Vol. 17, No. 4, December 2001

e-ducation: research and practice

U. Nulden, Viktoria Institute and Department of Informatics, Goteborg University,

Email: nulden@viktoria.informatik.gu.se

This paper proposes an integrated approach for information technology in an educational context. The paper suggests a framework for the design of computer assisted learning activities — e-ducation. The framework captures three contemporary interrelated aspects of teaching and learning and is more pedagogical than it is analytical. The three aspects covered in the e-ducation framework are electronic, engaged and empowered. An implementation of the framework is used to illustrate how e-ducation can be applied in educational research and practice. The paper concludes that the e-ducation framework contributes to both educational research and educational practice.

Keywords: Assessment; Change; Collaboration; Constructivist; Experiential; Problem solving; Research paradigm; Undergraduate

Journal of Computer Assisted Learning (2001) 17, 4, 363-375 Accepted: 20 January 2001

Awareness of toddlers’ initial cognitive experiences with virtual reality

D. Passig, P. Klein & T. Noyman

School of Education, Bar-Ilan University, Israel

E-mail: passig@mail.biu.ac.il

In this study Virtual Reality technology was used to simulate a toddler’s first few days’ experiences in daycare and improve the caregiver’s understanding of their state of mind. The virtual worlds were developed in accordance with toddlers’ way of thinking and from their cognitive and visual viewpoint. The aim of the research was to investigate whether the caregiver’s awareness to the cognitive experiences that toddlers undergo in their first days in kindergarten improves through a VR simulation of toddlers’ worlds. Six cognitive elements of toddlers were simulated: object constancy; trial and error; perspective of height; perspective of things; egocentricity and imagination. The participants in this study were 40 (female) caregivers who work with infants aged 6 months to 4 years in private daycare. The findings indicate that experiencing a virtual world that reflects the real world of children improves the caregiver’s awareness to the cognitive experiences that toddlers undergo in their first days in a kindergarten or daycare.

Keywords: Constructivist; Daycarers; Interview; Kindergarten; Pre-school; Questionnaire; Virtual reality

Journal of Computer Assisted Learning (2001) 17, 4, 332-344 Accepted: 7 January 2001

Student perceptions of a virtual field trip to replace a real field trip

J.I. Spicer & J. Stratford, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Plymouth/Learning Media Unit, University of Sheffield

Email: jispicer@plymouth.ac.uk

This study examines student perceptions on the use of virtual field trips (VFT) as part of their university experience and in particular the extent to which they could replace real field trips. While students were extremely positive about the potential of VFT to provide valuable learning experiences (and in particular a VFT constructed by the authors of this paper) nearly all of the students were insistent that it could not, and should not, replace real field trips. Furthermore when the same students were re-approached after having been on a real field trip, these perceptions were strengthened and they thought VFT could be most effective in preparing for, or revising after, a real field trip.

Keywords: Biology; Field studies; Hypermedia; Questionnaire; Undergraduate; Virtual reality; Zoology

Journal of Computer Assisted Learning (2001) 17, 4, 345-354 Accepted: 10 January 2001

The use of hypertext in the writing of group papers

H. van den Bosch & J. Bolluyt, Nijmegen School of Management, University of Nijmegen & Deloitte & Touche Amsterdam.

Email: H.vandenBosch@bw.kun.nl

The Virtual Constructing Tool (VCT) was developed at the Nijmegen School of Management in 1998. The VCT is intended to facilitate the process of writing group papers through the use of construction and communication tools and is based completely on the Internet. The VCT allows a paper to be structured by means of hyperlinking and cooperation between students. Students are allowed to divide tasks, but they are held responsible for the quality of the arguments in the paper as a whole. They are invited to spend time in dealing with validity claims and in building a valid train of thought. Producing a group paper includes four interrelated working processes: exploring the subject, exchanging information, arguing and discussing and editing. Hyperlinking offers a contribution in each of these processes which varies from associative linking of pieces of information to strengthening linear structuring. Therefore, a different perspective has been taken to that of those authors who consider hyperlinking as a tool par excellence for the nonlinear production of information.

Keywords: Collaboration; Hypertext; Internet; Groupware; Questiuonnaire; Undergraduate; Writing

Journal of Computer Assisted Learning (2001) 17, 4, 355-362 Accepted: 19 February 2001

Web-based peer assessment: feedback for various thinking style students

S.S.J. Lin, E.Z-F. Liu, S-M. Yuan, National Chiao Tung University, Taiwan

Email: sunnylin@cc.nctu.edu.tw

This study used aptitude treatment interaction design to examine how feedback formats (specific vs. holistic) and executive thinking styles (high vs. low) affect web-based peer assessment. An Internet-based (anonymous) peer-assessment system was developed and used by 58 computer science students who submitted assignments for peer review. The results indicated that while students with high executive thinking styles significantly improved over two rounds of peer assessment, low executive students did not improve through the cycles. In addition, high executive students contributed substantially better feedback than their low executive counterparts. In the second round of peer assessment, thinking style and feedback format interactively affected student learning. Low executive students receiving specific feedback significantly outperformed those receiving holistic feedback. In receiving holistic feedback, high executive thinkers outperformed their low executive counterparts. This study suggests that future web-based peer assessment adopts a specific feedback format for all students.

Keywords: Aptitude; Computer science; Discourse analysis; Feedback; Peer assessment; Undergraduate; World-wide web

Journal of Computer Assisted Learning (2001) 17, 4, 420-432 Accepted: 20 January 2001

Effects of presentation formats and prior knowledge on learning a computer-based lesson

L-J. ChanLin, Fu-Jen Catholic University, Taiwan

Email: lins1005@mails.fju.edu.tw

This study investigated the effects of presentation format (animation, still graphics, text) and the students’ prior knowledge on learning a computer-based physics lesson. A total of 357 eighth-grade (novice learners) and ninth-grade students (experienced learners) were randomly assigned to different treatments on a class basis. A 3 x 2 ancova (Animation/Still graphics/Text x Novice/Experienced) (control-led by covariants, physics and mathematics scores) was used to determine the effect of these two variables. The significant interaction effect found between presentation format and prior knowledge in both descriptive and procedural learning (p < 0.05 and p < 0.005, respectively) reveals that the use of specific presentation format (animation or still graphics) is not equally effective for the different prior knowledge groups. Among novices, the use of still graphics was better than text (p < 0.05) in descriptive learning, and better than text and animation in procedural learning (p < 0.05). While among experienced students, no significant differences were found among treatments (p > 0.05).

Keywords: Animation; Interface; Physics; Problem solving; Process; Quantitative; Secondary; Visualisation

Journal of Computer Assisted Learning (2001) 17, 4, 409-419 Accepted: 18 January 2001

Telling stories over the net: improving the CMC learning environment by using narratives in conferences

G. Ritchie & S. Peters, Waikato University, Hamilton, New Zealand

Email: gritchie@waikato.ac.nz

This paper reports on the use of short stories in Internet discussions to promote student learning. It describes off-campus teacher education students CMC discussions of short stories concerning issues in human development. The content of students’ discussions is analysed, as is their perceptions of the value of the discussion stories. The results indicate that the use of narratives can improve the social environment of online conferences and contribute to collaborative student learning.

Keywords: Collaboration; Conferencing; Constructivism; Discourse analysis; Distance; Internet; Narrative; Social environment; Teachers

Journal of Computer Assisted Learning (2001) 17, 4, 376-385 Accepted: 8 March 2001

Programmers: concrete women and abstract men?

P. McKenna, Manchester Metropolitan University

Email: p.mckenna@doc.mmu.ac.uk

Sherry Turkle and Seymour Papert have identified a hands-on and experimental ‘concrete’ approach to computer programming as feminine, and as a fully formed way of knowing how to program, rather than as either a learning style or as a stage in development. This paper differentiates between concrete styles of learning how to program, and the concrete style of programming. Learning strategy is decoupled from programming style, and the hypothesis that women are more likely than men to prefer a concrete style of programming is tested by means of examining responses to practical examples of concrete and abstract styles. The responses suggest that there is no significant difference between women and men in their attitude toward a concrete style of programming.

Keywords: Abstract; Concrete; Gender; Learning styles; Programming; Questionnaire; Undergraduate.

Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 17, 4, 386-395 Accepted: 19 March 2001

Students’ perceptions of ICT-related pedagogic support in teaching placements

D. Galanouli & V. McNair, University of Ulster/Queen's University, Belfast

E-mail: d.galanouli@qub.ac.uk

Recent research has shown that students’ use of information and communications technology (ICT) on teaching practice is necessary for effective future use of ICT in the classroom. However, this paper reports that there are a number of factors affecting the use of ICT by student-teachers in their school placements. All 110 student-teachers attending one university’s eight Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) courses completed a questionnaire on their attitudes to ICT in learning and teaching and their initial experiences of the application of ICT in schools. In-depth interviews with the student-teachers, as well as univer-sity tutors and teachers, revealed a range of issues that reflected how student-teachers perceive their school-based ICT training and what they think could improve their experiences. Recommendations are offered for the improvement of the ICT school experiences for student-teachers until teacher training is completed and improved ICT infrastructure is in place in schools. The overriding conclusion is that schools must be supported and resourced properly, and teachers must have effective ICT training, before improvements in school-based ICT development for student-teachers can be achieved.

Keywords: Attitude; Case study; Computers; Illuminative; IT-use; Post-graduate; Questionnaire; School; Teachers

Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 17, 4, 396-408 Accepted: 23 March 2001

Computer access and student achievement in the early school years

R.D. Owston & H. H. Wideman, Centre for the Study of Computers in Education, York University

Email rowston@yorku.ca

This study examines the assumption that optimal learning occurs in classrooms where every child has access to their own computer. Grades 1 to 4 classrooms in seven schools of an urban school district were given laptop computers in three different student-to-computer ratios (1 : 1, 2 : 1, 4 : 1). Throughout the school year three samples of student writing were taken at equal intervals and classrooms were regularly observed. Writing samples were also collected from control classrooms in the same schools that did not have access to computers. A mancova analysis of holistic ratings of writing samples revealed that by the end of the school year students in the 2 : 1 ratio classrooms improved significantly more than their counterparts in the other groups; the control group students demonstrated the least improvement, while the 1 : 1 and 4 : 1 groups showed intermediate levels of improvement. The study concludes by questioning the long-range efforts at equipping schools with one computer for every student.

Keywords: Access; Case study; Collaboration; Control group; Laptop computer; Literacy; Observation; Primary; Student-centred; Writing

Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 17, 4, 433-444

Accepted: 23 March 2001