The cognitive apprenticeship analogue: a strategy for using ITS technology for the delivery of instruction and as a research tool for the study of teaching and learning

In this paper, a general overview of the components which have characterized the development of intelligent tutoring systems (ITS) over the past fifteen years is provided. Accompanying the overview of each component is a discussion of limitations which, we feel, restrict the extent to which ITS technology can be useful as an instructional delivery vehicle and as a tool which can be used to learn about the processes which underlie teaching and learning.These limitations, however, can be compensated for by altering how and for what purposes ITSs are developed and implemented. Our goal in writing this paper, in addition to discussing the problems associated with present ITS approaches, is to present a set of suggestions which we feel can guide the development and implementations of ITSs such that their potential for useful instructional tools can be enhanced and extended. We argue for the development of ITSs which: (i) progressively and as much as possible reduce the a priori restrictions that are placed on learners as they learn new content. Technology should empower the learner as a learner, enabling him/her to uncover the “mysteries” of new knowledge. Technology should not rob learners of the joy of discovery the “aha!” experience. It should, however, facilitate the integration of new findings into existing cognitive frameworks, and provide opportunities for learners to examine and expose misunderstandings and misconceptions about how the “universe” operates; (ii) enable educators to reliably determine and report what is being learned and mastered against some set of standards which exist independent of the learning environment; and (iii) provide opportunities for educators to learn about how learning is occurring and intercede (real-time if necessary) in ways that can alter and improve (either temporarily or permanently) the environment within which student interactions are occurring.     

Trialing cartoons: Teachers’ attitudes towards animation as an ELT instructional tool

This paper explores the attitudes of teachers, as adult learners, towards learning to do animation. A part of popular culture which second-language students enjoy, until recently, animation has been technically too demanding for non-specialists to learn. Adult learners can experience e-learning as transformative, but also as a barrier. Thus, teacher reception is crucial in exploring the feasibility of animation as an instructional tool in language teaching. In all, 44 Hong Kong and mainland Chinese teachers were taught animation over ten weeks. Subsequently, three surveys elicited both quantitative and qualitative data. Appraisal analysis indicated teachers positively realised animation as valuable, worthwhile and satisfactory, but also difficult and time-consuming, and entailed high levels of communication. Quantitative data indicated their view that animation would be well-received by both colleagues and secondary language learners, as an instructional tool.     

Cognitive load while learning with a graphical computer interface

Abstract  Computer software packages are hard to learn but little is known about how to help new users. A study was made in which 30 learners had to learn the basic commands of a CAD software package using manuals with different formats of presentation of instructions. Ten learners learned using a conventional manual plus a computer, 10 learners learned using a manual with juxtaposed screen images but no computer and 10 learners learned using a manual with integrated screen images but no computer. Each learner was tested with a practical and a written test and the learning time was measured. There was no statistical difference between the groups of learners for the score of the practical and written tests. However, it was found that learners using a manual with juxtaposed or integrated screen images had learned twice as fast as learners using a conventional manual. The discussion questions the use of conventional manuals to learn application software and stress as the key role of the graphical environment in the learning process.     

Design issues of a distance learning course on Business on the Internet

Abstract The paper presents the main design issues of a distance learning course on Business on the Internet. The instructional design is based on a learner-centred instructional strategy which allows learners to construct their own knowledge while solving real business problems and transferring their knowledge to other learners. They learn autonomously taking the responsibility for their learning and following their individual cognitive styles, interests, preferences. The learners have access to the Internet being members of a global, cooperative learning community. The learning community involves students and tutors who collectively take responsibility for the design and evaluation of the course content and the teaching methods to be applied. Both students and tutors inhabit a virtual learning environment that offers different virtual places and services: virtual university, virtual enterprise, auditoriums, workshop rooms, cafes, libraries, etc. where students from different locations can meet, interact, learn and work together, as if they were face-to-face.     

Optimising ICT effectiveness in instruction and learning: multilevel transformation theory and a pilot project in secondary education

Specific combinations of educational and ICT conditions including computer use may optimise learning processes, particularly for learners at risk. This position paper asks which curricular, instructional, and ICT characteristics can be expected to optimise learning processes and outcomes, and how to best achieve this optimization. A theoretical multilevel framework is developed to specify instructional, learning, and ICT conditions that may transform and optimise both teaching and learning. The empirical part of the paper reports on and analyses a participatory, user-oriented pilot study carried out in Dutch secondary education in the period 1999–2002. The goal was to explore how teachers can develop and practice computer-supported instructional and learning processes that are qualitatively more transparent, more flexible, and more sensitive to differences between learners, than most currently prevalent teaching practices. The pilot also resulted in a multilevel software prototype LINE which was developed to support the instructional management of learners, teachers, and school management. The outcomes of the pilot study are used to specify more transformation conditions which are required within and outside schools to optimise instruction and learning in both qualitative and quantitative ways. Finally, software functions to construct more generalised ‘Diagnostic, Instructional, and Management Systems’ (DIMS) are modelled and discussed.     

Differential benefits of situated instructional prompts

Learners often neglect support (glossaries, help sites etc.) in computer-based learning environments since they experience it as an unrelated add-on. We assumed that prompts presenting situated instructional support would lead to an increased use of help sites and glossary. Further it was assumed that situated instructional support would lead to a higher cognitive load of learners, which causes differential learning outcomes depending on learners’ general domain knowledge. To scrutinise the differential effect of situated instructional prompts we conducted an experiment with 69 students (undergraduates vs. graduates). Students learned either with a learning environment with or without prompts. As expected, learning with prompts resulted in an increased support usage. Furthermore, two interaction effects occurred. (1) Graduates learned slightly better with a program including prompts whereas undergraduates performed better without prompts. (2) Undergraduates stated a higher perceived cognitive load if they learned with a program with situated instructional prompts. In the group of graduates no differences occurred concerning the perceived cognitive load. The results are interpreted within the framework of cognitive load theory.     

Exploring the learning effectiveness of financial literacy from the microworld perspective: Evidence from the simulated transactional interactive concurrent system

Because the microworld can create a learning environment that allows learners to interact with the real world, the view of the microworld has been widely used in education and training. In this study, the simulated transactional interactive concurrent system (STICS) was used to provide an environment that simulates the stock market trading of the Taiwan Stock Exchange; the goal is to explore the effectiveness of using STICS in enhancing the financial literacy of students. This study adopts a quasi-experimental design approach and divides students into two groups. The intervention group was made up of 42 students who learned financial knowledge aided by STICS, with a comparison group consisting of 43 students who learned with traditional lecturing and dictating methods. The study found that learners who used the STICS as an aid to learn financial knowledge had significantly better learning effectiveness than those who did not use STICS, in terms of motivation, attitude, and achievement. The intervention group also made significant improvements in average scores in learning motivation and achievement after 8 weeks of experimental teaching and learning.     

Invariant object recognition in the visual system with novel views of 3D objects

To form view-invariant representations of objects, neurons in the inferior temporal cortex may associate together different views of an object, which tend to occur close together in time under natural viewing conditions. This can be achieved in neuronal network models of this process by using an associative learning rule with a short-term temporal memory trace. It is postulated that within a view, neurons learn representations that enable them to generalize within variations of that view. When three-dimensional (3D) objects are rotated within small angles (up to, e.g., 30 degrees), their surface features undergo geometric distortion due to the change of perspective. In this article, we show how trace learning could solve the problem of in-depth rotation-invariant object recognition by developing representations of the transforms that features undergo when they are on the surfaces of 3D objects. Moreover, we show that having learned how features on 3D objects transform geometrically as the object is rotated in depth, the network can correctly recognize novel 3D variations within a generic view of an object composed of a new combination of previously learned features. These results are demonstrated in simulations of a hierarchical network model (VisNet) of the visual system that show that it can develop representations useful for the recognition of 3D objects by forming perspective-invariant representations to allow generalization within a generic view.     

计算机应用基础课程教学模式研究

通过对职业学校计算机基础课程教学的现状分析,创建＂智、情、动、创＂四位一体教学模式,形成以教师为主导、学生为主体,在＂自学、质疑、共学＂课堂教学模式,与现有的教育教学管理形成教、学、做合一,激发了学生学习的积极性、主动性,提高了学生学习能力,使学生在掌握知识和技能的同时,学会了怎样学习。     

Enhancing instructional outcomes with gamification: An empirical test of the Technology-Enhanced Training Effectiveness Model

BackgroundGamification, the use of game elements in non-game contexts, has become a popular technique to improve instructional outcomes in both organizational and educational contexts. In the organizational context, the Technology-Enhanced Training Effectiveness Model [TETEM] provides a framework to understand how technologies, like gamification, can effect change in various instructional outcomes. Specifically, application of TETEM suggests that gamification may not effect change in instructional outcomes when learner attitudes towards game-based learning and experience with video games are low.MethodIn this study, we test this model in the gamification context by assigning potential learners to read scenarios describing gamified instruction or traditional, PowerPoint instruction in a random order and assessing their training valence.ResultsOn average, participants anticipated greater value from gamified instruction, but as predicted by TETEM, this effect was moderated by both video game experience and attitudes towards game-based learning. Among potential learners with high experience and attitudes, gamification produces better outcomes than PowerPoint, but among potential learners with low experience and attitudes, gamification produces worse outcomes than PowerPoint.ImplicationsWe provide empirical support for TETEM and conclude that for gamification to be successful, the attitudes and experience of participants must be assessed and ensured before gamification is implemented.     

教学软件中的需求探讨

本文立足教学软件的需求,结合当前市场上的教育软件产品,分别从用户、使用方式、教学过程、教学效果几方面展开了讨论,针对学生和教师的学与教的习惯,指出了教学软件需求分析中的要点。     

The pedagogical challenges to collaborative technologies

Collaborative technologies offer a range of new ways of supporting learning by enabling learners to share and exchange both ideas and their own digital products. This paper considers how best to exploit these opportunities from the perspective of learners’ needs. New technologies invariably excite a creative explosion of new ideas for ways of doing teaching and learning, although the technologies themselves are rarely designed with teaching and learning in mind. To get the best from them for education we need to start with the requirements of education, in terms of both learners’ and teachers’ needs. The argument put forward in this paper is to use what we know about what it takes to learn, and build this into a pedagogical framework with which to challenge digital technologies to deliver a genuinely enhanced learning experience.     

基于情境学习的射孔仿真培训系统应用研究

由于传统的仿真培训中只能通过鼠标的点击与键盘进行交互,存在着现场感缺乏以及用户体验不足等缺点,针对油田射孔岗位仿真培训中的交互问题,提出了应用情境学习理论结合体感交互技术的仿真培训系统。通过将Unity与体感交互技术结合,学习者可以运用手势与姿势来实现与仿真培训系统的交互操作。结合应用这一技术可以使得学习者能够在更逼真的虚拟学习环境中尽情的体会和学习,满足学习者的体验和参与需求,可以有效促进学习者从具体的感知经验上升到抽象的知识概念,为教学培训的顺利开展创设有利的条件。     

Programming by example: The human face of AI

It is argued that “human-centredness” will be an important characteristic of systems that learn tasks from human users, as the difficulties in inductive inference rule out learning without human assistance. The aim of “programming by example” is to create systems that learn how to perform tasks from their human users by being shown examples of what is to be done. Just as the user creates a learning environment for the system, so the system provides a teaching opportunity for the user, and emphasis is placed as much on facilitating successful teaching as on incorporating techniques of machine learning. If systems can “learn” repetitive tasks, their users will have the power to decide for themselves which parts of their jobs should be automated, and teach the system how to do them — reducing their dependence on intermediaries such as system designers and programmers. This paper presents principles for programming by example derived from experience in creating four prototype learners: for technical drawing, text editing, office tasks, and robot assembly. A teaching metaphor (a) enables the user to demonstrate a task by performing it manually, (b) helps to explain the learner's limited capabilities in terms of a persona, and (c) allows users to attribute intentionality. Tasks are represented procedurally, and augmented with constraints. Suitable mechanisms for attention focusing are necessary in order to control inductive search. Hidden features of a task should be made explicit so that the learner need not embark on the huge search entailed by hypothesizing missing steps.     

Could a mobile‐assisted learning system support flipped classrooms for classical Chinese learning?

In this study, the researcher aimed to develop a mobile‐assisted learning system and to investigate whether it could promote teenage learners' classical Chinese learning through the flipped classroom approach. The researcher first proposed the structure of the Cross‐device Mobile‐Assisted Classical Chinese (CMACC) system according to the pilot survey and reviewed literature, and then adopted a quasi‐experimental design to understand whether the developed system could promote and support flipped classroom learning for classical Chinese. A total of 56 eleventh graders from two classes participated in the experiment. The learners in the experimental group learned classical Chinese with the flipped classroom learning strategy with the assistance of the CMACC system, while the control group adopted the flipped classroom learning strategy without using the CMACC system. The results reveal that all of the students improved their Chinese performance, but it was noticeable that the learners who used the CMACC system showed better motivation in terms of self‐directed preview learning, while those who only learned with the traditional textbooks tended to be more passive. In sum, the mobile‐assisted learning system added value in providing learners with opportunities to achieve anytime and anywhere flipped classroom learning. The integration of ubiquitous mobile learning technology and the flipped classroom strategy can be viewed as a critical factor leading to students achieving self‐regulated learning. It is also suggested that instructors should carefully take the targeted learners' cultural background and the availability of supporting learning devices into consideration so as to prevent the flipped classroom from exacerbating the digital divide. Other suggestions for educators and instructional designers are also proposed.     

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.     

An alternative to language learner dependence on L2 caption‐reading input for comprehension of sitcoms in a multimedia learning environment

Most second/foreign language (L2) learners have difficulty understanding listening input because of its implicit and ephemeral nature, and they typically have better reading comprehension than listening comprehension skills. This study examines the effects of using an interactive advance‐organizer activity on the DVD video comprehension of L2 learners to provide an alternative to the scenario of L2 learners experiencing sensory overload in a multimedia learning environment that presents pictures, printed words and speech words. A total of 95 intermediate university‐level L2 learners with an average TOEIC (Test of English for International Communication) score of 565 were placed in four conditions for an English‐language DVD viewing task, including an advance‐organizer group, a captions group, a captions plus advance‐organizer group, and a control group. The study concludes that using advance organizers as an instructional strategy facilitated participant listening comprehension and reduced participant dependence on L2 caption‐reading input by 50% for initial comprehension. Participants also held a positive attitude towards an interactive advance‐organizer activity. The details concerning the role of L2 captions in multimedia listening are also discussed. The findings provide insight into teaching listening to L2 learners who learn most of their L2 in a more reading‐dependent classroom setting and typically have enhanced L2 literacy skills.     

建构主义视角下微课教学表达设计策略

微课教学表达设计直接影响教学信息传递效率,从建构主义、微课等概念理论出发,接合学习者接收外部信息特征,形成建构主义视角下微课教学表达设计策略。依据教学目标,利用信息技术优势,为所学知识技能创设故事化、生活化的情景学习活动,吸引学习者主动学习,使学习者在接近真实生活情景下,通过10min左右的时间依次进行本能层、行为层、反思层的学习,降低学习者获取知识技能的难度,完成由表象到理解应用层次的转变,有效促进知识技能的内化。