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In recent years, growing interest is shown in Technology-aided formative assessment (TAFA) and language learning. Research has shed light on the experimentation and effectiveness of various TAFA tools, focusing on their pedagogical advantages in assisting the teaching of particular linguistic skills (reading, writing, spelling, etc.). Taking an ecological perspective, this paper reports on an ethnographic case study on the various affordances perceived by a group of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers who used a learning management system “designed for Formative assessment (FA) purposes” in China. Data from interviews, teacher journals, and EFL classrooms are collected. Thematic coding of interview data shows that the platform offers a wide range of pedagogical, managerial, assessment, social, and developmental affordances for the EFL teachers, with experienced teachers in FA reporting better affordances both in quality and in quantity. This paper further proposes a model to understand how TAFA can be designed in a way that fosters EFL teaching and student learning. Implications for designing TAFA and future studies are also discussed.

Drawingvoice 2.0 is an instructional method of collaborative pencil and paper drawing to use in the school classroom, followed by Facebook interaction on the drawing produced in class. It is based on a participatory and meta reflective approach, explicitly aimed at deconstructing, negotiating, and reconstructing the meaning that students attribute to themselves regarding their professional expectations and educational pathways. In particular, the collaborative pencil and paper drawing allows for the student’s emotional symbolisation processes underlying their educational pathway. Drawingvoice 2.0 induces a multidimensional cognitive and meta-cognitive process further supported by the following interaction on Facebook. Therefore, the World Wide Web is the added resource for sharing and deepening the classmates’ discussion. Finally, Drawingvoice 2.0 supported structural group interaction and was an important supportive and instructional method to bring about transformational and developmental training practices. As the main result, in our experience, psychology students increased their reflectivity about their strengths and threats in being psychologists within their cultural contexts and potential positive resources underlying their choice. Drawingvoice 2.0 thus enhanced their self-awareness about the lights and shadows of their training and future professional career.

Teachers in K-12 settings increasingly demand instructional materials beyond textbooks to follow the upward momentum of personalized instruction. Especially during the outbreak of COVID-19, K-12 teachers are forced to quickly adapt to online teaching and thus have more difficulties of delivering personalized instruction in a relatively resource-restraint situation. Open educational resources (OER), allowing teachers to retain, reuse, revise, remix, and redistribute high-quality educational resources at no costs, can be a viable option for teachers. However, the acceptance of OER in K-12 education still remains low. Effective strategies are needed to reinforce teacher intention to adopt OER. This research showcased a two-phase sequential explanatory mixed method inquiry to investigate whether engaging K-12 teachers in open educational practices (OEP)—such as renewable assignments—increased their acceptance of OER. The quantitative phase, referring to the technology acceptance model (TAM), examined the change in factors influencing teachers’ acceptance of OER. The qualitative phase was followed up to provide supplementary perspectives of the quantitative findings. By integrating complementary findings, this research found that OEP increased teachers’ perceived ease of and self-efficacy towards using OER. Although teachers’ intention of implementing OER is not significantly improved, qualitative findings offered additional insights into the benefits of OEP in promoting OER usage and the recommended directions for future effort. Practical implications on improving teachers’ acceptance of OER in K-12 curriculum are discussed at the end.

Technology has significantly impacted our work and leisure spaces, but education is still working to build a bridge between the technological knowledge and skills required for living now and preparing students for their future. Although a reduction in the cost of technology has led to increased access and connectivity within schools, where teachers now have a plethora of tools and resources available for them to use in teaching and learning, little has changed in classrooms. Teachers are attempting to provide effective instruction with and about digital technologies often with limited knowledge and skills themselves. This study investigated Australian primary teachers’ self-assessment of their digital technology proficiency. Through an online survey and interviews teachers were asked about their access to professional development and their knowledge and skills related to the digital technologies curriculum. This paper provides an analysis of their self-assessment. Barriers and enablers are identified along with practice implications to be considered.

Not surprisingly, the number of online universities continues to expand—especially in Covid-19 times. These institutions all offer “online education” with diverse institutional, technological, and pedagogical processes. However, a fundamental element has to do with the experience of the students, and how they adapt to the educational model of the online university in which they are studying. In this article, we present the main results of the case-study developed in one of the most historical and relevant virtual universities in an international context. We have explored and analysed the process of adaptation to the educational model by the student body, and their perceptions of their interactions with the pedagogical, institutional, and technological elements designed to support their learning. Qualitative and quantitative methods are used to gather and analyse the data. From 1715 students who participated in the survey and the perceptions of 30 students individually interviewed, the results show positive evaluations regarding the integration and adoption of technological competencies, and also, that the online education generally serves as a responsive model to the emergent needs of the learner. However, the results also show that students have important concerns regarding the pedagogical and institutional support provided.

Cross-cultural learning projects were carried out in learning environments created using Web 1.0 or Web 2.0 technologies in previous related studies. However, such environments have a limited ability to provide learners with immersive learning experiences of a foreign culture and fail to make them feel virtually present in a foreign cultural context. In this study, we aimed to create such an environment, one that enables not only communication among learners from different cultures but also gives them a sense of presence and provides an immersive experience in a foreign culture without their being physically there. To this end, based on the cultural convergence theory, we designed a cross-cultural learning activity in virtual reality (VR) using a 360-degree video technology. Two groups of university students, one from China (n = 10) and the other from Uzbekistan (n = 11), who exchanged culture-related information with each other, participated in the activity. We investigated whether cross-cultural understanding and the trait emotional intelligence of the participants was facilitated after their participation in the activity. In addition, we explored the participants sense of perceived presence in the VR environment and their acceptance of VR technology. A mixed methods research approach was adopted. We analyzed the reflective journals of the participants, administered three questionnaires, and interviewed the participants. We obtained the following four findings: First, the participants had no prior knowledge of their foreign partners’ cultures and traditions before the learning activity; however, they had knowledge that they could summarize, explain, compare, and contrast at the end of the activity. Second, the comparison of the results of the pre- and post-questionnaires showed that the two trait emotional intelligence constructs (i.e., self-control and emotionality) were significantly improved from the beginning of the activity to its end. Third, the participants perceived a high level of presence in the VR environment. Finally, the participants accepted VR technology in terms of its usefulness for cross-cultural learning and ease of use. The originality of this study lies in creating cross-cultural learning environments based on a 360-degree video technology that enables communication across cultures and gives learners a sense of presence and an immersive experience. The value of the study for the literature and its contribution to theoretical knowledge is that it creates virtual cross-cultural learning environments based on a 360-degree video technology and presents evidence suggesting that the cross-cultural learning environments created in this study can facilitate cross-cultural knowledge and perceived self-control, emotionality, and sense of presence.

Online discussion forums are common features of learning management systems; they allow teachers to engage students in topical discussions in environments beyond physical spaces. This study presents a novel approach to operationalizing the connections between social interaction and contextual topics by visualizing posts in an online discussion forum. Using the weak ties theory, we developed a prototype of a tool that helps visualize the text-based content in online discussion forums, specifically in terms of topic relationships and student interactions. This research unveils a nuanced picture of social and topic connectivity, the nature of social interactions, and the changes in the topics being discussed when serendipity occurs. Our implementation of the tool and the results from testing show that the visualization method was able to determine that the strongly connected major topics in the discussion were related to the intended course learning outcomes, whereas the weakly connected topics could yield insights into students’ unexpected learning. The proposed method of visualization may benefit both teachers and students by helping them to efficiently the learning and teaching process and thus may contribute to formative assessment design, a collaborative learning process, and unexpected learning.

Prior to this study, a testable model for the influence of contextual knowledge (XK) on teacher candidates’ intention to integrate technology into classroom instruction had not been established. We applied the Decomposed Theory of Planned Behavior (DTPB) to aid us in this effort. Our work (a) provided a theoretical conceptualization for factors of XK through application of the DTPB, (b) represented the synergistic effects among these factors, and (c) allowed us to explore their influences on teacher candidates’ intentions to teach with technology. To assess our model, which includes factors such as teacher candidates’ beliefs, attitudes, and efficacy, we developed an instrument, the Intention to Teach with Technology (IT2) Survey. Results from the structural equation model of the survey data indicated our model fit the data very well and readily accounted for various XK factors, the relations among these factors, and their influence on teacher candidates’ intentions to integrate technology into teaching. Given the complexity of the context in any teaching situation, its relation to and influence on technology integration, and the previously limited examination of context in research and teacher development, the results indicate the proposed model is quite plausible, accounting for 75% of the variation in intention. The study demonstrates the IT2 Survey is an effective instrument to examine factors associated with XK and their influences on technology integration. Our work extends theory about technology integration by including XK and has implications for researchers as well as practitioners who seek to advance technology integration in preparation programs.

Video in education has become pervasive. Globally, educators are recording instructional videos to augment their students’ learning and, in many contexts, replace face-to-face lectures. However, the mere act of watching a video is primarily a passive learning experience likely leading to lack of student engagement hindering learning. Active learning strategies such as video annotations and in-video questions have the potential to shift the passive experience of watching an instructional video to a more active one by engaging students with learning strategies designed to promote self-regulated learning and improve content knowledge. This experimental study investigates the impact of in-video questions compared to video annotations on learning and self-efficacy in an experimental setting. Findings revealed that learners who annotated videos had higher self-efficacy than those who completed in-video questions likely due to the immediate feedback received from the in-video questions. The study further concluded that prior knowledge plays a critical role in selecting appropriate active learning strategies, suggesting that video annotations be considered when students have prior knowledge about a topic whereas in-video questions with immediate feedback be interspersed in videos when students do not have prior knowledge about a topic.

Due to the rapid changes in global economic environments, enterprises have to continually enhance their business competitiveness. To improve business, planning educational training has been regarded as a channel to educate outstanding employees. Recently, most of the companies in the securities industry in Taiwan have adopted web-based educational training as a form of employee training. However, low e-learning acceptance on the part of employees is the essential obstacle when enterprises attempt to promote web-based continuing learning. Previous studies have shown that hardiness and Internet self-efficacy may be important factors that influence whether an individual will continue with web-based learning when facing pressure. Securities practitioners are required to deal with high pressure and persist in enhancing their professional knowledge in their working environment; therefore, continuing learning is crucial to maintaining the quality of professional service. The present study recruited securities practitioners as the research participants, and examined the effects of hardiness and Internet self-efficacy on their attitudes towards web-based learning when they were participating in web-based learning. The findings revealed that securities practitioners’ hardiness and Internet self-efficacy both had direct positive effects on their attitudes towards web-based continuing learning. Meanwhile, their Internet self-efficacy had a mediating effect on the relationships between hardiness and attitudes towards web-based continuing learning.

During collaborative learning, affect is constantly present in groups’ interactions, influencing and shaping the learning process. The aim of this study was to understand what type of learning situations trigger affective states in collaborative groups, and how these affective states are related to group members’ physiological activation. The participants were 12-year-old primary school students (N = 31, 10 groups) performing a collaborative science task. In the analysis, video data observations were combined with data of group members’ physiological activation. The groups’ situational valence was identified based on the group members’ observed emotional expressions and their physiological activation levels were measured with electrodermal activity (EDA). Results revealed that situations with group members’ simultaneous physiological activation were rare compared with the observable emotional expressions. However, when group members indicated physiological activation simultaneously, they also showed visible emotional expressions more often than in deactivating situations. Moreover, the results showed that socially-related factors were more likely to trigger physiological activation with a mixed group level valence. In turn, task-related factors were more likely to trigger physiological activation with a neutral group level valence. The results of this study imply that by combining different process data modalities revealing the different components of affect, it might be possible to track emotionally meaningful situations that shape the course of the collaborative learning process.

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of gamification used in formal educational settings on student affective and behavioral outcomes. Using systematic procedures to identify and screen the manuscripts across 18 academic databases, we identified 13 studies with behavioral outcomes and 19 studies with affective outcomes employing gamification in educational settings. These manuscripts accounted for a total of N = 1974 (n = 987 in gamification, n = 987 in control) participants in the affective model, and N = 1596 (n = 760 in gamification, n = 836 in control) in the behavioral model. Employing random-effects models, we calculated two statistically significant medium overall effect sizes for affective outcomes at g = .574 [.384, .764] and for behavioral outcomes at g = .740 [.465, 1.014]. We also examined 14 different gamification design elements (e.g., leaderboards, badges, etc.) as moderators to pinpoint the conditions in which gamification may be effective. Additionally, we examined contextual elements as moderators, including the discipline, student level, and publication source. Publication bias was not identified as a threat to either the affective or behavioral model. We also provide a discussion of our findings, limitations, and suggestions for future research.

The purpose of this study was to explore the teaching–learning process of informatics education in South Korea, where an informatics education initiative was recently announced for K-12 education. Based on this initiative, this study aimed to investigate the effect of academic self-efficacy, teacher support, and a deep approach to learning computational thinking. The participants were 84 freshman students at a lower secondary school enrolled in a regular informatics class during Spring 2018. Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was employed to analyze the data. The key findings were as follows: first, academic self-efficacy and teacher support had a significant influence on a deep approach to learning. Second, academic self-efficacy and a deep approach to learning had a significant influence on computational thinking. This study suggests implications for enhancing computational thinking skills in informatics in secondary education.

We report on a design-based research study that was conducted over three iterations. It chronicles the design, development, and implementation of School Scene Investigators, a forensic science game series for middle school students that utilizes mobile augmented reality. Played on mobile devices while exploring the school environment, School Scene Investigators embeds scientific practices in a real-world context. Students work collaboratively playing unique, interdependent roles as they collect and analyze scientific data in order to solve a mystery. School Scene Investigators aims to (1) engage students through the experience of flow, a positive psychological state often experienced during well-designed games and (2) trigger science interest. In order to better understand how to design mobile game environments that engage students in flow and trigger their interest in science, we analyzed students’ self-reports of flow and interest after playing the game. Previous research demonstrated that each iteration of School Scene Investigators engaged students in a substantive flow-like experience. In this study, since engagement does not guarantee interest, we tested whether such engagement, measured as flow, was predictably related to triggered science interest. Data were pooled from all three iterations into a Bayesian multilevel model. Findings demonstrated that students with higher flow had a higher probability of triggered interest. Implications for the findings are discussed.

This study investigated how a computer science (CS) problem-based curriculum impacted elementary students’ CS learning and attitudes. Four sixth-grade teachers and 200 of their students participated in the study. Researchers developed a CS curriculum in collaboration with the teachers, which consisted of two main units: (1) an introduction to block-based coding and (2) a problem-based learning (PBL) applied coding project. Overall, students significantly improved their knowledge of CT concepts after the introductory block-based coding lessons and retained that knowledge after completing the PBL activities approximately three months later. Results suggest that Event and Parallelism were challenging concepts for most of the students, whereas Loop and Sequence were easily grasped by most of the students. Further analysis based on prior knowledge levels revealed that the high-prior knowledge (HK) group outperformed the low-prior knowledge (LK) group on every measure. However, LK narrowed the gap of CT concepts after the introductory block-based coding lessons. Students also communicated relatively positive attitudes towards CS at the conclusion of the PBL unit. These results provide support for further exploring the integration of inquiry-oriented instructional strategies such as PBL to support CS instruction.

This paper presents a game-design workshop built around a digital art installation featuring video games displayed over a real-world skyscraper to stimulate students' interest in computer science and a study testing its short-term effects on improving middle school students' computational thinking (CT) skills and attitudes towards computing. Following a STEAM approach, the workshop aimed to engage participants in age-appropriate activities that focus on CT skills through the lens of creating their own game. A web-based game design interface that allows students to code and play games as simulated on a skyscraper was developed to support the workshop's core activities. The web environment also featured step-by-step tutorials and fully functional games to promote the accessibility of the learning materials for a diverse body of students and educators around the globe. The results of the study indicated that the workshop helped students improve their CT skills and differentially influence their attitudes towards computing. In particular, the workshop experience led students from underserved community districts to lower their attitude ratings, whereas the reverse pattern was observed for students from more affluent districts. The workshop reportedly informed students' perception of computing as a profession and their appreciation of the analytical effort required for developing functional games. Qualitative analysis of artifact-based interviews indicated that students could begin to make abstractions and devise algorithms by associating variables through conditional statements while solving problems related to game development. Interview analysis also revealed that students took pride in the effort that they made during the workshop.

The main purpose of this study was to examine the critical factors influencing university teachers’ use of a mobile technology-enhanced teaching (MTT) platform during the new coronavirus (COVID-19) epidemic. An integrated model with multiple factors drawing from the theoretical models and learning theories was proposed in this study to examine university teachers’ intentions to use an MTT platform. The multiple factors included the individual factor (e.g., growth mindset, help seeking, and self-efficacy), the social factor (e.g., social norms), and the technological acceptance factor (e.g., perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use). The survey method was used to collect data on university teachers’ perceptions of the MTT platform use, and a two-step structural equation modeling approach was used for the data analysis. Based on the path analysis of a total of 214 valid responses, the results identified that growth mindset, help seeking, and self-efficacy from the individual factor, as well as perceived usefulness from the technology acceptance factor were the significant determinants of university teachers’ intentions to adopt the MTT. The contributions of this study are twofold. First, the proposed model was derived from multiple literature sources, providing a sound theoretical foundation to understand MTT platform use from an academic angle. Second, university teachers’ viewpoints are a unique observation of their actual platform use, providing practical insights into the improvement and maintenance of MTT-related platforms for all educators. The findings are especially valuable during the post-COVID-19 era.

There is considerable rhetoric internationally around the need for national curricula to reflect the changes that are taking place in the world outside school. This raises questions about what a quality curriculum in a technological era should look like, and equally challenging issues about how to achieve the necessary changes in schooling in order for such a curriculum to be realised. This paper summarises the views of 11 experts from seven countries. It introduces a sociocultural framework that highlights the complexity of achieving alignment between policies and practice spanning the national to local school to classroom levels. Three key issues that underpin alignment are then explored, each of which link with the issue of trust:

• stakeholders engagement;

• teacher professionalism;

• summative assessment.

By exploring and exemplifying these three issues the paper indicates potential ways of addressing them and provides ‘tools to think with’ to enhance future curriculum development initiatives.

Designers of educational modules for conceptual learning often rely on procedural frameworks to chart out interaction mechanics through which users will develop target understandings. To date, however, there has been no systematic comparative evaluation of such frameworks in terms of their consequences for learning. This lack of empirical evaluation, we submit, is due to the intellectual challenge of pinning down in what fundamental sense these various frameworks differ and, therefore, along which parameters to conduct controlled comparative experimentation. Toward an empirical evaluation of educational-technology design frameworks, this conceptual paper considers the case of dynamic mathematics environments (DME), interactive modules for learning curricular content through manipulating virtual objects. We consider user activities in two paradigmatic DME genres that utilize similar HCI yet different mechanics. To compare these mechanics, we draw from complex dynamic systems theory a constraint-based model of embodied interaction. Task analyses suggest that whereas in one DME genre (GeoGebra) the interaction constraints are a priori inherent in the environment, in another DME genre (Mathematics Imagery Trainer) the constraints are ad hoc emergent in the task. We conjecture differential learning effects of these distinct constraint regimes, concluding that ad hoc emergent task constraints may better facilitate the naturalistic development of cognitive structures grounding targeted conceptual learning. We outline a future empirical research design to compare the pedagogical entailments of these two design frameworks.

Considerably more research needs to be done to understand how successful technological innovations and change processes are sustained and scaled to new learning contexts. Without a better understanding of successful technological innovation, the wider field and education community are unable to benefit and build capacity. A model is presented that explores how research can better inform sustainability and scalability in technological innovations. It is represented as four loops: Organization, Innovation, Research and New Contexts. Three international case studies of technological innovation are analyzed to demonstrate use of the framework and model. Results show that research can be designed to support sustainability and scalability, but that this needs to be balanced with other factors to support a successful technological innovation. Implications for supporting technological innovations are explored.

While many view learning as a process of reducing learners’ uncertainty, research suggests that instruction that is uncertain can promote learning and transfer better than instruction that is certain. In addition, research on curiosity suggests that uncertainty is a key trigger of curiosity, which in turn can facilitate learning. However, educational research rarely examines the direct effects of uncertainty on curiosity, learning, or transfer. Additionally, research on the effect of curiosity on learning rarely considers state-level curiosity or how curiosity changes over time. In a study with 208 middle school students learning physics, we addressed these gaps. Participants in two conditions completed learning activities where they invented their own equations for physical science phenomena. The Low Uncertainty condition received relevant information on task process before inventing, while information on task process was withheld in the High Uncertainty (HU) condition, which received irrelevant information before inventing. Both conditions learned the physics content equally well, but the HU condition demonstrated greater state-level curiosity and performed better on transfer problems. Moreover, in both conditions, curiosity decreased over time as students gained more information. Surprisingly, curiosity did not predict learning or transfer, which suggests that curiosity was not the mechanism by which uncertainty influenced transfer. This study advances the notion that introducing uncertainty in learning activities can, perhaps counter-intuitively, promote transfer of knowledge across contexts while also rousing learners’ curiosity. This work demonstrates a practical way for educators to induce uncertainty, by withholding information about task process. This research also broadens our understanding of how to provoke curiosity in classroom contexts.

Out-of-school labs (OSLs) aim to foster students’ interest in and knowledge about scientific ways of thinking and working by engaging them in authentic activities that emulate processes of scientific inquiry. However, research has not yet focused on investigating whether students perceive those activities as authentic and whether students’ perceived authenticity is related to further motivational (e.g. situational interest) or cognitive (e.g. achievement) learning outcomes. An authentic learning activity that emulates scientific inquiry processes is Productive Failure (PF). In PF, students are asked to explore solutions to a complex problem before they have to falsify their solutions during instruction. The present study, which aims to replicate the findings of a previous study, investigates whether PF has an impact on students’ perceived authenticity and their situational interest in an OSL for social sciences. We further examined whether students’ perceived authenticity is associated with their situational interest and knowledge acquisition. For this purpose, we conducted a quasi-experimental study with 152 10th graders and compared PF to Direct Instruction (DI). DI can be characterized as less authentic, as it promotes the conceptualization of scientific inquiry being nothing else but an application of instructions. The results mostly replicate the findings of the previous study, showing that the authenticity level of the learning activity did neither affect students’ perceived authenticity nor their situational interest. Furthermore, students’ perceived authenticity correlated with their situational interest but not with their knowledge acquisition. We discuss the results in light of previous research on the effectiveness of authentic learning settings.

This study investigated how metacognitive regulation (MR), especially its forms and foci, was manifested in less and more successful outcome groups’ collaborative science learning in diverse learning contexts. Whilst previous research has shown that different forms and foci of MR exist in collaborative learning, their role in groups’ learning outcomes remains unexplored. Drawing conclusions from different studies has been difficult because these have used different conceptualisations and analytic methods. In the present study, the learning processes of less and more successful outcome groups from three diverse collaborative science learning contexts were scrutinised. The contexts differed in academic level, disciplinary subject, and national culture. The same theory-based conceptualisations, coding systems, coders, and analyses were used across contexts. In addition, the tasks studied were designed using the same guiding principles. Transcribed video and audio recordings of the groups’ verbal interactions for two distinct interaction segments from these tasks formed the basis of the analyses. Manifestation of forms and foci of MR were quantitatively and qualitatively illustrated in each context. The main findings show that the manifestation of MR of less and more successful outcome groups demonstrated similarities and differences in the three different learning contexts. This study contributes to a contextualised understanding of MR in collaborative science learning, and highlights the importance of using similar, rigorous analytical tools across diverse contexts.

Teaching with Scrum methodology includes ceremonies, roles and artefacts supporting students in planning, monitoring and directing their learning process. It scaffolds students’ learning in complex and sometimes overwhelming context-based learning environments. Effects of the implementation on both students’ learning outcomes and self-reported perceptions of six affective and metacognitive outcomes were investigated. Six teachers implemented Scrum methodology in a context-based secondary chemistry module on Green Chemistry. Their classes formed the experimental group. Based on how students experienced the quality of the implementation, teachers of the experimental group were subdivided into top-teachers and growth-teachers. Consequently, their students formed two sub-experimental groups. The comparison group, which did not use Scrum methodology, consisted of students taught by four teachers. A pre-test post-test control group design was used to study its effect on students’ achievements and self-reported affective and metacognitive outcomes. Students of both experimental groups outperformed students of the comparison group with a large effect-size (top-teachers); and medium effect-size (growth-teachers) on learning outcomes. Findings on students’ perceptions of affective and metacognitive outcomes revealed medium and small effects of Scrum methodology. Despite the fact that the implementation is challenging for teachers, it appears that Scrum methodology has positive effects on students’ achievement and on students’ perceptions of affective and metacognitive dimensions of their learning.

The use of computer-based tests (CBTs), for both formative and summative purposes, has greatly increased over the past years. One major advantage of CBTs is the easy integration of multimedia. It is unclear, though, how to design such CBT environments with multimedia. The purpose of the current study was to examine whether guidelines for designing multimedia instruction based on the Cognitive Load Theory (CLT) and Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning (CTML) will yield similar effects in CBT. In a within-subject design, thirty-three vocational students completed a computer-based arithmetic exam, in which half of the items were presented in an original design format, and the other half was redesigned based on the CTML principles for instructional design (i.e., adapted format). Results showed that applying CTML principles to a CBT decreased the difficulty of the test items, i.e., students scored significantly higher on the adapted test items. Moreover, eye-tracking data showed that the adapted items required less visual search and increased attention for the question and answer. Finally, cognitive load, measured as silent pauses during a secondary think-aloud task, decreased. Mean fixation duration (a different indicator of cognitive load), however, did not significantly differ between adapted and original items. These results indicate that applying multimedia principles to CBTs can be beneficial. It seems to prevent cognitive overload and helps students to focus on important parts of the test items (e.g., the question), leading to better test results.

In this mixed-method study, we investigated the impact and design of a multiuser, virtual reality (VR) supported teaching simulation, in comparison with live classroom teaching simulation, on the participatory training of teaching and the teaching knowledge development of student instructors. A total of 40 university teaching assistants participated in a 4-h training session in which they were randomly assigned to a VR simulation or a live classroom simulation condition. The study indicated that the VR simulation better promoted the lab-teaching knowledge development than the live simulation, whereas the latter better fostered class-teaching knowledge development. All participants reported higher teaching self-efficacy after the training. The qualitative data indicated that domain-specific challenges and authentic environmental prompting in the VR simulation fostered both experiential and vicarious learning of teaching. However, VR participants lacked mutual engagement in collaborative role-playing. The study findings suggest that VR-based simulation can supplement and work as an alternative to the live classroom simulation to host participatory teaching development.

Virtual learning environments have the potential to support students’ development of design skills in engineering education. However, few approaches exist for modeling and measuring design learning as it emerges in authentic practices, which often includes collaboration. This study merges learning sciences research with engineering design education to develop an approach for modeling and measuring design thinking. I propose a connected design rationale model which identifies relationships among design moves and rationale. Results from a qualitative examination of how professional engineers make connections among moves and rationales were used as the foundation to examine students in virtual internships. Using digital collaborative chat data and Epistemic Network Analysis (ENA), the discourse networks of students who had high and low scores in the virtual internship were compared to the discourse patterns of professional engineers to determine if measuring connected design rationale reveals meaningful differences between expert and novice design thinking. The results show a significant difference between high and low-performing students in terms of their patterns of connections and that high-performing students in the virtual internship made connections that were more like experts than low-performing students. Results suggest that a connected design rationale model distinguishes between experts and novices in meaningful ways and can be a robust approach for research in learning sciences and engineering education.

Proportional reasoning failures seem to constitute most errors in probabilistic reasoning, yet there is little empirical evidence about its role for attaining probabilistic knowledge and how to effectively intervene with students who have less proportional reasoning skills. We examined the contributions of students' proportional reasoning skill and example-based practice when learning about probabilities from a reformed seventh grade curriculum. Teachers in their regular classrooms were randomly assigned to instruct with a reformed textbook (control) or a version revised to incorporate correct and incorrect example problems with prompts to explain (treatment). Students' prior knowledge in proportional reasoning skill separately predicted probabilistic knowledge at posttest, regardless of their prior knowledge in probability or minority status. Overall, students in the treatment condition improved more in their probabilistic knowledge, if they started with less proportional reasoning skills. Our findings suggest that example-based practice is beneficial for students with less prior knowledge of proportions, likely a key concept for developing probabilistic knowledge.

The aim of this experiment was to examine the effect of different instructional strategies on student teachers’ confirmation bias. Confirmation bias refers to the selectivity in finding and using evidence that fits one’s own beliefs or hypotheses while neglecting evidence that is opposite to one’s own beliefs or hypotheses (Nickerson, 1998). Dutch student teachers (n = 141) took a confirmation bias pre-test and were then randomly assigned to three conditions; teaching on video (TOV), preparing to teach (PTT) and re-study (CC). All participants received text-based instruction on confirmation bias and how it can be mitigated. They also practised with confirmation bias tasks and they received feedback on their answers. Subsequently, participants in the TOV and PTT conditions prepared a lesson about the instructional content and in the TOV condition they taught this lesson on video. After the learning phase, TOV and PTT participants completed a social presence questionnaire. All participants completed an arousal questionnaire and a confirmation bias post-test and a transfer test. The results showed that confirmation bias was reduced to a similar extent in all conditions. Results also showed that the quality of the prepared lesson was highest for TOV participants suggesting they had gained better understanding of the confirmation bias than PTT participants. Furthermore, in contrast to our expectations, PTT participants reported highest social presence scores. TOV participants experienced higher arousal levels compared to CC participants. Transfer scores did not differ between conditions. We discuss theoretical explanations of the findings from the present study.

Dialogical argumentation practice contributes positively to argumentative writing skills. Specifically, deliberative dialogues are effective in promoting argument and counterargument integration in students' essays. However, the potential of dialogic activities may be increased if they are combined with instructional practices. The primary objective of this research is to compare the impact of four intervention programs, aimed at improving argumentative synthesis writing from conflicting sources. The four programs resulted from the combination of two instructional components (Explicit Instruction through video modelling—EI, or a Procedural Guideline—G), while Deliberative Dialogues—DD—were a constant element. We conducted a pre-post quasi-experimental study in which 186 Spanish third grade secondary school students (aged 14–15) participated. We evaluated the quality of the syntheses by examining the level of argumentative coverage (the total number of arguments included in the synthesis) and the level of integration (the type and frequency of the argumentative strategies used in the syntheses). The results showed that the effectiveness of the instructional methods varies according to the synthesis quality indicator. Explicit instruction, in combination with deliberative dialogues, was especially helpful in improving the level of integration of syntheses. The procedural guideline, in combination with deliberative dialogues, contributed significantly to the coverage of arguments. The combination of these two elements did not favor the writing of synthesis as expected, probably due to the conditions in which the intervention was carried out. The findings of this study revealed that the coverage of arguments and integration processes are of different nature, follow different learning paths and require different instructional processes.

The present study examines the effectiveness of incorporating worked examples with prompts for self-explanation into a middle school math textbook. Algebra 1 students (N = 75) completed an equation-solving unit with textbooks either containing the original practice problems or in which a portion of those problems were converted into a combination of correct, incorrect, and incomplete examples. Students completed pre- and posttest measures of algebraic feature knowledge, equation-solving skills, and error anticipation. Example-based textbook assignments increased students’ equation-solving skills and their ability to anticipate errors one might make when solving problems. Differences in students’ anticipation of various types of errors are also examined. Error anticipation, a particular form of negative knowledge, is a potentially important skill that relates to algebraic feature knowledge and equation-solving skills.

The results of three meta-analyses show that the effectiveness of learning from animations, when compared to learning from static pictures, is rather limited. A recent re-analysis of one of these meta-analyses, however, supports that learning from animations is considerably more effective than learning from static pictures if the specifics of the displayed changes need to be learned. In order to further validate this finding as well as to clarify the educational strengths and weaknesses of animations and static pictures, an experimental study with three groups was conducted. Overall, 88 university students participated in the study. One group of learners (n = 30) watched a single picture of a gear mechanism, one group of learners (n = 28) watched four pictures, and one group of learners (n = 30) watched an animation. All groups had to identify specific motions and spatial arrangements covered by the gear mechanism. While learners who watched the animation exhibited the best performance with respect to the identification of motions, learners who watched the pictures showed the best performance with respect to the identification of spatial arrangements. The effect sizes are large. The results of the study help to clarify when animations and when static pictures are most suitable for learning.

We investigated in an experiment with 180 university students the joint role of prior knowledge, alleged model competence, and social comparison orientation regarding the effectiveness of Eye Movement Modeling Examples (EMME) for supporting multimedia learning. EMME consisted of short videos with gaze replays of an instructed model demonstrating effective multimedia processing strategies. Participants were either instructed that the model in the EMME-videos was a successful learner (competent model) or another participant (peer model). Participants in a control condition received no EMME. Furthermore, we activated domain-relevant prior knowledge in half of the participants before watching the EMME. Against our expectations, we found no influence of either prior knowledge activation or model-observer similarity. As expected, our results indicated that EMME fostered multimedia learning. This was also supported by findings from small-scale meta-analyses that were conducted with the focus on the effect of EMME for multimedia learning and potential moderators of the effect. Moreover, results showed first evidence that social comparison orientation interacts with (alleged) model competence regarding the effectiveness of EMME. Further research is needed to follow up on the influence of individual factors as well as social cues on the effectiveness of EMME.

While observing gesture has been shown to benefit narrative recall and learning, research has yet to show whether gestures that provide information that is missing from speech benefit narrative recall. This study explored whether observing gestures that relay the same information as speech and gestures that provide information missing from speech differentially affect narrative recall in university students. Participants were presented with a videotaped narrative told in one of four conditions: with gestures and no missing verbal information, with gestures and missing verbal information, with no gestures and no missing verbal information, or with no gestures and missing verbal information. Results showed that observing gestures that provided additional information to speech (i.e., when the speech was missing vital information) enhanced narrative recall compared to observing no gestures, while observing gestures that did not provide additional information to speech were no more beneficial than observing no gestures at all. Findings from the current study provide valuable insight into the beneficial effect of iconic gesture on narrative recall, with important implications for education and learning.

Teacher learning is a huge challenge in instructional change, but relatively little work has carefully examined the mechanisms by which teachers learn, in contrast to the extensive work on programs that help teachers learn and the high-leverage instructional practices that are strong predictors of student learning. Specifically, relatively little is known about how teachers learn to effectively implement these new instructional practices. Using a mixed-methods, case-comparison design, this study examines specific instructional coaching practices that support 4th–8th grade mathematics teachers in learning to implement ambitious instructional practices. The study leverages a large, state-wide representative dataset in order to purposively select carefully-matched contrasting cases for qualitative analysis from a starting sample of hundreds of teachers, which enabled selecting teachers that began in a very similar place but then progressed at different rates. In-depth qualitative coding was systematically conducted on detailed transcripts of coach-teacher conversations from these carefully selected cases. Finally, these codes were analyzed quantitatively to determine whether the content and form of these conversations predicted improvement in teachers’ instructional practices. Results showed that coach-teacher pairs who discuss when and why certain practices should be implemented, and provide more opportunities for teacher input, see larger gains in ambitious instruction in later lessons. Implications for a coaching model based in the cognitive sciences are discussed.

Implementing peer feedback in revisions is a complex process involving first planning to fix problems and then actual implementing feedback through revisions. Both phases are influenced by features of the peer feedback itself, but potentially in different ways, and yet prior research has not examined their separate role in planning or the mediating role of planning in the relationship of feedback features and implementation. We build on a process model to investigate whether feedback features had differing relationships to plans to ignore or act on feedback versus actual implementation of feedback in the revision, and whether planning mediated the relationship of feedback features and actual implementation. Source data consisted of peer feedback comments received, revision plans made, and revisions implemented by 125 US high school students given a shared writing assignment. Comments were coded for feedback features and implementation in the revision. Multiple regression analyses revealed that having a comment containing a specific solution or a general suggestion predicted revision plans whereas having a comment containing an explanation predicted actual implementation. Planning mediated the relationship to actual implementation for the two feedback features predicting plans, suggestion and solution. Implications for practice are discussed.

Productive failure has shown positive effects on conceptual and transfer measures, but no clear effects on procedural measures. It is therefore an open question whether, and to what extent, productive failure methods may be used to enhance the learning of procedural skills. A typical productive failure study focuses on a single, complex concept; in contrast, procedural knowledge generally consists of a series of less-complex procedural steps. In this study, failure occasions were adapted to specifically fit procedural knowledge by introducing procedural problems prior to the formal instruction of relevant principles. These procedural problems offered brief but multiple occasions for failure, which we call micro productive failure. A total of 85 sixth-graders were introduced to algebraic expression simplification by providing problem-solving prior to instruction (PS-I condition), compared to providing problem-solving after instruction (I-PS condition). Findings reveal a stable effect of offering micro productive failure occasions for procedural learning; however, as anticipated, there were no effects on conceptual or transfer measures.

Higher-order thinking is crucial to inquiry learning. It is important to investigate how students think in inquiry contexts. Given the tacit nature of higher-order thinking, cognitive maps (e.g., concept maps, reasoning maps) have been used to externalize thinking and have shown promising effects in terms of improving inquiry task performance. However, few studies have analyzed student-constructed maps that reflect the thinking underpinning students’ inquiry task performance. This study aimed to address this gap. Sixty-nine 11th grade students worked in small groups to explain a fish die-off phenomenon in a virtual ecosystem and collaboratively constructed an integrative cognitive map to facilitate thinking during the task. The map comprised a concept map (representing conceptual thinking about relevant subject knowledge) and a reasoning map (representing the reasoning process). Regression analyses showed that the quality of the student-constructed maps, particularly the reasoning maps, was a significant predictor of inquiry task performance assessed based on students’ written explanations of the phenomenon. Although the quality of the concept maps was not a significant predictor of inquiry task performance, it did predict the quality of the reasoning maps. Student thinking reflected in concept mapping and that reflected in reasoning mapping play different roles in inquiry learning.

This paper describes how an interdisciplinary design team used the Four-Component Instructional Design (4C/ID) model and its accompanying Ten Steps design approach to systematically design a professional development program for teaching differentiation skills to primary school teachers. This description illustrates how insights from a cognitive task analysis into classroom differentiation skills were combined with literature-based instructional design principles to arrive at the training blueprint for workplace-based learning. It demonstrates the decision-making processes involved in the systematic design of each of the four components: learning tasks, supportive information, procedural information, and part-task practice. While the design process was time and resource-intensive, it resulted in a detailed blueprint of a five-month professional development program that strategically combines learning activities to stimulate learning processes that are essential for developing the complex skill providing differentiated instruction in a mathematics lesson.

Scaffolding is one of the critical features in a problem-based learning environment to address challenges associated with problem solving. While transfer of responsibility is considered as an ultimate goal in scaffolding that is adaptive and contingent, it is rarely studied and practiced. Thus, the purpose of this study was to inform a deeper understanding of one middle school teacher’s manner of soft scaffolding, which refers to just-in-time and contingent support, through teacher-student interaction to examine how transfer of responsibility was achieved. We investigated one middle school teacher’s forms of scaffolding during a problem of food systems and supply chains related multiple aspects of sustainability and social justice issues. Using conversation analysis, three discursive patterns in scaffolding emerged: (1) shifting patterns of turn-taking organization; (2) leaving room for the students to take responsibility by giving extended wait time; and (3) extending the discussion with different examples. The paper concludes with implications for PBL teachers and researchers.

Mobile devices and apps have become a standard for the museum experience. Many studies have begun to explore the impact mobile apps may have on user experience and informal learning. However, there has been relatively little research on how visitor groups interact collaboratively while using these devices in computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) environments. In this paper, we explore the impact of a mobile question-asking app on museum visitor group interactions using the Interactive-Constructive-Active–Passive (ICAP) framework, a hierarchical taxonomy that differentiates modes of cognitive engagement. In a post-hoc analysis of survey findings from a study conducted at two large museums in the American southwest, we found that our app encouraged sharing of information among group members. In addition, users of a gamified version of the app were significantly more likely to report engaging in a group discussion during question-asking than groups using a non-game version of the app. We also found that group collaboration levels depended on the group-designated primary user of the app. Whenever a child or the group collaboratively asked the most questions, group discussion frequency was significantly higher. The study’s findings support mobile question-asking apps’ viability as a means to better understanding of museum visitor groups’ interactions with exhibit content and provide evidence that game-based mobile apps, designed to foster question-asking by visitors, may bolster collaborative group interactions and informal learning.

Under the notion of “CSCL scripts”, different pedagogical models for structuring and supporting collaboration in the classroom have been proposed. We report on a practical experience with scripts based on the Pyramid collaborative learning flow pattern supported by a specific classroom tool and a teacher-facing dashboard that implements mirroring and guiding support. The input data of our analysis stems from recordings of classroom interactions guided by several teachers using the PyramidApp with different levels of teaching support. For the analysis, we introduce a specific coding scheme enabling a quantitative comparison and deeper analysis using epistemic network analysis. The results show that the guiding support enabled teachers to perform more orchestration actions, more targeted interactions and to make more announcements to the class (regarding time, phase transitions, and students’ activity participation) when compared to the mirroring support. Teachers’ actionable differences observed under the mirroring and guiding support directed us to deconstruct the notion of orchestration load into different facets and to discuss how different support provisions correspond to the different facets of orchestration load.

By encouraging elementary students to work collaboratively, they can gain essential skills such as perspective taking, conflict negotiation, and asking for and receiving assistance. Epistemic Network Analysis (ENA) is an analytic technique that provides an alternative to more typical approaches to analyzing and synthesizing coded dialogue. This study used an easy-to-implement prompting intervention in the context of collaborative (pair) programming with upper elementary students to demonstrate the potential of ENA to understand the impact of the intervention. We found that intervention students—those given empirically-derived prompts in support of collaborative and exploratory talk—asked questions, justified their thinking, and offered alternative ideas in ways that were both qualitatively and quantitatively different from control students.

Group awareness (GA) tools can facilitate learning processes and outcomes by visualizing different social attributes, such as cognitive and behavioral information about group members. To assist learning and writing in social media, combining various types of awareness information may foster learning processes due to challenges, which are difficult to address by one type of GA information alone. The systematic investigation of GA tool combinations is largely unexplored with GA information often being examined separately or intermixed. To reveal both positive and negative (interaction) effects of providing different types of GA information, we conducted a 2 × 2 between-subjects experiment with N = 158 participants. Learners were provided with a wiki learning environment and, except for the control condition, different types of GA tools involving cognitive (knowledge bars) and/or behavioral (participation bars) GA information. GA tool effects were considered at wiki selection, discussion, and article levels. Eye-tracking was used for investigating the attentional effect of the GA visualizations. The results show that both types of GA information have effects on individuals’ selection preference, more strongly with the goal to learn new content than to support other wiki collaborators, which were introduced as within goal scenarios. Also, participants provided with behavioral GA support were more engaged in wiki contributions. However, only the combination of cognitive and behavioral GA information, rather than their separate visualization, had a positive effect on resulting article quality. This highlights the need for a holistic perspective when developing GA tools to improve wiki processes and outcomes.

Students across disciplines struggle with sensemaking when they are faced with the need to understand and analyze massive amounts of information. This is particularly salient in the disciplines of both history and data science. Our approach to helping students build expertise with complex information leverages activity theory to think about the design of a classroom activity system integrated with the design of a collaborative open-source network-analysis software tool called Net.Create. Through analysis of network log data as well as video data of students’ collaborative interactions with Net.Create, we explore how our activity system helped students reconcile common contradictions that create barriers to dealing with complex datasets in large lecture classrooms. Findings show that as students draw on details in a historical text to collaboratively construct a larger network, they begin to move more readily between small detail and aggregate overview. Students at both high and low initial skill levels were able to increase the complexity of their historical analyses through their engagement with the Net.Create tool and activities. Net.Create transforms the limitation of large class sizes in history classrooms into a resource for students’ collaborative knowledge building, and through collaborative data entry it supports the historiographic practices of citation and revision and helps students embed local historical actors into a larger historical context.

Collaborations are essential in research, especially in answering increasingly complex questions that require integrating knowledge from different disciplines and that engage multiple stakeholders. Fostering such collaboration between newcomers and established researchers helps keep scientific communities alive while opening the way to innovation. But this is a challenge for scientific communities, especially as little is known about the onset of such collaborations. Prior social network research suggests that face-to-face interaction at scientific events as well as both network-driven selection patterns (reciprocity and transitivity) and patterns of active selection of specific others (homophily / heterophily) may be important. Learning science research implies, moreover, that selecting appropriate collaboration partners may require group awareness. In a field study at two scientific events on technology-enhanced learning (Alpine Rendez-Vous 2011 and 2013) including N = 5736 relations between 287 researchers, we investigated how researchers selected future collaboration partners, looking specifically at the role of career level, disciplinary background, and selection patterns. Face-to-face contact was measured using RFID devices. Additionally, a group awareness intervention was experimentally varied. Data was analyzed using RSiena and meta-analyses. The results showed that transitivity, reciprocity and contact duration are relevant for the identification of new potential collaboration partners. PhD students were less often chosen as new potential collaboration partners, and researchers with a background in Information Technology selected fewer new potential collaboration partners. However, group awareness support balanced this disciplinary difference. Theoretical, methodological, and practical implications of these findings are discussed.

Technology-enhanced collaborative inquiry learning has gained a firm position in curricula across disciplines and educational settings and has become particularly pervasive in science classrooms. However, understanding of the teacher’s role in this context is limited. This study addresses the real-time shifts in focus and distribution of teachers’ guidance and support of different student groups during in-person computer-supported collaborative inquiry learning in science classrooms. Teachers’ self-perceptions of their guidance and affect were supplemented with students’ self-reported affect. A mixed-methods approach using video analyses and questionnaire data revealed differences between teacher guidance and support associated with teacher perceptions and group outcomes. Groups’ prior science competence was not found to have an effect on teacher guidance and support, rather the teachers guided the groups they perceived as motivated and willing to collaborate. Teacher affect was compounded by student affect, suggesting that consideration of the reciprocal perceptions of teachers and students is necessary in order to understand the teachers’ role in collaborative learning.

Technologies for computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) are playing an increasingly prominent role in educational contexts, especially as teachers and students strive to deal with pandemic-related constraints. However, the technologies being used for collaboration on a daily basis are not sufficiently equipped to promote collaborative learning as both a cognitive and a socio-emotional process. They may even run the risk of hindering the constructive exchange of ideas and provoking disputes and negative encounters. In this squib, we argue that the field of CSCL is failing to address this risk, because our research efforts are far too scattered and siloed. We introduce a manifesto of social sensitivity: increasing interdisciplinary efforts to enhance constructively critical, respectful, and cohesive collaborations in technology-supported environments. We call for concrete actions in CSCL research that ultimately contribute to more democratic and equitable collaborations.