Interaction analysis in a ‘Learning by Doing’ problem-based professional development context

This paper explores the concept and practice of interaction within a blended problem-based learning (PBL) module for academic professional development in higher education. A qualitative study spanning two years of the lived experiences of 17 academic staff in a blended PBL module was considered likely to provide a much-needed analysis of current thinking and practice on the potential of interaction. Relevant constructivist theories are applied to face-to-face PBL tutorials, online discussions, focus group interviews and reflective papers. For designers and tutors in blended PBL, it is important to seek best practices for how to combine instructional strategies in classroom and computer-mediated environments that take advantage of the strengths of each and avoid their weaknesses. Specific aspects of interaction (peer, tutor and the blended PBL learning experience) within face-to-face and online PBL tutorials are analysed to provide research-based information about the realities of delivering a PBL programme using a variety of current learning technologies.     

Online formative assessment in higher education: A review of the literature

As online and blended learning has become common place educational strategy in higher education, educators need to reconceptualise fundamental issues of teaching, learning and assessment in non traditional spaces. These issues include concepts such as validity and reliability of assessment in online environments in relation to serving the intended purposes, as well as understanding how formative assessment functions within online and blended learning. This article provides a systematic qualitative review of the research literature on online formative assessment in higher education. As an integrative narrative review, the method applied in this review entailed systematic searching, reviewing, and writing this review of the literature to bring together key themes and findings of research in this field. The authors applied qualitative thematic criteria in selecting and reviewing the available literature from which they focused on identifying and analyzing the core themes that are central to the concept of formative assessment with a key focus on application of formative assessment within blended and online contexts. Various techniques were identified for formative assessment by the individual, peers and the teacher, many of which were linked with online tools such as self-test quiz tools, discussion forums and e-portfolios. The benefits identified include improvement of learner engagement and centrality in the process as key actors, including the development of a learning community. The key findings are that effective online formative assessment can foster a learner and assessment centered focus through formative feedback and enhanced learner engagement with valuable learning experiences. Ongoing authentic assessment activities and interactive formative feedback were identified as important characteristics that can address threats to validity and reliability within the context of online formative assessment.     

Personalising learning: Exploring student and teacher perceptions about flexible learning and assessment in a flipped university course

Flexible teaching and learning and the ‘flipped classroom’ are current buzzwords in higher education in Australia and elsewhere in the world. They are reflections of the progressive change in higher education over the last few decades towards more student-and learning centred pedagogies and practices, which are made possible through new technologies and more delivery of online and blended (combination of face-to-face and online components) courses. The increasing personalising and flexibility of learning in higher education requires equal attention spent to assessment practices to ensure a cohesive learning experience. This paper provides the findings and conclusions of a study about a flipped classroom, which also included flexible assessment components. The study showed that students enjoy and are more engaged in a flipped classroom, prefer a blended learning to a fully online learning approach, want and require clear structure and guidelines, and strongly value flexible assessment through more choices and control. The main concern of higher education teachers is the time commitment and lack of institutional support for flipping classrooms and providing flexible assessment. It is argued that personalising learning requires more personalising of assessment, and that it is mainly the responsibility of teachers and institutions to develop ‘flexible students’.     

Re-thinking physics teaching with web-based learning

There is extensive uptake of ICT in the teaching of science but more evidence is needed on how ICT impacts on the learning practice and the learning outcomes at the classroom level. In this study, a physics website (Getsmart) was developed using the cognitive apprenticeship framework for students at a high school in Australia. This website was designed to enhance students’ knowledge of concepts in physics. Reflexive pedagogies were used in the delivery learning materials in a blended learning environment. The students in the treatment group accessed the website over a 10 week period. Pre and post-test results of the treatment (N = 48) and comparison group (N = 32) were compared. The MANCOVA analysis showed that the web-based learning experience benefitted the students in the treatment group. It not only impacted on the learning outcomes, but qualitative data from the students suggested that it had a positive impact on their attitudes towards studying physics in a blended environment.     

Harmonizing technology with interaction in blended problem-based learning

This paper discusses the harmonizing role of technology and interaction in a qualitative study on blended problem-based learning within the context of academic development in higher education. Within this setting, and as both designers and tutors in blended PBL, it is important to seek best practices for how to combine instructional strategies in face-to-face and computer-mediated environments that take advantage of the strengths of each and avoid their weaknesses. A qualitative study of the lived experiences of 17 academic staff participants in a blended problem-based learning module was considered likely to provide a much-needed analysis of current thinking and practice on the potential of interaction in this form of professional academic development in higher education. Specific aspects of interaction (technical, peer, content and the learning experience) within blended problem-based learning tutorials are analysed to provides research-based information about the realities of delivering a PBL programme using technology. The study argues that the intersection of PBL and learning technologies can offer different ways of teaching and learning that require exploration and reflection of pedagogy and technology as in integrated approach that must work effectively together. The synergy from the collaborative blended PBL approach in this module could result in the coherent and comprehensive provision of training, support and research work throughout higher education institutions.     

Students' perceptions of instructors' roles in blended and online learning environments: A comparative study

This study develops an instrument—the Online Instructor Role and Behavior Scale (OIRBS)—and uses it to examine students' perceptions of instructors' roles in blended and online learning environments. A total sample of 750 university students participated in this study. Through a confirmatory factor analysis, the OIRBS was validated in five constructs: course designer and organizer (CDO), discussion facilitator (DF), social supporter (SS), technology facilitator (TF), and assessment designer (AD). The results show that the five factor structures remained invariant across the blended learning and online learning. Both students in blended learning environments and students in online learning environments exhibited the greatest weight in the CDO dimension, followed by the TF and DF dimensions. In addition, students in the online learning environments scored higher in the DF dimension than did those in the blended learning environments.     

Evaluating the effectiveness of blended learning using the ARCS model

While the educational disruption caused by the Covid-19 pandemic underscores the importance of blended learning in higher education, research on the effectiveness of blended learning is still inconclusive. Drawing from the motivational design model of the ARCS (i.e., attention, relevance, confidence, and satisfaction), this study attempts to fill the gap to evaluate effectiveness of blended learning from a multi-dimensional perspective. Participants were randomly assigned into three experimental groups (i.e., face-to-face, pure online, and blended). A questionnaire survey was administered in each group after the trial courses. The data was analysed by using the one-way ANOVA with post hoc tests. The results showed that blended learning outperformed pure online learning in enhancing students' attention, confidence, and satisfaction perceptions. Additionally, blended learning had a higher level of satisfaction perception than face-to-face learning. Follow-up interviews were also conducted to provide an in-depth understanding of how blended learning motivated students during the learning process. Considering that blended learning may become a new normal in higher education after the Covid-19 pandemic, the findings of the present study provide evidences to support the effectiveness of the blended learning approach in addressing students' motivational needs.     

Investigating the quality of student approaches to using technology in experiences of learning through writing

This study reports on the student experience of learning through writing in an undergraduate science subject. During their writing experience, 52 first year university science students used a writing database, bulletin board and word-processor. Using quantitative questionnaires developed from student learning research, this study investigates the quality of the approaches adopted by students to the use of the technologies and how this related to the quality of their whole experience and performance measures. The results show that students who adopted a surface or reproductive approach tended to achieve relatively poorer learning outcomes and lower performance measures than students who adopted approaches which reflected understanding. The findings have important implications for teachers introducing technologies into writing processes for the purpose of improving students’ learning outcomes.     

Promoting online learners’ continuance intention: An integrated flow framework

Despite the rapid growth and significant benefits of online learning, retaining students in online courses remains a key challenge. This study empirically tests an integrated model that simultaneously examines factors influencing students’ attainment of flow experience in online learning and the impacts of flow on their online learning continuance intention. The results identified telepresence as the most significant factor influencing students’ flow experience in online learning. Perceived hedonic value played the most important mediating role transmitting the effects of flow on students’ continuance intention. The implications of the study for both research and practice are discussed.     

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.     

Electronic [re]constitution of groups: Group dynamics from face-to-face to an online setting

The authors work as online tutors for a BSc (Hons) physiotherapy programme at Coventry University in the United Kingdom. This paper represents a stage in our developing understanding, over a 3 year period, of the impact of group dynamics on online interaction among physiotherapy students engaged in sharing with their peers their first experiences of clinical practice. The literature exploring online interaction tends to situate meaning either in theories borrowed from conventional face-to-face interaction or on virtual interaction. Research focusing on ‘blended learning’ that combines face-to-face and online interaction is limited in terms of considering how group dynamics impact groups that are constituted and reconstituted in the two very different learning contexts. Using a case study approach, the authors consider how group dynamics change as groups move from face-to-face to online collaboration in pursuit of learning objectives. We characterize typical features of the cases and draw conclusions based on similarities and differences. Findings suggest that group learning is linked to group cohesion, which appears to be mediated by social and cognitive factors that students bring with them. Social presence appears vital to positive group dynamics and is a precursor to cognitive presence, which develops when groups rise above their desire to be sociable and supportive. Group dynamics, whether positive or negative, and their consequent impact on interaction appear to be relatively stable across contexts once the group scene is set through face-to-face interaction. Engagement and interaction of individual students, however, can alter when face-to-face interaction moves online.     

A Heuristic Algorithm for planning personalized learning paths for context-aware ubiquitous learning

In a context-aware ubiquitous learning environment, learning systems can detect students’ learning behaviors in the real-world with the help of context-aware (sensor) technology; that is, students can be guided to observe or operate real-world objects with personalized support from the digital world. In this study, an optimization problem that models the objectives and criteria for determining personalized context-aware ubiquitous learning paths to maximize the learning efficacy for individual students is formulated by taking the meaningfulness of the learning paths and the number of simultaneous visitors to each learning object into account. Moreover, a Heuristic Algorithm is proposed to find a quality solution. Experimental results from the learning activities conducted in a natural science butterfly-ecology course of an elementary school are also given to depict the benefits of the innovative approach.     

Development of online instructional resources for Earth system science education: An example of current practice from China

Educators around the world are striving to make science more accessible and relevant to students. Online instructional resources have become an integral component of tertiary science education and will continue to grow in influence and importance over the coming decades. A case study in the iterative improvement of the online instructional resources provided for first-year undergraduates taking “Introductory Earth System Science” at Nanjing University in China is presented in this paper. Online instructional resources are used to conduct a student-centered learning model in the domain of Earth system science, resulting in a sustainable online instructional framework for students and instructors. The purpose of our practice is to make Earth system science education more accessible and exciting to students, changing instruction from a largely textbook-based teacher-centered approach to a more interactive and student-centered approach, and promoting the integration of knowledge and development of deep understanding by students. Evaluation on learning performance and learning satisfaction is conducted to identify helpful components and perception based on students’ learning activities. The feedbacks indicate that the use of online instructional resources has positive impacts on mitigating Earth system science education challenges, and has the potential to promote deep learning.     

Computer-supported collaborative learning with digital video cases in teacher education: The impact of teaching experience on knowledge convergence

Case-based learning is ascribed high potential with respect to the education of pre-service teachers as well as the further education of experienced in-service teachers, as it can provide opportunities for the application of professional knowledge to authentic classroom situations. In addition to the application and acquisition of knowledge, the aspect of knowledge convergence (i.e., increasing similarity of collaborative learners with respect to their knowledge) should be taken into account when homogeneous benefits are desired for all participants of a case-based training. A field study with 29 pre-service teachers and 24 in-service teachers from adult education was conducted to examine effects of different levels of teaching experience on knowledge application, knowledge acquisition, and knowledge convergence in a computer-supported collaborative case-based learning environment. An innovative approach to measuring knowledge convergence was introduced, using the positions of annotations (i.e., flags placed on the timeline of the case video) made by learners during their case analyses as an indicator of their shared focus of attention. This measure was found to positively correlate with the application and acquisition of professional knowledge. Teaching experience affected both processes and outcomes of case-based learning, suggesting different means of instructional support for pre-service and in-service teachers.     

Blended Learning to Increase Student Satisfaction: An Exploratory Study

Undergraduate nursing research courses are often difficult to teach due to the challenging content and lack of student satisfaction. To address this issue, two nursing instructors and a librarian embedded online discussions into an accelerated format, introductory nursing research course. The study was conducted over two semesters with two different instructors. The researchers investigated if using the blended learning strategy of discussion boards enhanced the learning experience and tested their theory with two measures: a weekly qualitative questionnaire and a post-study survey. Results suggested that asynchronous online discussions increased student satisfaction in introductory nursing research course work.     

Supporting middle school students' online reading of scientific resources: moving beyond cursory,fragmented, and opportunistic reading

The abundant scientific resources on the Web provide great opportunities for students to expand their science learning, yet easy access to information does not ensure learning. Prior research has found that middle school students tend to read Web‐based scientific resources in a shallow, superficial manner. A software tool was designed to support middle school students in reading online scientific resources through three key strategies: making explicit a skim–read–summarize structure for online reading, using prompts to guide students' reading and foster articulation of thinking, and connecting reading to learning purposes. This study examined the differences between regular and guided online reading performed by eight pairs of sixth graders in a science inquiry project. The students' online reading processes and conversations were captured by a screen‐recording programme. Analysis of 60 h of screen videos showed that the students' online reading in the regular condition was cursory, fragmented, and opportunistic, while the structured online reading was more deliberate, thorough, and purposeful. Overall, the results suggest that middle school students' online reading of scientific resources needs to be guided.     

Exploration of secondary students’ creativity by integrating web-based technology into an innovative science curriculum

The purpose of the study was to investigate how web-based technology could be utilized and integrated with real-life scientific materials to stimulate the creativity of secondary school students. One certified science teacher and 31 seventh graders participated in this study. Several real-life experience science sessions integrated with online teaching were used for one semester. The study used an interpretive methodology, which was qualitative analysis rather than quantitative analysis. The main data included students’ online data, interviews, videotape recordings and the teacher’s journals. The results also showed that this study provided information to enhance students’ expression of sensitivity, fluency, flexibility, originality, and elaboration of scientific creativities. Students’ creativity was motivated by the online interactivities and the teacher’s inquiry. The difficulties and limitations of the teaching and learning environment included strong attraction toward the Internet, poor ability of students in word processing and discussion online, students’ utilitarianism due to the pressure of entrance examination, and large amount of time spent on explorative activities.     

A blended learning lecture delivery model for large and diverse undergraduate cohorts

A blended learning model was developed to enhance lecture delivery in a large, diverse introductory psychology unit, introducing the use of an online, personalized learning system for lecture preparation and using lecture time to extend students' understanding. Changes to the assessment included diagnostic, formative and summative online quizzes. Using hierarchical multiple regression to account for the variance associated with prior achievement and background knowledge, the results show that students who completed the online formative assessments had significantly higher scores on summative assessment tasks, and that scores were even higher for students who used these resources repeatedly. Changes to future implementations of the model are suggested to improve student engagement in formative assessment, and to facilitate lecturer's use of reports on student progress to focus and improve the quality of discussion in the face-to-face lectures.     

Effect of blended learning environment on transfer of learning: an experimental study

The main purpose of the study is to investigate the effect of the blended learning and face‐to‐face learning on students' academic achievements and transfer of learning. The first aim of the study is to analyse the students' academic achievements to determine the change of theoretical knowledge in terms of the instructional method applied in this study. However, students' performances during the learning process are not always a good indicator. Therefore, the second aim of the study is to examine transferring students' theoretical knowledge to their educational multimedia projects. For this purpose, 14 weeks of pre‐ and post‐test experimental study is designed. The study is administered through an educational technology course in which students learn how to develop educational multimedia materials. The participants are undergraduate pre‐service teachers; they are assigned randomly to the experimental and control group. While the experimental group has both online and classroom sessions, the control group has only face‐to‐face classroom sessions. Although there is no significant difference between the groups in terms of academic achievement, the students in the blended group are more successful in transferring their knowledge to their projects than the ones in the face‐to‐face group. In conclusion, the results show that the blended learning approach has a positive effect on the transfer of learning.