Seamless learning refers to the seamless integration of the learning experiences across various dimensions including formal and informal learning contexts, individual and social learning, and physical world and cyberspace. Inspired by the exposition by Chan et al. (2006) on the seamless learning model supported by the setting of one or more mobile device per learner, this paper aims to further investigate the meaning of seamless learning and the potential ways to put it in practice. Through a thorough review of recent academic papers on mobile-assisted seamless learning (MSL), we identify ten dimensions that characterize MSL. We believe that such a framework allows us to identify research gaps in the stated area. A practitioner interested in adopting an MSL design or doing a new design can use our analysis to situate the dimensional space where the constraints or parameters of his or her design problem lie, and look at relevant design and research-based evidence of other related MSL systems to refine her own design.

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What seams do we remove in mobile-assisted seamless learning? A critical review of the literature

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Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science & Technology Education

This paper reviews astronomy education research carried out among school students, teachers, and museum visitors over a 35‐year period from 1974 until 2008. One hundred and three peer‐reviewed journal articles were examined, the majority of whose research dealt with conceptions of astronomical phenomena with 40% investigating intervention activities. We used a conceptual framework of “big ideas” in astronomy, five of which accounted for over 80% of the studies: conceptions of the Earth, gravity, the day–night cycle, the seasons, and the Earth–Sun–Moon system. Most of the remaining studies were of stars, the solar system, and the concepts of size and distance. The findings of the review have implications for the future teaching of, and research in, the discipline. Conceptions of the Earth and the day–night cycle are relatively well‐understood, especially by older students, while the Moon phases, the seasons, and gravity are concepts that most people find difficult both to understand and explain. Thoroughly...

Big Ideas: A review of astronomy education research 1974–2008

In the study of online learning community, many investigators have turned attention to automatically logged web data. This study aims to further this work by seeking to determine whether logs of student activity within online graduate level courses related to student perceptions of course community. Researchers utilized the data logging features of the Moodle learning management system and the Classroom Sense of Community Index. Results reveal that cumulative course data logs are predictive of both a student's sense of connectedness and student community. This study adds to a foundation for a non-invasive assessment of affective variables in online learning environments, and suggests a simple method for providing e-learning instructors with real-time feedback for fostering online community.

Data for free: Using LMS activity logs to measure community in online courses

Learning analytics tools should be useful, i.e., they should be usable and provide the functionality for reaching the goals attributed to learning analytics. This paper seeks to unite learning analytics and action research. Based on this, we investigate how the multitude of questions that arise during technology-enhanced teaching and learning systematically can be mapped to sets of indicators. We examine, which questions are not yet supported and propose concepts of indicators that have a high potential of positively influencing teachers' didactical considerations. Our investigation shows that many questions of teachers cannot be answered with currently available research tools. Furthermore, few learning analytics studies report about measuring impact. We describe which effects learning analytics should have on teaching and discuss how this could be evaluated.

Supporting action research with learning analytics

As an instructor in courses for prospective teachers, I am interested in my students' ideas and ways in which they reconstruct their ideas in conversations about science. In the case study presented here, I reflect upon (a) ways in which I engaged prospective teachers in thinking together about their observations of a natural phenomenon, the changing phases of the moon, and (b) the ideas that they expressed. The case study examines ways in which prospective teachers developed understandings of the sun–earth–moon system from two perspectives: as viewed from the earth and from outside the solar system. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Sci Ed87:892–910, 2003; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/sce.10082

Conversations about the moon with prospective teachers in Japan

This study describes a method of self-assessment for learners in a collaborative discussion. The authors propose a method of self-assessment in an online discussion and examine its effectiveness through the development and evaluation of a software program to visualize the discussion on a Bulletin Board System. The software, referred to as "i-Bee" (Bulletin board Enrollee Envisioner), can visually display the co-occurrence relation between keywords and learners. Thus, the i-Bee can display the content-wise contribution made by each learner to the discussion. In addition, the i-Bee can display the recent level of participation of each learner and the frequency of each keyword used by the learners. The i-Bee enables students to assess and reflect over their discussion, to understand the condition, and to reorganize their commitment in a discussion reflecting their learning activity.

Promotion of self-assessment for learners in online discussion using the visualization software

In the LEGS system, GPS-equipped mobile phones are used to learn about animals and their bodies from the viewpoint of evolution in a zoo This system identifies nearby animals, asks questions about the animals' bodies to enhance observation, provides navigations for the next observations, and summarizes several observed animals' parts from the viewpoint of evolution 24 students (age: 14--15 years old) learnt about animals using the mobile phones in a zoo We evaluated the system and found that it helped students explore, observe, and learn about animals' bodies independently in the zoo

LEGS system in a zoo: use of mobile phones to enhance observation of animals

This research focused on the concept of “force” (“CHI‐KA‐RA” in Japanese) in Newtonian mechanics. The primary objective was to develop a tool, based on metaphor, to interpret student thinking in learning scientific topics. The study provides an example of using the tool to trace the process of mutual changes in thinking during a dialog among students who have different perspectives on the same topic. “Social metaphorical mapping” was used to interpret a dialog between two groups of junior high school students with different epistemological paradigms with regard to the concept of force (CHI‐KA‐RA) in the learning environment of a computer simulation. Both source domains were recontextualized through social metaphorical mapping and the process of mutual changes in concepts was traced. Participants noticed that the Buridanian 1 concept of“force” differs from the Newtonian concept of “force,” differentiated between the concepts of “force” that use the same Japanese term “CHI‐KA‐RA,” and noticed that the Burid...

Mariko Suzuki

Papers

Conversations about the moon with prospective teachers in Japan

Promotion of self-assessment for learners in online discussion using the visualization software

LEGS system in a zoo: use of mobile phones to enhance observation of animals

Social Metaphorical Mapping of the Concept of Force “CHI‐KA‐RA” in Japanese

Cellular Phone with GPS Based Learning Support System for Field Studies