The Relationship Between Tutoring Mode and Learners' use of Help Tools in Distance Education

This article presents an experimental study demonstrating how 120 learners use help tools in a virtual learning set-up. More specifically, several types of tutoring are investigated to find out the extent of the use of help tools in each. The effects of two independent variables which may have an impact on the behaviour of learners are studied: (1) whether or not they have access to a human tutor (HT) and (2) the tutor's means of intervention (reactive or proactive). One of the goals of the study is to determine whether these modes of tutoring can influence positively or negatively distance learners' use of lexical, conceptual, metacognitive and navigational help tools. The results of analysis of variance show that it is useless to prompt (effect of proactivity) learners to use the help that is available to them but that prompting is sometimes more subtle than initially foreseen. It appears that the presence of an HT pushes learners to use help tools, but this effect (of the presence of the HT) is still relatively weak and therefore may not justify the cost of employing a human tutor. It is also important to show the necessary intrinsic quality of the tools made available in order for a given mode of tutoring to have an effect on their us

Online information problem solving. An overview of the strategies used by 8- to 13-year-old students in French-speaking Belgium

In French-speaking Belgium, one of the new missions of the teacher will be to develop learners' information skills, namely their skills in searching, evaluating, and using information on the web. But do teachers know the strategies used by their students to adapt their teaching interventions? The aim of this study is to provide an overview of the different strategies used by 8 to 13 year old students when searching online. To achieve this objective, we use the IPS-I model and a methodology based on the analysis of the actual practices of 260 primary and secondary school students. Our results show that almost all of the students tested are novices in information retrieval. They do little or no research planning, use basic strategies, never check the reliability and relevance of the information they find and do not cite the sources used. These findings, in the light of previous empirical research on online search behaviour, allow for reflection on educational interventions and provide recommendations for educational practice

Points de vue sur les échanges électroniques et leurs usages en formation à distance

This contribution, which results from our participation in the Symfonic symposium, is structured around four questions which concern different aspects of the use of electronic exchanges in distance learning. Among these aspects, let us name : the modalities of remote exchanges in the pedagogical design process, the models useful to understand the pedagogical role of electronic exchanges, the complementarity between the different tools of exchanges, the effects of electronic exchanges on learning.Cette contribution, qui résulte de notre participation au symposium Symfonic, se structure autour de quatre questions qui concernent différents aspects liés à l’usage des échanges électroniques en formation à distance. Parmi les aspects discutés à travers ces questions, citons en ordre principal : les modalités de prise en compte des échanges à distance dans le processus de design pédagogique, les modèles susceptibles d’aider à comprendre le rôle pédagogique des échanges électroniques, les complémentarités envisageables entre les différents outils d’échanges, les modalités d’action des échanges électroniques sur l’apprentissage.Depover Christian, Lièvre Bruno de, Temperman Gaëtan. Points de vue sur les échanges électroniques et leurs usages en formation à distance. In: Sciences et Technologies de l'Information et de la Communication pour l'Éducation et la Formation, volume 13, 2006. Forum de Discussion en Education. pp. 399-412

D’un outil d’awareness à un outil d’encadrement de l’apprentissage. Que nous disent les apprenants du tableau de bord?

Dans cet article, nous analyserons l’opinion d’apprenants engagés dans une démarche collaborative à distance au sujet de leur utilisation d’un outil de suivi de l’apprentissage. Après une présentation de la problématique et une description du contexte de la formation, nous détaillerons la méthodologie de recherche que nous avons mise en œuvre pour recueillir et analyser l’opinion des apprenants au sujet de cet outil. Notre étude montre que les étudiants estiment que l’outil de suivi est pertinent pour les informer de l’avancement des tâches et leur donner une visibilité sur leurs activités. Les étudiants le considèrent comme moins efficace pour faciliter leur progression, montrer l’engagement des partenaires et réguler leur travail d’équipe. L’analyse du lien entre l’usage perçu et l’utilisation réelle est intéressante, car elle laisse apparaître que plus les étudiants ont fréquemment fait appel à l’outil, plus ils estiment a posteriori qu’il est en mesure de faciliter la progression du groupe et d’aider à la régulation des activités collaboratives

Open Badges : Analyse des effets de leur mise à disposition selon deux modalités de tutorat (proactive ou réactive)

This study looks at the effects of proactive tutoring on an e-learning system using Open Badges. It is envisaged in a real learning context and involves 220 undergraduate university students. The study is based on three axes: the individual progress of the students, the learning process implemented and their perception of badges. The results of the study show that proactive tutoring encourages students to earn more badges and make more attempts at knowledge formative tests. Our correlation analyses show that proactive tutoring seems to modulate the link between the degree of fleeing learners and the number of badges obtained. If learners’ perception of badges is positive, we highlight that the more badges the student has obtained, the higher their sense of competence