Orchestrating Technology for Web-based Education

In this paper we present AulaNet, an environment for creating, updating and attending Web-based courses. Here, we illustrate some dynamics of three experiments of course development and delivery with AulaNet, pointing out their features, discussing how easy and how difficult is to orchestrate technology for educational purposes

Mengkaji kemahiran berfikir kritis dan pencapaian pelajar menerusi persekitaran pembelajaran kolaboratif berbantukan komputer bagi subjek bahasa pengaturcaraan

Pelajar yang mengikuti subjek bahasa pengaturcaraan didapati tidak memahami bagaimana untuk mengaplikasikan pembelajaran yang diperolehi kepada permasalahan dunia sebenar. Masalah ini adalah disebabkan oleh tahap kemahiran berfikir pelajar yang dilaporkan masih rendah terutamanya kemahiran berfikir kritis dikalangan pelajar. Malah, kemahiran berfikir kritis pelajar didapati akan lebih tinggi apabila pelajar bersikap aktif semasa pembelajaran dan berinteraksi sesama ahli kumpulan. Oleh itu kajian ini adalah bertujuan untuk mengkaji tahap pencapaian dan tahap kemahiran berfikir kritis pelajar bagi subjek bahasa pengaturcaraan melalui persekitaran pembelajaran kolaboratif berbantukan komputer yang dibina berdasarkan ciri-ciri pembelajaran kolaboratif dan interaksi berkesan. Malah, strategi pembelajaran berasaskan masalah digunakan sebagai prinsip pembangunan aktiviti pembelajaran memandangkan ciri utama strategi pembelajaran berasaskan masalah adalah aktiviti pembelajaran yang menggunakan dan dimulakan dengan permasalahan dunia sebenar. Kajian ini dibangunkan berdasarkan lima tahap di dalam model ADDIE dan disusun mengikut tiga peringkat kajian dimana pengkaji mendapatkan ciri-ciri persekitaran pembelajaran yang digemari oleh pelajar berdasarkan ciri-ciri pembelajaran kolaboratif dan interaksi berkesan. Seterusnya, persekitaran pembelajaran dibangunkan berdasarkan ciri-ciri kolaboratif berbantukan komputer dan pembelajaran berasaskan masalah. Akhirnya, persekitaran pembelajaran digunakan oleh pelajar bagi menguji kesannya terhadap pencapaian pelajar dan kemahiran berfikir kritis mereka. Hasil dapatan daripada kajian ini akan menentukan kesan daripada persekitaran pembelajaran yang dibina terhadap pencapaian pembelajaran dan kemahiran berfikir kritis mereka

Lost In Familiar Places: The Struggle For Voice And Belonging In Online Adult Learning Groups

Many adults express a preference for learning in small groups but often find their group experiences frustrating and dissatisfying. This tension is increasingly evident in online learning, as collaborative methods become more popular within these environments. The purpose of this study was to develop a better understanding of the emotional dynamics and processes reflected in this tension within online collaborative environments. Our findings suggest that online learning groups display behaviors that reflect two powerful, alternating, cyclical fears. On the one hand, the groups act as if they perceive a definite threat to individual identity. Such actions, however, seem to precipitate a corresponding fear of alienation and disconnectedness among group members. Getting stuck in this cycle of alternating fears may account for the lingering dissatisfaction adults have with group learning

Using Drama in ESP: The Interdepartmental Language Centre as a Learning Community

This article seeks to illustrate how the Interdepartmental Language Centre of a university can come to represent a fertile and dynamic learning community. Its specific focus is the use of drama in two ESP courses run by the interdepartmental language centre at the University of Turin (CLA-UniTo). The first was a third-year workshop for trainee primary school teachers, the second a first-year module on a degree course in social work. Both of these courses might be said to bridge the rather ill-defined boundaries between CLIL and ESP, as in both cases language is taught through content and content through language. This cross-curricular focus disrupts the traditional verticalist hierarchy of the teacher-pupil relationship, since the course participants frequently have content-based knowledge and experience in which the “teacher” is lacking. The use of dramatization proved particularly useful in engaging and empowering each individual student in these classes, transforming the learning process into a dynamic, collaborative enterprise

Significant increase in factual knowledge with web-assisted problem-based learning as part of an undergraduate cardio-respiratory curriculum

In recent years, increasing attention has been paid to web-based learning although the advantages of computer-aided instruction over traditional teaching formats still need to be confirmed. This study examined whether participation in an online module on the differential diagnosis of dyspnoea impacts on student performance in a multiple choice examination of factual knowledge in cardiology and pneumology. A virtual problem-based learning environment for medical students supervised by postgraduate teachers was created. Seventy-four out of 183 fourth-year medical students volunteered to use the online module while attending a 6-week cardio-respiratory curriculum in summer 2007. Of these, 40 were randomly selected to be included (intervention group); the remaining 34 served as an internal control group. Analysis of all written exams taken during the preceding term showed that both groups were comparable (86.4 ± 1.1 vs. 85.9 ± 1.1%; p = 0.751). Students in the intervention group scored significantly higher in the final course assessment than students allocated to the control group (84.8 ± 1.3 vs. 79.5 ± 1.4%; p = 0.006; effect size 0.67). Thus, additional problem-based learning with an online module as part of an undergraduate cardio-respiratory curriculum lead to higher students’ scores in an exam testing factual knowledge. Whether using this teaching format increases overall student motivation to engage in the learning process needs to be further investigated

A COMPARATIVE STUDY ON STUDENTS’ SCORES THROUGH COLLABORATIVE LEARNING AND NON-COLLABORATIVE LEARNING AT SAINT JOSEPH BANGNA SCHOOL, THAILAND

In 1999, Thailand triggered some drastic changes and reforms by implementing the National Education Act (NEA). Accordingly, students were encouraged to become critical thinkers, and to acquire information technology knowledge based on the student-centred model. These reforms have socio-constructivist roots, promoting the use of collaborative learning, and the use of information technology. Almost fifteen years after the implementation of the NEA, the purpose of the current study was to examine if collaborative learning, for the computer science subject, would be beneficial for the grade seven Thai students of the English Program at Saint Joseph Bangna School or, as some research stated, it would be very hard to implement because of cultural hindrances. This study had three objectives. The first objective was to compare the difference among the pre-tests and post-tests scores of the experimental group who studied through collaborative learning. The second objective was to compare the difference among the pre-tests and post-tests scores of the control group who studied through non-collaborative learning. The last objective was to compare the difference among the post-tests scores of the experimental group who studied through collaborative learning with the control group who studied through non-collaborative learning. The pre-test and the post-test were the same, and consisted of 25 multiple choice questions based on a Microsoft Office Specialist certification test for the Microsoft Excel software. In conclusion, this study suggests that collaborative learning delivers better outcomes for Thai students for the computer science subject

Status of research on collaboration in Virtual Learning Environments

El aprendizaje colaborativo posee una tradición teórica y práctica amplia en la educación general, como en la educación superior. No obstante, la actividad de coordinación entre personas que buscan aprender no es sencilla de gestionar. Esta complejidad aumenta cuando entre la actividad colaborativa surge un nuevo componente, la tecnología. ¿Qué se ha avanzado sobre el aprendizaje colaborativo mediado tecnológicamente? Este trabajo tiene como objetivo analizar el estado de la investigación sobre aprendizaje colaborativo en Educación Superior en los Entornos Virtuales de Aprendizaje (EVA). Para ello se realiza un análisis bibliométrico de las publicaciones indexadas de la base de datos SCOPUS. El análisis de redes bibliométricas reveló que la producción científica sobre el aprendizaje colaborativo en educación superior es creciente pero no homogéneo en el tiempo, que las Ciencias Sociales y Ciencias de la Computación son las que más producen, hay un especial énfasis en entender la colaboración en entornos b-learning y que se pueden reconocer dos tendencias clave en el desarrollo: 1) la aceptación de la mediación colaborativa virtual en los procesos de educación superior y 2) la necesidad de implementar matices metodológicos colaborativas (portafolio y otras alternati-vas pedagógicas) y ensayar otras herramientas virtuales (redes sociales)Collaborative learning has a broad theoretical and practical tradition in general education, as in higher education. However, coordination of people who seek to learn is not an easy task to manage. This complexity increases when technology arises as component of collaboration. What are the advances on technology-assisted collaborative learning? This work aims to analyze the state of the research on collaborative learning in Higher Education in Virtual Learning Environments (EVA). To achieve this purpose, a bibliometric analysis of the indexed publications of the SCOPUS database is carried out. Network bibliometric analyses revealed that the scientific production on collaborative learning in higher education is grow-ing but not homogeneous over time. Most active disciplines proved to be Social Sciences and Computer Scienc-es, and a special emphasis on understanding the Collaboration in b-learning environments showed two developing trends: 1) the acceptance of virtual collaborative media-tion in higher education processes and 2) the need to implement collaborative methodological nuances (portfolio and other pedagogical alternatives) and trying out other virtual tools (social networks)

The Process and Barriers in Computer-Mediated Communication (A Case Study of Indonesian and Australian Students' Collaboration Project)

This paper describes how university students from diverse cultural background and separated by geographical distance conduct communication process using computer-mediated communication (CMC). The purpose of our research is to examine the communication process and identify potential barriers that can disturb the collaboration. We also aim to find which cultural dimensions influence the communication process. The population is 15 Journalism students from UPH, Indonesia and 15 Journalism students from QUT, Australia who joined a collaboration project from October – November 2018. We use a qualitative case-study, with analytical descriptive method. We analyze multiple sources of evidence such as: logbook and recorded correspondence, Focus Group Discussions (FGD) and depth interview for data collection. Results show the students use mostly asynchronous communication such as chat text and Google Docs for their communication medium. The main barriers are language proficiency and slow internet connections. This study analyzes one case study involving students from two different nations. We find that Individualism, Masculinity and Power Distance cultural dimensions influence how they communicate to each other

The Internet Implementation of the Hierarchical Aggregate Assessment Process with the “Cluster” Wi-Fi E-Learning and EAssessment Application — A Particular Case of Teamwork Assessment

A Wi-Fi e-learning and e-assessment Internet application named “Cluster” was developed in the context of a research project concerning the implementation of a teamwork assessment mobile application able to assess teams with several levels of hierarchy. Usually, teamwork assessment software and Internet applications for several hierarchy level teams are included in the field of Management Information Systems (MIS). However, some assessment tasks in teams with several levels of hierarchy and assessment may be performed in an educational context, and the existing applications for the assessment and evaluation of teams with several levels of hierarchy are not applications dedicated to the assessment of students in an educational context. The “Cluster” application is able to present the course material, to train the students in teams as well as to present individual and team assessment tasks. The application’s special functionalities enable it to assess the teams at several levels of hierarchy, which constitute the hierarchical aggregate assessment process. In effect, the members of the teams may have appointments of team member, team leader and team administrator that supervises team leaders. This application can therefore evaluate simultaneously different knowledge and skills in the same assessment task based on the hierarchical position of the team member. The summative evaluation of the application consists of work to submit as well as objective examinations in HTML format, while the formative evaluation is composed of assessment grid computer forms of self-assessment and peer assessment. The application contains two mutually exclusive modes, the assessor mode and the student mode. The assessor mode allows the teacher to create courses, manage students, form the teams and also assess the students and the teams in a summative manner. The student mode allows the students to follow courses, write exams, submit homework, perform in teams and submit self- and peers formative assessment. The theoretical consideration of the project establishes the link between hierarchical aggregate assessment applications and management information systems (MIS). The application is an electronic portfolio (e-portfolio) management system in the competency-based learning and an Internet test administration system in the mastery learning approach. The aim of the chapter is to introduce the reader to the field of hierarchical aggregate assessment and to show how to implement complex assessment tasks with several levels of hierarchy into an Internet software application

Algorithmic loafing and mitigation strategies in Human-AI teams

This research work was initiated under the Scottish Informatics & Computer Alliance (SICSA) Remote Collaboration Activities when the first author was working at the University of St Andrews, UK. We would like to thank the SICSA for the partial funding of the research work.Exercising social loafing – exerting minimal effort by an individual in a group setting – in human-machine teams could critically degrade performance, especially in high-stakes domains where human judgement is essential. Akin to social loafing in human interaction, algorithmic loafing may occur when humans mindlessly adhere to machine recommendations due to reluctance to engage analytically with AI recommendations and explanations. We consider how algorithmic loafing could emerge and how to mitigate it. Specifically, we posit that algorithmic loafing can be induced through repeated encounters with correct decisions from the AI and transparency may combat it. As a form of transparency, explanation is offered for reasons that include justification, control, and discovery. However, algorithmic loafing is further reinforced by the perceived competence that an explanation provides. In this work, we explored these ideas via human subject experiments (n = 239). We also study how improving decision transparency through validation by an external human approver affects performance. Using eight experimental conditions in a high-stakes criminal justice context, we find that decision accuracy is typically unaffected by multiple forms of transparency but there is a significant difference in performance when the machine errs. Participants who saw explanations alone are better at overriding incorrect decisions; however, those under induced algorithmic loafing exhibit poor performance with variation in decision time. We conclude with recommendations on curtailing algorithmic loafing and achieving social facilitation, where task visibility motivates individuals to perform better.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe