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Background: University students frequently prepare for exams or presentations in self-organized study groups. For this purpose, they often use videoconferencing software. During their collaboration, they need to regulate emerging problems to ensure effective learning. We suppose that regulation is facilitated when (1) the group perceives their regulation problems homogeneously, (2) they choose regulation strategies that have the potential to solve the problems immediately, and (3) they execute these strategies with sufficient intensity., Aims: We investigated which problems occur during online collaborative learning via videoconferencing and how homogeneity of problem perceptions, immediacy of the chosen strategies, and intensity of strategy use are related to regulation success., Sample: University students ( N  = 222) from two lectures in pre-service teacher education and educational sciences in 99 study groups., Methods: Students collaborated in a self-organized manner, that is, without a teacher present, to study the material of one lecture using videoconferencing software. After the collaboration, group members rated, individually, the intensity of different problems during collaboration, reported which strategies they used to overcome their biggest problem, and rated the success of their problem regulation, their satisfaction with their collaboration, as well as their learning gain. In addition, they answered a knowledge test., Results: We found that most students rated technical issues as their biggest problem. Multilevel modeling showed that homogeneous problem perception moderated by problem intensity-contrary to immediate and intensive strategy use-predicted successful problem regulation and satisfaction with the collaboration but not knowledge gain. Case analyses illustrate the assumed mechanism that a homogeneous problem perception facilitates socially shared regulation., Conclusion: We conclude that even in only slightly structured learning contexts, students might only need to jointly identify their problems, whereas the best possible regulation of these problems seems less relevant. Therefore, training students to foster regulation competencies might prioritize identifying problems., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Greisel, Spang, Fett and Kollar.)

Introduction: Research has suggested that how learners act in CSCL environments is considerably influenced by their internal collaboration scripts. These scripts are knowledge structures that reside in an individual's memory and consist of play, scene, scriptlet, and role components. In its "internal script configuration principle," the Script Theory of Guidance suggests that as learners work in a CSCL environment, these components are dynamically (re-)configured, and that this (re-)configuration is influenced by the goals of the individual learner. However, this principle has not yet been tested empirically., Methods: In this study, upon entering a CSCL environment, we therefore experimentally manipulated the goals that students pursued while learning. In one condition, we induced learning goals while in the other condition, no goals were induced. A total of 233 pre-service teachers collaborated in dyads on the task to analyze an authentic, problematic classroom situation by aid of educational evidence. We measured their internal scripts both at pre-test (i.e., before collaboration and before goal induction) and post-test (i.e., after collaboration and goal induction), focusing on the scriptlet level., Results: Results show that goal induction had no effects on the kinds of scriptlets participants selected during collaboration. However, results from Epistemic Network Analysis show that learning goal induction led to significantly different combinations of scriptlets (especially to more relations between scriptlets that are indicative of pursuing learning goals) than no goal induction. Furthermore, participants from the learning goal induction acquired significantly more knowledge about educational theories and evidence than students from the control condition., Conclusion: This study is among the first to provide direct evidence for the internal script configuration principle and demonstrates the effectiveness of inducing learning goals as a scaffold to support students' knowledge acquisition processes in CSCL., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Özbek, Greisel, Wekerle, Gegenfurtner and Kollar.)

Digital technology is considered to have great potential to promote learning in higher education. In line with the Interactive, Constructive, Active, Passive (ICAP) framework, this seems to be particularly true when instructors stimulate high-quality learning activities such as constructive and interactive learning activities instead of active and passive learning activities. Against the background of a lack of empirical studies in authentic, technology-enhanced instructional settings, we investigated the cognitive and affective-motivational effects of these learning activity modes in technology-enhanced higher education courses. To this end, we used 3.820 student assessments regarding 170 course sessions for which the teachers stated the learning activities students were engaged in. Results of multilevel structural equation modelling highlight the importance of technology-enhanced interactive learning activities for students' perception of learning and the potential negative consequences of passive learning activities for affective-motivational outcomes. However, the superiority of constructive and interactive learning activities compared to passive and active learning activities for cognitive and affective-motivational outcomes was not supported by the findings. Instead, the findings point to potential differential effects of the individual learning activities within one activity mode. Future research should follow up on these effects to gain a more fine-grained understanding of how technology-enhanced learning activities can be optimized to enhance students' learning outcomes., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

An increasing number of learning goals refer to the acquisition of cognitive skills that can be described as 'resource-based,' as they require the availability, coordination, and integration of multiple underlying resources such as skills and knowledge facets. However, research on the support of cognitive skills rarely takes this resource-based nature explicitly into account. This is mirrored in prior research on mathematical argumentation and proof skills: Although repeatedly highlighted as resource-based, for example relying on mathematical topic knowledge, methodological knowledge, mathematical strategic knowledge, and problem-solving skills, little evidence exists on how to support mathematical argumentation and proof skills based on its resources. To address this gap, a quasi-experimental intervention study with undergraduate mathematics students examined the effectiveness of different approaches to support both mathematical argumentation and proof skills and four of its resources. Based on the part-/whole-task debate from instructional design, two approaches were implemented during students' work on proof construction tasks: (i) a sequential approach focusing and supporting each resource of mathematical argumentation and proof skills sequentially after each other and (ii) a concurrent approach focusing and supporting multiple resources concurrently. Empirical analyses show pronounced effects of both approaches regarding the resources underlying mathematical argumentation and proof skills. However, the effects of both approaches are mostly comparable, and only mathematical strategic knowledge benefits significantly more from the concurrent approach. Regarding mathematical argumentation and proof skills, short-term effects of both approaches are at best mixed and show differing effects based on prior attainment, possibly indicating an expertise reversal effect of the relatively short intervention. Data suggests that students with low prior attainment benefited most from the intervention, specifically from the concurrent approach. A supplementary qualitative analysis showcases how supporting multiple resources concurrently alongside mathematical argumentation and proof skills can lead to a synergistic integration of these during proof construction and can be beneficial yet demanding for students. Although results require further empirical underpinning, both approaches appear promising to support the resources underlying mathematical argumentation and proof skills and likely also show positive long-term effects on mathematical argumentation and proof skills, especially for initially weaker students., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2021 Sommerhoff, Kollar and Ufer.)

Very often, university students deliberately form self-organized study groups, e.g. to study collaboratively for an upcoming exam. Yet, very little is known about what regulation problems such self-organized study groups encounter during their learning process and how they try to cope with these problems. Therefore, this study investigates how completely self-organized groups (i.e., non-guided groups outside the classroom that form without external impulse) regulate their collaborative learning process when faced with different kinds of regulation problems. More specifically, we tested the hypotheses that members of self-organized study groups are more satisfied with their group learning experience (a) the more homogeneous their problem perceptions are within their group, (b) the more they apply immediate (rather than non-immediate) strategies to remedy their regulation problems, and (c) the more frequently they apply regulation strategies. In a longitudinal study, N  = 122 students, voluntarily studying for their exams in N  = 52 groups, were asked to indicate the types of problems they experienced, the types of strategies they used to tackle those problems, and their satisfaction with their group learning experience after each of their self-organized study meetings. Hierarchical linear modeling confirmed all hypotheses. Qualitative analysis of two selected groups' self-reported situational data provided additional insights about the mechanisms that may have contributed to the results. Our study provides important directions for future research, including the recommendation to identify the processes by which groups (a) can reach homogeneity of problem perceptions and (b) coordinate the choice of appropriate strategies within the group., (© International Society of the Learning Sciences, Inc. 2020.)