M. Shane Tutwiler

Ecosystem Science Learning via Multi-User Virtual Environments

Copyright

Exploring the relationship between virtual learning environment preference, use, and learning outcomes in 10th grade earth science students

This study investigated the relationship between the use of a three-dimensional Virtual Reality Learning Environment for Field Trip (3DVLE(ft)) system and the achievement levels of senior high school earth science students. The 3DVLE(ft) system was presented in two separate formats: Teacher Demonstrated Based and Student Co-navigated Based. The results from the pre- and post-intervention assessments, along with the demographic and affective data, were used to fit a series of multiple regression models to explore the relationship between achievement, attitude, and learning environment preference. Pre-intervention test score, virtual learning environment preference and use, the degree to which students found the system helpful, and gender were all significantly related to post-intervention test score variability, as was the interaction between gender and prior use of virtual environments.

A scientometric analysis of the effectiveness of Taiwan's educational research projects

The seeking of evidence for revealing the research performance of Education in Taiwan, in response to the stimulus by the national research projects, is presented and interpreted. More than 70,000 publication records over the years 1990–2011 from Web of Science were downloaded and analyzed. The overview analysis by data aggregation and country ranking shows that Taiwan has significantly improved its publication productivity and citation impact over the last decade. The drill-down analysis based on journal bibliographic coupling, information visualization, and diversity and trend indexes, reveals that e-Learning and Science Education are two fast growing subfields that attract global interests and that Taiwan is among the top-ranked countries in these two fields in terms of research productivity. Implications of the analysis are discussed with an emphasis on the subfield characteristics from which more insightful interpretations can be obtained, such as the regional or cultural characteristics that may affect the performance ranking.