Traditional Learning Context Research Articles

Research on multimodal based learning evaluation method in smart classroom

In traditional learning contexts, teachers primarily assess students' behavior, emotional changes, and assignment completion to ensure teaching quality. Currently, there are challenges in evaluating students, such as assessments being insufficiently comprehensive and timely, a singular evaluation perspective that hinders the holistic consideration of factors affecting learning assessments, and a weak correlation among evaluation criteria, resulting in suboptimal evaluation outcomes. In recent years, with the rapid development and widespread application of artificial intelligence and information technology, the era of smart classrooms has arrived. New technologies like image processing and artificial intelligence offer opportunities for personalized support services and enhancing teaching quality. Therefore, to provide a more comprehensive and objective reflection of teaching quality, this paper proposes a multi-modal information fusion learning assessment model. This model is achieved by determining the weight values of three dimensions, cognitive attention, emotional attitude, and course acceptance along with their corresponding attributes. Subsequently, through a fusion strategy, it calculates the learning assessment score by integrating information from these three dimensions. A series of experimental data confirms the effectiveness of this approach.

The Role of Classroom Contexts on Learners' Grit and Foreign Language Anxiety: Online vs. Traditional Learning Environment.

This review aimed at exploring the related investigations on the effects of online and traditional learning contexts on English as a foreign language (EFL) learners’ grit and foreign language anxiety (FLA). Studies have verified the relationship between learners’ grit and academic performance in online learning contexts. However, there is a need for studying the effect of face-to-face learning and face-to-screen learning on learners’ grit. On the other hand, studies have shown that classroom context is a mediating variable in the relationship between grit and FLA. Furthermore, few studies have been done on the effect of traditional classroom contexts and online learning contexts on learners’ FLA. Most studies showed that online learning contexts create more FLA. There are some reasons such as ambiguity of contexts, lack of feedback, lack of opportunities for communication, type of employed applications, cognitive load, technophobia, and reduction in enthusiasm which arouse learners’ anxiety in an online learning environment. In the end, the pedagogical implications are expounded to promote the learners’ grit and diminish anxiety for better performance. This review also provides some suggestions for further research to clarify our perspective on positive and negative emotional variables.

The Impact of Telegram on Syntactic Complexity of the Saudi Female EFL Undergraduates’ Argumentative, Classification, and Reaction Essays

The aim of this exploratory experimental quantitative is to investigate the impact of the learning environment and text types on the syntactic complexity of female Saudi students majoring in English language. Specifically, the study seeks to explore how and when the syntactic complexity of these students increases/decreases as a whole and across the fourteen measures of syntactic complexity (MLS, MLT.MLC.C/S, VP/T, C/T, DC/C, DC/T, T/S, CT/T, CP/T, CP/C, CN/T, CN/C) in two learning contexts: traditional learning context (TLC) and blended learning context (BLT) across three writing tasks (argumentative, classification ,and reaction). It purports, also, to find out when and which learning context leads to the most/least increase/decrease in the syntactic complexity (as a whole and across specific measures) of Saudi undergraduate in the three writing tasks. To answer such questions, 48 female Saudi EFL undergraduate students were recruited from the pool of level six students. The participants were randomly divided into the control and experimental groups. The control group consisted of 28 students; while the experimental group was comprised of 20 students. The 288 students’ writing productions were analyzed according to the fourteen measures of syntactic complex by using a paired t-test and an independent t test. For the first question, the results of this study show that there was no increase/decrease in syntactic complexity, either as a whole or partially across individual measures, for the control group for the three writing tasks (argumentation, classification, and reaction). This would suggest that traditional learning method does not reach to level to be significant to the participants in the control group. For the second research question, the t-tests showed that the syntactic complexity of the participants in the experimental group increased as a whole in both the classification and reaction essays. An increase in complexity was shown across the following measures for the classification essay: MLS, MLT, MLC, CN/T/VP/T, and CN/C. For the reaction essay, an increase in complexity was shown across MLS, MLT, MLC, and CN/T measures. Although the syntactic complexity of these participants did not increase/decrease as a whole for the argumentation essay, the CN/T measure did show some increase. Finally, the comparison between the results of the two groups revealed that, although the experimental group in this study showed more improvement in syntactic complexity than the control group, the degree of difference between the two groups was too small to draw any definite conclusion about the relative effectiveness of the two methods. This may be due to the comparatively short duration of the study: ten weeks. The findings of this research have significant implications for academic research and for Saudi EFL teachers at the university level.

The Moderating Effect of Debriefing on Learning Outcomes of IVR-Based Instruction: An Experimental Research

With its ability to afford immersive and interactive learning experiences, virtual reality has been widely used to support experiential learning, of which the learning effectiveness is promoted by the instructional component of debriefing. The current literature on debriefing mainly focuses on the traditional learning contexts while little is known on its effectiveness in immersive virtual reality (IVR) learning environments. Based on the theories of experiential learning and debriefing, this study designed a debriefing strategy based on simulated learning experience and investigated its effectiveness on knowledge and behavioral learning in an IVR learning program, using a randomized controlled trial with 77 elementary students from Hubei province in China. The study results support the efficacy of IVR on improving knowledge acquisition and behavioral performance, and reveal a significant moderating effect of debriefing on the effectiveness of IVR learning environments. The study confirms the critical role of debriefing in IVR-based instruction and provides theoretical and practical implications for the design and implementation of effective IVR learning environments.

The Production of Epistemic Culture and Agency during a First-Grade Engineering Design Unit in an Urban Emergent School

Primary school practices are often bound by traditions that perpetuate compliance and skills-based, decontextualized, rote memorization activities. These histories of practice, prevalent in schools serving mostly Black and Brown children, make it inordinately difficult for students to author themselves as knowledge builders (i.e., with epistemic agency), which is a form of injustice. Engineering is a potentially fertile context to support the creation of epistemic culture, whereby young students’ assets are recognized, named, and leveraged as they create and shape the group’s disciplinary knowledge. The authors investigated this potential. The primary research question was: How do first-grade students in an urban emergent school author themselves as epistemic agents during an engineering design unit? Using a social practice theory lens and ethnographic methods, the authors studied 29 days of a materials engineering unit focusing on the teacher’s epistemic commitments, implicit meanings of knowledge in classroom discourse, and practices that opened space for students’ epistemic agency. Data collection included fieldnotes and video of class activities and teacher and student interviews. Class discussions about the properties and uses of materials yielded a rich context for studying epistemic culture. The teacher’s epistemic commitments included an eschewing of disciplinary silos, recognizing the nonlinear nature of knowledge-building about engineering, and acknowledging children’s thinking as an asset for engineering knowledge production. Examples of students’ discursive moves demonstrating epistemic agency included: reminding others about the relevance of previous lessons to the current topic, mirroring the teacher’s instructional moves, claiming voice, space, time, and material resources for knowledge-building, translating one another’s ideas, and making unsolicited connections to their lives. Young children’s intellectual assets can too easily be overlooked in traditional learning contexts. This study demonstrates the affordances of responsive engineering instruction in recognizing and building on youths’ intellectual curiosity and enthusiasm for substantively contributing to the classroom’s knowledge-generating practices.

Persistence, performance, and goal setting in massive open online courses

AbstractGoal setting is an important component in successful teaching and learning, but relatively little is known about its impact on course persistence and achievement in massive open online courses. Using an experimental design and employing a variety of data including student writings, content‐related assignment attempts, and quantitative achievement in the courses, we compared the outcomes of two groups of learners who were given different writing prompts at the beginning of their course. While no overall effects of writing prompt type on the dependent variables were observed, highly statistically significant differences were found when goal writings were more closely examined and compared via qualitative coding. When learners’ written responses to prompts contained either learning or performance goals, those participants both achieved more and engaged in learning longer than participants whose written responses did not fall into either of these categories. Practitioner notesWhat is already known about this topic Goals are related to students’ behaviors and performance. Performance goals’ influences on learning have inconsistent results, while learning goals are considered beneficial. What this paper adds The effects of conscious goal setting in massive open online courses (MOOCs) may be different from traditional learning contexts. Having either learning and performance goals results in better persistence and performance than not having these goals. Implications for practice and/or policy More interventions should be designed to help MOOC learners set and commit to their goals. Use MOOC learner's learning and performance goals to promote learning and persistence.

From Serial Access to Random Access: Tables of Contents, Chapter Headings and Hierarchical Text Structures in Fourth/Tenth-century Scientific Books

Abstract The fourth/tenth century saw a number of innovations in the production of scientific books. Chapter headings that summarize the theme of the chapters were previously rare, but in this period they became standard. Tables of contents were placed at the beginning of the book with a list of the summarizing chapter headings. Page numbering is also encountered for the first time. Perhaps the most striking innovation of this period, however, is the increased complexity in the way authors structured their books. While the two-tier structure of books and chapters used to be standard for large works, three-tier structures were now introduced, and, by the first half of the fifth/eleventh century, books were even produced with five-tier structures. These innovations point to the use of books as a source of knowledge outside traditional learning contexts. Since these features were absent from the Greek scientific tradition, but were present in India and Central Asia, they could well be borrowings from the East. The examples treated here come from the fields of medicine, astrology, astronomy and mathematics.

The effect of an in-school versus after-school delivery on students\u2019 social and motivational outcomes in a technology-based physical activity program

BackgroundExpanding opportunities to experience engaging STEM educational programs is an important pathway to increasing students’ interest and competencies in STEM and, ultimately, motivation to pursue STEM careers. After-school programs offer one means to achieve this aim, but barriers such as a lack of transportation or available teachers may limit participation for some students in this context. Transitioning after-school STEM programs to in-school can provide opportunities to increase reach by removing these and other barriers. However, it is likely that this change in the learning context, from after-school to in-school, impacts student experiences and, ultimately, program efficacy by altering how students and teachers interact; as teachers and students adjust their behaviors and expectations to a more traditional learning context. To examine this potential effect, self-determination theory was used to frame how the learning context influences the social and motivational outcomes of a STEM program for underserved youth. In-school (N = 244; 39% girls, Mage = 13, 63% Caucasian, 18% African American, 6% Multiracial) and after-school (N = 70, 33% girls, Mage = 12, 55% Caucasian, 16% Multiracial, 13% Latino/a) program students completed surveys that assessed teacher-student interactions, and student psychological needs and motivation. In a structural equation model, student perceptions of teachers were entered as predictors of motivation for the program directly and mediated by psychological need satisfaction. Learning context (0 = in-school, 1 = after-school) was entered as a ubiquitous predictor.ResultsFindings support the theorized model where perceptions of teachers positively predicted psychological need satisfaction (R2 = .20), and both variables positively predicted more self-determined motivation (R2 = .30–.35). Findings also demonstrate an effect of learning context where learning context negatively predicted the less self-determined motivations only (R2 = .06–.10) (i.e., in-school contexts are associated with less desirable motivational outcomes).ConclusionFindings reinforce the instrumental role of students’ positive perceptions of teachers in fostering a more desirable self-determined motivation for STEM program participation. Additionally, in-school programs must consider and integrate novel approaches that mitigate the negative impact of established in-school structures and processes (e.g., grades and mandatory participation) on student motivation for these programs and, potentially, interest in STEM careers.

Second language acquisition of Mandarin Chinese vocabulary: context of learning effects

In an increasingly multilingual world, it is important to examine methods that may lead to more efficient second language learning, as well as to analyze the mechanisms by which successful learning occurs. The purpose of the current study was to investigate how different learning contexts can impact the learning of Mandarin Chinese as a second language. Two contexts [virtual environment (VE) vs. traditional learning environment] were compared and examined from cognitive and linguistic perspectives. Thirty-one monolingual English speakers participated in a training study consisting of seven learning and testing sessions, followed by one additional sessions of delayed post-testing. The participants’ behavioral performances with regard to accuracy, reaction time, and exposure were collected and analyzed. Through analyses of variance and mixed-effects modeling, the current study shows that the learning trajectory of the participants in the VE showed a larger acceleration than that of those in the traditional learning context, which suggests that simulated embodied experience in the VE may have aided in the processing of a second language, especially with regard to enhancing the learning trajectory in short-term second language training.

Digital BadgesRecognizing, Assessing, and Motivating Learners In and Out of School Contexts

AbstractDigital badges are web‐enabled tokens of accomplishment that contain specific claims and evidence about learning and achievement along with detailed evidence supporting those claims. Badges traditionally consist of an image and relevant metadata (e.g., badge name, description, criteria, issuer, evidence, date issued, standards, and tags). This column features findings from recent research examining the design principles for open digital badges that emerged across the 30 organizations awarded grants to develop badge content in the 2012 Badges for Lifelong Learning Initiative. The column focuses this inspection of the principles identified in the research (recognition, assessment, and motivation) on one student in the MOUSE outreach program. Results from this column provide guidance for educators in and out of traditional learning contexts.

Students teach students: Alternative teaching in Greek secondary education

The students of a Greek junior high school collaborated to prepare the teaching material of a theoretical Computer Science (CS) course and then shared their understanding with other students. This study investigates two alternative teaching methods (collaborative learning and peer tutoring) and compares the learning results to the traditional learning context. A test was used to measure all participating students' learning results and a questionnaire was distributed to record participant student attitudes towards the alternative teaching conditions. The questionnaire was designed to evaluate each aspect in terms of perceived knowledge, experience, satisfaction, diversity, oddness and interest. The analysis explores potential differences of students' learning results between alternative and traditional teaching and also differences in the two aspects in relation to students' preferences. Results provide evidence that active-learning methods can promote positive attitudinal shifts and improve skills in creativity, teamwork, collaboration and communication. Students perceived higher levels of learning than with traditional teaching. Finally in terms of students' preferences, the majority wanted to have more courses taught with active-learning methods.

Learning International Trade by Game in Maritime Business Schools

Business trade is a very complex process and maritime students should acknowledge this complexity and understand various different components of the process and the interactions among them. Considering this complexity, teaching college students about the international trade can be a demanding and expansive process within the traditional learning context. Developments in instructional strategies helped educators to enhance learning environments with games and simulations providing students with enduring and in-depth learning experiences. The learning experiences included realistic trade scenario allowing students to simulate the process and explore possible results of their actions during the game. The conversations used during the game were derived from real business environment helping students to realize how their classroom learning was connected to actual international trade environment during this activity. The purpose of this research was to observe the effects of business simulation game on maritime business students’ understanding of international trade process. The study design was a single group experimental and participants were consisted of 59 undergraduate maritime business school students studying in two Turkish universities. The data was collected through a Business Trade Simulation scale designed for this study. The results of the study illustrated that international trade game enhanced participants’ knowledge and skills about international trade and students’ motivation toward the game as well.

Making News: A Successful Example of Project-Based Learning

Making News: A Successful Example of Project-Based Learning

Academic use of custom social networks in translation training

The widespread application of e-learning in traditional learning contexts can be justified only if it offers results that are better than those previously achieved. Research into the academic use of social networks has focused on a range of fields including learner motivation and sense of community. This area of study seeks to disprove the negative ideas inherent in such networks and create communication spaces similar to those provided by existing social networking sites, but with the fundamental objectives of education and teaching. The pedagogical value of this tool is analyzed and evaluated for the purpose of improving the new didactic methods used in the classroom through incorporating communication means that are more familiar to students.We created a social network on the online platform Ning, which enabled us to create a personalized social network for the course ‘Translation 6: Legal, Economic, and Commercial (English into Spanish)’.Our analysis of the users' interactions with the platform revealed high participation and numerous visits to the social network. On average, the students accessed the site once or twice daily to communicate with their teacher or classmates about the coursework or to reference available materials, among other activities.

The Biggs And Moore Model In E-Learning: The Role Of Motivation And Collaboration As Moderators

The purpose of this paper is to report the findings of a research conducted to evaluate the effect of e-learning experience on students’ perceived learning outcomes, and more specifically the role of motivation and collaboration as moderators between the elearning experience and the learning outcome. The perceived learning outcome was measured with whether the students perceived to learn more in e-learning vis-a-vis traditional learning context. The participants came from an undergraduate course at Tamk University of Applied Sciences in Tampere, Finland. The Biggs and Moore learning model indicates that the process variables (motivation and collaboration in this study) have a mediating role. It was found out in this study, however, that these process variables have a moderating role rather than mediating role. Specific recommendations for the practitioners are provided, and implications for educators are discussed. Finally suggestions for further research on e-learning are provided.

Supporting and Enhancing Undergraduate Learning with m-learning tools

New undergraduate students face a variety of challenges associated with making the transition to higher education (HE), including the removal of structures provided by the regulations and syllabus in schools and colleges, and family support. Academic demands, expositive teaching approaches, reduced interaction or personal contact with tutors, and a requirement for independent study can result in a difficult first semester for some students. The latest generation of undergraduates live and have grown up in a highly connected world which, it is claimed, causes them to develop fundamentally different ways of thinking and information processing from their predecessors. For example, today's students are thought of as inhabiting a complex array of communication networks mediated by an evolving ecology of mobile and non-mobile devices. The 'niche' occupied by the mobile phone is of particular interest owing to its prevalence across the student population and the growing functionality that they support.It is claimed that mobile learning (m-learning) opportunities can offer alternative or complementary modes of learning that more closely match these students' preferences Many pilot or demonstrator (proof of concept) m-learning projects have illuminated the potential for mobile devices to support learning and change in HE approaches. Typically these might involve the use of high specification devices running specialist software packages and/or focus on using mobile devices as part of highly student centred learning experiences located remote from more traditional learning contexts. Few studies have explored how to harness existing infrastructures of personal mobile devices or the protocols of social communication for academic purposes. Furthermore, little is known about how mobile mediated communication might compliment more traditional learning and teaching contexts (e.g. lectures, seminars and more recently and increasingly, Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs)). This paper seeks to add knowledge in these areas by reporting and reflecting on a case study which investigates how the academic and personal development of first year students (n=81) on an undergraduate sports education degree can be supported and enhanced by m-learning. Drawing on Moore's theory of transactional distance we aimed to reduced the 'distance' between tutor and students and students and the course content. More specifically, by structuring inter-session study time using group learning activities we sought to establish learning networks that more effectively support the student experience on a core unit of study. In addition, we sought to harness the communication cultures and skills of these 'digital native'students, using mobile phones and SMS. We review findings from a student survey about the extent of mobile phone ownership, the capability of the devices, the range of contracts, and student views about the potential use of their phones as tools for learning. The survey informed the initial design of a set of group learning activities giving structure to out-of-session study while facilitating greater connectivity between the students and their course, and between the students and the tutor. Asynchronous tools (forums and wikis) in the VLE were used in concert with mobile communication, managed through a bulk texting service. We report on the outcomes of our formative and summative evaluations which yielded both qualitative and quantitative data from a variety of sources: focus groups, an online discussion forum, student questionnaire, access statistics from the Moodle VLE and bulktexting service, and the tutor's reflective journal. We discuss our early findings linked to the outcomes of our evaluation, specifically three key issues: how texting can support student time management; how the SMS communication can extend the tutor's voice; and to what extent we were successful in appropriating students' personal mobile communication infrastructures. Finally we discuss how this study addresses some of the challenges associated with the perceived increase in transactional distance caused by physical, cognitive and digital remoteness between students and their teachers.

Developing effective teacher beliefs about learners: the role of sensitizing teachers to individual learning differences

Effective teacher beliefs about students are an integral part of effective teaching. Teachers with interventionist beliefs about students (‘I can intervene to help a learner with difficulties’) show more effective practice than teachers with pathognomonic beliefs (‘I blame the learner for his difficulties’). A professional development (PD) course sensitized teachers (N = 234) to individual learning differences (ILDs), using five learning/cognitive styles tools. Teachers’ responses to a pre‐/post‐test question concerning their beliefs about ‘weak students’ were analyzed and correlated with their ILD scores. Before the PD, teachers with strong ILD preferences matched to traditional learning contexts were significantly more ‘at risk’ (i.e., had fewer interventionist beliefs) than the other teachers; the former teachers were significantly overrepresented in the sample. After the PD, teachers’ interventionist beliefs significantly increased, regardless of their ILD preferences. Neither the length of the PD (28 hrs. vs. 56 hrs.) nor the amount of teaching experience affected the teachers’ interventionist beliefs about students. A mediated, constructivist and collaborative PD, which sensitizes teachers to individual learning differences, can increase effective teacher beliefs about students. We conclude that developing more effective teacher beliefs about learners should become a component of teacher professional development.

SERVICES, SEMANTICS, AND STANDARDS: ELEMENTS OF A LEARNING GRID INFRASTRUCTURE

There has been considerable political pressure and much hope invested in the use of communication and information technologies to provide wider access to education, while improving quality and reducing costs. Unfortunately, many of the responses to the challenge of these aspirations have consisted of simple Web technology-driven products, which have failed to progress effective learning. In this paper we outline the characteristics and pedagogical goals of a learning paradigm that is used to drive the technical requirements, rather than being constrained by what is easily achieved in XHTML. We identify and explain the key roles played by services, semantics, and standards in meeting pedagogical goals of novel learning situations, and illustrate with some scenarios that build bridges between traditional learning contexts and future possibilities. Crucially, we explain why we have adopted Grid technologies in the European Learning Grid Infrastructure (ELeGI) research program.