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Web enhanced active learning has been demonstrated to be an effective approach in Engineering Higher Education, as it provides students with more flexibility in dealing with the development of skills related to professional knowledge. However, students require a sufficient level of self-efficacy and control over their own learning, which might impact negatively on their effort and academic performance. Therefore, promoting self-regulated learning among students would help them to develop effective strategies they could adopt in planning, monitoring and evaluating their learning process. In this paper, a web-enhanced active learning approach is proposed which integrates a self-regulated learning strategy that supports Control Engineering students in managing their learning process. In order to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed approach, a three-year quasi-experimental study was performed in the context of an undergraduate Automatic Control course at the Università Politecnica delle Marche, Italy. This involved 418 students and 4 teachers. Both quantitative and qualitative measurement tools were used for the evaluation. The results of the study confirmed the effectiveness of a learning design specifically tailored to implement self-regulated learning features in a web-enhanced active learning approach for undergraduate engineering students. Moreover, the qualitative-quantitative evaluation model proved to be effective in capturing and gauging a more comprehensive and detailed picture of the triggered self-regulated learning dynamics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Self-directed learning with mobile technology (SDLMT) is critical to students' learning success. However, only minimal research has been conducted on the manner by which significant aspects (e.g., selfefficacy, student engagement) are related to SDLMT. This study analyzed the answers of 485 Chinese students (seventh to ninth grades) who were surveyed, and evaluated the relationships among self-efficacy (Internet selfefficacy and online communication self-efficacy), student engagement (behavioral, cognitive, emotional, and social engagement), and SDLMT. Structural equation model revealed that SDLMT was positively predicted by self-efficacy, and SDLMT was positively impacted by student engagement. Moreover, the mediation analysis was performed using the PROCESS plugin in SPSS and determined that after controlling for gender and grade, the relationship between self-efficacy and SDLMT was partially mediated by student engagement. Findings established the value of self-efficacy for SDLMT, and further emphasized the vital mediating role of student engagement. Hence, developing K-12 students' SDLMT entails enhancing self-efficacy and student engagement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Self-directed learning (SDL) is acknowledged as an effective language learning paradigm because learning a language is time-consuming. As language and literacy education is now embracing a more multimodal approach in writing instruction, teachers' multimodal technological, pedagogical, and content knowledge (TPACK) receives growing attention in language education. Based on a VR-supported L1 Chinese writing program, the present study collected and analyzed the VR courseware, lesson plans and student worksheets developed by a group of Chinese language teachers in Hong Kong. A coding scheme regarding multimodal TPACK for SDL was employed to assess the learning activities and to understand teachers' multimodal TPACK literacies in L1 Chinese writing instruction. The findings revealed that teachers were able to use VR to immerse students in an authentic environment to develop students' SDL ability and comprehension of nuanced socioemotional aspects of L1 Chinese writing. Nonetheless, there existed some limitations in the utilization of VR for teaching L1 Chinese writing which might be compensated for by pedagogical design. Moreover, teachers' pedagogical conception revealed their teaching was driven by syllabus requirements and focused on students' completion of writing, which might disregard the process of SDL in pedagogical implementation, and thus the process of collaborative knowledge building might be less developed. This study may contribute to the development of VR-based multimodal TPACK, which enhances multimodal lesson design for self-directed L1 writing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Technology continually changes day-to-day interactions, and emergent bilingual learners often multitask, using several digital tools, at times simultaneously, to communicate and learn. Students may text, post on social media, and listen to music as they complete their work. Studies have examined the affordances of technology for language learning, both inside and outside of traditional classroom settings. However, as we seek to better understand how teachers can incorporate students' experiences and interests in academic settings, more research is needed on the nuanced ways that students leverage multiple digital tools as they multitask, or quickly alternate between technologies. This ethnographic study focuses on two high school classes of English to speakers of other languages in the United States. Through the lens of sociocultural theory, we examine how emergent bilingual students multitask with digital tools and how teachers facilitate technology use. Findings reveal that although teachers actively and explicitly approved specific assignments and digital tools that would lead to accomplishing daily language and content objectives, students also purposefully selected other digital tools that would help them co-construct knowledge with peers, and they often switched between various websites across multiple devices to examine content that was closely related to their interests and lived experiences. Evidence from previous studies supports that multitasking can be harmful to learning, but this study found that multitasking can also mediate learning, especially self-directed learning, which has important implications for how teachers implement digital tools in the classroom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development and prevalence of technology has not only facilitated favorable conditions for self-directed learning but also made it a core competence of today's world. Thus, cultivating K-12 learners' capability of utilizing technology to engage in self-directed learning becomes an essential task in education. In this editorial of the special issue, we join the authors to search for insights into what to and how to support K-12 learners' capacity of self-directed learning with technology. Through reviewing the framework of self-directed learning and exploring the role of technology, we call for research that examine mechanisms and issues that related not only to fostering learners' regulation of their learning process, but also to supporting learners in initiating and taking responsibilities for self-directed actions to the benefit of oneself and one's community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes a pilot study centred on the technology-enhanced self-development of competences in lifelong learning education carried out in the challenging context of the Association of Participants Àgora. The pilot study shows that the use of the TENCompetence infrastructure, i.e. in this case the Personal Development Planner tool, provides various kinds of benefits for adult participants with low educational profiles and who are traditionally excluded from the use of innovative learning technologies and the knowledge society. The self-organized training supported by the PDP tool aims at allowing the learners to create and control their own learning plans based on their interests and educational background including informal and non-formal experiences. In this sense, the pilot participants had the opportunity to develop and improve their competences in English language (basic and advanced levels) and ICT competence profiles which are mostly related to functional and communicative skills. Besides, the use of the PDP functionalities, such as the self-assessment, the planning and the self-regulating elements allowed the participants to develop reflective skills. Pilot results also provide indications for future developments in the field of technology support for self-organized learners. The paper introduces the context and the pilot scenario, indicates the evaluation methodology applied and discusses the most significant findings derived from the pilot study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Instructional design theories such as the cognitive load theory (CLT) or the cognitive theory of multimedia learning (CTML) explain learning difficulties in (computer-based) learning usually as a result of design deficiencies that hinder effective schema construction. However, learners often struggle even in well-designed learning environments. In this theoretical paper, I will argue that cognitive resources-oriented theories such as the cognitive load theory might profit from extending their predominantly cognitive focus to one that additionally considers metacognitive and self-regulation demands. Empirical results on learning from multiple external representations and research on tool use are integrated to illustrate that computer-based learning environments usually pose a variety of cognitive, metacognitive and self-regulatory demands on learners which require knowledge and skills that learners often lack. Specifically, empirical findings suggest that most learners are unable to regulate their learning automatically. I thus argue that these activities consume working-memory resources as do activities that are closely related to schema construction. My article concludes with suggestions on how the concept of metacognitive load can be incorporated into resource-oriented theories such as the CLT to explain a wider variety of phenomena. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cognitive scientists have studied internal cognitive structures, processes, and systems for decades in order to understand how they function in human learning. In order to solve challenging tasks in problem situations, learners not only have to perform cognitive activities, e.g., activating existing cognitive structures or organizing new information, they also have to set specific goals, plan their activities, monitor their performance during the problem-solving process, and evaluate the efficiency of their actions. This paper reports an experimental study with 98 participants where effective instructional interventions for self-regulated learning within problem-solving processes are investigated. Furthermore, an automated assessment and analysis methodology for determining the quality of learning outcomes is introduced. The results indicate that generic prompts are an important aid for developing cognitive structures while solving problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to be able to cope with many authentic challenges in increasingly networked and technologically mediated life we need to construct opportunities for participants in higher educational settings to practice the advancement of self-directing intentional learning projects. In addition to teaching general strategies for carrying out these projects more emphasis should be put on acquiring some expertise regarding the selection and combination of a diverse set of technological means for own purposes. The various practices that are emerging around social media seem to be a promising field of experimentation in this regard. The knowledge and skills needed to select, use and connect different social media in a meaningful way form an important part of the dispositions in self-directing intentional learning projects. This paper argues for a course design in which participants are not simply engaged in developing knowledge, skills and orientations in regard to curricular subject matter and the use of technology but actively involved in self-directing intentional learning projects with the support of social media. The theoretical framework of this research is inspired by conceptual ideas developed within iCamp (http://www.icamp.eu) project. We will illustrate our line of argumentation with some empirical data collected from a pilot course taught at Tallinn University, Estonia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper conceptualizes the theoretical framework of modeling learning spaces for self-directed learning at university courses. It binds together two ideas: a) self-directed learners' common learning spaces may be characterized as abstract niches, b) niche characteristics are collectively determined through individually perceived affordances. The implications of these ideas on the learning design are discussed. The empirical part demonstrates the learning niche formation at the master course „Self-directed learning with social media“ at two consequent years. The results of the affordance determination were used to characterize and develop the learning spaces that support self-directed learning with social media. The realization of the learning niche at two following years demonstrated that students used different social media tools for putting a similar types of affordances of the learning niche in action. This finding suggested that affordance-based niche descriptions would allow flexibility and learner-centeredness but simultaneously might enable to identify a common emergent learning space and make it reusable for modeling environments for self-directed learning courses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Self-regulated learning processes have a potential to enhance the motivation of knowledge workers to take part in learning and reflection about learning, and thus contribute to the resolution of an important research challenge in workplace learning. An equally important research challenge for the successful completion of each step of a self-regulatory process is to enable learners to be aware of the characteristics of their organizationally-embedded learning context. In this paper, we describe how a combination of pedagogy and Semantic Web-based technologies can be utilized to address the above two challenges. Specifically, we demonstrate the proposed solution through the Learn-B tool that leverages ontologies to support self-regulation in organizational learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, we study the effectiveness of a method called Spoken Tutorial, which is a candidate technique for self-learning. The performance of college students who self-learned Java through the Spoken Tutorial method is found to be better than that of conventional learners. Although the method evaluated in this work helps both genders, females seem to benefit more through self-learning workshop based approach. Selflearners found to be more interested in ease of learning and the availability of content, while classroom learners focused more on evaluation. All of these findings are in agreement with the literature. Although the proposed method seems to be effective to a restricted class of topics, the benefits can still be enormous and suitable for flipped classrooms, MOOC, etc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is a hard task to strike a balance between extents of control a learner exercises and the amount of guidance, active or passive, afforded by the learning environment to guide, support, and motivate the learner. Adaptive systems strive to find the right balance in a spectrum that spans between self-control and system-guidance. They also concern a smoother shifting of the balance point during learning episodes in light of competing requirements from learning goals, learner capacity, instructional affordances, and educational theories, among others. This research investigates one of the extremes of this spectrum, where learners actively assume control and take responsibility for their own learning, while catering to individual preferences with little or no guidance from the e-learning environment. In this study, one unit material from an online Introduction to Java Programming course has been redesigned based on the proposed Learner-Directed Model for the experimental design study. The model is developed based on the exploration of two educational theories -- Experiential-Learning Theory (ELT) and Self-Regulated Learning (SRL) Theory. The study involved a total of 35 participants (N = 35) divided randomly into one Experimental Group and one Control Group. They were assigned to either a Learner-Directed Model (Experimental Group) or a linear model (Control Group). Pre/post tests, survey, follow-up interview as well as log file analysis were instruments used for assessing students' domain knowledge, meta-knowledge, and their attitudes for their overall learning experience. The results of the study have revealed that there is a statistically significant higher level of overall learning experience and better learning attitudes compared to Control Group students who studied with e-learning components that are linear in nature and are without explicit associations with educational theories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research targeted the learning preferences, goals and motivations, achievements, challenges, and possibilities for life change of self-directed online learners who subscribed to the monthly OpenCourseWare (OCW) e-newsletter from MIT. Data collection included a 25-item survey of 1,429 newsletter subscribers; 613 of whom also completed an additional 15 open-ended survey items. The 25 close-ended survey findings indicated that respondents used a wide range of devices and places to learn for their self-directed learning needs. Key motivational factors included curiosity, interest, and internal need for self-improvement. Factors leading to success or personal change included freedom to learn, resource abundance, choice, control, and fun. In terms of achievements, respondents were learning both specific skills as well as more general skills that help them advance in their careers. Science, math, and foreign language skills were the most desired by the survey respondents. The key obstacles or challenges faced were time, lack of high quality open resources, and membership or technology fees. Several brief stories of life change across different age ranges are documented. Among the chief implications is that learning something new to enhance one's life or to help others is often more important than course transcript credit or a certificate of completion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study investigates empirical models of groupwork management in online collaborative learning environments, based on the data from 298 students (86 groups) in United States. Data revealed that, at the group level, groupwork management was positively associated with feedback and help seeking. Data further revealed that, at the individual level, groupwork management was positively associated with feedback, peer- and learning-oriented reasons, help seeking, and the number of online courses. In addition, older students were found more frequently to manage online groupwork. The findings are discussed in the context of related literature in the field. Our study suggests directions for practice and future research regarding online groupwork management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Collaborative learning has placed an emphasis on co-constructing knowledge by sharing and negotiating meaning for problem-solving activities, and this cannot be accomplished without governing the self-regulatory processes of students. This study employed a Web-based tool, Google Docs, to determine the effects of Web-based collaboration on vocabulary improvements among learners of English as a foreign language (EFL). The work performed in this study represents a further step toward identifying the factors that influence self-regulated vocabulary strategy use and perceptions of Web-based collaboration (SRvsWBC). In total, 210 undergraduate students participated in this study and undertook the designed tasks, such as vocabulary pre-/posttests and a self-report questionnaire survey of SRvsWBC. The findings of the study suggest that collaboration using a Web-based tool affects knowledge development, and provide insights into the integrated spectrum of self-regulation, L2/FL learning, and Web-based technology that will be useful for pedagogy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since English has been an international language, how to enhance English levels of people by useful computer assisted learning forms or tools is a critical issue in non-English speaking countries. Past studies confirmed that reading articles with annotated contents enable knowledge sharing and improve the reading comprehension of learners. However, the self-regulated learning (SRL) ability of individual learners when reading learning materials and contributing annotations becomes a key factor affecting reading performance. Thus, this work proposes a SRL mechanism combined with a digital reading annotation system (DRAS) to enhance Grade 7 students to generate rich and high-quality annotations for promoting English-language reading performance. To evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed system, this work adopts a quasi-experimental design to assess an experimental group and control group learners who respectively use the proposed DRAS with and without the SLR mechanisms when reading English-language texts online. Compared with the control group learners, experimental results demonstrate that the reading comprehension and reading annotation abilities of the experimental group learners were significantly improved. Analytical results also confirm that gender differences in reading comprehension and annotation ability existed when using the proposed DRAS with and without the SRL mechanisms to read English-language texts online. Experimental results also show that significant differences existed in the reading comprehension and annotation abilities of learners with good and poor SRL abilities in the experimental group. Additionally, the reading annotation ability of learners in the experimental group was significantly correlated with reading comprehension. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A mixed-methods study was conducted to examine the effects of self-regulated learning (SRL) strategy training on learners' achievement, motivation and strategy use in a web-enhanced College Success course at a community college in southeast US. It was found that training assisted with students' overall course performance and accomplishment of long-term tasks, enhanced students' self-satisfaction, and persistence. This study empirically tested the effects of a technology-enabled strategy training intervention in a field setting; it contributes to the understanding about SRL and persistence in the community college population; and it is a pioneering trial of conducting learning strategy research using mixed methodologies. Results and implications for future research and instructional design are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Having engineers in microfabrication technologies educated has become much more difficult than having engineers educated in the traditional technologies, and this may be because of the high cost for acquirement of equipment, materials, and infrastructural means (i.e., cleaning rooms), all in addition to the hands-on practices that are often times time-consuming to perform. These factors pose challenges for improvements to be made in teaching and learning quality. The current study has designed an interactive learning system to support self-directed learning of microfabrication technology with both the technical and the functional viewpoints taken into consideration, along with evaluated results obtained from the end-users. The current study applied technology in virtual-reality in order for interactions to be carried out on the Internet, which permits the students to become familiarized with the techniques used in microfabrication technology as they learn to operate machines. The courses offered in microfabrication technology were incorporated with the developed web-based learning system, where effects of the blended methodology on student learning result were examined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]