Showing papers in "Interactive Learning Environments in 2015"

Evaluating virtual reality and augmented reality training for industrial maintenance and assembly tasks

Abstract: The current study evaluated the use of virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) platforms, developed within the scope of the SKILLS Integrated Project, for industrial maintenance and assembly (IMA) tasks training. VR and AR systems are now widely regarded as promising training platforms for complex and highly demanding IMA tasks. However, there is a need to empirically evaluate their efficiency and effectiveness compared to traditional training methods. Forty expert technicians were randomly assigned to four training groups in an electronic actuator assembly task: VR (training with the VR platform twice), Control-VR (watching a filmed demonstration twice), AR (training with the AR platform once), and Control-AR (training with the real actuator and the aid of a filmed demonstration once). A post-training test evaluated performance in the real task. Results demonstrate that, in general, the VR and AR training groups required longer training time compared to the Control-VR and Control-AR groups, respe...

Student perception of Moodle learning management system: a satisfaction and significance analysis

Abstract: This research study addresses differences in student perception of the significance of Moodle learning management system (LMS) quality characteristics and differences in student satisfaction in regard to such characteristics Therein, it has been proven in this study that male and female students are equally satisfied with Moodle LMS quality characteristics and that there is a difference in the significance that students give to these characteristics When students were observed in regard to their age and year of study, it was found that these groups assigned different significance levels to quality characteristics and were not equally satisfied with them It was also found that there is a substantial statistical difference in the significance students gave to quality characteristics and in student satisfaction itself, according to how much time they spent using the Moodle application, which is also noted as one of the most important aspects of the research conducted A further analysis of the variables demonstrated that the following components of quality characteristics were more important to female students: average waiting time for a response, feedback quality, material thoroughness, material clarity, website user-friendliness, cooperation diversity, and material quantity

The use of virtual reality for creating unusual environmental stimulation to motivate students to explore creative ideas

Abstract: This paper discusses the roles of simulation in creativity education and how to apply immersive virtual environments to enhance students’ learning experiences in university, through the provision of interactive simulations. An empirical study of a simulated virtual reality was carried out in order to investigate the effectiveness of providing virtual simulation to enrich students’ learning experiences. The researchers found that virtual reality can possibly enhance students’ learning experiences by providing them with a heuristic and highly interactive simulated virtual environment. Being explorative and fun are essential parts of students’ learning experiences in virtual reality. This paper suggests that educators create stimulated virtual learning environments, for example game-like environments, to help students develop positive learning behaviors in the learning process.

The benefits of a challenge: student motivation and flow experience in tablet-PC-game-based learning

Abstract: Advances in technology have led to continuous innovation in teaching and learning methods. For instance, the use of tablet PCs (TPCs) in classroom instruction has been shown to be effective in attracting and motivating students' interest and increasing their desire to participate in learning activities. In this paper, we used a TPCs game – an iPad app called Motion Math: Hungry Fish – to help young students learn to theoretically understand and practically implement the mathematical concepts of addition and subtraction. Based on findings from a pilot study, we categorized the game's 18 levels of difficulty into “challenging” (experimental group) and “matching” (control group) games. We aimed to investigate whether challenging games were more able than matching games to improve the students' motivation, flow experience, self-efficacy for technology, self-efficacy for science, feelings about the TPC game, and satisfaction with the learning approach. The findings showed that the students in the experimental ...

Assessing the Effectiveness of Learning Solid Geometry by Using an Augmented Reality-Assisted Learning System

Abstract: This study integrates augmented reality (AR) technology into teaching activities to design a learning system that assists junior high-school students in learning solid geometry. The following issues are addressed: (1) the relationship between achievements in mathematics and performance in spatial perception; (2) whether system-assisted learning can improve the spatial perceptions of students; (3) whether students with high, average and low academic achievement learn effectively after taught with system assistance; (4) system usability; (5) system task load; and (6) the relationship among various factors. Study participants were 76 students from Tainan City, Taiwan. Qualitative and quantitative data are obtained using pre- and post-system-assisted learning paper–pencil tests, a system usability scale, National Aeronautics & Space Administration Task Load indeX, and observations and focus group interviews. Analysis results indicate that students' math scores and spatial perception during the test closely co...

Learning English through actions: a study of mobile-assisted language learning

Abstract: This study investigated the impact of taking photos using mobile phones on the English phrase-learning performance of English as a second-language learners. A total of 116 students enrolled in a college in Central Taiwan participated in this study. The participants were divided randomly into two groups: a control group and an experimental group (EG). The control group was assigned an online phrase-reading activity for the purpose of phrase learning, whereas the EG was instructed to engage in phrase learning by taking photos using their mobile phones. The study primarily investigated the participants' daily encounters with newly acquired phrases through the use of photos taken using mobile phones, which were associated with the sentences they constructed. The results of the study indicated that the students in the EG significantly outperformed the control students on the delayed posttest, and the EG exhibited a significantly higher level of perception toward the phrase-learning activities compared with tha...

Factors affecting the effectiveness and use of Moodle: students' perception

Abstract: The purpose of this research paper is to identify the factors affecting the effectiveness of Moodle from the students' perspective. The research hypotheses derived from the suggested extended Seddon model have been empirically validated using the responses to a survey on e-learning usage among 255 users. We tested the model across higher education institutions in Serbia, Lithuania, and Bosnia and Herzegovina. These responses have been examined through partial-least squares. The obtained results strongly support 16 of the 23 research hypotheses for the proposed e-learning model. We defined eight factors (behavioral intention to use in the future, communicativeness, format, information quality, performance outcome, perceived usefulness, satisfaction and system quality) in the initial theoretical e-learning model. Unexpectedly, system and information quality did not influence satisfaction, while communicativeness had the highest significant impact on performance outcome. Satisfaction had a significant effect...

The effect of centralization and cohesion on the social construction of knowledge in discussion forums

Abstract: Interactive relationships in online learning communities can influence the process and quality of knowledge building. The aim of this study is to empirically investigate the relationships between network structures and social knowledge building in an asynchronous writing environment through discussion forums in a learning management system. The quality of the knowledge construction process is evaluated through content analysis, and the network structures are analyzed using a social network analysis of the response relations among participants during online discussions. Structural equation modeling is used to analyze relations between network structures and knowledge construction. Working on data extracted from a 6-week distance-learning experiment, we analyzed how 10 groups developed collaborative learning social networks when participants worked together on case resolution. The results show a positive correlation between cohesion and centralization, and the positive influence of the cohesion index and th...

The programmers’ collective: fostering participatory culture by making music videos in a high school Scratch coding workshop

Abstract: We highlight ways to support interest-driven creation of digital media in Scratch, a visual-based programming language and community, within a high school programming workshop. We describe a collaborative approach, the programmers’ collective, that builds on social models found in do-it-yourself and open source communities, but with scaffolding structures that support students’ learning. We analyze the work of a class of high school student collectives engaged in programming music videos as part of a collaborative challenge in the online Scratch community. Our multi-level analysis focused on students’ learning specific programming concepts, effects of collaborative and task design on learning, and their personal reflections on collaboration and media creation. We address how these overlapping collaborative experiences point to the value of “nested collectives,” or multiple levels of designed-for collaboration. We also highlight a needed shift from a focus on computation to computational participation, hig...

Education 3.0: breaking the mold with technology

Abstract: In order to meet the needs of today's knowledge economy, education needs to move beyond the industrial age approach of treating all learners as if they are the same and adopt a learner-centered model of education suitable for the information age. To support this model, a new and transformative technology is needed that focuses on mastery and customized learning. This article reviews the existing approaches to educational technology before proposing a new, customizable, open, and interoperable technology: a personalized integrated educational system (PIES) that provides full functionality for students, teachers, parents and other stakeholders and bridges the gaps between formal and informal learning. PIES' four primary functions: record keeping, planning, instruction, and assessment, as well as secondary functions, are defined and described. Future challenges and research opportunities are also identified.

Instructional design using an in-house built teaching assistant robot to enhance elementary school English-as-a-foreign-language learning

Abstract: This paper presents a design for a cutting-edge English program in which elementary school learners of English as a foreign language in Taiwan had lively interactions with a teaching assistant robot. Three dimensions involved in the design included (1) a pleasant and interactive classroom environment as the learning context, (2) a teaching assistant robot designed and built by the researchers as instructional technology (instructional tool/medium), and (3) the need for improved motivation and learning outcomes and positive learning experiences of the students as the core research problem. This Human–Robot Interaction (HRI) led to better pedagogical effects on learning and teaching by (1) employing a vivid, enjoyable teaching approach; (2) adopting practical, interesting learning materials; and (3) creating a natural, enjoyable learning context. Both quantitative and qualitative findings of this study indicate that the students' English learning experiences were enhanced, as were their motivation and learn...

The reality of virtual worlds: pros and cons of their application to foreign language teaching

Abstract: This article presents our experience of testing the OpenSim platform as a tool in teaching French to 108 tourism students at Universidad Rey Juan Carlos (Madrid, Spain). The article begins with some theoretical reflections on the behaviour of the student when using a virtual platform by means of an avatar, and with our observations of how this doubling of identity is actually the greatest asset of virtual worlds when we intend to apply them to teaching (1. Introduction). Then we move on to present our goals and method of work (2. Aims and methodology) and to analyse the development of the virtual space or sim, setting out the teaching strategies that were employed in each of the islands we created, and which correspond to reading comprehension, listening comprehension and written expression (3. Metaverse design). In order to assess the language learning results, we also devised tests throughout the experiment, which were repeated one month later. The assessment shows that the process of language acquisiti...

Enculturating seamless language learning through artifact creation and social interaction process

Abstract: This paper reports a design-based research (DBR) cycle of MyCLOUD (My Chinese ubiquitOUs learning Days). MyCLOUD is a seamless language learning model that addresses identified limitations of conventional Chinese language teaching, such as the decontextualized and unauthentic learning processes that usually hinder reflection and deep learning. MyCLOUD focuses on developing new learning practices among students who traverse the in-school and out-of-school learning spaces, in the hope of bridging the formal and informal aspects of language learning. This paper focuses on two stages of DBR across 13 months and traces students’ artifact creations and social interactions facilitated by the design and re-design of the learning environment. The findings indicate that the students’ participation rates and the qualities of their artifacts and online interactions were significantly improved towards the second stage of the intervention. The key implication from the DBR cycle is that the teachers need to plan and ena...

What Drives Students to Complete Online Courses? What Drives Faculty to Teach Online? Validating a Measure of Motivation Orientation in University Students and Faculty.

Abstract: Although online student enrollment has shown double digit growth for almost a decade and academic leaders recognize that online education is necessary for enrollment growth, little is known about what motivates students to enroll in or faculty to teach face-to-face (F2F) versus online courses. The psychometric properties of a motivation scale were examined with students (n = 235) and faculty (n = 104) at a large, public, urban university in the southeastern USA. Analyses revealed that the scale was reliable as intrinsic and extrinsic motivation for online and F2F courses were similarly constructed for students and faculty; additionally, results revealed that motivations for online and F2F education are distinct concepts. Findings also demonstrated that online extrinsic motivation predicted the number of online courses students completed, while F2F intrinsic motivation negatively predicted the number of online courses a faculty member had taught. These results address several limitations with existing moti...

Responsibility and generativity in online learning communities

Abstract: The purpose of this study was to investigate whether and how students enact responsibility and generativity through their comments in asynchronous online discussions. Responsibility referred to discourse markers indicating participants' sense that their contributions are required in order to uphold their discursive obligations, and generativity referred to the capacity of comments to attract responses by virtue of content or stylistic features that convey voice or social presence. Participants were 24 graduate students and their instructor in a hybrid class, with face-to-face class meetings supplemented by three asynchronous online discussions around course readings. Discourse analytic techniques and naturalistic inquiry were used to analyze discussion transcripts. Results suggest that students differed in the degree to which they showed responsibility to the online discussions. They also differed in their generativity, as defined by the attractiveness, social responsiveness, and intellectual responsivene...

Understanding the intention to use interactive whiteboards: model development and testing

Abstract: The effective use of an interactive whiteboard (IWB) in teacher-education institutions depends strongly on student teachers' intention of using it. Despite the recent surge in published research on the widespread applications for IWBs in teaching and learning, few have developed a model to elucidate the factors which influence student teachers' behavioural intentions (BIs) regarding the use of IWBs. The aim of this study was to develop a model which demonstrates the variables that affect student teachers' intentions and which also explain their interactions. The proposed research model is based on previous models of technology acceptance. Six variables (technology self-efficacy (TSE), performance expectancy (PE), effort expectancy (EE), social influence (SI), facilitating condition, and BI) were selected to build a model for this study. Structural equation modelling was used as the main technique for data analysis. The research model was found reliable and valid, the findings being based on a self-reporte...

A Funds of Knowledge Approach to the Appropriation of New Media in a High School Writing Classroom.

Abstract: Youths’ learner-generated designs, instantiated in digital practices, spaces and artifacts, are underutilized in schools. Additionally, digital media tools are often taken up in reductive ways that serve to perpetuate deficit discourses for youth from nondominant communities, rather than reflect the creativity and innovation that youth practice within digital domains. To address these issues, this article shares a funds of knowledge approach to the use of new media in classrooms. Coupled with an emphasis on new literacies and multiliteracies, this approach was instantiated in partnership with Ms Smith and her high school writing classroom. The partnership engaged new media in order to appropriate and develop learner-generated designs in classroom spaces.

"iRobiQ": The Influence of Bidirectional Interaction on Kindergarteners' Reading Motivation, Literacy, and Behavior.

Abstract: This study focused on an intelligent robot which was viewed as a language teaching/learning tool to improve children’s reading ability, reading interest, and learning behavior. The iRobiQ, with its multimedia contents, was employed to encourage children to read, speak, and answer questions. Fifty-seven pre-kindergarteners participated in this study, and they were divided into an experimental group (30 children using iRobiQ) and a control group (27 children using a tablet-PC). After 2 months of experiments, the reading ability of the experimental group was better than that of the control group. It was found that using iRobiQ as a learning tool had many advantages, for example, the enhancement of learners’ reading literacy, in comparison with the use of tablet-PC. In this study, there were three interesting findings: (1) iRobiQ is a more effective learning companion as compared to tablet-PC; (2) iRobiQ is a bidirectional interactive toy; and (3) iRobiQ can foster and promote the peer collaboration and compe...

K-12 teachers encounter digital games: a qualitative investigation of teachers' perceptions of the potential of digital games for K-12 education

Abstract: The purpose of this study is to investigate teachers’ perceptions of the integration of digital games for K-12 education. Specifically, this qualitative investigation focuses on reflective dialogued gathered from a group of K-12 educators about their experiences and perceptions of learning about and playing digital games for teaching and learning. Reflections consist of teachers' experiences as game players with both commercial and educational games and their perceptions about the potential value of using digital games for learning. The goal of this research is to investigate teachers' perceptions and insight into the potential of digital games for teaching and learning to gain insight into methods for integrating digital games in K12 education.

Learner-generated designs in participatory culture: what they are and how they are shaping learning

Abstract: Interactive Learning Environments (ILE) journal represents strong scholarly work on giving learners control of their own learning (e.g. Volume 23, Issue 1, 2015) with the use of innovative learning technologies (e.g. Volume 23, Issue 2, 2015). We believe that positioning learners as active meaning makers is changing the landscape of what we may call interactive learning environments. ILE is concerned with “all aspects of the design and use of interactive learning environments in the broadest sense” (ILE, n.d.). In this special issue, we purport to interrogate and further our understanding of the commonly cited term, design, specifically learner-generated designs. This issue brings together scholars from multiple disciplines, including learning sciences, literacy studies, science education, digital media, and pedagogy, to examine the notion of learner-generated designs in both formal and informal learning environments. Multidisciplinary perspectives provide ways of understanding how learners take hold of their culture of learning, shaping it to be more participatory, communicative, collaborative, and digital. Throughout the special issue, the authors suggest an emergent culture of learning that engages learners in reifying their knowledge and identity through artifacts and discourse. This is the common thread weaving through each paper’s examination of learner-generated designs. We argue that learner-generated designs provide opportunities for learners to bring in their objects or ideas of significance to engage in pedagogic discourse with their peers and teachers or mentors. Learner-generated designs focus the discourse on the learners’ ways of being, doing, and knowing; identity; and embodied experiences of artifacts in different domains of their lives. In this editorial commentary, we draw on the authors’ research to elucidate the notion of learner-generated designs. The individual contributions showcase empirical analyses of learners’ artifacts of learning and group discourse to examine learner-generated designs and their practices of participating in both online and offline learning environments. Their research questions address how their pedagogical designs bring out learners’ agency as well as what learners’ designs mean in their contexts. Drawing on Engle and colleagues’ (2011) notion of Expansive framing, Zuiker and Wright (2015, this issue) connect gardening practices with scientific practices, which relocate science learning in the everyday setting of the school garden. Other authors attend to young people’s digital media productions such as online writing

A simulated learning environment of history games for enhancing players’ cultural awareness

Abstract: This research attempted to create the historical context of Southern Taiwan in the late nineteenth century based on the martial art novel “Xiao-Mao” (Pussy) by designing a role-play digital game “Taiwan Epic Game” about the war time; in which, Taiwanese history, geography, and culture are presented in an innovative way with virtual scenarios. Questionnaire surveys were conducted to investigate the effects of the digital game. The simulationist immersion premises were chosen to be the primary concern, with which the designers should pursue the supreme creation of situation, character, setting, and system. The results showed that the game can effectively enhance players' cognitive growth, as well as cultural awareness in terms of the sense of existence of the environment, local culture, folk arts, faith and festivals, and architectural characteristics. It can be concluded that the three-dimensional simulated learning environment created in the digital game can successfully merge “reality” and “virtuality.”

A constructivist approach in a blended e-learning environment for statistics

Abstract: In this study, we report on the students' evaluation of a self-constructed constructivist e-learning environment for statistics, the compendium platform (CP). The system was built to endorse deeper learning with the incorporation of statistical reproducibility and peer review practices. The deployment of the CP, with interactive workshops and group assignments, immerses students in a novel blended e-learning experience. Based on the Delone and McLean framework, we tested an explanatory success model with a sample of 607 business students, collected during three consecutive academic years. The results indicate that system quality and teacher support are the most important success factors, directly or indirectly contributing to a higher degree of relative advantage and satisfaction, both of which strongly determine continuous intention to use. The findings ascertain the usability and acceptance of the CP and promote a more radical constructivist approach to the teaching of statistics, but also other subjects.

To Guide or Not to Guide: Issues in the Sequencing of Pedagogical Structure in Computational Model-Based Learning.

Abstract: This research explores issues related to the sequencing of structure that is provided as pedagogical guidance. A study was conducted that involved grade 10 students in Singapore as they learned concepts about electricity using four NetLogo Investigations of Electricity agent-based models. It was found that the low-to-high structure learning sequences group participants scored significantly higher on the posttest assessments of conceptual and procedural understanding of electricity concepts, whereas the high-to-high structure learning sequences showed no significant changes from pretest to posttest. The implications of these findings are discussed with respect to other research into the sequencing and design of pedagogical structure and guidance in the literature.

A spreadsheet-based visualized Mindtool for improving students’ learning performance in identifying relationships between numerical variables

Abstract: In this study, a spreadsheet-based visualized Mindtool was developed for improving students’ learning performance when finding relationships between numerical variables by engaging them in reasoning and decision-making activities. To evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed approach, an experiment was conducted on the “phenomena of climate on earth” unit of an elementary school geography course. The experimental results showed that the spreadsheet-based visualized Mindtool significantly benefited the students in terms of improving their learning achievement and promoting their learning attitudes and satisfaction. Moreover, the cognitive load of the students was significantly decreased, indicating the effectiveness of this approach in helping students comprehend, learn content and organize their knowledge. To further investigate the learning behaviors of high-achievement and low-achievement students in using the spreadsheet-based Mindtool, a learning pattern analysis was conducted by coding the students’...

Situated cognition and learning environments: implications for teachers on- and offline in the new digital media age

Abstract: John Seely Brown suggested that learning environments should be spaces in which all work is public, is subject to iterative critique by instructors and peers, and in which social interaction is primary. In such spaces, students and teachers engage in a situated cognition approach to teaching and learning where “cognitive accomplishments rely in part on structures and processes outside the individual”. Here we describe a qualitative analysis of a socially situated learning setting that aimed to develop children who can design, analyze, critique, and transform media, subjecting existing social media, their designs, and their peers’ designs to public and iterative critique. In this setting, adult mentors supported children’s self-expression, self-reflection, and skillbuilding through authentic, socially situated reading, writing, and discussion, and media production. Creating and leveraging such spaces is essential for preparing all children for successful experiences in the new knowledge economy in formal a...

Collaboration Scripts for Mastership Skills: Online Game about Classroom Dilemmas in Teacher Education

Abstract: Hummel, H. G. K., Geerts, W. M., Slootmaker, A., Kuipers, D., & Westera, W. (in press). Collaboration scripts for mastership skills: Online game about classroom dilemmas in teacher Education. Interactive Learning Environments.

Students negotiating and designing their collaborative learning norms: a group developmental perspective in learning communities

Abstract: This research shows how participants in classroom learning communities (LCs) come to take responsibility over designing their collaborative learning norms. Taking a micro-developmental perspective within a graduate-level course, we examined fine-grained changes in group discourse during a period of rapid change where this responsibility taking occurs, which we frame as the transition between the storming and norming stages of group development. Our findings indicate that this transition was based upon three sub-stages that included (a) recognition of a group crisis; (b) acceptance of responsibility; and (c) increased meaningfulness of norms. As an outcome of this transition, LC members took responsibility over negotiating and designing their collaborative norms as authority moved from moderators to students. We discuss the theoretical and practical contributions of this research on group development and LCs, as well as limitations and next steps for research.

What do we mean by “student-centred” learning?

Abstract: Many teachers hold strongly to the notion that their classes are student-centred. This phrase appears in many course validation documents and evaluation reports. It is a required criterion for acad...

Applying Web-Based Co-Regulated Learning to Develop Students' Learning and Involvement in a Blended Computing Course.

Abstract: This research investigated, via quasi-experiments, the effects of web-based co-regulated learning (CRL) on developing students' computing skills. Two classes of 68 undergraduates in a one-semester course titled “Applied Information Technology: Data Processing” were chosen for this research. The first class (CRL group, n = 38) received the intervention of web-based CRL teaching methods, while the second one (control group, n = 30) received a traditional teaching method for computing education. The results in this study show that students who received the web-based CRL attained significantly better computing skills than those who received the traditional teaching method. This study provides a design and illustration of web-based CRL for teachers, educators, and schools which place importance on improving students' computing skills and pay attention to development of online courses.

Production and consumption of university Linked Data

Abstract: Linked Data increases the value of an organisation's data over the web by introducing explicit and machine processable links at the data level. We have adopted this new stream of data representation to produce and expose existing data within The Open University (OU) as Linked Data. We present in this paper our approach for producing the data, based on well-defined workflows at the organisation as well as the technical levels. We also discuss the data already available to consume, and show the potential improvements that Linked Data brings by presenting three applications: (1) the OU Expert Search system for finding experts at the OU based on a specified topic of interest, (2) the Social Study application to identify potential courses for students based on their Facebook profile information, and (3) the Linked OpenLearn application that helps students identify related media and courses to OpenLearn units at the OU. Before concluding the paper, we show the potential benefits and an approach towards interlin...