The Effects of Three Instructor Participatory Roles on a Small Group’s Collaborative Concept Mapping

Collaborative concept mapping, as one of the widely used computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) modes, has been used to foster students’ meaning making, problem solving, and knowledge construction. Previous empirical research has used varied instructional scaffoldings and has reported different effects of those scaffoldings on collaboration. To further examine the effects of instructional scaffoldings, this research implements three different instructor participatory roles (i.e., cognitive contributor, group regulator, and social supporter) to support online collaborative concept mapping (CCM). We use multiple learning analytics methods to examine the group’s CCM processes from the social, cognitive, and metacognitive dimensions, supplemented with assessments of the concept maps. The research reveals different effects of three instructor participatory roles on the group’s collaborative behaviors, discourses, and performances. When the instructor engaged as a cognitive contributor, the student group achieved a lowly-interactive, low-level metacognitive engagement and behavior-oriented knowledge construction; when the instructor engaged as a group regulator, the student group achieved a socially-balanced, high-level metacognitive engagement and behavior-communication-interrelated knowledge construction; and when the instructor engaged as a social supporter, the student group achieved a highly-interactive, medium-level metacognitive engagement and communication-oriented knowledge construction. Based on the results, this research proposed pedagogical, analytical, and theoretical implications for future empirical research of CSCL.

Evaluation of Universities’ Distance Education by Students and Academicians in the Covid-19 (Coronavirus) Period: A Qualitative Research

The aim of the study is to evaluate the perspectives of students and academicians about distance education implemented by universities in the epidemic period and to determine the advantages and disadvantages of distance education to get an overall perspective. In the study, the data were obtained as a result of in-depth interviews with 12 students and 13 academicians. MAXQDA analysis program was used to analyze the data. The coded data were themed and analyzed. As a result of the analysis, concept maps were created and the analysis process was completed with interpretation. Conclusion of this study, the advantages and disadvantages of distance education applied by universities during the coronavirus period were evaluated. Recording the classes within the scope of distance education has given students the opportunity to review the classes. In this process, it is seen that education/training activities continue without any limitations on time and place. With distance education, it became possible to teach more than one class simultaneously. In this way, it became possible to reach more students in a shorter time. However, it has been found that the level of interaction between the academician and the student decreases in the distance education classes. As such, a decrease in motivation has been detected. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a rapid transition to distance education was made, and this rapid transition caused infrastructure and system problems. On the other hand, it is understood that a sound measurement and evaluation cannot be made in the exams applied in the distance education process.

Exploring Concept Mapping as a Diagnostic and Predictive Assessment Tool in Pre-Service EFL Teacher Education

This study explored (a) pre-service teachers’ knowledge structure on teaching English as a foreign language (EFL) reading using concept mapping in a language pedagogy course, (b) the characteristics of concept maps drawn, and (c) the relationship between concept mapping and the course achievement scores. The participants were 14 pre-service teachers majoring in English language education at a university in Hong Kong. The data sources included assessments of concept maps and final exam scores. The overall research findings reveal the educational potential of integrating concept maps as a diagnostic and predictive assessment tool in teacher education programs.

Tacit Knowledge Elicitation Process for Industry 4.0

Manufacturers migrate their processes to Industry 4.0 that includes new technologies for improving productivity and efficiency of operations. One of the issues is capturing, recreating, and documenting the tacit knowledge of the aging workers. However, there are no systematic procedures to incorporate this knowledge into Enterprise Resource Planning systems for maintaining a competitive advantage. This paper describes a solution proposal for a tacit knowledge elici-tation process for capturing operational best practices of experienced workers in industrial domains for on-site training. We use Concept Maps mining and domain ontologies to discover and integrate information into a Knowledge Graph in a role game played by human and virtual agents. Ethical and societal concerns are discussed as well.