Das Potenzial von Feedback als Form der Lehrer-Schüler-Interaktion bei der Entwicklung der kommunikativen Sprachkompetenz – der aktuelle Forschungsstand

The contemporary learning culture perceives learners as active and aware participants in the learning process. This implies a new understanding of interactions in the classroom. The present paper is focused on feedback as a special type of teacher-learner interaction and its potential for cognitive activation of learners and constructive enhancement of individual learning processes. Feedback which activates learners and increases the amount of the input and output in the foreign language is able to enhance students` communicative language competence. The article discusses the changing role of feedback referring to the current state of research.

Game-Enhanced Learning

This chapter tackles the issue of Serious Games (SGs) curriculum integration approached from different perspectives (different levels, subject areas, instructional contexts, pedagogies, views, and visions over what it is already in practice and what is yet to be implemented). In light of the title of this book, it refers to Game-Enhanced Learning and not simply to game-based learning, thus supporting the concept that games can really contribute to improving and enhancing both collaborative and individual learning processes. The chapter is meant to trigger reflections on the potential of Serious Games in the present learning/teaching panorama and to explore how SGs can be considered suitable tools for sustaining the development of some relevant skills required to live and be proactive actors in the Knowledge Society, namely the so-called 21st Century Skills. Further, key challenges in the field of game-enhanced learning, with particular regard to pedagogical aspects are also in-depth explored by emphasizing the important role of teachers as to the choice of the SGs, their deployment, and the overall conduction of learning experiences.

An Exploratory Analysis of the Role of Emotions in E-Learning

Technology-rich environments are assuming a key role in the individual learning processes. Still, one of the major IT challenges identified in the education field is to establish e-learning as a credible and viable complement to face-to-face education. This represents a paradigm shift in the way of learning, which is driving changes at individual, process, institutional, and societal levels. However, despite last-decade advances in the application of usability principles in system design, there is still a need to better understand the people-technology fit in learning contexts. Current results, gaps, and issues define the challenges that dictate new requirements. Among these new requirements, minimizing the impact of the distance factor on communication and learning effectiveness calls for alternatives approaches. Due to the importance of communication among instructor and students in learning, the scope of this work focuses on exploring the role of emotions within the user and learning-support technology fit.

Review of distance education research (2000 to 2008): Analysis of research areas, methods, and authorship patterns

This paper presents a review of distance education literature to describe the status thereof and to identify gaps and priority areas in distance education research based on a validated classification of research areas. The articles (<em>N</em> = 695) published in five prominent distance education journals between 2000 and 2008 were reviewed for this study. The conclusion is that distance education research is strongly dominated by issues related to instructional design and individual learning processes; whereas, other important areas (e.g., innovation and change management or intercultural aspects of distance learning) are dreadfully neglected. There is a significant trend towards collaborative research and more qualitative studies. Over 80% of all articles originate from only five countries.

Individual Cognition of Urban Neighbourhoods over Space and Time: A Case Study

This paper is aimed at assessing how far an individual-level analysis can contribute to our knowledge of neighbourhood familiarity over space and time. An appropriate theoretical framework and a careful methodology (with special attention to variable control and measurement problems) are used to gain new insights into processes of neighbourhood cognition. Although classical results are corroborated at the aggregate level, specific results are derived at the individual level: (1) large differences are found between individual learning processes; (2) differences in individual cognition decrease over time. Methodological conclusions are also provided. The main likely conclusion is that currently unidentified variables are to a large extent responsible for the observed impressive diversity of individual learning processes. This is a challenge to future research on cognition.