Peer scaffolding in promoting critical thinking through asynchronous online discussion forum: the theoretical framework

Since 1960s, the use of technology in the educational field has been widespread. The internet, according to Becker (2001), has been playing a major role in enhancing educational technology, which has provided diverse opportunities to the education world. One of the opportunities is to teach and learn via online learning. This method has become popular since it encourages students to submit their ideas and opinions freely through discussions which is considered a powerful tool for developing pedagogical skills such as problem solving, critical thinking, collaboration and reflection

Using an online formative assessment framework to enhance student engagement: a learning outcomes approach

Students learn best when they are fully engaged in the learning process, are motivated to test their current level of learning against known standards, and are offered targeted and timely support to help address subsequent personal learning needs. The most usual way to do this is through the use of assessment, but this in itself can act as an overbearing influence on what and how students learn, rather than providing an holistic support mechanism that encourages continuous reflective learning. Summative assessment provides a quantitative measure of learning at specific points in time, but may not encourage students to focus on specific strengths and weaknesses in need of attention. Formative assessment can provide specific reflective and feed-forward support, but given the time-poor nature of many students, is this perceived as a useful part of the learning process? This paper presents an overview of work in progress (funded by Centre for Open Learning in Maths, Science, Computing and Technology CETL at The Open University), on the development and implementation of an online interactive formative assessment framework, that has designed from a constructivist perspective, to promote student engagement and understanding of academic progression, using an learning outcomes approach. The framework specifically aims to enhance student awareness, understanding and recognition of competency levels, and to allow testing of ongoing academic progress at predetermined and self-selected points throughout the year. Each assessment makes explicit links to other components of the course including the summative assessment strategy, as a means of providing an integrated approach to learning. By working through the formative assessments it is hoped that students will become more self-directed and confident in their learning skills and abilities, which in turn should improve retention. The framework uses OpenMark (a web-based system developed within the Open University) in which students have up to three attempts to correctly answer each question, and are offered instantaneous and targeted feedback after each incorrect attempt. The system collects information on the answers submitted, and the time taken to complete each question, offering valuable insight into how (and which) students are engaging with the assessment and course materials. This data permits new targeted feedback to be added in response to common errors, as well as additional support mechanisms to be incorporated in response to specific skills or content that is poorly demonstrated. All feedback in the framework is formative, commenting on how well each of the learning outcomes tested over a period of study has been demonstrated, as well as the overall level of academic competency attained at that point in time. At present, the framework encompasses seven interactive assessments (linked to fortnightly periods of study), consisting of ten variable-format questions (set at two levels of academic complexity). A planned eighth assessment will randomly select questions from preceding assessments, offering an instantaneous interactive revision tool. Preliminary results indicate that students not only rate the assessments as enjoyable, but are revisiting specific assessments as a means of enhancing previous outcomes and checking their progression on aspects they previously had difficulties with

การพัฒนาความสามารถในการผลิตสื่อสำหรับนักศึกษาวิชาชีพครูสาขาวิชาการศึกษาปฐมวัย โดยใช้การเรียนรู้จากการทำงานแบบผสมผสานและเสริมศักยภาพด้วยเทคโนโลยี DEVELOPMENT OF PRODUCTIVE ABILITY OF INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS FOR PRE-SERVICE TEACHER IN EARLY CHILDHOOD EDU

บทคัดย่อ การวิจัยครั้งนี้มีวัตถุประสงค์ เพื่อศึกษาผลของการพัฒนาความสามารถในการผลิตสื่อ โดยใช้การเรียนรู้จากการทำงานแบบผสมผสานและเสริมศักยภาพด้วยเทคโนโลยี กลุ่มตัวอย่างได้แก่ นักศึกษาวิชาชีพครู สาขาวิชาการศึกษาปฐมวัย ที่กำลังศึกษารายวิชา สื่อและเทคโนโลยีการศึกษา จำนวน 30 คน โดยการเลือกแบบเจาะจง  เครื่องมือที่ใช้ในการวิจัย ประกอบด้วย 1) แผน การจัดการเรียนรู้ 2) แบบประเมินความสามารถในการผลิตสื่อ และ 3) แบบสังเกตพฤติกรรมการเรียนรู้ 4) แบบประเมินความพึงพอใจ สถิติที่ใช้ในงานวิจัย ได้แก่ การทดสอบความแตกต่างค่าเฉลี่ยของกลุ่มตัวอย่าง 2 กลุ่มไม่อิสระ (Paired sample t-test) สถิติเชิงพรรณา ค่าพัฒนา การสัมพัทธ์ ค่าร้อยละ และการวิเคราะห์เนื้อหา ระยะเวลาเรียนทั้งหมด 8 สัปดาห์ สัปดาห์ละ 4 ชั่วโมง สัดส่วนการเรียนแบบออนไลน์ต่อการเรียนแบบออนไซต์ 50 : 50  ผลการประเมินความสามารถในการผลิตสื่อ โดยรวม พบว่า ผลการเปรียบเทียบความแตกต่างของระดับความสามารถในการผลิตสื่อก่อนและหลัง พบว่า ภายหลังการเรียนรู้จากการทำงานแบบผสมผสานและเสริมศักยภาพด้วยเทคโนโลยีทำให้ระดับความสามารถในการผลิตสื่อสูงกว่าก่อนเรียนอย่างมีนัยสำคัญทางสถิติที่ระดับ .05  กลุ่มผู้ที่มีค่าพัฒนาการสัมพัทธ์ระดับสูงมากที่สุด ส่วนใหญ่เลือกใช้การเสริมศักยภาพด้วยแหล่งเรียนรู้ พฤติกรรมการเรียนรู้ที่สำคัญ คือ มีการปรับปรุงงานตามคำแนะนำ และค้นคว้าข้อมูลเพื่อปรับแก้ไขทุกครั้งที่ได้รับคำแนะนำ คำสำคัญ: ความสามารถในการผลิตสื่อ  การเรียนรู้จากการทำงานแบบผสมผสาน  การเสริมศักยภาพด้วยเทคโนโลยี   ABSTRACT The purpose of this project is to investigate the productive ability of instructional materials for pre-service teacher in early childhood education by using work-based blended learning and technological scaffolding. The sample group consisted of 30 students in early childhood education who enrolled in the Media and Educational Technology course. All student participants were selected by a purposive sampling method. A learning management plan, a media production capability assessment form, a learning behavior observation form, and a satisfaction assessment form were used as the research tools. T-test statistics, descriptive statistics, relative growth method, percentage and content analysis were applied for data analysis in the study. There was a 50:50 between online: on-site. It was 8 weeks and 4 hours per week, according to the total media production ability evaluation results. The results showed that the learners in the experimental group significantly had higher posttest–mean scores than their pretest–mean scores on Productive Ability of Instructional Materials (p < 0.05). Most of them prefer to be empowered with learning resources to the greatest degree. The major learning behavior was to enhance activities based on instructions and study data in order to make corrections every time they received guidance. Learners with the highest relative growth method chose resources technological scaffolding. The major learning behavior was to enhance activities based on instructions and study data to make corrections every time they received guidance.   Keywords: Ability of Instructional Materials, Work-Based Blended Learning, Technological Scaffoldin

Online scaffolding through asynchronous online discussion forum

Since the last decade, the rapid development of information and communication technology (ICT), brings a lot of changes to nearly every fields of life including management, entertainment, financial, and legislation (Mohd Fuad, 2014). With internet, humans have access to infinite knowledge and communication can be made to people across the globe with just a few clicks. The immense potential of internet creates interest for the educators to take advantage and implement online communication in educational setting

Support of the collaborative inquiry learning process: influence of support on task and team regulation

Regulation of the learning process is an important condition for efficient and effective learning. In collaborative learning, students have to regulate their collaborative activities (team regulation) next to the regulation of their own learning process focused on the task at hand (task regulation). In this study, we investigate how support of collaborative inquiry learning can influence the use of regulative activities of students. Furthermore, we explore the possible relations between task regulation, team regulation and learning results. This study involves tenth-grade students who worked in pairs in a collaborative inquiry learning environment that was based on a computer simulation, Collisions, developed in the program SimQuest. Students of the same team worked on two different computers and communicated through chat. Chat logs of students from three different conditions are compared. Students in the first condition did not receive any support at all (Control condition). In the second condition, students received an instruction in effective communication, the RIDE rules (RIDE condition). In the third condition, students were, in addition to receiving the RIDE rules instruction, supported by the Collaborative Hypothesis Tool (CHT), which helped the students with formulating hypotheses together (CHT condition). The results show that students overall used more team regulation than task regulation. In the RIDE condition and the CHT condition, students regulated their team activities most often. Moreover, in the CHT condition the regulation of team activities was positively related to the learning results. We can conclude that different measures of support can enhance the use of team regulative activities, which in turn can lead to better learning results

Re-design of digital tasks: the role of automatic and expert scaffolding at university level

In this study we present the re-design of a digital task for university students attending to a probability course. The re-design, directed toward the overcoming of specific critical issues highlighted in previous studies, is mainly aimed at providing students (in particular low achievers) with hints and feedback as tools of scaffolding and meta- scaffolding. Thanks to the analysis of a low achiever’s interaction with the re-designed task, we investigated the limits of the automatic scaffolding and the key- role of expert’s interventions in fostering students’ overcoming of possible impasses

Students' reflections on the design of digital resources to scaffold metacognitive activities

In this paper we investigate the efficiency of the design of a digital resource aimed at scaffolding students’ metacognitive processes during problem solving activities. We develop this investigation by focusing on students’ a-posteriori reflections on their interaction with the digital resource. Through the analysis of students’ reflections, we highlight the digital meta-scaffolding elements that are relevant for students and their level of awareness about the provided metacognitive support

Students’ reflections on the design of digital resources to scaffold metacognitive activities

In this paper we investigate the efficiency of the design of a digital resource aimed at scaffolding students’ metacognitive processes during problem solving activities. We develop this investigation by focusing on students’ a-posteriori reflections on their interaction with the digital resource. Through the analysis of students’ reflections, we highlight the digital meta-scaffolding elements that are relevant for students and their level of awareness about the provided metacognitive support