Types Of Learning Environments Research Articles

Virtual reality and learning: Where is the pedagogy?

AbstractThe aim of this paper was to build upon Dalgarno and Lee's model or framework of learning in three‐dimensional (3‐D) virtual learning environments (VLEs) and to extend their road map for further research in this area. The enhanced model shares the common goal with Dalgarno and Lee of identifying the learning benefits from using 3‐D VLEs. The approach adopted here is to attempt a more pedagogical description using the concept of pedagogical immersion as derived from Mayes and Fowler's framework for mapping stages of learning onto types of learning environment. The paper adopts a “design for learning” perspective and in doing so hopes the combined framework will prove useful to those designing learning activities in 3‐D VLEs.

Catechists' conceptions of their catechetical learning environments

In ‘A Typology of Catechetical Learning Environments’ (2014), De Kock presented a typology for describing different types of catechetical practices. The typology serves as a theoretical framework for empirically investigating the effects of catechetical practices in church communities. This current article investigates, on the basis of interviews with catechists, whether the types of catechetical learning environments drawn from the typology are reflected in catechists' conceptions of their catechetical practices. It concludes that the stipulated categories are only partially reflected in the conceptions of learning goals at which respondents aim, as well as in the role divisions between catechumens and the catechist. Moreover, the types of learning environments drawn from the typology are not clearly reflected in catechists' own reflections on their catechetical practices. Implications for both the professional practice of catechesis and for further research are suggested.

Apprehension in Language Learning Anxiety as Significant Correlate of Oral Performance in English of College Freshmen

The study was conducted to understand the language learning anxieties and how these affect students’ speaking performance. It also attempted to give clarifications on the conflicting researches on the relationship between language anxiety and oral performance. Data was collected among 150 college freshmen enrolled in a semestral six-unit English course at the University of Mindanao, Panabo Campus. Using the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scales (FLCAS) by Howritz, Howritz, and Cope (1986) and standardized telephone conversation activity test to determine the language anxiety and oral performance of respondents respectively, the researchers found that language anxiety specifically apprehension had an effect on oral performance in pronunciation, grammar, comprehension, fluency, and vocabulary while tension impinged grammar. However, results generally revealed no significant relationship between language learning anxiety and oral performance. It is noteworthy to point out that tension, nervousness, and worry do not affect respondents’ oral performance. The researchers attributed this result to the respondents’ awareness of their weaknesses in the spoken English, to the length of time they were exposed in learning the English language and to the type of learning environment the respondents had.Keywords: Language learning anxiety, Oral Performance, College Freshmen students, University of Mindanao Panabo Campus

It's a Crime to Risk Patient Safety

Professional Issues Poster Presentation Purpose for the Program Patient safety was defined by the Institute of Medicine as “the freedom from accidental injury due to medical care or from medical error.” Creating a culture of safe patient care is leading the healthcare industry in terms of quality of care, medical reimbursement, patient outcomes, patient satisfaction, and nursing education. The purpose of this innovative education is to enhance the critical thinking skills of perinatal direct care nursing staff on patient safety hazards with the intent to decrease adverse patient outcomes. The Crime Scene Investigation (CSI) education program was implemented to improve an overall safe environment that reduces the rate of adverse obstetric safety events. Proposed Change Traditional nursing education includes self‐study packets, written examinations, online learning modules, and didactic oral presentations. As nurses we routinely use psychomotor skills; however, traditional nursing education fails to address how we perform and critically think. A CSI room was created to have the direct care nurses physically identify safety hazards in an obstetrics’ patient room. Implementation, Outcomes, and Evaluation A patient's room was simulated into a crime scene with a low fidelity mannequin and more than 35 patient safety hazards with various maternal education competencies, including invasive lines, wound care, sepsis, respiratory, blood administration, medication safety, and falls. Neonatal patient safety hazards included patient identification, safe sleep, and radiant warmer equipment. The nurses received information about the crime scene through a case study and then entered the room to investigate for patient safety hazards. The investigating enhanced critical thinking skills and awareness of patient safety hazards. Direct care nurses engaged in communication about the safety hazards and discussed process and flow in the patient's room. Direct care nurses were able to identify areas of risk on the obstetric unit and implement ideas for process improvement. Implications for Nursing Practice The CSI project affected nursing care because it created a new type of learning environment that enhanced critical thinking skills and psychomotor skills. Minimal cost was associated with the project as everything was preformed on the unit during the staff's scheduled shift. This CSI education project is adaptable to any health professional education. Avoiding preventable injuries to mother and neonates improves a patient's outcomes and is on the forefront of staff education and awareness.

Effects of conceptual change pedagogy on achievement by high ability integrated science students on energy concepts

Strands of evidence from research on science teaching support the use of conceptual change pedagogy for teaching science at the primary and secondary school levels (grades 1-12). This model emphasizes the determination of students’ alternative conceptions and organizing a conducive learning environment for negotiation between the students and their teachers. Meaningful learning of science takes place within this type of learning environment. Despite this, there is the need to investigate the efficacy of this model for each of the levels of the various characteristics of students. This study, therefore, sought to find out if high achievers in integrated science taught using conceptual change pedagogy will achieve significantly better than their counterparts taught through the expository strategy. A total of 100 (54 boys, 46 girls) junior secondary school (grade 8) high achievers took part in this study. Using a non-equivalent control group design, the experimental group was taught energy concepts using conceptual change pedagogy while a second group was taught using expository method. No statistically significant difference was found between the two groups in cognitive achievement. But a significant difference was found in affective achievement between the two groups. The implications of the findings for integrated science teaching and further research are drawn.

Planning for Success. Proactive Behaviour in Teaching Translation Skills to Master's Students

The paper is concerned with an epistemologically ever more diverse field – translations studies – more specifically, with quality teaching as assured by the teacher's proactive behaviour (stepping beyond stereotyped dichotomies such as reactive- proactive). The research was carried out on two sample groups: Master's students in legal translation programme and Master's students in the field of theoretical and applied linguistics. In the former case, translation skills are at the core of the make-up of the competence-based curriculum, whereas in the latter case, they belong to the category of transversal competences. The main variables taken into account are: students’ profile (motivation, knowledge, abilities, values, attitudes, prior learning experience, collective and individual expectations) and setting (macro-social level: international education market, the Lisbon strategy – towards the knowledge-based dynamic society, European social cohesion and mobility; meso- institutional level: type of learning environment, performance criteria and standards; programme objectives and related resources; micro-individual level – students’ actively seeking knowledge acquisition and skills development in formal and non-formal contexts). The research outputs are identified to lines of action as part of a flexible comprehensive framework or checklist encompassing both commonalities and specificities in teaching translation skills to different target audiences.

Goals are motivational researchers’ best friend, but to what extent are achievement goals and achievement goal orientations also the best friend of educational outcomes?

1. IntroductionIt iswidelynoticedandagreeduponthatstudentsbringmultiplegoalsintoformalandlessformallearningenvironments(Boekaerts & Niemivirta, 2000; Elliot, Murayama & Pekrun, 2011; Pintrich, 2000; Wosnitza & Volet, 2012). The variety (andquality) ofthesegoalsarenotonlyexpanding,but–partlyduetotheenormousupsurgeandchallengesofinformation-andcommunication-based technologies and due to the emphasis on the accountability in schools – the hierarchy of these(achievement) goals is sensitive to contextual influences, i.e. the hierarchy might be triggered and even reshuffled bychanges in the(perception of the) learning and teaching environment(Dinger & Dickha¨user, 2013; Johnson & Kestler, 2013;Meier, Reindl,Grassinger,Berner,DTrigwell and Prosser, 2004). During the last decades, education and professional development is more profoundly aware ofan incongruence or friction between teachers’ goals and students’ goals, between teacher/school-induced and student-related behavior (Vermunt & Verloop, 1999), resulting in a decline in student motivation, in teacher and studentengagement, inthequalityofstudent–teacherinteractions,andeveninaworld-widenoticeabledoubtaboutthequalityandabout the aims of education (Gottfried, Fleming, & Gottfried, 2001; Peetsma, Hascher, van der Veen, & Roede, 2005; Stroet,Opdenakker & Minnaert, 2013). The rise of new types of learning environments with different approaches and goalshighlights this attempt to revitalize both students’ motivational profile and educational outcomes. In sum, achievementgoals and achievement goal orientations do matter in the complex, situated habitat and nested structure of education!Despite oftheconceptuallydistinctmeaningsofachievementgoalsandachievementgoalorientations(seeGegenfurtner& Hagenauer, 2013), it remains of utmost importance to what extent achievement goals and achievement goal orientationsare malleable or not, i.e. are relatively changeable or stable across time, situation and educational field (Laine &Gegenfurtner, 2013).Thisquestionremainsvalidinordertounfold,design,implementandevaluatelearningenvironments,trainings andinterventionsaimingatcognitive,affectiveand/orbehavioralchangeinmotivationandeducationaloutcomes(see Hascher, 2013). In this commentary I will highlight a few remarkable issues related to the strengths, weaknesses,opportunities, and threats of research (findings) in achievement goals and achievement goal orientations.

Hand-to-hand combat technique training in cadets of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine using information technologies

Information on teaching cadets of movement actions technique is systematized. Informational methodical computer program is developed for teaching of hand-to-hand combat. It is found that information technologies become the basis for development of new type of learning environment. Theoretical and practical material is presented on questions of teaching of technique of movement actions with the use of information technologies. The structure of developed informational methodical computer program is described.

Using students’ motivational and learning profiles in investigating their perceptions and achievement in case-based and lecture-based learning environments

A teaching method may not work for all students. Therefore, attention should be paid to the type of students entering the learning environment in order to explain how they perceive the learning environment and achieve. This study investigates students’ perceptions and achievement in four learning environments that differed in the degree to which case-based and lecture-based learning were implemented (either separately or combined), hereby making use of students’ motivational and learning profiles. Participants were 1098 first-year student teachers who took a course on child development. Results showed that autonomously motivated deep-strategic learners were significantly more positive about each type of learning environment than little motivated and less pronounced deep-strategic learners. However, with regard to achievement, student profiles did not differ. Instead, the learning environment proved to be of significant influence: students in a gradually implemented case-based setting and a completely lecture-based setting scored significantly higher than students in a completely case-based setting.

Gendered EFL Classroom Interaction—A Case Study in a Senior Middle School in China

In this paper, I present the findings of a case study I conducted in a senior high school in China with 47 students and their teacher. An ethnographic classroom observation approach was employed in my study. The findings showed that differential teacher treatment by gender did exist. Educators at all levels need to be aware of the fact that learners may respond to similar educational experiences in different ways. Then we can work toward a balance between providing both male learners and female learners with all types of educational experiences and helping both males and females acquire the skills necessary to benefit maximally from various types of learning environment.

The New School-Based Learning (SBL) to Work-Based Learning (WBL) Transition Module: A Practical Implementation in the Technical and Vocational Education (TVE) System in Bahrain

This paper diagnoses the implementation of a new engineering course entitled 'school-based learning (SBL) to work-based learning (WBL) transition module' in the Bahrain Technical and Vocational Education (TVE) learning environment. The module was designed to incorporate an innovative education and training approach with a variety of learning activities that are included in various learning case studies. Each case study was based on with learning objectives coupled with desired learning outcomes. The TVE students should meet the desired outcomes after the completion of the learning activities and assessments. To help with the implementation phase of the new module, the authors developed guidelines for each case study. The guidelines incorporated learning activities to be delivered in an integrated learning environment. The skills to be transferred were related to cognitive, affective, and technical proficiencies. The guidelines included structured instructions to help students during the learning process. In addition, technology was introduced to improve learning effectiveness and flexibility. The guidelines include learning indicators for each learning activity and were based on their interrelation with competencies to be achieved with respect to modern industrial requirements. Each learning indicator was then correlated against the type of learning environment, teaching and learning styles, examples of mode of delivery, and assessment strategy. Also, the learning activities were supported by technological features such as discussion forums for social perception and engagement and immediate feedback exercises for self-motivation. Through the developed module, TVE teachers can effectively manage the teaching and learning process as well as the assessment strategy to satisfy students' individual requirements and enable them to meet workplace requirements.

The role of emotion in the learning process: Comparisons between online and face-to-face learning settings

As the presence of online and hybrid coursework at institutions of higher education has increased, so too has interest among educators and scholars in understanding personal and contextual factors that predict success in different types of learning environments. The purpose of the present study was to examine the relations among temporally-ordered variables, including beginning-semester self-efficacy, utility value, and relevance of instruction, mid-semester emotions (hope, frustration, and anxiety), and end-of-semester learning strategies in a sample of 291 graduate students (N=219 for the traditional education group and N=72 for the distance education group) enrolled in an introductory research methods course. Multigroup path analyses were performed to test the equality of path coefficients among the two groups. Results demonstrate that the groups differed with respect to several paths, including the paths from: extrinsic utility value to anxiety and to hope; relevance to hope; and frustration and anxiety to learning strategies. Implications for research, theory, and practice are discussed.

Disengagement Detection in Online Learning: Validation Studies and Perspectives

Learning environments aim to deliver efficacious instruction, but rarely take into consideration the motivational factors involved in the learning process. However, motivational aspects like engagement play an important role in effective learning-engaged learners gain more. E-Learning systems could be improved by tracking students' disengagement that, in turn, would allow personalized interventions at appropriate times in order to reengage students. This idea has been exploited several times for Intelligent Tutoring Systems, but not yet in other types of learning environments that are less structured. To address this gap, our research looks at online learning-content-delivery systems using educational data mining techniques. Previously, several attributes relevant for disengagement prediction were identified by means of log-file analysis on HTML-Tutor, a web-based learning environment. In this paper, we investigate the extendibility of our approach to other systems by studying the relevance of these attributes for predicting disengagement in a different e-learning system. To this end, two validation studies were conducted indicating that the previously identified attributes are pertinent for disengagement prediction, and two new meta-attributes derived from log-data observations improve prediction and may potentially be used for automatic log-file annotation.

Formal and integrated strategies for competence development in SMEs

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to increase understanding of the relationships among the workplace as a learning environment, strategies for competence development used by SMEs and learning outcomes. Specifically, there is a focus on a distinction between formal and integrated strategies for competence development, the conditions under which these strategies are likely to be used, and their effects in terms of individual learning outcomes.Design/methodology/approachThe study was based mainly on questionnaire data collected through a survey of 14 SMEs that had received support from the European Social Fund's Objective 3 programme. In addition, data collected through interviews and analyses of documents were used.FindingsThe results indicate interactions between the strategy of competence development used by the firms (formal vs integrated) and the type of learning environment in the workplace (constraining vs enabling). The use of an integrated strategy in an enabling learning environment was the most successful combination in terms of learning outcomes, while the use of an integrated strategy in a constraining learning environment was the least successful combination.Research limitations/implicationsThere is a need to elaborate the theoretical and empirical basis of the distinction between formal and integrated strategies for competence development, and to study the effects of the two types of strategy, not only for individual learning outcomes, but also for effects at an organisational level.Practical implicationsHRD practitioners need to question a traditional reliance on formal training, as the presented results indicate the importance of using competence development strategies that are based on an integration of formal and informal learning.Originality/valueThe study indicates that the effects of competence development efforts are likely to be a function not only, nor primarily, of the training methods and strategies that are used, but also of the characteristics of the learning environment of the workplace.

Psychosocial Environmental Relationships Among MSW Students in Distance Learning and Traditional Classrooms

ABSTRACT A Midwestern university assessed 108 graduate social work students. Student preferences were examined regarding their perceptions and satisfaction with distance education versus traditional classroom settings. With a standardized measurement scale and 6 qualitative interviews being utilized, results identified several interpersonal and environmental characteristics influencing positive preference. Using an independent sample t-test, significant differences were found between the two types of learning environments. Results showed a preference for the standard, face-to-face format, and the results identified several variables that contribute to significant advantages and disadvantages of using distance education technology. Recommendations are provided for future research and explication of factors contributing to satisfaction with the learning environment.

Better to be frustrated than bored: The incidence, persistence, and impact of learners’ cognitive–affective states during interactions with three different computer-based learning environments

We study the incidence (rate of occurrence), persistence (rate of reoccurrence immediately after occurrence), and impact (effect on behavior) of students’ cognitive–affective states during their use of three different computer-based learning environments. Students’ cognitive–affective states are studied using different populations (Philippines, USA), different methods (quantitative field observation, self-report), and different types of learning environments (dialogue tutor, problem-solving game, and problem-solving-based Intelligent Tutoring System). By varying the studies along these multiple factors, we can have greater confidence that findings which generalize across studies are robust. The incidence, persistence, and impact of boredom, frustration, confusion, engaged concentration, delight, and surprise were compared. We found that boredom was very persistent across learning environments and was associated with poorer learning and problem behaviors, such as gaming the system. Despite prior hypothesis to the contrary, frustration was less persistent, less associated with poorer learning, and did not appear to be an antecedent to gaming the system. Confusion and engaged concentration were the most common states within all three learning environments. Experiences of delight and surprise were rare. These findings suggest that significant effort should be put into detecting and responding to boredom and confusion, with a particular emphasis on developing pedagogical interventions to disrupt the “vicious cycles” which occur when a student becomes bored and remains bored for long periods of time.

Teacher learning in the context of educational innovation: Learning activities and learning outcomes of experienced teachers

This longitudinal study was aimed at increasing our understanding of how teachers learn. It was conducted within a national innovation programme in secondary education. During one year 94 teachers reported six learning experiences using digital logs. The learning experiences were content-analysed in terms of learning activities and learning outcomes. The former comprised six main categories, namely experimenting, considering own practice, getting ideas from others, experiencing friction, struggling not to revert to old ways, and avoiding learning—the first two categories being reported most frequently. Reported learning outcomes referred to changes in knowledge and beliefs, emotions, practices, and intentions for practice, with changes in knowledge and beliefs being reported most frequently and changes in teaching practices being reported rarely. Learning activities were associated significantly with all measures of learning outcomes. Type of learning environment was significantly associated with learning activities and learning outcomes. Results are discussed with respect to ways of fostering teacher learning.

Achievement goal orientations and self-regulation in writing: An integrative perspective.

This study tested the hypothesis that self-regulation of writing is a multifaceted modular construct and that students would perceive different goal orientations for writing as involving the application of different writing strategies. Two hundred eleven Jewish Israeli high school students engaged in a writing assignment and then reported on their goal orientations, self-regulation, and writing strategies. Smallest space analyses indicated that self-regulation and writing strategies were perceived as elements within goal orientations, thus suggesting a phenomenological integration of motivation and self-regulation of writing into task-related action orientations. The findings pointed to possible differences in the nature of these action orientations between students from different types of learning environments and with different levels of writing achievement

ERPs and speech sound perception - possibilities and restrictions

Speech sound perception is a complex combination of attention independent and attention dependent processes which both contribute to the final goal of understanding the spoken message. The preattentive level has become more accessible to research and event related potentials (ERPs) can easily be used to study the automatic processing of the speech signal. In particular, the mismatch negativity (MMN) response offers a tool for investigating the manner in which speech sounds are encoded as neural representations. Cross-linguistic studies revealing different kinds of representations in native speakers of different languages form the core for further studies, which have shown the plasticity of the brain in forming new representations for non-native sounds in various types of learning environments. However, despite all these promising advances there are still some restrictions connected both with the methodology available and the conclusions that can be reached on the basis of the occasionally contradicting results. Also, since results obtained by using attention independent and dependent methods are not always compatible, some potentially significant results may never reach the attention that they deserve, even if this incompatibility may be one of the keys into the understanding of the complicated mechanisms underlying speech sound perception.

Two types of learning environment

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to first elaborate on the notion of a learning environment based on an empirical study of care work. Second, to explore how aspects of a learning environment may differ between and within units in the same organization, and how to understand and explain such differences.Design/methodology/approachThe study was based on a multiple case‐study design including four departments within two care units. Data were collected through direct observation of working conditions and work practices as well as semi‐structured interviews with all care‐workers within the two units (29 persons), and with the head and deputy head for each of the two units.FindingsIt was possible to distinguish between two qualitatively different patterns of working conditions and practices within the four teams. These patterns of practice were interpreted as representing an enabling and a constraining type of learning environment as these concepts were defined in this study. The evidence suggests that the emergence of an enabling learning environment was an outcome of a dynamic interplay between a number of factors that had the character of a virtuous circle.Originality/valueThe article adds to previous research through a distinction between two types of learning environment (enabling and constraining), and by linking these two types of learning environment to different conceptions of learning and to different working conditions and practices.