Game-Based Learning of the Structure and Functioning of Body Cells in a Foreign Language: Effects on Motivation, Cognitive Load, and Performance

Research has evidenced that digital educational games can be effective tools to impart knowledge. Researchers have recommended to focus on motivation and gaming load and their interaction when investigating learning process and success. Gaming expertise and the English proficiency of learners seem to be further important aspects of learning success, especially when non-native speakers play an English game. However, knowledge about the motivational and cognitive impact of games and learner characteristics on learning outcomes needs to be augmented and clarified. The present study aimed to address this need. We conducted an experimental media comparison to investigate the effects of game play and expertise in gaming and English on motivation, cognitive load, and performance. The participating German university students were randomly assigned to an educational gaming group and a hypertext group. Aspects of motivation were assessed before and after studying and gaming, cognitive load was rated during and after learning, and level of performance was measured before and after studying. The gaming group reported a higher level of interest, challenge, and anxiety of failing after introducing the task. Groups did not differ significantly in their perceived probability of success. The group levels of interest were the same after a 1 h learning phase. When learning, cognitive load increased after the initial phase in the gaming group and then stayed on a constant level, whereas the opposite pattern was found in the hypertext group. No differences were found in load ratings after learning between the two groups. Both groups improved their knowledge after learning, but the gain was larger for the hypertext group. Results point to gaming and English expertise as two mediating factors for learning success with educational games. We suggest that gaming expertise and English comprehension ability reduce cognitive load and thus enable learners to focus their resources on meaningful learning

Attitude towards and Interest in Dog-Assisted Interventions of Students in Higher Education

[EN] The mental health of students is a critical issue facing institutions of higher education, as a majority of college and university students report suffering from stress and anxiety. Studies have shown that interacting with animals can enhance the mental health. Consequently, animal-assisted interventions can be used to cover the concerns of students. This study evaluated German university students´ attitude towards dogs, animal-assisted interventions and their interest in its use at their own university. Additionally, possible predictors were investigated. Another aim was the validation of the questionnaire. 560 university students answered a questionnaire consisting of the Coleman Dog Attitude Scale (C-DAS), a modification of the Attitude Towards Animal-Assisted Therapy Scale and a translated and modified version of the Cuestionario de Actitudes ante las Intervenciones Asistidas por Perros (CAINTAP). Results showed a slightly positive attitude towards dogs, animal-assisted interventions and interest in its use at the university. Furthermore, students´course of studies and sex have proven to be predictors. Thus, especially female students of educational science would welcome an implementation of animal-assisted interventions at the university. The questionnaire showed high quality with a Cronbach’s alpha α = .936.Rothkopf, C.; Stark, T.; Schworm, S. (2019). Attitude towards and Interest in Dog-Assisted Interventions of Students in Higher Education. En HEAD'19. 5th International Conference on Higher Education Advances. Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. 875-882. https://doi.org/10.4995/HEAD19.2019.9402OCS87588

Online help-seeking in communities of practice

Interactive online help systems are considered to be a fruitful supplement to traditional IT helpdesks, which are often overloaded. They often comprise user-generated FAQ collections playing the role of technology-based conceptual artifacts. Two main questions arise: how the conceptual artifacts should be used, and which factors influence their acceptance in a community of practice (CoP). Firstly, this paper offers a theoretical frame and a usage scenario for technology-based conceptual artifacts against the theoretical background of the academic help-seeking and CoP approach. Each of the two approaches is extensively covered by psychological and educational research literature, however their combination is not yet sufficiently investigated. Secondly, the paper proposes a research model explaining the acceptance of conceptual artifacts. The model includes users’ expectations towards the artifact, perceived social influence and users’ roles in the CoP as predictors of artifact use intention and actual usage. A correlational study conducted in an academic software users’ CoP and involving structural equations modeling validates the model, suggesting thus a research line that is worth further pursuing. For educational practice, the study suggests three ways of supporting knowledge sharing in CoPs, i.e. use of technology-based conceptual artifacts, roles and division of labor, and purposeful communication in CoPs

Help design does matter! Supporting knowledge development with design patterns and social computing

Help systems are meant to support learners in solving problems and tasks they cannot solve on their own. However, currently many help systems of standard software fail to reach these goals. A gap between the intentions of the help system designers and the objectives of help users is a major problem: The support offered by online help systems is often not perceived to be helpful. This originates in a lack of comprehensibility of the help content, due to its text-based format, and often a very technical style of writing. To overcome these problems, an online help system for a statistics software package was developed by keeping a strong focus on the users and their specifi c goals and tasks during the design of the system. The proposed system provides (a) content in problem-oriented units which were (b) each structured following the structure of design patterns, by providing a description of the problem, a solution to the problem as well as a link to related help topics. (c) Social Tagging was added to improve retrieval of help content while (d) a commenting function was included to provide a feedback channel between authors and users, which can be used to improve the contents after the deployment of the system. (DIPF/Orig.

Lernen, mit Lösungsbeispielen zu lehren

Der Beitrag ist darauf ausgelegt, jeweils einen Ansatzpunkt zur Optimierung von Erziehungsanstrengungen zu benennen und die Wirksamkeit der vorgeschlagenen Maßnahmen empirisch zu belegen ... . In der Studie wird eine computerbasierte Lernumgebung für Lehrende entwickelt, mit der erlernt werden kann, wie im Unterricht effektives Lehren mit Lösungsbeispielen realisiert werden kann. Sie untersucht dabei, ob die Bereitstellung unterschiedlicher Lernhilfen die angehenden Lehrer dabei unterstützt, sich entsprechendes Wissen anzueignen ... . Es nahmen 80 Lehramtsstudierende an einem 2x2-faktoriellen Experiment teil: Faktor 1: Aufforderung zur Selbsterklärung, Faktor 2: instruktionelle Erklärungen. (DIPF/Orig.

How to Design Example-Based Learning Materials. The Comparison of two Computer-Based Learning Environments for Teachers

Ziel der Arbeit ist es, eine computerbasierte Lernumgebung für Lehrende zu entwickeln, die vermittelt, wie beispielbasierte Lehrmaterialien lernförderlich zu gestalten sind. Hierzu wurde eine Kombination von Selbsterklärungsaufforderungen und instruktionalen Erklärungen implementiert, die die Vorteile beider instruktionaler Maßnahmen gleichermaßen zum Tragen bringen und für verschiedene Zielgruppen lernförderlich sein sollte. Im Gegensatz zu vorangegangenen Studien wurde eine alternative Art der Kombination von Selbsterklärungsaufforderungen und instruktionalen Erklärungen implementiert, und es wurden die Unterschiede der potenziellen Zielgruppen des Lernprogramms weitergehend untersucht. Es arbeiteten insgesamt 48 Lehramtstudierende der Pädagogischen Hochschule (didaktisch orientiert) und der Universität (fachlich orientiert) mit einem beispielbasierten Computerlernprogramm zur Gestaltung von Lehrmaterialien unter zwei Bedingungen: (1) Nur Selbsterklärungsaufforderungen; (2) Wechsel von anfänglichen instruktionalen Erklärungen zu Selbsterklärungsaufforderungen. Die Ergebnisse zeigten, dass Studierende der Universität den besten Lernerfolg in der Bedingung mit instruktionalen Erklärungen erzielten; Studierende der Pädagogischen Hochschule zeigten den besten Lernerfolg in der reinen Selbsterklärungsbedingung. Beide Gruppen bevorzugten jedoch in ihrem Akzeptanzurteil die Programmversion mit den instruktionalen Erklärungen. (ZPID)In order to teach teachers how to use worked-out examples in their classrooms a computer-based learning environment has been developed to provide knowledge about how to effectively design and combine worked-out examples. We intended to find a favorable combination of instructional explanations and self-explanation prompts that brings out the advantages of both instructional measures and fosters learning likewise in different potential target-groups (i.e. different programs). A recent study on examplebased learning revealed that instructional explanations provided in addition to self-explanation prompts can lead to more passive learning behaviors and thereby impair learning. Additionally the results showed that teacher students of different programs (instructional orientation versus subjectmatter orientation) differed in their ability to successfully learn with the implemented learning environment. In the current study a specific combination of instructional explanations and self-explanation prompts has been implemented and different target group were explicitly taken into account. Forty-eight future teachers of different courses ofstudy where taught by a computer-based learning environment how to effectively design learning materials. There were two different learning conditions: (1) learning was fostered only by self-explanation prompts, (2) during the course instructional support changed from the provision of instructional explanations to self-explanation prompts. The results showed that Student teachers from a subject-matter oriented program showed the highest learning outcomes if they had been supported by instmctional explanations; while future teachers from an instructionally oriented program learned most successfully when they had been supported by self-explanation prompts only. Both groups clearly preferred the leaming environment which contained instructional explanations. (DIPF/Orig.

Exploring Dog-Assisted Interventions in Higher Education: Students’ Attitudes and Perceived Effects on Well-Being

Both, in the transition to university and during it, students experience a multitude of different changes. Thus, it is no surprise that many students in higher education report suffering from mental health problems. To address their concerns, animal-assisted interventions (AAIs) have gained more and more attention over the past few years. Nonetheless, AAIs have neither yet been used nor researched at German universities. Two studies were carried out to address this issue. In Study I, 709 university students answered a questionnaire evaluating their attitude towards dogs, AAIs and interest in its use at their home university. In Study II, 27 students participated in a dog-assisted intervention (DAI) in which they were allowed to interact with a qualified dog for 15 min. To gain information about their well-being, blood pressure was measured and the Basler Befindlichkeitsskala had to be answered before and after the intervention. Results showed a positive attitude among German students toward dogs, AAIs, and the use of DAIs at their home university. Although an effect on physical well-being could not be found, results showed that a 15-min DAI can improve students’ psychological well-being. Thus, higher education administrators should consider using DAIs as a way to improve student well-being

Generative online learning communities : The effect of peer participation perception on the acceptance and use of conceptual artefacts <Research Article>

Generative online learning communities (GOLC) rely on the generation and use of technology-based conceptual artefacts. Consequently, artefact acceptance and use is a design goal of learning environments. In spite of intensive acceptance research, little is known about designing for acceptance, which outlines a significant research gap. This paper proposes that social presence, i.e., the sensorial, emotional or cognitive perception of peer participation in the GOLC, stimulates the acceptance and use of the contained conceptual artefacts. Correspondingly, two empirical studies are summarized. The former study examines the acceptance of an annotation tool for satellite images. Social presence is induced by the minimal group paradigm, suggesting individual participants that they are involved by the annotation task either in software development (control group) or in a humanitarian action (treatment group). The treatment group perceived stronger group salience and evaluative social identity, along with a higher acceptance of the annotation task. The latter study examines the relationship between the perception of peer participation and individual writing activity in the discussion forums of a learning environment for clinical psychology. Learners’ acceptance and their contributing behavior were correlated with the number of built-in comments. Moreover, the perception of peer participation was a stronger acceptance predictor than learners’ previous knowledge. Both studies represent generative activity in online learning communities and induce social presence by design elements. In both cases, induced social presence increased the acceptance and use of the provided technology-based conceptual artefacts. Additional research is called for to extend the validity of the presented studies

Learning by Solved Example Problems: Instructional Explanations Reduce Self-Explanation Activity

... importance for initial skill acquisition in well-structured domains. In addition, research has provided knowledge in regards to structuring worked-out examples and how to effectively combine self-explanation activity and instructional explanations. The goal of the present project was to develop a computer-based learning environment in which teachers can learn how to use worked-out examples. Examples of favorably and unfavorably designed worked-out examples were the primary source of information for the teachers. The examples (of worked-out examples) were not in themselves worked-out examples if one views them from a design perspective as the (design) solution steps were not given. We have labeled this type of examples &quot;solved example problems.&quot; We investigated to what extent learning from such solved example problems could be fostered by self-explanation prompts and by providing instructional explanations. The results of our 2x2 design (80 student teachers) showed that prompting selfexplanations in particular had favorable effects. Hence, self-explanations fostered learning not only from worked-out examples but also from solved example problems. Supplementary instructional explanations only partially enhanced learning and at times they were even detrimental