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In this mixed-method study, we investigated the impact and design of a multiuser, virtual reality (VR) supported teaching simulation, in comparison with live classroom teaching simulation, on the participatory training of teaching and the teaching knowledge development of student instructors. A total of 40 university teaching assistants participated in a 4-h training session in which they were randomly assigned to a VR simulation or a live classroom simulation condition. The study indicated that the VR simulation better promoted the lab-teaching knowledge development than the live simulation, whereas the latter better fostered class-teaching knowledge development. All participants reported higher teaching self-efficacy after the training. The qualitative data indicated that domain-specific challenges and authentic environmental prompting in the VR simulation fostered both experiential and vicarious learning of teaching. However, VR participants lacked mutual engagement in collaborative role-playing. The study findings suggest that VR-based simulation can supplement and work as an alternative to the live classroom simulation to host participatory teaching development.

The affordances of computer-based virtual reality (VR) make it a natural fit for role-play. Although role-play has been commonly used in VR-based learning environments, the discussion of design details and guidelines is limited. In this chapter, the authors present a design case and aim to share their experiences of designing role-play in OpenSimulator-supported VR during a three-year design project for providing teaching training to graduate teaching assistants in STEM disciplines. The design of role-play bridges the technical and pedagogical affordances of VR. The authors discuss the design details from several aspects, including the formulation of role-play, types of role-play, and implementation. The authors also report the success and constraints in implementing role-play. With this design case, the authors intent on sharing the knowledge about the design and practice of VR-based role-play.

© 2018, © 2018 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. Emotions play a significant part in students’ learning experiences within complex educational environments. However, the impact of emotional experiences on effective learning is not straightforward. For example, being confused during learning may be perceived as an adverse event. There is, however, considerable research evidence suggesting that confusion can also be a productive aspect of a student's learning processes. Despite this, research also suggests that when confusion is persistent it can become harmful, promoting learner frustration or boredom. Key challenges for the design of interactive digital learning environments (IDLEs) are to detect and assess students’ emotions and to tailor the environment accordingly. In this paper we examine, from a review of the literature, the implications of learners’ confusion that can occur in IDLEs. Strategies for managing students’ confusion will then be discussed and examples of features enhancing learning in IDLEs will be suggested.

Processing complex information during learning can trigger related epistemic emotions, such as confusion, frustration, or boredom. These emotions are likely to impact learning and it is crucial to provide learners with relevant support according to the emotions they experience. Being aware of epistemic emotions may help teachers design adaptive learning environments that help learners control their levels and durations. Within interactive digital learning environments, students are also likely to experience epistemic emotions but their detection by a teacher can be problematic because students and teachers are not co-located. However, the trace data that students produce while interacting with digital environments can be themselves useful indicators of some epistemic emotions. These data require digital learning environments offering sufficiently rich interactive features and technically capable of collecting interaction data, although these features must be primarily designed to foster high quality learning. Moreover, the uniqueness of each learning situation imposes that interpretations of observed interaction patterns to epistemic emotions do need to be determined individually for each situation.

Summary Sixty-nine high school students practised on geometry subtopics using worked example–problem pairs. The free-choice group had a choice of their practice pairs, whereas the deliberate practice group was presented with practice tasks that covered all and only their weak areas as determined by a pretest. The results demonstrated a significant instructional group by level of expertise interaction with superior performance by the deliberate practice group over the free-choice group for more knowledgeable learners playing the major role in the significant interaction. On the basis of these findings, optimal strategies for organizing student practice in secondary classrooms are discussed in terms of cognitive load factors and expert–novice differences. It was concluded that a deliberate practice strategy over a free-choice strategy was desirable for more knowledgeable but not for less knowledgeable learners. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

This study examined the influence of deliberate practice, defined as practice specifically aimed at learners' weak areas and only their weak areas, on 8th graders performance in geometry. A control group had a choice over practice problems and their sequencing. Experiment 1 indicated a disordinal practice schedule by knowledge interaction. Simple effects tests indicated that the interaction was primarily caused by less knowledgeable learners benefiting more from a self-selected practice schedule than deliberate practice. Two subsequent experiments explored the cognitive mechanisms behind this effect by using learners with different levels of prior knowledge. Whereas the relatively more knowledgeable learners in Experiment 2 benefited by concentrating only on their weak areas during practice, the less knowledgeable learners in Experiment 3 improved their skills when they practiced on problem sets combining some of their weak and some of their strong areas or by concentrating on only a limited number of weak areas for a given problem area. These findings have important implications for the design of curriculum materials and implementation of deliberate practice techniques in secondary classrooms. Prior to attaining a sufficient level of familiarity with the subject matter, learners should be encouraged to continue practicing in areas in which they have some degree of competence. Only after competence is attained in several related areas should an exclusive emphasis be placed on practice in weak areas only. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved).

© Australasian Journal of Educational Technology 2016. Research on incidence of and changes in confusion during complex learning and problem-solving calls for advanced methods of confusion detection in digital learning environments (DLEs). In this study we attempt to address this issue by investigating the use of multiple measures, including psychophysiological indicators and self-ratings, to detect confusion in DLEs. Participants were subjected to two intrinsically confusing insight problems in the form of visual digital puzzles. They were asked to solve problems while their eye trajectories were recorded and these data were triangulated with self-ratings of confusion and cued retrospective verbal reports. All participants had a significant increase in fixations on relevant (i.e., related to the solution) and not-relevant areas at an early stage of the problem-solving process. However, only fixations on not-relevant areas were positively correlated with confusion ratings. Moreover, participants who significantly solved the problem differed in their fixations duration on relevant and not-relevant areas from non-solvers. The importance of early detection of confusion and the affordances of emerging technologies for this purpose are discussed.

Reusable learning objects (LOs) constitute a promising approach to the development of easily accessible, technologically sound, and curriculum aligned learning resources. Many research forums and scholarly articles have focused on the reusability of learning objects, metadata, and context issues, but few sources describe the economic challenges involved in implementing and sustaining an LO repository. What are the costs of establishing and maintaining a LO repository? Should funding for establishing and maintaining LO repositories come from institutional resources, consortium fees, grant money, LO sales, or other sources? To answer these questions we consider a variety of LO cost factors. We look at economic models used in distance education to see what they can tell us about LO economies. We discuss the relationship of funding approaches and operational scope (of a LO system) through considering a funding matrix that describes possible funding approaches. We discuss several emerging trends that may contribute to the future of learning resources from an economic perspective. Lastly, we provide several practical recommendations for funding LO repositories. In conclusion, we highlight developmental factors for LO repositories as they relate to the scope of operation and funding methods.