Educational Technology Course Research Articles

Open badges support goal setting and self-efficacy but not self-regulation in a hybrid learning environment

Through a quasi-experimental study, we found that preservice teachers who learned with open badges set higher goals and indicated greater self-efficacy than those who learned with traditional projects in hybrid learning environments. However, we also found no significant difference in learners’ self-regulation between the groups. This study adopted a control and experimental group research design to investigate the effect of using instructional open badges on three critical aspects of learner motivation in a hybrid undergraduate introduction to educational technology course: (a) goal setting, (b) perceived self-efficacy, and (c) self-regulation. While our study contributes to our understanding of the relationship between using open badges in education and critical aspects of learner motivation in hybrid learning environments, questions remain about how to use this emerging strategy to promote greater self-regulation.

Embracing discomfort in active learning and technology-rich higher education settings: sensemaking through reflexive inquiry

AbstractPreparing students for professional life in a Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous twenty-first century world has seen tertiary institutions eschew the traditional ‘lecture-tutorial’ model in favour of active learning approaches. However, implementing these approaches is not unproblematic. This paper explores how we navigated the tensions of cultivating twenty-first century skills in our students—first-year preservice teachers—through a purposely designed approach to active learning in an educational technology course. We illustrate how deploying Bakhtinian precepts through reflexive inquiry supported sensemaking of discomfort, leveraging this sensemaking to reinvigorate practice.

Retracted] Wireless Sensor Network and AI Application for Educational Technology Course

Over the course of its long development, the modern educational technology curriculum has undergone several changes and amassed a lot of information. Theoretically speaking, the state places a strong priority on the use of IT in schools. Students majoring in education should take educational technology courses so that they can learn the characteristics and application techniques of core current information‐based teaching media and incorporate them into their own lesson plans and classroom activities. This will help them meet the information needs of today’s classrooms as they evolve with the advent of educational modernization and availability of educational information. Thus, this research employs a wireless sensor network (WSN) to gather and send data on ed tech classes and then employs AI to assess those classes’ quality and guide real‐time changes to how they are taught and complete the following tasks: (1) The development status of educational technology courses and WSN at home and abroad is introduced. (2) The application of WSN in teaching is introduced, the basic principle of GRU neural network and related optimization algorithms is expounded, and the quality evaluation system of educational technology courses is constructed. (3) The IPSO‐Adam‐GRU evaluation model improves the GRU neural network’s hyperparameters with the help of the improved PSO approach and Adam gradient descent. The model is fed test data for evaluation, and the findings are compared to those from an expert’s evaluation to determine how well the model performs. The results demonstrate that the model established for this article is superior to others since it provides a more accurate assessment.

Pre-service teachers’ perceptions of data protection in primary education

The protection of personal data and privacy are important issues closely related to use of social media, information and communication technologies, and the Internet in the area of education. The treatment of academic information and use of tools and programs for instruction, communication, and learning have revealed the handling of a significant volume of personal data from different sources. It is essential to protect this information from possible privacy violations. This descriptive study, which is of transversal nonexperimental design, focuses on how 384 pre-service teachers’ enrolled in educational technology courses in their education programs view the protection of personal data. The goals are to describe and analyze how these teachers perceive the risks associated with protection of data on the Internet and what they know about protection of data in primary education. We administered a questionnaire within the framework of an educational activity that focused on digital competence in data protection in education. The results show a high perception of risk in topics such as accepting cookies when surfing the Internet or transferring banking information. The knowledge the students claim to have shown a lack of information on the protection of minors’ data in issues related to the development and schooling of primary school students, as well as their health, background, and family environment. Curricular treatment of these areas that includes content, practices on regulations, and adopts a situated, critical, and responsible approach in pre-service teacher education is recommended.

How Do Female Preservice Teachers Experience Learning Using the Learning Blog, Recorded lectures and Reflective Assignment and Feedback in Educational Technology courses?

How Do Female Preservice Teachers Experience Learning Using the Learning Blog, Recorded lectures and Reflective Assignment and Feedback in Educational Technology courses?

Virtual Reality in Engineering Education

The idea of virtual reality (VR) has gained widespread acceptance in modern society. Although most people still see it as a new form of entertainment, in fact, this kind of digital technology will play an important role in the future of education, especially engineering education. It can provide students with more intuitive and visual multi-sensory stimulation. By allowing access to virtual spaces for learning activities, students can be better guided for deep learning and interest cultivation, and their cognitive and application processes can be accelerated. Therefore, it is of great significance to apply this technology to engineering education courses. This research paper reviews what virtual reality is and the application of virtual reality in engineering education, and analyzes the benefits brought by the application of virtual reality in engineering education. Virtual reality technology represents a positive vision in which it will be the most promising assistive technology for engineering education in the near future.

Teaching Methodology for Virtual Reality Practical Course in Engineering Education

Teaching Methodology for Virtual Reality Practical Course in Engineering Education

Design of a Visual Training System for Software Engineering Education Based on Knowledge Graphs

With the increase of the content and difficulty of software engineering education courses, software engineering education visual training system came into being, but the technology is not mature at present, and the representation learning algorithm part of the visual training system needs to be optimized. In order to solve this problem, the research proposes to optimize the take model by using the trans representation algorithm, and embed the optimized knowledge map into the new software engineering education visual training system. The performance of TEKEE model is verified by comparing TEKEE model with Trans E model, Trans D model and TEKED model. The experimental results show that the MR value of the optimized TEKEE model is 62, Hits@10 The value is 0.92, which is better than the other three representation learning models. In terms of the bearing capacity test of the visual training system, the response time of the business operation of the research and design training system is 1.22 seconds, and the CPU occupancy of the application server is 12.5%, all of which are normal. The experimental results show that the performance of the optimized TEKEE model has indeed been greatly improved, and the visual training system composed of the optimized knowledge map has a very good carrying capacity, which can provide a new idea for the software engineering education and training system.

Preservice teachers’ TPACK learning trajectories in an online educational technology course

This mixed-methods study analyzed Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) learning trajectories of preservice teachers enrolled in an online seven-week long educational technology course. Timeline analysis was used to identify and interpret emerged patterns of learning trajectories. The study suggests that continuous growth of the group mean TPACK could be attributed to the inclusion of immersion - theory - analysis - digital content development cycles, focus on high-impact teaching strategies, and a choice of interactive online platform. Level of participation, support from the instructors, and confidence in using technology for teaching and learning moderated the course influence leading to several distinct patterns in individual TPACK learning trajectories.

Integrating Computing into Preservice Teacher Preparation Programs across the Core: Language, Mathematics, and Science

This paper describes the beginning of a design-based research project for integrating computing activities in preservice teacher programs throughout a middle and secondary education department. Computing integration activities use computing tools, like programming, to support learning in non-computing disciplines. The paper begins with the motivation for integrating computing that encouraged widespread buy-in, design goals, and design parameters. The primary motivating factor for this work was preparing teachers to use technology to support learning in their classrooms. Involving computing education faculty in the preparation enabled the activities to include computer science and spread computational literacy. The paper also describes the process and year-long timeline for designing and implementing the integrations, followed by the details of the computing integrated activities. Last, the paper describes preservice teachers’ reactions to computing integration, focusing on before-and-after perceptions and knowledge of computing. Preservice teachers perceptions and knowledge of computing evolved similarly to teachers who engage in different approaches to learning about integrated computing, such as in elective or educational technology courses, suggesting that this approach is effective for engaging all teachers in integrating computing. In particular, the common feature that ignited teachers’ excitement about integrating computing was offering new opportunities to improve student learning and providing engaging activities within their non-computing discipline.

The effect of preservice teachers’ ICT integration self-efficacy beliefs on their ICT competencies: The mediating role of online self-regulated learning strategies

This study explored how preservice teachers' (PSTs) perceived self-efficacy beliefs for integrating information and communication technology (ICT) relate to their actual acquisition of ICT competencies directly and indirectly through their perceived use of online self-regulated learning (SRL) strategies. Participants included 204 PSTs enrolled in an undergraduate introductory educational technology course. A structural model was built to test the causal relations among ICT integration self-efficacy, combined SRL strategies, and ICT competencies. Additional analyses were conducted with six new structural models for testing each type of SRL strategy: goal setting; environmental structuring; task strategies; time management; help-seeking; self-evaluation. Results indicated that PSTs’ perceived ICT integration self-efficacy did not directly affect their ICT competencies but was mediated by their perceived use of goal-setting strategies. Also, ICT integration self-efficacy had a positive moderate direct effect on the combined SRL strategies and all single types of SRL strategies, except self-evaluative strategies. The report concludes with a discussion of implications and limitations.

Engaging students via synchronous peer feedback in a technology-enhanced learning environment

Synchronous peer feedback activity is a potential but less studied strategy to engage students in technology-enhanced learning environments compared to asynchronous peer feedback activity in which students provide feedback to each other at a different time. This study aims to investigate student engagement and perceptions in a Google Forms-facilitated synchronous peer feedback activity during student-led presentations, which are a critical part of students’ academic and professional development. This study employed an exploratory case study method. Participants were two class sections of undergraduate students who enrolled in an introductory educational technology course. Data included feedback generated by students, student reflections, and a survey. Results indicated that students were engaged behaviorally, affectively, and cognitively. Students had overall positive perceptions of the integration of Google Forms. This study suggests that technology-enhanced synchronous peer feedback activity is a beneficial instructional strategy to engage students in classes. Implications for practice and future research are provided.

Assistive technology training within an educational technology course: Perceptions of preservice special education teachers

Although the importance of assistive technology (AT) has been supported in the literature, preservice special education teachers (PSETs) are still graduating with inadequate AT knowledge and skills. In this study, an educational technology course was modified and the PSETs’ perceptions about their AT knowledge and skills and the course were investigated. Data were collected from 67 PSETs through pre- and post-survey. The findings revealed that their AT knowledge and skills increased remarkably following the course. The PSETs found the course to be valuable as it enabled them to gain AT knowledge and skills, to become aware of the importance of AT in special education, and to provide some real-life experience. They mentioned appreciating the special education focus and active learning features of the course, but listed the heavy course workload, the challenges of the course project, and the intensive course content as weaknesses of the course. They also recommended suggestions to improve the course.

The effect of Interactive Whiteboard (IWB) on the performance of undergraduate students and their perceptions towards it

Interactive Whiteboard (IWB)captured the interest of faculty members in view of facilitating the teaching process at universities through stimulating dialogue and discussion during the lecture in addition to attracting students’ attention and concentration throughout the lecture. For the purpose of identifying the contribution of the IWB in improving students' performance; a comparison between the scores in the IWB exams and retrieval exercises with their scores in the exams of three semesters taught through traditional lectures for a Vocational Education Technology course alongside with evaluating questionnaires for the students' perception. It was revealed that students' performance in the IWB exams was in general better than in conventional lectures. The two researches used the Empirical Researchmethod for a study sample of (64) students where the results concluded that students who used the IWB in their lectures excelled in comparison with the performance of the conventional lectures students; they also diplayed positive feedback about the use of IWB in teaching.
 Keywords: Interactive Whiteboard (IWB), Vocational Education Technology.

The impact of role assignment on social presence in online discussions: A mixed-method study

This paper examines the effect of role assignment strategy on undergraduate students' social presence in asynchronous online discussions. Asynchronous online discussion activities were designed and implemented in an educational technology course. In the experimental groups, participants engaged in online discussion activities designed with the role assignment strategy to support social presence using specific roles (starter, moderator, or summarizer) while the control group participants completed the discussion activities without using the role assignment strategy. Results indicated that there was a statistically significant difference between the social presence levels of the experimental group and the control group. Qualitative content analysis of the discussion posts revealed that there were more social presence indicators in the posts of the participants who were assigned roles compared to the ones who did not have roles.

Blended Learning Based Project In Electronics Engineering Education Courses: A Learning Innovation after the Covid-19 Pandemic

Engineering education is an important part of preparing quality graduates for the challenges of the Covid-19 and post-pandemic conditions, and electronics engineering education is no exception. Blended learning-based projects as an alternative to innovative learning at this time. This study aims to explore and explain the application of blended learning-based projects in electronics engineering education courses. The research method used is a project-based product design and development carried out by blended learning. We conduct our project activities in higher education special students from Electronic Engineering Education that take part in the learning of this project. Students who participate are only limited to small groups to avoid the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, in 1 small group consisting of 3-5 people and there is 1 group leader who manages the work, while other members are supportive and help complete joint projects. The results of this study show the ability of students to work by implementing project-based learning in producing products, namely Exhaust Fan products based on Electrostatic Precipitator (ESP) as a form of a mini prototype that can be used for small household scale industries. The ability of students to work on product manufacturing by applying the principles of project-based learning in the category already has the ability to, skilled and thoroughly working on the project that was planned until it succeeded in becoming a product prototype which was carried out in project-based blended learning.

Using Student Feedback to Analyze the Characteristics of Presence in Classroom Settings Based on the Community of Inquiry Framework

The community-of-inquiry (CoI) framework on presence points out the direction for the effective teaching of teachers. Feedback plays an important role during the teaching process in the promotion of teaching and learning. A total of 476 pieces of feedback text, including 1695 short sentences, were collected from 13 classes of a Modern Educational Technology course, and then they were coded and analyzed on the basis of the cognitive, teaching, social, and emotional dimensions. It was found that the CoI theory is also suitable for classroom settings, and in situations where all of the presences exist. Among them, emotional presence is the most common, followed by the cognitive and teaching presences, while social presence is the least common. The result may help teachers to optimize course design and implementation for enhancing presence, improving learning experiences, and promoting high-quality learning. Moreover, the research results provide references for studying data-based precision teaching.

TPACK leveraged: A redesigned online educational technology course for STEM preservice teachers

Integration of computational thinking and programming into science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) classes is needed to promote students’ learning of twenty-first century skills. Yet, teachers are not equipped to achieve this integration successfully as teacher education curricula do not generally align with this need. With the Covid-19 outbreak, curricula also need to be adapted for online environments. This qualitative study presents the redesign of an educational technology course that introduces programming and computational thinking to STEM preservice teachers for online settings, and explores learning experiences of preservice teachers, in terms of how they combine technological knowledge with pedagogy and content. Data were collected from course artifacts, such as reading responses, coding challenges, and lesson designs and implementations. The findings showed the online course design was helpful in enhancing preservice STEM teachers’ pedagogical approaches of how to teach computational thinking and programming. Offering hands-on coding practices in the course allowed preservice teachers to improve their technological knowledge (programming), and they were able to integrate their technological pedagogical knowledge into their content area and design meaningful lessons. The study offers implications for design of online teacher education courses that promote preservice teachers’ technological pedagogical content knowledge for computational thinking and programming. Implications for practice or policy: The online course design implemented in this study can be adjusted into different contexts, considering that fully-online or blended teacher education courses will still be needed in the future. The design guidelines used in this study can be utilised to develop online teacher education modules for educational technology topics other than programming. The question prompts given to preservice teachers in the study can be refined to trigger deeper reflection on pedagogy of computing education.

Using Edmodo as a Media of E-Learning Learning in Educational Technology Courses


 Abstract: New concepts in IT-based learning, often known as e-learning, were born because of the use of technology in the learning process. Teachers can choose from a variety of online learning media as a medium of learning in e-learning, one of which is Edmodo. Edmodo is a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) that offers several tools for instructors to use in their classrooms. The purpose of this study is to describe the usage of Edmodo as an e-learning medium in pai class education technology courses, to determine Civitas Academica's reaction to Edmodo as an e-learning medium, and to determine the benefits and drawbacks of Edmodo as an e-learning medium. This study employs a qualitative technique in conjunction with descriptive analysis. Interviews, observations, and documentation were utilized to collect data in this study, which were aided by research equipment in the form of interview grids. There are additional guidelines for observation. This study took place in PAI classes, with 70 students and teachers from Educational Technology courses serving as the primary informants. The findings of this study revealed that Edmodo can be used as a supplemental class in PAI classes and that PAI students can benefit from the use of PAI. Edmodo as an e-learning learning medium, teachers are also greatly aided by its existence; as an e-learning learning medium, Edmodo has many advantages, particularly in terms of features offered, and the disadvantages of using Edmodo as an e-learning learning medium are highly dependent on the internet network.

Promoting Pre-service Teacher Students’ Learning Engagement: Design-Based Research in a Flipped Classroom

Students’ learning engagement is recognized as one of the main components of effective instruction and a necessary prerequisite for learning, but students’ learning engagement in flipped classroom poses some pedagogical challenges. This study aimed to promote students’ learning engagement via the flipped classroom approach. Design-based research (DBR) was adopted in this study to conduct an experiment involving three iterations in a Modern Educational Technology (MET) course in a Chinese university. The participants included 36 third-year pre-service teacher undergraduates. Classroom observations and a learning engagement questionnaire were used to measure the effectiveness of the flipped instruction in terms of students’ learning engagement. Data analysis applied descriptive statistics, ANOVA, and paired samples t tests. The results showed that after three rounds of iterative experiments, students’ learning engagement (behavioral, cognitive, and emotional) significantly improved. Several principles are provided as guidelines for instructors to implement flipped classroom approach to promote students’ learning engagement.