Perceived Learning Effectiveness Research Articles

Effectiveness of e-learning: the mediating role of student engagement on perceived learning effectiveness

PurposeThis study extends the literature on the effectiveness of e-learning by investigating the role of student engagement on perceived learning effectiveness (PLE) in the context of Indian higher education. Further, the impact of personal factors (Internet self-efficacy (ISE)) and environmental factors (information, system and service quality parameters) on various dimensions of student engagement (behavioral, emotional and cognitive) is studied through the lens of social cognitive theory (SCT).Design/methodology/approachAn online management information systems (MIS) course is delivered to a batch of 412 postgraduate students. An online survey was conducted to measure the factors affecting their PLE. In addition to the survey, a summative assessment is conducted to evaluate the students in terms of their marks to assess their achievements (actual learning). Covariance-based structural equation modeling (CB-SEM) is used to validate the developed research model.FindingsIt is discovered that the IS (information system) quality parameters (environmental factors) positively impact PLE. The ISE affects the PLE through the mediating effect of all the dimensions of student engagement. Furthermore, there exists a positive relationship between PLE and student marks.Originality/valueThis study develops a research model using personal and environmental factors to understand PLE through the lens of SCT and then empirically validates it. The psychological process from the students' ISE to the PLE is explained through the mediating effects of various dimensions of engagement. Further, it is found that the PLE is positively related to student marks.

Serious Games Effect Analysis On Player's Characteristics

“Serious games” refer to games that go beyond pure entertainment and promote learning. They are utilized within a variety of learning environments enabling students to acquire knowledge and skills, while they offer wide benefits. The authors' team measured and analyzed various factors related to the gameplay and educational content when 2D and 3D serious games are introduced in the educational process. The main objective focused on the correlation of the University students' views that were sharing common characteristics, like gender, information and communication technology skills, game playing experience, and specific scientific background with factors that related to the gameplay as well as the learning effectiveness. The results revealed that game-playing experience had a more positive impact in the case of males, while perceived learning effectiveness of 2D was higher compared to the 3D serious game for both genders. Moreover, there are differentiations among females concerning the scientific background, Information and Communication Technology skills and game-playing experience.

A model for explaining primary school students’ learning outcomes when they use multi-user virtual environments

The study examines the subjective factors that affect primary school students’ learning outcomes when using multi-user virtual environments (MUVEs). Eight variables were used so as to build a research model that was partially based on the models developed by Salzman et al. and the technology acceptance model. Structural equation modeling was used for parameter estimation and model testing. Self-reported data, as well as the results of three knowledge acquisition tests, were gathered from 396 sixth-grade students who used a MUVE in which the main theme was space exploration. Results analyses revealed a good model fit, and 56% of the variance in the learning outcomes was explained. Out of the 25 research hypotheses, 17 were supported. Perceived ease of use, enjoyment, motivation, and perceived learning effectiveness were the most influential factors. On the basis of these findings, it is suggested that software developers need to focus on the game-like features of their applications and that educators need to foster in-world collaboration between students.

Using educational drama to teach investments management: Evidence of cross-cultural relevance from Australia and China

Changing foci in the field of investment management, along with the increasing use of concentrated teaching formats, present new challenges for educators seeking to enhance student learning. This paper examines a promising new pedagogical approach, educational drama, for the teaching of investment management, and reports on students' perceptions of its effectiveness in both Sydney, Australia and Hong Kong, China. Based on both quantitative and qualitative responses to 18 statements about the perceived learning effectiveness of educational drama in investment management, students in both Sydney and Hong Kong were generally favourably disposed to the approach. Comparison of the Sydney and Hong Kong responses showed promise for the cross-cultural applicability of educational drama, while also highlighting some potentially culture-driven differences.

How virtual reality affects perceived learning effectiveness: a task–technology fit perspective

ABSTRACTThe application of virtual reality (VR) in improving users’ learning outcomes, especially in perceived learning effectiveness, is a new area. VR provides visualisation and interaction within a virtual world that closely resembles a real world, bringing an immersive study experience. It also has two special features: representational fidelity and immediacy of control. However, only when the technology fits the tasks that users are performing will it be adopted. In addition, technology itself cannot improve learning outcomes; certain learning behaviours, such as reflective thinking, should be prompted first so that learning outcomes can be improved. The research hypotheses derived from this model have empirically been validated using the responses to a survey among 180 users. These responses have been examined through SmartPLS 2.0. Surprisingly, task–technology fit does not moderate the relationship between VR and technology quality and the relationship between VR and technology accessibility. From this study, we can conclude that VR will influence reflective thinking and further indirectly improve perceived learning effectiveness.

Perceived learning effectiveness of a course Facebook page: teacher-led versus student-led approach

This research aims to compare the perceived effectiveness of teacher -led and student-led content management approaches embraced in a course Facebook page designed to enhance traditional classroom learning. Eighty-five undergraduate marketing course students voluntarily completed a questionnaire composed of two parts; a depiction of a course Facebook page where both teacher and students can share instructional contents, and questions about perceived learning effectiveness. The findings indicate that students have more favorable evaluations of a student-led approach in sharing instructional contents on a course Facebook Page than a teacher-led approach. Additionally, it is shown that instructional contents posted by both teacher and students enhance the overall learning effectiveness of a course Facebook page incorporated into a traditional classroom teaching. Keywords:   Social Media; Facebook; learning effectiveness; content management

Design and evaluation of a Facebook game for self-directed e-learning

Social networking sites (SNSs) such as Facebook have a potential to become a valuable learning environment. Facebook games with appropriate instructional design may provide players with better learning experiences and outcomes. Using an effective educational Facebook game, we aimed to explore the educational effects of Facebook games as self-directed e-learning environments. We tested our hypotheses on a sample of 73 undergraduates (42 females). The participants completed the Facebook game and self-administered questionnaires over a 3-week period. Path analysis demonstrated that Internet self-efficacy, usability, and fun positively affected perceived learning effectiveness and user satisfaction in a Facebook learning environment. We discussed the research and practical implications of these findings for the future development of self-directed e-learning on SNS.

Perceived learning outcomes from Moodle

This study explores the intrinsic and extrinsic features of Moodle learning managements system and how these features motivate students to use an e-learning portal, which subsequently influences their perceived learning effectiveness and academic performance. Theoretical underpinning of motivation theory, self-determination theory (SDT), and cognitive evaluation theory (CET) is used to design the framework. The quantitative empirical research to test the hypothesized relationships was conducted on 276 online students in Pakistan who use Moodle for online learning. By analysing the responses using AMOS, the findings reveal that both the intrinsic motivators (communication module features, course content module features and course delivery module features) and extrinsic motivator (assignment module feature) significantly influence the students’ perceived learning effectiveness, which results in improve academic performance.

Policy-induced innovations networks on climate change adaptation – An ex-post analysis of collaboration success and its influencing factors

This study is about 16 policy-induced innovation networks on climate change adaptation, i.e., subsidised multi-actor networks that are initiated by research institutes and formed around a particular real-life problem aiming at joint development, test, and implement adaptation measures. The political-administrative context is Germany, and the institutional context is a joint research framework in which each network works independently on a particular topic, but remains bound to the principle of practical and solution-oriented research carried out in close partnership between scientific and extra-scientific actors. Our objective is to provide empirical insights into the processes and outcomes of such networks and to systematically analyse the networks’ collaboration success and its influencing factors. To this end, collaboration success is operationalised as a three-dimensional metric including (1) the practitioners’ satisfaction with the cooperation, (2) their perceived learning effects, and (3) their perceived implementation capacity. Results show a decreasing level of success throughout the three dimensions and particularly a gap between knowledge acquisition and learning on the one hand and implementation, i.e., transforming the knowledge into action, on the other. While the positive relationship between these dimensions is confirmed, results of correlation analysis highlight the importance of repeated participation, appropriate information management, and inclusive as well as responsive network practices. We discuss the results against our existing knowledge on multi-actor collaborative research and deduce (methodological) lessons learnt as well as future research needs.

Note on a Training Program for Brief Decision Making for Frontline Police Officers

Purpose The present paper describes the theoretical basis for a brief decision-making training program for frontline police officers as well as an outline of the training program, officers’ evaluation of perceived relevance and perceived learning effects.

Learning in Foreign Cultures: Self-Reports Learning Effectiveness Across Different Instructional Techniques

Substantial numbers of Chinese mainland students are enrolled in overseas Western-based business courses but aredislocated from their home cultures. Business education curriculum and course designers need to understand howthese students are best trained in western style education programs. Four-hundred students in Singaporean businesstraining programs provided differential ratings of perceived learning effectiveness, plus dislocation measures offamiliarity, comfort and ease of knowledge transfer for each of ten commonly used instructional strategies previouslyinvestigated by Rodrigues, four of which he termed “active” and six “passive”. In terms of perceived learningeffectiveness alone, Mainland Chinese students reported clear differences. In order of decreasing effectiveness, theyreported lectures by instructors, case-studies, group projects, videos, guest speakers, classroom presentations,individual research projects, classroom discussions, computerized learning and lastly, reading textbooks. The studypresents strategies and practices for facilitating effective learning for mainland Chinese students in western basededucation – choice of instructional techniques and mixtures, attention to students’ cultural dislocation, comfort,familiarity, and ease of knowledge transfer.

Applying social tagging to manage cognitive load in a Web 2.0 self-learning environment

Web-based self-learning (WBSL) has received a lot of attention in recent years due to the vast amount of varied materials available in the Web 2.0 environment. However, this large amount of material also has resulted in a serious problem of cognitive overload that degrades the efficacy of learning. In this study, an information graphics method is proposed to resolve this problem. This method is based on social tagging, which is used to visualize the relationships among materials and can thus assist learners in facilitating learning. To examine the feasibility of the proposed method for managing cognitive load, an experimental model was designed in which cognitive load theory was adopted as the theoretical framework. A total of 60 university students participated in the experiment, and the partial least squares method was used to verify the experimental model. The results show that the information graphics method has a positive impact on three types of cognitive load, namely intrinsic, extraneous, and germane. Furthermore, intrinsic and germane cognitive load have a positive influence on perceived learning effectiveness, while extraneous cognitive load does not have a significant influence. One possible reason for this outcome is that the problem of visual load was not considered in the design of this study. The overall summary of the findings is that the use of social tagging can effectively manage cognitive load and positively links to perceived learning effectiveness.

Learning in a game-based virtual environment: a comparative evaluation in higher education

The authors define the requirements and a conceptual model for comparative evaluation research of simulation games and serious games (SGs) in a learning context. A first operationalisation of the model was used to comparatively evaluate a suite of 14 SGs on varying topics played between 2004 and 2009 in 13 institutes of higher education in the Netherlands. The questions in this research were: what is the perceived learning effectiveness of the games and what factors explain it? How can we comparatively evaluate games for learning? Data were gathered through pre- and post-game questionnaires among 1000 students, leading to 500 useful datasets and 230 complete datasets for analysis (factor analysis, scaling, t-test and correlation analysis) to give an explorative, structural model. The findings are discussed and a number of propositions for further research are formulated. The conclusion of the analysis is that the students’ motivation and attitudes towards game-based learning before the game, their actual enjoyment, their efforts during the game and the quality of the facilitator/teacher are most strongly correlated with their learning satisfaction. The degree to which the experiences during the game were translated back into the underlying theories significantly determines the students’ learning satisfaction. The quality of the virtual game environment did not matter so much. The authors reflect upon the general methodology used and offer suggestions for further research and development.

Constructs and Relationships of Edutainment Applications in Marketing Classes: How Edutainment Can be Utilized to Act as a Magnet for Choosing a Course?

The purpose of this study was to investigate the constructs of edutainment applications and their relationships during marketing communication courses. A sample of 347 undergraduate students completed a 27-item questionnaire to gather research data. The confirmatory factor analysis revealed five valid constructs: Participation and interaction, perceived learning effects, drama and practice, instructor and classroom atmosphere, and story and material. These constructs were further analyzed by the structural equation modeling (SEM), which indicated that four of the constructs were found to be effective on the perception of learning. Instructor and classroom atmosphere was revealed to have a direct (mediating) impact on perceived learning, whereas other constructs had an indirect effect on perceived learning. It appears that the research findings would help tertiary institutions to develop more learnercentered approaches to learning, and will certainly help marketing individual courses at the micro level.

Social constructivist teaching methods in Australian universities – reported uptake and perceived learning effects: a survey of lecturers

Pragmatic social constructivist teaching methods require students to construct knowledge by engaging collaboratively with realistic problems, cases or projects. It is hypothesised that they are more effective than traditional didactic teaching methods in developing undergraduate students’: (1) theoretical knowledge; (2) profession‐specific skills; and (3) knowledge creation capacity. Results of a survey show the second and third learning effects to be salient among Australian university lecturers, but not the first. Lecturers report that these teaching methods have been adopted more widely in human service‐related faculties and design‐related faculties than in business‐related faculties, possibly owing to the lesser emphasis placed by business lecturers on developing students’ profession‐specific skills and knowledge creation capacity. A corresponding survey of business practitioners revealed a surprising gap between the value that business practitioners place on new graduates’ knowledge creation capacity and the rather limited emphasis that business lecturers place upon developing that capacity in their undergraduate students.

Educational travel: The Overseas Internship

An important objective of educational travel programs is to teach students how to bridge cultural distance. Research remains inconclusive to what extent and under what circumstances students actually learn from educational travel experiences. This paper examines the influence of cultural distance on the perceived learning effects of the overseas internship, specifically cross-cultural competencies and management skills. It is shown that asymmetric cultural distance and psychic distance have a negative relationship with the perceived learning of management skills and interaction with locals. Students traveling to low-income countries in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia in particular tend to face difficulties.

Technology‐assisted learning: a longitudinal field study of knowledge category, learning effectiveness and satisfaction in language learning

Abstract A field experiment compares the effectiveness and satisfaction associated with technology‐assisted learning with that of face‐to‐face learning. The empirical evidence suggests that technology‐assisted learning effectiveness depends on the target knowledge category. Building on Kolb's experiential learning model, we show that technology‐assisted learning improves students' acquisition of knowledge that demands abstract conceptualization and reflective observation but adversely affects their ability to obtain knowledge that requires concrete experience. Technology‐assisted learning better supports vocabulary learning than face‐to‐face learning but is comparatively less effective in developing listening comprehension skills. In addition, according to empirical tests, perceived ease of learning and learning community support significantly predict both perceived learning effectiveness and learning satisfaction. Overall, the results support our hypotheses and research model and suggest instructors should consider the target knowledge when considering technology‐assisted learning options or designing a Web‐based course. In addition, a supportive learning community can make technology‐assisted learning easier for students and increase their learning satisfaction.

A Spreadsheet Pricing Model Approach to Teaching Practical Pricing Concepts in the Marketing Classroom

Pricing is a difficult subject area for which to generate classroom interest and excitement. Yet, it is important that students understand and experiment with the practical elements of pricing, including fixed and variable costs, financial goals, sales margins, market potentials and sales goals, and breakeven analysis. Problems in presenting these concepts include classroom time and the complexity of calculations. To address these concepts and overcome these problems, the authors present an exercise to address seven learning objectives using a spreadsheet pricing model to build student learning on key pricing concepts and a written assignment in which the student interprets the spreadsheet he or she has developed. Student evaluation data on perceived learning effectiveness for the seven objectives support the spreadsheet approach and student assignment presented here.

Learning-by-Exporting: Continuous Productivity Improvements or Capacity Utilization Effects? Evidence from Slovenian Firms

Following along the lines of a growing literature on the causal link between exporting and productivity, this paper analyzes the existence of “learning-by-exporting” using firm-level data for Slovenian manufacturing enterprises between 1994 and 2002. We fail to find conclusive evidence of learning-by-exporting. By matching new exporting firms to “sufficiently” similar non-exporters and using the difference-in-differences method on the matched pairs it is revealed that productivity improvements, although present, are far from permanent and tend to dissipate shortly after initial entry. Confronting the data on factor accumulation with TFP measures indicates that the perceived learning effects may in fact only be a consequence of increased capacity utilization brought about by the opening of an additional market.

Performance on Exports: Continuous Productivity Improvements or Capacity Utilization

Following along the lines of a growing literature on the causal link between exporting and productivity this paper analyzes the existence of learning-by-exporting using firm-level data. The paper asks whether, in addition to better performing firms self-selecting into exports and multinational production, exporting (multinational production) further improves their performance compared with non-exporters.We develop and test a simple model of trade and international production with heterogeneous firms that generates learning effects through competition in the exportfmarkets. The estimations performed on the sample of Slovenian manufacturing enterprises between 1994 and 2002 indicate that more productive firms tend to self-selectfinto more competitive markets, while there is no conclusive evidence of learning-by-exporting. Although new exporters experienced a surge in productivity in the initial year of exports the effect dissipates as soon as the following year. Confronting the data on factor accumulation with TFP measures indicates that the perceived learning effects may in fact only be a consequence of increased capacity utilization brought forth by the opening of an additional market.