Learning Environment Resources Research Articles

Analysis of Differences in Learning Environment Resources Between New Immigrants and Non-New Immigrants

Analysis of Differences in Learning Environment Resources Between New Immigrants and Non-New Immigrants

Investigating the Impact of Cognitive Style on Multimedia Learners’ Understanding and Visual Search Patterns: An Eye-Tracking Approach

Multimedia students’ dependence on information from the outside world can have an impact on their ability to identify and locate information from multiple resources in learning environments and thereby affect the construction of mental models. Field dependence-independence has been used to assess the ability to extract essential information from the environment. This study utilized eye-tracking technology to explore whether field-dependent and field-independent (FI) learners differed in their visual searching efficiency and multimedia learning performance. The FI learners outperformed field-dependent learners in posttest indices. In addition, FI learners were better able to identify visual cues and demonstrated efficient visual search patterns when learning using different information formats. The research findings echoed previous findings: The dependence on information in the context of learning can affect learners’ visual search efficiency and learning performance. The findings of this study suggest that adaptable learning environments that provide a rich variety of media may benefit learners with different levels of information-dependence. Applying eye-tracking technology enabled blueprints to be created pertaining to the learners’ information processing. However, additional research techniques, such as think-aloud exercises, would enable deeper understanding of how learners construct mental models of a knowledge base in a multimedia learning environment.

Digital Narrative and the Humanities: An Evaluation of the Use of Digital Storytelling in an Australian Undergraduate Literary Studies Program

A growing number of university teachers advocate the benefits of multimedia and digital technologies in their classrooms. Such technologies are promoted: as a means to ensure the relevance of subject disciplines; and, as tools of engagement to assist students to meet their learning outcomes. Digital storytelling or narration is one example of how educators can utilise technology to introduce innovative teaching methods. In its broadest sense, digital narration involves using digital resources in learning environments for the production by students of multimedia narratives. This paper reports on the results, over a two-year period, of an evaluation of the use of digital narratives in an advanced undergraduate unit on contemporary Australian literature in one Australian university. The evaluation explored students’ and the teacher’s experiences of digital storytelling. In particular, it examined participants’ satisfaction with and anxieties about the use of digital narratives. It also considered the issues that the use of digital narratives raises vis-a-vis the constructive alignment with the themes, aims, and objectives of the unit, as well as the kinds and levels of technical training and assistance required to support students and staff. The results of this evaluation will be of interest to academics considering the use of multimedia technologies in their undergraduate classes.