Showing papers on "Active learning published in 2006"
TL;DR: In this paper, the research on formative assessment and feedback is reinterpreted to show how these processes can help students take control of their own learning, i.e. become self-regulated learners.
Abstract: The research on formative assessment and feedback is reinterpreted to show how these processes can help students take control of their own learning, i.e. become self-regulated learners. This reformulation is used to identify seven principles of good feedback practice that support self-regulation. A key argument is that students are already assessing their own work and generating their own feedback, and that higher education should build on this ability. The research underpinning each feedback principle is presented, and some examples of easy-to-implement feedback strategies are briefly described. This shift in focus, whereby students are seen as having a proactive rather than a reactive role in generating and using feedback, has profound implications for the way in which teachers organise assessments and support learning.
4,204 citations
TL;DR: This overview presents a brief history, followed by a discussion of the similarities and differences between PBL and other experiential approaches to teaching, and identifies some of the challenges that lie ahead for PBL.
Abstract: Problem-based learning (PBL) is an instructional approach that has been used successfully for over 30 years and continues to gain acceptance in multiple disciplines. It is an instructional (and curricular) learner-centered approach that empowers learners to conduct research, integrate theory and practice, and apply knowledge and skills to develop a viable solution to a defined problem. This overview presents a brief history, followed by a discussion of the similarities and differences between PBL and other experiential approaches to teaching, and identifies some of the challenges that lie ahead for PBL.
2,231 citations
TL;DR: The capacity is a complex blend of motivation, skill, positive learning, organizational conditions and culture, and infrastructure of support as mentioned in this paper, which gives individuals, groups, whole school communities and school systems the power to get involved in and sustain learning over time.
Abstract: International evidence suggests that educational reform’s progress
depends on teachers’ individual and collective capacity and its link with schoolwide
capacity for promoting pupils’ learning. Building capacity is therefore
critical. Capacity is a complex blend of motivation, skill, positive learning,
organisational conditions and culture, and infrastructure of support. Put together,
it gives individuals, groups, whole school communities and school systems the
power to get involved in and sustain learning over time. Developing professional
learning communities appears to hold considerable promise for capacity building
for sustainable improvement. As such, it has become a ‘hot topic’ in many
countries.
1,897 citations
TL;DR: Several of the most commonly used inductive teaching methods, including inquiry learning, problem-based learning, project-based Learning, case-based teaching, discovery learning, and just-in-time teaching, are reviewed in this paper.
Abstract: Traditional engineering instruction is deductive, beginning with theories and progressing to the applications of those theories. Alternative teaching approaches are more inductive. Topics are introduced by presenting specific observations, case studies or problems, and theories are taught or the students are helped to discover them only after the need to know them has been established. This study reviews several of the most commonly used inductive teaching methods, including inquiry learning, problem-based learning, project-based learning, case-based teaching, discovery learning, and just-in-time teaching. The paper defines each method, highlights commonalities and specific differences, and reviews research on the effectiveness of the methods. While the strength of the evidence varies from one method to another, inductive methods are consistently found to be at least equal to, and in general more effective than, traditional deductive methods for achieving a broad range of learning outcomes.
1,436 citations
TL;DR: There is a growing body of research within specific scientific teaching communities that supports and validates the new approaches to teaching that have been adopted, and their applicability to physiology education is discussed.
Abstract: Calls for reforms in the ways we teach science at all levels, and in all disciplines, are wide spread. The effectiveness of the changes being called for, employment of student-centered, active learning pedagogy, is now well supported by evidence. The relevant data have come from a number of different disciplines that include the learning sciences, cognitive psychology, and educational psychology. There is a growing body of research within specific scientific teaching communities that supports and validates the new approaches to teaching that have been adopted. These data are reviewed, and their applicability to physiology education is discussed. Some of the inherent limitations of research about teaching and learning are also discussed.
1,191 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a learning ecology framework and an associated empirical research agenda are described, highlighting the need to better understand how learning outside school relates to learning within schools or other formal organizations, and how learning in school can lead to learning activities outside school.
Abstract: Adolescents often pursue learning opportunities both in and outside school once they become interested in a topic. In this paper, a learning ecology framework and an associated empirical research agenda are described. This framework highlights the need to better understand how learning outside school relates to learning within schools or other formal organizations, and how learning in school can lead to learning activities outside school. Three portraits of adolescent learners are shared to illustrate different pathways to interest development. Five types of self-initiated learning processes are identified across these case portraits. These include the seeking out of text-based informational sources, the creation of new interactive activity contexts such as projects, the pursuit of structured learning opportunities such as courses, the exploration of media, and the development of mentoring or knowledge-sharing relationships. Implications for theories of human development and ideas for research are discussed.
793 citations
Journal Article•
TL;DR: This paper is to assess current definitions of the term Learning Object, to articulate the foundational principles for developing a concept of LOs, and to provide a methodology and broad set of guidelines for creating LOs.
Abstract: The term Learning Object, first popularized by Wayne Hodgins in 1994 when he named the CedMA working group "Learning Architectures, APIs and Learning Objects", has become the Holy Grail of content creation and aggregation in the computer-mediated learning field. The terms Learning Objects (LOs) and Reusable Learning Objects are frequently employed in uncritical ways, thereby reducing them to mere slogans. The serious lack of conceptual clarity and reflection is evident in the multitude of definitions and uses of LOs. The objectives of this paper are to assess current definitions of the term Learning Object, to articulate the foundational principles for developing a concept of LOs, and to provide a methodology and broad set of guidelines for creating LOs.
730 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors argue for the importance of learning these ideas at the precollege and college levels and discuss the significant challenges inherent in learning complex systems knowledge from the standpoint of learning sciences theory and research.
Abstract: The multidisciplinary study of complex systems in the physical and social sciences over the past quarter of a century has led to the articulation of important new conceptual perspectives and methodologies that are of value both to researchers in these fields as well as to professionals, policymakers, and citizens who must deal with challenging social and global problems in the 21st century. The main goals of this article are to (a) argue for the importance of learning these ideas at the precollege and college levels; (b) discuss the significant challenges inherent in learning complex systems knowledge from the standpoint of learning sciences theory and research; (c) discuss the "learnability issue" of complex systems conceptual perspectives and review a body of literature that has been exploring how learning sciences pedagogical approaches can lead to student learning of important dimensions of complex systems knowledge; (d) argue that the cognitive and sociocultural factors related to learning complex sy...
596 citations
TL;DR: It is seen that ready-to-hand access creates the potential for a new phase in the evolution of technology-enhanced learning, characterized by "seamless learning spaces" and marked by continuity of the learning experience across different scenarios (or environments), and emerging from the availability of one device or more per student ("one- to-one").
Abstract: Over the next 10 years, we anticipate that personal, portable, wirelessly-networked technologies will become ubiquitous in the lives of learners - indeed, in many countries, this is already a reality. We see that ready-to-hand access creates the potential for a new phase in the evolution of technology-enhanced learning (TEL), characterized by "seamless learning spaces" and marked by continuity of the learning experience across different scenarios (or environments), and emerging from the availability of one device or more per student ("one-to-one"). One-to-one TEL has the potential to "cross the chasm" from early adopters conducting isolated design studies to adoption-based research and widespread implementation, with the help of research and evaluation that gives attention to the digital divide and other potentially negative consequences of pervasive computing. We describe technology-enhanced learning and the affordances of one-to-one computing and outline a research agenda, including the risks and challenges of reaching scale. We reflect upon how this compares with prior patterns of technology innovation and diffusion. We also introduce a community, called "G1:1," that brings together leaders of major research laboratories and one-to-one TEL projects. We share a vision of global research, inviting other research groups to collaborate in ongoing activities.
507 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors argue that the widespread approach to enhancing student learning through separate study skills courses is ineffective, and that the term "study skills" itself has misleading implications, which are counterproductive to learning.
Abstract: This paper argues that the widespread approach to enhancing student learning through separate study skills courses is ineffective, and that the term ‘study skills’ itself has misleading implications, which are counterproductive to learning. The main argument is that learning how to study effectively at university cannot be separated from subject content and the process of learning. The role of ‘study skills’ within universities’ skills frameworks, and as a component of students’ long-term development is discussed. Then, it is examined, with a focus on academic writing, what learning at university entails, and what is needed to support this learning. Finally, effective approaches to the enhancement of learning at university and beyond are considered.
TL;DR: Learning progressions as discussed by the authors describe successively more sophisticated ways of reasoning within a content domain based on research syntheses and conceptual analyses, which can be useful tools for using research on children's learning to improve assessments.
Abstract: The purpose of this article is to suggest ways of using research on children's reasoning and learning to elaborate on existing national standards and to improve large-scale and classroom assessments. The authors suggest that learning progressions—descriptions of successively more sophisticated ways of reasoning within a content domain based on research syntheses and conceptual analyses—can be useful tools for using research on children's learning to improve assessments. Such learning progressions should be organized around central concepts and principles of a discipline (i.e., its big ideas) and show how those big ideas are elaborated, interrelated, and transformed with instruction. They should also specify how those big ideas are enacted in specific practices that allow students to use them in meaningful ways, enactments the authors describe as learning performances. Learning progressions thus can provide a basis for ongoing dialogue between science learning researchers and measurement specialists, leadi...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors analyse the changing aspects of learning and "cultures of learning" in China, which are related to meeting the needs of Chinese learners studying in higher education in the UK.
Abstract: This paper analyses of some changing aspects of learning and ‘cultures of learning’ in China: these are related to meeting the needs of Chinese learners studying in higher education in the UK. We use the term ‘cultures of learning’ to draw attention to the socio-cultural aspects of key practices, expectations and interpretations of learning and the term is understood to include diversity of practices both at individual and group levels. We use the notion of changing practices in a double sense: firstly, practices in learning at school and university levels are changing in China and hence the cultures of learning that are likely to influence students' pre-departure experiences include an aspect of dynamic change. Secondly, Chinese students in the UK change their practices in many respects as they learn in, and from, British academic cultures. The paper also delineates some long-standing features of learning in the Confucian heritage and summarises recent developments in the Chinese national curriculum for ...
01 Jan 2006
TL;DR: This paper proposes an alternative design pattern for educational systems that emphasizes symmetric connections with a range of services both in formal and informal learning, work, and leisure, and identifies strategies for implementation and experimentation.
Abstract: Current systems used in education follow a consistent design pattern, one that is not supportive of lifelong learning or personalization, is asymmetric in terms of user capability, and which is disconnected from the global ecology of Internet services. In this paper we propose an alternative design pattern for educational systems that emphasizes symmetric connections with a range of services both in formal and informal learning, work, and leisure, and identify strategies for implementation and experimentation.
Book•
24 Jan 2006TL;DR: The first edition of this book has been used widely and has now been revised to include updated information in the existing chapters as well as a new chapter which covers the area of learning difficulties and special educational needs.
Abstract: Teachers are very good at providing excellent opportunities for children's learning to progress. Often, without fully understanding the reasons why, teachers encourage learning in their charges which works very well, and is a very good approach at a particular time with a particular child or group of children. With greater insight into what is currently known about the processes of learning and about individual learning preferences, teachers are able to provide even better learning situations which are even more likely to lead to effective learning. This book seeks to provide the detail which teachers can make use of in their planning and teaching in order to provide even better opportunities for effective and lasting learning. The first edition of this book has been used widely and has now been revised to include updated information in the existing chapters as well as a new chapter which covers the area of learning difficulties and special educational needs.
25 Jun 2006
TL;DR: This paper considers the problem of selecting the most informative experiments x to get measurements y for learning a regression model y, and proposes a novel and simple concept for active learning, transductive experimental design, that has a better scalability in comparison with classic experimental design methods.
Abstract: This paper considers the problem of selecting the most informative experiments x to get measurements y for learning a regression model y = f(x). We propose a novel and simple concept for active learning, transductive experimental design, that explores available unmeasured experiments (i.e., unlabeled data) and has a better scalability in comparison with classic experimental design methods. Our in-depth analysis shows that the new method tends to favor experiments that are on the one side hard-to-predict and on the other side representative for the rest of the experiments. Efficient optimization of the new design problem is achieved through alternating optimization and sequential greedy search. Extensive experimental results on synthetic problems and three real-world tasks, including questionnaire design for preference learning, active learning for text categorization, and spatial sensor placement, highlight the advantages of the proposed approaches.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors explored the relations between learning approaches, regulation of learning and cognitive strategies and found that approaches to learning, regulation and cognitive strategy were related to each other, and further, to study success.
Abstract: The authors looked at aspects of successful and problematic studying in terms of three different research traditions: students’ approaches to learning, self‐regulated learning and cognitive strategies. These frameworks have been widely applied when explaining university student learning. However, relations among different traditions have not been sufficiently looked at. In this study the authors explored the relations between learning approaches, regulation of learning and cognitive strategies. The subjects were students at the University of Helsinki who filled in the Task Booklet of Learning and the Strategy and Attribution Questionnaire. Their academic achievement was coded from university archives. It was found that approaches to learning, regulation of learning, and cognitive strategies were related to each other, and further, to study success.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors identify some necessary conditions of learning to learn something, and demonstrate that what students learn in a sequence of lessons is a function of the pattern of variation and invariance constituted in that sequence.
Abstract: The purpose of this article is to identify some necessary conditions of learning To learn something, the learner must discern what is to be learned (the object of learning) Discerning the object of learning amounts to discerning its critical aspects To discern an aspect, the learner must experience potential alternatives, that is, variation in a dimension corresponding to that aspect, against the background of invariance in other aspects of the same object of learning (One could not discern the color of things, for instance, if there was only one color) The study results illustrate that what students learn in a sequence of lessons is indeed a function of the pattern of variation and invariance constituted in that sequence All teachers make use of variation and invariance in their teaching, but this study shows that teachers informed by a systematic framework do it more systematically, with striking effects on their students' learning
Journal Article•
TL;DR: This paper addresses a context model and context acquisition mechanism for collecting contextual information at run time in a context aware ubiquitous learning environment and addresses how this newly designed environment can fully support the needs of peer-to-peer collaborative learning.
Abstract: A ubiquitous learning environment provides an interoperable, pervasive, and seamless learning architecture to connect, integrate, and share three major dimensions of learning resources: learning collaborators, learning contents, and learning services. Ubiquitous learning is characterized by providing intuitive ways for identifying right learning collaborators, right learning contents and right learning services in the right place at the right time. Our context aware ubiquitous learning environment consists of three systems, namely peer-to-peer content access and adaptation system, personalized annotation management system, and multimedia real-time group discussion system. Since the effectiveness and efficiency of ubiquitous learning heavily relies on learners’ surrounding context, in this paper, we will address a context model and context acquisition mechanism for collecting contextual information at run time. We have built a context aware ubiquitous learning environment and in this paper we will address how this newly designed environment can fully support the needs of peer-to-peer collaborative learning.
TL;DR: There is a mismatch between the broad range of learning theories offered in the wider education literature and a relatively narrow range of theories privileged in the medical education literature.
Abstract: Background There is a mismatch between the broad range of learning theories offered in the wider education literature and a relatively narrow range of theories privileged in the medical education literature. The latter are usually described under the heading of ‘adult learning theory’.
Methods This paper critically addresses the limitations of the current dominant learning theories informing medical education. An argument is made that such theories, which address how an individual learns, fail to explain how learning occurs in dynamic, complex and unstable systems such as fluid clinical teams.
Results Models of learning that take into account distributed knowing, learning through time as well as space, and the complexity of a learning environment including relationships between persons and artefacts, are more powerful in explaining and predicting how learning occurs in clinical teams. Learning theories may be privileged for ideological reasons, such as medicine's concern with autonomy.
Conclusions Where an increasing amount of medical education occurs in workplace contexts, sociocultural learning theories offer a best-fit exploration and explanation of such learning. We need to continue to develop testable models of learning that inform safe work practice. One type of learning theory will not inform all practice contexts and we need to think about a range of fit-for-purpose theories that are testable in practice. Exciting current developments include dynamicist models of learning drawing on complexity theory.
TL;DR: In this paper, Coombs and Ahmed's framework of formal, non-formal, and informal learning as the analytical framework was used to review and conceptually locate literature exploring how sports coaches acquire the knowledge that underpins their professional practice.
Abstract: Using Coombs and Ahmed's framework of formal, non-formal, and informal learning as the analytical framework, this paper aims to review and conceptually locate literature exploring how sports coaches acquire the knowledge that underpins their professional practice. Furthermore, in an attempt to develop a robust set of accessible terms and concepts this paper identifies, explores and positions various terminologies under the broader heading of coach learning. It was hoped that this conceptual review would not only stimulate discussion and research into coach learning, but that it would also promote the construction of models of how coaches currently learn, as well as models for enhancing coach learning. The paper concludes that coaches learn from a wide range of sources, but formalised (i.e., formal and nonformal) learning episodes were found to be relatively low impact endeavours when compared to informal, self-directed modes of learning.
TL;DR: The authors chose to introduce mobile phones and short message service (SMS) within the classroom due to the ubiquity of mobile phones among students and the interactive potential of SMS.
Abstract: Interactivity in the classroom is reported to promote a more active learning environment, facilitate the building of learning communities, provide greater feedback for lecturers, and help student motivation. Various definitions of interactivity exist in the literature, alternately focusing on the participants, structure and technology. The PLS TXT UR Thoughts research project builds on existing definitions to define interactivity as a message loop originating from and concluding with the student. The authors chose to introduce mobile phones and short message service (SMS) within the classroom due to the ubiquity of mobile phones among students and the interactive potential of SMS. SMS is a low-threshold application used widely by students to quickly send concise, text-based messages at any time. The research presented involved students sending SMS in real-time, in class, via their personal mobile phones. Using a modem interfacing with customised software to produce SMS files, the lecturer can view the messages and verbally develop the interactive loop with students during class. The SMS are available online after class, allowing interactive loops to further develop via threaded comments.
TL;DR: In this paper, emotion-laden images that arise within adult learning provide a symbolic language for helping teachers and learners understand and facilitate transformation at both the individual and group levels, and they provide a way to help teachers understand and support transformation.
Abstract: Emotion-laden images that arise within adult learning provide a symbolic language for helping teachers and learners understand and facilitate transformation at both the individual and group levels.
TL;DR: Teachers should reduce the total amount of factual information students are expected to memorize, reduce the use of the passive lecture format, and devote much more effort to helping students become active, independent learners and problem solvers.
Abstract: The curriculum is packed with so much content that teachers resort to telling students what they know and students simply commit facts to memory. The packed curriculum leaves little time for studen...
TL;DR: In this article, an explanatory methods design was used to evaluate the influence of a service learning course on learning, personal, and social outcomes for service learning (n = 142) students, who showed improvements in diversity and political awareness, community selfefficacy, and civic engagement scores from the beginning to the end of the semester.
Abstract: . An explanatory methods design was used to evaluate the influence of a service learning course on learning, personal, and social outcomes for service learning (n = 142) students. These students showed improvements in diversity and political awareness, community self-efficacy, and civic engagement scores from the beginning to the end of the semester. In addition, the students' academic learning, personal and interpersonal development, and community engagement were detected as the major benefits from engaging in service learning. The findings of this study suggest that service learning contributes to students' academic learning and personal and social development through social-emotional processes.
TL;DR: The authors used the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire to investigate the effectiveness of problem-based learning (PBL) and traditional instructional approaches on various facets of students' self-regulated learning, including motivation and learning strategies.
Abstract: The authors used the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire to investigate the effectiveness of problem-based learning (PBL) and traditional instructional approaches on various facets of students' self-regulated learning, including motivation and learning strategies Participants included 61 tenth-grade students from 2 intact classes instructed by the same biology teacher The authors randomly assigned 1 class as the experimental group and the other class as the control group Teachers instructed the control group with teacher-centered, textbook-oriented traditional instruction; they taught the experimental group with problem-based learning, in which students worked with ill-structured problems Results revealed that PBL students had higher levels of intrinsic goal orientation, task value, use of elaboration learning strategies, critical thinking, metacognitive self-regulation, effort regulation, and peer learning compared with control-group students
TL;DR: The authors discusses three technologies used in an adult continuing education masters program: blogging, learning objects and e-portfolios, and concludes that adult learners who take an online Masters program are not typical of all adult learners, much less all adults.
Abstract: This paper discusses three technologies used in an adult continuing education Masters programme: blogging, learning objects and e-portfolios. My reflections on their use and on the literature underpinning their use form the basis of the discussion. All three of these technologies were used to promote self-directed learning, reflection and learner choice in the activities undertaken. Although these technologies were very successful for our students, the paper concludes that adult learners who take an online Masters programme are not typical of all adult learners, much less all adults.
23 May 2006
TL;DR: A novel active learning algorithm that selects a batch of text documents for labeling manually in each iteration and uses the Fisher information matrix as the measurement of model uncertainty and chooses the set of documents to effectively maximize the Fisher Information matrix of a classification model.
Abstract: Large-scale text categorization is an important research topic for Web data mining. One of the challenges in large-scale text categorization is how to reduce the human efforts in labeling text documents for building reliable classification models. In the past, there have been many studies on applying active learning methods to automatic text categorization, which try to select the most informative documents for labeling manually. Most of these studies focused on selecting a single unlabeled document in each iteration. As a result, the text categorization model has to be retrained after each labeled document is solicited. In this paper, we present a novel active learning algorithm that selects a batch of text documents for labeling manually in each iteration. The key of the batch mode active learning is how to reduce the redundancy among the selected examples such that each example provides unique information for model updating. To this end, we use the Fisher information matrix as the measurement of model uncertainty and choose the set of documents to effectively maximize the Fisher information of a classification model. Extensive experiments with three different datasets have shown that our algorithm is more effective than the state-of-the-art active learning techniques for text categorization and can be a promising tool toward large-scale text categorization for World Wide Web documents.
TL;DR: The authors investigated the effects of the learning/teaching environment on students' approaches to learning and found that the direction of change was opposite to the premise that student-activating instruction deepens student learning Instead, the latter pushed students towards a Surface Approach to Learning and students' Strategic Approaches suffered significant lowering.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined students' behavior in class and their perceptions of the new learning environment throughout three consecutive semesters and found that the use of wireless laptops enhances student-centered, hands-on, and exploratory learning as well as meaningful studentto-student and student-to-instructor interactions.
Abstract: This paper reports on a study that examined the use of wireless laptops for promoting active learning in lecture halls. The study examined students’ behavior in class and their perceptions of the new learning environment throughout three consecutive semesters. An online survey revealed that students have highly positive perceptions about the use of wireless laptops, but less positive perceptions about being active in class. Class observations showed that the use of wireless laptops enhances student-centered, hands-on, and exploratory learning as well as meaningful student-to-student and student-to-instructor interactions. However, findings also show that wireless laptops can become a source of distraction, if used for non-learning purposes.