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The recent pandemic brought on considerable changes in terms of learning activities, which were moved from in-person classroom-based lessons to virtual work performed at home in most world regions. One of the most considerable challenges faced by educators was keeping students motivated toward learning activities. Interactive learning environments in general, and augmented reality (AR)-based learning environments in particular, are thought to foster emotional and cognitive engagement when used in the classroom. This study aims to compare the motivation and learning outcomes of middle school students in two educational settings: in the classroom and at home. The study involved 55 middle school students using the AR application to practice basic chemistry concepts. The results suggested that students’ general motivation towards the activity was similar in both settings. However, students who worked at home reported better satisfaction and attention levels compared with those who worked in the classroom. Additionally, students who worked at home made fewer mistakes and achieved better grades compared with those who worked in the classroom. Overall, the study suggests that AR can be exploited as an effective learning environment for learning the basic principles of chemistry in home settings.

The impact of ICT on educational achievements is a controversial issue which has attracted increasing attention from both policy makers and researchers. Policy makers have shown great enthusiasm over the positive impact of ICT on teaching and learning, investing substantially in this area. However, scientific evidence does not clearly support this effort. This paper analyses the impact of the use of ICT at school on students’ outcomes in compulsory secondary education in maths, reading and science. It uses data from three rounds of PISA (2009, 2012, 2015) for Spanish regions (Autonomous Communities). From this, the paper analyses whether, in those Autonomous Communities which have taken greater steps in increasing the use of ICT at school, educational outcomes have improved more than in the others. This analysis takes advantage of the availability of representative samples for Spanish Autonomous Communities in PISA, together with autonomy and variability across them as regards the use of ICT at school. This makes it possible to capture the effect of the different policies adopted by Spanish Autonomous Communities on the use of ICT at school. The results show that an increase in the use of ICT at school in an Autonomous Community does not render positive effects on PISA scores in maths and reading, whilst we do find a positive effect on PISA scores in science. These results suggest that the impact of ICT on educational outcomes depends on the subject and on the type of use of the technologies. As a result, policies oriented at increasing the educational use of ICT should require a careful evaluation, to identify in which fields, for which uses and for which methods of use, it may render a positive effect on educational outcomes.

Search ScienceDirect Advanced Outline Highlights Abstract Keywords 1. Introduction 2. Theoretical framework and relevant literature 3. Methodology 4. Findings 5. Discussion 6. Conclusion and future work Acknowledgments References Figures (3) Fig.1. Components of the Active Worlds interface Fig.2. Authentic and virtual environments from air view Fig.3. Orientation environment from air view Tables (2) Table 1 Table 2 Elsevier Computers & Education Volume 94, March 2016, Pages 228-240 Computers & Education The effects of 3D multi-user virtual environments on freshmen university students' conceptual and spatial learning and presence in departmental orientation Author links open overlay panelHakanTüzünaFatihÖzdinçb Show more https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2015.12.005Get rights and content Highlights • We examine the usefulness of 3D MUVEs for freshmen orientation purposes. • Conceptual knowledge increased significantly in virtual and authentic orientations. • Virtual orientation participants recalled spatial route details better. • Decreasing distraction in virtual space increases conceptual and spatial learning. • Virtual orientation has similar or better results than authentic orientation. Abstract The purpose of this study was to examine the usefulness of 3D multi-user virtual environments (MUVEs) for freshmen orientation purposes. To do so, a virtual orientation environment was developed on the Active Worlds MUVE. The study sample included 55 students who were enrolled in a university department. The study has a quasi-experimental control group design. The orientation was carried out a week before the academic semester. The virtual departmental orientation was conducted with 25 participants in the 3D MUVE, while the authentic departmental orientation was conducted with 30 participants who were led through the department by a guide. Both groups were administered a Conceptual Knowledge Test before and after their orientations along with a Spatial Knowledge Inventory and an Orientation Evaluation Questionnaire after the interventions. In addition, the Presence Questionnaire in Virtual Environments was administered to the virtual orientation participants. While the conceptual knowledge posttest scores of experimental and control groups increased significantly, there was no significant difference between them. It was found that students in the virtual orientation recalled spatial route details better than the participants in the authentic orientation, while there was no significant difference between the groups in terms of spatial landmark details and overall spatial scores. When the groups were compared in terms of evaluation factors, significant differences were observed in the effect on general learning and simplicity in favor of the virtual orientation, while there were no significant differences in perceived usefulness and enjoyment. Participants perceived a high level of presence in the virtual orientation. There was a small positive correlation between presence and conceptual knowledge and a moderate positive correlation between presence and spatial knowledge. Decreasing distraction factors in the virtual environment had a positive influence on students' conceptual and spatial learning. In general, the virtual orientation has similar or better results than authentic orientation in terms of the variables examined in this study. These findings demonstrate that 3D MUVEs can be effectively used by freshmen students for orientation purposes.

In recent years, a strong investment has been made to equip schools with technology for educational purposes, leading to some transformations in teachers' practices. In this context, apart from traditional format, there are online platforms available for teachers to assign and monitor homework completed by students. Literature has described the benefits of online homework for teachers when compared with traditional homework. Still, evidence of the benefits for students when compared with traditional homework is scattered. Thus, the current study aimed to conduct a systematic review on online homework and traditional homework, with the goal of learning the methodological features of the studies comparing both homework formats and understanding which of the two benefits most students' performance. Following a review protocol, 31 studies were included and categories such as participants, duration of intervention, and course domain were described. Results showed that most studies used a convenience sample in a between-subject design, included college students, used non-standardized instruments, and presented a wide range of number of participants, duration of intervention, course domain, and approaches to implement the online homework. Additionally, half of the studies showed no differences in terms of student performance as a function of the format of delivery of homework. In nine studies students' performance was higher in the online compared with the traditional homework format, and only one study showed the opposite result. Lastly, six studies reported mixed results. Based on results, educational implications are discussed, as well as suggestions for future research., This study was conducted at Psychology Research Centre (UID/PSI/01662/2013), University of Minho, and supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology and the Portuguese Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education through national funds and co-financed by FEDER through COMPETE2020 under the PT2020 Partnership Agreement (POCI-01-0145-FEDER007653) (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-028302).

Many children fail to comprehend what they read because they do not monitor their understanding, which requires making accurate judgements of what they know and then employing repair strategies when comprehension fails. Relying on research from learning science and cognitive and developmental psychology, we developed the Word Knowledge e-Book (WKe-Book) to improve children’s calibration of their word knowledge, strategy use, and word knowledge overall; skills which are associated with reading comprehension. The WKe-Book, which is read on a tablet computer, is a choose-your-own adventure book where choices require choosing between two rare words (e.g., cogitate vs. procrastinate). Depending on the word chosen, the story follows a different plot. There are also embedded comprehension questions where students receive immediate feedback with consequences for incorrect answers, such as being sent back to reread a few pages. In a randomized controlled trial, we tested whether students (N = 603 in 25 third through fifth grade classrooms in Arizona in the US) reading the WKe-Book would demonstrate improved word knowledge, strategy use, and word knowledge calibration. Classrooms were randomly assigned to read the WKe-Book immediately (treatment) or later (delayed-treatment control), and within classrooms, students were randomly assigned to either participate in a 15-minute weekly book club (book club treatment) or to read the WKe-Book independently with no book club (no book club control). Results revealed a significant treatment effect of the WKe-Book on students’ word knowledge, word knowledge calibration, and strategy use, which predicted student performance on standardized reading comprehension and vocabulary measures. The effects were greater for students who participated in weekly book clubs compared to students in the no book club control. These findings suggest that the affordances offered by technology, which are unavailable in paper-based books, can support students’ development of metacognition, including word knowledge calibration, strategy use, and word learning skills.

In this paper, the authors show that augmented reality technology has a positive impact on learning-related outcomes of middle-school Mexican students. However, the impact varies depending on whether students were enrolled in public or private schools. The authors designed an augmented reality application for students to practice the basic principles of geometry, and a similar application which encompasses identical learning objectives and content deployed in a Web-based learning environment. A 2 × 2 × 2 factorial design was employed with 93 participants to investigate the effect of type of technology (web, augmented reality), type of school (private, public), and time of assessment (pre, post) on motivation, and declarative learning. The results show that: (1) there is an interactive effect of type of technology, type of school, and time of assessment when students' achievement scores are measured; (2) students using the augmented reality-based learning environments scored higher in post-test than those using the web-based application; (3) the augmented reality learning environment was more learning effective compared with the web-based learning environment in public schools, but not in private schools; (4) there is not an interactive effect of type of technology, type of school and time of assessment when students' motivation is measured; (5) students from private schools reported higher levels of motivation compared with those from public schools when using the augmented reality learning environment. The research findings imply that in Mexico, augmented reality technology can be exploited as an effective learning environment for helping middle-school students from public and private schools to practice the basic principles of Geometry. The work described in this paper is fully supported by a scholarship from CONACYT (Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología) in México and a grant from PRODEP. This work was supported in part by the Spanish project EEE CICYT (TIN2011-28308-C03-01), RESET-UC3M: Reformulando Ecosistemas Escalables Educativos under grant no. CICYT (TIN2014-53199-C3-1-R), by the Madrid Regional Government (eMadrid-CM Project under grant no. P2018/TCS-4307) funded by the Agencia Estatal de Investigación (AEI) and Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER), and by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competiveness (Smartlet project, grant number TIN2017-85179-C3-1-R) funded by the Agencia Estatal de Investigación (AEI) and Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER).

Student performance, student progress and student potential are critical for measuring learning results, selecting learning materials and learning activities. However, existing work doesn't provide enough analysis tools to analyze how students performed, which factors would affect their performance, in which way students can make progress, and whether students have potential to perform better. To solve those problems, we have provided multiple analysis tools to analyze student performance, student progress and student potentials in different ways. First, this paper formulates student model with performance related attributes and non-performance related attributes by Student Attribute Matrix (SAM), which quantifies student attributes, so that we can use it to make further analysis. Second, this paper provides a student performance estimation tools using Back Propagation Neural Network (BP-NN) based on classification, which can estimate student performance/attributes according to students' prior knowledge as well as the performance/attributes of other students who have similar characteristics. Third, this paper proposes student progress indicators and attribute causal relationship predicator based on BP-NN to comprehensively describe student progress on various aspects together with their causal relationships. Those indicators and predicator can tell how much a factor would affect student performance, so that we can train up students on purpose. Finally, this paper proposes a student potential function that evaluates student achievement and development of such attributes. We have illustrated our analysis tools by using real academic performance data collected from 60 high school students. Evaluation results show that the proposed tools can give correct and more accurate results, and also offer a better understanding on student progress.

Augmented reality (AR) has evolved hand in hand with advances in technology, and today is considered as an emerging technique in its own right. The aim of our study was to analyze students&rsquo, perceptions of how useful AR is in the school environment. A non-experimental quantitative design was used in the form of a questionnaire in which 106 primary sixth-grade students from six schools in the Region of Murcia (Spain) participated. During the study, a teaching proposal using AR related to the content of some curricular areas was put forward in the framework of the 3P learning model. The participants&rsquo, perceptions of this technique were analyzed according to each variable, both overall and by gender, via a questionnaire of our own making, which had previously been validated by AR experts, analyzing its psychometric qualities. The initial results indicate that this technique is, according to the students, useful for teaching the curriculum. The conclusion is that AR can increase students&rsquo, motivation and enthusiasm while enhancing teaching and learning at the same time.

The rate of technological development across the globe is dramatic. The decreasing cost and increasing availability of ICT devices means that its users are no longer exclusively industry or government employees – they are now also home users. Home users integrate ICT in their daily lives for education, socialising and information gathering. However, using ICT is associated with risks and threats, such as identity theft and phishing scams. Most home users of ICT do not have the necessary information technology and Internet skills to protect themselves and their information. School learners, in particular, are not sufficiently educated on how to use technological devices safely, especially in developing countries such as South Africa. The national school curriculum in South Africa currently does not make provision for cyber-safety education, and the availability of supporting material and training for ICT teachers in South Africa is limited, resulting in a lack of knowledge and skills regarding cyber-safety. The research in hand focuses on the situation concerning cyber-safety awareness in schools and has adopted a short-term approach towards cyber-safety among teachers and school learners in South Africa until a formal long-term national approach has been implemented. This study takes a quantitative approach to investigating the current options of teachers to enhance cyber-safety among learners in their schools. The research proposes that short-term initiatives (i.e. posters) can increase learners’ awareness of cyber-safety until formal cyber-safety awareness methods have been introduced.

The construction of the European Higher Education Area has been an adaptation challenge for Spanish universities. New methodologies require a more active role on the students' part and come into conflict with the previous educational model characterised by a high student/professor ratio, a lecture-based teaching methodology and a summative assessment. The use of computers is a key factor to face this situation. In previous works, the authors found that e-assessment was a helpful tool for the diagnostic and formative assessment of mechanics in engineering when working with large groups. The aim of this work was to put forward a global proposal for the assessment of mechanics in engineering with overcrowded groups based on the use of e-assessment in all the diagnostic, formative and summative stages of the assessment process and, in particular, to analyse the extent to which e-assessment could successfully replace the traditional assessment of mechanics in engineering. Sixty students participated in an experiment by answering both a computer multiple-choice e-test and a traditional paper-based problem-solving examination. The results obtained by comparing the two assessment methodologies highlight the idea that both can be considered alternatives from a global perspective, as a significant correlation was observed between the global grades obtained through both tests. However, no equivalent assessment of specific competences was observed, which could be attributed to the fact that the tests evaluated different aspects of the same learning outcome. This work proposes a new assessment approach that considers a combination of traditional and computer-based online activities to achieve a more complete and fair students' evaluation. Furthermore, the new proposal implies a considerably lighter workload for lecturers.

İstanbullu, Ayhan (Balikesir Author), Knowledge discovery is a wide ranged process including data mining, which is used to find out meaningful and useful patterns in large amounts of data. In order to explore the factors having impact on the success of university students, knowledge discovery software, called MUSKUP, has been developed and tested on student data. In this system a decision tree classification is employed as a data mining technique. With this software system all the tasks involved in the knowledge discovery process are kept together. The advantage of this approach is to have access to all the functionalities of SQL server and Analysis Services through single software. The study was carried out on the data from university students. According to results of the study, the types of registration to the university and the income levels of the students' family were found to be associated with student success.

Background Electrochemotherapy is a local treatment that utilizes electric pulses in order to achieve local increase in cytotoxicity of some anticancer drugs. The success of this treatment is highly dependent on parameters such as tissue electrical properties, applied voltages and spatial relations in placement of electrodes that are used to establish a cell-permeabilizing electric field in target tissue. Non-thermal irreversible electroporation techniques for ablation of tissue depend similarly on these parameters. In the treatment planning stage, if oversimplified approximations for evaluation of electric field are used, such as U/d (voltage-to-distance ratio), sufficient field strength may not be reached within the entire target (tumor) area, potentially resulting in treatment failure. Results In order to provide an aid in education of medical personnel performing electrochemotherapy and non-thermal irreversible electroporation for tissue ablation, assist in visualizing the electric field in needle electrode electroporation and the effects of changes in electrode placement, an application has been developed both as a desktop- and a web-based solution. It enables users to position up to twelve electrodes in a plane of adjustable dimensions representing a two-dimensional slice of tissue. By means of manipulation of electrode placement, i.e. repositioning, and the changes in electrical parameters, the users interact with the system and observe the resulting electrical field strength established by the inserted electrodes in real time. The field strength is calculated and visualized online and instantaneously reflects the desired changes, dramatically improving the user friendliness and educational value, especially compared to approaches utilizing general-purpose numerical modeling software, such as finite element modeling packages. Conclusion In this paper we outline the need and offer a solution in medical education in the field of electroporation-based treatments, e.g. primarily electrochemotherapy and non-thermal irreversible tissue ablation. We present the background, the means of implementation and the fully functional application, which is the first of its kind. While the initial feedback from students that have evaluated this application as part of an e-learning course is positive, a formal study is planned to thoroughly evaluate the current version and identify possible future improvements and modifications.

Observation of young children is commonplace in educational settings. For trainee practitioners however, gaining access at convenient times can be difficult. Even then, small snapshots of observable activity can only ever be captured. We describe the design and development of a cross-platform software application which can be used to support observations made by pedagogical practitioners. Our application Observation combines game-oriented technology: 3D graphics, animation, physics and classical game artificial intelligence. Simple, data-driven scripting capabilities, requiring no programming experience are also included, enabling the user to customise scenes of characters engaging in learning activities. The well-documented stages of blockplay have been used to represent the physical activity of characters, which is the focus of this paper. Positive feedback was received at a collaborating university in a pilot evaluation of early childhood lecturers and students, paving the way for further development and studies. Our prototype system is available for download and evaluation. © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.