Distance learning in advanced military education: Analysis of joint operations course in the Taiwan military

High-ranking officers require advanced military education in war tactics for future combat. However, line officers rarely have time to take such courses on campus. The conventional solution to this problem used to take the inefficient correspondence courses. Whereas Internet technologies progress, online course is the current trend for military training. However, the question is what distance learning methodology best suits such a proprietary learning purpose.This study presents a sequential process of developing distance learning courses in advanced military education. Further, the Petri-Net analytical approach is adopted to discover the essential interaction requirements of advanced military education delivered via Internet. This study developed a systematic method for designing e-learning systems according to specific requirements of target courses. The proposed approach starts by comparing on-campus programs with the existing e-learning systems to identify the steps required to transform the program into an e-learning system. After first outlining the pedagogy of the on-campus program, its proposed teaching flow through the Internet is then sketched. Finally, the Petri-Net model was used for in-depth analysis of the stages affecting the learning curve of the line office taking e-learning courses. The example of a “Joint Operations” AME course elaborated the presented approach. An e-learning system prototype was also designed accordingly. Lastly, an experiment was conducted to verify the efficiency of the presented approach.     

A Web-based EFL writing environment: integrating information for learners, teachers, and researchers

With the rise in the popularity of web-based education, there is a pressing need for the design of web-based systems that are domain-specific. This need is particularly acute for the domain of second language education, where generic web-based systems fall short of fulfilling the potential of the Internet for meeting the particular challenges faced by language learners and teachers. A novel interactive online environment is described which integrates the potential of computers, Internet, and linguistic analysis to address the highly specific needs of second language composition classes. The system accommodates learners, teachers, and researchers. A crucial consequence of the interactive nature of this system is that users actually create information through their use, and this information enables the system to improve with use. Specifically, the essays written by users and the comments given by teachers are archived in a searchable online database. Learners can do pinpoint searches of this data to understand their individual persistent difficulties. Teachers can do the same in order to discover these difficulties for individual learners and for a class as a whole. The architecture of the system makes possible a novel approach to corpus analysis of learner errors. Teachers' annotations of learner errors are exploited as bootstraps which can lead to the incremental uncovering of errors without the need to heavily error tag the learner corpus. Error analysis then feeds the design of online help content.     

An approach for automatic generation of adaptive hypermedia in education with multilingual knowledge discovery techniques

This work describes a framework that combines techniques from Adaptive Hypermedia and Natural Language processing in order to create, in a fully automated way, on-line information systems from linear texts in electronic format, such as textbooks. The process is divided into two steps: an off-line processing step, which analyses the source text, and an on-line step, which executes when a user connects to the system with a web browser, moment at which the contents and hyperlinks are generated. The framework has been implemented as the Welkin system, which has been used to build three adaptive on-line information sites in a quick and easy way. Some controlled experiments have been performed with real users aimed to provide positive feedback on the implementation of the system.     

Provision of distance learning services over Interactive Digital TV with MHP

E-learning technologies have developed greatly in recent years, with considerable success. However, there is increasing evidence that web-based learning is not reaching the social sectors which are more reluctant to contact with the new technologies, thus leading to inequalities in the access to education and knowledge in the Information Society. By hiding the intricacies of computers behind the familiarity of household equipment, Interactive Digital TV (IDTV) is considered to play a key role in addressing this problem, and the term t-learning has been recently coined to mean TV-based interactive learning.     

Accumulating and visualising tacit knowledge of teachers on educational assessments

Assessments, embedded with teachers’ implicit (i.e. tacit) domain knowledge, play an important role in evaluating ’comprehension of a subject. The knowledge on the importance of both the concepts and their relationships of a subject, if captured, made explicit, and shared around, may greatly help teachers construct more effective assessments. This study establishes a methodology to accumulate tacit knowledge of specific topics from collected assessments by using an implicit knowledge extraction mechanism and, visualises the overall importance distribution of concepts by using knowledge maps for helping teachers compile their assessments. Several two stage experiments, scheduled for one semester, were conducted in the third grade natural science courses at elementary schools in Taiwan. Eighteen teachers who actually teach the courses participated in the experiments, and thirty students were in each course. In the first stage, teachers compiled assessments without using IKMAAS’s knowledge map features while in the second stage, they did use them. System usage records, questionnaires and interview results were used for evaluating the usability of the methodology and the satisfaction of using IKMAAS. The results indicate the potential of the methodology, as each of the teachers agreed that the visualised assessment knowledge helped them to comprehend the proportions of concepts they intended to test easily and, additionally, helped them to clearly notice concepts they may have ignored. Yet the results in this study also show the potential of using knowledge maps and knowledge accumulating methodology in pedagogy paradigm.     

Split-attention and redundancy effects on mobile learning in physical environments

This study investigated split-attention and redundancy effects in a mobile learning environment on leaf morphology of plants as a function of different combinations of media. Eighty-one fifth-grade students were randomly assigned to the following three conditions: texts with pictures embedded in the mobile device (TP condition); texts embedded in the mobile device and real objects that are outside of the mobile device (TO condition); and texts with pictures embedded in the mobile device and real objects that are outside of the mobile device (TPO condition). Differences in performance on comprehension tests and learning efficiency were examined across conditions. The TP condition was expected to perform better than the TO condition due to a split-attention effect. The TP and TO conditions were expected to perform better than the TPO condition due to a redundancy effect. The results indicated no difference between the TP and the TO condition in comprehension and learning efficiency, but the TP and TO conditions performed better than the TPO condition on both measures. The implications of the results for research and design of mobile learning environments are discussed.     

Construction and analysis of educational assessments using knowledge maps with weight appraisal of concepts

The rapid advance of information and communication technologies (ICT) has important impacts on teaching and learning, as well as on the educational assessment. Teachers may create assessments utilizing some developed assessment software or test authoring tools. However, problems could occur, such as neglecting key concepts in the curriculum or having disproportionate course topics distribution, when teachers create assessments or test items. This study proposes a novel approach, which uses knowledge map with appraisal of concept weights and other ICTs, and implements an assessment system KMAAS to help primary school teachers in Taiwan, or elsewhere, create educational assessments properly. When compiling an assessment, KMAAS ensures that teachers can include all important course concepts intended for assessing and maintain correct balance between course concepts among test items. It does so first by analyzing course material of the assessment range and displaying a concept-weight-annotated knowledge map which concretize and visualize the importance of and the relationships among concepts in the range. It then analyzes the test sheet which is being complied and displays another similar real-time updated knowledge map containing balance between course concepts among the test items. Teachers may cross-refer to these maps to help them adjust concept balances and even select appropriate test items from test banks. The system has being evaluated in both the accuracy of learning concepts extraction and the degree of user satisfaction, as measured by questionnaires given to the teachers who tested the system. The promising results confirm the feasibility of this system in helping teachers compile their educational assessments easily and precisely. Other results of the formative evaluations on techniques have being used to improve the system in order to make it more effective and efficient. The methodology and technologies KMAAS employed are all well developed and are domain independent, which makes it highly flexible to transfer to other course subject domain too.     

How indirect supportive digital help during and after solving physics problems can improve problem-solving abilities

This study investigates the effectiveness of computer-delivered hints in relation to problem-solving abilities in two alternative indirect instruction schemes. In one instruction scheme, hints are available to students immediately after they are given a new problem to solve as well as after they have completed the problem. In the other scheme, hints are only available as worked out problems after students have finished their solution. The instruction schemes are supplied by means of a web-based program, Physhint, which supports the development of strategic knowledge [Pol, H. J., Harskamp, E. G., & Suhre, C. J. M. (2008). The effect of the timing of instructional support in a computer-supported problem-solving program for students in secondary physics education. Computers in Human Behavior, 24, 1156–1178]. This program supports novice problem solvers while undertaking physics problems concerned with forces by providing hints structured in accordance with Schoenfeld’s episodes [Schoenfeld, A. H. (1992). Learning to think mathematically: Problem solving, metacognition, and sense making in mathematics. In D. A. Grouws (Ed.), Handbook of research on mathematics teaching (pp. 224–270). New York: McMillan Publishing].     

Development of a Moodle course for schoolchildren’s table tennis learning based on Competence Motivation Theory: Its effectiveness in comparison to traditional training method

Based on Competence Motivation Theory (CMT), a Moodle course for schoolchildren’s table tennis learning was developed (The URL is http://www.bssepp.com, and this course allows guest access). The effects of the course on students’ knowledge, perceived competence and interest were evaluated through quantitative methods. The sample of the study consisted of 32 primary school students, who were randomly assigned to two groups, one of which used the Moodle course (Group M, N = 16) and the other one (Group C, N = 16) didn’t, and the intervention lasted 6 weeks. The result showed that (1) students made significant learning gains and demonstrated statistically significant higher perceived competence by participating in the Moodle course, (2) there was no statistically significant mean difference in table tennis interest between the two intervention groups. These positive effects on knowledge and perceived competence suggest that Moodle can be used as a tool to supplement traditional motor learning.     

Effective learning in science: The use of personal response systems with a wide range of audiences

This paper describes the flexibility of Personal Response Systems (PRSs), (also known as ‘clickers’ or electronic voting systems (EVS)), as part of strategies to support students’ learning in science. Whilst variants of this technology began to appear 12 years ago, there is now a steadily increasing adoption of these systems within higher education, including science programmes, and this use has grown significantly in the last six years. They have previously been shown to offer a measurable learning benefit. Typically, someone at an institution buys these systems for learning support and they never make it out of their cases. Far less work has been done with these systems at school level. In this practitioner based paper, the broad range of practical uses for these systems is described in a variety of formal and informal learning situations – from testing the understanding of science concepts (from primary aged school children up to physics undergraduates), to undertaking evaluation of events as well as public participation in data collection for research on attitudes to careers. In addition, the data collected on such handsets can be mapped to demographic factors such as gender and age yielding further layers of analysis. Overall this is a highly flexible and transferable approach to the use of interactive technology for engaging learners of all ages as well as carrying out research.     

CALEE: A computer-assisted learning system for embedded OS laboratory exercises

With the popularity of embedded systems and the consequently rising demand in the job market for professionals well-versed in them, embedded operating systems (EOSs) have become one of the core courses in computer science studies across the world. The objective of EOS courses is to develop students' ability to port, modify, and customize an embedded operating system through a series of laboratory exercises. However, our teaching experience has revealed that beginners require a considerable amount of time to familiarize themselves with the development environment and the relevant processes, such as operating in a command line interface, setting environment variables, and kernel configurations. Furthermore, students need to constantly handle compiler error messages, malfunctions of the target EOS, and incompatibility issues related to development tools. These problems may frustrate and discourage students. A common strategy to address this problem is to dedicate more hours to teaching or to hire more teaching assistants to help students progress. However, none of these methods is suitable for institutions with limited resources. Therefore, in this paper, we develop a computer-assisted learning system called the Computer-assisted Learning Environment (CALEE) to assist students with their assignments and thus motivate them. CALEE consists of two parts: a self-learning assistant (SLAT) and a collaborative learning website (CLW). SLAT is a software application that provides a set of useful functions to help students perform EOS laboratory exercises, whereas the collaborative learning website seeks to encourage greater interaction among students. Our experiments show that CALEE expedites learning, improves students' motivation, and reduces the teaching load.     

Blended learning in higher education: Students’ perceptions and their relation to outcomes

New information and communication technologies (ICTs) provide educators and learners with an innovative learning environment to stimulate and enhance the teaching and learning process. In this context, novel educational concepts such as blended learning are being developed. In the present paper, we present the results obtained from a blended learning experience carried out at the University of Granada. A total of 17 groups took part, with 1431 students registered for the 2009–2010 academic year. In this study, we use objective outcomes and the students’ perceptions regarding the blended learning activities performed. The study shows that the use of blended learning has a positive effect in reducing dropout rates and in improving exam marks. Moreover, the students’ perceptions on blended learning are interrelated, with their final marks depending on the blended learning activities, and on the students’ age, background and class attendance rate.     

The impact of multimedia effect on science learning: Evidence from eye movements

This study examined how middle school students constructed their understanding of the mitosis and meiosis processes at a molecular level through multimedia learning materials presented in different interaction and sensory modality modes. A two (interaction modes: animation/simulation) by two (sensory modality modes: narration/on-screen text) factorial design was employed. The dependent variables included subjects’ pre-test, post-test, and retention-test scores, showing their understanding of mitosis and meiosis process at molecular level, as well as data of subjects’ eye-movement behavior. Results showed the group that received animation with narration allocated a greater amount of visual attention (number of fixations, total inspection time, and mean fixation duration) than the group that received animation with on-screen text, in both pictorial area and area of interest, which is consistent with students’ immediate and long-term retained learning of the processes of mitosis and meiosis. The group that received simulation with on-screen text allocated a greater amount of visual attention than the group that received simulation with narration, consistent with students’ immediate and retained learning. The group that received simulation with on-screen text also allocated a greater amount of visual attention than the group that received animation with on-screen text, consistent with students’ immediate and retained learning. This study adds empirical evidence of a direct correlation between the length of eye fixation behavior and the depth of learning. Moreover, it provides insight into the multimedia effect on students’ cognitive process through the use of eye fixation behavior evidence.     

A new student performance analysing system using knowledge discovery in higher educational databases

Knowledge discovery is a wide ranged process including data mining, which is used to find out meaningful and useful patterns in large amounts of data. In order to explore the factors having impact on the success of university students, knowledge discovery software, called MUSKUP, has been developed and tested on student data. In this system a decision tree classification is employed as a data mining technique. With this software system all the tasks involved in the knowledge discovery process are kept together. The advantage of this approach is to have access to all the functionalities of SQL server and Analysis Services through single software. The study was carried out on the data from university students. According to results of the study, the types of registration to the university and the income levels of the students’ family were found to be associated with student success.     

Using online collaboration applications for group assignments: The interplay between design and human characteristics

In recent years, educators and students are increasingly employing online collaboration applications such as Google Docs™ and PBWorks™ for group projects and assignments. Yet, the effectiveness of these emerging technologies has not been rigorously examined. Anchoring upon and informed by the existing literature, two design characteristics – sociability and visibility, and two human characteristics – gender and age, are focused on, which are salient in online collaboration applications. A field experiment was conducted to examine the direct and moderating effects of design and human characteristics on learning outcomes. The research found that sociability improved process satisfaction and positive social environment while visibility enhanced academic performance and solution satisfaction of learners. Males had higher solution satisfaction while older learners had higher academic performance. Moderating effects were also found. Both theoretical and practical implications are drawn. In particular, a rubric for online collaboration application selection for academic performance is conceived. This study provides empirical support for online collaboration application effectiveness in education which will augur well for future adoption, use and evolution.     

Incorporating haptic feedback in simulation for learning physics

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of a haptic augmented simulation in learning physics. The results indicate that haptic augmented simulations, both the force and kinesthetic and the purely kinesthetic simulations, were more effective than the equivalent non-haptic simulation in providing perceptual experiences and helping elementary students create multimodal representations of the movements of gears. However, in most cases, force feedback was needed to construct a fully loaded multimodal representation that helps students to comprehend later instruction with less sensory modalities. In addition, the force and kinesthetic simulation was effective in helping to transfer knowledge to new learning situations. These findings suggest that it is important to help elementary students make a solid cognitive grounding with the use of a perceptual anchor.     

Development and evaluation of a compartmental picture archiving and communications system model for integration and visualization of multidisciplinary biomedical data to facilitate student learning in an integrative health clinic

Information technology (IT) has the potential to improve the clinical learning environment. The extent to which IT enhances or detracts from healthcare professionals’ role performance can be expected to affect both student learning and patient outcomes. This study evaluated nursing students’ satisfaction with a novel compartmental Picture Archiving and Communications System (PACS) for the automatic object-oriented integration and visualization of heterogeneous biomedical data. The compartmental PACS was specially designed to support client assessment and clinical education in the integrative health clinic of a university, which is run by a multidisciplinary service team. The sample was 63 nursing students, who were asked to complete a series of realistic tasks using the compartmental PACS. Upon completing the tasks, the Computer System Usability Questionnaire (CSUQ) was administered to assess their satisfaction with the system. Results from data analysis showed that nursing students who completed the evaluation had a satisfactory experience with the system. The Information Quality subscale mean was the highest mean of the CSUQ subscales. This is an important finding as the multidisciplinary data visualization feature of the system provides a technology-enhanced learning environment that can support nursing students’ efforts to both organize and represent knowledge. Through the compartmental PACS, students are assisted in connecting relevant knowledge via various representations of medical data for the clinical conditions under study.     

Characterising effective eLearning resources

The widespread availability of digital learning resources in a variety of media formats offers the possibility to make a profound difference in education. This potential has not been fully realised for range of interrelated reasons. In this paper we study the key characteristics of learning resources that have proved effective in changing learning and teaching, and relate them to existing frameworks for understanding resources. We outline the relationships between resources, their users, and the way they are used, and explore issues that influence practitioners in choosing a particular resource. Our study is based on a review of resources for e-learning and chemistry in post-compulsory education, undertaken for the UK Joint Information Systems Committees (JISC), as part of a wider study examining ‘The Effectiveness of Resources, Tools and Support Services used by Tutors in Designing and Delivering E-Learning Activities’.     

Development and behavioral pattern analysis of a mobile guide system with augmented reality for painting appreciation instruction in an art museum

A mobile guide system that integrates art appreciation instruction with augmented reality (AR) was designed as an auxiliary tool for painting appreciation, and the learning performance of three groups of visiting participants was explored: AR-guided, audio-guided, and nonguided (i.e., without carrying auxiliary devices). The participants were 135 college students, and a quasi-experimental research design was employed. Several learning performance factors of the museum visitors aided with different guided modes were evaluated, including their learning effectiveness, flow experience, the amount of time spent focusing on the paintings, behavioral patterns, and attitude of using the guide systems. The results showed that compared to the audio- and nonguided participants, the AR guide effectively enhanced visitors' learning effectiveness, promoted their flow experience, and extended the amount of time the visitors spent focusing on the paintings. In addition, the visitors' behavioral patterns were dependent upon the guided mode that they used; the visitors who were the most engaged in the gallery experience were those who were using the AR guide. Most of the visitors using the mobile AR-guide system elicited positive responses and acceptance attitudes.     

TEx-Sys model for building intelligent tutoring systems

Special classes of asynchronous e-learning systems are the intelligent tutoring systems which represent an advanced learning and teaching environment adaptable to individual student’s characteristics. Authoring shells have an environment that enables development of the intelligent tutoring systems. In this paper we present, in entirety, for the first time, our approach to research, development and implementation related to intelligent tutoring systems and ITS authoring shells. Our research relies on the traditional intelligent tutoring system, the consideration that teaching is control of learning and principles of good human tutoring in order to develop the Tutor–Expert System model for building intelligent tutoring systems in freely chosen domain knowledge. In this way we can wrap up an ongoing process that has lasted for the previous fifteen years. Prototype tests with the implemented systems have been carried out with students from a primary education to an academic level. Results of those tests are advantageous, according to surveys, and the implemented and deployed software satisfies functionalities and actors’ demands.