Search

Background Study: Previous systematic reviews concluded that online professional‐learning communities (OPLCs) have positive effects on teachers' development, but explored neither the technological affordances that make this possible nor the potential negative impacts of technology use in OPLCs. Objectives: The aim of this study is to systematically analyse previous research on teachers' OPLCs, and thus help answer the question of what technological affordances (dis)empower members of teachers' OPLCs, and how they do so. Methods: This study applied the systematic‐review method. A total of 28 studies were identified and analysed using rigorously defined inclusion and exclusion criteria. The results are reported as a synthesis. Results and Conclusions: First, in theme, the selected articles primarily focused on features of OPLCs and of teachers' knowledge. Second, mixed‐methods approaches were commonly used in the sampled research, and the number of studies employing advanced statistical methods and machine learning increased over time. And third, the reviewed studies' findings suggest that technology supports 'bottom‐up' teachers' communities (as distinct from 'top‐down' professional development organized by educational authorities) in seven ways: that is, by promoting collaboration opportunities, expanding the participants' networks, facilitating knowledge sharing, delivering support more rapidly, providing emotional support, allowing ubiquitous learning, and enabling multiple modes of participation. Lay Description: What is currently known about the subject matter: Previous reviews found OPLCs have positive effects on teachers' development. What their paper adds to this: What technological affordances empower teachers in OPLCs.How technological affordances empower teachers in OPLCs. The implications of study findings for practitioners: The sampled articles primarily focused on OPLC features and teacher knowledge.Mixed‐methods approaches were commonly used.Technology provides various affordances to 'bottom‐up' teachers' communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Formative online multiple‐choice tests are ubiquitous in higher education and potentially powerful learning tools. However, commonly used feedback approaches in online multiple‐choice tests can discourage meaningful engagement and enable strategies, such as trial‐and‐error, that circumvent intended learning outcomes. These strategies will not prepare graduates as self‐regulated learners, nor for the complexities of contemporary work settings. Objectives: To investigate whether providing only a score after formative online multiple‐choice test attempts (score‐only feedback) increases the likelihood of students to engage in self‐regulated learning compared with more directive feedback. Measurable outcomes included deeper learning, collaboration, information seeking, and satisfaction. Methods: Data in this mixed methods study were collected from nursing students through surveys, test results, focus groups, and student discussion board contributions. A quasi‐experimental design was used for quantitative data, and qualitative data were analysed thematically against domains of self‐regulated learning. Results and Conclusions: Students receiving score‐only feedback were more cognitively engaged with the content, collaborated constructively, and sought out richer sources of information. However, it was also associated with lower satisfaction. In this study, minimal feedback created states of uncertainty, which resulted in the activation of self‐regulatory actions. Implications for Practice: Providing overly directive feedback for formative online multiple‐choice tests is conducive to surface‐level learning strategies. By minimising feedback and allowing for extended states of uncertainty, students are more likely to regulate their learning through self‐assessment and problem‐solving strategies, all of which are required by graduates to meet the challenges of real‐world work settings. Lay Description: What is already known about this topic: Formative online multiple‐choice tests are widely used in higher education.Feedback is a critical element in the design of effective online multiple‐choice tests.Formative feedback should promote self‐regulated learning.Feedback types used in multiple‐choice tests facilitate strategies not conducive to self‐regulation. What this paper adds: Online multiple‐choice test feedback can influence how students self‐regulate their learning.Less feedback can result in greater self‐evaluation and performance in summative assessment.Less feedback can encourage richer help‐seeking strategies (collaboration and information seeking).However, less feedback can result in student dissatisfaction. Implications for practice and/or policy: Judicious use of feedback is required in the design of online multiple‐choice tests.Educators should consider providing less feedback to promote learner self‐regulation.Satisfaction with online multiple‐choice tests does not necessarily equate to greater learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Valuable safeguards against fast‐spreading conjectures about learning in times of fear and uncertainty are evidence‐based approaches to the assessment of the impact of sudden and unforeseen disruptions on learning practices. The present research focused on physics learning in such times because conceptual and computational literacy in physics is critical to the development of a scientifically and technologically literate society. Objectives: The present research aimed (a) to offer an objective assessment of whether performance differences in a physics course of the general education curriculum existed between the face‐to‐face medium (familiar mode of instruction) and the online medium (unfamiliar mode of instruction) for both male and female students, and then (b) to develop a response to the evidence collected to ensure a quality education for all parties involved. The research intended to fill two critical gaps in the extant literature: mixed findings concerning students' performance in the face‐to‐face and online mediums as well as scarce coverage of specific domains of knowledge that are critical to STEM learners. Methods: Students' performance was examined as a function of the type of assessment (formative and summative), instructional mode (online and face‐to‐face), and gender. An understudied student population of STEM students of Middle Eastern descent without prior formal exposure to online instruction was targeted. Results and Conclusions: In both formative and summative assessments, male students performed better online than face‐to‐face, whereas the performance of female students was either higher online or equivalent between instructional mediums. The evidence collected suggested that consideration be given to remedies that foster academic success in the face‐to‐face instructional medium, particularly for male students. Takeaways: An evidence‐based approach to learning dismantled emotion‐driven expectations regarding the impact of the online medium on physics learning, and encouraged new perspectives about instruction. Lay Description: What is already known?: Ongoing debates on the impact of the pandemic on students' learning shape decisions regarding future reliance on the online medium for instruction. What this paper adds: The extant literature is mixed concerning performance in the face‐to‐face and online mediums, including particular domains of knowledge critical to STEM learning.This study focused on physics learning in an understudied population of STEM students who were unaccustomed to online instruction.Performance was higher online than face‐to‐face, but gender differences emerged. Implications for practice: Lessons learned focused on the flexibility of online learning and on the need to develop materials to enhance learning in males enrolled in face‐to‐face or hybrid/blended classes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Small private online courses (SPOCs) are one of the strategies to introduce the massive open online courses (MOOCs) within the university environment and to have these courses validates for academic credit. However, numerous researchers have highlighted that academic dishonesty is greatly facilitated by the online context in which SPOCs are offered. And while numerous algorithms have already been proposed, no research has been performed on how to transfer this information to instructors, so that they can intervene and decrease the prevalence of this issue. Objectives: In this article, we present a qualitative evaluation of a tool for detecting and monitoring students suspected of academic dishonesty in SPOCs in Selene, a Colombian instance of Open edX. Methods: The evaluation was carried out through semi‐structured interviews with four instructors who taught SPOCs with academic recognition at the University of Cauca. Results: The evaluation results indicated that participants found the dashboard reliable and appropriate to detect academic dishonesty behaviours in order to intervene in these cases. Implications: But interventions are difficult to systematise, need an institutional policy, and there is uncertainty about whether these interventions can actually contribute to decreasing academic dishonesty. Lay Description: What is currently known about the subject matter: There are studies that detect academic dishonesty behaviour through webcams in massive open online courses (MOOCs).There are studies based on Learning Analytics techniques for the detection of academic dishonesty behaviour in MOOCs.There are dashboards for monitoring students' learning activities in online courses. What their paper adds to this: An algorithm for real‐time detection of academic dishonesty behaviour in small private online courses (SPOCs) with academic recognition is presented.A dashboard for the visualisation of students' academic dishonesty behaviour in SPOCs is presented.A qualitative evaluation of a dashboard for the detection of academic dishonesty in SPOCs with academic recognition is presented. Implications of study findings for practitioners: Our work opens an avenue for exploration of different ways to detect and follow up on academic dishonesty in online courses.Implies that trainers should have a basic knowledge of data analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Online discussion is one of the commonly used tools to enhance students' interactions and engagements in online courses, but it is not clear how social presence in online discussions impacts students' learning and what kinds of interactions we should encourage. Social network analysis provides a new methodology to investigate how social interactions in online discussions influence learning. Objectives: The study aims to identify students' online discussion interaction patterns and investigate how they are related to students' learning performance in an asynchronous course. Methods: Students who enrolled in an asynchronous undergraduate course were invited to participate in this study. Participants' online discussion participation data were collected from six online discussions from an asynchronous online course. Data were analysed using social network analysis methods as well as correlation and regression analysis. Results and Conclusions: We found that statistically significant positive correlations existed between learning performance and out‐degree and closeness, respectively, which provided evidence to support that social interactions in online discussions have positive correlations with learning. We also found that out‐closeness contributes to students' learning performance. The results of the study imply that knowledge construction occurs mainly in the centre of the outgoing network. By interpreting this study's results with the social construction of knowledge model, we conclude that knowledge construction mainly happens in reading and commenting on others' posts by internalizing and integrating external useful information from others. Implications: While numerous studies have emphasized the importance of interactions in online discussions or collaborative learning, there are limited studies on what kind of interactions we should encourage and what role students play in knowledge construction. The results of this study provide evidence that knowledge construction happens when students are reading and commenting on others' posts, which includes a hidden process of integrating external useful information into their own understanding. Practical strategies are provided to encourage students to be expansive and actively reach out to other students. Lay Description: What is already known about this topic: Vygotsky's social development theory stresses the interaction of interpersonal, cultural‐historical, and individual factors as the key to human development.The interactions among students in asynchronous online discussions play an important role in higher phases of knowledge creation.Some studies have investigated the relationship between knowledge construction and centrality measurements of networks in asynchronous online discussions using social network analysis method, but the results are mixed. What this paper adds: This study investigated the interaction patterns at a deep level by using social network analysis techniques. The three main interaction patterns were found in six online discussions of one online asynchronous course over one semester.The interaction patterns of the networks of these online discussions indicate that the majority of students are not expansive enough; moreover, the network density, transitivity, and clustering coefficient are low.Using social network analysis, this study has found that out‐degree and closeness measurements of the online discussion networks are positively correlated with students' academic performance. This study also found that out‐closeness contributes to students' learning performance. The results of this study imply that outgoing networks play a more crucial role than incoming networks in students' learning performance. It appears that knowledge construction happens mainly in the centre of the outgoing network. Implications for practice and/or policy: Knowledge construction happens when students are reading and commenting on others' posts, which includes a hidden process of integrating external useful information into their own understanding. This process may externalize as reading and commenting on others' posts in online discussions.Expansively interacting with others in online discussions plays a vital role in knowledge construction. It may be beneficial to encourage more student interactions in online discussions, especially encouraging students to be expansive and actively reach out to other students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Since the outbreak of COVID‐19, online courses have been extensively used from K‐12 to higher education. Online learning engagement, an important factor in online learning success, is currently at a low level in high school. Meanwhile, the research on the factors that influence high school students' online learning engagement is still limited. Objectives: Based on the theories of regulatory focus and value control, this study developed a multi‐mediation model to investigate whether self‐efficacy and academic emotions can mediate the relationship between regulatory focus and online learning engagement. Methods: A total of 926 high school student (52.16% female, mean age = 16.47 years) were recruited to participate in this study and completed self‐report measures of regulatory focus, online learning engagement, online learning self‐efficacy and academic emotions. And we used SPSS macro PROCESS developed by Hayes to examine the mediating role of online learning self‐efficacy and academic emotions. Results and Conclusions: The results indicated that promotion focus had a stable positive effect on online learning engagement of high school students, whereas prevention focus had a significant negative effect on the same. Self‐efficacy and positive emotions had a significant positive mediating effect between promotion focus and online learning engagement. Moreover, positive emotions had a significant positive mediating effect between the prevention focus and online learning engagement, while negative emotions had a significant negative mediating effect between them. Lay Description: What is already known about this topic: Regulatory focus is a self‐regulatory motivational orientation that has a significant impact on online learning for university students.Self‐efficacy and academic emotions are among the main factors that influence online learning engagement.Online learning has spread due to the COVID‐19 pandemic. Lack of understanding of online learning engagement for high school students. Lack of experience of teachers in teaching online. What this paper adds: Promotion focus had a steady significant positive effect on high school students' online learning engagement, while prevention focus had a significant negative effect on high school students' online learning engagement.Self‐efficacy and positive emotion had a significant positive mediating effect between promotion focus and online learning engagement.Positive emotion had a significant positive mediating effect between prevention focus and online learning engagement, while negative emotions had a significant negative mediating effect between them. Implications for practice and/or policy: These findings provide suggestions for instructional strategies for the online classroom. (1) It is important for online teachers to design appropriate learning contexts to initiate a promotion focus for learners in order to increase online learning engagement. For example, by designing online learning contextual elements such as learning activities, learning atmosphere, social interactions, media resources, and contexts, online learners' tendency to promotion focus is activated and learners' level of engagement in online learning is increased. (2) Online teachers can promote learning engagement by initiating a promotion focus, or they can improve students' accountability by initiating their prevention focus, as appropriate. (3) To ensure a certain level of engagement in online learning, teachers should use teaching and learning assessment methods that are predominantly promotion‐focused and supplemented by prevention‐focused methods to accommodate students' different motivational orientations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Collaborative computer simulations are available on some online platforms which support students at distributed locations to synchronously collaborate on the simulations to learn sciences. However, how students collaborate with each other in collaborative simulations is not clear. Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate whether functional interdependency would influence learning. Methods: Two collaborative learning models with different functional interdependencies were examined (the synchronous model and the distributed accountability model). Multiple data sources obtained from 64 students were collected and analyzed. We discuss the collaborative learning with two levels of factors: the individual‐level factors (i.e., individual perceptions of teamwork quality, visual attention and learning performance before and after a simulation activity) and the pair‐level factors (i.e., discourse data and joint attention). Given that the pair‐level factors in the collaborative learning environment may affect the individual‐level factors, we further discuss the interactions of the two levels of factors in different collaborative learning models with hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) analysis. Results and Conclusions: The analytical results of the individual‐level factors found participants in the distributed accountability model demonstrated more frequent and longer attention to the learning activity. Furthermore, the results indicated that the two simulation learning activities would enhance the participants' learning performance except in Q2. For the pair‐level factors, the results demonstrated that the participants in the distributed accountability model showed more active discourse segments but similar joint attention patterns in the learning activity. The results of the HLM analysis indicated that the students in the distributed accountability model had to collaborate with their partners through more constructive dialogue, and focused on the same areas of interest to enhance their learning performance, as the complexity of the distributed accountability design was implemented in a simulation learning activity. Major takeaways: We found that the increase of functional interdependency cannot guarantee students' learning effect in collaborative learning and may hinder the communication that is needed during collaboration. Researcher may need to consider other collaboration tools to enhance the reciprocal reflection. Lay Description: What is already known about this topic: Collaborative simulations are helpful in making the learning process cohesive.The learning effects of functional interdependence in collaborative learning are under debate. What this paper adds: We examined collaborative learning models with different functional interdependencies.We discuss the collaborative learning with the individual‐, the pair‐level factors and their interactions Implications for practice and/or policy: The importance of decreasing cognitive load induced by simulation with high functional interdependency.It is necessary to increase participants' transactive and constructive engagement in collaborative models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Failure to effectively organize and manage learning time is an important factor influencing online learners' performance. Investigation of time‐investment patterns for online learning will provide educators with useful knowledge of how learners engage in and regulate their online learning and support them in tailoring online course design and teaching. However, understanding of how learners invest and manage their time during online learning remains limited. Objectives: This study aims to discover the typical time‐investment patterns of MOOC learners and their temporal‐learning characteristics based on a systematic time‐investment analysis framework and their relationship with learning performance. Methods: Based on a proposed time‐investment‐analysis framework, this study applied statistical, cluster and lag sequential analyses to investigate learners' time‐investment patterns and their relationships with learning performance, session time allocation, and learning sequences by analysing the learning data from 12,463 participants of a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) in China. Results and Conclusions: Seven time‐investment patterns of MOOC learners were defined, and learning performance was found to differ among them. Further analysis shows that high performers invested time throughout the whole course and allocated time to multiple activities, exam‐takers performed better in time management and produced more behavioural sequences related to cognitive strategy and recourse use, and learners' motivation and prior knowledge affected the management and effectiveness of their time investment. Implications: The results support the recognition and evaluation of online learning time‐investment patterns and suggest relevant cues for improving MOOC design and teaching. Lay Description: What is currently known about the subject matter: Insufficient learning time affects learning persistence and effectiveness in open and online education programs.Learning time investment and management regarded as an element of self‐regulated learning is a predictor of learning performance.Some proxy behavioural variables or characteristics of online learning time management have been found in previous studies.Learning analysis can be used to dig the knowledge implicit in learning data for online teaching evaluation and improvement. What is paper adds to the subject: Based on a comprehensive analytic framework, seven time‐investment patterns of MOOC learners and their relationship with achievement are identified.Under different time frames, learners' time allocation and learning behaviour pattern are different.Learners performing better in time management across course learning allocate more time to multiple activities in session learning.Exam‐takers perform better in time management across MOOC learning, and produce more behaviour sequences related to cognitive strategy and course recourse use. The implications of study findings for practitioners: The recognition of time investment pattern can support online course design and teaching improvement.MOOC design and teaching need to consider the differences in learners' time resources and their ability of time management.MOOC design and teaching need to encourage learners lacking of performance motivation to engage in various learning activities instead of just watching videos.MOOC design need consider the differences in learners' prior knowledge, and offer personalized learning path based on assessment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Due to the global COVID‐19 pandemic, online learning became the only way to learn during this unprecedented crisis. This study began with a simple but vital question: What factors influenced the success of online learning during the COVID‐19 pandemic with a focus on online learning self‐efficacy? Objectives: The purpose of this study was to examine the structural relationship among self‐efficacy (SE) in time management, SE in technology use, SE in an online learning environment, and learning engagement. Methods: The participants of the study were 1205 undergraduates who were enrolled in a residential undergraduate program in South Korea in spring semester, 2020. The online survey was administered to collect data for this research and the survey results were analyzed using structural equation modeling. Results and Conclusions: SE in technology use had a significant but negative influence on learning engagement and had a positive impact on SE in an online learning environment. SE in time management had a significant positive impact on SE in an online learning environment and learning engagement. SE in an online learning environment also significantly influenced learning engagement. Implications: SE in technology use itself did not enhance learning engagement. In addition, indirect effects of SE in technology use and SE in time management on learning engagement through SE in an online learning environment were confirmed in this study. This indicates the influential role of SE in an online learning environment on learning engagement of online learners. Lay Description: What is already known about this topic: COVID‐19 forced almost all students to learn online.Time management plays a major role in the success of online learning.Technology self‐efficacy is a requirement in online learning.The learning engagement variable explains learning achievement and attitudes. What this paper adds: Self‐efficacy (SE) in time management and SE in technology use enhanced SE in an online learning environment.SE in technology use itself did not enhance learning engagement.SE in time management and in SE an online learning environment significantly influenced learning engagement.SE in an online learning environment mediated the relationship between SE in technology use and learning engagement as well as between SE in time management and learning engagement. Implications for practice and/or policy: It is important to promote students' online learning self‐efficacy to enhance learning engagement in online learning.Practitioners should be aware that SE in technology use improves learning engagement through SE in an online learning environment.SE in time management should be promoted for successful online learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Virtual reality can be a useful substitute to improve nursing education outside of the hospital setting. In the wake of COVID‐19, an opportunity to compare a virtual reality activity for nursing students in the traditional classroom and in an online environment took place. Objectives: The goal of this study was to examine the effects of incorporating a virtual reality activity into the traditional classroom and in an online environment to enhance nursing education. Methods: Fifty nursing students participated in an exploratory descriptive study. Twenty‐five students participated face‐to‐face while in the traditional classroom setting and 25‐students participated in an online environment using a communication platform. Through a virtual reality activity, nursing students successfully created a tour which demonstrated identifying infectious sites in a hospital room setting. Results and Conclusions: Results of the pre‐and post‐test showed students' positive perceptions and performances in both traditional classroom and online settings. However, the study revealed a statistical difference between the two group perceptions towards the use of the virtual reality tour creator. Nursing students who were in the traditional classroom group found that the use the virtual reality tour creator was easier. Implications: Designing a meaningful virtual reality activity has a positive impact of the student learning experience. Students may benefit from a more through orientation to the technology prior to engaging in the activity. A carefully constructed activity can enhance student learning outside of the hospital room. Lay Description: What is already known about this topic?: Virtual reality can be applied to nursing education with a positive impact on the student learning experience.Nursing students perceived the virtual reality learning activity useful to substitute for in‐hospital training. What this paper adds?: Virtual reality learning activities can help promote nursing performance in both the traditional classroom and online settings.Students can have similar academic performance between the classroom and online modes despite having different experiences. Implications for practice and/or policy: Virtual reality integration might be implemented by pre‐training to make sure students are comfortable with the technology before jumping into course activities.The instructional design and delivery of a virtual reality learning activity greatly influenced the students' learning experiences, rather than the use of virtual reality technology itself. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]