Intelligent and adaptive tutoring for active learning and training environments

Active learning facilitated through interactive and adaptive learning environments differs substantially from traditional instructor-oriented, classroom-based teaching. We present a Web-based e-learning environment that integrates knowledge learning and skills training. How these tools are used most effectively is still an open question. We propose knowledge-level interaction and adaptive feedback and guidance as central features. We discuss these features and evaluate the effectiveness of this Web-based environment, focusing on different aspects of learning behaviour and tool usage. Motivation, acceptance of the approach, learning organisation and actual tool usage are aspects of behaviour that require different evaluation techniques to be used

Media Culture 2020: collaborative teaching and blended learning using social media and cloud-based technologies

The Media Culture 2020 project was considered to be a great success by all the partners, academics and especially the students who took part. It is a true example of an intercultural, multidisciplinary, blended learning experience in higher education that achieved it goals of breaking down classroom walls and bridging geographical distance and cultural barriers. The students with different skills, coming from different countries and cultures, interacting with other enlarges the possibilities of creativity, collaboration and quality work. The blend of both synchronous and asynchronous teaching methods fostered an open, blended learning environment, one that extended the traditional boundaries of the classroom in time and space. The interactive and decentralized nature of digital tools enabled staff and students to communicate and strengthen social ties, alongside participation in the production of new knowledge and media content. For students and lecturers, the implementation of social media and cloud platforms offered an innovative solution to both teaching and learning in a collaborative manner. By leveraging the interactive and decentralised capabilities of a range of technologies in an educational context, this model of digital scholarship facilitates an open and dynamic working environment. Blended teaching methods allow for expansive collaboration, whereby information and knowledge can be accessed and disseminated across a number of networked devices

Interactive teaching mode based on deep reinforcement learning

interactive teaching mode has been widely used in the teaching process of all levels and courses. With the deepening of interactive teaching, the restrictions on interactive time, interactive scene, interactive means and other aspects are becoming more and more obvious, and the current teaching needs can not be met only by classroom, students, pen and paper, spreadsheet, and slide teaching. This paper proposes a teaching framework based on deep reinforcement learning, which comprehensively enhances interactive teaching by integrating agents, simulation environment and data dashboard, so that interaction is no longer limited to interaction time, interaction space and interaction object, and then improves the usability and applicability of interactive teaching

Experiences of early adopters in changing their thinking regarding teaching practices for the online environment in a New Zealand university : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Education in Adult Education at Massey University

The aim of this thesis was to investigate how early adopters changed their thinking regarding teaching practices for the online environment. The study investigated how early adopters adapted and developed their classroom based teaching practices for the online environment, the effect of online teaching practices on their students' learning, and the types of professional development lecturers engaged in to learn about online teaching practices. A mainly qualitative approach, within a case study method, was used to undertake the research in a medium sized, New Zealand university, where the researcher is an academic developer in the centralised professional development unit, jointly responsible for supporting staff in online teaching practices. Written informed consent was obtained from lecturers participating in this study. A mail-in survey, individual interviews and online course observations were used to gather data for the research questions. This is a limited case study owing to the small size of the sample. The study concluded that early adopters changed their thinking about teaching practices over time, adapting and developing student-centred approaches to learning for the online environment. The study found that early adopters' perceptions of student learning was of a higher quality online, than in the classroom, owing to student learning approaches being deeper, more interactive and collaborative. Finally, the study showed that a majority of early adopters did not engage in research based professional development activities, which made changing their thinking from teacher-centred to student-centred online teaching practices, difficult and stressful

3D Interactive virtual environments for E-learning, teaching and technical support: Multiplayer teaching and learning games for the School of Art, Design & Architecture.

This paper outlines the key stages of a University funded teaching and learning project, the main objective of the project is to build an online 3D virtual Ramsden workshop (RW) game learning environment. Using 3D modeling software and interactive 3D game programming technologies the project team have accurately modeled and simulated the Ramsden workshop (RW) building; The 3D virtual RW workshop has been accurately built to scale and is fitted with virtual furniture, virtual computers, virtual engineering machinery. These components have been developed as an initial range of interactive game based learning tools. In this project the team has also begun to simulate Health and Safety procedures, created software CAD/CAM tutorials and are developing and testing innovative learning support tools for all levels of learners. The 3D Virtual Ramsden workshop (RW) game is part of ongoing research work that applies the use of 3D virtual software for developing appropriate interactive 3D spaces, avatars, objects and simulations for learning, teaching, training, exhibitions, experimental art and practice in virtual environments. Additionally within this project the research team also modelled a virtual Creative Arts Building and a University of Huddersfield virtual campus

Interactive Lesson as a Macro-Unit of Teaching Russian as a Foreign Language in Short-Term Courses

The relevance of the topic of this article is due to the need to strengthen the interactive side of the process of teaching a foreign language in short-term courses in the language environment. The purpose of the study is to establish the ratio of interactive forms and methods that determine the specifics of an interactive lesson of foreign language. In contrast to the existing points of view, we attempted to prove that the effectiveness of interactive learning depends on the systematization of interactive forms and methods of teaching and the sequence of their use. To study the patterns of interactive learning of a foreign language, we applied the following methods: observation, experiment, and analysis method. An analysis of the interactive forms and methods of teaching foreigners the Russian language in short-term courses in Russia shows that the use of the learning potential of the language environment makes the content of learning natural, topical and interesting. Avoiding traditional teaching methods allows organizing the exchange of thoughts and feelings in terms of speech interaction when creating a joint product (both verbal and non-verbal). The interactive lesson, which acts as a macro unit for selecting and organizing the content of Russian as a foreign language (RFL) training in short-term courses, consists of three blocks (motivational-introductory, activity-oriented and resultant). Specially selected for each communication situation and arranged in a certain order interactive forms and methods are presented in the system of interactive exercises and tasks, classified according to the stages of mastering speech actions in different communicative situations. The article presents the forms and methods of interactive teaching of Russian as a foreign language, which teachers can use in short-term courses. The authors have shown that interactive methods and forms of teaching stimulate foreign students to speak and communicate in the target language. This contributes to the development of skills of social and academic interaction of students to solve pressing communication problems in real situations of communication. We see the perspective of research in the development of interactive methods of teaching a foreign language for different age groups of students and different levels of proficiency in a foreign language.Актуальность темы данной статьи обусловлена необходимостью усиления интерактивной стороны процесса обучения иностранному языку на краткосрочных курсах в языковой среде. Цель исследования – установить соотношение интерактивных форм и приемов, которые определяют специфику интерактивного урока иностранного языка. В противоположность существующим точкам зрения мы предприняли попытку доказать, что эффективность интерактивного обучения зависит от систематизации интерактивных форм и приемов обучения и последовательности их использования. Для исследования закономерностей интерактивного обучения иностранному языку мы применили следующие методы: наблюдение, эксперимент и аналитический метод. Анализ интерактивных форм и приемов обучения иностранцев русскому языку на краткосрочных курсах в России показывает, что использование обучающего потенциала языковой среды делает содержание обучения естественным, актуальным и интересным. Отход от традиционных приемов обучения позволяет организовать обмен мыслями и чувствами в условиях речевого взаимодействия при создании совместного продукта (как речевого, так и неречевого). Интерактивный урок, выступающий как макроединица отбора и содержания обучения русскому языку как иностранному (РКИ) на краткосрочных курсах, состоит из трех блоков (мотивационно-ознакомительный, деятельностно-ориентированный и результативный). Специально отобранные для каждой ситуации общения и расположенные в определенном порядке интерактивные формы и приемы представлены в системе интерактивных упражнений и заданий, классифицированных в зависимости от стадий усвоения речевых действий в разных коммуникативных ситуациях. В статье представлены формы и приемы интерактивного обучения русскому языку как иностранному, которые преподаватели могут применять на краткосрочных курсах. Авторы показали, что интерактивные приемы и формы обучения стимулируют иностранных учащихся к устно-речевому общению на изучаемом языке. Это способствует развитию умений социального и учебного взаимодействия учащихся для решения актуальных коммуникативных задач в реальных ситуациях общения. Перспектива исследования видится в том, чтобы разработать интерактивные приемы обучения иностранному языку для разных возрастных групп учащихся и разных уровней владения иностранным языком

Heat — An Interactive Development Environment for Learning & Teaching Haskell

Using a separate editor and interpreter provides many distracting obstacles for inexperienced students learning a programming language. Professional interactive development environments, however, confuse these students with their excessive features. Hence this paper presents Heat, an interactive development environment specially designed for novice students learning the functional programming language Haskell. Based on teaching experience, Heat provides a small number of features and is easy to use. Heat proves that a small portable interactive development environment can be implemented on top of but independent of a particular Haskell interpreter. Heat with Hugs has been used in teaching functional programming at the University of Kent for the past three years

Towards the Use of Interactive Simulation for Effective e-Learning in University Classroom Environment

In this PhD thesis, the utilisation of interactive simulation in a higher education e-learning classroom environment was explored and its effectiveness was experimentally evaluated by engaging university students in a classroom setting. Two case studies were carried out for the experimental evaluation of the proposed novel interactive simulation e-learning tool. In the first case study, the use of interactive agent-based simulation was demonstrated in teaching complex adaptive system concepts in the area of ecology to university students and its effectiveness was measured in a classroom environment. In a lab intervention using a novel interactive agent-based simulation (built in NetLogo). For the purpose of teaching complex adaptive systems such as the concept of spatially-explicit predator prey interaction to undergraduate and postgraduate students in the University of Stirling. The effectiveness of using the interactive simulation was investigated by using the NetLogo software and compared with non-interactive simulation built using R programming language. The experimental evaluation was carried out using a total of 38 students. Results of this case study demonstrates that the students found interactive agent-based simulation to be more engaging, effective and user friendly as compare to the non-interactive simulation. In the second case study, a novel interactive simulation game was developed (in NetLogo) and its effectiveness in teaching and learning of complex concepts in the field of marine ecology was demonstrated. This case study makes a twofold contribution. Firstly, the presentation of a novel interactive simulation game, developed specifically for use in undergraduate and postgraduate courses in the area of marine ecology. This novel interactive simulation game is designed to help learners to explore a mathematical model of fishery population growth and understand the principles for sustainable fisheries. Secondly, the comparison of two different methods of using the interactive simulation game within the classroom was investigated: learning from active exploration of the interactive simulation game compared with learning from an expert demonstration of the interactive simulation game. The case study demonstrated the effectiveness of learning from passive viewing of an expert demonstration of the interactive simulation game over learning from active exploration of the interactive simulation game without expert guidance, for teaching complex concepts sustainable fishery management. A mixed methods study design was used, using both quantitative and qualitative methods to compare the learning effectiveness of the two approaches, and the students’ preferences. The investigation was carried out by running interventions with a mixture of undergraduate and postgraduate students from the University of Stirling in a classroom environment. A total of 74 participants were recruited from undergraduate and postgraduate level for both case studies. This thesis demonstrated through two case studies effectiveness of the proposed novel interactive simulation in university e-learning classroom environment

Student Interest and Engagement in Middle School Physical Education: Examining the Role of Needs Supportive Teaching

This study examines the complexities of the social learning environment in middle school physical education. Specifically, we investigate the independent and interactive predictive effects of situational interest and needs supportive teaching on students’ personal interest and class engagement. Middle school students (N = 388) in compulsory physical education courses completed questionnaires on situational interest, needs supportive teaching, personal interest, and behavioral and emotional engagement. Results from structural equation modeling tests revealed independent predictive effects of situational interest and needs supportive teaching on personal interest, and behavioral and emotional engagement. There was also an interactive effect between situational interest and needs supportive teaching on personal interest. This association was conditional on a minimum level of needs support in the social learning environment. To date, the conceptualization of situational interest has focused on student – activity interactions; however, our findings highlight the importance of social learning environment on student – activity interactions