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AbstractResearch generally substantiates the positive effects of student question generation (SQG) on students’ cognitive and affective development. Nonetheless, challenges affecting its adoption in classrooms have been reported (e.g. perceived difficulty and elevated concerns over performance at the task). To alleviate such hurdles, researchers have proposed scaffolding of various types to support SQG. Scaffolding types are different in terms of structures, which affect learners’ locus of attention, mental processing, and learning. Given that studies investigated their effects are limited, this study examined the impact of two well-adopted scaffolding types for SQG—what-if-not (i.e. the structured type) and the main idea (i.e. the semi-structured type) on academic achievement, learning strategy use, and attitudes toward the study subject. This study adopted a nonequivalent quasi-experimental research method. Students from two sixth-grade classes (n = 56) participated for five weeks. An online system afforded with customizability to support the two scaffolding types for weekly SQG science learning activities was adopted. Although the results showed that both groups had comparable academic achievement, the participants in the what-if-not scaffolding group significantly outperformed those in the main idea scaffolding group in the use of cognitive and metacognitive strategies and attitudes toward science. Content analyses of student-generated questions further revealed that the what-if-not group generated significantly more proportions of questions containing interlinks among related key concepts both within the current study topic and to prior topics than the main idea group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Currently, 50 + learning systems supporting student question-generation (SQG) activities have been developed. While generating questions of different types is supported in many of these systems, systems allowing students to generate questions around a scenario (i.e. student testlet-generation, STG) are not yet available. Noting the increasing prevalence of testlets in contemporary testing and their learning potential through the lens of anchored instruction, this study aimed to develop a versatile, scaffolded online STG learning system. The results from three evaluative studies supported the learning potential of the world's first-ever STG system and the usefulness of its distinctive functionalities. Specifically, significantly more participants regarded the online STG task as promoting better learning, with the most prominent feature of STG – the scenario highlighted for the pronounced learning benefits. Additionally, given that the distinct affordances associated with STG based on given text and graphics were well-noted, the practicality of the 'multi-presentation' design concept for scenarios was verified. Furthermore, data from the participants' perceived usefulness of editable and self-created scenarios validated the importance of the 'editability' and 'self-expression' design concepts. Finally, with the distinctive functionalities incorporated in the developed STG system having their respective supporters, the concept of building a diversified STG learning space is upheld. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While enabling students to refer to and build on peer-produced work (termed 'citing' herein) during content creation appears pedagogically promising, its associated learning effects remain under-studied. This research aimed at examining the effects of online citing of peer-generated assessment items during student test-construction on promoting learning and task performance. Additionally, any negative effects this approach may have on inducing cognitive and emotional burdens were examined. A pretest-posttest quasi-experimental research design was adopted, where two treatment groups were devised (i.e. the citing and no-citing groups). A group of fifth-graders from six classes participated in an 11-week study. Based on the results of the analysis of covariance, it was found that students in the citing group scored significantly higher than those in the no-citing group on academic achievement and question-generation performance. In addition, citing did not induce significantly higher cognitive load or learning anxiety as compared to the no-citing situation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An online system leveraging self-explanation was developed. The theoretical basis and design principles guiding the development of the system were explicated. Four evaluation studies were conducted to assess the student-generated explanations component accompanying student-generated questions (SQG) and the embedded designs. The analyzed data revealed several important findings. First, SGQ complemented by student-generated explanations (as compared to SGQ alone) was regarded as promoting learning better by a sizeable majority of the participants, and its facilitating effects on cognitive and affective aspects were noted. Second, the fact that the exact same set of cognitive and affective gains and similar patterns in the spread of responses were found from the explanation-generation for self- and peer-generated questions provided preliminary evidence supporting the "manageable versatility" design principle. Third, the result indicating that a predominant percent of the participants supported online practice on SGQ complemented by student-generated explanations substantiated the "manageable integration" guiding principle. Finally, the finding that a significantly greater percentage of the participants felt multimedia-equipped explanations to be better for SGQ (as compared to text-based explanations), both cognitively and affectively, provided preliminary evidence supporting the effectiveness of the multimedia design in terms of attaining the multiple feedback functions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An online learning system in support of active learning and formative evaluation via a teaching-by-questioning strategy in classrooms was developed. Following a design-based research paradigm, the theoretical base, design principles, and associated spaces for the system were explicated. Its learning potential in terms of perceived usefulness, ease of use, and relative advantage was evaluated in an undergraduate engineering class by mixed methods research. Quantitative data from an end-of-semester questionnaire supported the learning usefulness of teaching-by-questioning on the developed system for the promotion of various cognitive and higher-order thinking processes regarded as important in active classrooms as well as its ease of use. Moreover, the results of the chi-square test indicated that substantially more participants supported the developed system over Facebook for promoting learning, and explanatory data further highlighted the developed system's distinct feature of deferring display of participants' responses to stimulate independent thinking and support meaningful formative evaluation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In view of contribution-based pedagogy and observational learning theory, students' perceived uses, preferences, usage, and selection considerations with regard to citing peers' work were examined in an online learning environment targeting student-constructed tests. Data were collected from 84 fifth-grade students who participated in online student-constructed tests with and without citing in an 11-week study. Quantitative and qualitative data in response to an end-of-session questionnaire and actual online citing behaviour were analyzed. Several major findings were obtained. First, significantly more participants supported and preferred "citing" over "no citing" for online student-constructed tests. Second, data with regard to perceived uses, preferences, and reported usage all supported the potential of citing for providing an observational learning space. Third, citing allowed the participants to attend to areas pinpointed by their peers but initially ignored by them, thus making social construction of knowledge possible. Fourth, the quality and the author of the item are the two determining factors affecting citing decisions. Fifth, a statistically significant positive correlation between students' academic achievement and their generated questions cited by peers was confirmed. Finally, actual online citing behaviour varied greatly among participants, with the majority using the citing function during online test-construction to various extents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the effects of identity revelation and concealment on the number of times students' work was assessed in an online peer assessment context. It also examined the underlying reasons guiding the assessor's targeting behavior. Two fifth-grade classes participated. The one-group pretest–posttest experimental research design coupled with qualitative research method was adopted. The results from social network analysis (SNA) showed a high redundancy rate for both high- and low-targeted assessees in identity-revealed and identity-concealed conditions for both classes. Moreover, the density metrics indicated that all sociograms were similarly sparse. The Wilcoxon tests further confirmed that there were no significant differences in the assessees' ranking in the two conditions for both classes. Finally, analysis of students' self-reflective data revealed that the features/content of the work to be assessed, rather than who the question-author was, was the determining factor when it came to deciding the target for online peer assessment. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A web‐based learning system has been developed to facilitate question‐posing, peer‐assessing, item‐viewing and drill‐and‐practice learning activities. In this paper, the pedagogical basis underlying the design and development of the system is explained in the light of information‐processing theory, social construction of knowledge theory and social modelling theory. A preliminary study to evaluate the instructional potential of the system has been conducted; this has also identified the factors that influence students’ use of the system. Results taken from questionnaires and open‐ended questions revealed that by enabling students to play various roles such as composers, critics and adapters, the system was perceived as a cognition‐enhancing and motivational learning tool by the participants. Data analysis further indicated that various factors worked together to influence the performance of question‐posing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]