Heng-Yu Ku

Collaboration factors, teamwork satisfaction, and student attitudes toward online collaborative learning

This study examined online courses with collaborative learning components from 197 graduate students across three consecutive academic years. A student attitude survey containing 20 items and a student teamwork satisfaction scale containing 10 items on a 5-point Likert-type scale with three open-ended questions regarding their online collaborating experiences were collected during the final week of each semester. Results revealed that the three extracted online collaboration factors (Team Dynamics, Team Acquaintance, and Instructor Support) from the student attitude survey had moderate to high degrees of correlation with teamwork satisfaction. Results also revealed that the three collaboration factors accounted for 53% of the variance in online teamwork satisfaction. In addition, results from both surveys and open-ended questions revealed students favored working collaboratively in an online environment.

Chinese Graduate Students' Experiences and Attitudes toward Online Learning.

This qualitative study was conducted to explore seven Chinese graduate students’ experiences of and attitudes to taking online courses in the USA. All seven participants indicated that online learning was an interesting experience for them, however, they had mixed attitudes toward this unfamiliar mode of learning. The participants pointed out that easy resource sharing, easy record keeping and convenience of the discussion board were features of online learning that they liked the most. On the other hand, their writing skills in English, insufficient and deferred feedback and the lack of cultural exchange were their major concerns regarding online learning. Recommendations were provided for Chinese students on how to prepare for and how to succeed in online courses. Online instructors were also given recommendations regarding how to integrate teaching strategies to promote diversity and cultural understanding. Les étudiants de deuxième cycle chinois: leurs expériences et attitudes vis à vis de l’apprentissage en ligne On a mené cette étude qualitative pour analyser les expériences et les attitudes de sept étudiants de deuxième cycle chinois qui suivaient des cours en ligne aux Etats Unis. Les sept participants ont tous indiqué que l’apprentissage en ligne était quelque chose d’intéressant pour eux mais qu’ils avaient une attitude réservée par rapport à cette forme d’apprentissage peu familière. Ces participants ont noté que la facilité de partage des ressources, et de l’archivage des travaux et le caractère pratique du forum de discussion étaient les caractéristiques de l’apprentissage en ligne qu’ils appréciaient le plus. Par contre leurs soucis principaux ont porté sur leurs difficultés à écrire en anglais, sur les insuffisances et les retards du feedback et sur le manque d’échanges culturels. On a donc fourni aux étudiants chinois des recommandations pour les aider à préparer et à réussir dans les cours en ligne. On a aussi fourni aux enseignants en ligne des recommandations sur la façon d’intégrer les stratégies d’enseignement dans le but de promouvoir la diversité et la compréhension culturelle. Die Erfahrungen chinesischer Graduierter und ihre Einstellungen zu Online‐Lernen Diese qualitative Studie wurde durchgeführt, um die Erfahrungen und Einstellungen von sieben chinesischen Graduierten bezüglich ihrer Teilnahme an Online‐Kursen in den Vereinigten Staaten zu erforschen. Alle sieben Teilnehmer gaben an, dass Online‐Lernen eine interessante Erfahrung für sie war, allerdings hatten sie gemischte Einstellungen zu dieser ihnen nicht vertrauten Art des Lernens. Die Teilnehmer wiesen darauf hin, dass das leichte Ressourcen‐sharing, das leichte Aufzeichnen und die Annehmlichkeiten des “discussion‐board” für sie die Merkmale des Online‐Lernens waren, die sie am meisten mochten. Andererseits waren ihre mangelnde Schreibfertigkeit auf Englisch, die ratenweisen Rückmeldungen und der Mangel an kulturellem Austausch ihre größten Probleme beim Online‐Lernen. Aus diesen Ergebnissen wurden Empfehlungen für chinesische Studenten entwickelt, wie man sich auf Online‐Kurse vorbereiten und an ihnen erfolgreich teilnehmen kann. Auch an die Online‐Ausbilder wurden Empfehlungen bezüglich der Integration von Lehrstrategien zur Förderung größerer Vielfalt und von kulturellem Verständnis gegeben.

An investigation of the effects of reciprocal peer tutoring

This study investigated the effects of reciprocal peer tutoring (RPT) on student achievement, motivation, and attitudes. Four sections of an educational technology course were randomly assigned to one RPT and one non-RPT group. Participants in the RPT group were then randomly assigned to groups to tutor and support each other while participants in the non-RPT group worked individually. The results suggested that the RPT and non-RPT groups did not differ on student achievement and motivation. Findings concerning student attitudes revealed that what students liked about RPT were helpful group members, opportunities to work in groups, feedback from groups, the comfort that RPT provided, and knowledge sharing. What students disliked about RPT were the unnecessary work and lack of interaction.

The effects of individually personalized computer-based instructional program on solving mathematics problems

This study investigated the effects of an individually personalized computer-based instructional program on the achievement and attitudes regarding mathematics computational problems and word problems of 104 middle school American students. Students were blocked by math entering knowledge based on pre-test scores, then randomly assigned to a personalized or non-personalized version of the computer-based instructional program. A significant two-way interaction (treatment by math entering knowledge) reflected that personalized higher-level math entering knowledge students and non-personalized higher-level math entering knowledge students had similar post-test scores but personalized lower-level math entering knowledge students scored significantly higher on the post-test than non-personalized lower-level math entering knowledge students. Another significant two-way interaction (math entering knowledge by problem type) reflected that students with higher-level math entering knowledge scored considerably higher on the computational problems than on the word problems while students with lower-level math entering knowledge scored significantly higher on the computational problems than on the word problems. Student attitudes were significantly more favorable toward the personalized computer-based instructional program.

The effect of computer‐based multimedia instruction with Chinese character recognition

The purpose of this study was to examine second language learners’ learning achievement and attitudes toward two different types of dual coding designs (text group: image plus on‐screen text versus narration group: image plus narration) in Chinese character acquisition. A total of 66 college students who did not have prior knowledge of the Chinese language were randomly assigned to either the text group or narration group. The findings showed that there was no interaction between the treatments (text group versus narration group) and test occasions (immediate and delayed post‐tests), and there was no significant difference between two groups in the immediate post‐test and in the delayed post‐test. However, there was a significant difference between the test occasions. Furthermore, the results revealed that there was no significant difference between two groups in both the tutorial design factor and the cognitive load factor. Overall, participants in both groups achieved high scores in the post‐tests and showed positive attitudes toward the dual coding tutorials.

An Analysis of Educational Technology-Related Doctoral Programs in the United States

This descriptive study seeks to understand the differing requirements of doctoral programs in educational technology-related fields in the United States. Using a document analysis approach with five data sources, we found 59 different institutions (55 campus-based and 4 online) offered doctoral degrees with 33 different degree titles that satisfied a foundational set of curriculum criteria. Among these 59 institutions, total credit hours requirements ranged from 42 credit hours to 113 credit hours and total dissertation credit hours spanned from 1 to 45 credit hours to complete a doctoral degree. Among the nine universities who offered both Ph.D. and Ed.D. degrees, the requirements of the total credit hours were varied, but the same or higher total dissertation hours were required for the Ph.D. program than for the Ed.D. program.

A case study of third grade students’ perceptions of the station rotation blended learning model in the United States

ABSTRACT The purpose of this case study was to explore the experiences of 31 third graders who experienced learning in a Station Rotation blended learning setting over the period of one semester in the United State. These students participated in student focus group interviews and completed student questionnaires during the middle and the end of the semester. The student focus group interviews were first transcribed and coded. The students’ responses from the questionnaires were then coded and compared with the findings from the student focus group interviews. The results revealed five positive themes (variety of activities, technology, learning, fun, and getting help) and two negative themes (challenging work and technology). These emerged themes from the student focus interviews and the student questionnaires explain the perceptions the students had about the Station Rotation blended learning model. Finally, discussion for current study as well as recommendations for future research were provided.

Analyzing the Curricula of Doctor of Philosophy in Educational Technology-Related Programs in the United States.

Abstract The purpose of this study was to analyze on-campus and online PhD programs in educational technology-related fields in the United States. In particular, it sought to evaluate the most common program titles; core, elective, and research courses based on program curricula. The research design was quantitative content analysis and data were collected from six different sources. The study found 44 institutions offered campus-based degree programs and four offered online degree programs in educational technology-related fields with 27 different program titles. In addition, 324 core courses, 157 elective courses, and 260 research courses were further analyzed. The results revealed that the most common program titles were Curriculum and Instruction, Learning Design and Technology, Instructional Technology, Learning Technologies, Instructional Design and Technology, and Educational Technology. The most common core courses were Instructional Design, Advanced Instructional Design, Curriculum Theory, Needs Assessment, Internship in Instructional Technology, Instructional Systems Design, and Theories of Learning and Instruction. The most common elective courses were Multicultural Education, Foundations of Distance Learning, Educational Foundations, and Message Design. The most common research courses were Quantitative Methods, Qualitative Methods, Qualitative Research, Educational Research Methods, Multivariate Analysis, Introduction to Qualitative Research in Education, and Mixed Methods. Furthermore, this study provided discussion and implications for current study as well as recommendations for future research.