On the Role of Learning Theories in Furthering Software Engineering Education

Learning theories describe how people learn. There is a large body of work concerning learning theories on which to draw, a valuable resource of which the domain of software engineering educational research has thus far not taken full advantage. In this chapter, we explore what role learning theories could play in software engineering education. We propose that learning theories can move the field of software engineering education forward by helping us to categorize, design, evaluate, and communicate about software engineering educational approaches. We demonstrate this by: (1) surveying a set of relevant learning theories, (2) presenting a categorization of common software engineering educational approaches in terms of learning theories, and (3) using one such approach (SimSE) as a case study to explore how learning theories can be used to improve existing approaches, design new approaches, and structure and guide the evaluation of an approach.

Emerging Edtech

Design principles are universal and may be translated onto the newest trends and emergent technologies. In this research study, the authors combined the perspectives provided by two sources to create a set of recommended design principles for technology-enhanced learning environments. One source was the How People Learn framework (Bransford, Brown, & Cocking, 2000). The second source was a series of interviews conducted with pacesetters in the field of educational technologies. With the knowledge gained from these two sources, the authors created our own set of design principles. These principles may be used to guide evaluation, instructional design efforts, or best practice models for exemplary use of educational technologies in the classroom.

Ethics in Interactions in Distance Education

This chapter presents the desirable interactions involved in teaching and learning at a distance. In these interactions, there are considerable ethical issues–notably that one’s own learner autonomy should be reduced at times in order to help others learn, to achieve the learning task, and at the same time help oneself to learn. Accordingly, learner autonomy is not an overarching goal of education. This is controversial, and this chapter deals with this issue in detail to explain that learner autonomy at best is a rough guideline, and ethically based on reasoning that autonomy should be interpreted as flexibly applied. The maxim that learner autonomy must be flexibly applied is particularly true in both cooperative group learning and in collaborative group learning in distance education where student interactions with other students constitute a major part of the education process. The ethics in interaction in distance education are extended to cover all possible interactions, especially the important interaction by the teacher to each student followed by the interactions by the student with the learning process, that can initiate the aesthetic social intrinsic motivation to lifelong learning and thus to one’s own emancipation. Accordingly, ethics are defined here as those pro-active interactions that induce the motivation to lifelong learning in all the students. Such ethics should override individualist autonomy as a goal in education.

Teaching Social Skills

The ubiquity of instructional technology necessitates a more critical look at the theories that drive adoption and the practical implications of its usage. Blended learning has been offered as one compromise to fully online learning or strict adherence to traditional lecture-based instruction that seems outdated. A particular approach to blended learning is examined in the present chapter through the use of an online learning system. Concept Keys was developed to assist instructors of social skills in breaking down these abstract concepts into manageable units of information appropriate for daily delivery via email. This program is shown to be easily integrated into existing curriculum through two studies. A concluding section attempts to tie these studies together and suggests potential limitations and avenues for future research.

Multimedia, Cognitive Load, and Pedagogy

The current emphasis, in education and training, on the use of instructional technology has fostered a shift in focus and renewed interest in integrating human learning and pedagogical research. This shift has involved the technological and pedagogical integration between learner cognition, instructional design, and instructional technology, with much of this integration focusing on the role of working memory and cognitive load in the development of comprehension and performance. Specifically, working memory, dual coding theory, and cognitive load are examined in order to provide the underpinnings of Mayer’s (2001) Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning. The bulk of the chapter then addresses various principles based on Mayer’s work and provides well documented web-based examples.

Prevention is Better than Cure

This chapter adopts a four aspect model to address cheating and plagiarism in universities – education, prevention, detection and consequence. The research focussed on the two aspects of education and prevention as the authors feel that this area has not been considered in detail by the research. Building on past research, a series of eight focus groups (72 students) were conducted with students from information technology degrees at an Australian university. The students were asked to comment and discuss the phenomenon of cheating from their perspective. The chapter presents in detail the responses of the students as analysed by the researchers and then builds a set of guidelines for educators to use in the areas of education and prevention in relation to student cheating.

Social Psychology and Instructional Technology

This chapter examines how principles in social psychology can be applied to instructional technology. Two areas are discussed to explain why individuals would have a positive attitude towards instructional technology but not engage in consistent behaviors. Social psychological research demonstrates attitudes do not necessarily correlate with behaviors. Factors that moderate this relationship include attitude extremity, attitude importance, attitude accessibility, direct experience, attitude specificity, habits, and social norms. Additionally, if individuals cannot comprehend messages, they cannot develop their knowledge of instructional technology even if they wanted. To comprehend messages, individuals have to have the ability (i.e., both knowledge and time) to thoroughly process them. Examples are provided illustrating each of these concepts. The author hopes by examining the field of social psychology, new ideas, new understanding, and new areas of research can emerge in the field of instructional technology.

Culturally Negotiating the Meanings of Technology Use

This paper explores how the “meanings” of technology use are being culturally negotiated between Western educators and native Iñupiat Eskimo learners at schools across the Alaskan Arctic region, as part of a wider examination of the impact of the Western product and process technologies embodied by these schools upon the socio-cultural consciousness of the non-Western learners whose educational needs they seek to serve. There are two distinct aspects to this intercultural negotiation between educators and learners: (a) attempts of the former to reconcile their practices with the latter’s values, standards, and expectations; and (b) efforts of the latter to culturally appropriate the non-indigenous technologies being made available to them. It is expected that professionals working in a range of organizational contexts within our field may be able to gain insight from the remarkably universal nature of the problems and solutions involved in this extreme and instructive situation of socio-cultural tension

Teacher Gamers vs. Teacher Non-Gamers

The purpose of this study was to identify secondary teachers with video game-play experience and determine if perceived levels of comfort in regard to completing job-related technology tasks, amounts of instructional technology usage, and amounts of participation in innovative teaching strategies are affected by experience or lack of experience with video games. Although significant differences were not found between teachers identified as gamers and those identified as non-gamers, researchers may choose to investigate specific areas where mean differences were found. For example, gamers were more comfortable using presentation software for demonstrating concepts in class, communicating electronically with colleagues and students, using the Internet for instructional purposes, and presenting information using various delivery modes. In comparison to gamers, non-gamers indicated a tendency to communicate electronically with parents more often, encourage students to use electronic tutorials outside of class more often, and allow students to use word processors to complete assignments more frequently. This study can be used as a reference point for future research into teachers and video game-play in regard to teaching practices and job-related tasks.

The Influence of Visual and Temporal Dynamics on Split Attention

This chapter introduces eye tracking as a method to observe how the split of visual attention is managed in multimedia learning. The chapter reviews eye tracking literature on multirepresentational material. A special emphasis is devoted to recent studies conducted to explore viewing behavior in learning from dynamic vs. static visualizations and the matter of pacing of presentation. A presented argument is that the learners’ viewing behavior is affected by design characteristics of the learning material. Characteristics like the dynamics of visualization or the pace of presentation only slightly influence the learners’ visual strategy, while user interaction (i.e., learner controlled pace of presentation) leads to a different visual strategy compared to system-paced presentation. Taking viewing behavior as an indicator of how split attention is managed the harms of a split source format in multimedia learning can be overcome by implementing a user interaction that allows the learner to adapt the material to perceptual and individual characteristics.