Computer Learning Environment Research Articles

Examining Key Determinants of Social Presence and Satisfaction in Online Learning: An Exploration with Undergraduate Student

The increasing popularity of online learning and its associated technology in higher education, particularly due to the COVID-19 pandemic, has garnered significant attention worldwide. This study focuses on investigating and developing the construct of social presence and its relationship with satisfaction in computerized learning environments. The study explores various dimensions of social presence, including social respect, social sharing, open communication, and social navigation, and their impact on satisfaction in online learning. The findings demonstrate that social presence plays a significant role in influencing satisfaction, and a statistically significant correlation exists among the observed variables. The implications of these results are important for higher education institutions, instructional designers, instructors, and learners. This study also provides valuable theoretical foundations for further discussions on social presence and satisfaction in online learning. To effectively meet learners' expectations and enhance social presence and satisfaction, higher education institutions offering online programs should understand their learners' needs. Instructors can contribute to learners' engagement and success by strategically incorporating instructional course designs, arranging materials, and generating clear learning activities that enhance social presence. By providing a high level of social presence in online learning environments, instructors can promote student satisfaction and facilitate effective comprehension of learning materials.

Healthcare Students’ Experience and Evaluation of the Distance Learning during the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Case of Medical University – Plovdiv

The global lockdown, caused by the COVID-19 pandemic enforced distance training. The effectiveness of the learning process has been put to the test. This research discusses the healthcare students' experience and evaluation of teaching and learning at Medical University – Plovdiv during the lockdown. The students evaluate the educational process as successful. Though the majority of them adapted easily to the distance learning, they miss live communication. Computer literacy self-assessment, learning environment and year of study are key factors that influence students' evaluation and experience in distance learning.

Enhanced Defensive Model Using CNN against Adversarial Attacks for Medical Education through Human Computer Interaction

The design of human-machine interfaces is more precise and demanding in the medical and healthcare industries. Medical monitoring equipment demands more consistent and effective interpretation, as well as fast and straightforward operation due to its monitoring and reference functions. Consequently, it is crucial to consider how people interact with computers when designing the interface for medical monitoring devices. Nowadays people are giving more importance to health than anything in the world. Therefore, as it is related to peoples’ safety, the architecture of human-computer communication must be carefully considered in the studies and development of high-end medical equipment. The price of training physicians and other medical professionals is rising dramatically. Most of the countries have stepped forward from the traditional medical teaching system to a more human computer interactive teaching and learning environment with innovative technologies. This article focuses on the related researches, existing HCI applications for healthcare and the application of deep neural network for disease classification. The proposed work is to develop a healthcare learning platform to offer healthcare education to both medical practitioners and also for common people. This can be implemented as Mobile apps using human-computer interface technology and also as a website with Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning Techniques. This proposal’s primary goal is to provide anytime, everywhere access to healthcare education for physiological and medical teaching courses, consequently advancing national health care.

Tracing Participation Beyond Computing Careers: How Women Reflect on Their Experiences in Computing Programs

Norms and values in computing education are constantly changing as dominant narratives about the role of computing in society evolve over time. Within the current evolving landscape of computing education, researchers and practitioners have advocated for ensuring people from all backgrounds, and particularly women, non-binary, and Black, Indigenous, and Latinx people, are able to participate equitably within the field of computing. Yet, the values of computing educational experiences are narrowly framed within career outcomes, such as securing a career in computing, leaving many important experiences and ways of participating in the field out of the picture. To address this, we conducted reflective interviews with women who participated in broadening participation in computing (BPC) programs to understand their perceptions of computing and how it aligns (or not) with what they value about their experiences in computing learning environments. We investigate the following research questions: 1) How do women who participated in BPC programs describe their perceptions of computing? 2) How do those perceptions align or misalign with the program outcomes they valued? The findings from our study call attention to tensions arising from centering “computing careers” in BPC work and highlight the outcomes of participation valued by the women in our study, such as developing communities and relationships, gaining communication skills, and expanding perspectives on skills computer scientists should possess.

Impact of E-learning on the environment and the optimization of the use of natural resources

Online education, also called e-learning, has several advantages in terms of environmental impact and optimization of resources. Over the past few years there has been a huge shift towards e-learning platforms as a place for learning and education. During these days of confinement due to the COVID19 virus, students, administrators, practitioners, administrators and others visited these platforms more than ever. E-learning allows learners to access courses and educational resources from anywhere, eliminating the need to physically travel to a learning location. That reduces fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions associated with travel. For That reason, That article proposes a reflection on the concept of e-learning or computerized learning environment with the aim of allowing the involvement of users in the preservation of the environment and the optimization of the use of natural resources. The learning environment is defined in that article as a real or virtual place bringing together one or more systems that interact with a common objective, which is learning. The use of Learning and not teaching with environment confirms the fact that knowledge is made by a community of learners more than by the transmission of knowledge from the teacher to the student. Meanwhile, the learning environment is computerized when some or all of the interactions between the subsystems are supported by computing resources. Indeed, the environment hosts several activities in addition to the tools and equipment necessary for their realization. The concept of an open environment offers an interesting avenue for that purpose. It should be noted that e-learning does not completely replace traditional forms of education, but complements and diversifies learning options. Adopting e-learning in education can bring significant benefits in terms of environmental impact and value for money, while providing more flexible and accessible learning opportunities.

Influence of computers in students’ academic achievement

With fast-growing technology, schools have to adapt and use technology constantly as a tool to grow. This study aims to understand the influence of computer factors on students' academic achievement. We propose a model on the influence of computer attitudes, computer learning environments, computer learning motivations, computer confidence, computer use, computer self-efficacy, loneliness, mothers' education, parents' marital status and family size on academic achievement (AA). To validate the conceptual model, 286 students aged 16–18 years old answered an online questionnaire. The most important drivers that positively affect AA are computer use, employment motivations, and mothers' education. While enjoyment attitudes, school environment, interest motivations, and loneliness influence AA negatively. Also, family size and computer self-efficacy work as moderators, and computer use works as a mediator between computer learning environments and academic achievement.

Meta-Analysis of the Effect of Technologies on Primary School

The main purpose of this study is to show how much learning technologies increase the success in primary school with meta-analysis method. Advanced technologies such as virtual-augmented reality, animation-simulation, inverted classroom application, web-internet course applications, course and game teaching software, which are subject to experimental studies in computerized learning environments, have been included in this meta-analysis study, since they have features that can improve academic achievement. It is taken into account that having features such as; publication in a peer reviewed open-access magazines, the execution of the application by selecting the sample from the primary school in Turkey, listing the mean and standard deviation values and the number of sample group students for the final test, for the articles to be included in this research. It was concluded that advanced technology supported lesson applications in primary school have the ability to increase academic achievement at a very high level. The effect size found (md: 4.17239) is larger than the highest level value statements defined in the literature.

Influence of Computers in Students’ Academic Achievement

With fast-growing technology, schools have to adapt and use technology constantly as a tool to grow. This study aims to understand the influence of computer factors on students' academic achievement. We propose a model on the influence of computer attitudes, computer learning environments, computer learning motivations, computer confidence, computer use, computer self-efficacy, loneliness, mothers' education, parents' marital status and family size on academic achievement (AA). To validate the conceptual model, 286 students aged 16 to 18 years old answered an online questionnaire. The most important drivers that positively affect AA are computer use, employment motivations, and mothers' education. While enjoyment attitudes, school environment, interest motivations, and loneliness influence AA negatively. Also, family size and computer self-efficacy work as moderators, and computer use works as a mediator between computer learning environments and academic achievement.

The importance of using electronic resources in education

This article discusses the ideas and considerations of the use of e-learning resources in the educational process, the components and types of e-learning resources. The e-learning methodological complex of the subject is a set of systematic teaching materials integrated using a computerized learning environment, aimed at ensuring a complete didactic period of the subject and optimizing the acquisition of professional competencies by students in the subject. E-learning tools and multimedia technologies in e-textbooks allow information to be presented in a variety of ways: graphic, animated, audio, photo and video. A number of scholars have stated that a student remembers only 20% of what he sees, 20–30% of what he hears, 50% of what he sees and hears at the same time, and 80% of what he sees, hears and does at the same time.

(Designing for) learning computational STEM and arts integration in culturally sustaining learning ecologies

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore the designed cultural ecology of a hip-hop and computational science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) camp and the ways in which that ecology contributed to culturally sustaining learning experiences for middle school youth. In using the principles of hip-hop as a CSP for design, the authors question how and what practices were supported or emerged and how they became resources for youth engagement in the space.Design/methodology/approachThe overall methodology was design research. Through interpretive analysis, it uses an example of four Black girls participating in the camp as they build a computer-controlled DJ battle station.FindingsThrough a close examination of youth interactions in the designed environment – looking at their communication, spatial arrangements, choices and uses of materials and tools during collaborative project work – the authors show how a learning ecology, designed based on hip-hop and computational practices and shaped by the history and practices of the dance center where the program was held, provided access to ideational, relational, spatial and material resources that became relevant to learning through computational making. The authors also show how youth engagement in the hip-hop computational making learning ecology allowed practices to emerge that led to expansive learning experiences that redefine what it means to engage in computing.Research limitations/implicationsImplications include how such ecologies might arrange relations of ideas, tools, materials, space and people to support learning and positive identity development.Originality/valueSupporting culturally sustaining computational STEM pedagogies, the article argues two original points in informal youth learning 1) an expanded definition of computing based on making grammars and the cultural practices of hip-hop, and 2) attention to cultural ecologies in designing and understanding computational STEM learning environments.

Computer laboratory workshops as learning environments for university business statistics: validation of questionnaires

Research on learning environments at the higher-education level has been quite sparse compared with studies at other educational levels. Because statistics is perceived as a difficult subject across disciplines, it suffers from low passing rates in many universities. This study involved validating questionnaires for assessing the psychosocial environment and student attitudes associated with learning business statistics in computing laboratory workshops. The Business Statistics Computer Learning Environment Inventory (BSCLEI) and Attitude to Business Analytics instrument were validated with 275 students enrolled across various business degree programs in the United Kingdom over two academic years. Various data analyses (including exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses) supported the validity of these two questionnaires, thereby paving the way for their future use in research and practical applications relevant to learning environments in higher-education statistics workshop classrooms.

Cognitive Presence in a Blended Learning Environment at Jordanian Universities

Cognitive presence is the ability of the learners to project their mental and perceptual presence. This paper aims to investigate cognitive presence when using a Blended Learning environment. The article also aims at exploring university students' attitudes towards using a BL environment in language learning, since BL perception, as a computer learning environment, has become a requirement to enhance language learning. The sample for the study consists of 100 students studying the English Language Skills course at Al-Balqa Applied University (BAU) in Jordan, who responded to a questionnaire on cognitive presence issues. The findings of the study reveal that Blended Learning (BL) can create a vibrant cognitive presence, which enables to support active language learning. The results share some positive attitudes towards a cognitive presence in a BL environment. The study recommends that more research on the part of the online instructors to create and enhance cognitive presence is necessary to benefit learning English language skills.

Cognitive Presence in a Blended Learning Environment at Jordanian Universities

Cognitive presence is the ability of the learners to project their mental and perceptual presence. This paper aims to investigate cognitive presence when using a Blended Learning environment. The article also aims at exploring university students' attitudes towards using a BL environment in language learning, since BL perception, as a computer learning environment, has become a requirement to enhance language learning. The sample for the study consists of 100 students studying the English Language Skills course at Al-Balqa Applied University (BAU) in Jordan, who responded to a questionnaire on cognitive presence issues. The findings of the study reveal that Blended Learning (BL) can create a vibrant cognitive presence, which enables to support active language learning. The results share some positive attitudes towards a cognitive presence in a BL environment. The study recommends that more research on the part of the online instructors to create and enhance cognitive presence is necessary to benefit learning English language skills.

Developing technological pedagogical science knowledge through educational computational chemistry: a case study of pre-service chemistry teachers’ perceptions

The purpose of this descriptive case study was to develop pre-service chemistry teachers’ Technological Pedagogical Science Knowledge (TPASK) through novel computational chemistry modules. The study consisted of two phases starting with designing a computational chemistry based learning environment followed by a case study where students’ perceptions towards educational computational chemistry were explored. First, we designed an authentic research-based chemistry learning module that supported problem-based learning through the utilisation of computational chemistry methods suitable for pre-service chemistry education. The objective of the learning module was to promote learning of specific chemistry knowledge and development of scientific skills. Systematic design decisions were made through the TPASK framework. The learning module was designed for a third-year physical chemistry course taken by pre-service chemistry teachers in Chile. After the design phase, the learning module was implemented in a course, and students’ perceptions were gathered using semi-structured group interviews. The sample consisted of 22 pre-service chemistry teachers. Data were analysed through qualitative content analysis using the same TPASK framework employed in the learning module design. Based on our findings, pre-service chemistry teachers first acquired Technological Scientific Knowledge (TSK) and then developed some elements of their TPASK. Besides, they highly appreciated the combination of student-centred problem-based learning and the use of computational chemistry tools. Students felt the educational computational learning environment supported their own knowledge acquisition and expressed an interest in applying similar learning environments in their future teaching careers. This case study demonstrates that learning through authentic real-world problems using educational computational methods offers great potential in supporting pre-service teachers’ instruction in the science of chemistry and pedagogy. For further research in the TPASK framework, we propose there would be significant benefit from developing new learning environments of this nature and evaluating their utility in pre-service and in-service chemistry teacher's education.

ТЕОРЕТИЧНІ ПЕРЕДУМОВИ ВИКОРИСТАННЯ КОМП’ЮТЕРНО-ОРІЄНТОВАНИХ ЗАСОБІВ НАВЧАННЯ МАЙБУТНІХ ІНЖЕНЕРІВ-ПЕДАГОГІВ

The article deals with the peculiarities of the use of computer-oriented teaching aids in the process of computer-aided preparation of students of engineering and pedagogical specialties. After all, the computer-based training implements didactic functions to a greater extent than other educational devices, liberating the teacher from certain types of educational activities, the primarily applies, to the necessary control over the progress and results of the each student’s work, with a high degree of completeness of studying groups.Taking into account all advantages of using the computer-based means in the process of learning, they can not take into account: the educational function of control, the problems of the development of the technical language of students, the ability to write in writing, and therefore, when applying the computer-oriented teaching aids in the process of informational training future engineers- teachers need to pay attention to the basic principles of implementing a coherent system for the introduction of electronic educational resources into training, which are set out in the article. For the effective application of computer-oriented teaching aids in the training of engineering and pedagogical staff, approaches to their classification are considered and the computer learning environment is defined. The general requirements for electronic teaching resources are considered and the basic principles of EOR construction are described. The concept is specified and the main types of electronic educational methodical complexes are specified, which are expedient to use in the process of informational training of future engineer teachers. When developing electronic teaching methodological complexes it is necessary to take into account the correspondence of the objectives of training a particular model. The article outlines the models of teaching using electronic educational methodological complexes in the electronic educational environment of the higher educational institution: the model of auditor activity, the model of individual activity, the design-group model.

Cultivating Computational Thinking Practices and Mathematical Habits of Mind in Lattice Land

ABSTRACTThere is a great deal of overlap between the set of practices collected under the term “computational thinking” and the mathematical habits of mind that are the focus of much mathematics instruction. Despite this overlap, the links between these two desirable educational outcomes are rarely made explicit, either in classrooms or in the literature. This paper presents Lattice Land, a computational learning environment and accompanying curriculum designed to support the development of mathematical habits of mind and promote computational thinking practices in high-school mathematics classrooms. Lattice Land is a mathematical microworld where learners explore geometrical concepts by manipulating polygons drawn with discrete points on a plane. Using data from an implementation in a low-income, urban public high school, we show how the design of Lattice Land provides an opportunity for learners to use computational thinking practices and develop mathematical habits of mind, including tinkering, experimentation, pattern recognition, and formalizing hypothesis in conventional mathematical notation. We present Lattice Land as a restructuration of geometry, showing how this new and novel representational approach facilitates learners in developing computational thinking and mathematical habits of mind. The paper concludes with a discussion of the interplay between computational thinking and mathematical habits of mind, and how the thoughtful design of computational learning environments can support meaningful learning at the intersection of these disciplines.

Motivation and emotion predict medical students' attention to computer-based feedback.

Students cannot learn from feedback unless they pay attention to it. This study investigated relationships between the personal factors of achievement goal orientations, achievement emotions, and attention to feedback in BioWorld, a computer environment for learning clinical reasoning. Novice medical students (N=28) completed questionnaires to measure their achievement goal orientations and then thought aloud while solving three endocrinology patient cases and reviewing corresponding expert solutions. Questionnaires administered after each case measured participants' experiences of five feedback emotions: pride, relief, joy, shame, and anger. Attention to individual text segments of the expert solutions was modelled using logistic regression and the method of generalized estimating equations. Participants did not attend to all of the feedback that was available to them. Performance-avoidance goals and shame positively predicted attention to feedback, and performance-approach goals and relief negatively predicted attention to feedback. Aspects of how the feedback was displayed also influenced participants' attention. Findings are discussed in terms of their implications for educational theory as well as the design and use of computer learning environments in medical education.

Lostrego: A distributed stream-based infrastructure for the real-time gathering and analysis of heterogeneous educational data

The quick technological evolution of the last decades has also reached learning environments, where the use of networked computing devices such as laptops, smartphones, tablets, IoT devices, servers, etc. is continuously growing. In particular, those computerized learning environments have the potential to track the activity of teachers and students in them, which enables the development of innovative applications that enrich the learning process by analyzing the collected data. The majority of related work in this field has been centered on batch gathering and analysis of the data. However, in order to integrate more reactive applications, there is a need for an infrastructure that enables the real-time collection and analysis of data in learning environments. Such an infrastructure should be scalable and flexible enough to cope with heterogeneous data coming from different types of learning settings. This paper presents Lostrego, a stream-based, modular, scalable and flexible distributed infrastructure that allows the gathering and analysis of educational data from heterogeneous data sources in a real-time fashion. Lostrego applications are composed by interconnected services that can be reused in different courses. The results of the evaluation of Lostrego in two editions of a computer programming course with 233 students and 384,702 gathered events are also reported.

Toward Bridging the Mechanistic Gap Between Genes and Traits by Emphasizing the Role of Proteins in a Computational Environment

Previous studies have shown that students often ignore molecular mechanisms when describing genetic phenomena. Specifically, students tend to directly link genes to their encoded traits, ignoring the role of proteins as mediators in this process. We tested the ability of 10th grade students to connect genes to traits through proteins, using concept maps and reasoning questions. The context of this study was a computational learning environment developed specifically to foster this ability. This environment presents proteins as the mechanism-mediating genetic phenomena. We found that students’ ability to connect genes, proteins, and traits, or to reason using this connection, was initially poor. However, significant improvement was obtained when using the learning environment. Our results suggest that visual representations of proteins’ functions in the context of a specific trait contributed to this improvement. One significant aspect of these results is the indication that 10th graders are capable of accurately describing genetic phenomena and their underlying mechanisms, a task that has been shown to raise difficulties, even in higher grades of high school.

Interactive computer simulations for standing waves

ABSTRACTInteractive computer simulations and learning environments like virtual laboratories come out as an excellent alternative to conventional physics laboratories. Two of the physics laboratories from the second semester within the Faculty of Civil Engineering and Building Services of “Gheorghe Asachi” Technical University are focused on the study of standing waves. Standing waves are very important in the field of Civil Engineering because the structural integrity of buildings can be affected by standing waves and the mechanical resonance phenomenon. A good understanding of the properties of standing waves will make the properly constructed structures withstand various risk factors. Some improperly constructed structures could damage or breakdown even in the presence of vibrations or strong winds. This paper presents the computer simulations developed for the study of the standing waves on a vibrating string and the propagation of electromagnetic standing waves in a Lecher system. For both simulations, the canvas element, part of HTML5 standard, is used to draw the graphics animations. Also, many control components and some external JavaScript libraries are used to perform the virtual applications. Further, these computer simulations are posted on the virtual physics laboratory web‐site and thus, students are able to engage in more productive self or group activities. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Comput Appl Eng Educ 25:521–529, 2017; View this article online at wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/cae; DOI 10.1002/cae.21818