Personalised higher education based on microcourses: Possible ways of implementation

Introduction. Educators all over the world agree that human education at any stage of development should be personalised. In order for the training to be personalised, the knowledge, competencies, behaviuoral models and approaches that need to be learned must be presented to a student in such a way that they have a value sense, are relevant and arouse his/her desire to learn even more. The problem of the study is the lack of sound methods for implementing a personalised approach in higher education. At the same time, it is noted that the learning process based on the introduction of microcourses contains the potential for the implementation of personalisation ideas, since microcourses are aimed at meeting the individual needs of the student. Aim. The present research aims to substantiate the possibilities of personalised learning based on microcourses at universities (master’s level). Methodology and research methods. The methodological framework of the research is the theory of the competence-based approach, the paradigm of personality-oriented learning, as well as scientific work in the field of personalised education. Results. The article presents a model of personalised learning at a university based on the use of microcourses. The principles of its construction are described: the responsibility of the university for the preparation of a graduate; reasonable conservatism; compliance of the initiative topic with the direction of training; systematic and systematic control. The concept of a microcourse of an academic discipline is introduced; examples of students choosing microcourses are given. The model of personalisation of education based on the use of microcourses, in addition to traditional sections, such as planned learning outcomes and a calendar curriculum, also contains new aspects (compared to current models of student learning): diagnostics of student’s capabilities in the implementation of personalisation; training regulations (including personal goals); schemes for the selection of general and additional modules, availability of initiative modules; diagnostics of achievements. The results can be broadcast to various areas of master’s degree programmes. Scientific novelty. The scientific novelty consists in the description of the possibilities of implementing a personalised approach in education based on the use of microcourses in master’s degree programmes. Practical significance. The developed model of personalisation of learning based on microcourses can be applied at all levels in the higher education system for various profiles of preparation. It will be especially significant for the profiles of the educational direction.Введение. Педагоги всего мира сходятся во мнении, что обучение человека на любой ступени развития должно иметь персонализированный характер. Чтобы обучение было персонализированным, знания, компетенции, модели поведения и подходы, которые необходимо усвоить, должны быть представлены обучающемуся таким образом, чтобы они имели ценностный смысл, были актуальны и вызывали у него желание узнать еще больше. Проблема исследования заключается в отсутствии обоснованных методик реализации персонализированного подхода в высшем образовании. В то же время отмечается, что процесс обучения, основанный на внедрении микрокурсов, содержит в себе потенциал реализации идей персонализации, так как микрокурсы нацелены на удовлетворение индивидуальных потребностей обучающегося. Цель статьи – обоснование возможностей персонализированного обучения в вузе (уровень магистратуры) на основе микрокурсов. Методология, методы и методики. Методологической основой исследования является теория компетентностного подхода, парадигма личностно-ориентированного обучения, а также научные работы в области персонализированного образования. Результаты. В статье приведена модель персонализированного обучения в вузе, основанная на использовании микрокурсов. Описаны принципы ее построения: ответственности вуза за подготовку выпускника; разумного консерватизма; соответствия инициативной тематики направлению подготовки; систематичности и системности контроля. Введено понятие микрокурса учебной дисциплины, приведены примеры выбора студентами микрокурсов. Модель персонализации образования на основе использования микрокурсов, помимо традиционных разделов, таких как планируемые результаты обучения и календарный учебный график, содержит и новые аспекты (по сравнению с действующими моделями обучения студентов): диагностика возможностей студента в реализации персонализации; регламент обучения (включающий личностные цели); схемы выбора общих и дополнительных модулей, наличие инициативных модулей; диагностика достижений. Результаты можно транслировать на различные направления подготовки в магистратуре. Научная новизна состоит в описании возможностей реализации персонализированного подхода в обучении по программам магистратуры, основанной на применении микрокурсов. Практическая значимость. Разработанная модель персонализации обучения на основе микрокурсов может быть применена на всех уровнях в системе высшего образования для различных профилей подготовки. Особенно значимой она будет для профилей педагогического направления

Exploring English Learners’ Engagement and Their Roles in the Online Language Course

In technology-enhanced language learning, student engagement and roles of learners are being popular to be exposed to a better understanding of their progress on their performance of learning, and possible pitfalls in the online language classes during the study-from-home program in the times of COVID-19. This article attempts to explore the students’ perceptions of their engagement in the online learning process. It also investigates the prominent learners’ roles in the online learning environment and the possible factors affecting their engagement or participation in the online learning process. An exploratory research design was applied to this study. The subjects were a hundred and sixty-five undergraduate students from the English Literature Department and the English Education Department. The data collected were from a questionnaire that was distributed using Google Form link via WhatsApp Group, an online interview through the ZOOM meeting, and online observation through learning management systems (LMS) Moodle used by the students. Results show that most students conveyed positive responses toward their online engagement. There were also three most prominent learners’ roles identified. These roles covered active learning, problem solvers, and knowledge seeker. Besides, most students expressed that the number of compulsory task submissions, content courses, unstable internet connection, and limited internet data become the learning factors that might demotivate them to accomplish the online activities and complete the online language course. Thus, course creators or teachers should reconsider using appropriate and effective online learning activities and online learning objects to enhance the students’ active engagement in the online course

How to Make Learning Effectiveness with Mayer’s Multimedia Instructional Model

“People learn more deeply from words and graphics than from words alone” [19]. This assertion constitutes the basic principle of multimedia instruction as one of the trends in the digital education. Some of instructional material designers or developers are not familiar with the principles of learning with multimedia in the creation of learning materials which may negatively impact learning effectiveness. Hence, this literature review paper aims to present the theoretical aspects of Mayer’s multimedia instructional learning with the main focus on the tenets and principles. The paper also aims to derive a set of implications that hopefully be of value for teachers and instructional designers in higher education who often endeavor to design multimedia materials supporting the motivation and knowledge retention

AI-Powered Education: Exploring the Potential of Personalised Learning for Students' Needs in Indonesia Education

Artificial intelligence (AI) stands out as a relatively new yet rapidly expanding technological tool that is transforming the field of education. This paper examines the potential of Artificial Intelligence to assist students and teachers in personalised learning. The research methodology employed for this study is a literature review, providing an overview of the current knowledge on practical AI applications for personalised learning and insights into methodological developments in this research field. Based on the literature, the results of this research demonstrate that personalised learning effectively accommodates students' learning preferences and enhances academic performance. Therefore, it could significantly benefit students by accommodating their learning pace and style. In the Indonesian education system context, the integration of AI for personalised learning is already included in the Indonesia Artificial Intelligence National Plan framework. To support this plan, the authors employed a Personalized Learning Plan (PLP) to integrate AI into educational settings practically. However, a challenge in integrating AI into education for personalised learning is that course or class designers often pay insufficient attention to creating content that develops practical skills. This neglect of pedagogical and technical aspects has led students and teachers to perceive these systems as unresponsive to their learning preferences, fostering a sense of pessimism.

SPOC online video learning clustering analysis: Identifying learners' group behavior characteristics

With the widespread of Small Private Online Courses (SPOC) in colleges and universities, course organizers who provide high-quality personalized course activities need to understand learners' learning status and characteristics, and then optimize the course teaching. However, little research has been done on different learners' group behavior characteristics, such as which indicators can reflect learner groups' behavior, and what are the typical behavior characteristics of different learner groups. In this work, we established a Python Language Foundation self-built SPOC course, and 109 undergraduates' learning behavior data were collected and analyzed. From 74-dimensional behavior log data consisting of 72 video-viewing, course video score, and comprehensive score, Principal Component Analysis was performed to reduce dimensionality. Agglomerative hierarchical clustering was used to divide learners into different categories, and the results showed that 15 groups are clustered. According to the analysis of the four indicators for group characteristics, which are the completion and viewing-stability of task-point videos, unit test excellence, and comprehensive score, it is identified into five primary types, including positive type, regular type, negative type, semi-negative type, and a fluctuation type. Experiments conducted on a real data set across different academic years and courses show that the proposed approach has better clustering accuracy and practicability. It is expected that this work may be used to strengthen the personalized learning support services system in educational institutions and develop a tool that integrates exploration and analysis work onto the web platform

Hazırlık okulu öğrencileri çevrimiçi öğrenmeye ne kadar hazır?

The aim of this study is to investigate the opinions of students enrolled at the School of Foreign Languages concerning their readiness to online learning. Method: Sequential mixed method design was used in this descriptive study. To collect data, the researcher administered Online Learning Readiness Scale (OLRS) and interview questions. As for data analysis, the data obtained from the quantitative part of the questionnaire were analyzed using descriptive statistics. For the qualitative part of the research, inductive content analysis was applied to analyze the beliefs of prep school students to ascertain their levels of online learning readiness. Findings: The results revealed that prep school students had moderate level of readiness for online learning. They indicated enhanced computer/internet and online communication self-efficacy and motivation whereas they often failed to direct and control their own online learning. Implications for Research and Practice: Bearing these findings in mind, some implications were drawn at the end of the study about the ways of increasing their online learning readiness, particularly their self-regulated learning. A final suggestion was that researchers and practitioners should seek to understand better why students generally can’t be successful at directing and controlling their own online learning.: Bu araştırmanın amacı, Yabancı Diller Yüksekokulu’na kayıt yaptıran öğrencilerin çevrimiçi öğrenmeye hazır bulunuşluklarına ilişkin görüşlerini incelemektir. Tanımlayıcı nitelikteki bu çalışmada sıralı karma yöntem deseni kullanılmıştır. Veri toplamak için araştırmacı, Çevrimiçi Öğrenmeye Hazırlık Ölçeği (OLRS) ve görüşme soruları uygulamıştır. Veri analizinde ise anketin nicel kısmından elde edilen veriler betimsel istatistikler kullanılarak analiz edilmiştir. Araştırmanın nitel kısmında, hazırlık okulu öğrencilerinin çevrimiçi öğrenmeye hazır bulunuşluk düzeylerini belirlemeye yönelik inançlarını analiz etmek için tümevarımsal içerik analizi uygulanmıştır. Sonuçlar, hazırlık okulu öğrencilerinin çevrimiçi öğrenmeye orta düzeyde hazır bulunuşluk düzeyine sahip olduklarını ortaya koymuştur. Araştırma sonuçları öğrencilerin gelişmiş bilgisayar/internet ve çevrimiçi iletişim öz-yeterliliğe ve motivasyona sahip olduklarını belirtirken, genellikle kendi çevrimiçi öğrenmelerini yönlendirmede ve kontrol etmede başarısız olduklarını da göstermiştir. Son bir öneri ise, araştırmacıların ve uygulayıcıların, öğrencilerin kendi çevrimiçi öğrenmelerini yönetmede ve kontrol etmede genellikle neden başarılı olamadıklarını daha iyi anlamaya çalışması gerekiyo

Assessment of cognitive, behavioral, and affective learning outcomes in massive open online courses: a systematic literature review

This systematic review on massive open online courses (MOOCs) in higher education examinedthe research on the assessment of learning outcomes based on 65 peer-reviewed articles publishedbetween 2017 and 2019. This study aims to investigate the learning outcomes, related instruments,and assessment characteristics of these instruments in MOOCs. Learning outcomes thatwere examined in the studies that were reviewed concerned cognitive, behavioral, and affectivelearning outcomes. Twenty-five types of assessment approaches were employed to examine theseoutcomes and to identify the assessment characteristics. The results indicate that a considerationof the assessment of learning outcomes at the beginning of course design could support theformulation of explicit assessment goals and, in this way, instruct learners to work towardlearning outcomes. A combination of knowledge tests and skill tasks can be used to examinecognitive outcomes in a particular MOOC. Outcome-oriented feedback rubrics are beneficial tosupport learner essay performance and interpretations of the utilization of rubrics could betterguide providers to give peer feedback. A variety of behavioral and affective outcomes reflectmultiple aspects of participant learning in MOOCs, which might contribute to better understandingby teachers and the provision of learning support. Furthermore, assessment tasksthroughout the course may differ in difficulty and complexity, which could align with differentlevels of learner motivation. The findings provide a holistic picture of learning outcomes andrelated assessment instruments in current MOOCs. Curriculum designers and teachers couldbenefit from this study to consider appropriate learning outcome variables and instruments toapply in their MOOC practices. Future research might investigate the motivation of learners toparticipate in a MOOC and how this changes during a MOOC. This could help MOOC designersand teachers to align how learners are motivated, what they want to learn, and what they actuallydo learn.Teaching and Teacher Learning (ICLON

The Influence of Instructional Design on Learner Control, Sense of Achievement, and Perceived Effectiveness in a Supersize MOOC Course

Responding to the lack of empirical studies on the effects of instructional design components on MOOCs, this study explores which instructional design components (e.g., course content, transactional interaction between student and content, structure/organization, assessment) influence learner control, sense of progress in the achievement of learning goals (sense of progress), and perceived effectiveness in a large-scale MOOC course called “Learning How to Learn” hosted in Coursera, a MOOC learning platform. Using an online survey distributed to learners who registered for the current Coursera English-language version of the course, we collected 1364 responses. Three separate hierarchical regression analyses revealed that all course design factors, transactional interaction between student and content (β =.111, pβ=.117, pβ =.432, pβ=.281, pβ=.108, pβ =.102, pβ=.073, pβ=.416, pβ=.030, p = .373). These findings provided empirical evidence that instructional components are critical predictors of student learning in MOOCs, which have been conceptualized as important factors in prior studies. Future research should focus on identifying effective and efficient ways to facilitate assessments as part of the learning process while accommodating personalized learning needs. Interpretations of the findings, discussions, and limitations are also addressed in this paper

Αξιοποίηση των MOOCs στην επιμόρφωση εκπαιδευτών σε θέματα εκπαιδευτικού σχεδιασμού

H διείσδυση των Τεχνολογιών της Πληροφορίας και της Επικοινωνίας αλλά και οι σύγχρονες απαιτήσεις για ευέλικτες και από απόσταση μορφές εκπαίδευσης οδήγησαν σε νέους τρόπους παροχής μαθημάτων. Τα MOOC (Massive Open Online Courses) ή Μαζικά Ελεύθερα Διαδικτυακά Μαθήματα είναι διαδικτυακά μαθήματα σχεδιασμένα για μεγάλο αριθμό συμμετεχόντων, προσβάσιμα από οποιονδήποτε και από οπουδήποτε. Στο πλαίσιο της παρούσας εργασίας πραγματοποιείται μία επισκόπηση του πεδίου και προτείνεται ένα πλαίσιο σχεδιασμού MOOC μαθημάτων για την εκπαίδευση εκπαιδευτών δευτεροβάθμιας και τριτοβάθμιας εκπαίδευσης σε σύγχρονες εκπαιδευτικές μεθόδους που μπορούν να εφαρμοστούν σε δια ζώσης ή/και σε εξ αποστάσεως εκπαιδευτικά περιβάλλοντα. Η πρόταση στοχεύει να υπηρετήσει βασικές αρχές όπως (α) παροχή πολυμεσικού-αλληλεπιδραστικού υλικού που να καλύπτει διαφορετικές προτιμήσεις και ανάγκες, (β) η ενεργοποίηση των συμμετεχόντων στην κατεύθυνση συνεργασίας και συνδημιουργίας ΑΕΠ, και (γ) η αξιοποίηση ήδη γνωστών περιβαλλόντων για την υλοποίηση του MOOC. Το προτεινόμενο μοντέλο υλοποιείται μέσω ενός συστήματος διαχείρισης μάθησης (LMS), και στη συγκεκριμένη περίπτωση μέσω του ολοκληρωμένου συστήματος διαχείρισης ηλεκτρονικών μαθημάτων eclass, και με τη χρήση των web 2.0 εργαλείων. Στο πλαίσιο της εργασίας δημιουργήθηκε υλικό για το MOOC για τα ακόλουθα θέματα: συνεργατική μέθοδο Jigsaw, σχεδιασμός Agile, ανεστραμμένη τάξη-μάθηση και μοντέλα ηλεκτρονικής μάθησης.The penetration of Information and Communication Technologies as well as the modern requirements for flexible and distance methods of education led to new ways of providing education. MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) are online courses designed for a large number of participants, accessible by anyone and from anywhere. This thesis reviews this field and proposes a MOOC course framework design for training secondary and higher education instructors in contemporary educational methods that can be applied in real-life and/or distance learning environments. The proposal aims to serve basic principles such as (a) access to multimedia-interactive material that covers different preferences and needs, (b) the activation of participants in the direction of cooperation and co-creation of Open Educational Resources (OERs), and (c) the utilization of already known environments for the implementation of MOOCs. The proposed model is implemented through a learning management system (LMS), and in this particular case through the integrated eclass management system as well as using web 2.0 tools. This research produced MOOC materials on the following topics: collaborative Jigsaw method, Agile design, flipped classroom-learning and e-learning models