Showing papers in "Educational Technology Research and Development in 2009"

Use of Audio Podcast in K-12 and Higher Education: A Review of Research Topics and Methodologies.

Abstract: This article reviews past empirical studies on the use of audio podcast (hereby referred to as podcast) in K-12 and higher education settings. Using the constant comparative method, this review is organized into three major research areas or topics: (a) participants’ podcast usage profile, (b) effects of podcast on learners’ outcomes, and (b) institutional aspects. Findings suggest that the most common use of podcasting is limited to either instructors distributing podcast recordings of lectures or supplementary materials for students to review subject material at their own time and place. A majority of the previous studies were descriptive, and were conducted in higher education and traditional course settings. Students generally enjoy using podcast, and tend to listen to the podcasts at home using desktop computers, rather than on the move (e.g., commuting to school) with a mobile device. Probably the main benefit of podcasting is that it allows students to listen to specific material that they missed or did not understand multiple times. The availability of podcast does not appear to encourage students to skip classes. We also discuss limitations of previous empirical studies, and provide some directions for future research related to the use of podcast in education settings.

Designing and implementing a case-based learning environment for enhancing ill-structured problem solving: classroom management problems for prospective teachers

Abstract: This design-based research study is aimed at two goals: (1) developing a feasible case-based instructional model that could enhance college students’ ill-structured problem solving abilities, while (2) implementing the model to improve teacher education students’ real-world problem solving abilities to deal with dilemmas faced by practicing teachers in elementary classrooms. To achieve these goals, an online case-based learning environment for classroom management problem solving (CBL-CMPS) was developed based on Jonassen’s (in: Reigeluth (ed.) Instructional-Design Theories and Models: A New Paradigm of Instructional Theory, 1999) constructivist learning environment model and the general process of ill-structured problem solving (1997). Two successive studies, in which the effectiveness of the CBL-CMPS was tested while the CBL-CMPS was revised, showed that the individual components of the CBL-CMPS promoted ill-structured problem solving abilities respectively, and that the CBL-CMPS as a whole learning environment was effective to a degree for the transfer of learning in ill-structured problem solving. The potential, challenge, and implications of the CBL-CMPS are discussed.

Aesthetic principles for instructional design

Abstract: This article offers principles that contribute to developing the aesthetics of instructional design. Rather than describing merely the surface qualities of things and events, the concept of aesthetics as applied here pertains to heightened, integral experience. Aesthetic experiences are those that are immersive, infused with meaning, and felt as coherent and complete. Any transformative learning experience will have significant aesthetic qualities, and all instructional situations can benefit from attention to these qualities. Drawn from aesthetics theory and research and informed by current ID and learning theories, a set of five first principles and twelve guidelines for their application are described. The principles are not only compatible with existing ID theory bases but can complement and support that theory by offering ways to embody it in engaging learning experiences.

Towards an idea-centered, principle-based design approach to support learning as knowledge creation

Abstract: While the importance of viewing learning as knowledge creation is gradually recognized (Paavola et al. Computer-supported collaborative learning: foundations for a CSCL community 2002; Rev Educ Res 74:557–576 2004), an important question remains to be answered—what represents an effective instructional design to support collaborative creative learning? This paper argues for the need to move away from efficiency-oriented instructional design to innovation-oriented instructional design if learning as knowledge creation is to be pursued as an important instructional goal. The rationale in support of this argument is discussed from four different theoretical perspectives and an idea-centered, principle-based design approach as an example is proposed for discussion.

Assessing Learning, Quality and Engagement in Learning Objects: The Learning Object Evaluation Scale for Students (LOES-S).

Abstract: Learning objects are interactive web-based tools that support the learning of specific concepts by enhancing, amplifying, and/or guiding the cognitive processes of learners. Research on the impact, effectiveness, and usefulness of learning objects is limited, partially because comprehensive, theoretically based, reliable, and valid evaluation tools are scarce, particularly in the K-12 environment. The purpose of the following study was to investigate a Learning Object Evaluation Scale for Students (LOES-S) based on three key constructs gleaned from 10 years of learning object research: learning, quality or instructional design, and engagement. Tested on over 1100 middle and secondary school students, the data generated using the LOES-S showed acceptable internal reliability, face validity, construct validity, convergent validity and predictive validity.

Evaluating online learning communities

Abstract: This article reviews recent evaluation studies of online learning communities to provide a systematic understanding of how such communities are evaluated. Forty-two representative studies were selected and categorized into a newly developed taxonomy of online learning community evaluations. This taxonomy is divided into four components: evaluation purpose, evaluation approach, measures for evaluation, and evaluation techniques. The findings suggest that it is inappropriate to conceptualize evaluation of such communities as a one-size-fits-all, generalizable measure of “good” or “bad.” Instead, we recommend a comprehensive, on-going, diagnostic approach to measuring clusters of indicators, or syndromes, of a particular OLC and examining the causal relation assumed by the evaluators between what is measured and the success of OLC as an imputed outcome.

The critical, relational practice of instructional design in higher education: an emerging model of change agency

Abstract: This paper offers an emerging interpretive framework for understanding the active role instructional designers play in the transformation of learning systems in higher education. A 3-year study of instructional designers in Canadian universities revealed how, through reflexive critical practice, designers are active, moral, political, and influential in activating change at interpersonal, professional, institutional and societal levels. Through narrative inquiry the voices of designers reflect the scope of agency, community and relational practice in which they regularly engage with faculty in institutions of higher learning.

Coping with mismatched courses: students’ behaviour and performance in courses mismatched to their learning styles

Abstract: Although learning styles are considered as an important factor in education, students often have to learn in courses that do not support their learning styles. A challenge for technology facilitated learning is therefore to assist and help students to cope with courses that do not match their learning styles by training and developing their less pre- ferred skills. In this paper, the interactions between students' learning styles, their behaviour, and their performance in an online course that is mismatched regarding their learning styles were analysed. The results show which learners need more help in mas- tering mismatched courses, help in getting a better understanding about how students with good performance record and poor performance record learn with respect to their learning styles, and provide information about how to identify learners who might have difficulties in learning based on their behaviour.

College student perceptions of teaching and learning quality

Abstract: Numerous instructional design models have been proposed over the past several decades. Instead of focusing on the design process (means), this study investigated how learners perceived the quality of instruction they experienced (ends). An electronic survey instrument containing nine a priori scales was developed. Students responded from 89 different undergraduate and graduate courses at multiple institutions (n = 140). Data analysis indicated strong correlations between student self-reports on academic learning time, how much they learned, First Principles of Instruction, their satisfaction with the course, perceptions of their mastery of course objectives, and global course ratings. Most importantly, these scales measure principles with which instructional developers and teachers can evaluate their products and courses, regardless of design processes used: provide authentic tasks for students to do; activate prior learning; demonstrate what is to be learned; provide repeated opportunities for students to successfully complete authentic tasks with coaching and feedback; and help students integrate what they have learned into their personal lives.

Action Research Approach on Mobile Learning Design for the Underserved

Abstract: This paper discusses an action research study focused on developing a mobile learning model of literacy development for underserved migrant indigenous children in Latin America. The research study incorporated a cyclical action model with four distinctive stages (Strategize, Apply, Evaluate, and Reflect) designed to guide constituencies involved in the study to design, test, and enhance a mobile learning model. The findings, to date, reveal some of the contextual phenomena that create both challenges and opportunities for a mobile learning model. From this, design strategies are evolving focused on sustained literacy exposure for extremely marginalized (economically, educationally, geographically, and technologically) migrant indigenous children who have no consistent access to a formal education system.

The effects of part-task and whole-task instructional approaches on acquisition and transfer of a complex cognitive skill

Abstract: This study was designed to investigate the effects of two instructional approaches (whole-task versus part-task) and two levels of learner prior knowledge (lower versus higher) on learner acquisition and transfer of a complex cognitive skill. Participants were 51 undergraduate pre-service teachers. In the part-task condition, a complex skill (preparing a grade book using Excel) was decomposed into a series of smaller tasks, each of which was demonstrated and practiced separately. In the whole-task condition, which was based on the 4C/ID-model (van Merrienboer 1997), learners were exposed to the entire complex skill from the beginning of the instruction and were required to practice performing a series of whole tasks throughout the unit. Results indicated that the whole-task group performed significantly better than the part-task group on a skill acquisition test and a transfer test. Possible reasons for these findings and suggestions for future research are discussed.

Student performance and attitudes under formative evaluation by teacher, self and peer evaluators

Abstract: This study investigated the effects of teacher, self and peer evaluation on preservice teachers’ performance, knowledge and attitudes. Earlier research by the same authors revealed that students made significant improvements in their lesson plans under all three of these conditions, but the teacher-evaluation improved significantly more than the two student-evaluation groups. Therefore, relevant training and practice in the evaluation process were added in this study. All three groups made significant improvements from draft to final version of their plans, and the differences between the teacher-evaluation group and the two student-evaluation groups were non-significant. The authors attribute the stronger performance of the student-evaluation groups to their training on the evaluation task. Students’ overall attitudes were significantly more positive toward teacher evaluation than toward peer evaluation, but did not differ significantly between these two groups and the self-evaluators. Several suggestions are discussed for further improvements in the training of self and peer evaluators.

Educational Technology on a Turning Point: Curriculum Implementation in Flanders and Challenges for Schools.

Abstract: In this essay, we state that establishing technology curricula by national governments causes a shift in the policy actions of educational technology support: from a technical rationale with a main focus on funding and resources to a pedagogical rationale with a main focus on student competencies. We illustrate our point of view by describing the formal educational technology curriculum recently administered by the government in Flanders. This curriculum is written in terms of attainment targets and has clear implications on the nature of educational technology which is no longer dependent on teachers’ individual efforts or willingness, but is becoming compulsory at the school level. Furthermore, we present two levers that facilitate the integration process of educational technology in general and the realization of technology curricula in particular. Technology coordinators should act more as curriculum managers and change agents, and schools should jointly establish a technology policy plan.

Instructional design for advanced learners: training recognition skills to hasten expertise

Abstract: Expertise in domains ranging from sports to surgery involves a process of recognition-primed decision-making (RPD) in which experts make rapid, intuitive decisions based on recognizing critical features of dynamic performance situations. While the development of expert RPD is assumed to require years of domain experience, the transition from competence to expertise may potentially be hastened by training that specifically targets the recognition aspect of RPD. This article describes a recognition training approach that is based on expertise theories, research findings, and laboratory measurement techniques. This approach repurposes laboratory research tasks as deliberate practice training tasks. Although pioneered in sports expertise research, this approach is appropriate for pre-service and in-service professionals in a wide range of domains that involve rapid, recognition-primed decision-making.

Cognitive and social help giving in online teaching: an exploratory study

Abstract: While literature suggests that college students may be less reluctant to seek help in online rather than traditional courses, little is known about how online instructors give help in ways that lead to increased student help seeking and academic success. In this study, we used theories and research on learning assistance and scaffolding, teacher immediacy, social presence, and academic help seeking to explore through a cross-case study design how three online instructors differed in their use of cognitive and social supports and how those differences related to student perceptions of support, help seeking, and performance. Primary data sources included all course postings by the instructors, interviews with the instructors, observational field notes on course discussions, student interviews, and final student grades. Archived course documents and student discussion postings were secondary data sources. Data analysis revealed that while all instructors provided cognitive and social support, they varied in their level of questioning, use of direct instruction, support for task structuring, and attention to group dynamics. This variation in teaching presence related to differences across the courses in student perceptions of support, student help seeking in course discussions, and final course grades. Implications for online teaching and suggestions for further research are offered.

Preparing Instructional Designers for Different Career Environments: A Case Study

Abstract: The competency requirements, content, culture, and value systems of business and industry career environments can differ significantly from that of the higher education context where instructional design and technology (IDT) students receive their formal training. Therefore, faculty should consider how they might provide flexibility in their programs to allow IDT students to experience the contexts in which they choose to work following graduation. The article reports on the results of a case study of an exemplary IDT program identified through a national survey. The emphases and preparation practices of faculty in the case study program were noted to provide an example of how one program successfully prepares its graduates for a variety of career environments, and specifically for a business and industry environment. By studying the successes and challenges of specific programs, new or existing programs may gain ideas for building or re-working existing programs to better meet the needs of students desiring contextualized preparation for different career environments.

Designing and implementing a PBL course on educational digital video production: lessons learned from a design-based research

Abstract: This paper reports on a design-based research (DBR) process for designing, implementing, and refining a problem-based learning (PBL) course on educational digital video (DV) use and production at the University of Lapland’s Faculty of Education. The study focuses on the students’ learning processes and outcomes from the viewpoint of meaningful learning. The research subjects included two pilot students and ten students enrolled in the course. To promote the reliability of the findings, data of various kinds and from multiple sources were used, including video recordings of the PBL tutorial sessions. The results suggest that PBL offers a good model to support students’ knowledge and skills in producing and using educational DV. In addition, the results suggest that DV production can be used as a method to learn about the subject matter of the DVs.

Re-Examining Cognition during Student-Centered, Web-Based Learning.

Abstract: During student-centered learning, the individual assumes responsibility for determining learning goals, monitoring progress toward meeting goals, adjusting or adapting approaches as warranted, and determining when individual goals have been adequately addressed. This can be particularly challenging while learning from the World-Wide Web, where billions of resources address a variety of needs. The individual must identify which tools and resources are available and appropriate, how to assemble them, and how to manage and support their unique learning goals. We analyze the applicability of cognitive principles to learning from Web-based multimedia, review and critically analyze issues related to cognition and student-centered learning from Web-based multimedia, and describe implications for design research and practice.

What is shared? A framework for understanding shared innovation within communities

Abstract: The twenty-first century economy often requires the innovative production of conceptual and physical artifacts. These innovations frequently are developed collaboratively within communities of workers. Previous theories about the nature of work and learning within communities have emphasized shared meaning or shared practice, but now shared innovation is required. In this paper, I describe the development of a model for conceptualizing and studying shared innovation within communities. This model was created from merging elements of social learning and creativity/innovation theories. I explain that at an intersection of these two domains is a unique kind of social structure, called a Community of Innovation, or COI. I conclude by describing the characteristics of a COI and its implications for design and research.

The effects of portfolio-based advice on the development of self-directed learning skills in secondary vocational education

Abstract: This experimental study was designed to investigate whether supervision meetings, in which students receive specific advice on how to use a development portfolio to monitor their progress and plan their future learning, helps them to develop self-directed learning skills and improve their learning in the domain. In the first year of a hairdressing program in vocational education, supervision meetings were used to provide students with either specific advice or not. Students in the advice group (n = 21) formulated better learning needs, selected more suitable learning tasks, completed more practical assignments, and acquired more certificates than students in the feedback-only group (n = 22). Interviews also showed that students in the advice group appreciated the supervision meeting more and perceived them as more effective than students in the feedback-only group. Guidelines are provided for the use of development portfolios and the organization of supervision meetings in on-demand vocational education.

Interactive learning through web-mediated peer review of student science reports

Abstract: Two studies analyzed impacts of writing and receiving web-mediated peer reviews on revision of research reports by undergraduate science students. After con- ducting toxicology experiments, 77 students posted draft reports and exchanged double- blind reviews. The first study randomly assigned students to four groups representing full, partial, or no peer review. Students engaging in any aspect of peer review made more revisions than students confined to reviewing their own reports. In the second study, all students engaged in peer review, and the influence of writing versus receiving critiques was analyzed using linear regression. Both studies showed receiving reviews to be more sig- nificant than writing them in terms of triggering report revisions. Students valued the peer review experience and credited it with giving them insights about their work. Conclusions address implications for optimal design of online peer review systems and for further research into student learning gains.

Social Conversation and Effective Discussion in Online Group Learning

Abstract: This paper studies the social talk of high school students in online discussion forums On-task talk has generally been assessed as valuable discussion because it contributes directly to productive learning Off-task conversation, on the other hand, is often regarded as useless and a waste of time Should this social talk indeed be regarded as an off-task activity? Is social talk such as greeting, excusing, comforting and sharing personal feelings irrelevant to learning? This study analyzes threads and argues that social talk is interwoven with on-task talk It is interesting to note that a substantial quantity of off-task messages served the latent function of guiding group discussion toward making progress in solving collaborative problems in a subtle and indirect manner The power of “soft talk” embedded in off-task social conversation is explored and fully discussed

Assessing and tracking students’ problem solving performances in anchored learning environments

Abstract: The purpose of this randomized experiment was to compare the performance of high-, average-, and low-achieving middle school students who were assessed with parallel versions of a computer-based test (CBT) or a paper-pencil test (PPT). Tests delivered in interactive, immersive environments like the CBT may have the advantage of providing teachers with diagnostic tools that can lead to instruction tailored to the needs of students at different achievement levels. To test the feasibility of CBT, students were randomly assigned to the CBT or PPT test conditions to measure what they had learned from an instructional method called enhanced anchored math instruction. Both assessment methods showed that students benefited from instruction and differentiated students by achievement status. The navigation maps generated from the CBT revealed that the low-achieving students were able to navigate the test, spent about the same amount of time solving the subproblems as the more advanced students, and made use of the learning scaffolds.

A feedback learning and mental models perspective on strategic decision making

Abstract: This study aims to be a contribution to a theoretical model that explains the effectiveness of the learning and decision-making processes by means of a feedback and mental models perspective. With appropriate mental models, managers should be able to improve their capacity to deal with dynamically complex contexts, in order to achieve long-term success. We present a set of hypotheses about the influence of feedback information and systems thinking facilitation on mental models and management performance. We explore, under controlled conditions, the role of mental models in terms of structure and behaviour. A test based on a simulation experiment with a system dynamics model was performed. Three out of the four hypotheses were confirmed. Causal diagramming positively influences mental model structure similarity, mental model structure similarity positively influences mental model behaviour similarity, and mental model behaviour similarity positively influences the quality of the decision.

An analysis of the integration of instructional technology in pre-service teacher education in Zimbabwe

Abstract: In the context of continuous innovations in information and communication technology (ICT) and its impact on higher education, this study explored the integration of instructional technology (IT) by university lecturers in pre-service secondary school teacher education programs in Zimbabwe. Specifically, the study examined how lecturers integrate IT into their instruction, and the constraints they face. Twenty-one lecturers in the colleges of education at three universities participated. The data collection methods used are questionnaires, interviews and analysis of documents. Analysis of data was inductive, employing Miles and Huberman’s interactive data analysis model. Findings show that lecturers’ computer proficiency and competencies were at the basic level in Internet usage, with little confidence shown in basic productivity software skills and in IT integration tasks and processes. The lecturers’ integration of IT was at the Entry and Adoption stages. Institutional support was characterized by poor availability and access to appropriate technological tools by both lecturers and students, and in the context of a hyper-inflationary operating environment, constraints ranged from lack of institutional funding, to the absence of an IT integration policy framework, and the lack of appropriate initial and continuous staff development. This study is part of the nucleus of instructional technology research in the Zimbabwean context. It is hoped that insights gleaned will influence policy, practice and future research. From a global perspective, this study will add to the limited knowledge and literature on instructional technology integration in “developing” and/or low-income countries like Zimbabwe.

Design and Development Research: A Model Validation Case

Abstract: This is a report of one case of a design and development research study that aimed to validate an overlay instructional design model incorporating the theory of multiple intelligences into instructional systems design. After design and expert review model validation, The Multiple Intelligence (MI) Design Model, used with an Instructional Systems Design (ISD) Model, was tested for use by four practicing instructional designers. Instruction developed for learners using this model was then evaluated measuring post-test and attitudinal scores with 102 participants. This report also provides a reflection on the lessons learned in conducting design and development research on model validation. The procedures and findings have implications for the processes involved in instructional design model validation through designer use and program implementation.

Deriving and measuring group knowledge structure from essays: The effects of anaphoric reference

Abstract: Essays are an important measure of complex learning, but pronouns can con- found an author's intended meaning for both readers and text analysis software. This descriptive investigation considers the effect of pronouns on a computer-based text anal- ysis approach, ALA-Reader, which uses students' essays as the data source for deriving individual and group knowledge representations. Participants in an undergraduate business course (n = 45) completed an essay as part of the course final examination. The investi- gators edited the essays to replace the most common pronouns (their, it, and they) with the appropriate referent. The original unedited and the edited essays were processed with ALA- Reader using two different approaches, sentence and linear aggregate. These data were then analyzed using a Pathfinder network approach. The average group network similarity values comparing the original to the edited essays were large (i.e., about 90% overlap) but the linear aggregate approach obtained larger values than the sentence aggregate approach. The linear aggregate approach also provided a better measure of individual essay scores (e.g., r= 0.74 with composite rater scores). This data provides some support that the ALA-

The World is Open

Abstract: The world is open: How web technology is revolutionizing education (2009), by Curtis J. Bonk, is an enlightening journey into the world of Web 2.0 resources and the future (and present) of global educational opportunities. The book follows in the footsteps of Thomas L. Friedman's The world is flat: A brief history of the twenty-first century (2005). Bonk carries Friedman's thought into the realm of education, with the idea of an open world arising from the widespread and uninhibited accessibility of educational opportunities and resources. For Bonk, the world's openness means "anyone can now learn anything from anyone at anytime" (p. 13). The journey begins with e-books and ends with networks of personalized learning. The reader is treated to an amazing variety of openers that have helped to make the world of today a different educational environment than it was even 10 or 20 years ago. These openers are tools, resources, conceptual frameworks, and environments that conjoin to create a more open world. Bonk' s 10 major openers include e-learning and blended learning, open source and free software, leveraged resources and open courseware, learning object repositories and portals, open information communities, electronic collaboration, alternate reality, and real-time mobility and portability. Bonk uses anecdotal stories to convince the reader of the power of the 10 openers. This reader needed no convincing. Bonk' s optimistic tone and sure grasp of the myriad of tools and resources available in the world of e-learning today were too far compelling to resist. On one hand, this book was difficult to read. Pages were so full of resources, I could not help but look up and explore each resource mentioned. The spirit of discovery in the book slowed my progress. On the other hand, the book was an easy read. Every few pages, Bonk described a new resource with the potential to change the educational landscape of tomorrow. This book is full of the excitement that surrounds Web 2.0 and new media technologies. Bonk is careful to avoid being bogged down in the details of each technology, and leaves it in the reader's hands to experiment with each tool and resource. He only includes scholarly material when necessary to drive home a point, making The world is open a popular and vividly enchanting

Locating information within extended hypermedia

Abstract: New literacies researchers have identified a core set of strategies for locating information, one of which is “reading a Web page to locate information that might be present there” (Leu et al. in: Rush, Eakle, Berger (eds) Secondary school reading and writing: What research reveals for classroom practices, 2007, p. 46). Do middle-school, high school, and undergraduate students (N = 51) differ in effectiveness at locating information within extended hypermedia? Students completed a pretest measure of knowledge about the circulatory system. They then gave verbal answers to 10 researcher-developed questions about the circulatory system, which they answered by searching the environment and thinking aloud about the task. Consistent with large-scale national and international studies, students were only moderately successful at locating information. Successfully locating information was significantly associated with having more prior knowledge, efficient searching, and giving better quality answers to the researcher-posed questions. It was also associated with specific strategies only at the level of individual questions. That is, the “ideal” strategy depended on the question and how the answer was phrased in the text. Implications of the results for teaching students how to search in hypermedia are offered.

Learners’ perceptions of instructional design practice in a situated learning activity

Abstract: This case study investigated learners’ perceptions of value from participating in a learning activity designed to model professional instructional design practice. Learners developed instructional design products for a corporate client in the context of a classroom-based course. The findings indicate that learners perceived different kinds of value which varied according to the degree of integration of learners’ goals with client’s goals, ranging from (a) co-constituted value (in which learners perceived the value of their participation as being inextricably bound to creation of value to the client) to (b) satisficing value (in which learners engaged with the activity so as to generate value for themselves while providing sufficient or good enough value to the client) to (c) salvage value (in which learners did not participate in the activity in the manner intended, but attempted to salvage some personal value from their participation). A framework relates these learners’ perceptions of value to three main features of such learning activities: what you do, how you do it, and who you are accountable to. The relative worth of these different kinds of value is discussed, and proposals for influencing learner perceptions of value are presented.