The effectiveness of cooperative learning in an online learning environment through a comparison of group and individual marks

Cooperative learning is a learning approach where students are placed into groups to work towards a common goal. Prominent learning theories state that students learn best when they construct their own knowledge in an active learning environment where they can socially interact and collaborate to reach a desired outcome. Cooperative learning provides such a learning environment and has the benefit of creating an active learning community where students can develop transferable skills. Online learning has grown steadily over the past few years, but even more so during the COVID-19 pandemic where tertiary institutions’ only option was to continue with their academic programmes remotely through online learning platforms. With online learning becoming a prominent feature, calls are made to educators to examine teamwork and cooperation and how this can be facilitated in an online setting. In the online learning environment it is important to promote collaborative engagement to counteract feelings of isolation and encourage deep learning to occur. In the second accounting module of a fully online degree, students are exposed to a case study, with a group assignment as well as an individual assignment component. The aim of this study is to determine whether group work can be effective by comparing group marks to individual marks. The study further elicits the perceptions of the online students to determine their views regarding group work, the process that they followed to collaborate, as well as their perceptions regarding skills developed using the case study approach. A mixed-methods approach was followed, using the group and individual marks and combining those with the survey analysis and qualitative data analysis from a questionnaire. It was found that the average mark for the group assignment is higher than for the individual assignment and that the individual assignment shows a greater spread of marks. For male students who prefer to work within a group, their group mark is higher than their individual mark, showing that they did receive the benefit from working within a group. Students agreed that group work is a valuable skill that will be needed in their future careers and that the group work enabled them to learn from their group members. Working in a group requires a lot of time and effort, but students will elicit the strategies required to gain the necessary knowledge and solve the problem posed to them. Students mentioned several other skills that they perceived were developed through their exposure to the group work; skills such as communicating well, listening with intent, negotiating a point of view, researching alternatives and solving a problem were all enhanced through their participation in their groups. The results suggest that group work can be effectively achieved and managed in an online setting, albeit with special care around the logistical and technological challenges that can be experienced. Cooperative learning in the form of group work is not always welcomed by all students, but it will enable them to navigate their future careers where teamwork will be a prominent feature.

Design, Development and Evaluation of Haptic and Olfactory based Application for Visually Impaired Learners

Educational entertainment or edutainment is a popular approach to allow learners experience a fun learning environment while acquiring knowledge. Currently, this approach is widely used and has promising benefits, whereby not only it provides a fun learning environment but also cause learners to hardly notice the learning process. However, as there are a minimum of 2.2 billion people worldwide with vision impairment or blindness, this approach can be a challenging experience for them. It is thus important to provide equal opportunities for these members of the community in the teaching and learning environment. Owing to the limited applications available for the visually impaired in virtual edutainment tailored for them, this research aims to design and develop an edutainment application for visually impaired users using a user-centered design. The application allows users to touch 3D objects using Touch by 3DSystems. In addition, sounds and smells will be released from the speaker and olfactory devices, respectively. The usability and satisfaction of users toward this application was tested on the visually impaired as well as blindfolded users using a 7-point Likert scale questionnaire. This questionnaire was constructed in accordance with USE (Usefulness, Satisfaction, and Ease of use) by Lund. A total of 10 participants – including visually impaired teachers and blindfolded students – participated in this study. Participants in this study agreed that the proposed application is useful, easy to use, easy to learn, and were satisfied with the application. The average rating of the results out of 7 was 5.92 for usefulness, 5.6 for ease of use, 6.22 for ease of learning, and 6.25 for satisfaction.

Finally in the spotlight: How contemporary learning theory is saving education online during COVID

A surge of literature documenting myriad challenges being faced online during the COVID pandemic strongly suggests that e-learning scholarship has fallen short of conveying an understanding of how to build highly effective e-learning spaces. Recent stories from practitioners abound with reports of absenteeism, cameras and microphones turned off, inaction in forums and a general reticence on the part of learners to engage online. Where have we missed the mark in our efforts to have contemporary e-learning theory affect online practice? Scholarship is indicating that the root of the disconnect often lies in the conventional instructional designs being used in these spaces and the teaching, learning and assessment practices they support. In response to such issues, we conducted a qualitative action research initiative to apply an instructional design (ID) model, based on contemporary learning theories and goals, in a teacher education program in Chile. The study took place in 2020 over 2 academic semesters. In this study, we focussed on the impact of these changes on a small group of first-year Pre-service Teachers (PSTs, n=17), experiencing online learning for the first time. Pre and post interviews, an open-ended questionnaire, field notes from self-assessment portfolios and observations of the digital environment were used to collect data. We also draw on two other data sources in the same context: 1) an earlier report of this initiative that focussed on the Teacher Educators (TEs) in the same program (n=4), and 2) survey data collected in a preparatory stage of the action research on the experiences of the greater university student body (n=1,054). Evidence revealed that initially learners’ epistemological views were heavily influenced by the teacher-centric and content-driven pedagogies of earlier schooling. Yet, results also showed that the contemporary learning design framework had positive implications for many students’ social, cognitive, and metacognitive competencies. Clear signs of more active investment in social interactive learning online on the part of the PSTs and of flexible, self-directed behaviours were evidenced. The results of this study provide an empirically based practical solution for connecting current learning theory to practice in online contexts, solutions that could endure even once the challenges of the pandemic crisis are behind us.

Technology Integration in Higher Education: The use of Website Design Pedagogy to Promote Quality Teaching and Learning

The integration of technology within higher education, specifically teacher education, has become vital in preparing pre-service teacher for the 21st-century classroom. Literature shows that the integration of technology allows students to engage deeply with content and promote authentic learning. Over two years, pre-service teachers who nrolled for a language education module at a university in South Africa were tasked with designing their own websites using Google Sites – an online, free, collaborative, web-based application that forms part of Google’s G Suite. As part of the as part website design assignment, they had to include a blog, informative text and a YouTube video explaining a language-teaching-related topic. The study was conducted from an interpretivist paradigm and an embedded mixed-methods research design. The technological pedagogical content knowledge model served as the theoretical framework. Data collected from 214 pre-service teachers revealed that the use of website design pedagogy promoted the integration of different types of knowledge domains, authentic learning and proximal development. The pre-service teachers furthermore reported that the use of website design pedagogy better prepared them for the 21st-century classroom. Challenges that the students experienced included inadequate access to the internet and problems with recording and uploading videos. This study advocates for authentic learning and scaffolding and therefore recommends that higher education institutions integrate technology holistically by adhering to the principles of the technological pedagogical content knowledge model.

Active Student Learning through Gamification in a Learning Management System

E-learning through a learning management system (LMS) is expected to be a solution to the needs of distance learning, especially during a pandemic situation. However, learning through an LMS can lead to a lack of focus, reduced classroom efficiency, and a feeling of boredom for the user. One solution to this problem is to use gamification (e.g., rankings or points, badges, and leaderboards) to enhance active learning. This study uses a mixed-methods approach and data from weekly reviews and forum discussions, questionnaires, and data students’ interviews to assess the implementation of gamification elements in an LMS. The data from the questionnaires were analyzed using descriptive statistics, and the data from student interviews were analyzed using general inductive analysis. The results show that gamification in an LMS had a positive influence on active learning. The students have also provided positive feedback on the rated weekly review activity. The badges and leaderboard were also positively accepted by most students. Awarding points for activities was also found to improve students’ performance in class. Badges were found to increase students’ active participation, and the leaderboard motivated students to participate actively in online classes. This study could provide guidance to universities or LMS providers wishing to implement gamification in an LMS.

Student Emotion in Mediated Learning: Comparing a Text, Video, and Video Game

Although serious games are generally praised by scholars for their potential to enhance teaching and e-learning practices, more empirical evidence is needed to support these accolades. Existing research in this area tends to show that gamified teaching experiences do contribute to significant effects to improve student cognitive, motivational, and behavioural learning outcomes, but these effects are usually small. In addition, less research examines how different types of mediated learning tools compare to one another in influencing student outcomes associated with learning and motivation. As such, a question can be asked in this area: how do video games compare to other types of mediated tools, such as videos or texts, in influencing student emotion outcomes? This study used an experimental design (N = 153) to examine the influence of different types of mass media modalities (text, video, and video game) on college students’ emotions in a mediated learning context. Research examining the impact of video games on instruction has begun to grow, but few studies appropriately acknowledge the nuanced differences between media tools in comparison to one another. Using a media-attributes approach as a lens, this study first compared these mediated tools along the attributional dimensions of textuality, channel, interactivity, and control. This study next tested the impact of each media type on thirteen emotion outcomes. Results showed that six emotion outcomes did not indicate differences between groups (fear, guilt, sadness, shyness, serenity, and general negative emotions). However, six of the tested emotion outcomes did indicate differences between groups with students experiencing higher levels of emotional arousal in both the text and video game conditions (in comparison to the video condition) for the emotions of joviality, self-assurance, attentiveness, surprise, hostility, and general positive emotions. Lastly, students also felt less fatigue in the video game condition. Overall, implications for e-learning suggest that when a message’s content is held constant, both video games and texts may be better in inducing emotional intensity and reducing fatigue than videos alone, which could enhance motivation to learn when teaching is mediated by technology.

Learning Foreign Languages in a Digital Environment: Learners’ Perception of the Sudden Transition to e-Learning During COVID-19 Lockdown

The research is devoted to the study of the forced and accelerated transition of education to an online environment on the example of learning a foreign language. Despite a large number of studies on e-learning, this study is one of the newest investigating recent education transformation trends. The ultimate goal of this paper was to study changes in students’ assessments of the e-learning process, participation in online-based education, and academic success during the transition to virtual training. The study involved 600 students from 5 private specialized educational institutions located in Moscow (Russian Federation) who were forced to switch to e-learning during the lockdown. The examination was conducted by means of a survey assessing the usefulness, comfort, and acceptability of e-learning in three isolated questions formulated by the authors and measured on a five-point Likert scale. The comparison of its outcomes with the results of objective knowledge tests at the beginning and at the end of the three-month e-learning period revealed the following outcomes. First of all, a decrease in the assessment of the acceptability of continuing e-learning for both genders was noted. According to female respondents, the assessment of the comfort of e-learning decreased significantly (from 3.70 to 3.14 points). In the meantime, the usefulness score dropped notably for both male and female research participants (from 4.10 to 2.98 and from 3.80 to 2.26, respectively). Similar changes were found in four age categories ranging from 20 to 42 years old. Thus, the participants over 30 demonstrated lower final scores. Academic success also decreased in the group of men compared to the group of women. The findings of this study can be practically applied for the further transformation of educational programs and additional preparation of educators with the aim of facilitating learning transition to an online mode. Future research on the topic can be conducted in other regions of the world to obtain more comparative data and investigate different learners’ perceptions.

Exploring Feedback and Gamification in a Data Modeling Learning Tool

Data modeling is an essential part of IT studies. Learning how to design and structure a database is important when storing data in a relational database and is common practice in the IT industry. Most students need much practice and tutoring to master the skill of data modeling and database design. When a student is in a learning process, feedback is important. As class sizes grow and teaching is no longer campus based only, providing feedback to each individual student may be difficult. Our study proposes a tool to use when introducing database modeling to students. We have developed a web-based tool named LearnER to teach basic data modeling skills, in a collaborative project between the University of South-Eastern Norway (USN) and Kristiania University College (KUC). The tool has been used in six different courses over a period of four academic years. In LearnER, the student solves modeling assignments with different levels of difficulty. When they are done, or they need help, they receive automated feedback including visual cues. To increase the motivation for solving many assignments, LearnER also includes gamifying elements. Each assignment has a maximum score. When students ask for help, points are deducted from the score. When students manage to solve many assignments with little help, they may end up at a leaderboard. This paper tries to summarize how the students use and experience LearnER. We look to see if the students find the exercises interesting, useful and of reasonable difficulty. Further, we investigate if the automated feedback is valuable, and if the gamifying elements contribute to their learning. As we have made additions and refinements to LearnER over several years, we also compare student responses on surveys and interviews during these years. In addition, we analyze usage data extracted from the application to learn more about student activity. The results are promising. We find that student activity increases in newer versions of LearnER. Most students report that the received feedback helps them to correct mistakes when solving modeling assignments. The gamifying elements are also well received. Based on LearnER usage data, we find and describe typical errors the students do and what types of assignments they prefer to solve.

Examining Essential Flow Antecedents to promote students’ Self-Regulated Learning and Acceptance of Use in a Game-Based Learning classroom

Game-Based Learning (GBL) has been recognized as an essential tool for motivating students to engage in active and constructive learning. While there is a link between GBL and learning outcomes, current research evidence tends to undermine the interrelationships of concepts and oversimplify flow experience in the context of GBL. This study used a comprehensive Flow perspective to examine the roles of specific gaming characteristics affecting students’ self-regulated learning and acceptances of use in a higher education GBL context, with a path model based on data collected from 275 undergraduate university students. The model demonstrated an excellent fit of the data with interrelations among constructs about Flow Antecedents, Acceptance of Use, Motivation and Metacognition. The findings revealed that learners place a higher value on GBL with flow elements like Concentration and Challenge, which is linked to their learning motivation and metacognitive outcomes. Aid by GBL on knowledge gain and immersive experience are considered as the underpinnings of Performance Expectancy before students consider adopting GBL for their learning. In contrast to what is typical of serious games, learners primarily use GBL to improve their academic performance rather than for its immersive experience.

EdTech Culturation: Integrating A Culturally Relevant Pedagogy into Educational Technology

In recent years, the use of technology in educational contexts including e-learning has become increasing ubiquitous. While it is commonly believed that technology use can facilitate the process of teaching and learning, it is of paramount importance to adopt a Culturally Relevant Pedagogy (CRP) to address the needs of students who might experience difficulty because of cultural, linguistic and technological obstacles that might be inherent in the use of educational technology. With this consideration in mind, the present paper reports on the findings of a qualitative research involving three case studies based on structured interviews with three university professors who are experts in developing digital tools and applications for educational purposes. The participants recorded their responses to interview questions on Google Docs over a period of one month, and the data was analysed for significant themes. The data revealed that all participants believe that cultural, methodological and pedagogical barriers can significantly affect the use of educational technology in face-to-face and online classes and can consequently impact student learning. The emergent themes in the data indicate that a solid understanding of the local context in which the process of teaching and learning takes place, flexibility in terms of one’s methodological approaches to teaching and embracing differences in students’ knowledge and abilities can help ensure students succeed in their academic endeavours, they are uncritically accepted and treated in an equitable manner regardless of their competency level. All three participants in the study believe that while there are some cultural and linguistic barriers in e-learning contexts and in developing and using technological applications for students, through adopting the core principles of a culturally relevant pedagogy (CRP), they have been successful in achieving the course learning outcomes for their students. They argue that by adapting the language used in applications to the linguistic level of students, using familiar and culturally relevant themes, and adopting a blended approach in which technology complements face-to-face instruction, a better dialogue is established between the teacher and the students, and learning is thus facilitated. The findings of this study reveal that becoming familiar with the local culture, the relevant prescriptions and proscriptions can furnish the education technology developers with the requisite knowledge for creating applications that are relevant to students’ lives and are thus more effectual. Similarly, the results show that educational applications should provide a suitable platform to create and maintain an ongoing intrapersonal and interpersonal dialogue for the students to help them engage in the process of learning in a regular and consistent manner. Implications for pedagogy and research will be discussed.