Avner Caspi

Participation in class and in online discussions: Gender differences

Gender differences between participation in face-to-face and web-based classroom discussions were examined, by comparing the men-women actual participation ratio to the men-women attendance (or login) ratio. It was found that men over-proportionally spoke at the face-to-face classroom whereas women over-proportionally posted messages in the web-based conference. Two alternative explanations are discussed. It is suggested that either women prefer written communication more than men do, or that women prefer written communication over spoken communication. Nonetheless, despite some advantages of virtual discussions, especially for women, the online environment is apparently not attractive enough for either gender.

Dialogue: A Theoretical Framework for Distance Education Instructional Systems.

This paper presents a theoretical framework for viewing elements that comprise distance education instructional systems in terms of dialogue. It is assumed that learning is mediated by intrapersonal dialogue and facilitated by interpersonal dialogue. Every resource in a distance education instructional system (eg, instructor availability, asynchronous communication networks, self-instruction texts, etc) is analysed in terms of the dialogue mode it supports. The framework offers three advantages: (1) a unified, simple, and coherent description of the mechanisms at play in distance education systems, (2) clear-cut operational definitions, and (3) hypotheses that may be investigated empirically.

Synchronous vs. Asynchronous Tutorials: Factors Affecting Students' Preferences and Choices.

Abstract This study aimed to determine the factors that affect students’ preferences regarding tutorial modes. A learning-habit inclinations questionnaire (LHIQ) was constructed and administered to 288 students. Factor analysis revealed four factors: “time management,” “ease of access” to learning materials, “positive aspects of interaction” and “negative aspects of interaction.” Seven satellite-based synchronous tutorials were delivered to 92 students in a Research Methods course. The following semester, 73 other students taking the same course received the same seven tutorials with the same tutor but in a mixed mode of delivery: three similar satellite-based synchronous tutorials and four satellite-based asynchronous videocassettes containing the recorded tutorials of the previous semester. Attitudes toward different components of the learning environments were measured and the LHIQ was administered. Results revealed that preferences of tutorial mode were determined by students’ learning-habit inclinations: Those who prefer the satellite-based synchronous tutorials have stronger views toward the positive aspects of interactions and score lower on the need for autonomy and access to learning materials than those who prefer the satellite-based asynchronous tutorials. Methodological (lessons on field research), theoretical (significance of learning styles in effective teaching and learning), and practical (flexibility in teaching practices) implications are discussed.

Dialogue in a Distance Education Physics Course

This study investigated the kinds of dialogues utilized by Open University students while studying an intermediate level physics course. Research objectives were twofold: to document what dialogue types, mediated through which resources, were (1) generally utilized by students as they learned; and (2) were specifically utilized by students to overcome conceptual difficulties. It was found that all students initially chose individual study characterized by intrapersonal dialogue. Only when individual study failed did students opt for interpersonal dialogue. This finding conflicts with the assumed importance often ascribed to interpersonal dialogue by some distance education theorists.

Comparing Perceived Formal and Informal Learning in Face-to-Face versus Online Environments

Two hundred and thirty-nine elementary school teachers reported their perceived learning (cognitive and affective aspects) in four learning environments: Formal – face-to-face (teachers’ professional development courses), Informal – face-to-face (teachers’ lounge), Formal – online (online teacher professional development courses), and Informal – online (teachers’ online forum). We found that perceived learning in formal learning environments was higher than in informal learning environments. The effect of communication media was also significant; teachers who communicated online reported higher perceived learning than teachers who communicated face-toface. The interaction between formality and communication media was also significant. In the informal environments, online learners perceived their learning to be higher than face-to-face learners, whereas in formal learning environments there was no such difference. These results revealed the importance of the medium in different learning environments.

Campus-based university students' use of dialogue

This investigation explores the kinds of study strategies used by campus‐based university students in terms of the dialogues they engaged in while learning physics and chemistry in both large and small classes. Research objectives were threefold: (1) to document what dialogue types, mediated through which resources, were generally utilized by students as they learned, (2) to document what dialogue types, mediated through which resources, were specifically utilized by students to solve problems, and (3) to compare these findings with previous ones obtained from distance education students. It was found that campus‐based students in small classes learned in a highly interactive environment characterized by interpersonal dialogue, especially with the lecturer. It was also found that campus‐based students in large classes learned primarily through individual study, characterized as intrapersonal dialogue. Both college and university students opted for interpersonal dialogue, especially with peers, when faced with insoluble problems. Findings about students in large campus‐based lecture courses replicate earlier findings obtained from distance education students, thereby highlighting similarities between the two seemingly different instructional systems.

Instructional dialogue: distance education students’ dialogic behaviour

Instructional systems, both distance education and campus‐based, may be viewed in terms of intrapersonal and interpersonal instructional dialogues, that mediate and facilitate learning respectively, and instructional resources that enable such dialogues. Resources include self‐instruction texts, tutorials, instructor availability, websites and more. This study investigated the dialogic behaviour of 521 Open University of Israel students as they studied undergraduate courses in Exact and Natural Sciences, Social Sciences and Humanities. Research objectives were to document what dialogue types, mediated through which resources, were utilized by students to overcome conceptual difficulty while reading instructional texts and while working on assignments. Two main findings emerged: (1) initially, most students dealt with both kinds of conceptual difficulty individually, on their own; only when such efforts failed did they turn to interpersonal dialogue; and (2) most students turned to peers for help, not to their instructors. These findings conflict with the assumed importance often ascribed to interpersonal, instructor–student dialogue by some distance education theorists.

In Pain Thou Shalt Bring Forth Children: The Peak-and-End Rule in Recall of Labor Pain

Childbirth is usually the most painful event of a mother’s life, and resonates in individual and collective memory for years. The current study examined the relationship between the experience of labor pain and its recollection 2 days and 2 months after delivery. We found that despite the exceptional physical and emotional experiences of childbirth, the memory of the pain involved in labor was biased toward the average of the peak pain and the end pain, whereas the duration of the delivery had a relatively negligible effect on the recollected intensity of pain. A comparison of mothers whose labor ended with or without epidural analgesia corroborated previous findings that the level of pain toward the end of an experience greatly influences the way the overall experience is remembered. Although both short- and long-term retention of memories of labor exhibited the peak-and-end effect, having given birth before weakened the effect 2 months after delivery.

Studying Invisibly: Media Naturalness and Learning

This study examines differences between two learning environments : audio-written conferencing and traditional face-to-face instruction . We investigated whether medium richness [media richness theory ; Daft and Lengel (Research in organizational behavior. JAI, Greenwich, 1984)], medium naturalness [media naturalness theory ; Kock (IEEE Trans Prof Commun 48(2):117–130, 2005)], and invisibility influence students’ achievement, satisfaction , and behavior. In two research settings, a field study and a laboratory experiment, students were taught face-to-face and/or via an audio-written conferencing system; subject matter and teacher were constant. We found similar achievement in the two environments. Significant differences, in favor of face-to-face communication, were found regarding learner satisfaction. In addition, invisibility increased certain kinds of students’ behavior: participation, risk taking, immediacy feeling, and flaming. These findings were explained in terms of differences in media naturalness and as an effect of invisibility.

A Decade of Chais Conferences: Introduction to the "IJELL" Special Series of Chais Conference 2015 Best Papers.

The seventh issue of the Interdisciplinary Journal of e-Skills and Lifelong Learning (IJELLformerly Interdisciplinary Journal of E-Learning and Learning Objects IJELLO) special series includes a selection of best papers presented at the 10 Chais Conference for the Study of Innovation and Learning Technologies: Learning in the Technological Era. The Chais conference 2015 was held at The Open University of Israel, Raanana, Israel, on February 10-11, 2015, and was organized by its Research Center for Innovation in Learning Technologies. This preface presents the mission and activities of the Research Center for Innovation in Learning Technologies at the Open University of Israel. It describes the objectives and themes of the Chais conference 2015, explains the special series synergies with IJELL and the Informing Science Institute, chronicles the topics that have been published in the series, and introduces the papers included in this special selection.