1,665 research outputs found
The guiding process in discovery hypertext learning environments for the Internet
Hypertext is the dominant method to navigate the Internet, providing user freedom
and control over navigational behaviour. There has been an increase in converting
existing educational material into Internet web pages but weaknesses have been
identified in current WWW learning systems. There is a lack of conceptual support
for learning from hypertext, navigational disorientation and cognitive overload. This
implies the need for an established pedagogical approach to developing the web as a
teaching and learning medium.
Guided Discovery Learning is proposed as an educational pedagogy suitable for
supporting WWW learning. The hypothesis is that a guided discovery environment
will produce greater gains in learning and satisfaction, than a non-adaptive hypertext
environment. A second hypothesis is that combining concept maps with this specific
educational paradigm will provide cognitive support. The third hypothesis is that
student learning styles will not influence learning outcome or user satisfaction. Thus,
providing evidence that the guided discovery learning paradigm can be used for many
types of learning styles.
This was investigated by the building of a guided discovery system and a framework
devised for assessing teaching styles. The system provided varying discovery steps,
guided advice, individualistic system instruction and navigational control. An 84
subject experiment compared a Guided discovery condition, a Map-only condition
and an Unguided condition. Subjects were subdivided according to learning styles,
with measures for learning outcome and user satisfaction. The results indicate that
providing guidance will result in a significant increase in level of learning. Guided
discovery condition subjects, regardless of learning styles, experienced levels of
satisfaction comparable to those in the other conditions. The concept mapping tool
did not appear to affect learning outcome or user satisfaction.
The conclusion was that using a particular approach to guidance would result in a
more supportive environment for learning. This research contributes to the need for a
better understanding of the pedagogic design that should be incorporated into WWW
learning environments, with a recommendation for a guided discovery approach to
alleviate major hypertext and WWW issues for distance learning
Utilising ontology-based modelling for learning content management
Learning content management needs to support a variety of open, multi-format Web-based software applications. We propose multidimensional, model-based semantic annotation as a way to support the management of access to and change of learning content. We introduce an information architecture model as the central contribution that supports multi-layered learning content structures. We discuss interactive query access, but also change management for multi-layered learning content management. An ontology-enhanced traceability approach is the solution
Teaching new media composition studies in a lifelong learning context
Governmental proposals for lifelong learning, and the role of Information and Learning Technologies/Information Communication Technologies (ILT/ICT) in this, idealistically proclaim that ILT/ICT empowers learners. A number of important governmental funding initiatives have recently been extended to the development of ILT in further education, which provides a particularly appropriate environment for lifelong learning. Yet little emphasis is given to more problematic research findings that students may be âdisarmedâ in the process of learning to use technology. In the current global shift towards new forms of multimedia literacy, it is important to recognize human diversity by carrying out research focusing on the actual problems students face in adapting to Webâbased technology as a new authoring medium. A case study into multimedia creative composition carried out with FE students in 1996â9 found that students tend to experience a problematic but potentially useful period of âcreative messâ when authoring in multimedia, and that âscaffoldingâ strategies can be useful in overcoming this. Such strategies can empower students to derive benefits from multimedia composition if close attention is given to the setting up of the learning environment: a teachersâ model for supporting novice hypermedia authors in further education is proposed, to assist teachers to understand and support the learning processes students may undergo in dynamic composition using new media technology
Collaborative trails in e-learning environments
This deliverable focuses on collaboration within groups of learners, and hence collaborative trails. We begin by reviewing the theoretical background to collaborative learning and looking at the kinds of support that computers can give to groups of learners working collaboratively, and then look more deeply at some of the issues in designing environments to support collaborative learning trails and at tools and techniques, including collaborative filtering, that can be used for analysing collaborative trails. We then review the state-of-the-art in supporting collaborative learning in three different areas â experimental academic systems, systems using mobile technology (which are also generally academic), and commercially available systems. The final part of the deliverable presents three scenarios that show where technology that supports groups working collaboratively and producing collaborative trails may be heading in the near future
Paradigms for the design of multimedia learning environments in engineering
The starting point for this research was the belief that interactive multimedia
learning environments represent a significant evolution in computer based
learning and therefore their design requires a re-examination of the underlying
principles of learning and knowledge representation.
Current multimedia learning environments (MLEs) can be seen as descendants
of the earlier technologies of computer-aided learning (CAL), intelligent tutoring
systems (ITS) and videodisc-based learning systems. As such they can benefit
from much of the wisdom which emerged from those technologies. However,
multimedia can be distinguished from earlier technologies by its much greater
facility in bringing to the learner high levels of interaction with and control over
still and moving image, animation, sound and graphics. Our intuition tells us that
this facility has the potential to create learning environments which are not
merely substitutes for "live" teaching, but which are capable of elucidating
complex conceptual knowledge in ways which have not previously been
possible. If the potential of interactive multimedia for learning is to be properly
exploited then it needs to be better understood. MLEs should not just be
regarded as a slicker version of CAL, ITS or videodisc but a new technology
requiring a reinterpretation of the existing theories of learning and knowledge
representation.
The work described in this thesis aims to contribute to a better understanding of
the ways in which MLEs can aid learning. A knowledge engineering approach
was taken to the design of a MLE for civil engineers. This involved analysing in
detail the knowledge content of the learning domain in terms of different
paradigms of human learning and knowledge representation. From this basis, a
design strategy was developed which matched the nature of the domain
knowledge to the most appropriate delivery techniques. The Cognitive
Apprenticeship Model (CAM) was shown to be able to support the integration
and presentation of the different categories of knowledge in a coherent
instructional framework.
It is concluded that this approach is helpful in enabling designers of multimedia
systems both to capture and to present a rich picture of the domain. The focus of
the thesis is concentrated on the domain of Civil Engineering and the learning of
concepts and design skills within that domain. However, much of it could be
extended to other highly visual domains such as mechanical engineering. Many
of the points can also be seen to be much more widely relevant to the design of
any MLE.Engineering and
Physical Sciences Research Counci
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