Creative use of podcasting in higher education and its effect on competitive agency

This paper describes an academic experience of podcasting, which involved a group of students of a course on multimedia communication and human–computer interaction. These students acted both as users of the university’s podcasting service, and as creators of podcasted lessons. A comprehensive analysis based on the evaluation of the effects on student performance, on data from student satisfaction surveys, from interviews and from instructors’ observations provided encouraging results: Full-time students co-involved in lessons’ podcasting outperformed colleagues of the previous years and achieved higher levels of what we define as competitive agency, that led them to better understand the theoretical issues of the course and to more effective practical skills.     

The impact of online video lecture recordings and automated feedback on student performance

To what extent a blended learning configuration of face-to-face lectures, online on-demand video recordings of the face-to-face lectures and the offering of online quizzes with appropriate feedback has an additional positive impact on the performance of these students compared to the traditional face-to-face course approach? In a between-subjects design in which students were randomly assigned to a group having access to the online lectures including multiple choice quizzes and appropriate feedback or to a group having access to the online lectures only, 474 students (161 men and 313 women) of a course on European Law agreed to participate in the experiment. By using regression analysis we found that the course grade of the students was predicted by their grade point average, their study discipline, their grade goal for the course, the expected difficulty-level of the course, the number of online lectures they viewed, the number of lectures the students attended in person and the interaction between the lectures they viewed online and attended in person. Students who attended few lectures had more benefit from viewing online lectures than students who attended many lectures. In contrast to our expectations, the regression analysis did not show a significant effect of automated feedback on student performance. Offering recordings of face-to-face lectures is an easy extension of a traditional course and is of practical importance, because it enables students who are often absent from the regular face-to-face lectures to be able to improve their course grade by viewing the lectures online.     

Development of computer-assisted virtual field trips to support multidisciplinary learning

Multidisciplinary courses are being developed at a number of US colleges and universities to highlight the connections between the rise or fall of world civilizations and the sustainable or unsustainable uses of soil and water resources. The content presented in these courses is complex because it includes concepts from disciplines as varied as geology, soil science, politics, economics, history, and anthropology. The learning goals for the courses include developing skills in the critical analysis of complex “real-world” problems for which there is often no simple or correct solution. Didactic materials for such courses are limited. Field trips to sites around the world that present some of the issues covered in the course would be ideal, but are logistically challenging. We considered that a series of virtual field trips (VFTs) to sites around the world would allow us to present students with complicated real-world situations, with which to practice critical analysis skills. The VFTs envisaged are neither tutorials nor field/lab exercises. Rather, they are meant to be complex, multi-faceted representations of a past or current civilization and how it affects or is affected by its environment. We expect that the students will use the VFTs to explore the relationships between physical geography and culture and how the decisions or actions of a civilization impact natural resources and the environment and thus affect its fate. A goal of the VFTs is that through consideration of their experiences, students arrive at novel associations that lead to dynamic in-class dialogue about the material presented and a deeper understanding of the intricacies of the situation in the field. This article describes the process of assembling a VFT, and analyzes the technological and didactic choices the process requires. Our experience with a pilot VFT suggests that no single medium (i.e., video clips, interactive maps, animation sequences, etc.) is comprehensive enough to meet the course learning goals. Thus, a web-based, open architecture format was selected for the VFTs because of its simplicity, flexibility and extensibility. Each medium was selected for its ability to support the course learning goals. The learning process was mediated by the VFT text, questions for thought, and in-class discussions. Preliminary results with the pilot VFT are encouraging.     

iTunes University and the classroom: Can podcasts replace Professors?

iTunes University, a website with downloadable educational podcasts, can provide students the opportunity to obtain professors’ lectures when students are unable to attend class. To determine the effectiveness of audio lectures in higher education, undergraduate general psychology students participated in one of two conditions. In the lecture condition, participants listened to a 25-min lecture given in person by a professor using PowerPoint slides. Copies of the slides were given to aid note-taking. In the podcast condition, participants received a podcast of the same lecture along with the PowerPoint handouts. Participants in both conditions were instructed to keep a running log of study time and activities used in preparing for an exam. One week from the initial session students returned to take an exam on lecture content. Results indicated that students in the podcast condition who took notes while listening to the podcast scored significantly higher than the lecture condition. The impact of mobile learning on classroom performance is discussed.     

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.     

Delivering unprecedented access to learning through podcasting as OER,but who's listening? A profile of the external iTunes U user

Little is known about the learners who download iTunes U resources but do not belong to the Higher Education institutions that provide them. This paper presents the first full profile of the external iTunes U learner and their practices and opinions of the materials they download. The data was gathered through a large survey (over 2000 responses) carried out over two years using the iTunes U site from The Open University. It shows that external iTunes U learners are very different from the internal users and practices described in the literature so far: there are more men than women, mostly middle-aged, and they use the resources mostly for personal reasons. Despite the fact that respondents used the iTunes U site from a distance university, the paper argues that the respondents are comparable to external learners who use resources from other iTunes U sites. This profile of the iTunes U user provides a clearer picture of the target listener and can help inform and improve the materials design and delivery strategies for iTunes U as an independent learning tool and Open Educational Resources (OER) in general. The article also proposes areas for further research and argues for more studies into external learners' use of podcasting resources.     

Effects of constructing versus playing an educational game on student motivation and deep learning strategy use

In this study the effects of two different interactive learning tasks, in which simple games were included were described with respect to student motivation and deep strategy use. The research involved 235 students from four elementary schools in The Netherlands. One group of students (N = 128) constructed their own memory ‘drag and drop’ game, whereas the other group (N = 107) played an existing ‘drag and drop’ memory game. Analyses of covariance demonstrated a significant difference between the two conditions both on intrinsic motivation and deep strategy use. The large effect sizes for both motivation and deep strategy use were in favour of the construction condition. The results suggest that constructing a game might be a better way to enhance student motivation and deep learning than playing an existing game. Despite the promising results, the low level of complexity of the games used is a study limitation.     

Digital game-based learning: Impact of instructions and feedback on motivation and learning effectiveness

Although many studies have investigated the effects of digital game-based learning (DGBL) on learning and motivation, its benefits have never been systematically demonstrated. In our first experiment, we sought to identify the conditions under which DGBL is most effective, by analyzing the effects of two different types of instructions (learning instruction vs. entertainment instruction). Results showed that the learning instruction elicited deeper learning than the entertainment one, without impacting negatively on motivation. In our second experiment, we showed that if learners are given regular feedback about their performance, the entertainment instruction results in deep learning. These two experiments demonstrate that a serious game environment can promote learning and motivation, providing it includes features that prompt learners to actively process the educational content.     

Multimedia blogging in physical education: Effects on student knowledge and ICT self-efficacy

The main idea behind this study was to explore the educational potential of multimedia blogging for academic disciplines such as Physical Education (PE) that are not heavily based on written discourse and where multiple representations are important in learning. A class blog was utilized as a means for PE students to reflect on and showcase their performances of four specific basketball skills, through creating multimedia posts on these skills and receiving comments from their instructors, peers and an external expert. The effectiveness of multimedia blogging was evaluated, in terms of the acquisition of knowledge of the specific basketball skills and the self-efficacy in Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), as compared to that of an equivalent multimedia website which lacked the blogging component. Students’ responses to the blogging activity were also investigated. The sample were 70 undergraduate PE students who were assigned to two groups, one of which used the class blog (Group A, N = 35) and the other one the website (Group B, N = 35), both for 11 weeks. The study followed a pretest/posttest experimental design, taking before and after measurements of each group through written questionnaires. Participation in the blogging activity did have a positive impact on students’ ICT self-efficacy, given that Group A students exhibited significant gains in Internet self-efficacy as well as in multimedia processing and blogging self-efficacy, whereas those of Group B did not. Students’ responses to the blogging activity were also positive. However, within both groups no significant increase was found in students’ knowledge of the basketball skills. The implications of the findings for higher education and future research are discussed.     

Exploring students’ learning experience in an international online research seminar in the Synchronous Cyber Classroom

The development of computer-mediated communication enables teaching and learning to take place across geographical boundaries. An online synchronous learning environment with cyber face-to-face features affords students the sense of learning together online. This study reports a novel design of organizing a 16-week seminar for doctoral students across Canada, Italy, New Zealand, and Taiwan in the Synchronous Cyber Classroom, an online synchronous learning environment. Students’ learning experiences were explored from the perspective of students’ interactions with students, instructors, and the content, based on which the perception of being in a learning community was formed. This article reports how this international online research seminar was organized, how students’ learning experience was analyzed, and what we learned about students’ learning in this international online research seminar.     

Remote laboratory and animal behaviour: An interactive open field system

Remote laboratories can provide distant learners with practical acquisitions which would otherwise remain precluded. Our proposal here is a remote laboratory on a behavioural test (open field test), with the aim of introducing learners to the observation and analysis of stereotyped behaviour in animals. A real-time video of a mouse in an experimental arena is streamed over the Internet from a server computer connected with the laboratory apparatus to a client computer managed by an instructor. Learners observe the video projected by the client computer and record on their PCs the positions of the mouse in the arena and the behavioural patterns produced. Input–output interactions with the test apparatus are made possible by a remote, concurrently operated digital interface. Learners’ recordings can be individually and collectively analysed, to assess behavioural trends and effects induced by client-commanded experimental treatments; the quality and the improvements in accuracy of the learners’ recordings can also be estimated. A first implementation of the remote laboratory, carried out on two groups of undergraduate students, gave positive indications on the feasibility and the efficiency of the project, and on its didactic efficacy.     

University students' Motivated Attention and use of regulation strategies on social media

The Internet has become a major platform for learning in higher education. Besides rich informational resources, however, the Internet offers an abundance of distractors that challenge students' attention. This study investigated university students' perceived attention state and use of regulatory strategies using the Online Learning Motivated Attention and Regulatory Strategies scale (OL-MARS). Participants were 230 undergraduate and graduate students recruited from two universities located in central and northern Taiwan. The exploratory factor analysis revealed four subscales in the OL-MARS, including perceived attention discontinuity, social media notification, behavioral strategies, and mental strategies. Results showed that mental and behavioral strategies were positively associated with criterion variables, including Internet self-efficacy, online search strategies, and final course grades, but negatively correlated with time spent on the Internet and social media. Whereas, perceived attention discontinuity and social media notification mostly had a modest correlational relationship with these validating variables in an opposite direction. Cluster analysis identified five types of profiles: the Motivated Strategic, the Unaware, the Hanging On, the Non-Responsive and the Self-Disciplined. Group membership exhibited mean differences in Internet self-efficacy, online search strategies, final course grades, and time spent on the Internet and social media. The study results validated the constructs in meta-attention for theory development, provided the OL-MARS scale as an effective meta-attention measurement tool to assess university students’ knowledge of attention and regulation of attention, and proposed the specific intervention and attention regulation training for each profile group.     

Psychosocial predictors of the use of enhanced podcasting in student learning

The current study examined the influence of psychosocial constructs, from a theory of planned behavior (TPB) perspective, to predict university students’ (N = 159) use of a newly offered on-line learning tool, enhanced podcasts. Pre-semester, students completed questionnaires assessing the TPB predictors (attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioral control) related to intended enhanced podcast use until the middle of semester. Mid-semester, students completed similar items relating to podcast use until the end of semester. Self-report measures of podcast use were obtained at the middle and end of semester. At both time points, students’ attitudes predicted their intentions and, at the initial time point, subjective norm also predicted intended podcast use. An examination of the beliefs underlying attitudes, the only construct to predict intentions at both time points, revealed differences between those students higher, rather than lower on intentions to use the podcasts, especially for the perceived educational benefits of podcast use later in the semester. Intentions to use enhanced podcasting only predicted self-reported use in the second half of the semester. Overall, this study identified some of the determinants which should be considered by those aiming to encourage student use of novel on-line educational tools.     

Quality enhancement for e-learning courses: The role of student feedback

The collection of student feedback is seen as a central strategy to monitor the quality and standards of teaching and learning in higher education institutions. The increasing use of technology to support face-to-face, blended and distance courses has led managers as well as practitioners to become increasingly concerned to identify appropriate ways of assuring the quality of this e-learning provision. This paper presents a study of the collection of student feedback in higher education e-learning courses and the use of this feedback for quality assurance and enhancement. We carried out a series of case studies of the procedures in place in four e-learning courses, and in each case study we collected the quality assurance documentation and interviewed stakeholders (administrators, educational technologists, tutors and students). The comparative examination of these two sets of data showed that the main strategies for collecting student feedback – module evaluations and student representation – were both strongly affected by the distinctive features of the mode of delivery in e-learning courses, and as a consequence they were not able to adequately support quality enhancement. The remote location of the students impacted on both student representation and on the response rates for module evaluations. The enhancement function of the module evaluations were adversely affected by lack of appropriate course management arising from the disaggregation of course processes and the resulting ambiguity in the allocation of responsibilities.     

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.     

Examining the impact of off-task multi-tasking with technology on real-time classroom learning

The purpose of the present study was to examine the impact of multi-tasking with digital technologies while attempting to learn from real-time classroom lectures in a university setting. Four digitally-based multi-tasking activities (texting using a cell-phone, emailing, MSN messaging and Facebook™) were compared to 3 control groups (paper-and-pencil note-taking, word-processing note-taking and a natural use of technology condition) over three consecutive lectures. Comparisons indicated that participants in the Facebook™ and MSN conditions performed more poorly than those in the paper-and-pencil use control. Follow-up analyses were required to accommodate the substantial number of students who failed to comply with the limited use of technology specified by their assigned conditions. These analyses indicated that participants who did not use any technologies in the lectures outperformed students who used some form of technology. Consistent with the cognitive bottleneck theory of attention (Welford, 1967) and contrary to popular beliefs, attempting to attend to lectures and engage digital technologies for off-task activities can have a detrimental impact on learning.     

Creating a community of inquiry in online environments: An exploratory study on the effect of a protocol on interactions within asynchronous discussions

The purpose of our research was to examine the influence of an online protocol on asynchronous discussions. A mixed-methods study compared two online graduate classes: one that used a protocol and one that did not use a protocol for the same discussion about a complex reading. Analysis of the data revealed that the online protocol more evenly distributed the presence of cognitive, social, and teaching elements necessary to create and sustain an online community of inquiry. Use of the protocol also promoted more shared group cognition and more student ownership of the discussion and empowered students to facilitate themselves, helping to reduce the instructor workload. These findings may enable educators to provide more dynamic interaction and richer learning experiences in asynchronous online environments.     

An empirical study of instructor adoption of web-based learning systems

For years, web-based learning systems have been widely employed in both educational and non-educational institutions. Although web-based learning systems are emerging as a useful tool for facilitating teaching and learning activities, the number of users is not increasing as fast as expected. This study develops an integrated model of instructor adoption of web-based learning systems by incorporating existing literature and multiple empirically verified theories, including the technology acceptance model and DeLone and McLean’s information system success model. Survey data collected from 268 university instructors were examined using structural equation modeling to verify the proposed theoretical model. The research results further illuminate the factors that explain and predict the instructor adoption of web-based learning systems. Implications of this study are also discussed.     

Digital Game-Based Learning in high school Computer Science education: Impact on educational effectiveness and student motivation

The aim of this study was to assess the learning effectiveness and motivational appeal of a computer game for learning computer memory concepts, which was designed according to the curricular objectives and the subject matter of the Greek high school Computer Science (CS) curriculum, as compared to a similar application, encompassing identical learning objectives and content but lacking the gaming aspect. The study also investigated potential gender differences in the game’s learning effectiveness and motivational appeal. The sample was 88 students, who were randomly assigned to two groups, one of which used the gaming application (Group A, N = 47) and the other one the non-gaming one (Group B, N = 41). A Computer Memory Knowledge Test (CMKT) was used as the pretest and posttest. Students were also observed during the interventions. Furthermore, after the interventions, students’ views on the application they had used were elicited through a feedback questionnaire. Data analyses showed that the gaming approach was both more effective in promoting students’ knowledge of computer memory concepts and more motivational than the non-gaming approach. Despite boys’ greater involvement with, liking of and experience in computer gaming, and their greater initial computer memory knowledge, the learning gains that boys and girls achieved through the use of the game did not differ significantly, and the game was found to be equally motivational for boys and girls. The results suggest that within high school CS, educational computer games can be exploited as effective and motivational learning environments, regardless of students’ gender.