Lanqin Zheng

An empirical study on blended learning in the introduction to educational technology course

“An Introduction to Educational Technology” is one of the core courses for undergraduate majors of educational technology at Beijing Normal University. It is a fundamental course which is intended to lay a solid foundation for the students of this field of study and to help them understand their field of study better. Based on empirical studies, the authors have developed a optimal method of curriculum design for blended Learning.The method has been proven to be fairly effective by a four-year implementation of a comprehensive hands-on practice through enabling the students to carry out relevant career designs. This paper attempts to shed light on the concepts of such curriculum design and to elaborate on the way it has been done and is also intended to provide a framework of reference for faculty of this field and other practitioners.

A Framework to Automatically Analyze Regulation

Self-regulated learning has achieved prominence in recent years. Helping students to become self-regulated learners is becoming a favorite target of researchers and educational practitioners. This study proposes a novel framework that can automatically analyze online self-regulated learning processes and competencies. It presents an analytics dashboard that encourages students to initiate activities of self-regulation and guide them to reflect on their competencies. The architecture of the framework and an applied scenario are presented and discussed in detail.

Multi-dimensional Sentiment Classification in Online Learning Environment

Text-based sentiment analysis as a tool for monitoring online learning environment has elicited increasing interesting and been widely used in practice. Correctly identifying author sentiment in a stream of text presents a number of challenges including accurate language parsing, differing perspectives between author and reader, and the general difficulty in accurately classifying natural language semantics. This paper documents the development and initial results of a unique multi-dimensional sentiment analysis agent for online learning environment, in order to provide overall student feedback on a number of different levels as well as identify potential problems during the delivery of the course. This sentiment analysis agent monitors student interaction in the messaging, discussion and collaboration tools found in the Moodle learning environment, and classifies textual data into one of six dimensions: positive, negative, neutral, insightful, angry, and joke. Ultimately we see this work being especially useful to larger digital learning environments -- especially massive open online courses (MOOCs) -- where instructors and administrators are unable to read every individual forum or discussion item, but require a way to identify significant changes in tone and sentiment in order to quickly address potential students or user issues.

The Role of Co-regulation in Synchronous Online Learning Environment

Synchronous online learning environment is becoming increasingly popular because of its ability to promote emergent interactions through real-time feedback. This study examined the role of co-regulation in synchronous online learning environment to capture the dynamics of social interaction in learning. A study was conducted to examine the relationships between co-regulation strategies and group performance. Results indicated that the use of orientation, executing, and planning strategies were positively related to group performance, but only the orientation strategy predicted group performance. The high performance groups adopted more orientation and executing strategies than low performance groups. Implications for teachers, students, and educational technologists are discussed.

The Impact of Different Roles on Motivation, Group Cohesion, and Learning Performance in Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL)

In this paper, the impacts of functional roles on motivation, group cohesion, and learning performance in a CSCL context were investigated. Four fundamental roles were selected: information searcher, explainer, coordinator, and summarizer. A comparison of 123 questionnaires distributed over 31 groups for two conditions, groups with assigned roles (n = 16, N = 64) and groups without assigned roles (n = 15, N = 59) revealed that there were no significant differences in social cohesion and learning performance. However, there were significant differences in motivation and task cohesion between the two groups. The analysis of the groups with assigned roles revealed there were also no significant differences in motivation, group cohesion, and individual learning performance.

Research into the status quo of learning strategies of college students and blended learning strategy

Learning Strategies are the essential symbol of students “knowing how to learn”. In order to understand the status quo of learning strategies of college students and effectively implement blended learning, the research adopts the LASSI to carry out the investigation into the learning strategy level of college students from regular institutions of higher education.The results indicate that (1) the overall level of the implementation of learning strategies by college students is not so optimistic, as their consciousness of using learning strategies is weak and they are generally lack of learning strategies; (2) for those subject college students, their attitudes and motivations are mainly affected by learning strategies such as time management, information processing, selecting main ideas, self testing, study aids and test strategies via the intervening variables like anxiety and concentration. In the end, specific measures of implementing blended learning are put forward based on the research results.

Synchronous discussion between assessors and assessees in web-based peer assessment: impact on writing performance, feedback quality, meta-cognitive awareness and self-efficacy

Abstract Research on peer assessment in higher education has been conducted for decades. However, ways to improve the quality of peer feedback and optimise student’ benefits through peer assessment remain a puzzle. The present study aimed to examine the impacts of synchronous discussion between assessors and assessees on writing performance, qualitative feedback quality, meta-cognitive awareness and self-efficacy in web-based peer assessment. A total of 64 undergraduate students participated in the study and were randomly assigned into either the experimental or control group. Participants in the experimental group conducted synchronous discussion after the first round of peer assessment, while students in the control group did not conduct any synchronous discussion. The results revealed that synchronous discussion between the assessors and assessees significantly improved the students’ writing performance, especially content writing skills, affective and meta-cognitive feedback quality, meta-cognitive awareness and self-efficacy. Practical implications, limitations and future directions are discussed based on these findings.

Reflection on Design-Based Research: Challenges and Future Direction

Recently, design-based research method has gained more and more attention in the field of education. Although design-based research can bridge theoretical research and educational practice, many problems exist and need to be refined. In this chapter, the problems and the status of design-based research were analyzed deeply. The trends and the future direction of design-based research were discussed in detail.

A Framework to Promote ICT in K-12 Education in Developing Countries: A Case Study in Sudan

Information and communication technology (ICT) plays an important role in improving education, specifically K-12 education in developing countries. Promoting ICT in education in Sudan as a developing country is one of the components of the national education policy. Sudan has launched many initiatives, aimed at implementing ICT in the education system. However, some factors hinder the development of ICT, including ICT policy, infrastructure, educational resources and teacher development, as well as curriculum and assessment. As a result, this study builds upon the global status of ICT to explore how ICT can be promoted in education, and how the experiences of other countries can support this study in formulating a framework to promote ICT in K-12 education in Sudan.

The Impact of Cross-Age Peer Tutors on Knowledge Elaboration, Knowledge Convergence, and Group Performance in Computer Supported Collaborative Learning

In this study, the impact of cross-age peer tutors on knowledge elaboration, knowledge convergence, and learning performance in CSCL are investigated. 128 college students who were randomly divided into 32 groups participated in this study. The postgraduate students were selected as the cross-age peer tutors and randomly assigned to each group. The innovative analysis method based on the knowledge map was adopted to analyze and calculate the level of knowledge elaboration and knowledge convergence. The results indicated that there were significant differences in terms of knowledge elaboration and knowledge convergence between the groups with peer tutors and the groups without peer tutors. However, there was no significant difference in group performance between the groups with peer tutors and the groups without peer tutors. The implications for educators and future directions are discussed in detail.