The preferences toward constructivist Internet-based learning environments among university students in Taiwan

Numerous educators have proposed the development of constructivist Internet-based learning environments for students. When creating the constructivist Internet-based learning environments, it is important for researchers to be aware of students’ preferences toward these environments. Through gathering data from 659 university students in Taiwan, this study developed a questionnaire to assess students’ preferences toward constructivist Internet-based learning environments. The questionnaire, with adequate validity and reliability, included 34 items on the following seven scales: relevance, multiple sources (and interpretations), challenge, student negotiation, cognitive apprenticeship, reflective thinking and epistemological awareness. The questionnaire responses revealed that male students tended to prefer the Internet-based learning environments where they could solve challenging problems, acquire cognitive apprenticeship and guidance from experts, and promote epistemological development than did female students. The findings also suggested that, if educators intend to develop Internet-based learning environments for more academically advanced students, such as graduate students, care should be taken to create more opportunities for them to negotiate ideas, obtain proper guidance, reflect their own thoughts, and explore epistemological issues. Finally, students with more Internet experiences tended to demand more on many features of the constructivist Internet-based learning environments than those with less Internet experiences.     

Investigating the interrelation between attitudes,learning readiness,and learning styles under virtual learning environment: a study among Indian students

ABSTRACT

Over the last few years there has been an increased emphasis on conceptualising, developing, and implementing virtual Learning initiatives across the Indian education sector. Effective and successful use of Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs) in academic setting requires identifying and solving many important social and behavioural issues. Without identifying and addressing these issues, their use can compound the mistakes of the past and leave the learner with a passive, un-engaging experience, leading to incomplete learning and low performance. Therefore, educators are required to recognise learner’s attitude, readiness, and learning style to take advantage of VLE. This study was conducted to find interrelationship of student attitude, readiness, and learning style towards the effective use of VLE. A total of 240 students who are using any form of VLE for their learning and research volunteered for the research, and the scales were filled via the convenience sampling method. The scales of learning readiness, attitude, and learning style were administered to the participants. The relationship among the variables of the research and the research hypotheses for the model were tested using different statistical tools like correlation, t-test and regression. The research result revealed that there is a correlation among learning readiness, attitude, and learning style, and each of these factors influence the effective use of VLE.     

Students’ perceptions of collaboration, self-regulated learning, and information seeking in the context of Internet-based learning and traditional learning

This study aims to investigate students’ perceptions of three aspects of learning - collaboration, self-regulated learning (SRL), and information seeking (IS) in both Internet-based and traditional face-to-face learning contexts. A multi-dimensional questionnaire was designed to evaluate each aspect in terms of perceived capability, experience, and interest. The analyses explore (1) potential differences of students’ perceptions between Internet-based and face-to-face learning environments and (2) potential differences in the three aspects in relation to learners’ attributes and the use of the Internet and enrollment in online courses. This study surveyed students in a higher education institute who had had experiences with Internet-based and face-to-face learning. The results showed that students perceived higher levels of collaboration (capability only), SRL (capability and experience) and IS (capability, interest, and experience) in Internet-based learning than in traditional learning environments. In terms of students’ education level, graduate students perceived higher levels of capabilities and interests in some of the aspects, than undergraduate students. In addition, for Internet-based learning, significant differences in collaboration and SRL were found derived from time spent on the Internet related to learning; and students’ perceptions of collaboration, SRL, and IS were all positively correlated to students’ online course-taking experience. Implications for online learning practices and instructor’s facilitation are discussed.     

Multi-level analysis of peer support,Internet self-efficacy and e-learning outcomes – The contextual effects of collectivism and group potency

The present study intends to explore the role of collectivism and group potency at group level in predicting individual Internet self-efficacy (ISE) and individual e-learning outcomes for people aged over 45. Group learning has been widely discussed in the research into online formats. However, less study has been carried out about how collectivism and collective group potency affect individual learning decisions, especially using the technique of Hierarchical Linear Modeling (HLM) for cross-level analysis, which provides the solution of case dependency between group members. This study examines the mediation effects of ISE between peer support and e-learning outcomes. It also explores the contextual effects of group potency, and the moderation effects of collectivism and group potency at an individual level. The results show that ISE fully mediates the relationship between peer support and learners’ persistence in e-learning, and partially mediates learners’ perceived learning and satisfaction. It is noteworthy that the findings do not support direct group-level contextual effects of group potency. Instead, the results suggest that group potency moderates ISE-perceived learning and ISE-satisfaction relationships. On the other hand, collectivism also moderates the relationship between peer support and ISE. This study highlights the group-level effects of group potency, and suggests that adult educators design and deliver e-learning courses with an emphasis on facilitating group processes.     

Teachers’ attitudes toward web-based professional development,with relation to Internet self-efficacy and beliefs about web-based learning

This study was conducted to explore the relationships between teachers’ Internet self-efficacy, beliefs about web-based learning and attitudes toward web-based professional development. The sample of this study included 421 teachers, coming from 20 elementary schools in Taiwan. The three instruments used to assess teachers’ Internet self-efficacy (ISS), beliefs about web-based learning (BWL), and attitudes toward web-based professional development (AWPD) revealed high reliability. In this study, the results supported that teachers’ Internet self-efficacy and beliefs about web-based learning were important predictors of their attitudes toward web-based professional development. The belief for the positive consequences of web-based learning is very important for the favorable attitudes toward web-based professional development.     

A study of the relationships among learning styles, participation types, and performance in programming language learning supported by online forums

This study is focused on the relationships among learning styles, participation types, and learning performance for programming language learning supported by an online forum. Kolb’s learning style inventory was used in this study to determine a learner’s learning type: ‘Diverger’, ‘Assimilator’, ‘Converger’, and ‘Accommodator’. Social Learning Theory was also used to define four participation types. These types in turn were used to describe the learning associated with the use of online forums: ‘Replier’, ‘Asker’, ‘Watcher’, and ‘No activity’.A total of 144 students participated in this experiment as part of a half semester ASP.NET programming language learning courses. The course contained an online forum for supporting the students’ social activities and participation. In this study, ‘learning score’ and ‘satisfaction’ were used to measure learning performance.The results of this study were the following: (1) different learning styles were associated with significantly different learning scores and that the ‘Accommodator’ style was associated with superior learning scores; (2) participation types were also associated with significantly different learning scores and that the ‘Replier’ type is associated with superior learning scores; (3) learning satisfaction is not significantly different among the different learning styles or different participation types, but the average is significantly higher than average values (3.5) of 7-point Likert scale; (4) there is no significant association between learning styles and participation types. Explanations and discussions of these results are offered.Based on the results of this study, we propose that programming language learning, supported with online forums and students’ active participation, increases learning performance as measured by student learning scores.     

Diagnostic,predictive and compositional modeling with data mining in integrated learning environments

Models represent a set of generic patterns to test hypotheses. This paper presents the CogMoLab student model in the context of an integrated learning environment. Three aspects are discussed: diagnostic and predictive modeling with respect to the issues of credit assignment and scalability and compositional modeling of the student profile in the context of an intelligent tutoring system/adaptive hypermedia learning system architectural pattern. The SOM–PCA, a collaborative-based data mining approach, is shown to be reusable for all three purposes above, enabling fast, objective implementations without requiring much intensive data collection.     

Learning through playing Virtual Age: Exploring the interactions among student concept learning,gaming performance,in-game behaviors,and the use of in-game characters

Video games possess many unique features that facilitate learning. Meanwhile, teaching about evolution is never an easy task due to the existence of some barriers to its learning. Virtual Age, therefore, has been developed in an attempt to harness the power of gaming to increase student understanding of biological evolution. The aim of this study was to examine whether Virtual Age is effective for learning about evolution and to further explore the interplay of student concept learning, gaming performance, and in-game behaviors. A total of 62 7th graders took part in the study, and significant findings were revealed. The students did learn by playing Virtual Age, and their long-term knowledge retention was promising. The in-game behaviors, such as times and duration of viewing the relevant information embedded in Virtual Age, were significantly related to gaming performance (game score), which subsequently influenced learning outcomes. Moreover, the results of cluster analysis indicated that three clusters of low learning outcomes/low gaming performance, high learning outcomes, and high gaming performance emerged. Overall, Virtual Age is an effective game for learning about evolution based on its sound and sophisticated design. Implications derived from the study and suggestions for future work are proposed.     

Blending traditional teaching methods with learning environments: Experience,cyclical evaluation process and impact with MAgAdI

This paper reports the experiment carried out at the University of the Basque Country concerning the integration of the MAgAdI on-line system within traditional teaching/learning methods. MAgAdI is an adaptive web environment devoted to supporting the learning processes in overall contexts, in which several knowledge fields, courses and teachers are involved. So far, a three-year cyclical evaluation-improvement process has been developed on several subjects and participants (n = 80) of a Computer Science degree programme. This process embraced formative and summative evaluation phases with the aim of: discovering the implications of the blended-learning loop on the satisfaction of teachers and motivation of students confirming improvements in student learning; and testing the usability of the Student Workspace. Experimental data were collected by means of a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods. Results of this study detect improvements in the students' acquisition of knowledge in the three phases where it was evaluated (Wilcoxon-test, p = 0.02, p = 0.048, p = 0.044), which may be attributable to the use of MAgAdI. In addition, increments in student's motivation and teacher's satisfaction were also perceived. Thus, these results agree with previous findings of related works.