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This article describes a novel method for quantifying fixation disparity and evaluates its role in visuospatial cognition during an authentic learning task, specifically, the determination of molecule chirality in organic chemistry involving mental rotation and pattern comparison. The first study examined the influence of molecular model dimensionality (2D vs. 3D) on chirality determination performance and visual attention of 55 participants. The second study explored how the sustained playing of the tile‐matching game Mahjong, a pattern comparison game, can affect visual attention and visuospatial performance during the chirality determination task of 59 participants. Fixation disparity was one of the eye tracking variables explored. Both studies revealed that (1) individuals with higher fixation disparity underperformed on the chirality task, which involves mental rotation and pattern comparison, and (2) fixation disparity improved over time in participants who played Mahjong. This work provides important implications for using fixation disparity as a possible biomarker of visuospatial performance. We introduced a new method to measure fixation disparity and studied its relationship with visuospatial cognition during organic chemistry chirality learning tasks. Two studies show that poor fixation disparity is associated with low task performance, and fixation disparity and task performance can be improved over time by playing a Mahjong game. Our findings suggest that fixation disparity may serve as a possible index of visuospatial cognition and should be further investigated in different educational contexts and tasks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lurking behaviour is very common in online communities, especially in large-scale informal online communities. Lurkers, who make up the majority of community members, are often overlooked by researchers. The aim of this investigation was to explore both lurkers and posters' participation and sense of community in informal online education-related communities. An explanatory sequential mixed-methods design was applied. A total of 82 participants completed the survey and 9 of them were interviewed. Results of the investigation showed that although there was no significant difference between lurkers and posters in their sense of community, they reported different perceptions of community during the interviews. Lurkers tended to be more negative about the technical features supporting communities, while posters tended to be more negative about people who hindered community building through disrespectful or unkind contributions. In addition, while participation between those who post and those who lurk was different in the communities studied, interviews suggest that both lurkers and posters had different reasons for lurking and may change their participation behaviours depending on how they perceive the community within different online groups. Practical implication for online community mangers and educators in terms of reconsidering design and management and implications for future studies are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]