Effectiveness of Collaboration in VET: Measuring Skills for Solving Complex Vocational Problems With a Multidimensional Authentic Technology-Based Assessment

Context: Collaboration and digitization in work and production process have been of scientific interest in the research field of vocational education and training for decades. So far, there is a lack of empirical evidence on the extent to which the performance of collaborative problem-solving can outperform individual problem-solving. An appropriate instrument for measuring collaborative performance appropriately has been lacking to this point: It is challenging to (1) collect data on interaction in collaboration in a standardized way and (2) to assign the individual performances to the group performance. In a web-based office simulation, this study examined the two-dimensional construct of collaborative problem-solving ability, which consists of cognitive and social components, and explored the effectiveness of collaboration. Methods: The test settings are systematically varied between individual and collaborative problem-solving in a domain-typical problem scenario in the economic domain. A theory-driven two-dimensional authentic instrument with a complex commercial problem in a web-based office simulation was applied to measure the performance in these two test settings. Multi-Group Confirmatory Factor Analysis was conducted to test for measurement invariance across test settings, the two-dimensional RASCH-Model incorporating between-item multidimensionality with correlated dimensions was used for ability estimation. ANOVA test was conducted to determine if there is a statistically significant difference with respect to the ability between the individual and collaborative test settings. Findings: The two-dimensional construct of collaborative problem-solving ability with correlated dimensions showed better fit than the unidimensional construct. The scalar measurement invariance was established after excluding three items. ANOVA tests confirmed that the collaborative setting enhances the problem-solving ability of learners significantly in both the cognitive component and social component, and the ability in cognitive component was more fostered. Conclusion: The findings suggested the validation of this multidimensional authentic instrument to measure the performance in a collaborative work environment in economic domains. The results showed the effectiveness of collaboration with a computer-based agent. In the practice of vocational training and education, teachers can use this instrument for the evaluation of the effectiveness of collaboration

Immersive Learning for Low-Literate People: Opportunities of Augmented Reality in Basic Financial Literacy

Vorliegende Befunde zeigen, dass die Versprechungen der Digitalisierung des Lernens (noch) nicht eingelöst werden konnten. Der Zugang zur Bildung ist trotz digitaler Angebote in den verschiedenen Bildungssektoren hoch selektiv, die Nutzung von Bildungsangeboten hängt (nach wie vor) von der individuellen Bildungssozialisation, vom Alter und Wohnort ab. Gerade für die Erwachsenenbildung, die in hohem Masse auf die freiwillige Beteiligung an ihren Bildungsangeboten setzt, sind diese Befunde alles andere als ermutigend. Der Beitrag zeigt auf, mit welchen Ansätzen immersive Angebote der Erwachsenenbildung – und hier insbesondere im Bereich der Alphabetisierung/Grundbildung – eine hohe Teilnehmendenbindung sowie günstige Lernprognosen realisieren können. Der Fokus liegt insbesondere darauf, wie immersive Lerngelegenheiten inhaltlich und didaktisch gestaltet sein müssen, um vielfältige Herausforderungen in Grundbildungskursen (u. a. lebensweltrelevante Themen, Lernortunabhängigkeit, Kollaborationsfähigkeit) zu adressieren. Das hier vorgestellte Konzept stellt auch auf die sich zunehmend wandelnde Rolle von Kursangeboten in der Grundbildung (von sozialen Räumen hin zu Lernräumen) ab und lotet hierfür die Potenziale immersiver und spielerischer Kursgestaltung mittels Augmented Reality aus.The present findings show that the promises of the digitalisation of learning have not (yet) been fulfilled. Despite digital offerings, access to education is highly selective in the various educational sectors, and the use of educational offerings (still) depends on individual educational socialisation, age and place of residence. These findings are anything but encouraging, especially for adult education, which relies heavily on voluntary participation in its educational offerings. The article shows which approaches immersive adult education offers – and here especially in the area of literacy/basic education – can use to realise a high level of participant loyalty as well as favourable learning prognoses. The focus is particularly on how immersive learning opportunities must be designed in terms of content and instruction in order to address a variety of challenges in basic education courses (e.g. topics relevant to life, independence of learning location, ability to collaborate). The concept presented here also focuses on the increasingly changing role of course offerings in basic education (from social spaces to learning spaces) and explores the potential of immersive and game-based course design with augmented reality