The influence of individual espoused cultural values on self-directed use of technology for language learning beyond the classroom

Students' use of technology for learning beyond the classroom is critical to maximizing the educational potential of technology, and understanding factors that affect learners' adoption of technology is critical. This study examined the influence of individual espoused cultural values on learners' voluntary technology adoption in informal learning contexts. Structural equation modeling was used to test a model of the direct and moderating effects of espoused cultural values on learners' self-directed use of technology for learning beyond the classroom, based on the survey responses of 661 foreign language learners from three countries/regions. The study found strong direct effects but weak moderating effects of cultural values. It further found that long-term orientation and uncertainty avoidance were two individual-level cultural value orientations that played important roles in the voluntary adoption of technology for self-directed learning beyond the classroom.     

Middle school students' flipped learning readiness in foreign language classrooms: Exploring its relationship with personal characteristics and individual circumstances

This study surveyed 387 middle school 7th – graders' flipped learning readiness in their English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) classrooms and explored the effects of personal characteristics on their readiness levels. These personal characteristics included gender, the availability of outside-school support and resources, foreign language beliefs, perceptions of their English teachers, and how they use the Internet. Through factor analysis, flipped learning readiness consists of five dimensions: learner control and self-directed learning, technology self-efficacy, motivation for learning, in-class communication self-efficacy, and doing previews. It was found that personal characteristics and individual circumstances, including language beliefs, student perceptions of teacher characteristics, the availability of outside-school support and resources, learning performance, study time and net-surfing time, can make a difference to the levels of the readiness dimensions. These findings may shed light on the middle schoolers' flipped learning readiness in EFL classrooms and provide insights for teachers wanting to incorporate individualized instruction in the flipped classroom.     

Designing a technology‐enhanced flipped learning system to facilitate students' self‐regulation and performance

In recent years, the flipped classroom has become prevalent in many educational settings. Flipped classroom adopts a pedagogical model in which short video lectures are viewed by students at home before class so that the teacher can lead students to participate in activities, problem‐solving, and discussions. Yet the design or use of technology that employs planned instructional strategies with sustainable support of self‐regulation is scant. We propose a technology‐enhanced flipped language learning system (Flip2Learn) that provides facilitation and guidance for learning performance and self‐regulation. A quasi‐experimental study was carried out to examine whether Flip2Learn could enhance college students' self‐regulatory skills and later contribute to the learning performance in the flipped classrooms. The results showed that Flip2Learn not only better prepared students for flipped classrooms but also better promoted learning performance compared to the conventional flipped classrooms. The results of this research advanced our understanding of the dynamics of flipped classrooms and represented a revolutionary new approach to the technology‐enhanced learning for flipped classrooms.     

Six seconds to visualize the word: improving EFL learners' vocabulary through VVVs

This paper moves away from reminiscent mechanical repetition and drills, which were in vogue when teaching vocabulary before the rise of technology. With the support of technology, innovative methodologies that are more effective and enjoyable can be implemented into vocabulary teaching. In this particular context, there seems to be a lack of technology integration in vocabulary teaching because of teachers being untrained and/or not provided with the necessary technology. The aim of this study was to foster vocabulary development through the implementation of Vine vocabulary videos in English vocabulary learning. An embedded mixed methods design was employed to collect necessary data for analysis. The results of the post‐test revealed that the practice of Vine vocabulary videos was effective and improved participants' vocabulary. The content analysis of the semi‐structured interviews carried out with participants indicated that they had enjoyed the whole process and found it very motivating and effective. This study claims that adopting smartphones into a vocabulary course will enable English as a foreign language learners to expand and consolidate their vocabulary learning outside the classroom, engage them in a collaborative learning environment, practice and use the language being learnt and share their knowledge and experiences with their peers.     

An experience of a three-year study on the development of critical thinking skills in flipped secondary classrooms with pedagogical and technological support

The aim of this study was attempting to investigate the outcome of critical thinking achievement of learners when its development is infused into subject teaching with pedagogical and technological support. A total of 124 junior secondary students participated in the three-year trial teaching in Integrated Humanities subject. Flipped classroom strategy was implemented to engage learners in online pre-lesson learning preparation, in-class group discussion inside digital classroom and after-class extended learning using social learning platform. The critical thinking tests found that the students had good performance in the tasks on hypothesis identification, induction and deduction; and some achievements in the tasks on explanation and evaluation. It was found that students needed more time to develop capacities of deduction, explanation and evaluation. The semi-structured interviews found that the teachers and students valued the pedagogical way of providing guidance for students' group sharing for fostering critical thinking skills development. Three implications are discussed to shed light on the infusion of critical thinking skills development into the process of domain knowledge learning, the deployment of appropriate pedagogy to mobilize learners to engage in learning process, and the use of appropriate technology to facilitate learning process inside and outside of classroom.     

Using augmented reality to support a software editing course for college students

This study aimed to explore whether integrating augmented reality (AR) techniques could support a software editing course and to examine the different learning effects for students using online‐based and AR‐based blended learning strategies. The researcher adopted a comparative research approach with a total of 103 college students participating in the study. The experimental group (E.G.) learned with the AR‐based contents, while the control group (C.G.) learned with the online‐based support. The findings demonstrated the potential of AR techniques for supporting students' learning motivation and peer learning interaction, and the AR‐based contents could be used as scaffolding to better support blended learning strategies. The AR‐based learning interaction could also be a trigger arousing learners' interest in becoming active learners and the students presented great learning involvement after the AR‐based supports were removed, while the learners in the C.G. were passive once the supports had been removed. Moreover, it was found that (1) their lack of experience with AR interaction and applications, (2) the slow speed of the Internet in the school, (3) the affordances of each learner's mobile learning devices, (4) the screen size of the learning interface and (5) the overloading of the learning information from the AR contents and teacher lectures might be the reasons why the learners were still more used to the online‐based support. It was therefore concluded that when integrating AR applications into a course, technology educational researchers should take into careful consideration the target learning content design, the amount of information displayed on the mobile screen and the affordances of the learning equipment and classroom environment so as to achieve a suitable learning scenario.     

Embedded blended learning within an Algebra classroom: a multimedia capture experiment

This two‐group, pretest‐posttest, quasi‐experimental study compared secondary students' learning of Algebra II materials over a 4‐week period when identical instruction by the same teacher was delivered through either embedded blended learning (treatment group; n = 32) or a live‐lecture classroom (control group; n = 24). For both groups, instruction was delivered in a normal classroom setting. A math test and a student survey were used to measure students' learning of Algebra II and satisfaction with the instruction. Students in the treatment group showed significantly greater gains in Algebra II test scores and evaluated their learning experiences significantly more positively than did the control group. The great majority (80%) of students in the treatment group preferred the embedded blended learning over traditional live lectures for future learning of math. Students' responses to open‐ended survey questions suggested that students in the treatment group appreciated the: (a) ability to control the pace of instruction; (b) new role of the classroom teacher; (c) lack of distraction in the blended learning environment; and (d) accessibility of the embedded multimedia lessons outside the classroom. This study suggests that screen‐capture instructional technology can be used towards establishing a teacher‐based, embedded blended learning environment within a secondary algebraic classroom.     

Effects of interactivity and instructional scaffolding on learning: Self-regulation in online video-based environments

Online learning often requires learners to be self-directed and engaged. The present study examined students' self-regulatory behaviors in online video-based learning environments. Using an experimental design, this study investigated the effects of a newly designed enhanced video learning environment, which was designed to support or scaffold students' self-regulated or self-directed learning on students' learning behaviors and outcomes. In addition, correspondence between students' self-regulation strategies in traditional learning environments and observed self-regulated learning behaviors in the enhanced video environment were examined. A cross-sectional experimental research design with systematic random assignment of participants to either the control condition (common video) or the experimental condition (enhanced video) was utilized. Undergraduate and graduate students participated in the study (N = 80). Study results indicate that the newly designed enhanced video learning environment was a superior instructional tool than the common video learning environment in terms students' learning performance. In addition, there was correspondence between graduate students' self-reported self-regulation and observed self-regulation, with those high on seeking/learning information and managing their environment/behavior more likely to engage more in interactive note-taking.     

Can more interactivity improve learning achievement in an online course? Effects of college students' perception and actual use of a course-management system on their learning achievement

This study aims to investigate how interactivity influence learners' use of interactive functions in the course-management system (CMS) and their online learning performance. A two-tier mediation framework is proposed to examine the mediating effects of different actual-use records concerning the CMS's interactive functions. Data are collected from 381 undergraduate students who enrolled in a general-education asynchronous online course from three universities in Taiwan. The results indicate that the relationships among students' self-reported use of interactive functions, students' perceptions of the usefulness of interactive functions, and students' actual-use logs have some direct influences on students' online learning performance (online-discussion scores, exam scores, and group-project scores). In addition, students' actual-use logs (the number of times of log-ins to the online course, the number of times students read learning materials, and the number of postings on the discussion board) have a mediated effect on students' self-reported frequency of logging into the CMS, students' self-reported frequency of using the learner–instructor/learner–learner interactive functions, and online learning performance. The findings and implications could constitute a useful guide for educational practitioners and designers concerned with the effective integration of interactivity into future online courses.     

Successful stories and conflicts: A literature review on the effectiveness of flipped learning in higher education

As technological advancements continue to revolutionize teaching, the use of technology in both college/university and K‐12 classrooms is making flipped learning a trending instructional model. “Flipping” the classroom reverses a traditional model of in‐class lecture followed by practice and homework. The roles and responsibilities of instructors and students often require a new or enhanced skill set where the instructor designs intentional learning experiences to engage students outside of the classroom. The learner is accountable for exploring materials outside of class in a self‐directed manner, attempting to gain foundational knowledge before class, and then actively applying it in the classroom. This review analyses the research on flipped learning and flipped classrooms in higher education from a variety of aspects including implementation, efficacy, and quality.     

Virtual reality in problem-based learning contexts: Effects on the problem-solving performance,vocabulary acquisition and motivation of English language learners

Learning a foreign language requires interaction with language input while involved in a task. Given that problem-based learning (PBL) offers hands-on application in realistic contexts, and that virtual reality (VR) enables learners to interact with multiple modalities of information, this study examines how the integration of VR technology into PBL contexts affects students' motivation for, problem-solving during, and vocabulary acquisition in learning English as a foreign language (EFL). A total of 84 engineering majors who enrolled in a course of English for specific purposes were randomly assigned to either an experimental group or a control group. Students in the experimental group participated in a VR-assisted PBL context, in which they were to view a PBL scenario using VR technology and then to create VR videos about solving the given problems. Those in the control group participated in a PBL context without the use of VR technology for viewing and solving the identical scenario. After the intervention, all the students wrote a problem-solving analysis, took a vocabulary knowledge test, completed a learning motivation questionnaire, and participated in individual interviews. The results showed that the students in the experimental group significantly outperformed those in the control group in terms of vocabulary acquisition, and were more motivated to learn English related to their future careers, whereas there was no significant difference in the problem-solving performance of the two groups. Implications of these findings highlight the value of engaging EFL learners in immersive environments for contextualized learning through the integrated use of VR and PBL.     

Changing teachers,changing students? The impact of a teacher-focused intervention on students' computer usage,attitudes, and anxiety

An important purpose of integrating computer use into everyday classroom instruction is to help students approach technology as a learning tool. Effective classroom integration is dependent not only on access to computers but also teachers' implementation of computing into learning. Successful implementation, in turn, depends largely on teachers' beliefs about classroom computing. The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of a teacher-focused technology intervention on students' attitudes toward and use of computers as learning tools. Teachers' attitudes, anxiety, and classroom computer use are explored as mediators of this relationship. Data were collected during a technology intervention in fourth and fifth grade classrooms in an urban public school district. Results suggest that the technology intervention itself had a positive effect on students' attitudes toward and use of computers for educational purposes. There was no evidence, however, that teachers' use or attitudes had any mediating effect on this relationship. These results suggest that it is possible to increase students' attitudes toward computer use through intense interventions aimed at their teachers. Future research should further investigate the mechanisms through which this relationship exits.     

From deconstructive misalignment to constructive alignment: Exploring student uses of mobile technologies in university classrooms

Becoming increasingly ubiquitous for students are the various uses of information and communication technologies (ICTs) within their wireless and networked learning environments. Many students use ICTs during lectures or tutorials for tasks unrelated to class learning activities, thus providing a potential misalignment with the intended learning outcomes. A sample of undergraduate and postgraduate psychology and business students were surveyed to determine their frequency of mobile ICT use in the classroom and the students' motivations and rationale for undertaking those activities unrelated to classroom learning. The survey contained quantitative items (categorical and Likert scale response items) and qualitative items requiring responses to open ended questions. Students indicated that using ICTs in ways misaligned with lesson learning outcomes, was related to the course content delivery mode, the promotion of passive or active learning, being domestic or international students, learner maturity, and the need for supporting course information. Understanding how and why students use mobile ICTs in classes can inform the redesign of classroom activities, to actively involve those technologies to assist in constructive alignment with the learning outcomes and enhance the student learning experience.     

Understanding student simultaneous smartphone use in learning settings: A conceptual framework

Smartphone use in learning settings is a common behaviour amongst college students. Building on the theory of consumerism, self-efficacy and addictive behaviours, the current study developed a three-component conceptual framework to understand college students' smartphone use in organizational as well as self-directed learning settings. One thousand and thirty-three students in Shenzhen completed an online survey that measured their frequency of using smartphones in learning settings, motivation for using smartphones in learning settings, behavioural control self-efficacy, smartphone use time, problematic smartphone use, multitask habit and impulsiveness. Regression and configurational analytical approaches were used to examine linear and nonlinear relationships. Results support the use of the proposed framework to explain students' smartphone use behaviour in learning settings.     

Wireless sensors application in smart English classroom design based on artificial intelligent system

In the traditional intelligent English classroom teaching, the efficiency of students' learning is often affected by many external environments, such as the influence of learning environment, the influence of students' own condition, and the influence of teachers' teaching mode. In view of these problems, we propose a wireless sensor network technology intelligent teacher management system, which can reduce the influence of the above factors on students' learning efficiency and improve students' learning efficiency. Make students more focused on learning. The system can monitor the state of students through wireless sensors. When the students are in bad condition, the system can adopt certain measures to enhance the enthusiasm of students. At the same time, the state of students and the state of the classroom will be recorded in the internal background system, the system managers can timely monitor the state of students and teachers, and give some guidance and feedback to students and teachers. This learning system is based on machine-free learning and sensor development. It can adjust the classroom environment to suitable conditions and make students more motivated to learn. Teachers can also have a more stable play, will not cause waste of classroom time and attention loss and other phenomena. When students feel tired or sleepy in class, the management system can also actively remind students. Observing the students' state at all times in the traditional classroom will lead to the teacher's distraction, but the teacher has to observe the students' state while lecturing. This may affect teachers and affect their teaching level, and the use of this automated classroom detection technology can solve such problems. Machine learning is to improve the calculation method through various experiences, which is also a problem in the field of artificial intelligence.     

Exploring students' flow experiences in business simulation games

Business simulation games are a motivational and engaging tool for teaching business management. However, relatively little is known about what factors contribute to their success. This study explores the role of flow experienced while using business simulation games. Specifically, this research investigates the influence of challenge, skills, feedback, and goal clarity on students' flow experience. It also explores the impact of flow on generic skills development, perceived learning, and satisfaction. Based on a survey of 167 undergraduate students who used a classroom‐based business simulation game, the findings show that the challenge provided by the game, students' skills to meet the challenge, and instant feedback positively influenced students' flow. Conversely, goal clarity did not foster the optimal experience. Flow positively impacted generic skills development, perceived learning, and satisfaction.     

浅谈现代教育技术在语文课堂中的有效应用

在语文学科教学中,现代教育技术手段的应用可以有效地激发学生的学习热情;可以促进学生的情感渗透。作为语文教师,应充分利用好现代教育技术资源,为课堂注入新鲜空气,使传统的沉闷、苍白的课堂变得生动、充满活力。     

Cross-cultural analysis of users' attitudes toward the use of mobile devices in second and foreign language learning in higher education: A case from Sweden and China

The present study examined the current state of students' attitudes toward mobile technology use in and for second and foreign language learning in higher education. Moreover, the study investigated if age, gender or cultural factors affect these attitudes. A total of 345 students from two in many aspects different countries, China (Yunnan University) and Sweden (Dalarna University) participated in this study. To access learners' perceptions toward mobile technology use, we employed Kearney's pedagogical framework to mobile learning from a socio-cultural perspective (Kearney, Schuck, Burden, & Aubusson, 2012). Hofstede's cultural dimensions were used to approach students' cultural views, as these dimensions represent some values – aspects of culture – that may affect attitudes toward technology and learning individually as well as in combination. The findings show the respondents' attitudes toward mobile learning are very positive with individualization being most positive (83%) followed by collaboration (74%), and authenticity (73%). The statistical analysis indicates that Hofstede's factors cannot explain the differences in mobile-assisted language learning (MALL) attitudes in the chosen sample. Among the personal factors, gender is identified to be a predictor to explain the differences in students' attitudes toward MALL. This study shows that technology itself seems to be the most important culture-shaping factor, more important than culture inherited from the physical environment, and more important than age.     

Exploring the role of e-learning readiness on student satisfaction and motivation in flipped classroom

Decrease in student satisfaction and motivation in flipped classroom (FC) model of instruction is among frequently observed problems. And these problems could reduce the efficiency of FC model. It is believed that the problems related to student satisfaction and motivation in FC model of instruction are related to the e-learning readiness of the students. The purpose of the current study was to explore the impact of the e-learning readiness of the students on student satisfaction and motivation in FC model of instruction. The study was carried out with 236 undergraduate students taking Computing I class taught using FC model of instruction. Data were collected from three self-report instruments: E-learning Readiness Scale (subscales: ‘computer self-efficacy’, ‘internet self-efficacy’, ‘online communication self-efficacy’, ‘self-directed learning’, ‘learner control’ and ‘motivation towards e-learning’), Satisfaction Scale and Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire. The path analyses with structural equation modelling (SEM) further verified that students' e-learning readiness were related to their satisfaction and motivation while undertaking academic tasks in FC model of instruction. The results of the study indicated that students' e-learning readiness was a significant predictor of their satisfaction and motivation in FC model of instruction. Findings were presented and discussed for future studies and applications.