Embedded blended learning within an Algebra classroom: a multimedia capture experiment

This two‐group, pretest‐posttest, quasi‐experimental study compared secondary students' learning of Algebra II materials over a 4‐week period when identical instruction by the same teacher was delivered through either embedded blended learning (treatment group; n = 32) or a live‐lecture classroom (control group; n = 24). For both groups, instruction was delivered in a normal classroom setting. A math test and a student survey were used to measure students' learning of Algebra II and satisfaction with the instruction. Students in the treatment group showed significantly greater gains in Algebra II test scores and evaluated their learning experiences significantly more positively than did the control group. The great majority (80%) of students in the treatment group preferred the embedded blended learning over traditional live lectures for future learning of math. Students' responses to open‐ended survey questions suggested that students in the treatment group appreciated the: (a) ability to control the pace of instruction; (b) new role of the classroom teacher; (c) lack of distraction in the blended learning environment; and (d) accessibility of the embedded multimedia lessons outside the classroom. This study suggests that screen‐capture instructional technology can be used towards establishing a teacher‐based, embedded blended learning environment within a secondary algebraic classroom.     

Assessing the learning potential and students' perception of rich lecture captures

There is a large variety of lecture capture forms being used today when considering their content and ways in which that content is being reproduced. The objective of this study was therefore to investigate the students' perception and the learning potential of lecture captures enriched using additional learning contents compared to lecture captures containing only the video and audio recording of the lecturer and his slideshow. In an experiment in which students were learning using each of those two types of learning materials, a slight yet unsignificant difference was observed in favour of learning from rich lecture captures. Students' survey responses indicated they prefer rich lecture captures for learning and that their availability would not necessarily have a negative impact on students' live lecture attendance rates. These results suggest that even though students prefer rich lecture capture materials for learning, they did not prove to be more efficient in achieving the desired learning outcomes. Additional research would be needed to verify this conclusion on more complex subjects.     

Exploring Relationships Between Eye Tracking and Traditional Usability Testing Data

This study explored the relationships between eye tracking and traditional usability testing data in the context of analyzing the usability of Algebra Nation?, an online system for learning mathematics used by hundreds of thousands of students. Thirty-five undergraduate students (20 females) completed seven usability tasks in the Algebra Nation? online learning environment. The participants were asked to log in, select an instructor for the instructional video, post a question on the collaborative wall, search for an explanation of a mathematics concept on the wall, find information relating to Karma Points (an incentive for engagement and learning), and watch two instructional videos of varied content difficulty. Participants’ eye movements (fixations and saccades) were simultaneously recorded by an eye tracker. Usability testing software was used to capture all participants’ interactions with the system, task completion time, and task difficulty ratings. Upon finishing the usability tasks, participants completed the System Usability Scale. Important relationships were identified between the eye movement metrics and traditional usability testing metrics such as task difficulty rating and completion time. Eye tracking data were investigated quantitatively using aggregated fixation maps, and qualitative examination was performed on video replay of participants’ fixation behavior. Augmenting the traditional usability testing methods, eye movement analysis provided additional insights regarding revisions to the interface elements associated with these usability tasks.     

A blended learning lecture delivery model for large and diverse undergraduate cohorts

A blended learning model was developed to enhance lecture delivery in a large, diverse introductory psychology unit, introducing the use of an online, personalized learning system for lecture preparation and using lecture time to extend students' understanding. Changes to the assessment included diagnostic, formative and summative online quizzes. Using hierarchical multiple regression to account for the variance associated with prior achievement and background knowledge, the results show that students who completed the online formative assessments had significantly higher scores on summative assessment tasks, and that scores were even higher for students who used these resources repeatedly. Changes to future implementations of the model are suggested to improve student engagement in formative assessment, and to facilitate lecturer's use of reports on student progress to focus and improve the quality of discussion in the face-to-face lectures.     

Gender difference in web search perceptions and behavior: Does it vary by task performance?

This study investigates Chinese students' gender differences in their actual use of the web for online information seeking. One hundred and seven Chinese university students responded to questionnaires regarding their perceptions about the use of the web for learning purposes. Afterwards, all the participants were asked to search online to answer two questions about bees' decision for hive location. As they searched, the online system logged participants' search activities during the search, including the type of activities during search, the frequency of each activity and the time spent on each activity. Participants were compared by gender in terms of their web search efficacy, web search anxiety, frequency counts of different web search activities, time spent on each search activity and search task performance. Web search efficacy levels varied by gender but not by performance levels. Anxiety did not vary by gender or performance levels. The interaction effect between gender and performance level was found in several search process variables: significant gender differences were only found in medium-performing students wherein males were engaged in more search activities than females, as seen in the larger number of searches, search queries, and times male students updated the search queries. One factor that could explain the significant gender differences in the medium-level group was their web search efficacy. The more confident medium-performing male students were in web search, the less need they perceived to access information to solve the task. This pattern was reversed for medium-performing females. The high- and low-performing males did not differ much from females in their search activities. It appeared that students' perceptions of their web search ability did not contribute much to their search activities in these two groups. Implications of the findings were also discussed.     

The development and evaluation of an augmented reality-based armillary sphere for astronomical observation instruction

Based on kinesthetic learning style theory and interviews regarding teachers' experiences applying traditional astronomy teaching methods, a mobile digital armillary sphere (MDAS) using augmented reality (AR) was developed for use during astronomical observation instruction. The MDAS enables visual processes and limb movements similar to those that would occur in actual outdoor experiences to be employed in the classroom, thereby overcoming existing instructional limitations. A quasi-experimental design method was adopted, and 200 fifth-grade students were selected as participants. The use of the MDAS in astronomical observation courses affected students' learning effectiveness and interest. The experimental results indicated that using the MDAS system during outdoor observation activities effectively enhanced both the students' learning of astronomical observation content and their performance of astronomical observation skills. In addition, use of the MDAS effectively increased students' interest in astronomical observations and learning, which had a substantial effect on retention.     

A context-aware video prompt approach to improving students' in-field reflection levels

Engaging students in reflection during real-world observation and inquiry activities has been recognized as an important issue for improving students' learning achievement and motivation. Many studies in the literature have adopted text-based reflection prompts as an important strategy to promote learning performance, this study argues that using videos as a reflection prompt would be more effective for improving learners' ubiquitous learning experiences and can provide a more sensible scenario that is better fitting the real-world contexts than the text-based prompts. In this study, a context-aware video-based prompt approach is proposed for improving students' reflection levels and satisfaction by providing timely and personalized guidance using mobile, wireless communication and sensing technologies. An experiment was conducted for evaluating the effectiveness of the proposed video-based prompt strategy with 70 participants in two groups. The results show that learners' reflection levels were significantly improved with the use of the proposed approach and that positive attitudes were observed toward the use of video-based prompts in the context-aware ubiquitous learning environment.     

The application of Simulation‐Assisted Learning Statistics (SALS) for correcting misconceptions and improving understanding of correlation

Simulation‐based computer assisted learning (CAL) is recommended to help students understand important statistical concepts, although the current systems are still far from ideal. Simulation‐Assisted Learning Statistics (SALS) is a simulation‐based CAL that is developed with a learning model that is based on cognitive conflict theory to correct misconceptions and enhance understanding of correlation. In this study, a mixed method (embedded experiment model) was utilized to examine the effects of SALS‐based learning compared with lecture‐based learning. The sample was composed of 72 grade‐12 students, who were randomly assigned to either the experimental group or the comparison group. The findings reveal that the SALS‐based learning approach is significantly more effective than lecture‐based learning, in terms of correcting students' misconceptions and improving their understanding of correlation. The study also uses quantitative and qualitative data to examine how the learning model of the SALS‐based learning approach contributes to the enhanced learning outcomes. Finally, practical suggestions were made with regard to directions for future studies.     

Effect of metacognitive strategies and verbal-imagery cognitive style on biology-based video search and learning performance

Videos have diverse content that can assist students in learning. However, because videos are linear media, video users may take a longer time than readers of text to evaluate the context. Therefore, the process of video search may vary from one user to another depending on the users' individual characteristics, and the effectiveness of video learning may also vary across individuals. This study evaluated 100 Taiwanese fifth graders searching for videos related to “understanding animals” on YouTube and examined the effects of the students' metacognitive strategies (planning, monitoring, and evaluating) and verbal-imagery cognitive style on their video searches. The observable indicators were quantitative (search behaviors, search performance, and learning performance) and qualitative (search process observations and interviews). The study concludes that metacognitive strategy is the primary influencer of video search. Students with better metacognitive skills used fewer keywords, browsed fewer videos, and spent less time evaluating videos, but they achieved higher learning performance. They reviewed the video metadata information on the user interface and did not attempt to watch videos on the video recommendation lists, particularly videos that were irrelevant to the task requirements. During the course of the searches, keyword usage had a significant influence on the students' search performance and learning performance. The fewer keywords the students used, the better search and learning performance they were able to achieve. Our results are different from those of previous studies on text, image, and map searches. Accordingly, users must adopt different search strategies when using various types of search engines.     

Effects of an intelligent web‐based English instruction system on students' academic performance

This research conducted quasi‐experiments in four middle schools to evaluate the long‐term effects of an intelligent web‐based English instruction system, Computer Simulation in Educational Communication (CSIEC), on students' academic attainment. The analysis of regular examination scores and vocabulary test validates the positive impact of CSIEC, and in most cases, the positive impact is statistically significant. The reliability is ensured by the spectrum of the students from Grade 1 to Grade 3 in three junior high schools and from Grade 1 to Grade 2 in one senior high school, and of the teachers with or without blended learning experience, as well as by the various school locations from rural to urban areas in four provinces of China. The learning content‐oriented design and the instant feedback feature of the web‐based system, as well as its regular integration into the English class, contributed to its reliable positive effect on students' learning performance in ordinary examinations. This is the research's implication for instructional design. The conclusion of this paper could serve as a reference to the technical feasibility and pedagogical benefit of regular usage of appropriate Computer Assisted Learning system in the mainstream subject of middle schools. The multiple quasi‐experiments in divergent school settings to ensure the results' reliability distinguish this research from previous ones that just implemented one single experiment in one school.     

A novel method to monitoring changes in cognitive load in video‐based learning

One of the golden rules in instructional design methods is to optimize the use of working memory capacity and avoid cognitive overload. The study of cognitive load has historically relied on one's introspection. However, it is difficult to capture changes in cognitive load levels during learning sensitively. This paper suggests an approach to investigating dynamic changes in cognitive load by using a pupillometry. With the method, this study explores the effects of learners' prior knowledge and task complexity on cognitive load. An experiment was conducted on two groups of students (N = 19) with distinct levels of prior knowledge. In the experimental session, participants watched a video lecture on a mathematics proposition, while being eye‐tracked. The lecture consists of sections, which can be either a high task complexity or a low task complexity based on elements they have. Pupil dilations acquired in each section were used to explore the time course of cognitive load. To formulate cognitive load patterns, a time‐series clustering was used. The research conducted a chi‐square analysis to test differences in cognitive load patterns by prior knowledge and task complexity. Results show that pupil dilation patterns can be applied to monitor changes in cognitive load during learning.     

Can more interactivity improve learning achievement in an online course? Effects of college students' perception and actual use of a course-management system on their learning achievement

This study aims to investigate how interactivity influence learners' use of interactive functions in the course-management system (CMS) and their online learning performance. A two-tier mediation framework is proposed to examine the mediating effects of different actual-use records concerning the CMS's interactive functions. Data are collected from 381 undergraduate students who enrolled in a general-education asynchronous online course from three universities in Taiwan. The results indicate that the relationships among students' self-reported use of interactive functions, students' perceptions of the usefulness of interactive functions, and students' actual-use logs have some direct influences on students' online learning performance (online-discussion scores, exam scores, and group-project scores). In addition, students' actual-use logs (the number of times of log-ins to the online course, the number of times students read learning materials, and the number of postings on the discussion board) have a mediated effect on students' self-reported frequency of logging into the CMS, students' self-reported frequency of using the learner–instructor/learner–learner interactive functions, and online learning performance. The findings and implications could constitute a useful guide for educational practitioners and designers concerned with the effective integration of interactivity into future online courses.     

Effects on learning of time spent by university students attending lectures and/or watching online videos

We apply Carroll's model of school learning, which theorizes about the relationship between time and learning, to motivate the design of a large, first‐year, university mathematics course, where students have the choice to attend lectures and/or watch online videos. The theoretical model informs how the course and resources are designed in order to assist students to spend the time they need to master a task in an efficient manner. We examine the relationship between learning and time spent on lectures and/or videos, by analysing data collected on lecture attendance, videos accessed, and mathematical achievement, prior to, and at the end of, the course. Findings show that students use videos as either a complement to, or substitute for, the lecture, and time spent using either or both resources has a significant impact on learning.     

Facilitating comprehension of non‐native English speakers during lectures in English with STR‐texts

We provided texts generated by speech‐to text‐recognition (STR) technology for non‐native English speaking students during lectures in English in order to test whether STR‐texts were useful for enhancing students' comprehension of lectures. To this end, we carried out an experiment in which 60 participants were randomly assigned to a control group (i.e., 30 participants who learned without STR‐texts) and an experimental group (i.e., 30 participants who learned with STR‐texts). Our results showed that the participants in the experimental group outperformed those in the control group. Our second objective was to explore the effectiveness of STR‐texts on the learning performance of the experimental‐group participants with different levels of English as a Foreign Language ability, that is, high and low. The results showed that the low ability students had lower self‐efficacy than the high ability students. The results also showed no significant effect of STR‐texts on the post‐test scores of the low and high ability participants after controlling for the effect of English as a Foreign Language ability. No significant difference was found in cognitive load and anxiety of the low and high ability participants. Based on the implications of our findings, several suggestions are made for the teaching and research communities.     

Effect of blended learning environment on transfer of learning: an experimental study

The main purpose of the study is to investigate the effect of the blended learning and face‐to‐face learning on students' academic achievements and transfer of learning. The first aim of the study is to analyse the students' academic achievements to determine the change of theoretical knowledge in terms of the instructional method applied in this study. However, students' performances during the learning process are not always a good indicator. Therefore, the second aim of the study is to examine transferring students' theoretical knowledge to their educational multimedia projects. For this purpose, 14 weeks of pre‐ and post‐test experimental study is designed. The study is administered through an educational technology course in which students learn how to develop educational multimedia materials. The participants are undergraduate pre‐service teachers; they are assigned randomly to the experimental and control group. While the experimental group has both online and classroom sessions, the control group has only face‐to‐face classroom sessions. Although there is no significant difference between the groups in terms of academic achievement, the students in the blended group are more successful in transferring their knowledge to their projects than the ones in the face‐to‐face group. In conclusion, the results show that the blended learning approach has a positive effect on the transfer of learning.     

Investigating an application of speech‐to‐text recognition: a study on visual attention and learning behaviour

One major drawback of previous research on speech‐to‐text recognition (STR) is that most findings showing the effectiveness of STR for learning were based upon subjective evidence. Very few studies have used eye‐tracking techniques to investigate visual attention of students on STR‐generated text. Furthermore, not much attention was paid to learning differences, such as learning ability, learning style preferences and gender, to use STR texts. Therefore, this study carried out one experiment. Firstly, participants' visual attention on STR‐generated text was investigated by employing eye‐tracking technique. Secondly, how differently effective STR‐generated texts can be to influence participants' learning achievement was tested. Thirdly, this study compared visual attention and learning behaviour with the different characteristics of participants, such as learning ability, learning style preferences and gender, to use STR‐generated texts. Finally, this study explored students' perceptions regarding usefulness of STR‐generated texts for learning. This paper discusses results, research findings and implications along with conclusions and several suggestions for future development and research.     

Supporting middle school students' online reading of scientific resources: moving beyond cursory,fragmented, and opportunistic reading

The abundant scientific resources on the Web provide great opportunities for students to expand their science learning, yet easy access to information does not ensure learning. Prior research has found that middle school students tend to read Web‐based scientific resources in a shallow, superficial manner. A software tool was designed to support middle school students in reading online scientific resources through three key strategies: making explicit a skim–read–summarize structure for online reading, using prompts to guide students' reading and foster articulation of thinking, and connecting reading to learning purposes. This study examined the differences between regular and guided online reading performed by eight pairs of sixth graders in a science inquiry project. The students' online reading processes and conversations were captured by a screen‐recording programme. Analysis of 60 h of screen videos showed that the students' online reading in the regular condition was cursory, fragmented, and opportunistic, while the structured online reading was more deliberate, thorough, and purposeful. Overall, the results suggest that middle school students' online reading of scientific resources needs to be guided.     

Instructor presence in instructional video: Effects on visual attention,recall, and perceived learning

In an effort to enhance instruction and reach more students, educators design engaging online learning experiences, often in the form of online videos. While many instructional videos feature a picture-inpicture view of instructor, it is not clear how instructor presence influences learners' visual attention and what it contributes to learning and affect. Given this knowledge gap, this study explored the impact of instructor presence on learning, visual attention, and perceived learning in mathematics instructional videos of varying content difficulty. Thirty-six participants each viewed two 10-min-long mathematics videos (easy and difficult topics), with instructor either present or absent. Findings suggest that instructor attracted considerable visual attention, particularly when learners viewed the video on an easy topic. Although no significant difference in learning transfer was found for either topic, participants' recall of information from the video was better for easy topic when instructor was present. Finally, instructor presence positively influenced participants' perceived learning and satisfaction for both topics and led to a lower level of self-reported mental effort for difficult topic.     

The effects of computer simulation and animation (CSA) on students' cognitive processes: A comparative case study in an undergraduate engineering course

This study focuses on the investigation of the effects of computer simulation and animation (CSA) on students' cognitive processes in an undergraduate engineering course. The revised Bloom's taxonomy, which consists of six categories in the cognitive process domain, was employed in this study. Five of the six categories were investigated, including remember, understand, apply, analyze, and evaluate. Data were collected via a think‐aloud protocol involving two groups of student participants: One group learned a worked example problem with a CSA module, and the other group learned the same problem with traditional textbook‐style instruction. A new concept called frequency index was proposed for use in qualitative research that involves the quantitative comparison of the overall popularity of a particular mental activity performed by two groups of students. The results show that as compared to traditional textbook‐style instruction, CSA significantly increases students' activities in the understand category of the revised Bloom's taxonomy during learning and significantly increases students' activities in the understand, apply, analyse, and evaluate categories during subsequent problem‐solving. That learning via CSA has a profound impact on subsequent problem‐solving is attributed to intensive human–computer interactions built in the CSA learning module.     

Multimedia recipe reading: Predicting learning outcomes and diagnosing cooking interest using eye-tracking measures

This study aimed to explore the relationships between students' visual behaviors and learning outcomes, and between visual behaviors and prior cooking interest in multimedia recipe learning. An eye-tracking experiment, including pretest, recall test, and retention test, was conducted with a sample of 29 volunteer hospitality majors in Taiwan. The multimedia recipe included a static page showing the ingredients in a text-and-picture representation and a dynamic page showing the knife skills in a text-and-video representation. Total reading time, total fixation duration, number of fixations and inter-scanning count were used to explore the students' visual attention distributions among the different representation elements and their visual strategies for learning the recipe. The results showed that all students paid more visual attention to the text than to the picture information for the static recipe, and paid more visual attention to the video than to the text on the dynamic page. In addition, the visual attention paid to the text on the dynamic page was negatively correlated with the retention of the episodic knowledge of knife skills. In contrast, the visual attention paid to the text on the static ingredient page was positively correlated with students' prior cooking interest. Finally, the inter-scanning count between text and video on the dynamic page was the best index to negatively predict students' learning retention. Total fixation duration on the text information on the static page was the best index to positively predict students' prior cooking interest. Future studies and applications are discussed.