Canan Blake

Reconsidering Simulations in Science Education at a Distance: Features of Effective Use

This paper proposes a reconsideration of use of computer simulations in science education. We discuss three studies of the use of science simulations for undergraduate distance learning students. The first one, The Driven Pendulum simulation is a computer-based experiment on the behaviour of a pendulum. The second simulation, Evolve is concerned with natural selection in a hypothetical species of a flowering plant. The third simulation, The Double Slit Experiment deals with electron diffraction and students are provided with an experimental setup to investigate electron diffraction for double and single slit arrangements. We evaluated each simulation, with 30 students each for The Driven Pendulum and Evolve simulations and about 100 students for The Double Slit Experiment. From these evaluations we have developed a set of the features for the effective use of simulations in distance learning. The features include student support, multiple representations and tailorability.

Using Netbooks to Support Mobile Learners' Investigations across Activities and Places

We explore how small‐format laptops (‘netbooks’) have been used within evidence‐based investigations undertaken by secondary school students, to what extent these are suitable for effectively supporting learners across different locations and contexts, and their implications for open learning. Over the course of seven trials with 300 students and seven teachers we have gathered data on how netbooks have been used in formal and informal learning contexts, bridging school, field locations and home. The netbooks have supported individual, group and class tasks, and acted as both stand‐alone and networked devices. Three themes have emerged: the use of a single device to support inquiries across activities and places; student use and appropriation; and organisation and management. We conclude that netbooks are a category of device that can be highly effective in supporting open learning, although careful consideration is required when considering their deployment and use.

Investigating Learners’ Views of Assessment Types in Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs)

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) are changing the contours of the teaching and learning landscape. Assessment covers an important part of this landscape and may be a key driver for learning. This paper presents preliminary results of a qualitative study that investigated learners’ views on assessment types within a MOOC. A thematic analysis of learners’ interactions in a MOOC Facebook Group and twelve online interviews of learners in the same MOOC reveal that participants identify benefits in peer assessment but they prefer automated assessment as an already-known type. Self-assessment was not preferred by these learners. They reported that clear guidance assists them to carry out peer assessment more effectively. Some learners favored the combination of assessment types, as each of them serves a different purpose for their learning. The learners’ socio-cultural context emerged as a theme affecting both their learning and assessment activities and will be considered for future research.

Design for Collaboration

Online learning environments offer new opportunities for learning and over the last decade or so a variety of online learning environments have been developed by researchers to facilitate collaborative learning among students. In this paper we will present a case study of a successful collaborative learning design. This involves a near synchronous online seminar where students work in small groups to produce a report that examines media coverage of controversial science, using archives of television news reports. We will analyze the activitys task design features by employing a framework of collaboration enabling design approach proposed by Kirschner et al (2004). We will start with an analysis of the collaborative processes and interaction among participants in this online activity. Then we will examine the features of the task used in this learning environment with respect to the interaction design ideas proposed by Kirschner et al. They suggest that the use of appropriately designed and implemented educational, social and technological affordances is the foundation for stimulating, motivating and maintaining collaboration among learners. We use the framework to identify factors contributing to the success of the activity.

Usability evaluation of distributed groupware in distance learning

This paper deals with the development of an inspection method for the evaluation of synchronous groupware in e-Learning. Distributed groupware are software applications that are able to facilitate collaboration among groups of people over the Internet. These applications are difficult to evaluate due to presence of multiple users working collaboratively in educational or business settings. Recently researchers have investigated the suitability of inspection methods to complement traditional evaluation techniques. So far, such techniques have been applied primarily to groupware within businesses. In this paper, we look at how some of these techniques could be adapted and extended for the evaluation of groupware in learning.

Interdisciplinary Knowledge Creation in Technology --- Enhanced Learning

The impact of the Internet on working practices has been profound, in terms of how people communicate, collaborate and network. In parallel, there has being increasing prominence given to interdisciplinarity as a means of addressing cross-disciplinary research challenges. This poster explores how interdisciplinary research can make better use of new technologies as a means of developing shared understanding. Interdisciplinary projects investigating Technology-Enhanced Learning TEL make a particularly relevant site for such research. We have found that a key means of support for the development of work on interdisciplinary projects is the development of mediating artefacts to support the articulation and process of discourse.

Analysis of Learners' Fieldtrip Talk during a Collaborative Inquiry Task

In this paper we analyse childrens talk with a view to understand how a technology enhanced inquiry learning toolkit played a part in enriching collaboration during a fieldtrip and facilitating social interaction. The participants in the study were 15 year-old students carrying out their geography GCSE General Certificate in Secondary Education work in a secondary school in the UK. During the fieldtrip, we provided students with nQuire, an inquiry learning toolkit to orchestrate their learning, on an ultra-mobile Asus Eee PC with a wireless connection to the coursework web site. Students collected data from twelve points in two towns with very different layout and land use. The learning environment created with the nQuire toolkit, ultra mobile PCs, personalised inquiry task and the use of scientific sensors to collect data offers possibilities for collaboration and effective interaction. In this study we analyse to what extent this environment supported learning collaboratively and to what extent students interacted with each other and with the technology to construct knowledge during the fieldtrip.