International on-line reciprocal peer tutoring to promote modern language development in primary schools

The paper reports data from an on-line peer tutoring project. In the project 78, 9–12-year-old students from Scotland and Catalonia peer tutored each other in English and Spanish via a managed on-line environment. Significant gains in first language (Catalonian pupils) modern language (Scottish pupils) and attitudes towards modern languages (both Catalonian and Scottish pupils) were reported for the experimental group as compared to the control group. Results indicated that pupils tutored each other in using Piagetian techniques of error correction during the project. Error correction provided by tutors to tutees focussed on morph syntaxys, more specifically the correction of verbs. Peer support provided via the on-line environment was predominantly based on the tutor giving the right answer to the tutee. High rates of impact on tutee corrected messages were observed. The implications for peer tutoring initiative taking place via on-line environments are discussed. Implications for policy and practice are explored.     

Teacher-created video instruction in the elementary classroom—Its impact on students and teachers

Despite the proliferation of multimedia devices in elementary classrooms, there is limited research examining teacher-created video instruction, particularly regarding its effect on academic growth and engagement. This study investigated the effect of teacher-created computer-based video instruction (CBVI) using iPads on students' academic, behavioural and affective learning in elementary classrooms. The study used a repeated-measures design with counterbalancing to measure the effects of CBVI during mathematics lessons on student achievement scores, time on-task and attitudes towards learning. Three year three classes (n = 49) completed three lessons, each using a different mode of instruction: CBVI created by the class teacher, CBVI created by a stranger, and a traditional live lesson delivered by the class teacher. Results were analysed using a Linear Mixed Model. No significant growth in performance was detected during video instruction, however a significant growth result was achieved for the traditional live teaching mode (p < 0.001), possibly attributable to the longer duration of experimental session. Behavioural engagement was considerably higher during CBVI lessons than live lessons and students preferred their teacher's voice during CBVI. Three teachers were interviewed to examine how CBVI affected teaching and learning, with two main themes emerging: (1) positive impacts of CBVI upon students; and (2) positive impacts on teacher wellbeing. This research indicates benefits for students and teachers when using teacher-created CBVI. Further research is needed to better understand the factors that influence cognitive development of students using CBVI and to also further explore the effect of CBVI on teacher wellbeing.     

Using synchronous peer tutoring system to promote elementary students’ learning in mathematics

The face-to-face computer-supported collaborative learning has emerged as an important strategy to elementary students' learning. Few studies have explicitly incorporated the structured peer tutoring to the synchronous environment in mathematics. This study was aimed to explore the effects of the synchronous peer tutoring system on children's mathematics learning. In the project, there were 88 10-11-year-old students who peer tutored each other in mathematics in the face-to-face online environment for a year. Compared to the control group, students in the experimental group had significant gains in mathematics learning, especially in the arithmetic and application types of questions. This study demonstrated the positive effects of peer support via the online synchronous learning on students' self-concept and attitudes toward mathematics learning. The results indicated that the longer the vulnerable pupils engaged in peer tutoring online, the more they benefited from the process. The finding suggests that students demonstrate different mathematics reasoning skills when they are paired with peers at different levels of ability. These findings demonstrate that the synchronous peer tutoring system is an effective tool to enhance elementary students' learning in mathematics, as well as promote positive self-concepts.     

Antecedences to continued intentions of adopting e-learning system in blended learning instruction: A contingency framework based on models of information system success and task-technology fit

The objective of this study is to propose a research framework that investigates the relation between perceived fit and system factors that can motivate learners in continuing utilizing an e-learning system in blended learning instruction. As learners have the face-to-face learning opportunity in interacting with lecturers, the study aims at investigating the critical features the e-learning system can provide in assisting learning. Both quantitative (survey) and qualitative (focus group interview) methods are applied in this paper. Results reveal that the information quality and task-technology fit influence the confirmation of system acceptance. Perceived usefulness and system satisfaction have major impacts on continuance intentions. Notions from contingency theory are used to interpret these findings.     

Boys’ and girls’ ICT beliefs: Do teachers matter?

This exploratory study took place in the context of middle school information science in Greece, to examine possible relations between boys’ and girls’: value and efficacy beliefs about computers and information science; perceived parental support; perceived teacher expectations; and perceptions of the nature of information science instruction. The participants of the study were 301 (135 male and 166 female) students who responded to a self-report questionnaire. Regression analysis showed that perceived teacher expectations were positively associated with students’ ability beliefs, perceptions of learning activities as creative and personally meaningful was a significant predictor of students’ interest in computing, and perceived parental support was related to both value and efficacy beliefs. Unlike previous research, the findings of this study did not support the conclusion that boys have more positive ICT self-efficacy and value beliefs than girls. They indicated however, that boys’ and girls’ beliefs are differentially affected by parents, teachers, and school IS instruction.     

Honeymoon with IWBs: A qualitative insight in primary students' views on instruction with interactive whiteboard

The main purpose of this study was to investigate the views of primary students about interactive whiteboard [IWB] use in their classes from attitudinal and pedagogical perspectives. Research was designed as an empirical approach to phenomenology. Data was collected from fifty primary students (fourth to eighth) through focus group interviews. Nvivo 9 qualitative data analysis software was used to analyze data. Results showed that students like instruction with IWB especially for such reasons/capabilities as practical and economical use, better visual presentation, and test-based use. Students were predominantly uncomfortable with the technical problems. They believed that instruction with IWB positively impacted their learning especially because of visualization and contextualization, effective presentation, test-based use, and motivational factors. Finally it was inferred that IWBs were not used to their full potential, and both technical problems and common practices indicated that teachers were still at an initial stage of transmission to instruction with IWB and they needed both technical and pedagogical training.     

Embedded blended learning within an Algebra classroom: a multimedia capture experiment

This two‐group, pretest‐posttest, quasi‐experimental study compared secondary students' learning of Algebra II materials over a 4‐week period when identical instruction by the same teacher was delivered through either embedded blended learning (treatment group; n = 32) or a live‐lecture classroom (control group; n = 24). For both groups, instruction was delivered in a normal classroom setting. A math test and a student survey were used to measure students' learning of Algebra II and satisfaction with the instruction. Students in the treatment group showed significantly greater gains in Algebra II test scores and evaluated their learning experiences significantly more positively than did the control group. The great majority (80%) of students in the treatment group preferred the embedded blended learning over traditional live lectures for future learning of math. Students' responses to open‐ended survey questions suggested that students in the treatment group appreciated the: (a) ability to control the pace of instruction; (b) new role of the classroom teacher; (c) lack of distraction in the blended learning environment; and (d) accessibility of the embedded multimedia lessons outside the classroom. This study suggests that screen‐capture instructional technology can be used towards establishing a teacher‐based, embedded blended learning environment within a secondary algebraic classroom.     

Effects of a vocabulary acquisition and assessment system on students’ performance in a blended learning class for English subject

Vocabulary acquisition and assessment are regarded as the key basis for the instruction of English as a second language. However, it is time-consuming, fallible and repetitive for the school teachers and parents to assess the proficiency of the students’ vocabulary acquisition. We customized the open source course management system Moodle to build the individualized vocabulary review and assessment functions for English instruction. This web-based system was integrated into the regular English instruction of an experiment class of Grade three in a junior middle school, i.e. it was used in one school hour almost every week for an entire school term. Within this blended learning environment, the students’ performance of the experiment class in the ordinary and especially vocabulary examinations throughout the school term was improved gradually and was better than that of the control class, so that it achieved number one among sixteen classes in the same grade at the final term examination, compared with number eight before this experiment. The survey and interview with the students also demonstrated the system’s valuable functions for vocabulary acquisition and listening comprehension, and showed the students’ favor to such a kind of syllabus design with the intelligent course management system. The implication of this research is that the blended learning of English class with the individualized vocabulary acquisition and assessment system can improve the students’ performance in vocabulary acquisition and in ordinary test. This system can also be applied in other English classes.     

Student perception of academic writing skills activities in a traditional programming course

Employers of computing graduates have high expectations of graduates in terms of soft skills, the most desirable of these being communication skills. Not only must the graduates exhibit writing skills, but they are expected to be highly proficient therein. The consequence of this expectation is not only performance pressure exerted on the graduate, but also the laying down of a challenge at the door of computing instructors to encourage and instil successfully the art of writing in the graduate.Varied and numerous initiatives have been launched in the computing discipline to address this particular challenge over the past few decades. Despite documented success on the many experiences of incorporating writing into the computing discipline, the fact is that the challenge is as relevant today as it was in the 1980s. There is sufficient evidence to suggest that agreement is yet to be reached on exactly how to integrate successfully writing skills into traditional computing curricula, thereby familiarising computing students with an essential activity of their chosen profession. Furthermore, the reporting of successful experiences tends to focus on the application of a variety of teaching strategies, is predominantly based on the experiences of instructors and is dominated by a lack of quantifiable results.This apparent lack of sufficient empirical evidence prompted a rigorous investigation into the perceived benefits of the integration of writing skills activities into a traditional intermediary level programming course. The main aim of the study is to measure the perceived benefit of each of a number of academic writing interventions, facilitated to skill students appropriately in the art of writing for the computing discipline. Each intervention is designed to support particular principles of academic writing. The ultimate outcome of the study is a survey which allows student participants to measure the perceived benefit-impact of each intervention.The qualitative and quantitative findings of this study suggest that students perceive most of the commonly used academic writing activities as beneficial in the construction of a report. What is apparent, however, is that those activities that are most frequently used by instructors are not necessarily perceived by students as being the most useful activities.     

Knowledge management in blended learning: Effects on professional development in creativity instruction

The purposes of this study were (1) to develop a teacher training program that integrates knowledge management (KM) and blended learning and examine its effects on pre-service teachers’ professional development in creativity instruction; and (2) to explore the mechanisms underlying the success of such KM-based training. The employed KM model was the SECI, which consists of four modes of knowledge conversion: socialization, externalization, combination, and internalization. Forty-four pre-service teachers participated in this 17-week experimental instructional program. Repeated Measure Analysis of Variance and content analysis revealed that the training program designed in this study effectively improved pre-service teachers’ professional knowledge and personal teaching efficacy in their teaching of creativity. Moreover, this study showed that blended learning, guided practice, observational learning, group discussion, peer evaluation, and feedback are important mechanisms underlying this success.     

How to improve the peer review method: Free-selection vs assigned-pair protocol evaluated in a computer networking course

This study provides field research evidence on the efficiency of a “free-selection” peer review assignment protocol as compared to the typically implemented “assigned-pair” protocol. The study employed 54 sophomore students who were randomly assigned into three groups: Assigned-Pair (AP) (the teacher assigns student works for review to student pairs), Free-Selection (FS) (students are allowed to freely explore and select peer work for review), and No Review (NR) (control group). AP and FS student groups studied and reviewed peer work in the domain of Computer Networking, supported by a web-based environment designed to facilitate the two peer review protocols. Our results indicate that students following the Free Selection protocol demonstrate (a) better domain learning outcomes, and (b) better reviewer skills, compared to the AP condition. Overall, the study analyzes the benefits and shortcomings of the FS vs AP review assignment protocol, providing evidence that the FS condition can be multiply beneficial to students who engage in peer review activities.     

Changing teachers,changing students? The impact of a teacher-focused intervention on students' computer usage,attitudes, and anxiety

An important purpose of integrating computer use into everyday classroom instruction is to help students approach technology as a learning tool. Effective classroom integration is dependent not only on access to computers but also teachers' implementation of computing into learning. Successful implementation, in turn, depends largely on teachers' beliefs about classroom computing. The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of a teacher-focused technology intervention on students' attitudes toward and use of computers as learning tools. Teachers' attitudes, anxiety, and classroom computer use are explored as mediators of this relationship. Data were collected during a technology intervention in fourth and fifth grade classrooms in an urban public school district. Results suggest that the technology intervention itself had a positive effect on students' attitudes toward and use of computers for educational purposes. There was no evidence, however, that teachers' use or attitudes had any mediating effect on this relationship. These results suggest that it is possible to increase students' attitudes toward computer use through intense interventions aimed at their teachers. Future research should further investigate the mechanisms through which this relationship exits.     

Developing Web-based assessment strategies for facilitating junior high school students to perform self-regulated learning in an e-Learning environment

This research refers to the self-regulated learning strategies proposed by Pintrich (1999) in developing a multiple-choice Web-based assessment system, the Peer-Driven Assessment Module of the Web-based Assessment and Test Analysis system (PDA-WATA). The major purpose of PDA-WATA is to facilitate learner use of self-regulatory learning behaviors to perform self-regulated learning and in turn improve e-Learning effectiveness. PDA-WATA includes five main strategies: ‘Adding Answer Notes,’ ‘Stating Confidence,’ ‘Reading Peer Answer Notes,’ ‘Recommending Peer Answer Notes’ and ‘Querying Peers’ Recommendation on Personal Answer Notes’. Using these strategies, examinees are allowed to add answer notes to explain why they chose a certain option as the correct answer and state their confidence in their own answer and answer notes, for peers’ reference. In addition to reading peer answer notes, examinees can also recommend peer answer notes as valuable references. The recommendation information can also be queried by all examinees. Quasi-experimental design was adopted to understand the effectiveness of PDA-WATA in facilitating learner use of self-regulatory learning behaviors to perform self-regulated learning and in improving learner e-Learning effectiveness. Participants were 123 seventh-grade junior high school students from four classes. These four classes were randomly divided into the PDA-WATA group (n = 63) and the N-WBT group (n = 60). Before e-Learning instruction, all students took the pre-test of the Learning Process Inventory (LPI), used to understand how often learners use self-regulatory learning behaviors in the learning process, and the pre-test of the summative assessment. After a two-week e-Learning instruction, the students all took the post-test of the LPI and the summative assessment. Results indicate that students in the PDA-WATA group appear to be more willing to take the Web-based formative assessment than students in the N-WBT group. In addition, PDA-WATA appears to be significantly more effective than N-WBT in facilitating learner use of self-regulatory learning behaviors to perform self-regulated learning and in improving their e-Learning effectiveness. Moreover, this research also finds that in the PDA-WATA group, there is no significant difference between the learning effectiveness of students with a low level of self-regulated learning and students with a high level of self-regulated learning, but similar result cannot be found in the N-WBT group.     

Investigating the impact of an integrated approach to the development of preservice teachers' technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK)

The purpose of this study is to describe an integrated pedagogical approach, aimed at advancing preservice teachers' learning on the use of technology and investigate its impact on participants' knowledge (i.e., TPACK) and practice. The integrated approach juxtaposes an educational technology course with methods courses and field experience through careful instructional design. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected. Quantitative data were collected through a pre-post administration of the Survey of Preservice Teachers' Knowledge of Teaching and Technology. Qualitative data were collected through open-ended survey responses and preservice teacher case narratives reporting on the design and implementation of technology-integrated lessons in a field placement. Finding revealed that participants experienced significant gains in all TPACK constructs. Further, findings indicated that participants applied their knowledge in practice though there was variability in the ways in which knowledge domains were represented in participants' narratives. Findings have implications for teacher education programs and for researchers interested in the development and assessment of preservice teacher knowledge of teaching with technology.     

Use of instructional technology to improve teacher candidate knowledge of vocabulary instruction

Teacher educators play an influential role in the chain of improvement needed to address gaps in vocabulary knowledge and performance for some children. If created in careful accordance to design principles, multimedia can serve as a tool to improve preservice teacher knowledge in this domain. The present experimental study investigated a multimedia-based intervention, which pairs a modeling video with a Content Acquisition Podcast (i.e., video plus CAP), to teach preservice teachers (n = 101) about an effective vocabulary intervention for students at risk for or with learning disabilities. Preservice teachers were randomly assigned to either watch a video plus CAP or read a practitioner-friendly reading on vocabulary instruction. Those who watched the video plus CAP significantly outperformed the comparison group on a posttest and maintenance test of knowledge.     

Incorporating podcasting and blogging into a core task for ESOL teacher candidates

Due to innovation and globalization in education, educators of English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) are encouraged to use such instructional technologies as podcasting and blogging, but studies on integrating these technologies into assignments are rare. This project revealed how ESOL teacher candidates implement instructional technology skills to help English learners and the teacher candidates’ attitudes and processes toward implementing podcasting and blogging as a core assignment. Using qualitative research, five themes emerged: (a) ESOL teacher candidates’ attitudes and self-assessments, (b) their implementation of podcasting and blogging, (c) their challenges and rewards, (d) the impact on their professional development, and (e) their own impact on new generations of students, particularly English learners. This discussion highlights ESOL teacher candidates’ experiences while learning podcasting and blogging. ESOL teacher candidates, recognizing their future students as a new generation, are highly proactive learners and want very much to be competent and confident in their own teaching.     

Learning Java: a programmed instruction approach using Applets

A programmed instruction approach to knowledge acquisition is operationalized by student–teacher interactions that involve monitoring and managing the moment-by-moment progress of a learner throughout the process of achieving a criterion of mastery in a knowledge domain. The teacher is generic and may include another person, a structured text, or a computer. When the steps and increments leading to a task's completion and mastery can be enumerated, the process of interaction-based learning lends itself to implementation with computer-based tutoring systems. The present paper describes a computer-based programmed instruction tutoring system that teaches a learner how to write a simple Java™ computer program. The system is based on a series of Java Applets, which are computer programs that are downloaded from a network server and executed by a client browser such as Netscape®. The use of Java Applets makes the tutoring system available to learners over the World Wide Web. Performance acquisition data are presented to show an individual learner's progression to task completion and mastery using the tutoring system. Survey data are presented to show the subjective responses of a class of students to the use of the tutoring system. The adoption of this computer-based tutoring system is justified as one component within a personalized system of instruction that also includes lectures and collaborative learning experiences.     

Developing and integrating courseware for oral presentations into ESP learning contexts

This study reports on the development of ESP (English for Specific Purposes) multimedia courseware on oral presentations, and its integration into self-study learning and elective courses for students with different English proficiencies, as one solution to problems in ESP courses in Taiwan. The courseware design is based on Mayer’s multimedia learning cognitive theory, and the language learning focus draws on Chapelle’s suggested criteria for development of multimedia CALL. Evaluation of student performance with two different formats for courseware integration is based upon data from pre- and post-tests for preparing speech texts, and a questionnaire survey. The courseware provides authentic materials with a logical situational layout and a friendly interface design for learning ESP for oral presentations in international business and technical settings and offers rich and flexible learning activities with corresponding on-line self-evaluation so that students actively engage in cognitive processing. Students with different English proficiencies have different concerns about giving a presentation. Meanwhile, after students’ self-study for six weeks, regardless of level of proficiency, students’ learning effectiveness and satisfaction with the courseware integration were significantly improved, by qualitative and quantitative analysis. Such students’ improvement suggests success of the courseware design and learning effectiveness with its integration.