Complex Learning Environments Research Articles

Learning in Complex Environments: The Effects of Background Speech on Early Word Learning.

Although most studies of language learning take place in quiet laboratory settings, everyday language learning occurs under noisy conditions. The current research investigated the effects of background speech on word learning. Both younger (22‐ to 24‐month‐olds; n = 40) and older (28‐ to 30‐month‐olds; n = 40) toddlers successfully learned novel label–object pairings when target speech was 10 dB louder than background speech but not when the signal‐to‐noise ratio (SNR) was 5 dB. Toddlers (28‐ to 30‐month‐olds; n = 26) successfully learned novel words with a 5‐dB SNR when they initially heard the labels embedded in fluent speech without background noise, before they were mapped to objects. The results point to both challenges and protective factors that may impact language learning in complex auditory environments.

The "Flipped Classroom" Model for Teaching in the Intensive Care Unit.

The intensive care unit (ICU) is a dynamic and complex learning environment. The wide range in trainee's experience, specialty training, fluctuations in patient acuity and volume, limitations in trainee duty hours, and additional responsibilities of the faculty contribute to the challenge in providing a consistent experience with traditional educational strategies. The "flipped classroom" is an educational model with the potential to improve the learning environment. In this paradigm, students gain exposure to new material outside class and then use class time to assimilate the knowledge through problem-solving exercises or discussion. The rationale and pedagogical foundations for the flipped classroom are reviewed, practical considerations are discussed, and an example of successful implementation is provided. An education curriculum was devised and evaluated prospectively for teaching point-of-care echocardiography to residents rotating in the surgical ICU. Preintervention and postintervention scores of knowledge, confidence, perceived usefulness, and likelihood of use the skills improved for each module. The quality of the experience was rated highly for each of the sessions. The flipped classroom education curriculum has many advantages. This pilot study was well received, and learners showed improvement in all areas evaluated, across several demographic subgroups and self-identified learning styles.

Visualising structure and agency in a MOOC using the Footprints of Emergence framework

Reviews of research into MOOCs have identified two areas needing further research; the individual learner experience and the role of the teacher/facilitator. In this paper we examine the teacher/facilitator’s role as MOOC designer in achieving an appropriate balance between structure and agency in the design of a specific MOOC, and consider whether this balance was achieved by analysing the learners' experience of this MOOC. To do this we used a tool known as Footprints of Emergence, which enables designers, teachers, learners and researchers to visualise the course design and their learning experience in any course. Drawing Footprints of Emergence requires deep reflection on 25 factors which influence learning in complex learning environments, such as MOOCs. The context for this research was the Competences for Global Collaboration MOOC (cope15) offered by FH Joanneum, in Graz, Austria, in Spring 2015. Through negotiation and taking advantage of a diversity of competences and experiences, the team designed a hybrid learning space with a multitude of resources and learning paths. They used an approach which combined Salmon's model for moderating small groups of learners with the principles of connectivism and the structuring of xMOOCs. In using this approach the teachers needed to adopt unfamiliar roles as open practitioners and relinquish control over their students. The visualisation offered by the design footprint of cope15 helped to frame their discussion and planning. The MOOC design required learners to assume responsibility for their own learning, deal with uncertainty and be open to a holistic learning experience. At the end of the MOOC they were asked to draw a Footprint to reflect on their learning experience and provide a written reflection. 30 participants agreed to their Footprints and written reflections being analysed for this research. The Footprints show that a balance between structure and agency was achieved for these learners. They experienced neither too much prescription nor too much chaos in the MOOC design and learning processes. These preliminary findings suggest that attention to structure and agency using the Footprints of Emergence visualisation tool enables the design of a MOOC to meet learners’ needs, and supports end of course reflection and evaluation.

Novel User Modeling Approaches for Personalized Learning Environments

Modeling user knowledge and creating user profiles not only for special web-based social media but also for complex and mixed personalized learning environments are important research challenges. The key component for adaptation is the user’s knowledge model. This paper introduces fuzzy metric (FM)-based novel and efficient similarity measurement method and adaptive artificial neural network (AANN) and artificial bee colony (ABC)-based knowledge classification approaches for personalized learning environments. For this purpose, FM-based method has been developed to measure distances more efficiently among the users and their knowledge model using the web logs/session data. In addition, a novel knowledge classifier based on ABC and AANN having combined with the generic object model has been developed for user modeling strategies and user modeling server of adaptive educational electric course (AEEC). Finally, the approaches have been tested to compare the classification performance of the user modeling methods developed for user modeling task. The experimental results have shown that proposed methods have improved similarity measurements considerably and decreased the misclassifications in user modeling processes. Thus, powerful user modeling approaches have been presented to the literature. It is expected that the approaches introduced in this article can be a reference to others researches and to develop more adaptive and personalized web applications in future.

Telling Reflections: Teaching Sustainably in a Complex Learning Environment

AbstractThis article examines learning design in a postgraduate preservice teacher setting. The overarching aim was to embed environmentally responsive approaches throughout two companion units for diverse student cohorts. This article reports on a teacher educator self-study in a regional university with extensive online delivery for large units (300–800 students) in a 1-year course. The author examines how assessment tasks in literacy- and numeracy-oriented units are designed to meaningfully integrate environmental sustainability using contextual cues, collaborative learning, complex tasks, and reflexivity. The author argues for the use of these four key guidelines of environmentally responsive pedagogies alongside environmental education programs to emphasise messages of sustainability even in units that are not traditionally environmentally oriented. Challenges include problematising the nature of effective teaching and dealing with the complexities of purposeful learning. Innovative unit learning design alone, however, is inadequate if the surrounding systems are fragmented and seen as separate to learning about sustainability.

On docility: a research note on Herbert Simon’s social learning theory

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to address the core concept of docility in Simon’s learning theories and elaborate docility as a missing link in organizational performance structures. In his book,Administrative Behavior, first published in 1947 with three subsequent editions, Herbert A. Simon introduced a new concept to the emerging field of organizational theory, docility.Design/methodology/approach– InAdministrative Behavior, Herbert A. Simon introduced to management and organization theorists the concept of docility. Simon adopted the concept and meaning from E.C. Tolman’s (1932) classic work,Purposive Behavior in Animals and Men, and his novel views on learning processes and key concepts like purpose (goals), thought processes (cognitive psychology) and cognitive maps. This paper elaborates on docility mechanisms and the implications for social learning in organizations.Findings– This paper addresses this lacuna in the organizational literature, and the implications for current theories of organizations and organizational learning.Practical implications– Docility is a tool to link individual learning with organizational learning in complex environments and changing technologies.Originality/value– The paper traces origins of Simon’s docility and learning theories.

Teletandem as a complex learning environment: Looking for a model

ABSTRACT This article presents a model of teletandem, i.e. tandem through desktop videoconferencing (Telles 2009). The aim of such a model is twofold: heuristic and pedagogical. It is heuristic because it enables us to understand teletandem at all its levels and partially to predict (in probabilistic terms) what can happen in a teletandem environment. It is also pedagogical because it helps us formulate plans of action to improve future use and environment design. To build this model, we have drawn upon complexity theory (Larsen-Freeman & Cameron 2008, Morin 1990), which leads us to distinguish different levels of analysis before discussing the relationship between the different elements and levels leading to the complex final (yet dynamic) model.

Critical personal reflections on professional development within a complex learning environment

This article presents my professional reflections about what I am learning as a team member of two large units in the Graduate Diploma of Teaching and Learning. Critical personal reflection and narrative analysis are used to explore my professional learning journey, particularly in relation to my ‘primary colleague’, the most experienced team member. This narrative critically reflects on tensions between my developing understandings about learning and teaching in higher education and how learning best takes place. The literature supports learning and teaching approaches that disrupt the status quo, foster complexity and cultivate true collaboration and transdisciplinarity. Guiding my reflections is how I have been helped by my primary colleague and, in turn, how I may be able to help others towards more collaborative, reflective and transdisciplinary workplace practices in spite of working within isolating course parameters. How can we each make space (physical, virtual, collegial, temporal and mental) to engage in collaborative workplace practices that turn the focus of teacher education more towards complex, transformative learning? Collaborative work is time-consuming and, in my experience, thoroughly effective and deeply satisfying. Collegial dialogue within my team has occurred in the complex context of improving the learning of our students and has included such wide-ranging topics as: philosophies of learning, effective pedagogies, environmental sustainability, the scholarship of learning and teaching, political and industrial issues, and transformations to teacher education and schooling. These conversations deepen what I am able to bring to my students’ learning and create synergies between professional reflections and student learning processes that inform each other.

An analytical method for measuring competence in project management

AbstractThe goal of this paper is to present a competence assessment method in project management that is based on participants' performance and value creation. It seeks to close an existing gap in competence assessment in higher education. The proposed method relies on information and communication technology (ICT) tools and combines Project Management Information System (PMIS) tools with a survey system. This permits it to be implemented in an Internet‐based simulation game. The system enforces the assessment of individual competences by a set of performance indicators and value stream analyses. A specific case study is presented as a way to validate the principles on which the proposed method is based. It has been proven to be helpful in a complex learning environment that involves two different universities and levels of degrees (undergraduate and master). When the method has been implemented, it is possible to collect detailed information regarding competence at a process for each participant. This increases the transparency of the work carried out, as well as enabling the specific design of educational programs for specific competence learning paths. Based on the experience that has been acquired, a specific recommendation is made concerning the feedback value provided for practitioners, students and teachers.

#Learning: The use of back channel technology in multi-campus nursing education

This paper reports on the results of a study into the use of microblogging technology (TodaysMeet) in large, multi-site lectures in a nursing program. The aim of this study was to investigate students' use of the technology and their perceptions of its value in stimulating engagement in a complex learning environment. The study demonstrated that students like the anonymity that the technology provided, allowing them to ask questions without fear of appearing less competent than their peers. Many of the respondents commented positively on the opportunity to engage with students and the lecturer at other campuses. While some students appreciated the opportunity to interact and have feedback from peers, others saw this as a negative aspect of the technology. This study suggests that, used appropriately, microblogging can be incorporated into large lectures to promote student participation and engagement and ultimately enhance the learning process.

Designing Tasks for Complex Virtual Learning Environments

The central role of tasks has long been acknowledged in foreign language pedagogy (e.g. Ellis, 2003; Willis, 1996; Müller-Hartmann & Schocker, 2011), in the context of CALL (Furstenberg, 1997; Chapelle, 2001; Hampel, 2006; 2010; Levy & Stockwell, 2006; Thomas & Reinders, 2010) and, specifically, in literature on online collaboration (Dundis & Benson, 2003; Gruba, 2004; Müller-Hartmann 2000; 2006; O’Dowd & Ware, 2009; Guth & Helm 2011; Dooly & O’Dowd, 2012). In complex learning environments such as those of intercultural online exchanges (IOEs), the role of tasks is particularly pronounced as they drive and structure learners’ activity in and through a complex, technology-rich multimodal, multilingual and multicultural context. In such an environment opportunities for learning are not obvious and need to be activated through adequate and relevant tasks. This article discusses the role of tasks in structuring learner activity in complex learning environments (CLEs), best exemplified by intercultural online exchanges (IOEs). First, the concept of complex learning environments (CLEs) are presented, followed by those aspects of task design that best address their complexity, including the role of tasks in executing teaching presence, the workplan-process dichotomy, the role of tasks in fostering community building, concluding with an overview of the mutual task-tool relationship and brief recommendations for training teachers in task design.

State‐of‐the‐Art Research into Multimedia Learning: A Commentary on Mayer's Handbook of Multimedia Learning

SummaryThis article reviews the research into multimedia learning through the lens of a recently updated Handbook of Multimedia Learning edited by Richard Mayer. By examining the theories underpinning the research and the major experimental findings, a number of conclusions emerged. Firstly, the major theories and models guiding the research are well accepted and based on classical memory research, although there is a need to extend them to the affective domain. Secondly, most of the boundary conditions for effective learning from basic multimedia materials (e.g. explanatory words and pictures) have been identified. Thirdly, for more complex learning environments (e.g. games and computer‐based tutors), much less is known, and more research is required to untangle the various moderating factors. Fourthly, there is a need for further investigations that match specific instructional strategies (e.g. self‐explanations) with multimedia materials to find the most effective learning combination. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Reconceptualizing design research in the age of mobile learning

The purpose of this paper is to begin to examine how the intersection of mobile learning and design research prompts the reconceptualization of research and design individually as well as their integration appropriate for current, complex learning environments. To fully conceptualize and reconceptualize design research in mobile learning, the authors address and unpack the unique affordances of mobile learning and implications for design research as well as the design process that has impact on both. Asserting a socio-cultural view of learning, investigating mobile devices as cultural transformational tools is proposed to potentially expand perceptions and access to resources not only in how we view teaching and learning (as a form of social capital), but also in how we design for it and conduct research in complex settings.

Quality Assurance in School Education

The concern of any parent today is to make their children realize their dreams in life. The race for a good education starts the day the child enters in the school. With the economy becoming global year after year and parents attaching more importance to quality education, the competition to secure a seat in the best schools has become even more severe. Schools, therefore, should allow early acquisition of life skills within a complex learning environment. To be successful, teaching and learning – and the learning environment in the school – must be coherent. This requires a capacity-building process, which permeates the whole school life and aims to achieve a wide range of governance including knowledge, skills, values and dispositions. Large numbers of researchers have viewed school quality in terms of the learning outcomes of students exhibited in form of cognitive achievement, which has been identified as the major explicit objective of all schools. Hence, it is the students’ cognitive achievement that is most often taken as an indicator of school quality. The NPE 1986 envisaged that teaching staff would be responsible for academic standards and providing academic leadership to ensure better performances by schools. School authorities, therefore, must adopt a proper quality assurance mechanism, monitor quality continuously with respect to different identified indicators and initiates appropriate actions to achieve the goals. Such an approach will help the management and the teachers to become aware of their responsibilities with regard to establishing quality in their management and teaching functions.

Effective education: Conceptualising the meaning of out-of-field teaching practices for teachers, teacher quality and school leaders

Teacher effectiveness and quality teaching receive international attention. This in-depth exploration of the implications of out-of-field teaching for teacher quality has unveiled complex teaching and learning environments. The out-of-field phenomenon defines teachers teaching outside their field of training or education (Ingersoll, 2002). The perspectives of educational directors, principals, teachers and parents across two countries suggest that out-of-field teaching practices are significant to content knowledge, pedagogical knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge. This qualitative investigation reveals information through interviews, observations and document analyses regarding the relations among real-life experiences, out-of-field teaching practices and perceived quality of teachers. The findings focus attention on leadership perceptions, understanding and decisions, school improvement policies and support programmes in relation to out-of-field situations in schools. The paper concludes with recommendations for education policies and further research on teacher quality linked to the out-of-field phenomenon.

Peer assisted learning in the clinical setting: an activity systems analysis.

Peer assisted learning (PAL) is a common feature of medical education. Understanding of PAL has been based on processes and outcomes in controlled settings, such as clinical skills labs. PAL in the clinical setting, a complex learning environment, requires fresh evaluation. Socio-cultural theory is proposed as a means to understand educational interventions in ways that are practical and meaningful. We describe the evaluation of a PAL intervention, introduced to support students’ transition into full time clinical attachments, using activity theory and activity systems analysis (ASA). Our research question was How does PAL transfer to the clinical environment? Junior students on their first clinical attachments undertook a weekly same-level, reciprocal PAL activity. Qualitative data was collected after each session, and focus groups (n = 3) were held on completion. Data was analysed using ASA. ASA revealed two competing activity systems on clinical attachment; Learning from Experts, which students saw as the primary function of the attachment and Learning with Peers, the PAL intervention. The latter took time from the first and was in tension with it. Tensions arose from student beliefs about how learning takes place in clinical settings, and the importance of social relationships, leading to variable engagement with PAL. Differing perspectives within the group were opportunities for expansive learning. PAL in the clinical environment presents challenges specific to that context. Using ASA helped to describe student activity on clinical attachment and to highlight tensions and contradictions relating PAL in that setting. Planning learning opportunities on clinical placements, must take account of how students learn in workplaces, and the complexity of the multiple competing activity systems related to learning and social activities.

Neuroscience Perspectives for Science and Mathematics Learning in Technology-Enhanced Learning Environments

Recently, neuroscience perspectives on human learning have drawn increasing interest among researchers in education (Schrag, 2011). Many researchers, particularly in science and mathematics education, have highlighted the utility of integrating a neuroscience or cognitive–science perspective into science andmathematics learning (e.g. Anderson, 1983, 1997, 2009; Anderson & Contino, 2013; Duncan & Rivet, 2013; Kwon & Lawson, 2000; Lawson, 1986, 2003, 2004; Longo, Anderson & Wicht, 2002). At the same time, another mainstream of productive research has focused on using technology to enhance science and mathematics learning based on research studies and evidence-based improvement of classroom practices derived from the research. In these approaches, multimedia representations such as text, graphic, video, animation, and simulation are usually designed to include concrete cognitive representations, or improved visualizations of abstract and conceptual ideas, as a way of enhancing learning (Chang & Linn, 2013). Recently, with the rapid development of information technology, some highly innovative approaches have been developed. These include complex digital learning environments and other interactive media, such as web-based learning, mobile learning, game-based learning, and computer-supported collaborative learning. These newer innovations have been critically analyzed and examined in research studies on science and mathematics learning (e.g. Lee, Tsai, Wu, Tsai, Liu, Huang, Lai et al., 2011). Although researchers in different domains have committed substantial efforts in designing innovative learning environments and examining their impacts on students’ learning, many challenges remain, such as fully understanding how students perceive and process a variety of representations embedded in different complex learning environments. Neuroscience methodologies have been recently linked to research in the educational technology field. For example, eye movement methodology has been applied to multimedia learning and the results have been discussed and summarized in some published special issues (e.g. Van Gog & Scheiter, 2010). Lai, Tsai, Yang, Hsu, Liu, Lee, Lee et al. (2013) also reviewed eye-tracking studies related to learning and pointed out

Quantitative Assessment of Medical Student Learning through Effective Cognitive Bayesian Representation

The changes of learning environments and the advancement of learning theories have increasingly demanded for feedback that can describe learning progress trajectories. Effective assessment should be able to evaluate how learners acquire knowledge and develop problem solving skills. Additionally, it should identify what issues these learners have during the learning processes and why they have these issues. This study depicts visual representations of cognitive tasks as crucial points to connect learning and assessment. This study is an exploration of these cognitive tasks in complex learning environments and a quantitative representation of these measureable objects in cognitive structures.

Design and the functioning of a productive learning network

In our networked society, formal and informal networks (or a combination of the two) can open up powerful learning opportunities for lifelong learning. However, designing such networks conducive to learning is very complex. It involves the intertwining of learning tasks, physical and digital resources, and divisions of labour, traversing many different layers and scales. Educational design research is continuously searching for effective methods and tools to support design. This paper reports outcomes from a PhD project being undertaken as part of a broader program of research into the analysis and design of productive learning networks. The paper introduces key concepts from research on design for networked learning and offers a novel perspective on analysing learning networks, based on a framework that integrates ideas and methods from pedagogy, design and architecture. This perspective explores the structural elements in complex learning environments, and their influence on emergent activity. A number of different entities (human and non-human, material and immaterial) become assembled together in emerging technological arrangements. The analytical framework allows the researcher to get ‘behind the screen’ to reconstruct the deeper architecture of what has been created for, and by, the participants in the network. The study also draws on ideas from urban and architectural design, especially the work of Christopher Alexander on pattern language theory. Alexander’s work is concerned with sharing good design ideas that take into consideration human emotion and values. In our broader program of work, we aim to develop patterns and pattern languages which (a) show how deep values, including pedagogical values, can imbue designs, and (b) are reusable by others – such that they can be adapted to meet new needs in other places. This paper discusses the application of these analytical ideas in an existing example of a productive network as a means to extract useful, reusable design ideas. More specifically, it explores how designed features in a complex network were combined to support learning. The preliminary outcomes from this study suggest that connections can be drawn between some of the key qualities of what has been designed, and the fundamental values that are meant to guide activity and shape experience within the network.

Discovering indicators of successful collaboration using tense: Automated extraction of patterns in discourse

AbstractThis paper describes a technique for locating indicators of success within the data collected from complex learning environments, proposing an application of e‐research to access learner processes and measure and track group progress. The technique combines automated extraction of tense and modality via parts‐of‐speech tagging with a visualisation of the timing and speaker for each utterance developed to code and analyse learner discourse, exploiting the results of previous, non‐automated analyses for validation. The work is developed using a dataset of interactions within a multi‐user virtual environment and extended to a more complex dataset of synchronous chat texts during a collaborative design task. This methodology extends natural language processing into computer‐based collaboration contexts, discovering the linguistic micro‐events that construct the larger phases of successful design‐based learning.