Search

The paper introduces the student‐coined term digital instinct which describes students' disposition to resorting to digital technology for solving problems and doing school assignments. Taking cues from the term digital instinct, the paper describes a student perspective on digital literacy emerging from 100 lived experience descriptions and interviews with 37 Danish upper secondary students. The findings show that students' digital practice is characterised by experience‐based, intuitive and familiar use of technologies. Most notably, students employ digital technologies as cognitive partners that help them carry on with assignments that they initially did not understand, but that they were able to complete with the help of the computer. The study examines the nature of this partnership through the words of the students and identifies how technologies expand student agency but fall short of a reflective use of digital technologies. Recognising the strengths and weaknesses of students' digital practices may inform the concept of digital literacy and encourage teachers to acknowledge the digital instinct as a steppingstone to foster students' reflective use of digital technologies. Practitioner notesWhat is already known about this topic Students have inadequate command of digital literacies as described in curricular terminology.Students have positive as well as negative perceptions of the value and usefulness of digital technologies in school.Students both over‐ and underestimate their own digital literacies.What this paper adds Students have a fundamental utilitarian conception of digital technologies that either make schoolwork easier or more difficult, and they do not articulate that their use of digital technologies provides them with digital literacies.Students' conception of a digital instinct describes an intuitive and familiar, albeit unreflected, use of technologies where students employ experience‐based and self‐taught methods for using digital technologies.The digital instinct accounts for a feeling of agency among students, manifested in a widespread confidence that they can do assignments and solve problems when they make use of their computer.Implications for practice and/or policy Curricular terminologies struggle to capture what students can and cannot do with technology, and how much they understand the underlying technology.Teachers can involve and build on students' experience‐based digital practices as a starting point for developing digital literacy among students—also as an entry to a curricular perspective.Teachers should acknowledge students' conception of a 'digital instinct' as an important disposition in its own right. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Self‐direction has become an important skill in the 21st century. To cultivate learners with a high level of self‐direction, it is necessary to diagnose their self‐directed learning (SDL) ability. This study diagnosed and predicted learners' SDL ability based on their actual SDL behaviours. The study was performed in a self‐directed 3D design class lasting 90 minutes. A total of 193 middle school students participated in the study. The results of the Pearson correlation analysis (p < 0.001) showed that the reported perception of SDL ability was significantly correlated with SDL behaviours. The results of the hierarchical multiple linear regression analysis showed that the SDL behaviours explained 84.9% of the variance in SDL ability (adjusted R2 = 0.849, p < 0.001). Therefore, SDL behaviours had significant predictive effects on the reported perception of SDL ability. Moreover, based on the random forest algorithm, the study built an SDL ability prediction model with high performance (accuracy = 0.83, precision = 0.82, recall = 0.84) using SDL behaviours as features. The study provides evidence for the design of effective strategies to enhance SDL ability and promote SDL behaviours.Practitioner notesWhat is already known about this topicTo cultivate learners with a high level of self‐direction, it is necessary to diagnose their self‐directed learning (SDL) ability.SDL is a combination of internal personal attributes and external autonomous behaviours.Few studies have focused on diagnosing SDL ability based on learners' external SDL behaviours occurring during the learning process.What this paper addsThe reported perception of SDL ability was significantly correlated with SDL behaviours.SDL behaviours had significant predictive effects on the reported perception of SDL ability.Based on the random forest algorithm, the study built an SDL ability prediction model with high performance using SDL behaviours as features.Implications for practice and/or policyThe findings indicate that instructors could design effective strategies to promote SDL behaviours for the purpose of enhancing learners' SDL ability.The method and process of building an SDL ability prediction model might provide a reference for related research on ability prediction with behaviours. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Individual interest and self‐regulation are two pillars of self‐directed learning. Despite empirical evidence on the interaction between the two with respect to academic achievement, few studies have explored how individual interest and self‐regulation might interact and relate to self‐directed informal learning. This study surveyed 322 university students on self‐regulation and two interest constructs (interest in learning English and interest in pursuing personal interest in English), and tested how these factors related to their engagement in self‐directed use of technology for English learning beyond the classroom. Structural equation modelling analysis revealed that despite both being significant determinants, interest factors, and self‐regulation were associated differently with various types of self‐directed technological activities (instruction‐, information‐, entertainment‐ and socialization‐oriented activities). Self‐regulation was predictive of instruction‐, information‐ and socialization‐oriented activities, which have high cognitive load and require effort management for second‐language learners. Interest in English learning was consistently a significant predictor of all four types of technological activities. Interest in pursuing personal interest in English played a significant role in information‐ and entertainment‐oriented technological activities. The findings recommend greater attention to individual interest when promoting self‐directed informal learning. The findings further suggest adopting a differentiated approach to bolstering self‐directed learning for different purposes. Practitioner notesWhat is already known about this topic Self‐regulation is important to self‐directed learning.Subject‐matter interest and self‐regulation interplay to influence academic performance in formal learning contexts.What this paper adds Interest and self‐regulation interplayed to shape self‐direction in informal learning contexts.Self‐regulation was predictive of instruction‐, information‐ and socialization‐oriented activities.Interest factors added additional explanation power on self‐directed technological activities.Both subject‐matter interest and the integration of personal interest with subject learning were significant determinants.The integration of personal interest with subject learning mediated the influence of subject‐matter interest.Implications for practice and/or policy Educational interventions need to work simultaneously on both interest and self‐regulation to bolster self‐directed learning.Educators need to address different factors when boosting different types of technological activities.A relative stance needs to be taken since self‐regulation might play a less significant role in less taxing technological activities.It is important to deliberately integrate students' personal interests into English learning and help students perceive and act on the integration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Capturing evidence for dynamic changes in self‐regulated learning (SRL) behaviours resulting from interventions is challenging for researchers. In the current study, we identified students who were likely to do poorly in a biology course and those who were likely to do well. Then, we randomly assigned a portion of the students predicted to perform poorly to a science of learning to learn intervention where they were taught SRL study strategies. Learning outcome and log data (257 K events) were collected from n = 226 students. We used a complex systems framework to model the differences in SRL including the amount, interrelatedness, density and regularity of engagement captured in digital trace data (ie, logs). Differences were compared between students who were predicted to (1) perform poorly (control, n = 48), (2) perform poorly and received intervention (treatment, n = 95) and (3) perform well (not flagged, n = 83). Results indicated that the regularity of students' engagement was predictive of course grade, and that the intervention group exhibited increased regularity in engagement over the control group immediately after the intervention and maintained that increase over the course of the semester. We discuss the implications of these findings in relation to the future of artificial intelligence and potential uses for monitoring student learning in online environments. Practitioner notesWhat is already known about this topic Self‐regulated learning (SRL) knowledge and skills are strong predictors of postsecondary STEM student success.SRL is a dynamic, temporal process that leads to purposeful student engagement.Methods and metrics for measuring dynamic SRL behaviours in learning contexts are needed.What this paper adds A Markov process for measuring dynamic SRL processes using log data.Evidence that dynamic, interaction‐dominant aspects of SRL predict student achievement.Evidence that SRL processes can be meaningfully impacted through educational intervention.Implications for theory and practice Complexity approaches inform theory and measurement of dynamic SRL processes.Static representations of dynamic SRL processes are promising learning analytics metrics.Engineered features of LMS usage are valuable contributions to AI models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The anthropomorphic characteristics of artificial intelligence (AI) can provide a positive environment for self‐regulated learning (SRL). The factors affecting adolescents' SRL through AI technologies remain unclear. Limited AI and disciplinary knowledge may affect the students' motivations, as explained by self‐determination theory (SDT). In this study, we examine the mediating effects of needs satisfaction in SDT on the relationship between students' previous technical (AI) and disciplinary (English) knowledge and SRL, using an AI conversational chatbot. Data were collected from 323 9th Grade students through a questionnaire and a test. The students completed an AI basic unit and then learned English with a conversational chatbot for 5 days. Confidence intervals were calculated to investigate the mediating effects. We found that students' previous knowledge of English but not their AI knowledge directly affected their SRL with the chatbot, and that satisfying the need for autonomy and competence mediated the relationships between both knowledge (AI and English) and SRL, but relatedness did not. The self‐directed nature of SRL requires heavy cognitive learning and satisfying the need for autonomy and competence may more effectively engage young children in this type of learning. The findings also revealed that current chatbot technologies may not benefit students with relatively lower levels of English proficiency. We suggest that teachers can use conversational chatbots for knowledge consolidation purposes, but not in SRL explorations. Practitioner notesWhat is already known about this topicArtificial intelligence (AI) technologies can potentially support students' self‐regulated learning (SRL) of disciplinary knowledge through chatbots.Needs satisfaction in Self‐determination theory (SDT) can explain the directive process required for SRL.Technical and disciplinary knowledge would affect SRL with technologies.What this paper addsThis study examines the mediating effects of needs satisfaction in SDT on the relationship between students' previous AI (technical) and English (disciplinary) knowledge and SRL, using an AI conversational chatbot.Students' previous knowledge of English but not their AI knowledge directly affected their SRL with the chatbot.Autonomy and competence were mediators, but relatedness was not.Implications for practice and/or policyTeachers should use chatbots for knowledge consolidation rather than exploration.Teachers should support students' competence and autonomy, as these were found to be the factors that directly predicted SRL.School leaders and teacher educators should include the mediating effects of needs satisfaction in professional development programmes for digital education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, several studies have reported the potential of employing digital games in EFL (English as Foreign Language) courses to promote students' learning motivation. However, scholars have pointed out that students generally lack self‐learning ability, which is the key to the success of learning a foreign language. Therefore, it is crucial to foster students' self‐learning ability during the game‐based learning process. In this study, an expert system was developed to facilitate self‐regulated learning in digital game‐based learning contexts. To evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed approach, a quasi‐experimental design was employed in a university English course. The experimental group students learned with the self‐regulated English vocabulary game (SR‐EVG) approach, while the control group students learned with the conventional English vocabulary game (C‐EVG) approach. The experimental results indicated that the use of the SR‐EVG approach could improve learners' English vocabulary achievement and self‐regulation compared with the C‐EVG approach without increasing students' English learning anxiety. Moreover, through qualitative interviews, it was found that students who used the SR‐EVG approach would focus on their learning due to goal‐setting in the game and would pay more attention to the learning strategies they used. Practitioner notes: What is already known about this topic Digital game‐based learning situates students in a realistic situational environment, enabling students to learn by experiencing and interacting with the situations.Without appropriate scaffolding during digital game‐based learning, students may become overly focused on the game, or perform many non‐learning behaviorsSelf‐regulated learning refers to students' ability to learn on their own via goal setting, strategic planning, self‐monitoring, and self‐adjustment. What this paper adds An expert system‐guided self‐regulated learning approach was proposed to facilitate EFL students' performance in digital gaming contextsDue to goal‐setting step, students using the proposed approach would focus on their learning and pay more attention to the learning strategies they used. Implications for practice and/or policy It is potentially worth using the expert system‐guided self‐regulated learning approach in EFL training to facilitate students' performances and perceptions.The proposed approach can further analyze and compare the students' gaming and learning behaviors in the digital gaming contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Can a new instructional approach influence lifelong learning and the development of competent lifelong learners? Blended and online learning provides a platform for learning that introduces technological affordance to enable learning. We seek to find an intersection between blended and online learning and lifelong learning through an instructional approach that encourages learners towards management of their own learning. This opens the door to becoming an autonomous, capable, self‐directed lifelong learner. In this context, heutagogy offers an instructional approach that may connect blended and online learning settings with the development of lifelong learning competence. After conducting a systematic literature review using the terms heutagogy, blended and online learning, and lifelong learning, literature that considers how to inspire and build human agency capabilities over the lifespan was chosen for Delphi method expert review. Using this methodology, we explore the possibility that online and blended higher education will contribute, where heutagogical experiences exist, to technology‐enabled lifelong learning. Results corroborate the idea that heutagogy and lifelong learning are intertwined by some common principles and that these are applicable to both blended and online learning settings and lifelong learning. Practitioner notesWhat is already known about this topic Recent, and what is often continuous, change is impacting all we do, including the design and delivery of education.This change requires new instructional models that improve immediate learning outcomes and prepares learners for learning across the lifespan.The use of instructional processes labeled heutagogy include the opportunity for, and application of, activities of learning self‐direction, ‐determination, and ‐regulation, which can be helpful, even essential, for lifelong learning.What this paper adds This paper identifies an informed perspective, from data, that heutagogical design must be consciously implemented and supported for online and blended learning by instructional designers, instructors, and institutional leadership and infrastructure.It is reasonable to suggest that online and blended learning could contribute, where heutagogical learning opportunities exist, to technology‐enabled lifelong learning.Instructional practices that include choice, flexible or negotiated assessment, facilitation of reflection, learner confidence development, and involvement of the learner in designing their learning can be considered heutagogical.Implications for practice and/or policy Develop policy in support of a change in instructional practice that embraces a heutagogical approach in the design of courses to foster greater self‐directed and lifelong learning.Educational development to support instructors to understand heutagogy and how it can be applied in the design and delivery of blended and online learning to foster technology enabled lifelong learning.With the implementation of a heutagogical approach, student orientation along with purposeful scaffolding needs to be implemented to support students as they become more autonomous learners in technology‐enabled settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the swift pivot to online learning, teachers and students have been forced to adopt a new way of teaching and learning, which has required students to become more self‐directed in their learning. In addition, teachers are faced with the challenge of preparing students for the workforce and lifelong learning. One emerging approach for addressing both these challenges is that of heutagogy, or self‐determined learning. This paper discusses the rising demand for lifelong learning skills and the role that heutagogy can play in supporting students in developing self‐directed and lifelong learning skills. Specifically, the paper presents a case study of a higher education institution that has introduced heutagogy, using interviews with programme leaders/instructors to investigate how a college in Israel incorporated heutagogy into their master's education programmes. Case study results reveal that there are challenges in incorporating heutagogy (eg, difficulty for students in adopting the approach), but once adopted, students preferred learning in a self‐determined way. Practitioner notesWhat is already known about this topic?Lifelong learning skills are critical to student employability, and there is a need for exploring new theories and approaches for developing these skills.The current pandemic has forced traditional learning into the online space, requiring more self‐directed learning skills in learners.Heutagogy has been identified as a net‐centric teaching and learning theory for online learning.What this paper addsPositions heutagogy for use in traditional and online classroom settings in order to develop learners' self‐directed and lifelong learning skills.Explores the pedagogy‐andragogy‐heutagogy continuum and its use as an instructional strategy.Presents a case study of a higher education institution that has implemented self‐determined learning.Implications for practice and/or policyThis study encourages further research into use of heutagogy for developing self‐directed and lifelong learning skills.This study provides guidance for those who want to introduce self‐determined learning into classroom settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The advances in technology to capture and process unprecedented amounts of educational data has boosted the interest in Learning Analytics Dashboard (LAD) applications as a way to provide meaningful visual information to administrators, parents, teachers and learners. Despite the frequent argument that LADs are useful to support target users and their goals to monitor and act upon the information provided, little is known about LADs' theoretical underpinnings and the alignment (or lack thereof) between LADs intended outcomes and the measures used to evaluate their implementation. However, this knowledge is necessary to illuminate more efficient approaches in the development and implementation of LAD tools. Guided by the self‐regulated learning perspective and using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta‐Analyses (PRISMA) framework, this systematic literature review addressed this gap by examining whether and how learner‐facing LAD's target outcomes align with the domain measures used to evaluate their implementations. Out of the 1297 papers retrieved from 15 databases, 28 were included in the final quantitative and qualitative analysis. Results suggested an intriguing lack of alignment between LADs' intended outcomes (mostly cognitive domain) and their evaluation (mostly affective measures). Based on these results and on the premise that LADs are designed to support learners, a critical recommendation from this study is that LADs' target outcomes should guide the selection of measures used to evaluate the efficacy of these tools. This alignment is critical to enable the construction of more robust guidelines to inform future endeavours in the field. Practitioner notesWhat is already known about this topic There has been an increased interest and investment in learning analytics dashboards to support learners as end‐users.Learner‐facing learning analytics dashboards are designed with different purposes, functionalities and types of data in an attempt to influence learners' behaviour, achievement and skills.What this paper adds This paper reports trends and opportunities regarding the design of learner‐facing learning analytics dashboards, contexts of implementation, as well as types and features of learner‐facing learning analytics dashboard studies.The paper discusses how affect and motivation have been largely overlooked as target outcomes in learner‐facing learning analytics dashboards.Implications for practice and/or policy Based on the evidence gathered through the review, this paper makes recommendations for theory (eg, inclusion of motivation as an important target outcome).The paper makes recommendations related to the design, implementation and evaluation of learning analytics dashboards.The paper also highlights the need for further integration between learner‐facing learning analytics dashboards and open learner models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite social media's ubiquity in modern life, research on some topics related to educators' use of social media for professional purposes remains underdeveloped, such as how use may change over time. This study explores educators' self‐directed learning through social media by comparing change and continuity in how users contribute, interact and converse in two teaching‐related subreddits, r/Teachers and r/education. More than a million Reddit contributions spanning three‐and‐a‐half years comprise the dataset: 696 660 contributions to r/Teachers from 55 148 users and 339 618 contributions to r/education from 43 711 users. Learning ecology and affinity space concepts frame multiple methods of analysis, including quantitative measures of individual contributions, content interactions and social interactions, as well as qualitative content analysis of top posts and responses. Findings are discussed in light of the literature as change and continuity in Redditors' participation patterns in the two subreddits suggest distinct spaces for distinct purposes. This study offers a starting point for further work to understand the opportunities and challenges of self‐directed learning in open and complex social media spaces. Practitioner NotesWhat is already known about this topic Educators use social media to reach outside their local contexts for self‐directed learning.Teaching‐related subreddits vary in how users contribute and interact.What this paper adds Different online spaces host distinct kinds of discussion.Educators' participation in online spaces is not static.Social media research methods should account for the possibilities of change and continuity in contributions, interactions and conversations.Implications for practice and/or policy Teaching‐related subreddits continue to grow and may offer helpful content and interactions to users; however, self‐directed learning through social media also necessitates increased digital literacy.r/Teachers appeared to be a conversational space primarily for teachers.r/education seemed to be a bulletin board space for posting about broader educational topics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Past research shows that both teachers' technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK) and their engagement in metacognitive activities are essential to technology integration in the classroom. However, the interplay between teachers' TPACK ability and their metacognitive skills is still underexplored, especially in the context of developing technology‐infused lesson plans. This study examined how the interrelations among metacognitive activities and TPACK constructs affected preservice teachers' technology integration in instructional design. Sixty‐four preservice teachers designed a lesson with nBrowser, a computer‐based learning environment (CBLE) that helps teachers incorporate technology into instruction by promoting self‐regulated learning (SRL). Drawing on the lesson plans, we extracted six types of metacognitive processes preservice teachers exhibited while solving the task and generated two distinct SRL profiles according to the identified latent profile of metacognitive patterns. The competent self‐regulated learners demonstrated more efforts in metacognitive monitoring activities than the less competent self‐regulated learners in regulating their task solving processes. When comparing TPACK comprehension and design performance between the two profiles, the competent self‐regulated learners outperformed the less competent self‐regulated learners on comprehension and design outcomes. This study provides deep insights into teachers' self‐regulation in CBLEs and emphasizes the pivotal role of metacognition and SRL in teachers' TPACK development. Practitioner NotesWhat is already known about this topic Success in technology integration calls for teachers' conceptual understanding of technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK).Teachers' self‐regulated learning (SRL) ability mediates their TPACK development since metacognitive activities in the SRL process enable teachers to monitor and evaluate TPACK learning towards the sophisticated levels of TPACK.What this paper adds nBrowser, the computer‐based learning environment fosters teachers' engagement in regulated TPACK development.Analysis of teachers' lesson plans affords opportunities to identify teachers' specific metacognitive processes in self‐regulated TPACK development.Latent profile analysis helps to understand the heterogeneity of teachers' metacognitive processes and establish distinctive profiles regarding teachers' self‐regulation.Teachers' TPACK development differed significantly across distinctive SRL profiles.Implications for practice and/or policy Teacher educators should find ways to support teachers' SRL ability in technology education.The identification of SRL profiles could contribute to designing metacognitive scaffolds in the specific domain of teachers' technology education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the outcome of an experimental design to investigate the impact of persuasive short messaging service (SMS) on students' self-regulated learning strategies while attending an introductory information systems course over a 12-week trimester. The participants were undergraduate students enrolled in INFO 101 at a tertiary institution in New Zealand. The instrument used in this study was the original motivated strategies for learning questionnaires (MSLQ) developed by Pintrich. MSLQ measures three general types of strategies: cognitive, meta-cognitive and resource management. The findings of the research identified that several aspects of students' learning strategies had been improved for the experiment group while the Time and Study Environment Management dimension of MSLQ had been significantly lowered for the control group who received no SMS intervention. The study demonstrates a positive impact of persuasive SMS on students' learning and suggests that the intervention is able to improve students' self-regulated learning effort compared to the control group. Moreover the study shows that students who received SMS intervention performed better than students who did not receive SMS intervention. Most importantly, the study shows that SMS intervention enables Māori and Pacific students, who historically have a lower performance than the main cohort, to perform better than the main cohort and to a significant level higher than those Māori and Pacific students who did not receive any SMS intervention. This study suggests that practitioners should consider the adoption of the persuasive SMS intervention by using the principles of persuasive technology for sending SMS messages especially for the high risk students. Practitioner Notes What is already known about this topic Persuasive technology is the adoption of computing technology in an attempt to change attitudes and behaviour., This technology is widely used in the preventive health care industry and social organizations for their and social marketing campaigns., What this paper adds The study shows that students who received persuasive short messaging service (SMS) intervention performed better than students who did not receive any SMS intervention., The study demonstrates a positive impact of persuasive SMS on students' learning and suggests that the intervention is able to improve students' self-regulated learning effort., Implications for practice and/or policy Practitioners should consider the adoption of the persuasive SMS intervention., Practitioners should adopt the seven principles of persuasive technology for sending SMS messages., Practitioners should also target the persuasive SMS intervention to high risk students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]