Design of an Authentic E-Learning Environment

The increasing necessity of a lifelong learning attitude has its influence on the ageing population in Western societies. Employees nowadays cannot rely on their skills once learned in school. Most, also older, employees have to keep up by learning new insights, new skills, and new knowledge. A lot of money is invested in training and further education. New technology can play an important role here. This chapter will give an insight into the development of an authentic multimedia learning environment to support lifelong learners. More specifically, it has been developed in order to improve learning materials in terms of giving the right amount of scaffolding at the time when it is needed to increase the motivation and the performance of the (older) learner. A design that adapts cognitive load theory to minimise cognitive overload was embedded in an authentic context that, as a result, provided a fruitful basis for authentic and simulated learning environments addressing both younger and older adults

The influence of virtual presence: Effects on experienced cognitive load and learning outcomes in educational computer games

Does the immersive design of an educational gaming environment affect learners’ virtual presence and how much do they learn? Does virtual presence affect learning? This study tries to answer these ques- tions by examining the differences in virtual presence and learning outcomes in two different com- puter-based multimedia environments: a gaming environment with high immersive design vs. hypertext learning environment with low immersive design. As the main focus, the effect of virtual pres- ence on learning is also explained and tested. By identifying virtual presence as a variable that may deter- mine learning, it is argued that computer gaming environments present a new challenge for researchers to investigate, particularly, the effects of virtual presence on the immersive design of games in order to help designers to predict which instructional configurations will maximize learning performance. In gen- eral, results revealed that the high-immersive gaming environment leads to the strongest form of virtual presence but also decreased learning. Although regression analyses indicate that virtual presence posi- tively influences trivial- and non-trivial learning outcomes, learners who learned in a low-immersive environment outperformed the gaming group. A mediation analysis showed that the relation between virtual presence and non-trivial learning outcomes is partly mediated through increased cognitive load

Neue Generation, neue Medien und eine neue Bildung?

Extract Neue Generation, neue Medien und eine neue Bildung? Theo Bastiaens & Claudia Schrader Abstract This chapter focuses on the question of what influence societal changes have on learners, their learning behavior and the curriculum. Fact is that there has been one major change with an enormous impactand that is the shift towards a network society. Thanks to technology it is possible to communicate, collaborate, and exchange information effortlessly. Especially due to the digitization of materials, the availability of knowledge is without difficulty and world- wide. From the individual perspective of the learner the impact is huge. Some observations suggest that a new generation of ‘digital’ learners is born with extraordinary new competences and a different learning behavior. However, more conservative researchers think that there is nothing new about this generation. The authors take the position that the truth lies in the mid- dle of the discussion. And that only the availability of ICT tools (and with that the ubiquity of information) is already enough justification to instantly innovate the curriculum and change the focus from learning by heart to more practical usage of knowledge in schools. Next to this, authentic learning theories predict improvements in transfer of learning and students mo- tivation. However, it is stressed that a constructivist approach needs to be combined with in- struction (learners somehow need guidance and advise)

Process-oriented design principles for promoting self-regulated learning in primary teacher education

Many recent studies have stressed the importance of students’ self-regulated learning (SRL) skills for successful learning. Consequently, primary teacher educators are stimulated by their policy makers to increase their students’ SRL opportunities in the educational pre-service program. However, primary teacher educators often find it difficult to implement these innovations in their teaching. In the present study, a literature search concerning SRL was conducted. Based on this search, seven process-oriented design principles were formulated, resulting in a SRL model for primary teacher education. This SRL model provides more insight into relevant SRL aspects and can support SRL implementation in pre-service teacher education

Kritische vragen ter bevordering van de reflectiekwaliteit van pabostudenten

Er komt steeds meer aandacht voor zelfgestuurd leren (ZGL) als manier om studenten actiever en bewuster te laten leren. Vanuit het beleidskader Opleiden in School zijn in het studiejaar 2013-2014 intervisiemomenten voor pabostudenten op de werkplek georganiseerd met de intentie de mogelijkheden tot ZGL van de studenten geleidelijk te implementeren op de werkplek. Om hierbij een verdieping in reflectiekwaliteit van pabostudenten (n=28) te bewerkstelligen, hebben twee pabodocenten, vier leerkrachten basisonderwijs en drie onderzoekers samengewerkt aan een instrument met stimulerende vragen, gericht op toenemende verdieping in reflectieniveaus. Een belangrijk principe is er dat er een geleidelijke ontwikkeling plaatsvindt van docentsturing naar studentsturing. De eerste bevindingen laten zien dat het instrument (aanstaande) leraren ondersteunt bij het stellen van betekenisgerichte vragen ter bevordering van het reflectieniveau. Tevens stijgt het percentage betekenisgerichte reflectie

The ‘Self-Regulated Learning Opportunities Questionnaire’: a Diagnostic Instrument for Teacher Educators’ Professional Development

Many recent studies have stressed the importance of students’ self-regulated learning (SRL) skills for successful learning. Although primary teacher educators are aware of the importance of SRL for their students, they often find it difficult to implement SRL opportunities in their teaching. To support teacher professional development, an SRL model was described in a previous theoretical study. In the present article, this SRL model is elaborated towards the ‘SRL Opportunities Questionnaire’ (SRLOQ) that can be applied by primary teacher educators as a diagnostic instrument for classroom settings. A four-phase research design is applied consisting of scale development, score validation, further validation of the SRLOQ in primary teacher education, and a confirmatory factor analysis. Finally, a single case study is described that illustrates the usefulness of the SRLOQ in classroom practice

Effects of increased self-regulated learning opportunities on student teachers’ metacognitive and motivational development.

This intervention study focused on the relationships between student teachers’ self-regulated learning (SRL) opportunities, their use of metacognitive learning strategies and their motivation for learning. Results indicate that student teachers’ use of metacognitive learning strategies increases significantly in learning environments with increased SRL opportunities. In opposite to these findings, no significant difference was shown between student teachers’ motivation for learning before and after the research period. However, student teachers’ expectancy, a component within the motivational construct, did increase significantly in the research period. Finally, minor significant positive correlations were found between the metacognitive and motivational constructs measured. In general, the level of SRL opportunities turns out to be a moderate predictor of student teachers’ use of metacognitive learning strategies and motivation for learning, both important constructs for their academic career

Design and Study of a Mixed-Reality-Learning System

In diesem Artikel wird ein Entwurf eines Lernsystems vorgestellt, in welchem Mixed- Reality (MR) Technologien und didaktischen Modelle für den Einsatz in der industriellen Weiterbildung kombiniert werden. Mit diesem System soll das Erlernen von Problemlösekompetenzen über visuelle Einblendung simulierter Problemsituationen und Anwendungsaufgaben, die in der realen Welt schwer abzubilden sind, verbessert werden. Diese Technologie wird in einem didaktischen Setting eingebunden, welches die Lernenden schrittweise von einfacheren an komplexere Aufgaben heranführt. Über ein Lerntagebuch werden die Lernenden zusätzlich motiviert ihre Erfahrungen mit dem didaktischen Setting zu reflektieren. Über das, in das MR Lernsystem integrierte Lerntagebuch werden den Betreuenden Feedbackangaben zu den simulierten Problemsituationen und Anwendungsaufgaben ermöglicht. Weiterhin können Lernende über dieses Tagebuch Kontakt zum Betreuenden aufnehmen. Das Lernsystem bietet den Betreuenden eine nutzerfreundliche Funktion, die Anwendungsaufgaben und MR-Einblendungen abzuwandeln bzw. neukonstruieren. Wir empfehlen für die Einführung und Erprobung dieses Konzeptes einen Design-Based-Research Ansatz, durch den der Entwicklungs- und Einführungsprozess strukturiert und gleichzeitig erforscht werden kann. Ziel der Erforschung sollten Leitlinien sein, die es ermöglichen, die gewonnenen Erkenntnisse auf ähnliche Kontexte zu übertragen und weiter einen Beitrag zur theoretischen Konstruktion zu leisten.This article describes and investigates an approach to improving knowledge transfer in industrial environments by means of Mixed-Reality (MR) technology. With the advent of the internet of things, cyber physical systems and related technological progress cause work related conditions, requirements and processes to change fast. Due to this, it is ever more important for employees to deepen their transferable skills and to transfer technical know-how. We will discuss the idea of easing the transfer of complex skills via a learning setting that combines didactical elements with the use of MR technology. Via employing MR, it is possible to offer information to the students just in the moment they need it to perform a recurrent skill (van Merriënboer and Kirschner, 2013). The working environment can be augmented with information explaining how problems can be solved. Offering this know-how directly inside of in the industrial environment (via MR) can ease the transfer of knowledge (Dunleavy and Dede, 2014; Wu et al. 2013). After giving a definition of the problem and an introduction to MR, we present a concept of how a learning setting can help to increase motivation and reduce the effort of learning transferable know-how. We show how this setting should be designed and evaluated and how to apply the results to similar contexts

Using online learning networks to promote self-regulated learning in primary teacher education

Many recent studies have stressed the importance of students’ self-regulated learning (SRL) skills for successful learning. Consequently, teacher educators have begun to increase student teachers’ SRL opportunities in educational pre-service programs. Although primary teacher educators are aware of the importance of SRL, they often find it difficult to implement opportunities in their teaching. To provide more insight into relevant SRL aspects and support implementation in pre-service teacher education, this study first explores the benefits of online SRL learning networks. The authors then present seven SRL design principles for primary teacher education, and show the results of implementing these principles in non-formal learning contexts. Finally, based on the positive results of the implementation process, the authors describe emerging trends for SRL learning networks to enhance further use in pre-service teacher learning programs. In such educational settings, the SRL design principles can be used as a holistic framework

Working and Learning with Electronic Performance Support Systems: An Effectiveness Study

In this study the effectiveness of electronic performance support systems (EPSS) is reported. Some of the expected advantages of EPSS, such as an increase in productivity and improved learning are evaluated with insurance agents using laptop computers. Theoretical statements, research design and hypotheses are presented. The conclusion is that EPSS was cheaper than classroom training and had some benefits for learners, but did not produce the expected benefit of an increase in productivity