles and performance with visual or verbal learning material

A student might find a certain representational format (e.g., diagram, text) more attractive than other formats for learning. Computer technology offers opportunities to adjust the formats used in learning environments to the preferences of individual learners. The question addressed in the current study was: does the match between a student’s preference regarding the format of learning materials have any relation with performance when learning with a specific format? For example, do learners with a preference for visual materials indeed perform better with visual learning materials? In a study with a pre-test post-test design, 48 participants were randomly assigned to one of two conditions. Both conditions completed a mathematical learning task about combinatorics and probability theory. In one condition learning materials were mainly diagram-based in the other condition they were mainly text-based. Afterward, the relations between cognitive style (visualizers-verbalizers), cognitive abilities (e.g., spatial and verbal ability), and learning performance were examined. The findings showed that cognitive style and learning outcomes were unrelated, for example, learners with a preference for visual materials do not necessarily perform better with visual learning materials. Learning results seem to be influenced by cognitive ability (in particular spatial visualization) and the extent to which a format affords cognitive processing, rather than a match between used and preferred format. It is argued that students should not choose on the basis of their preference, because it might lead them to selecting a format that is less effective for learning.     

A creative thinking approach to enhancing the web-based problem solving performance of university students

Along with the advancement of information and communication technology, researchers have pointed out the necessity and challenges of developing effective instructional strategies to enhance students' web-based problem-solving performance, which refers to the ability of investigating a series of related problems via searching for, abstracting and summarizing information on the web. In this study, a creative thinking strategy is proposed to cope with this problem. Moreover, an experiment was conducted on 80 freshmen from two classes of a university to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed approach. The experimental results show that the proposed approach improved the students' web-based problem solving performance in comparison with the conventional approach in terms of “problem finding” and “idea finding.” Moreover, it was found that the proposed approach could improve the “fact finding” performance of the students with intuitive-type cognitive style. Accordingly, some implications and suggestions are given for educators who attempt to conduct web-based problem-solving activity.     

Students' online interactive patterns in augmented reality-based inquiry activities

Inquiry learning has been developing for years and many countries have incorporated inquiry learning into the scope of K-12 education. Educators have indicated the importance of engaging students in knowledge-sharing activities during the inquiry learning process. In this study, a location-based augmented reality (AR) environment with a five-step guiding mechanism is developed to guide students to share knowledge in inquiry learning activities. To evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed approach in terms of promoting the knowledge sharing behaviors of students, an experiment has been conducted in an elementary school natural science course. The participants were 57 fourth-grade students from an elementary school in Northern Taiwan, divided into an experimental group of 28 students who learned with the AR-based approach and a control group of 29 students who learned with the conventional in-class mobile learning approach. The students' learning behaviors, including their movements in the real-world environment and interactions with peers, were recorded. Accordingly, the learning patterns and interactions of the two groups were analyzed via lag-sequential analysis and quantitative content analysis. It was found that, in comparison with the conventional inquiry-based mobile learning activity, the AR-based inquiry learning activity is able to engage the students in more interactions for knowledge construction. The findings of this study provide guidance for helping teachers develop effective strategies and learning designs for conducting inquiry-based learning activities.     

The interplay between cognitive and motivational variables in a supportive online learning system for secondary physical education

A path model was used to test the unique and interactive effects of cognitive and motivational variables when learning in a supportive online learning system, Collaborative Inquiry System (CIS). In this student-centered learning environment, students interact with computer simulations and are assisted by online scaffolds intended to help them learn complex scientific concepts. The present study also explored the relationships between students’ motivational, cognitive, and metacognitive strategy use and online performance. In total, 178 tenth-grade students participated in the study. The statistical analyses revealed that students’ learning goals and cognitive preferences predicted metacognitive strategy use and later influenced their performance. Prior knowledge is a predictor of neither metacognitive strategy use nor learning goals and need for cognition, but is nevertheless an important determinant of online performance. Discussions on how to accommodate the different needs of students with varying levels of prior knowledge, goal orientation, and cognitive preference in a supportive learning system are provided based on the results.     

Development of an adaptive learning system with two sources of personalization information

Previous research of adaptive learning mainly focused on improving student learning achievements based only on single-source of personalization information, such as learning style, cognitive style or learning achievement. In this paper, an innovative adaptive learning approach is proposed by basing upon two main sources of personalization information, that is, learning behavior and personal learning style. To determine the initial learning styles of the students, the [Keefe, J. W. (1987). Learning Styles: Theory and Practice. Reston, VA: National Association of Secondary School Principals.] questionnaire is employed in our approach. To more precisely reflect the learning behaviors of each student, the interactions and learning results of each student are analyzed when adjusting the subject materials. Based on the innovative approach, an adaptive learning system has been developed; moreover, an experiment was conducted to evaluate the performance of our approach. By analyzing the results from three groups of students using different adaptive learning approaches, it can be found that the innovative approach is helpful in improving both the learning achievement and learning efficiency of individual students.     

A multi-expert approach for developing testing and diagnostic systems based on the concept-effect model

With the popularization of computer and communication technologies, researchers have attempted to develop computer-assisted testing and diagnostic systems to help students improve their learning performance on the Internet. In developing a diagnostic system for detecting students’ learning problems, it is difficult for individual teachers to address the exact relationships between the test items and the concepts. To cope with this problem, this study proposes an innovative approach to eliciting and integrating the weightings of test item-concept relationships from multiple experts. Based on the proposed approach, a testing and diagnostic system has been implemented; moreover, an experiment was conducted to evaluate the performance of our approach. By analyzing the results from four groups of students using learning suggestions provided by different models, it was found that the learning performance of the students who received learning suggestions by applying the innovative approach was significantly better than for those who received guidance based on the original model.     

基于阅读认知诊断的学生表现预测

面向学生的表现预测（试题得分）是在线教育领域重要的研究课题。但传统认知诊断的预测准确性较低,协同过滤方法难以保证预测结果的可解释性。此外,由于目前方法预测时大多利用了学生的试题作答记录,因而不能预测无作答记录的学生在试题上的表现。学生作答试题之前,通常会阅读一些辅助性文本类学习材料。阅读认知诊断即学生阅读学习材料的内容往往可以反映出学生的知识状态（知识点掌握情况）,从而有助于预测学生表现。为此,提出一种基于阅读认知诊断的知识状态建模方法。利用学生阅读学习材料的内容,量化其对学习材料的潜在认知程度。结合教育学假设,量化学习材料的难度。利用上述两个量化结果,根据项目反应理论,计算出学生对学习材料的实际掌握程度,据此建模学生的知识状态并预测其在试题上的表现。在实际数据集上进行实验,实验结果表明所提方法可以保证预测结果的准确性与可解释性,也可以预测出无作答记录的学生表现。     

Learning in a u-Museum: Developing a context-aware ubiquitous learning environment

Context-awareness techniques can support learners in learning without time or location constraints by using mobile devices and associated learning activities in a real learning environment. Enrichment of context-aware technologies has enabled students to learn in an environment that integrates learning resources from both the real world and the digital world. Although learning outside of the traditional classroom is an innovative teaching approach, the two main problems are the lack of proper learning strategies and the capacity to acquire knowledge on subjects effectively. To manage these problems, this study proposes a context-aware ubiquitous learning system (CAULS) based on radio-frequency identification (RFID), wireless network, embedded handheld device, and database technologies to detect and examine real-world learning behaviors of students. A case study of an aboriginal education course was conducted in classrooms and at the Atayal u-Museum in Taiwan. Participants included elementary school teachers and students. We also designed and used a questionnaire based on the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) theory to measure the willingness for adoption or usage of the proposed system. The experimental results demonstrated that this innovative approach can enhance their learning intention. Furthermore, the results of a posttest survey revealed that most students' testing scores improved significantly, further indicating the effectiveness of the CAULS.     

A reactive blended learning proposal for an introductory control engineering course

As it happens in other fields of engineering, blended learning is widely used to teach process control topics. In this paper, the inclusion of a reactive element – a Fuzzy Logic based controller – is proposed for a blended learning approach in an introductory control engineering course. This controller has been designed in order to regulate the workload for each student, according to his activity and performance. The proposed course is based on a web tool called ControlWeb, which includes a complete vision of control topics and is used intensively along the course. The results of the evaluation of the methodology attest its efficiency in terms of learning degree and performance of the students.     

Online lecture accessibility and its influence on performance in skills-based courses

At the University of Toronto at Scarborough, we provide enhanced flexibility to our students using a blended-learning approach (i.e., the webOption) whereby students can attend lectures live, watch them online at their convenience, or both. The current research examines the use of pause and seeks features afforded by the webOption interface and how these features are related to students’ learning approaches and their performance in calculus courses. These courses emphasize the teaching of mathematical proofs; cognitive skills that are enhanced with practice (Schneider & Shiffrin, 1977). Access to online lectures allows students to re-experience the professor as they teach these skills. Given this, it was predicted that use of the webOption might be especially potent in these learning contexts. The results we report here do not confirm that prediction. Students do use and appreciate the features of the webOption, however, those students who augmented their class attendance with online viewing, and those who used the lecture-control features the most, were actually the students who performed most poorly. We interpreted the results to be due to different learning strategies and the manner in which these strategies interact with course content. Our results suggest that using the pause feature is related to a surface strategy of learning, which is in turn related to poorer performance in the course.     

Analytics of learning tactics and strategies in an online learnersourcing environment

Background

The use of crowdsourcing in a pedagogically supported form to partner with learners in developing novel content is emerging as a viable approach for engaging students in higher-order learning at scale. However, how students behave in this form of crowdsourcing, referred to as learnersourcing, is still insufficiently explored.

Objectives

To contribute to filling this gap, this study explores how students engage with learnersourcing tasks across a range of course and assessment designs.

Methods

We conducted an exploratory study on trace data of 1279 students across three courses, originating from the use of a learnersourcing environment under different assessment designs. We employed a new methodology from the learning analytics (LA) field that aims to represent students' behaviour through two theoretically-derived latent constructs: learning tactics and the learning strategies built upon them.

Results

The study's results demonstrate students use different tactics and strategies, highlight the association of learnersourcing contexts with the identified learning tactics and strategies, indicate a significant association between the strategies and performance and contribute to the employed method's generalisability by applying it to a new context.

Implications

This study provides an example of how learning analytics methods can be employed towards the development of effective learnersourcing systems and, more broadly, technological educational solutions that support learner-centred and data-driven learning at scale. Findings should inform best practices for integrating learnersourcing activities into course design and shed light on the relevance of tactics and strategies to support teachers in making informed pedagogical decisions.