A Close Look at Trust Among Team Members in Online Learning Communities

Trust is one of the important factors either fostering or damaging students’ online teamwork learning experience. Building trust among team members has become a necessary step for a successful collaboration experience. The purpose of the article was to understand students’ learning and teamwork experiences and further to investigate the relationships of learner-centered instructions, team trust, and social presence in an online learning community. Also, this article adds to the research on the role of social presence in promoting cognitive and affective trust. The results indicated there were positive correlations between learner-centered instructions and trust, between learner-centered instructions and social presence, and between trust and social presence. The study could provide suggestions for instructors teaching online courses for the implementation of learner-centered instructions and the importance of creating a social presence and building trust for students in a collaborative online learning environment

Requirements for a virtual environment to support the social participation education of low-literates

People of low literacy experience difficulties while participating in society. Learning support software could help alleviate these difficulties. However, there is currently no overview of theoretically and empirically sound requirements for this kind of support. This paper uses the situated cognitive engineering method to create a requirements baseline for a virtual environment to support the societal participation education of low-literates (VESSEL), based on an analysis of the domain, human factors, and current applications. Four major outcomes are presented. First, a comprehensive overview is collected of the operational demands and human factors knowledge relevant to societal participation learning for low-literate citizens. Second, this overview is translated into a list of eight functional requirements: focused on low-literate learners, set in the context of societal participation, and supported by claims of cognitive, affective, and social benefits to learning. Third, a sample of Dutch societal participation learning support programs is assessed using these requirements, to highlight both current technology best practices and discrepancies between theory and practice. Fourth, virtual learning environment technology is suggested as an ‘enabling’ technology; an overview is shown of how virtual environments, actors, and objects can beneficially enable meeting the requirements baseline. Finally, directions for future study are discussed.Interactive Intelligenc

IMMERSIVE LEARNING IN EDUCATION FOR CPR SKILLS ACQUISITION

This quasi-experimental research study 1) explored the effectiveness of implementing a Virtual Reality CPR simulation for improving knowledge and skills on the Basic Life Support exam and 2) explored the favorability of using a CPR VR simulation for recertification as measured through a self-efficacy survey instrument. Participants included staff, faculty, or students at a small liberal arts college located in the southeast United States seeking re-certification in CPR. This study was conducted in the following steps; 1) conducted literature review that encompasses opportunities in CPR training, opportunities in VR, games and simulations in education, implementation challenges, and research opportunities and frameworks 2) applied for approval from the IRB at both Sam Houston State University and the participating college 3) acquired Oculus Go VR headsets and install the simulation software on each device 4) recruited an instructor and participants to participate in the study 5) scheduled classes and reserve facilities 6) conduct the study and analyze the data. This study provided evidence of the efficacy and favorability of using a CPR VR simulation as part of a CPR recertification course