Consideration of building a common platform of collaborative learning environment

This paper reports on considerations about a common and basic functions/components for building a collaborative learning environment. We make efforts to specify the technological issues towards the future standardization of this environment through our research experiences. The problem of standardization includes many embarrassed aspects, however it will extend and widen the field of applications possible within the collaborative learning paradigm, and will make possible the usage of the fruits of years of research and individual implementations of the concept of collaborative learning, from many researches, developments and experiences. So we would like to locate this problem as building a common platform

A drawing learning support system based on the drawing process model

ArticleInteractive Technology and Smart Education. 11(2): 146-164 (2014)journal articl

ソフトウェア習得時における初学者の理解状況の把握 : 情報機器の機能と役割, および相互関係について

For the purpose of investigating how software-learners understand the functions, roles and interrelations of five information devices of a computer （a hard disk, a floppy disk, a CRT display, a key board and a printer）, we carried out a questionnaire research.We made the subject of investigation on 44 student sof 15 weeks lessons about the computer literacy, and requested them to answer the questionnaire five times.In the each questionnaire, we showed our students the picture demonstrated five information devices and requested each of them to draw a line between devices that had specific relations. And we requested them to explain the reason why they gave lines.As results, we found that roles of auxiliary memories（a hard disk and a floppy disk） were very difficult for students to understand, while the roles of some of input / outout devices （a printer and a key board） were relatively easy. So it was made clear that, in their stage of early lessons, we had to explain repeatedly auxiliary devices in order to give them clear understandings of ones and to avoid difficulties of them following the contents of the lessons given later.Through these results, if we practice these researches in the progress of our lessons we think that we can improve our instructional design to make learners understand easily and correctly

コンピュータ動作理解のための教育支援システム : その教材としての評価

We have made an application software for demonstrating the behaviors of a model computer proposed by Nakamura and Shimizu. We have been using this software for teaching computer literacy to beginners and have evaluated its usefulness.As a result we found that this software was helpful to the learners in understanding the basic behaviors of the model computer and the roles of the elements of the model computer such as the adder and the address decoder. Our software turned out to be also effective in helping the learners to realize the necessity of programming in a thoroughly logical and efficient way

PICA-PICA: Exploring a Customisable Smart STEAM Educational Approach via a Smooth Combination of Programming, Engineering and Art

The STEAM approach in education has been gaining increasing popularity over the last decade. This is due to its potential in enhancing students' learning, when teaching arts and scientific disciplines together. This paper introduces the PICA-PICA concept, where we aim to develop a smart customisable environment, combining, in a unique way, teaching programming in conjunction with the engineering of artworks. The PICA-PICA concept was implemented, used and tested in real-life, by upper primary school students in Japan, during a 4-day workshop. Initial results illustrated the quality of the solution proposed by PICA-PICA. We noted that the integration was perceived as smooth, and not contrived: all participants understood how to use the PICA-PICA environment to engineer programmable art objects. Furthermore, the PICA-PICA approach led to high motivation: children did not get bored and were fully engaged. Finally, the quality of their work as a learning outcome was high: by including a programming segment with the other expressive activities in the artwork, the children were able to design the electronics in a more concentrated and meaningful way than their curriculum-structured learning. This study also presents an innovative implementation of the STEAM approach using Micro:bits technology to create exciting artwork whilst using household recyclable items, which also teaches about sustainability. The involvement of parents and their interest in learning is another unique aspect of this study

Earliest Predictor of Dropout in MOOCs: A Longitudinal Study of FutureLearn courses

Whilst a high dropout rate is a well-known problem in MOOCs, few studies take a data-driven approach to understand the reasons of such a phenomenon, and to thus be in the position to recommend and design possible adaptive solutions to alleviate it. In this study, we are particularly interested in finding a novel early detection mechanism of potential dropout, and thus be able to intervene at an as early time as possible. Additionally, unlike previous studies, we explore a light-weight approach, based on as little data as possible – since different MOOCs store different data on their users – and thus strive to create a truly generalisable method. Therefore, we focus here specifically on the generally available registration date and its relation to the course start date, via a comprehensive, larger than average, longitudinal study of several runs of all MOOC courses at the University of Warwick between 2014-1017, on the less explored European FutureLearn platform. We identify specific periods where different interventions are necessary, and propose, based on statistically significant results, specific pseudo-rules for adaptive feedback

プログラミング教育におけるアルゴリズム的思考法のための教育支援ツール利用の実践と評価

プログラミング教育においてアルゴリズム的思考法のための教育支援ツールの導入を試みた。本研究の目的は教育支援ツールの利用により，これまで課題であったアルゴリズムを考え記述する力，および，C言語の学習においてつまずきやすい配列の学習を効率的かつ効果的に行う方法を探求することである。本ツールでは，グラフィカルにアルゴリズムを組み立てることができ，また実行のトレース機能により学習者自身の検証も可能である。2010年度の「プログラミング言語I」の配列の授業においてツールを導入し，その効果について考察した。アルゴリズムを記述する実験では導入前の年度の受講生との差異は現れなかったが，配列に関する理解度については定期試験の結果の比較よりツール利用の効果があったことが言える

アルゴリズム的思考法に関する学習を取り入れたC言語によるプログラミング教育の実践と評価 : 2010年度から2013年度の4年間の実践より [研究ノート]

C言語によるプログラミング教育において，アルゴリズムを考える力を養い，プログラム作成に必要な十分なスキルを身につけさせることを目的とし，アルゴリズム的思考法に関する学習を取り入れた。本研究では，思考したアルゴリズムの外化にあたり，表現変換の負荷を減らすため，グラフィカルなインタフェースによりアルゴリズムを組み立てるビジュアル・ブロック・プログラミング可能なアルゴリズム学習向けWebツールを利用した。本論文では，ツールを利用した授業の概要及び2010年度から2013年度の4年間の実践について報告する。また，学習導入の効果を評価するため，アルゴリズム的思考能力およびプログラミング能力について本学習の導入前の受講生との比較を行った。プログラミング学習の初期段階でのアルゴリズム的思考法の導入がプログラミング学習において効果的であることが明らかとなった