Changes In Learning Environment Research Articles

Enhancing Adaptive Pedagogical Content Development with ADDIE and Scrum in Hypermedia Environments

This article explores an innovative approach that combines the ADDIE and Scrum methodologies to develop pedagogical objects in adaptive hypermedia systems. The aim is to address the evolving needs of learners in a constantly changing learning environment. This integration provides increased flexibility, allowing for quick adjustments based on learners' requirements. It also promotes multidisciplinary collaboration, enhances pedagogical quality through regular reviews, maintains alignment with educational objectives, and ensures transparent quality management. The article presents an architecture tailored to this approach, highlighting key components to promote adaptability. It discusses future prospects for the implementation of this approach, including automation and the integration of artificial intelligence, thus opening up new possibilities for continuous improvement in adaptive education and learning.

A neural network model for the evolution of learning in changing environments.

Learning from past experience is an important adaptation and theoretical models may help to understand its evolution. Many of the existing models study simple phenotypes and do not consider the mechanisms underlying learning while the more complex neural network models often make biologically unrealistic assumptions and rarely consider evolutionary questions. Here, we present a novel way of modelling learning using small neural networks and a simple, biology-inspired learning algorithm. Learning affects only part of the network, and it is governed by the difference between expectations and reality. We use this model to study the evolution of learning under various environmental conditions and different scenarios for the trade-off between exploration (learning) and exploitation (foraging). Efficient learning readily evolves in our individual-based simulations. However, in line with previous studies, the evolution of learning is less likely in relatively constant environments, where genetic adaptation alone can lead to efficient foraging, or in short-lived organisms that cannot afford to spend much of their lifetime on exploration. Once learning does evolve, the characteristics of the learning strategy (i.e. the duration of the learning period and the learning rate) and the average performance after learning are surprisingly little affected by the frequency and/or magnitude of environmental change. In contrast, an organism's lifespan and the distribution of resources in the environment have a clear effect on the evolved learning strategy: a shorter lifespan or a broader resource distribution lead to fewer learning episodes and larger learning rates. Interestingly, a longer learning period does not always lead to better performance, indicating that the evolved neural networks differ in the effectiveness of learning. Overall, however, we show that a biologically inspired, yet relatively simple, learning mechanism can evolve to lead to an efficient adaptation in a changing environment.

A New Normal: A Case Study on Changing Strategies in Technology Engagement at an Academic Health Sciences Library

As academic libraries shift services to meet the changing needs of patrons after the COVID-19 pandemic, educational technologies and services to support them require updating. Patrons using technology that was once associated with hands-on learning and in-person interactions are preferring flexible and hybrid iterations. In this case study, the authors describe and analyze the pivot of three technology services at the Spencer S. Eccles Health Sciences Library in the post-COVID-19 environment. Technologies discussed include a multimedia studio, virtual reality (VR), and a three-dimensional (3D) printing service. This case study utilizes available usage stats and survey data to demonstrate and provide rationale for the changing strategy in services for each technology “hub.” The multimedia studio has been dismantled in favor of the equipment being available for checkout, VR is now available in a staff-supported classroom, and a 3D printing service has been fully automated through an online submission platform. These examples, and the rationale behind changing them, can help offer ideas for other libraries to help find solutions that meet the demands of a changing learning environment.

Webquest technology in foreign language classes

The article investigates webquests as an educational technology and examines its effectiveness in teaching foreign languages.
 Current conditions and the progressive development of society have significantly influenced the organization of education. Creative methods as relevant approaches to teaching, especially foreign languages, were studied in the article. Among the entire list of creative teaching technologies, the use of quests has attracted the attention of researchers and teachers due to its adequacy and adaptability to complex and changing learning environments. The study examines the essence of webquest technology, which meets the requirements of the online educational process. The current types of webquests and their characteristic features were also studied. Designing educational webquests requires careful preparation by the teacher. The possibility of creating webquests on online platforms greatly simplifies the preparatory work of the teacher and promotes the popularization of webquests among students. The process of creating a webquest for the discipline “German language” on the Genial.ly platform was described in detail in the article. The authors outlined the main stages of webquest preparation and design. The feasibility of selecting certain types of tasks within the created webquest while teaching this discipline was also described. The article presents the main results of the experiment with the use of webquests during the “German language” discipline for first-year students majoring in Philology and proves the effectiveness of webquests in teaching foreign languages, in particular.

Does changing learning environments affect student motivation?

BackgroundSelf-directed learning (SDL) has evolved as an adaptable educational environment, providing flexibility and individualization that meet students' psychological needs and enhance their educational experiences. In turn, these experiences significantly affect student motivation, reinforcing the crucial role of the learning environment in its promotion. To leverage the educational potential of SDL in synergy with traditional teacher-directed environments, in-depth research is vital. AimsGrounded in the Self-Determination Theory and Stage-Environment Fit Theory, this research employs longitudinal data to examine how modifications in learning environments influence students' basic needs and motivation. SampleThe research incorporated 754 German students, with an average age of 13.56 (SD = 1.2, 49.7% female). MethodOver the span of a year, the study scrutinized data from two distinct educational environments: self-directed learning (SDL) and teacher-directed instruction (TDI). The Latent Change Score Models were used for the data analysis, considering performance data, age, and gender. ResultsThe analysis showed an overall increase in students' basic need satisfaction during SDL. Conversely, TDI had no substantial effect on autonomy and social relatedness. An increase in intrinsic and identified motivation was noticed during SDL, while introjected and extrinsic motivation displayed a decreasing trend, particularly during SDL. These observations emphasize the qualitative differences between both environments. ConclusionThe findings suggest an integrated approach of SDL and TDI to mitigate the detected decrease in motivation. They highlight SDL's potential in shaping motivation and meeting basic needs and stress the importance of maintaining an optimal balance between SDL and TDI in different educational settings.

A minimal model of learning: quantifying the cost and benefit of learning in changing environments.

Many organisms have the ability to learn, but the costs and benefits of learning are difficult to quantify. We construct a minimal mathematical model of learning in which a forager attempts to maximize the amount of resources (food) it collects in a changing environment. Our model has two learning parameters: α, corresponding to the duration of the forager's memory, and [Formula: see text], corresponding to how much the forager explores the environment to learn more about it. We analyse the effect of different regimes of environmental change on the optimal memory and exploration parameters [Formula: see text]. By comparing the fitness outcomes from learning foragers to the outcomes from foragers following fixed strategies, we explicitly quantify the fitness benefit (or cost) of learning as a function of environmental change. We find that in many environments, the marginal benefit of learning is surprisingly small. In every environment, it is possible to implement learning in such a way that performance is as bad or worse than following a fixed strategy. In some environments, even the best implementations of our minimal model of learning perform worse than the best fixed strategy. Finally, we find that variance in resource values negatively biases foragers' estimates for those values, potentially explaining experimental results showing that animals prefer less variable resources.

디지털 리터러시 환경에서 외국인 학부생의 토론 과제 구성 연구

This study proposes a detailed structure of Korean debate assignments that can be utilized in a digital literacy environment. First, it examined the relationship between learners’ collaborative problem-solving skills and their debate abilities, the components of debate abilities, and learners’ cognitive characteristics required for surveying debate materials. It then presented an example of a debate assignment structure that can be used in actual classrooms. The usefulness of the debate assignments examined in this study are as follows. Firstly, it promotes learners’ debate activities. An amicable environment is formed where learners with limited background knowledge or passive attitudes can easily access debate topics, facilitating debate activities. Secondly, it enhances learners’ digital literacy through exploratory reading activities of digital materials. In particular, debate activities become more active during the process of sharing, selecting, and organizing information. Thirdly, it contributes to improving foreign language learners’ academic performance through digital literacy problem-solving. This study differs from previous studies in that it actively incorporates the changed learning environment into Korean language education and discusses in detail the process of foreign language learners creating the content of discussions by activating expanded background knowledge based on digital literacy.

Neurocomputational mechanisms underlying fear-biased adaptation learning in changing environments.

Humans are able to adapt to the fast-changing world by estimating statistical regularities of the environment. Although fear can profoundly impact adaptive behaviors, the computational and neural mechanisms underlying this phenomenon remain elusive. Here, we conducted a behavioral experiment (n = 21) and a functional magnetic resonance imaging experiment (n = 37) with a novel cue-biased adaptation learning task, during which we simultaneously manipulated emotional valence (fearful/neutral expressions of the cue) and environmental volatility (frequent/infrequent reversals of reward probabilities). Across 2 experiments, computational modeling consistently revealed a higher learning rate for the environment with frequent versus infrequent reversals following neutral cues. In contrast, this flexible adjustment was absent in the environment with fearful cues, suggesting a suppressive role of fear in adaptation to environmental volatility. This suppressive effect was underpinned by activity of the ventral striatum, hippocampus, and dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) as well as increased functional connectivity between the dACC and temporal-parietal junction (TPJ) for fear with environmental volatility. Dynamic causal modeling identified that the driving effect was located in the TPJ and was associated with dACC activation, suggesting that the suppression of fear on adaptive behaviors occurs at the early stage of bottom-up processing. These findings provide a neuro-computational account of how fear interferes with adaptation to volatility during dynamic environments.

디지털 리터러시 함양을 위한 학문 목적 한국어 읽기 활동 연구

This study aims to propose reading activities for the cultivation of digital literacy targeting learners of Korean for academic purposes. To this end, we reviewed previous studies on digital literacy and Korean reading activities. It was confirmed that most textbooks do not present specific methods for addressing integrated language activities in Korean.
 Therefore, in this study, we suggest a method and stages of integrated reading-writing and reading-speaking activities to a number of participants proposing reading activities that can be applied in actual educational settings. This study is unique as it specifically outlines activities for cultivating learners’ digital literacy not previously presented in textbooks. In consequence, it is expected that if studies on ways of conducting classroom activities accumulate, the results of this application will be notable and Korean textbooks reflecting the changed learning environment will be developed in the future.

Collaborative Behavior or Collusion? Investigating Unpermitted Collaboration on Homework Among College Students

Although postsecondary students’ rate of academic dishonesty has been consistent over the last 50 years, the most significant increase in cheating has been in unpermitted collaboration. Given the changing learning environments necessitated by COVID-19, this study investigates how 12 college students at a highly selective Research 1 institution view collaboration, specifically unpermitted collaboration on homework, and how their attitudes are shaped by faculty guidance or lack thereof. We conclude by discussing how both student and faculty perceptions of collaboration may be affected by the impact of COVID-19 and how academic integrity may be influenced by this impact.

Education leadership in changing learning environments: A view of the Catholic Social Teaching

Leadership has always been an area of interest, and this cannot be less in education. In this study, the aim was to review and understand how education leaders safeguard the principles of the Catholic Social Teaching in the learning institutions. Through review of literature, it is shown that the current direction of industrialization and global exponential population growth is causing anxiety and distress in societies that want to keep the status quo. This behavior is a burden to societal wellbeing, and it is changing people in an unprecedented manner. The behavior challenges leaders at all levels, but more so, the education leaders in the learning institutions. The fear of population growth and knowledge explosion in societies that were less known for influencing global politics has led to the abuse of authority by those in leadership. The fear has also led to subjugation of members of minority groups into conditions that are ethically and morally in conflict with the principles of common good, human dignity, solidarity, subsidiarity, and stewardship according to the Catholic Social Teaching. In these principles, education leaders must afford equal opportunities to all racial, cultural, and social groups to learn and to lead.

Teaching has changed … but have the students?

Teaching has changed … but have the students?

An Exploration of Psychological Resilience among Undergraduate Nursing Students Undertaking an Adult Nursing Virtual Practicum during the Coronavirus Pandemic in Taiwan: A Qualitative Study.

This qualitative study aimed to explore the psychological resilience of undergraduate nursing students partaking in a virtual practicum during the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) in Taiwan. The virtual practicum, a form of online learning, creates challenges compared to the traditional teaching-learning experience of an actual clinical placement. Exploring how students overcome learning difficulties and build resilience is necessary for a new learning environment or for future online learning. Constructivist grounded theory and the Standards for Reporting Qualitative Research checklist were followed. Purposive and theoretical sampling were used to recruit 18 student nurses for data saturation. Semi-structured, face-to-face interviews were conducted individually to collect data. Initial, focused, and theoretical coding and constant comparative data analysis were performed. Credibility, originality, resonance, and usefulness guided the assessment of the study's quality. The core category of psychological resilience in the virtual practicum was constructed to reflect Taiwanese nursing students' progress and experiences of learning during the virtual practicum. This core category consisted of three subcategories: (i) learning difficulties within one's inner self; (ii) staying positive and confident; and (iii) knowing what is possible. The findings identified psychological resilience as an important factor for students to adjust to the adverse experiences of a rapidly changing learning environment, such as the virtual practicum. The substantive theory of psychological resilience provided a frame of reference for coping with possible future difficulties. Correspondingly, psychological resilience reflected individuals' potential characteristics and may help students to enter and remain in the nursing profession.

Student-content interactions: Exploring behavioural engagement with self-regulated inquiry-based online learning modules

Technological innovations and changing learning environments are influencing student engagement more than ever before. These changing learning environments are affecting the constructs of student behavioural engagement in the online environment and require scrutiny to determine how to facilitate better student learning outcomes. Specifically, recent literature is lacking in providing insights into how students engage and interact with online content in the self-regulated environment, considering the absence of direct teacher support. This paper investigates how instructional design, informed by the factors relating to behavioural engagement, can influence the student-content interaction process within the fabric of inquiry-based learning activities. Two online learning modules on introductory science topics were developed to facilitate students’ independent study in an asynchronous online environment. The study revealed that students showed a high commitment to engaging and completing the tasks that required less manipulative and pro-active effort during the learning process. The findings also revealed that instructional guidance significantly improved the behavioural engagement for student groups with prior learning experience in science simulations and technology skills. This study highlights several issues concerning student engagement in a self-regulated online learning environment and offers possible suggestions for improvement. The findings might contribute to informing the practice of teachers and educators in developing online science modules applicable to inquiry-based learning.

Personal and interpersonal competence of to-be translators and interpreters during COVID-19 remote learning (students’ perspective)

Abstract The main focus of the study lies on the challenges, procedures and consequences in personal and interpersonal competence development in university translation and interpreting (T&I) students during the COVID-19 pandemic. It reflects the significant change in learning conditions in Slovakia after shifting from campus-based to remote learning throughout the three waves of the pandemic, considering the personal and interpersonal competence an integral part of the curricula. The attention of the authors centres on the students’ perspective – their insight and evaluation of the applied training procedures in selected personal (self-assessment, time management, compliance with instructions and deadlines) and interpersonal (teamwork, collaborative tasks, communication with the client/assignor) skills. The year-on-year comparison of students’ responses shows improvement in training and learning strategies in almost all observed aspects of personal and interpersonal competence development and demonstrates students’ general adaptation to the changed learning environment. The findings of the research, however, raise several concerns related to students’ well-being and potential risks of mental health issues which appear to result from the overall crisis situation, social distancing, but also increased workload and work-life imbalance.

Course Materials for Uncertain Times

Acquisitions and Course Reserves librarians have worked throughout the pandemic to provide course materials in a constantly changing learning environment. At the Candler School of Theology, student demand for online courses has increased, and in response, faculty have implemented more creative pedagogy. The library has, in turn, changed our service models throughout the past two years to continue promoting student success. This article offers a look into Course Reserve collecting policies from 2019 to 2022 to show how changes in instructional methods have impacted everything from staffing needs to collection development. We will then discuss how our decision-making around electronic resource purchasing has evolved and demonstrate how to update Course Reserve and collection development policies to serve a hybrid learning environment.

Gains and Losses Affect Learning Differentially at Low and High Attentional Load.

Prospective gains and losses influence cognitive processing, but it is unresolved how they modulate flexible learning in changing environments. The prospect of gains might enhance flexible learning through prioritized processing of reward-predicting stimuli, but it is unclear how far this learning benefit extends when task demands increase. Similarly, experiencing losses might facilitate learning when they trigger attentional reorienting away from loss-inducing stimuli, but losses may also impair learning by increasing motivational costs or when negative outcomes are overgeneralized. To clarify these divergent views, we tested how varying magnitudes of gains and losses affect the flexible learning of feature values in environments that varied attentional load by increasing the number of interfering object features. With this task design, we found that larger prospective gains improved learning efficacy and learning speed, but only when attentional load was low. In contrast, expecting losses impaired learning efficacy, and this impairment was larger at higher attentional load. These findings functionally dissociate the contributions of gains and losses on flexible learning, suggesting they operate via separate control mechanisms. One mechanism is triggered by experiencing loss and reduces the ability to reduce distractor interference, impairs assigning credit to specific loss-inducing features, and decreases efficient exploration during learning. The second mechanism is triggered by experiencing gains, which enhances prioritizing reward-predicting stimulus features as long as the interference of distracting features is limited. Taken together, these results support a rational theory of cognitive control during learning, suggesting that experiencing losses and experiencing distractor interference impose costs for learning.

How Do UK University Students Achieve Sustainable Learning in Digital Era

The competence and expertise to learn in the setting of a digital society are pivotal for university students. Therefore, this article aims to explore what factors hinder UK university students from achieving sustainable learning in the digitalized realm. It first construed the meaning and characteristics of sustainable learning and digitalization. Then the paper identified the obstacle that hinders learning. Some UK university students suffer from nervousness, tension, and other psychological burdens, which have a substantial influence on the self. Secondly, many international students face barriers to digital learning in the UK, such as culture shock and language difficulties, and they worried that digital learning would interfere with their experience of campus culture. The third factor is the capacity to adjust to a changing learning environment. Many freshmen without the essential experience to acclimate to a minority culture, and the phase shift will affect students' learning results. Simultaneously, growing tuition costs add to their financial burden. The article also provides several suggestions, Firstly, the support of a personal mentor and the assistance of the university's professional information system are then recommended as viable answers to these challenges. Students can also benefit from using the Internet to improve their overall communication and interaction abilities, as well as universities' ability to reply responsibly and academic institutions' engagement techniques. Ultimately, government actions and bank flexibility of the student loan system will alleviate financial hardship.

Students’ interest and self-efficacy and the impact of changing learning environments

Interest and self-efficacy are two key components of motivation and learning, both of which decrease during adolescence. The situated expectancy-value theory (SEVT), recently formulated by Eccles and Wigfield (2020), provides a detailed perspective on critical components of learning situations and the ways in which competence beliefs (e.g., self-efficacy) and value perceptions (e.g., interest) work together to impact students’ achievement. This four-wave study includes data from 754 German secondary school students (MAge = 13.56; SD = 1.2; 49.4% girls). The study analysis employed two latent change models and a latent neighbor change model with covariates (sex, age, grades) to examine the development and interconnections between interest and self-efficacy. The schools included in the sample expand instruction via two self-directed learning intervals during the school year. During the self-directed learning intervals, learning was driven by the students’ preferences for subject matter rather than curricular objectives. The findings indicate that students’ interest and self-efficacy increased not only during self-directed learning but also over the course of the school year. The results suggest that an instructional environment that has been enriched by SDL intervals benefits the interplay between interest and self-efficacy.

Revisiting Feed Forward: Promoting a Student-Centered Approach to Education Handoffs, Remediation, and Clerkship Success

Issue : Throughout medical school, and especially during clerkships, students experience changing work and learning environments and are exposed to new academic, interpersonal, and professional challenges unique to clinical learning. Given the siloed nature of clinical rotations, students often “fall through the cracks” and may repeatedly struggle through clerkships without support and coaching from which they would otherwise benefit. Many institutions have grappled with creating feed forward processes, that is, educational handoffs in which information is shared among faculty about struggling students with the intention of providing longitudinal support to ensure their success, while protecting students from negative bias that may follow them throughout the remainder of their medical school tenure. Evidence : Here, the authors describe the feed forward processes of four medical schools. Each school’s process relies on close collaboration between course directors and deans to identify students and develop intervention plans. Course leadership and administration are typically the primary drivers for long-term follow-up with students. The number of participants in the process varies, with only one school directly involving students. Two schools hold larger, regularly scheduled meetings with up to 12 faculty present in their institution’s feed forward process. Across these institutions, students can “graduate” from the feed forward process once they achieve competency in the areas of concern. Implications : The authors believe the most important outcome achieved is the formalization and adherence to a feed forward process. Thus, risk to students in the form of negative bias is mitigated by the flow of information, the extent to which information is available, and permitting students to be part of the process. These exemplars give insight into variable approaches to feed forward systems adopted by medical schools and demonstrate highly visible methodologies by which educational leadership empower students and educators toward a shared goal of student progress and achievement.