A Competence-based Service for Supporting Self-Regulated Learning in Virtual Environments

This  paper  presents  a  conceptual  approach  and  a  Web-based  service  that  aim  at  supporting self-regulated learning in virtual environments. The conceptual approach consists of four  components:  1)  a  self-regulated  learning  model  for  supporting  a  learner-centred  learning  process, 2) a psychological model for facilitating competence-based personalization and knowledge assessment, 3) an open learner model approach for visual interaction and feedback, and 4) a learning analytics approach for capturing relevant learner information required by the other  components.  The  Web-based  service  provides  a  technical  implementation  of  the  conceptual approach, as well as a linkage to existing virtual environments used for learning purposes. The approach and service have been evaluated in user studies in university courses on computer  science  to  demonstrate  the  usefulness  of  the  overall  approach  and  to  get  an  understanding of some limitations

Self-Regulation, Co-Regulation, and Feedback in the Context of Cross-Cultural Language Acquisition in Higher Education: A Conceptual Approach

Given the exponential growth in international student populations in the United States, supporting cross cultural language learners (CCLL) in developing their self and co-regulated learning is highly important. This paper presents a conceptual framework on the value of feedback within self-regulated versus co-regulated environments, in the context of cross- cultural language learning. We use the term cross cultural language learners (CCLL) to refer to international learners, in particular from Asia. When exploring the issues of cross cultural language acquisition relating to logographic (Chinese) and alphabetic (English) languages, we examine the literature that support self and co-regulated learning within the frame of feedback. The results indicate that because CCLLs have unique motivational, behavioral and cognitive challenges, they may benefit less from the use of only one option between self and co regulation. A fusion of self and co-regulated feedback may transfer cross cultural language skills for CCLLs more efficiently

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

Software scaffolds to promote regulation during scientific inquiry learning

This research addresses issues in the design of online scaffolds for regulation within inquiry learning environments. The learning environment in this study included a physics simulation, data analysis tools, and a model editor for students to create runnable models. A regulative support tool called the Process Coordinator (PC) was designed to assist students in planning, monitoring, and evaluating their investigative efforts within this environment. In an empirical evaluation, 20 dyads received a “full” version of the PC with regulative assistance; dyads in the control group (n = 15) worked with an “empty” PC which contained minimal structures for regulative support. Results showed that both the frequency and duration of regulative tool use differed in favor of the PC+ dyads, who also wrote better lab reports. PC− dyads viewed the content helpfiles more often and produced better domain models. Implications of these differential effects are discussed and suggestions for future research are advanced

weSPOT: a cloud-based approach for personal and social inquiry

Scientific inquiry is at the core of the curricula of schools and universities across Europe. weSPOT is a new European initiative proposing a cloud-based approach for personal and social inquiry. weSPOT aims at enabling students to create their mashups out of cloud-based tools in order to perform scientific investigations. Students will also be able to share their inquiry accomplishments in social networks and receive feedback from the learning environment and their peers

Pedagogical Feedback for Computer-based Sport Training

Feedback in Computer-based Sport Training (CBST) may be synthetically designed to allow athletes to practise in a more effective way and enhance their skill acquisition. Little research has integrated pedagogic theory and instructional design with the design of feedback in CBST. To bridge this gap, the paper presents the design of pedagogically-informed feedback for the implementation of a CBST system. The heart of the design is to generate feedback based on the athletes’ achievement of their intended training outcome. The pedagogical feedback system measures athletes’ performance and compares it with the given training outcomes. The system then identifies the performance’s gap and generates feedback to reinforce better performance. A Counterbalanced experiment asked student rowers (N = 8) to explore the differences between the pedagogical feedback system and their current feedback system (Sean-Analysis). Pedagogical feedback was at least as good as Sean-Analysis with respect to the level of satisfaction of the athlete. Overall, it can be concluded that the pedagogical feedback appears to be a good model for generating feedback in CBST

The psychological dimension of transformation in teacher learning

Against a background which recognises pedagogical content knowledge as the distinctive element of teacher competence/expertise, this theoretical essay argues for its central construct - that of transformation – to be understood by teachers and teacher-educators in psychological terms (as was originally proposed by Dewey). Transformation requires teachers to fashion disciplinary knowledge such that it is accessible to the learner. It is argued that for transformation to happen, teacher thinking must include a sophisticated grasp of cognition and metacognition if teachers are to be characterised as competent, let alone expert. This article is written within a context of considerable social and academic scrutiny in the United Kingdom of the form and content of professional teacher preparation and development. In recent years the contribution of psychological knowledge to teacher-education has been filtered through procedural lenses of how best to 'manage classrooms', 'assess learning', 'build confidence' or whatever without a matched concern for psychological constructs through which such issues might be interpreted; thus leaving teachers vulnerable in their professional understandings of learning and its complexities. That society now requires high-level cognitive engagement amongst its participants places cognitive and metacognitive demands on teachers which can only be met if they themselves are conceptually equipped