Supporting peer interaction in online learning environments

This paper reports two studies into the efficacy of sentence openers to foster online peer-to-peer interaction. Sentence openers are pre-defined ways to start an utterance that are implemented in communication facilities as menu’s or buttons. In the first study, typical opening phrases were derived from naturally occurring online dialogues. The resulting set of sentence openers was implemented in a semi-structured chat tool that allowed students to compose messages in a freetext area or via sentence openers. In the second study, this tool was used to explore the students’ appreciation and unprompted use of sentence openers. Results indicate that students hardly used sentence openers and were skeptical of their usefulness. Because both measures were negatively correlated with students’ prior chat experience, optional use of sentence openers may not be the best way to support students’ online interaction. Based on these findings, alternative ways of using sentence openers are discussed and topics for further research are advanced

Unraveling the influence of domain knowledge during simulation-based inquiry learning

This study investigated whether the mere knowledge of the meaning of variables can facilitate inquiry learning processes and outcomes. Fifty-seven college freshmen were randomly allocated to one of three inquiry tasks. The concrete task had familiar variables from which hypotheses about their underlying relations could be inferred. The intermediate task used familiar variables that did not invoke underlying relations, whereas the abstract task contained unfamiliar variables that did not allow for inference of hypotheses about relations. Results showed that concrete participants performed more successfully and efficiently than intermediate participants, who in turn were equally successful and efficient as abstract participants. From these findings it was concluded that students learning by inquiry benefit little from knowledge of the meaning of variables per se. Some additional understanding of the way these variables are interrelated seems required to enhance inquiry learning processes and outcomes

Assessment of the minimalist approach to computer user documentation

The minimalist approach (Carroll, 1990a) advocates the development of a radically different type of manual when compared to a conventional one. For example, the manual should proceed almost directly to procedural skills development rather than building a conceptual model first. It ought to focus on authentic tasks practised in context, as opposed to mock exercises and isolated practice. In addition, it should stimulate users to exploit their knowledge and thinking, as opposed to imposing the writer's view and discussing everything that users should see or know.\ud \ud In the first part of the paper the construction of a tutorial based on the minimalist principles is described. A parallel is drawn with constructivism with which minimalism shares important notions of instruction. In the second part, an experiment is described in which the minimal manual was tested against a conventional one. The outcome favoured the new manual. For example, minimal manual users completed about 50% more tasks successfully on a performance test and displayed significantly more self-reliance (e.g. more self-initiated error-recoveries, and fewer manual consultations)

Software scaffolds to promote regulation during scientific inquiry learning

This research addresses issues in the design of online scaffolds for regulation within inquiry learning environments. The learning environment in this study included a physics simulation, data analysis tools, and a model editor for students to create runnable models. A regulative support tool called the Process Coordinator (PC) was designed to assist students in planning, monitoring, and evaluating their investigative efforts within this environment. In an empirical evaluation, 20 dyads received a “full” version of the PC with regulative assistance; dyads in the control group (n = 15) worked with an “empty” PC which contained minimal structures for regulative support. Results showed that both the frequency and duration of regulative tool use differed in favor of the PC+ dyads, who also wrote better lab reports. PC− dyads viewed the content helpfiles more often and produced better domain models. Implications of these differential effects are discussed and suggestions for future research are advanced

Validating and optimizing the effects of model progression in simulation-based inquiry learning

Model progression denotes the organization of the inquiry learning process in successive phases of increasing complexity. This study investigated the effectiveness of model progression in general, and explored the added value of either broadening or narrowing students’ possibilities to change model progression phases. Results showed that high-school students in the ‘standard’ model progression condition (n = 19), who could enter subsequent phases at will, outperformed students from a control condition (n = 30) without model progression. The unrestricted condition (n = 22) had the additional option of returning to previous phases, whereas the restricted condition (n = 20) disallowed such downward progressions as well as upward progressions in case insufficient knowledge was acquired. Both variants were found to be more effective in terms of performance than the ‘standard’ form of model progression. However, as performance in all three model progression conditions was still rather weak, additional support is needed for students to reach full understanding of the learning content

Minimalist instruction for learning to search the World Wide Web

This is a pre-print version of the article published in Education and Information Technologies, 2001, 6 (3), Page 161-176. ©Springer. The original publication is available at www.springerlink.com http://www.springerlink.com/content/l83k6p8020t04441/This study examined the efficacy of minimalist instruction to develop self-regulatory skills involved in Web searching. Two versions of minimalist self-regulatory skill instruction were compared to a control group that was merely taught procedural skills to operate the search engine. Acquired skills were tested on Web search tasks and search tasks in an online library catalogue. Self-regulatory skill instruction was found to increase practice time by 25%. However, it did not enhance search performance on the test tasks. Explanations are advanced for these findings and topics for further research are identified

Solvation dynamics in liquids and glasses

Glas maken is één van die technologieën waar de mensheid al lang gebruikt van maakt. Al zo’n vijf duizend jaar om precies te zijn. Dus je zou denken dat we inmiddels wel bijna alles weten wat er over glazen te weten valt. Nou, dat valt tegen. Zeker wanneer je de kennis die we hebben van de fysica van kristallen vergelijkt met die van glazen. Het verschil tussen glazen en kristallen is dat de moleculen waaruit deze substanties zijn opgebouwd, in een glas niet netjes geordend in een rooster zitten zoals in een kristal. Het gebrek aan orde in zo’n glas is één van de redenen dat fysici niet zoveel met glazen aankunnen. Omdat kristallen een grote interne symmetrie hebben, helpt dit bij het begrijpen van wat er op atomair en moleculair niveau allemaal gebeurt. En van daaruit kun je dan allerlei dagelijkse eigenschappen van kristallen verklaren, zoals de vorm, kleur, warmtegeleiding, hardheid, enzovoort. In mijn onderzoek heb ik me geconcentreerd op twee modellen die toegepast worden om the fysica van glazen (en vloeistoffen) te beschrijven in twee extreme omstandigheden. Die modellen heb ik getest op hun effectiviteit en de toepasbaarheid buiten het nauwe temperatuur gebied waar ze doorgaans worden gebruikt in mijn vakgebied van de niet lineaire optica. Het ene uiterste is de extreem lage temperatuur dicht bij het absolute nulpunt. Toe nu toe waren er extra parameters, matsfactoren, nodig om met het model dat bij deze temperatuur gebruikt wordt accurate voorspellingen te doen. Mijn stelling is dat je die parameters helemaal niet nodig hebt. Als je de wiskunde netter doet en ongewenste experimentele effecten uitsluit dan kun je ook zonder die parameters je onderzoeksdata prima verklaren. Het andere uiterste, de hoge temperatuur waar het glas vloeistof is geworden. Het model dat hier wordt toegepast behandelt bezit een groot aantal intern aanpasbare parameters. Het zou mooi zijn als het niet nodig is deze parameters te veranderen als de je naar andere, lagere, temperaturen gaat. Helaas, bij lagere temperaturen moet het karakter van het model aanzienlijk veranderd worden om aan te blijven sluiten bij de realiteit. Ik laat zien hoe die veranderingen bijna allemaal gerelateerd kunnen worden aan de veranderingen in de dynamica van de vloeistof die in een glas verandert. Dus met een paar aanpassingen, die min of meer voortvloeien uit bestaande glasvormingstheorie, kun je de experimenten toch prima beschrijven

Implementing Innovative Technologies Through Lesson Plans: What Kind of Support Do Teachers Prefer?

Lesson plans are a potentially powerful means to facilitate teachers’ use of technology in the classroom. This study investigated which supplementary information is preferred by teachers when integrating a new technology into the classroom. Forty-six high school biology teachers (23 pre-service and 23 in-service) received a technology-infused lesson plan and were asked to choose between two sets of support materials that differed with regard to the extensiveness and integration of pedagogical and content information. Based on the technological, pedagogical, and content knowledge (TPACK) framework, pre-service teachers (n = 23) were expected to prefer the appendix containing extensive and separate information, whereas in-service teachers (n = 23) were predicted to prefer the succinct and integrated version. Teachers’ responses to a forced-choice question confirmed the latter expectation, but lent insufficient support to the former. Semi-structured interviews further showed that the justifications of in-service teachers were generally consistent with the TPACK framework. Most pre-service teachers, by contrast, were future-oriented and preferred support that would help increase their proficiency rather than consolidate their existing knowledge base