JournalTOCs

Educational Technology Research and Development
Number of Followers: 45

Partially Free Journal
ISSN (Print) 1556-6501 - ISSN (Online) 1556-6501
Published by Springer-Verlag

[2469 journals]

Reading-comprehension performances of expository and narrative texts on
Interactive-Whiteboards and Paper: evidence from 5th grade children
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  Abstract: Abstract In this study, we compared the effects of two media (Interactive Whiteboards and Paper) on both expository and narrative texts reading comprehension among 5th grade children of primary school. Two texts were constructed, according to the same controlled hierarchical structure. Comprehension was assessed by a multiple-choice questionnaire including three types of questions (surface, semantics, inferential). Results of the comprehension test revealed no difference between the two supports. Regardless of support, we found better performances for the narrative text, as well as an interaction between Text and Question factors, revealing that children had more difficulties to elaborate inferences when reading the expository text. These results are in line with previous findings underlying that texts with a similar structure, with a single-page presentation elicit similar performances on paper and electronic devices. They also provide interesting perspectives about the use and impact of Interactive Whiteboards during reading activities or lessons in classrooms.
  PubDate: 2022-05-19
A teacher technology tango shows strong results on 5th graders persuasive
writing
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  Abstract: Abstract A central goal of upper elementary schools is improving students’ skills to write persuasively using source materials. This study focused on three important areas of writing at the upper elementary grade levels. First, the web-based intelligent tutoring system for the text structure strategy (ITSS) was used to teach children how to read source materials, select important ideas in the text, generate main ideas, and write summaries. Second, instruction about planning and writing persuasive essays was delivered using the self-regulated strategies development (SRSD) model. Third, We Write web-based tools were used to facilitate the learning and mastery of the persuasive writing strategies taught to upper elementary grade children. The We Write computer tool is a teacher-led system choreographing the roles of the teacher and technology to achieve maximum instructional impact. Teachers received practice-based professional development with coaching and modeling to implement the intervention. In a cluster randomized trial with 12 fifth grade classrooms, this approach was effective in improving students’ writing. Results show that after 6 weeks of text structure instruction on the web using ITSS, effect sizes on writing quality and planning were 0.30 and 0.77. After an additional 12 weeks of SRSD-based writing instruction effect size on planning quality was 1.60 and writing quality 2.29. These strong results can inform the design of technology supported writing interventions for elementary grade students.
  PubDate: 2022-05-18
Co-designing a pedagogical framework and principles for a hybrid STEM
learning environment design
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  Abstract: Abstract The importance of engaging and effective learning environments for science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) has been internationally recognised. However, no comprehensive pedagogical frameworks exist that support STEM learning environment design. In this study, a pedagogical framework and principles for STEM learning environment design were created based on participatory focus groups involving 10–18-year-old students, teachers, school directors, parents, university students and STEM professionals. Representatives of key stakeholder groups in Belarus, Finland, Germany, Greece and Spain (total n = 132) were invited to focus group discussions in which their wishes related to the pedagogical framework were collected. A second focus group discussion session, engaging the same stakeholder groups (total n = 137), was implemented to validate the framework. A final review for the framework and its design principles was conducted in online focus group sessions, involving 20 experts in curriculum, STEM, educational policy and/or educational technology from all participant countries. The co-designed framework, which is strengthened by the research literature, entails the following design principle categories: (1) General principles, (2) Cross-curricular skills, (3) Ways of teaching and learning, (4) Socio-emotional aspects and (5) Educational compatibility. The design principles created in this study have been employed in developing a hybrid (virtual, physical, formal, non-formal and informal) STEM environment, but they can be employed in any (STEM) learning environment design. Instead of focusing on singular design principles, we recommend considering a wide range of different design principles in order to support multiple ways of teaching and learning and to develop both subject-related and cross-curricular competencies.
  PubDate: 2022-05-17
E-learning with multiple-try-feedback: Can hints foster students’
achievement during the semester'
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  Abstract: Abstract E-learning opportunities have become an increasingly important component of university education. Various laboratory studies have shown that e-learning environments can meaningfully enhance learning by incorporating various interventions and design choices (e.g., providing feedback and scaffolds). However, many computer-based interventions have not yet been applied in authentic university courses, raising questions about whether and how the provision of certain forms of feedback works and scales in an applied context. In this paper, we addressed this research gap. Specifically, we investigated whether including an elaborative component (hints) in multiple-try feedback increases student learning in e-learning exercises in an undergraduate statistics course. In one exercise, after completing a statistical problem, one group received feedback that conveyed knowledge about the correct response, while the other group additionally received elaborative feedback in the form of hints. We conducted an experimental comparison of these two types of feedback with third-semester sociology students in the tutorial component of an introductory statistics course. The results show that additional feedback helps students perform better during the session and on a delayed test one week later. Implications for further research and the application of such e-learning environments in university settings are discussed.
  PubDate: 2022-05-17
Just how much multitasking can students handle during lecture' Effects
of question frequency and relevancy, and note taking on retention
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  Abstract: Abstract Classroom response systems (i.e., clickers) have become increasingly popular to facilitate student learning. Unfortunately, the common practice of pausing a lecture to ask questions takes up precious time to cover content. Asking questions “on the fly” without pausing is a possible solution. But can students both attend to lecture and answer questions simultaneously' Is this multitasking detrimental to student learning' In three experiments, we examined the effects of relevant and irrelevant “on-the-fly” questions and note taking on lecture retention. Undergraduates watched a video of a classroom lecture while either taking notes or not and receiving 0, 6, 18, or 36 questions that were either relevant or irrelevant to the lecture and then took a test. Students performed better on the test when receiving relevant rather than irrelevant questions. As for an optimal number of questions or whether note taking should also be allowed, there were no obvious advantages. Thus, when considering using “on the fly” clicker questions during a lecture vs. having no such questions, our evidence indicates no clear interference. Rather, such activities such as clickers may counter lecture boredom by allowing students to multitask with relevant activities.
  PubDate: 2022-04-20
Supporting problem solving with asynchronous online discussions: a social
network analysis
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  Abstract: Abstract Asynchronous online discussions (AODs) are a central component of online courses and have been widely implemented in case-based instruction (CBI). In online CBI, AODs offer learners a medium for making sense of complex problems, as they consider case topics collaboratively with peers and facilitators. Therefore, learners’ interactions with others have the potential to impact the overall effectiveness of the method, and specifically, participating in AODS during CBI may help learners develop problem-solving skills. However, little research has considered how learners’ interaction patterns in an AOD relate to the development of problem-solving skills during CBI. We used social network analysis (SNA) to consider the relationship between social interactions and learners’ problem-solving skills, as it offers a way to consider the structure of learners’ social interactions. We found that the number of posts, replies, and connections learners made in course discussions were related to problem-solving performance measured both in case analyses and overall course grade.
  PubDate: 2022-04-18
Correction to: Exploring the structure of digital literacy competence
assessed using authentic software applications
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  PubDate: 2022-04-13
Theoretically driven educational app design: the creation of a mathematics
app
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  Abstract: Abstract The present paper documents the design and development of a mobile mathematics application targeted to improve magnitude representation skills. Educational experts worked together with an app developer with the goal of creating an educational app as a math learning tool for children 5–8 years old. The description of the app design processes includes five core elements that we believe are central to the creation of a theory driven educational app. Creating a theory driven educational app is a difficult task; it involves a set of complex decisions as illustrated in this article.
  PubDate: 2022-04-08
Viewpoint, embodiment, and roles in STEM learning technologies
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  Abstract: Abstract This paper describes a framework for making explicit the design decisions in the development of immersive and interactive STEM learning technologies. This framework consists of three components: (1) visual viewpoint, the location from which a visual simulation depicts observable components; (2) embodied interaction, the ways in which a learner can physically engage with the simulation interface; and (3) learners’ roles, the purpose and the participation structure the technology presents to the learner. The recent literature on the design of STEM learning technologies is reviewed with the lens of how the three components have been leveraged and what, if any, rationale is provided for the design decisions that were made. The definition and review of each component is followed by a set of reflective questions intended to prompt researchers and designers to be more explicit about these decisions and the ways they are intended to impact student learning in both the design process and the reporting of their work. The paper concludes with a discussion of how the three components interact, and how their articulation can support theory building as well as the proliferation of more effective STEM learning technology designs.
  PubDate: 2022-04-05
The effectiveness of using augmented reality (AR) to enhance student
performance: using quick response (QR) codes in student textbooks in the
Saudi education system
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  Abstract: Abstract Augmented reality (AR) is a new way to integrate virtual reality into the real world, and integrating AR into education offers opportunities for increasing student performance. The Saudi Ministry of Education integrated technology into its educational system by building an educational portal called iEN, which offers many technologies that support education, such as AR experiments, e-textbooks, learning games, video clips, and TV channels. This initiative made Saudi Arabia better prepared for the transition to remote education, which offered an easy and prompt shifting of the education system during the Coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19). The current study examined the effects of using QR codes as an AR to enhance student performance in Saudi education. The findings show that students who utilized QR codes in their education performed at higher levels than those who did not and demonstrated that students did not face any technical issues in integrating technology into their learning processes. However, that could be based on their generation of using technology (alpha generation), which became part of their lives.
  PubDate: 2022-04-04
Combining exploratory learning with structured practice educational
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  Abstract: Abstract Educational technologies in mathematics typically focus on fostering either procedural knowledge by means of structured tasks or, less often, conceptual knowledge by means of exploratory tasks. However, both types of knowledge are needed for complete domain knowledge that persists over time and supports subsequent learning. We investigated in two quasi-experimental studies whether a combination of an exploratory learning environment, providing exploratory tasks, and an intelligent tutoring system, providing structured tasks, fosters procedural and conceptual knowledge more than the intelligent tutoring system alone. Participants were 121 students from the UK (aged 8–10 years old) and 151 students from Germany (aged 10–12 years old) who were studying equivalent fractions. Results confirmed that students learning with a combination of exploratory and structured tasks gained more conceptual knowledge and equal procedural knowledge compared to students learning with structured tasks only. This supports the use of different but complementary educational technologies, interleaving exploratory and structured tasks, to achieve a “combination effect” that fosters robust fractions knowledge.
  PubDate: 2022-04-01
How teams learn to regulate collaborative processes with technological
support
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  Abstract: Abstract We examined the utility of a technologically enhanced collective regulation system for improving students’ collaborative sense-making processes, i.e., discussion quality, over time. Participants were 27 online undergraduate students enrolled in an introductory information science course. Students were divided into teams tasked with carrying out five online synchronous discussions and collective reflection activities in the system focusing on improving their processes over a ten-week period. Discussion quality was evaluated by a trained graduate student, using the same assessment rubric used by teams. Both qualitative and quantitative analysis techniques were used to examine teams’ collaborative discussion quality and socio-metacognitive processes over time. Findings suggest teams significantly improved discussion quality and used the features in the system to do so. The results also suggested that while individuals were generally inaccurate in assessing their team’s discussion quality, group assessment accuracy and identification of team’s weaknesses improved over time in select areas.
  PubDate: 2022-03-30
ETR&D Reviewer Excellence Awardees (2021)
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  PubDate: 2022-03-17
Developing effective and accessible activities to improve and assess
computational thinking and engineering learning
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  Abstract: Abstract Computational thinking (CT) skills are critical for the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields, thus drawing increasing attention in STEM education. More curricula and assessments, however, are needed to cultivate and measure CT for different learning goals. Maker activities have the potential to improve student CT, but more validated assessments are needed for maker activities. We developed a set of activities for students to improve and assess essential CT skills by creating real-life applications using Arduino, a microcontroller often used in maker activities. We examined the psychometric features of CT performance assessments with rubrics and the effectiveness of the maker activities on improving CT. Two high school physics teachers implemented these Arduino activities and assessments with fifteen high school students during three days in a summer program. The participating students took an internal content-involved and an external CT tests before and after participating in the program. The students also took the performance-based CT assessment at the end of the program. The data provide reliability and validity evidence of the Arduino assessment as a tool to measure CT. The pre- and post-test comparison indicates that students significantly improved their scores on the content-involved assessment aligned with the Arduino activities, but not on the content-free CT assessment. It shows that Arduino, or some equipment similar, can be used to improve students’ CT skills and the Arduino maker activities can be used as performance assessments to measure students’ engineering involving CT skills.
  PubDate: 2022-03-09
  DOI: 10.1007/s11423-022-10097-w
Constructing social media links to formal learning: A knowledge Graph
Approach
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  Abstract: Abstract While education increasingly relies on social media technologies to provide richer learning experiences, the rigid and course-centric design of curricula still imposes a challenge for students to construct meaningful connections between social media and formal learning. Building on the knowledge graphs’ potential to establish semantic links among data entities, this paper investigates to what extent knowledge graph-based tools help students with integrating and accessing transdisciplinary social media content in formal courses, and contribute to constructivism in online learning environments' This study proposes a framework that includes a set of tools built on a novel knowledge graph designed to help educators in exposing detailed coverage of their formal courses through explicit concepts, which can serve as building blocks for students to integrate and access transdisciplinary social media content in formal learning settings. The framework is piloted in a business school where 180 students used these tools in an information systems (IS) course. The preliminary results indicate the majority (around 68%) of materials shared and accessed by students through this framework was connected to other disciplines beyond IS, reflecting the possible creation and exploration of transdisciplinary links between social media content and formal courses. Thirty-three students were interviewed to evaluate their opinion on the tools with respect to social constructivism in online learning environments. The interviews provide initial insights on the tools’ potential to promote constructivism by supporting collaborative, learner-centered, high-quality, authentic, facilitated, and interactive learning principles. The study helps students and educators better integrate and access emerging social media content in formal courses.
  PubDate: 2022-03-09
  DOI: 10.1007/s11423-022-10091-2
Exploring the characteristics of an optimal design of non-programming
plugged learning for developing primary school students’ computational
thinking in mathematics
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  Abstract: Abstract Existing computational thinking (CT) research focuses on programming in K-12 education; however, there are challenges in introducing it into the formal disciplines. Therefore, we propose the introduction of non-programming plugged learning in mathematics to develop students’ CT. The research and teaching teams collaborated to develop an instructional design for primary school students. The participants were 112 third- and fourth-grade students (aged 9–10) who took part in three rounds of experiments. In this paper, we present an iterative problem-solving process in design-based implementation research, focusing on the implementation issues that lead to the design principles in the mathematics classroom. The computational tasks, environment, tools, and practices were iteratively improved over three rounds to incorporate CT effectively into mathematics. Results from the CT questionnaire demonstrated that the new program could significantly improve students’ CT abilities and compound thinking. The results of the post-test revealed that CT, including the sub-dimensions of decomposition, algorithmic thinking, and problem-solving improved threefold compared to the pre-test between the three rounds, indicating that strengthened CT design enhanced CT perceptions. Similarly, the students’ and teacher’ interviews confirmed their positive experiences with CT. Based on empirical research, we summarize design characteristics from computational tasks, computational environment and tools, and computational practices and propose design principles. We demonstrate the potential of non-programming plugged learning for developing primary school students’ CT in mathematics.
  PubDate: 2022-03-08
  DOI: 10.1007/s11423-022-10093-0
Impact of gender and prior knowledge on learning performance and
motivation in a digital game-based learning biology course
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  Abstract: Abstract Gender and prior knowledge may affect students' performance and motivation when simulations and games are used for learning. Accommodations should be made for students of different genders and with different levels of prior knowledge. A simulation digital game about the food chain concept geared for elementary school students was developed for this study. Participants were 114 fifth-grade students in Taiwan. A quantitative research method was used to examine the impact of gender and prior knowledge on students’ learning performance and motivation. In-depth interviews were conducted to explore the reasons for these impacts. The results showed that the improvement in the learning performance of females was significantly better than that of males, especially in the low prior knowledge group. The reason may be that the males paid more attention to the progress and competition of the game missions, and tended to ignore content. Students with low prior knowledge were more likely to be affected by their environment and peers, which hindered attention. The constant clicking in the game distracted the attention of females with high prior knowledge.
  PubDate: 2022-03-03
  DOI: 10.1007/s11423-022-10099-8
Paradigms extended: how to integrate behaviorism, constructivism,
knowledge domain, and learner mastery in instructional design
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  Abstract: Abstract The pedagogical paradigms of Direct instruction (behaviorism/objectivism) and Constructivism are often seen as opposing paradigms at the ends of an instructional design continuum. Unfortunately, this view makes the two approaches mutually exclusive. Designers must use the one at the expense of the other. A previous study proposed that the two approaches should be integrated along two axes, producing a matrix of four quadrants of learning, called “injection”, “immersion”, “construction” and “integration”. This model maps directly onto the Cynefin framework of knowledge management that contains four knowledge domains, “known”, “chaos”, “complex” and “knowable”. The combined models allow for a mix of direct, or constructivist teaching and learning. The problem is that the model addresses only two elements of the pedagogical triangle of teacher, content, and learner. It integrates knowledge domains (learning material) with direct and generative approaches to teaching but is silent on the needs of learners. In this paper we propose an extension of the model to add learner mastery to the domains of knowledge, and teaching and learning methods to extend the current decision matrix by adding the learning curve. We consider the metrics for deriving a learning curve, and then fit the required- or expected level of competency and the learner’s level of general competency to the learning curve. We then map the curve to the four quadrants to establish when a particular quadrant is appropriate at a specific phase of the learning curve. This improved model may assist teachers, (lecturers, instructional designers) and learners to select appropriate pedagogical paradigms and methods, based on the domain of knowledge and learners’ mastery of learning outcomes. Finally, we propose a sequential approach to selecting learning paradigms, based on how much of the material has been mastered.
  PubDate: 2022-03-01
  DOI: 10.1007/s11423-022-10089-w
A person-centered approach to teacher motivation towards information
technology: integrating achievement goal and expectancy-value perspectives
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  Abstract: Abstract The aim of our investigation is to identify teacher motivation profiles towards information technology, according to achievement goal and expectancy-value theories. Latent profile analysis (LPA) was applied to examine if homogenous latent profiles exist within a sample of 866 teachers in China. Four distinct profiles of teachers were identified: Very Low Goal Orientation, High Goal Orientation, High Mastery-Approach and Expectancy/Very Low Work-Avoidance, and Low Mastery- and Performance-Approach. Furthermore, profile membership was related to monitoring motivation, effort, help seeking, and future intention. Finally, we found the added benefits of integrating achievement goal and expectancy-value theories when forming teacher motivation profiles. These results, taken together, suggest that support for teacher motivation to use information technology ought to be differentiated.
  PubDate: 2022-02-28
  DOI: 10.1007/s11423-022-10085-0
School learning support for teacher technology integration from a
self-determination theory perspective
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  Abstract: Abstract Teacher technology integration research on persistence is needed. Teachers’ persistence is strongly associated with their autonomous motivation, as defined by self-determination theory (SDT); however, most SDT-based studies have focused on teachers’ support and students’ motivation and well-being. SDT founders also recently suggested that future studies should include teacher motivation towards the use of technology. Accordingly, this experimental and longitudinal study aimed to investigate how the proposed support encouraged and sustained the low- and high- quality teachers’ integration practices. It proposed a school learning support intervention with three dimensions—leader, expert, and peer support—to meet teachers’ basic needs and thereby increase their motivation for and persistence in classroom technology integration. It had a sequential explanatory mixed-methods design, involved 122 school teachers and lasted for 22 months. Pre-, post- and delay- questionnaires and two arounds of interviews were used to collect the teachers perceptions on needs satisfaction and technology integration practices. The results suggest that the support increased the extent to which the teachers’ needs were met, resulting in more high-quality (student-centered) but not low-quality (lecturing) integration practices. However, the intervention sustained both types of integration practices. The findings offer three major empirical implications, makes two theoretical contributions, and offers four practical suggestions for researchers and practitioners.
  PubDate: 2022-02-23
  DOI: 10.1007/s11423-022-10096-x