Effective Learning Systems Research Articles

Adaptive Learning Technologies

Adaptive learning refers to technologies that dynamically adjust to the level or type of course content based on an individual's abilities or skill attainment, in ways that accelerate a learner's performance with both automated and instructor interventions. This column explores adaptive learning, its close relationship to artificial intelligence, and points to several results from artificial intelligence that have been used to build effective adaptive learning systems. The pairing of massive open online courses and adaptive learning has revealed new technical and pedagogical challenges that are currently being explored in various research projects.

Effective system of learning for engineers

The article analyzes the problem of the formation of a system of intensive computerized learning (SICL), based on the consistent use of didactic foundations for creating effective learning systems. The paper generalizes experience of using SICL to create training courses for students of technical areas and specialties. The paper uses the author’s experience of implementing an additional professional educational program for advanced training and professional retraining of higher education teachers “Development of the content of professional education, improving its quality in inextricable connection with science”. The creation of SICL for academic discipline begins with the statement of the didactic task and continues with the formation of the didactic system (a system of methods, means and forms of training). The didactic system (DS) takes into account the conditions of the didactic task and the laws of learning. The theory and methodology of SICL are described for three groups of stages of learning: lecture (presentation), work (bringing to the required level of mastery of educational issues) and final (bringing to the required level of mastering of the content of topics, sections and parts of the academic discipline). The stated positions can be used to create a computerized textbook that forms the basis of SICL.

The impact of climate change on firm adaptation: the case of the wine industry

PurposeThe purpose of this study was to test the effects of climate change, as manifested in both temperature and rainfall changes, on adaptive practices in a sample of wine firms operating in South Australia. Given that firms’ adaptation to the external environment can be advanced through effective internal learning systems, a further purpose was to explore the moderating effect of absorptive capacity.Design/methodology/approachThe authors used a survey as well as secondary sources to collect data. Regression analysis was used to test the hypotheses. To test the robustness of the results, alternative measures of temperature and rainfall changes were used.FindingsBy studying 207 wine firms, the analysis suggests that climate change is significantly and positively associated with adaptive practices. Further, as hypothesized, absorptive capacity positively moderates both relationships.Research limitations/implicationsThe use of a single industry in a specific location limits the generalizability of the results. Implications suggest that when the effects of climate change are considered the natural environment might be accorded salient stakeholder status. Further, when absorptive capacity is high, firms appear to adapt to climate change at a greater rate, suggesting that internal learning systems are important.Originality/valueThis is one the few studies in the business literature that considers the effects of actual physical changes in the natural environment on firm behaviour. Further, the paper is one of the few to incorporate natural stakeholder-based theory as a means of exploring climate change. The research paves the way for future studies of responses to such changes.

Enhancing Learning in Emergency Services Organisational Work

The paper aims to assist emergency services organisations to learn how to learn so that managers better understand how to embed effective learning practices and systems into their organisation’s culture. Learning in emergency services organisations occurs in a range of contexts. These include after-action reviews, externally led inquiries, and practice-led research projects. The paper outlines key themes from the work-related learning literature and introduces a modified experiential learning framework to ground real-world experiences. Interviews were conducted with 18 emergency services practitioners. The findings provide examples of the broad challenges that agencies need to manage to enhance and sustain learning. These include shifting value from action post an event, to reflection, focusing on the bigger picture and allowing enough time to effectively embed new practices after an emergency. No organisation can forgo learning. All experiences provide opportunities for learning to occur. A key insight for agencies interested in facilitating improvements in learning is to locate potential weak links in the learning cycle and to develop a better understanding of how to learn.

Assessing the determinants of flow experience in the adoption of learning management systems: the moderating role of perceived institutional support

ABSTRACTInformation technology has moved the focus of students and instructors from blackboards to online learning platforms. In the emerging e-learning revolution, the success of quality education depends on the right use of information and communication technology, including the creation of participants’ flow experience while using learning systems, which are rightly considered a backbone of contemporary education. There is a gap in the e-learning literature, reflecting a lack of understanding of students’ flow experience while using online interactive systems. This paper presents a study investigating the key factors (interpersonal factors and atmospheric cues) affecting flow experience and highlights its massive role in the use of any learning management system (LMS). Moreover, the study examines the moderating role of perceived institutional support (PIS) on student adoption of LMS. Using a survey, data were collected from university students in Pakistan and the data were analysed through structural equation modelling. We found that interpersonal factors and LMS atmospherics have significant effects on the flow experience. It was also found that PIS moderates the relationship between flow experience and the use of LMS. This study contributes to the literature by helping institutions and policy-makers know key factors of effective learning systems that students value and enjoy.

Using Data to Understand How to Better Design Adaptive Learning

There is much enthusiasm in higher education about the benefits of adaptive learning and using big data to investigate learning processes to make data-informed educational decisions. The benefits of adaptive learning to achieve personalized learning are obvious. Yet, there lacks evidence-based research to understand how data such as user behavior patterns can be used to design effective adaptive learning systems. The purpose of this study, therefore, is to investigate what behavior patterns learners with different characteristics demonstrate when they interact with an adaptive learning environment. Incoming 1st-year students in a pharmacy professional degree program engaged in an adaptive learning intervention that aimed to provide remedial instruction to better prepare these professional students before they began their formal degree program. We analyzed the participants’ behavior patterns through the usage data to understand how they used the adaptive system based upon their needs and interests. Using both statistical analyses and data visualization techniques, this study found: (1) apart from learners’ cognitive ability, it is important to consider affective factors such as motivation in adaptive learning, (2) lack of alignment among various components in an adaptive system can impact how learners accessed the system and, more importantly, their performance, and (3) visualizations can reveal interesting findings that can be missed otherwise. Such research should provide much needed empirical evidences and useful insights about how the analytics can inform the effective designs of adaptive learning.

The Application of Flipped Classroom in Teaching University Students

Flipped classrooms have been extensively used by many educators all over the world and are being seen as an alternative to the traditional classroom-based teaching-learning practices. As for traditional classrooms, face-to-face learning has not brought the personalization of learning capacity, time, attitude, behavior and interests to learners and has not exposed them to experimental activities. The flipped classrooms, on the other hand, enable students to be flexible in their learning and offer more time to go through videos, lectures posted on the Internet, which helps students to acquire the lessons through online learning systems. Flipped classrooms help create environment for more interaction between learners and instructors/facilitators, especially by creating the face-to-face conversations more interactive. However, teaching using flipped classrooms requires adequate additional resources such as; the effective online learning systems, databases, appropriate learning contents and methods, plan, presentations (in various forms like PowerPoint, word, scrom, video, audio) and most importantly minimum technical knowledge for both learners and instructors to use varieties of tools. This paper presents the construction of an environment supporting students to take part in an online activity before and after face-to-face interaction and organization of experimental teaching with the process of learning in groups based on the model of flipped classrooms to facilitate active learning. The quantitative results at the end of the course showed that the flipped learning is highly preferred and useful pedagogical approach when compared to those traditional methods that fostered better learning attitude and behaviors.

Effective Learning Systems through Blended Teaching Modules in Adult Secondary Education Systems in Developing Nations: Need for Partnership

We investigated methodological lessons in randomly selected adult secondary schools to construct a case for international partnership while examining education development in Nigeria. Standard database and web-based searches were conducted for publications between 1985 and 2012 on learning systems. This paper presents its absence and finds a heavy (over 80%) reliance on traditional methods of learning in Nigeria with less than 3% partnership with developed nations/organisations accompanied by low standard of learning. The authors propose the introduction of a blended teaching model which can potentially improve learning while requiring partnership from other developed nations and non-governmental organisations to aid its sustenance.

Power to the People: The Role of Humans in Interactive Machine Learning

Systems that can learn interactively from their end‐users are quickly becoming widespread. Until recently, this progress has been fueled mostly by advances in machine learning; however, more and more researchers are realizing the importance of studying users of these systems. In this article we promote this approach and demonstrate how it can result in better user experiences and more effective learning systems. We present a number of case studies that demonstrate how interactivity results in a tight coupling between the system and the user, exemplify ways in which some existing systems fail to account for the user, and explore new ways for learning systems to interact with their users. After giving a glimpse of the progress that has been made thus far, we discuss some of the challenges we face in moving the field forward.

EFindSite: Enhanced Fingerprint-Based Virtual Screening Against Predicted Ligand Binding Sites in Protein Models.

A standard practice for lead identification in drug discovery is ligand virtual screening, which utilizes computing technologies to detect small compounds that likely bind to target proteins prior to experimental screens. A high accuracy is often achieved when the target protein has a resolved crystal structure; however, using protein models still renders significant challenges. Towards this goal, we recently developed eFindSite that predicts ligand binding sites using a collection of effective algorithms, including meta-threading, machine learning and reliable confidence estimation systems. Here, we incorporate fingerprint-based virtual screening capabilities in eFindSite in addition to its flagship role as a ligand binding pocket predictor. Virtual screening benchmarks using the enhanced Directory of Useful Decoys demonstrate that eFindSite significantly outperforms AutoDock Vina as assessed by several evaluation metrics. Importantly, this holds true regardless of the quality of target protein structures. As a first genome-wide application of eFindSite, we conduct large-scale virtual screening of the entire proteome of Escherichia coli with encouraging results. In the new approach to fingerprint-based virtual screening using remote protein homology, eFindSite demonstrates its compelling proficiency offering a high ranking accuracy and low susceptibility to target structure deformations. The enhanced version of eFindSite is freely available to the academic community at http://www.brylinski.org/efindsite.

Building antifragility in service organisations: going beyond resilience

To maintain organisational growth in a turbulent environment, organisations must build highly effective learning systems to innovate and develop from threats and stressors. This has been termed by Taleb (2012) as ‘antifragility’. This paper explores the benefits of applying a systems approach to service delivery design in order to build an ‘antifragile’ organisation that can learn from disruptions. Two exploratory case studies were conducted in the UK insurance sector using in-depth interviews supported by documented evidence. The findings of the case studies analysis suggest that systems approach expressed as the Vanguard method (Seddon, 2003) is likely to enhance organisational ‘antifragility’ by promoting a multilevel driver for learning from stressors. These levels being: 1) the macro level of clarity on the system due to the continuous analysis of customer demands received; 2) the meso level of organic structure of work place where effective learning-centred teams are built; 3) the micro level of employees’ engagement with work and readiness to learn. This paper represents an early effort to explore the dynamics of how organisations can go beyond resilience by discovering how to develop the capacity to learn from stressors in order to flourish.

EFFECTIVE SCHOOL MODEL; MALAYSIAN PERSPECTIVE

The excellence education has become the primary concern for achievement to compete in this global village. Since the technological and vocational higher education became one of the essential elements in the educational road map, students are expected to be more skillful than the one of regular university. This stutfy reviews the development of effective learning systems and examines the relationship between employability and effective learning systems from students' perception. The results found that the model indicates a highly acceptable fit between the model and data. Also, there exists significant direct effect between employability and effective learning systems.
 Key words: school model, malaysian.

Designing effective collaboration, learning and innovation systems for education professionals

Angehrn, A. A., Maxwell, K., Luccini, A. M., & Rajola, F. (2009). Designing Effective Collaboration, Learning and Innovation Systems for Education Professionals. International Journal of Knowledge and Learning (IJKL), 5(3).

Improving Organ Transplantation in the United States—A Regulatory Perspective

Improving Organ Transplantation in the United States—A Regulatory Perspective

DESIGNING MOTIVATIONAL LEARNING SYSTEMS IN DISTANCE EDUCATION

The designing of instruction, when considered as a process, is the determination of instructional requirements of the learner and development of functional learning systems in order to meet these requirements. In fact, as a consequence of studies on the development of effective learning systems some instructional design theories have emerged. Among these theories the motivational design theory po ints out that instructional processes are required to be configured with the strategies which increases the attention, relevance, confidence and satisfaction of the students for an instructional design which ensures the continuity of learning motivation. The studies indicate that the systems which are developed on the basis of mentioned strategies raise the attention of the student during instruction, develop a relevance to the students’ requirements, create a positive expectation for success and help having a satisfaction by reinforcing success. In this article, the empirical studies related with this subject and the suggestions for presenting more effective motivational instructional designs in distance learning are summarized.

Connectionist modal logic: Representing modalities in neural networks

Modal logics are amongst the most successful applied logical systems. Neural networks were proved to be effective learning systems. In this paper, we propose to combine the strengths of modal logics and neural networks by introducing Connectionist Modal Logics (CML). CML belongs to the domain of neural-symbolic integration, which concerns the application of problem-specific symbolic knowledge within the neurocomputing paradigm. In CML, one may represent, reason or learn modal logics using a neural network. This is achieved by a Modalities Algorithm that translates modal logic programs into neural network ensembles. We show that the translation is sound, i.e. the network ensemble computes a fixed-point meaning of the original modal program, acting as a distributed computational model for modal logic. We also show that the fixed-point computation terminates whenever the modal program is well-behaved. Finally, we validate CML as a computational model for integrated knowledge representation and learning by applying it to a well-known testbed for distributed knowledge representation. This paves the way for a range of applications on integrated knowledge representation and learning, from practical reasoning to evolving multi-agent systems.

Neo‐liberal higher education policy and its effects on the development of online courses

This paper discusses the managerialist approach to developing and implementing systems for flexible delivery of educational systems in the Australian university sector. Rapid advances in communication technologies have enabled the education sector to provide greater flexibility and diversity in the traditional areas of mixed delivery and distance education. Notes that educational policy is being shaped by neo‐liberal ideology, leading to systems of flexible delivery in which a concern with economic worth and efficiency can override the purpose of such systems. Asserts that, in order to develop effective online flexible learning systems, universities need to plan for, and invest heavily in, adequate programs to train academic staff in all aspects of the delivery of courses in the online flexible learning systems and to provide incentives to academics to become e‐moderators and managers of online flexible learning systems.

Learning styles for interactive learning systems

This paper explores the learning styles profile of undergraduate learners as part of a research project concerned with the design of an interactive learning system (ILS). Whilst it has been argued that an ILS has the potential to produce a high‐quality learning environment that actively and purposefully engages learners, in most cases the design does not take into account actual studies of learners' different learning styles or empirical knowledge of their learning preferences. In this paper we argue that a more learner‐oriented approach to ILS design should be employed in order to achieve the creation of more effective interactive learning systems. The paper describes and discusses a study we have made of the learning‐style profile of a cohort of undergraduate learners at a UK university. Some suggestions are then made about how these findings might be embedded within the design of interactive learning systems. Our approach is based on a newly formulated ‘balanced’ learning design model called ‘BLADE’.

The influence of multimedia training on users’ attitudes: lessons learned

The workforce within the US is increasingly culturally diverse and mobile. Rapid technological changes, coupled with cultural diversity and employee mobility, have created the milieu for critical issues in organizational training methods. Effective learning systems enable employees to adapt more easily to change, thereby increasing their effectiveness. Multimedia systems can be the solution to enhancing performance effectively and efficiently by accelerated learning. This paper examines such a system developed by Holiday Inn Worldwide for the implementation of a new information system. Individuals’ performance and attitudes were tracked for two primary groups: those receiving training on a new information system using traditional training methods and those using a multimedia CDROM to acquire mastery of the same system. 826 employees participated, 467 of them were trained by the multimedia system. Attitude measures included attitudes toward self: job, training, and technology. Individual performance was measured by standardized tests on employees’ knowledge of the new information system. Our findings demonstrated that users’ attitudes were consistently poorer when trained at sites which employed multimedia training when compared with users trained in using a more traditional approach.

Think ahead: evaluation and standardisation issues for e-learning applications

Developing an e-learning application requires much effort, even when sophisticated authoring tools are used. In this process, knowledgeable authors of learning material and knowledge engineers skilled in using e-learning technology are not the only important players; software engineers and web application developers often play major roles as well. The requirement of producing high-quality, effective learning systems is deeply related to their evaluation and to designing them so as to conform to the emerging standards for learning technology systems. This paper focuses on these two issues and surveys current major trends in the evaluation of e-learning systems and in bringing them as close as possible to standards. Both issues have recently attracted much more attention than before, especially in the context of web-based education.