Mainstream Learning Research Articles

Exploring the influence of teachers’ motivating styles on college students’ agentic engagement in online learning: The mediating and suppressing effects of self-regulated learning ability

Online learning has gradually become the new mainstream learning norm during the post-epidemic era. To ensure college students’ online learning effectiveness, they need to be proactively engaged in their online learning, which means that they need to maintain a high level of agentic engagement. However, it is not clear what factors influence college students’ agentic engagement in online learning environments. According to self-determination theory (SDT), the teacher, as an important external factor, can influence students’ learning engagement and learning effectiveness. Meanwhile, self-regulated learning (SRL) ability is important for college students in online learning. Based on existing theoretical foundations, therefore, the current study attempts to explore the following research questions: Are there relationships between teachers’ motivating styles (including autonomy-supportive style and controlling style), college students’ online SRL ability, and college students’ online learning agentic engagement? If yes, how does the former influence college students’ online learning agentic engagement? To respond to these research questions, random sampling was used to collect a total of 681 valid data from college students with experience in online learning. Then, a pilot test, exploratory factor analysis, and confirmatory factor analysis were first conducted to confirm the reliability and validity of the data. Correlational and mediating analyses were then conducted using SPSS 21.0. According to the results, firstly, teachers’ motivating styles (autonomy-supportive style and controlling style) and college students’ online SRL ability were positively correlated with college students’ online agentic engagement. Secondly, teachers’ autonomy-supportive style was positively correlated with college students’ online SRL ability, but the controlling style was negatively correlated with their online SRL ability. What’s more, college students’ online SRL ability, as a mediating factor, acted as a partial mediation between autonomy-supportive style and college students’ online agentic engagement, and there was a suppressing effect of college students’ SRL ability between teachers’ controlling style and college students’ agentic engagement. The results imply that teachers should choose motivating styles appropriately based on students’ online learning characteristics and content, and college students should develop online SRL ability to improve their agentic engagement and ultimately achieve good online learning effectiveness.

Reimagining Approaches to Out-of-School Time Spaces That Center Youth

Abstract The beginning of 2020 marked the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and a new reality. Mainstream learning loss discourse emerged as young people faced new social challenges and rising inequities. However, how we define some of these challenges may pose new barriers to equity promotion. Deficit-based narratives often negatively construct youth identities and intertwine with neoliberal forces and systemic inequities. Out-of-school time (OST) spaces offer hope and opportunity for a re-envisioned environment to centralize youth voice and provide critical time for leisure and reconnection. In this article, authors explore the strategies that can exist between youth workers and social workers in cultivating OST spaces for young people to engage with complex social justice development in humane, nurturing, and respectful environments. Authors center the argument for shifting away from extractive neoliberal models that commodify youth, the importance of becoming cognizant of OST’s impact on young people’s development, and raising awareness of the possibilities within OST spaces through youth-focused frameworks.

Capturing the protective value of culture: The ‘Deadly Gaming’ pilot

ABSTRACT This paper details the ‘Deadly Gaming’ pilot (DG). DG centred research has been designed to exploit the protective value of Indigenous culture, to nurture translational literacies (e.g., cultural capital, academic confidence, teamwork, problem solving, critical thinking, and 21st century skills) necessary for academic success in an urban Australian school. Underpinning this pilot was the research question, ‘how does the use of curriculum aligned digital gaming impact on Indigenous engagement and performance in a non-conventional school-based learning space’? DG operated across three phases:(1) development of a culturally responsive digital gaming curriculum, (2) implementation of this curriculum across a mixed age (e.g., P-Year 6) Indigenous only cohort, and (3) evaluation of the efficacy of digital gaming as a culturally responsive learning tool. In phase three, the research team aligned case study methodology with aspects of action research and in-class portfolio assessment to appraise student and teacher attitudes across the implementation phase. The evaluation revealed the significance of culturally responsive digital gaming as a motivation and engagement tool for learners across our cohort. Our findings highlight the broader role 21st century technologies (i.e., digital gaming), and culturally responsive pedagogy can play in addressing the embedded sociocultural challenges that Indigenous learners continue to face in school. Future educational design might explore methods to integrate digital gaming as a tool to build translational literacies for learners who struggle in mainstream learning contexts.

A Planet in Distress: Cross-Curricular Integrations of Visual Texts in the Mainstream Learning Context

This article aims to explore the affordances of employing the visual mode— specifically the medium of drawing—as a multimodal pedagogy to raise awareness of deforestation and climate change in the South African mainstream school context. Conducted at several public and private schools in the Gauteng and the North West provinces, the research follows nine learners between the ages of 10 and 18, who have volunteered to participate in a three-week enrichment programme involving the multimodal reimagining of a non-curricular narrative into a series of drawings, paintings and collages. The narrative, which also serves as the primary source text during each participant’s artefactual redesign journey, is a wordless picture book that explores the concept of exponential environmental change. With this visually engaging text merely acting as a springboard for the making of new meanings in the Grade 5 to 11 Social Sciences/Geography classroom, participants are granted complete autonomy in their visual representations of how the exhaustion of our natural resources and moreover the threat of global warming may be impacting upon our daily lives on a spiritual, emotional and corporeal level. Finally, each artefact is presented as primary data to offer a tripartite focus on the latter learner experiences, the expressional properties of art, as well as the viability of the proposed pedagogy in future practice.

THE ADOPTION OF ONLINE SELF-REGULATED LEARNING IN EDUCATION MANAGEMENT IN YULIN, CHINA

The rapid development of the Internet has changed people's lifestyles.People's lives are increasingly dependent on the Internet, especially affecting the reform of education. With the development of information technology in China and the development of 5G technology, online education has more opportunities. Lightweight, fragmented, and structured knowledge is more suitable for mobile learning. The traditional classroom teaching is full of loopholes, reflected in the teachers' backward teaching methods as well as students' passive learning motivation.So, the new way of online self-regulatedlearning is gradually recognized and promoted by higher institutions.Online self-regulated learning has become one of the mainstream learning methods. This study explores the factors that affecting the adoption of online self-regulated learning among higher learning institutions.The purpose is to enhance the online learning enthusiasm of university students and to promote the adoption of online self-regulated learning among higher learning institutions in China.

Analysis of Students’ Online Learning Engagement during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Case Study of a SPOC-Based Geography Education Undergraduate Course

With the long-lasting impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, online learning has gradually become one of the mainstream learning methods in Chinese universities. The effectiveness of online learning is significantly influenced by learning engagement, and studies into this topic can help learners by providing them with process-based learning support and focused teaching interventions. Based on the online learning environment, this research constructs an online learning engagement analysis model. Additionally, this study explores the relationship between students’ online learning engagement and their online learning performance by taking the Secondary School Geography Curriculum Standards and Textbooks Research, a small-scale private online course (SPOC) of the geography education undergraduate course at Nanjing Normal University, as an example. The findings are as follows: In the cognitive engagement dimension, only “analyze” is significantly positively correlated with learning performance; in the behavioral engagement dimension, the “number of question and answer (Q&A) topic posts,” the “replies to others,” and the “teachers’ replies” are all significantly positively correlated with learning performance. In terms of the emotional engagement dimension, “curiosity” and “pleasure” are positively correlated with learning performance; as for the social engagement dimension, “point centrality” and “intermediary centrality” are positively correlated with learning performance. The findings of this case study reveal that the student’s engagement in higher-order cognitive learning is obviously insufficient. Students’ online learning performance can be enhanced both by behavioral engagement in knowledge reprocessing and positive emotional engagement. Further research should be focused on finding ways to increase students’ enthusiasm for social engagement.

Asymptotic Errors for Teacher-Student Convex Generalized Linear Models (Or: How to Prove Kabashima’s Replica Formula)

There has been a recent surge of interest in the study of asymptotic reconstruction performance in various cases of generalized linear estimation problems in the teacher-student setting, especially for the case of i.i.d standard normal matrices. Here, we go beyond these matrices, and prove an analytical formula for the reconstruction performance of convex generalized linear models with rotationally-invariant data matrices with arbitrary bounded spectrum, rigorously confirming, under suitable assumptions, a conjecture originally derived using the replica method from statistical physics. The proof is achieved by leveraging on message passing algorithms and the statistical properties of their iterates, allowing to characterize the asymptotic empirical distribution of the estimator. For sufficiently strongly convex problems, we show that the two-layer vector approximate message passing algorithm (2-MLVAMP) converges, where the convergence analysis is done by checking the stability of an equivalent dynamical system, which gives the result for such problems. We then show that, under a concentration assumption, an analytical continuation may be carried out to extend the result to convex (non-strongly) problems. We illustrate our claim with numerical examples on mainstream learning methods such as sparse logistic regression and linear support vector classifiers, showing excellent agreement between moderate size simulation and the asymptotic prediction.

A Systematic Review of the Research Topics in Online Learning During COVID-19: Documenting the Sudden Shift

Since most schools and learners had no choice but to learn online during the pandemic, online learning became the mainstream learning mode rather than a substitute for traditional face-to-face learning. Given this enormous change in online learning, we conducted a systematic review of 191 of the most recent online learning studies published during the COVID-19 era. The systematic review results indicated that the themes regarding “courses and instructors” became popular during the pandemic, whereas most online learning research has focused on “learners” pre-COVID-19. Notably, the research topics “course and instructors” and “course technology” received more attention than prior to COVID-19. We found that “engagement” remained the most common research theme even after the pandemic. New research topics included parents, technology acceptance or adoption of online learning, and learners’ and instructors’ perceptions of online learning.

Dualities in creative thinking: a novel approach to teaching and learning creativity

In this paper, we present a novel approach to defining, teaching, and assessing creativity by examining its origins and delineating the processes involved. The rationale for introducing this framework developed from studying existing thinking and questioning the current metrics for measuring creativity, which we posit are unfit for purpose. We reach this conclusion because rather than accepting the existing focus on outcomes, we perceive creativity as a process based on different types of logic. Drawing upon the earlier work of De Bono and Kolb, we explore the creative process through the lenses of humour and systems engineering to reveal and develop a range of demonstrable skills and key techniques that can be learned, taught and assessed. By using the identified system inputs of creative logic, dialectic conflicts (dualities), alternate narratives, and abstraction, we ultimately present a possible framework for evaluating creativity without relying on subjective assessment. This methodology and framework can be applied in all educational contexts, from cross-curricular mainstream learning to a focus on excluded and hard-to-reach learners.

Elaborating the Effect of Integrative Inclusive Mainstream Learning Experiences on Special Ed, English Proficient ESL, and Regular Students' Engagement, Social and Academic Performances & achievements in STEM Education

Elaborating the Effect of Integrative Inclusive Mainstream Learning Experiences on Special Ed, English Proficient ESL, and Regular Students' Engagement, Social and Academic Performances & achievements in STEM Education

Guest Editorial Introduction to the Special Issue on Advanced Machine Learning Methodologies for Large-Scale Video Object Segmentation and Detection

Video object segmentation and detection are two important tasks toward intelligent video content understanding. Due to their wide applications in real-world vision tasks, such as video surveillance and automatic driving, they have recently attracted great attention in the computer vision and multimedia processing communities. Although numerous deep learning-based approaches have been proposed to solve these problems, implementing effective and efficient video object segmentation and detection is still very challenging for now, and the principles of solutions to address the problems are still understudied. On the one hand, the features learned by the current deep models are not strong enough to capture the rich spatial and temporal information from the input videos. On the other hand, the annotation information in the video data (especially for unconstrained online videos) is usually insufficient, unspecific, or even absent, thus challenging the current mainstream learning schemes.

A Hybrid Learning Particle Swarm Optimization With Fuzzy Logic for Sentiment Classification Problems

Methods based on deep learning have great utility in the current field of sentiment classification. To better optimize the setting of hyper-parameters in deep learning, a hybrid learning particle swarm optimization with fuzzy logic (HLPSO-FL) is proposed in this paper. Hybrid learning strategies are divided into mainstream learning strategies and random learning strategies. The mainstream learning strategy is to define the mainstream particles in the cluster and build a scale-free network through the mainstream particles. The random learning strategy makes full use of historical information and speeds up the convergence of the algorithm. Furthermore, fuzzy logic is used to control algorithm parameters to balance algorithm exploration and exploration performance. HLPSO-FL has completed comparison experiments on benchmark functions and real sentiment classification problems respectively. The experimental results show that HLPSO-FL can effectively complete the hyperparameter optimization of sentiment classification problem in deep learning and has strong convergence.

BRFP: An Efficient and Universal Sentence Embedding Learning Model Method Supporting Fused Syntax Combined with Graph Embedding Representation Algorithm

Due to the rapidly growing volume of data on the Internet, the methods of efficiently and accurately processing massive text information have been the focus of research. In natural language processing theory, sentence embedding representation is an important method. This paper proposes a new sentence embedding learning model called BRFP (Factorization Process with Bidirectional Restraints) that fuses syntactic information, uses matrix decomposition to learn syntactic information, and fuses and calculates with word vectors to obtain the embedded representation of sentences. In the experimental chapter, text similarity experiments are conducted to verify the rationality and effectiveness of the model and analyzed experimental results on Chinese and English texts with the current mainstream learning methods, and potential improvement directions are summarized. The experimental results on Chinese and English datasets, including STS, AFQMC, and LCQMC, show that the model proposed in this paper outperforms the CNN method in terms of accuracy and F1 value by 7.6% and 4.8. The comparison experiment with the word vector weighted model shows that when the sentence length is longer, or the corresponding syntactic structure is complex, the model’s advantages in this paper are more prominent than TF-IDF and SIF methods. Compared with the TF-IDF method, the effect improved by 14.4%. Compared with the SIF method, it has a maximum advantage of 7.9%, and the overall improvement in each comparative experimental task is between 4 and 6 percentage points. In the neural network model comparison experiment, the model in this paper compared the CNN, RNN, LSTM, ST, QT, and InferSent models, and the effect significantly improved on the 14’OnWN, 14’Tweet-news, and 15’Ans.-forum datasets. For example, in the 14’OnWN dataset, the BRFP method has a 10.9% improvement over the ST method. The 14’Tweet-news dataset has a 22.9% advantage over the LSTM method, and the 15’Ans.-forum dataset has a 24.07% improvement over the RNN method. The article also demonstrates the generality of the model, proving that the model proposed in this paper is also a universal learning framework.

Online self‐regulated learning and academic procrastination: A moderated mediation model

AbstractOnline learning has recently replaced traditional offline learning as the mainstream learning model for Chinese college students owing to the COVID‐19 pandemic. This study examined the relationship between online self‐regulated learning and academic procrastination among 1149 Chinese undergraduates who participated in online learning. The effects of online self‐regulated learning on academic procrastination and whether it was mediated by attention control and moderated by peer support were investigated. Mediation analyses revealed that attention control partially mediates online self‐regulated learning and academic procrastination. Peer support moderated the direct effect of online self‐regulated learning and the mediating effect of attention control on academic procrastination. Our findings provide important ways to reduce academic procrastination and mitigate the adverse impacts of online learning.

A Novel Approach of Feature Space Reconstruction with Three-Way Decisions for Long-Tailed Text Classification.

Text classification is widely studied by researchers in the natural language processing field. However, real-world text data often follow a long-tailed distribution as the frequency of each class is typically different. The performance of current mainstream learning algorithms in text classification suffers when the training data are highly imbalanced. The problem can get worse when the categories with fewer data are severely undersampled to the extent that the variation within each category is not fully captured by the given data. At present, there are a few studies on long-tailed text classification which put forward effective solutions. Encouraged by the progress of handling long-tailed data in the field of image, we try to integrate effective ideas into the field of long-tailed text classification and prove the effectiveness. In this paper, we come up with a novel approach of feature space reconstruction with the help of three-way decisions (3WDs) for long-tailed text classification. In detail, we verify the rationality of using a 3WD model for feature selection in long-tailed text data classification, propose a new feature space reconstruction method for long-tailed text data for the first time, and demonstrate how to effectively generate new samples for tail classes in reconstructed feature space. By adding new samples, we enrich the representing information of tail classes, to improve the classification results of long-tailed text classification. After some comparative experiments, we have verified that our model is an effective strategy to improve the performance of long-tailed text classification.

School inclusion, young migrants and language. Success and obstacles in mainstream learning in France and New Zealand

ABSTRACT Inclusive schooling practices that support immigrant students with low language-of-schooling proficiency to actively participate in learning within mainstream contexts is crucial during the newly-arrived phase. The concept of reciprocal integration and its more recent evolution through the inclusive education movement, reframes school-community relationships as negotiable and re-positions young migrants as empowered navigators of new routes into school integration processes. This study conducted between 2017 and 2019 examines how four immigrant teenagers (‘late arrivers’ aged between 13 and 15) navigated mainstream learning in two schools during the newly-arrived phase, in two different educational contexts – France and New Zealand. A key aim is to see where educational conditions and individual learning behaviours intersect, as a way of highlighting how students respond to differing integration variables within these two school systems. Four case studies explore similarities and differences, comparing effects on students’ experiences of integration. Findings identify, describe and explain a set of common best practices for newly-arrived immigrant teenagers in mainstream learning, with implications for teacher education in language-adapted approaches.

Guest Editorial: Student Success in a Global Pandemic

The catastrophic disruption to higher education from the COVID-19 pandemic has brought about significant and rapid changes to the delivery of mainstream teaching and learning in higher education institutions around the globe, in particular through the use of online learning. The many examples of innovation and novelty demonstrated by institutions and individuals in their support of students and their learning provides a timely opportunity for the sharing of exemplary activities and outcomes in the Student Success Journal. We are pleased to announce that Student Success in a Global Pandemic has been chosen as the topic for the 2021 Special Issue to enable academics, practitioners, leaders and policy makers to share their stories and outcomes and have ongoing learning from a time of extraordinary innovation.

Õppetegevuste haaravus, aktiivsus ja jõukohasus eesti keele kui teise keele täiskasvanute kursustel: õpetajate arvamuste analüüs

Artiklis vaadeldakse eesti keele kui teise keele õpetajate (n = 59) vastuseid küsitlusele täiskasvanute kursustel kasutatavate õppetegevuste, õppetöös esinevate probleemide ning heade kogemuste kohta. Õppetegevuste tõhusust analüüsitakse haaravuse, aktiivsuse ja jõukohasuse seisukohalt. Analüüsi põhjal tehakse ettepanekuid õppetegevuste arendamiseks. *** Engagement, activity and affordability of learning activities in Estonian as a second language courses for adult learners. Analysis of teachers’ opinions Estonian as a second language is mostly taught to adults in language courses. The courses are very popular among the target group, but the effectiveness of the courses is not always very high: a large part of those who have passed the course are unable to take the necessary language exam or use Estonian outside the classroom. The effectiveness of learning a second language depends on many factors, one of which is the teaching methodology used. Today, it is considered that there is no universal methodology, but effectiveness is ensured by the engagement, activity and affordability of learning activities for the target group (Dörnyei 1994; Richards 2006; Brophy 2016; Tomlinson 2010, 2012; Kitsnik 2020). The methodology used in teaching Estonian as a second language for adult learners has not been scientifically researched so far . This article focuses on teachers’ assessment of the teaching activities used in their lessons. In order to obtain survey data, a survey was conducted among training companies approved by Keeleamet (the Language Board), Estonian language houses and teachers of the adaptation program. 59 teachers responded to the survey, 61% of whom have more than 10 years of teaching experience. The survey consisted of 35 questions (both multiple-choice and open-ended) on learning activities, problems and good practices used to develop listening, reading, speaking, writing, vocabulary and grammar skills. In their opinion, teachers use quite authentic teaching materials, and different learning activities (Larsen-Freeman 2007). According to teachers, almost all of them who responded to the survey at least sometimes use gamification. The main problems were students’ fear of speaking Estonian (mentioned by 46% of respondents) and poor memorization of new words by students (also 46% of respondents). In addition the common problems were a shortage of good teaching texts (especially listening texts), the ambiguity of the volume of teaching grammar, the students’ insufficient learning habits and learning strategies, and the lack of language practice outside of lessons. The descriptions of good practices highlighted the importance of the interest and informativeness of the study texts and the usefulness of the activity, creativity, diversity and systematic nature of the tasks. The problems that have emerged point to the need to develop teaching methods for adult Estonian language courses. As follows, there would be a need for lesson surveys, student surveys and testing to obtain more detailed information on the impact of the content and format of learning activities from sources other than teachers. It would then be worthwhile experimenting with interventions in mainstream learning activities through a systematic curriculum based on modern language learning principles and successful experiences to date, focusing on finding solutions to the main problems that have arisen.

Critical Review of Teaching and Learning Methodologies for Learners with Special Educational Needs in the 21st Century and Beyond

The number of children with SEN is continuously growing, leading to pressure on the few special schools available in the USA. Furthermore, the adoption of a special school system has been criticized on the basis that it isolates and discriminates against children with special educational needs and disabilities. Even though inclusive education can address such limitations, the application of the most appropriate pedagogical approaches for SEN learners is still a challenge. The presented study focused on critically appraising the pedagogical approaches for SEN learners in the 21st century and beyond. In order to achieve this goal, a systematic review of the literature approach was adopted. The literature search process was conducted on three databases: Education Full Text, Linguistics and Language Behavior Abstracts, and PsycINFO. The selection of these databases was influenced by their reputation of hosting high quality and up-to-date literature about special education. The initial literature search process generated 6129 hits, but only ten studies were finally selected for review after the application of inclusion and exclusion criteria. A critical review of the evidence presented in the selected studies generated eight themes describing various pedagogical approaches for special education, within both blended and mainstream learning environment. Knowledge generated in this systematic review can be used by the special education sector of the U.S to develop pedagogical approaches for SEN students, leading to improved performance and social skill development.

Impact of remote experimentation, interactivity and platform effectiveness on laboratory learning outcomes

Access and personalized instruction required for laboratory education can be highly compromised due to regulatory constraints in times such as COVID-19 pandemic or resource shortages at other times. This directly impacts the student engagement and immersion that are necessary for conceptual and procedural understanding for scientific experimentation. While online and remote laboratories have potential to address the aforementioned challenges, theoretical perspectives of laboratory learning outcomes are critical to enhance their impact and are sparsely examined in the literature. Using Transactional Distance Theory (TDT), this paper addresses the gap through a case study on Universal Testing Machine (UTM). By comparing physical (PL-UTM) and remotely triggerable (RT-UTM) laboratory platforms, the structure and interactions as per TDT are analysed. Characterization of interactivity between remote learners and instructors disclose indicative parameters that affect transactional distances and aid in conceptual understanding in remote laboratory learning environment. An extensive pedagogical study through development of two instruments towards assessing conceptual understanding and perception of platform effectiveness that was conducted both on physical laboratory and RT-UTM showed: (1) remote users conducted experiments 3 times more frequently (2) completed assignments in 30% less time and (3) had over 200% improvement in scores when RT-UTM platform was integrated into mainstream learning.