A method toward dynamic e-learning services modeling and the cooperative learning mechanism

The advanced information technologies have made it possible for individuals to carry out cooperative learning efficiently and effectively from anywhere and at any time. To capitalize on the individual need and address the issues associated with the late entry into the e-learning area, it has great significance to study the service mechanism of CSCL on e-learning service and e-learning service computing modeling. This paper proposes an e-learning service model supporting for the life-cycle process management. The proposed model is developed by considering the learner’s behaviours during e-learning services, the scheduling policies, and the monitoring mechanism of learning activities. Business process modeling for e-learning services can be taken according to the study ordering of the knowledge points by using workflow modeling technology and process enactment mechanism. The overall life-cycle process management of knowledge is addressed by combining knowledge product modeling, knowledge resource modeling, and credit polices for member selection in research team by considering trust value of learners, advisers and providers in e-learning services. The proposed method can be used for supporting the sustainable development of e-learning services from planning and design, organizing e-learning process, maintenance of the e-learning process, to process improvement, as well as to support learners and advisers to effectively complete innovative team study and complex computation study. Lastly, an extended topic map tool has been developed by adding a knowledge requirement level and an information extraction tool to validate the proposed methodology. These tools can used to guide learners to concentrate on the required knowledge topics and drive knowledge providers to redevelop outdated knowledge hierarchy.     

Gender preferences for multimedia interfaces

Abstract This study examined the gender differences in the preferences to varying designs of multimedia learning interfaces. In the study it was assumed that design characteristics add to the interest in learning and a taxonomy of design of efficient user interfaces for both boys and girls was developed. The research included 90 children from three kindergarten classes who used interactive multimedia stories. The research subjects responded to questions which elicited their level of satisfaction with the various interfaces. The research findings indicate that there is a significant difference in the level of satisfaction between boys and girls depending on the design of the learning interfaces. This paper reports on the findings which were statistically significant.     

Effectiveness of a Mobile Plant Learning System in a science curriculum in Taiwanese elementary education

This study developed a Mobile Plant Learning System (MPLS) that provides instructors with the ways and means to facilitate student learning in an elementary-school-level botany course. The MPLS represented in this study was implemented to address problems that arise with the use of a didactic approach to teaching and learning botany, as is typically used in elementary schools in Taiwan. To extend opportunities for learning beyond the classroom, this study used personal digital assistants (PDAs) equipped with the MPLS, which provided both teachers and students access to plant information while in the field. A quasi-experimental research design was used to investigate the effectiveness of using the MPLS to support student learning. The responses to questionnaires and interviews indicate that students valued the outdoor learning activities made possible by use of the PDA and its functions. Pre- and post-test results demonstrated that students also benefitted academically from the use of the MPLS and the PDA.     

A knowledge-based system for postgraduate engineering courses

This paper describes a novel approach to the development and implementation of an educational tool based on knowledge-based technology employing an expert system shell. Software has been developed which, after providing basic background information, proceeds to analyse the student's learning pattern to establish which next question, explanation, or topic to propound in order to aid the learning process and ensure that fundamental knowledge is gained by the student at his/her own pace. While the system described has been designed and implemented specifically to supplement, rather than supplant, the taught part of an MSc. course in Manufacturing Systems Engineering and Management, the methodology formulated can be used to develop similar knowledge-based systems for other technical as well as non-technical subjects at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels in Higher Education.     

Online or face‐to‐face? Experimenting with different techniques in teacher training

Abstract   This paper illustrates a 5-year case study (from 2001 to 2005) regarding a course in educational technology that involved from 100 to 150 student teachers per year for a total of more than 500 trainees. Since the first version of the course, which was entirely based on a face-to-face approach, computer mediated collaborative learning techniques have gradually been introduced into the training program. The paper outlines the main problems faced in the various versions of the course, where different combinations were experimented with, and discusses the solutions adopted. The difficulties concern the demands of a large, diversified population and the methodological problems related to the non-neutrality of the introduction of online learning in the socio-cultural and organizational context of the study. The solutions include a highly flexible course design and a good balance and strict integration between traditional and online training techniques in the delivery of the course and in the assessment of trainees. Finally, we suggest possible directions for further research aimed at facilitating the infusion of online techniques in initial teacher training.     

Development of a computerized infectious disease monitor (CIDM)

At the LDS Hospital in Salt Lake City, an interface was developed between the microbiology laboratory computer system and the HELP integrated central hospital computer system. The HELP system includes medical information from most clinical care support areas. The microbiology data are translated from the laboratory computer file structure to a hierarchical data structure on the HELP system. A knowledge base was created with the help of infectious disease experts, and became part of a Computerized Infectious Disease Monitoring system (CIDM). The knowledge base is automatically activated when specific microbiology data are entered into a patient's computer file (data driven), thus decisions are made automatically with no additional effort required of medical personnel. The CIDM was designed to inform infectious disease personnel when a patient has one of the following conditions: a hospital-acquired infection, an infection at a normally sterile body site, an infection due to a bacteria with an unusual antibiotic sensitivity pattern, an infection for which the patient is not receiving an antibiotic to which the offending bacteria is sensitive, an infection that could be treated with a less expensive antibiotic, an infection which is required by law to be reported to state and national health authorities, and those patients receiving prophylactic antibiotics longer than is medically indicated. All of the microbiology data are now extensively reviewed by nurses and physicians from terminals at nursing stations or intensive care units. The CIDM is currently being used for hospital-acquired infection surveillance at LDS Hospital.     

Effects of an online problem based learning course on content knowledge acquisition and critical thinking skills

This study investigated how the online problem based learning (PBL) approach employed in an online learning environment influenced undergraduate students’ critical thinking skills (CTS) and content knowledge acquisition. The pretest–posttest control group design was used in the study. The subjects included the students who were enrolled at the Department of Primary School Mathematics Teaching in Anadolu University Education Faculty. Subjects attended to Computer II course in 2008 spring. Experiment group attended the online PBL course whereas the control group attended the online instructor-led course. Each group consisted of 20 students. Data collection tools consisted of a multiple choice content knowledge acquisition scale and the Watson–Glaser critical thinking skills test. The results of two-way mixed design ANOVA indicated that learning in the online PBL group did not have a significant effect on the content knowledge acquisition scores. It was also revealed that learning in the online PBL group had a significant effect on increasing the critical thinking skills.     

A Longitudinal Study of Workspace Design for Knowledge Exploration and Exploitation in the Research and Development Process

In order to leverage organizational learning, scholars have already defined but are still discussing the interpretation of two different learning types, exploration and exploitation. Exploring new frontiers across knowledge domains and maintaining the balance with exploiting the existing knowledge is critical for the prosperity of an organization. The spatial dimension of organizational learning considers that proximity of employees has an influence on their learning activities, but from a rather macro perspective without taking workspace design into account. We account for these issues by examining the impact of workspace design on knowledge exploration and exploitation on the micro level at distinct stages along the value chain (i.e., the research, development and project market team unit) of Novartis, a pharmaceutical company. In a longitudinal study, employees of the three cases have been interviewed and observed over the course of three years, before and after workspace redesign. With the change from a cellular to an open workspace, employees become closer and highly visible to each other, which influences knowledge work. As the cases occurred sequentially in time, design principles were derived. The findings suggest that exploitation is supported by workspace design that leads to high proximity inducing faster feedback cycles and first‐hand information. Exploration, however, is supported by workspace design that leads to high visibility triggering more cross‐functional interactions and thereby the variability of knowledge. The later the stage in the research and development process, the higher the need for balanced learning activities. This balance is well reflected in a ‘multi‐space’ workspace consisting of shared meeting areas, quiet zones, central staircases and integrated laboratories and desk areas.     

Mathematical Mode of Thought in Architecture Design Education: A case study

Integrating mathematics and architecture design curricula has resulted in a positive change in students’ abilities to apply mathematics to architectural design. The authors developed the first-year calculus-with-applications course based on the Realistic Mathematics Education approach. In order to encourage students to use mathematics in design projects, the integration of mathematics and architecture education was continued by developing and evaluating the second-year Mathematical Aspects in Architectural Design course based on the Mathematics as a Service Subject approach. The paper considers three directions of geometrical complexity studied in the course with a focus on the process of project-based learning of curved surfaces.     

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.     

Introducing an expert systems course into the operations research curriculum

In order to keep pace with the changing times, it is important that an expert systems course be included in the operations research curriculum. The operations research community was instrumental in producing automated aids, namely decision support systems, to help the decision maker. Another type of aid which operations research can impact is expert systems. This paper stresses the need for an expert systems course as part of the operations research curriculum, and then discusses such a course as taught in the Management Science Department at George Washington University.     

Semi-automatic assembly of learning resources

Technology Enhanced Learning is a research field that has matured considerably over the last decade. Many technical solutions to support design, authoring and use of learning activities and resources have been developed. The first datasets that reflect the tracking of actual use of these tools in real-life settings are beginning to become available. In this article, we present an exploratory study that relies on these datasets to support semi-automatic assembly of learning activities and resources for specific contexts. Starting from learning designs and other online sources that describe well designed learning experiences as they were used in practice, we derive sequencing patterns that capture re-occurring patterns of activities. A semi-automatic assembly framework uses these patterns to support teachers in the design and authoring of course activities. We present a case study that integrates recommendation support for sequencing activities as well as associated resources in the LAMS learning activity environment. Results indicate that the perceived usefulness is high: both teachers with expertise in the use of learning design tools as well as teachers with no background knowledge in the area indicate that the recommendations helped them in the authoring process. In addition, they feel more confident using learning design tools when support is provided that is driven by best practice knowledge.     

Does collaborative learning design align with enactment? An innovative method of evaluating the alignment in the CSCL context

This study reports on a novel design methodology, namely, design-centered research (DCR), developed to analyze and evaluate the alignment between an online collaborative learning design and its enactment. The approach is illustrated in a study involving 40 groups in total. Twenty different online collaborative learning activities were designed and enacted by 20 groups of three students in each of two iterations. The collaborative learning design plans from the first round were adjusted after reflecting on misalignments observed through the method during the enactment, and then enacted and tested again by another 20 groups in the second round. The proposed method involves an interaction path graph as well as three proposed indicators of group functioning. These three indicators include: (a) the range of activated knowledge, (b) the degree of knowledge building, and (c) an interactivity of the approach. This approach to quantification of alignment between a collaborative learning design and its enactment was successful in revealing areas for improvement of the design. The results of the two round study indicate that the alignment significantly improved after the optimization of the collaborative learning design based on the analysis of the first round. The findings also suggest that optimizing a collaborative learning design using this method is associated with improvements in group performance. Building on these findings, the collaborative learning design framework is discussed in detail in this article, and resulting implications for practitioners are discussed in depth.

     

Semi-automatic assembly of learning resources

Technology Enhanced Learning is a research field that has matured considerably over the last decade. Many technical solutions to support design, authoring and use of learning activities and resources have been developed. The first datasets that reflect the tracking of actual use of these tools in real-life settings are beginning to become available. In this article, we present an exploratory study that relies on these datasets to support semi-automatic assembly of learning activities and resources for specific contexts. Starting from learning designs and other online sources that describe well designed learning experiences as they were used in practice, we derive sequencing patterns that capture re-occurring patterns of activities. A semi-automatic assembly framework uses these patterns to support teachers in the design and authoring of course activities. We present a case study that integrates recommendation support for sequencing activities as well as associated resources in the LAMS learning activity environment. Results indicate that the perceived usefulness is high: both teachers with expertise in the use of learning design tools as well as teachers with no background knowledge in the area indicate that the recommendations helped them in the authoring process. In addition, they feel more confident using learning design tools when support is provided that is driven by best practice knowledge.     

The study of interactions and attitudes of third-grade students' learning information technology via a cooperative approach

The study uses Johnson and Johnson's Learning Together approach as a strategy for teaching third-grade learners' information literacy. The study explored the perceptions and attitudes as well as the interactive processes, behavior and patterns of K3 children learning information technology via a cooperative approach. Data collection included a survey, the instructors' observations and reflective journals as well as interviews with the students. The findings of the study are summarized in the following four areas. First, generally speaking, the study showed the positive value of a cooperative approach when effectively integrated into computer curriculums. Second, the study found that group interaction was more procedure-related, including topic choice, duty assignation, content selection, and computer operation. Third, it was found that most learners mastered computer skills, but approached their knowledge-building project with less of a sense of synthesis and integration. Finally, the study found four different forms of interactions (Individual, Authoritative, Argumentative and Consolidated) emerging during the earlier stages of learning with group cohesion increasing at later stages. It can be concluded that learners' attitudes and interactive quality in their group learning is promoted to varying degrees, and most learners are capable of mastering computer skills. However, given the time limitation of four months and that it was the instructors' and learners' first attempt at cooperative learning, there was still much to learn for mastery of the course and much to be desired in scaffolding learners' for highly effective cooperative learning. The paper concludes with some recommendations for the future design of an information technology curriculum for cooperative learning.     

An object-oriented approach for mechanical components design and visualization

In this paper, development of shape modeling tools for engineering design, analysis, simulation, and visualization is presented. The approach based on the idea of function-based shape modeling is combined with the power and versatility of the object-oriented programming (OOP). An OOP code, initially developed as a teaching and learning tool for educational use in an undergraduate Modeling and Simulation course, to generate mechanism components is presented. Different parametric, explicit, and implicit functions or their combination are used to generate mechanical components shapes. Using a blending process, sophisticated shapes have been generated on the graphical interface. However, the ideas and concept of the OOP mechanical components design presented in this paper can be applied to other application areas.     

Design of adaptive hypermedia learning systems: A cognitive style approach

In the past decade, a number of adaptive hypermedia learning systems have been developed. However, most of these systems tailor presentation content and navigational support solely according to students’ prior knowledge. On the other hand, previous research suggested that cognitive styles significantly affect student learning because they refer to how learners process and organize information. To this end, the study presented in this paper developed an adaptive hypermedia learning system tailored to students’ cognitive styles, with an emphasis on Pask’s Holist–Serialist dimension. How students react to this adaptive hypermedia learning system, including both learning performance and perceptions, was examined in this study. Forty-four undergraduate and postgraduate students participated in the study. The findings indicated that, in general, adapting to cognitive styles improves student learning. The results also showed that the adaptive hypermedia learning system have more effects on students’ perceptions than performance. The implications of these results for the design of adaptive hypermedia learning systems are discussed.