Vol. 18, No. 3, September 2002

Editorial: E-learning together

For many years, the value of learning in groups has been widely recognised. The introduction of computers into schools and colleges further stimulated this trend but often for reasons of limited resources rather than to meet planned pedagogical goals.

. . . while pupils frequently work with computers in groups, the purpose is usually to maximise access to a limited number of terminals. Hence, the potential of groupwork is rarely exploited and collaborative learning in such groups happens more by chance than design. (Eraut & Hoyles, 1989)

As a result of earlier work, a well balanced note of warning was sounded:

Nobody should suppose on the basis of (existing) studies that truly collaborative work is going to provide a panacea for education. . . . However, it seems likely that a better understanding of the mechanisms at work in such interactions may make it possible to improve significantly upon this aspect of educational practice and the potential benefits are considerable. (Light & Glachan, 1985)

However, in this issue of JCAL, Chiu reports on a detailed study which failed to demonstrate the value of learning in teams when compared to individual learning. It still seems that there is much to be learnt about working in groups even when the members are in face-to-face contact.

These studies of the 1970s and 80’s were based on standalone terminals or computers as the technology for communication at a distance was not sufficiently established or reliable. For this reason, distance learning organisations were unable to make early use of the new technologies. The extent to which the situation has changed is well illustrated by the review of European open and distance learning projects by Hodgson in this issue of JCAL. The community dimension of sharing and creating knowledge is a major incentive in such work.

This relatively new opportunity for group learning has now taken on increased importance and opens up a wide range of research issues which include:

• peer assessment requiring careful consideration as the competitive element present in current assessment is questioned (Lin et al., 2001);

• assessment of both group products and the contribution of individuals leads to the need to analyse group interaction, now visible through email and conference exchanges (Chen et al., 2001);

• the nature and value of feedback given to a group (Buchanan, 2000) and incomplete feedback as a stimulus to learners’ involvement (Crook, 2002)

References

Buchanan, T. (2000) The efficacy of a World-wide Web mediated formative assessment. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 16, 3, 193–200.

Chen, G.D., Ou, K.L., Liu, C.C. & Liu, B.J. (2001) Intervention and strategy ananlysis for web group-learning. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 17, 1, 58–71.

Crook, C. (2002) Deferring to resources: collaborations around traditional vs. computer-based notes. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 18, 1, 64–76.

Eraut, M. & Hoyles, C. (1989) Groupwork with computers. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 5, 1, 12–24.

Light, P. & Glachan, M. (1985) Facilitation of Individual Problem Solving through Peer Interaction. Educational Psychology, 5, 3&4, 217–225.

Lin, S.S.J., Liu, E.Z.F. & Yuan, S.M. (2001) Web-based peer assessment: feedback for students with various thinking styles. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 17, 4, 420–432.

The European Union and e-learning: an examination of rhetoric, theory and practice

V. Hodgson, Management Learning, Lancaster University

Email: V.Hodgson@lancaster.ac.uk

The paper examines the impact that new technology has had upon the rhetoric, theory and practice of trans-national educational collaboration within Europe. The paper first looks very generally at the way e-learning has become a strong part of the educational rhetoric of the EU. Some of the different models found in the literature for describing online courses and teaching and learning approaches used within distance education are then described. These models, however, for the most part apply to courses that are offered by single generally specialist distance education providers. In contrast, the ODL/Minerva projects supported by the European Commission’s Socrates programme are relatively unusual in that they have as a starting point a consortium of trans-national partners engaged in a common educational venture. Consequently, the second part of the looks at some of the models generated within the ODL action. This is followed by descriptions of the work of three ODL projects, each of which differ in orientation and approach. It is argued that the dimensions on which the three projects most significantly differ are not so much according to the models already described in the first part of the paper but is more related to their assumptions about how comparative knowledge is viewed and the kind of discourse from which knowledge and learning is generated and the dialogical practices used to support this.

Keywords: Collaboration; Distance; E-learning; Learning design models; Higher education; Internet; World-wide web

Invited Regional Report

Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 18, 3, 240-252

Evaluating the persona effect of an interface agent in a tutoring system

M. Moundridou & M. Virvou Department of Informatics, University of Piraeus

Email: mariam@unipi.gr

This paper describes the evaluation of the persona effect of a speech-driven anthropomorphic agent that has been embodied in the interface of an intelligent tutoring system (ITS). This agent is responsible for guiding the student in the environment and communicating the system’s feedback messages. The agent was evaluated in terms of the effect that it could have on students’ learning, behaviour and experience. The participants in the experiment were divided into two groups: half of them worked with a version of the ITS which embodied the agent and the rest worked with an agent-less version. The results from this study confirm the hypothesis that a pedagogical agent incorporated in an ITS can enhance students’ learning experience. On the other hand, the hypothesis that the presence of the agent improves short-term learning effects was rejected.

Keywords: Agents; Algebra; Distance; Empirical; Intelligent tutoring; Interface; Problem solving; Undergraduate; World-wide web

Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 18, 3, 253-261

Accepted: 8 November 2001

A student-generated web-based oral history project

S-C. Yang, Graduate Institute of Education, National Sun Yat-sen University, Taiwan

Email: shyang@mail.nsysu.edu.tw

The study examines the affective attitudes and cognitive perceptions toward computer-mediated oral history of students between 11 and 16 years old. The project was established as an independent study project, whereby students collaborated to compile historical information through pre-planned interviews with elders, and then built websites related to an historical topic. The study contributes to an understanding of oral history as a vehicle for authentic historical inquiry and provides a basis for empirical studies of Taiwanese K5-11 students performing real history tasks with web-based technology. The insights gained in this small study should help teachers design better oral history projects as relates to management, assessment and curriculum design.

Keywords: Attitude; Collaboration; Experiential; Guided-discovery; Interview; Mediated; Oral history; Secondary; World-wide web

Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 18, 3, 272-281

Accepted: 24 February 2002

The effects of collaborative teamwork on secondary science

C-H. Chiu, National Tainan Teachers College, Taiwan

Email: cchui@ipx.ntntc.edu.tw

This study investigates whether a collaborative team setting benefits secondary science learning in a network supported environment. Ninety-four 10th grade girl students, in two Earth Science classes in Taiwan, were assigned to two settings: collaborative teams and individuals. The students' scientific process skill development, attitude toward school science and attitude toward using and learning about computers were compared. It was found that both groups showed significant improvements in skills and attitudes. However, the students in the team situation did not demonstrate significantly better skills or attitudes than the students in the individual situation.

Keywords: Collaborative learning; Individual learning; Network technology; Science learning; Secondary education

Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 18, 3, 262-271

Accepted: 15 January 2002

Learning with ICT at primary level: pupils’ perceptions

T.A.Goodison, The National ICT Research Centre, University of Wolverhampton

Email: t.goodison@delta.wlv.ac.uk

This study investigated primary schoolchildren’s awareness of the linkage between ICT and the way they learn within the context of a school that has been particularly successful in integrating ICT into the curriculum. On the basis of the pupils’ own observations, it identifies examples of good practice and describes some of the challenges that still lie ahead.

Keywords: Attitude; Case study; Curriculum; Interview; IT-use; Primary; Qualitative

Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 18, 3, 282-295

Accepted: 5 March 2002

A comparison of temporal speech and text cueing in educational multimedia

B. Manni., P. Newhouseii, J. Pagramii, A. Campbellii & H. Schulzi.
Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada i and Edith Cowan University, Western Australia ii

Email: bmann@morgan.ucs.mun.ca

This research focused on the prediction that children in their school setting would learn more from educational multimedia when critical information was presented as spoken instead of textual cues. Analyses of a study (n = 42) showed that 12-year-olds did not learn any more from temporal speech cueing than from temporal text cueing. The findings suggest that multimedia learning for children is a different kind of learning experience than for adults or older adolescents. The results indicate underdeveloped executive control of the referential connections in the children's working memory between reading screen text while listening to spoken cues, and between watching on-screen animations play while listening to spoken cues. Further study is warranted. Implications may be derived for educational multimedia research in school settings.

Keywords: Audio; Cognitive load; Gist; Multimedia; Problem solving; Prompting; Quantitative; School; Temporal speech; Text cueing

Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 18, 3, 296-308

Accepted: 26 March 2002

Pioneering the electronic school by using focus groups for planning

L. Katz & A. Williams, University of Calgary, Canada

Email: katz@ucalgary.ca

Focus groups are a useful way to determine the needs and input of stakeholders involved in formulating a technology policy for an educational setting. Drawing upon the results of four focus groups and several individual interviews, (n=40), with administrators, students, teachers, parents, and teachers in training, this article assesses the ability for focus groups to highlight both the potential and limitations of technology in the classroom. Consideration is also given to the steps necessary for creating an "inclusive" technology planning process in the K-12 sector.

Schools are feeling a heightened sense of pressure to introduce technology into their curriculum at a national, regional, and local level. Current statistics indicate that this technological revolution has been extremely successful. For example, the Second Information Technology in Education Study (SITES), conducted by Statistics Canada in January and February of 1999, notes that more than 9 out of every 10 students at the elementary, intermediate, and secondary levels in Canada attend schools with access to the Internet. Moreover, according to the 1999 Report of the Pan Canadian Education Indicators Program, 76% of elementary school students, 80% of lower secondary students and 87% of higher secondary students, reported extracting information from websites for personal or educational use.

Keywords: Attitude; Focus groups; Interview; IT-use; Secondary; School; Qualitative; Policy-making.

Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 18, 3, 320-329

Accepted: 8 April 2002

Mentoring student-teachers in schools: views, practices and access to ICT

P. Cuckle, S. Clarke & I. Jenkins, School of Education, University of Leeds

Email: P.M.Cuckle@education.leeds.ac.uk

There is evidence from a number of publications that use of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) varies amongst serving and student teachers in different subject specialities. Teacher mentors are an obvious source of support during school experience; the relationship between student teacher’s use of ICT and that of their serving teacher mentors is not clear. This study was part of a series investigating ICT use during initial teacher training across different subject areas. Using questionnaires returned by 216 teacher mentors in partnership secondary schools, we investigated use of and attitudes to ICT amongst them and the preparations they made for student teachers to use ICT during their school experience. In general, teacher mentors were evidently competent and frequent ICT users and were often active in preparing student teachers for using ICT during their school experience. However, using a case study approach with 13 pairs of student teachers and their teacher mentors, it appeared that similar preparations made by teacher mentors did not always result in individual student teachers using ICT to the same extent as peers. We discuss possible reasons for differences amongst student teachers, such as confidence, organisational difficulties and competing demands on time.

Keywords: Attitude; Case study; IT-use; Questionnaire; School; Secondary; Student-teachers; Teacher-mentors

Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 18, 3, 330-340

Accepted: 10 April 2002

Learning preferences towards computerised competitive modes

F-Y. Yu, L-J. Chang*, Y-H. Liu** & T-W. Chan*,
National Cheng-Kung University, **National Chi-Nan University** & *National Central University, Taiwan

Email address: fuyun@mail.ncku.edu.tw

An online domain-independent competitive gaming system, called JOYCE, was devised to engage students in drill-and-practice exercises. In this paper, theories underpinning the system design are explained. As in the system students are allowed to compete with others in a face-to-face situation, and in network situations where an opponent’s identify is revealed or concealed, a preliminary study was conducted to examine students’ preferences towards different competition modes and satisfaction towards the learning experience. Results supported JOYCE’s incorporation into the learning process and the design and development of the system. Based on the obtained data it was suggested that to increase its intrinsic value and to lessen the negative emotional states which is more easily exhibited in a face-to-face competition situation anonymity is a promising feature to be included in a competitive learning system. Furthermore, various competition modes should be built into e-learning environments to satisfy peoples’ different learning mode preferences.

Keywords: Anonymity; Competition; Games; Networks; Questionairre; School; Secondary

Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 18, 3, 341-350

Accepted: 17 April 2002

Learning within incoherent structures: the space of online discussion forums

M.J.W. Thomas, School of Aviation, Massey University (now at the University of South Australia)

Email: matthew.thomas@unisa.edu.au

Online discussion forums are an increasingly common use of new information and communication technologies in education. As a tool for promoting conversational modes of learning, it has been suggested that online discussion forums can lead to enhanced learning outcomes for students. However, there is a need to explore further the implications of the highly mediated nature of computer–based interaction on student learning within these virtual learning environments. This paper presents results from a detailed study of students’ learning outcomes and patterns of interaction within an online discussion forum. The findings suggest that the typical nonlinear branching structure of online discussion may be insufficient for the realisation of truly conversational modes of learning. The paper discusses the implications of these findings in relation to students’ learning.

Keywords: Case study; Conferencing; Discourse analysis; Environmental studies; Online; Questionnaire; Student-centred; Undergraduate

Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 18, 3, 351-366

Accepted: 11 May 2002

Promoting creative thinking through the use of ICT

S. Wheeler* S.J. Waite† & C. Bromfield*
*Graduate School of Arts and Education and †Rolle School of Education, University of Plymouth

Email: swheeler@plymouth.ac.uk

A great deal has been written about the use of web-based technologies such as the Internet in promoting learning in education. In schools, research has focused primarily on social interaction and group work, student achievement levels and curriculum development. Very little study seems to have been brought to bear upon the promotion of creative thinking by the use of online technologies, and this paper attempts to contribute to this field of study. This paper reports on a pilot study which has investigated the creative impact of information and communication technology (ICT) in a rural primary school in South West England. The school is unique because it provides a personal networked computer for each of its 41 Year 6 students (aged 10–11 years). A small group of students were interviewed about the learning activities they engaged in over the year, and this paper reports on initial findings with a special emphasis on creative working and thinking (n = 6). A model of creativity is presented with three discrete but related modes of activity — problem solving, creative cognition, and social interaction. The paper provides new findings about the nature of creativity in the context of computer based learning environments.

Keywords: Creative thinking; Interview; IT-use; Primary; Problem solving; Social interaction; World-wide web.

Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 18, 3, 367-378

Accepted: 23 May 2002

A distributed learning model for Freshwater Ecology practical classes

B.K.K. Chan1, I.J. Hodgkiss1 & R.Y.P. Chan2
The University of Hong Kong1 and Hong Kong Institute of Education2

Email: chankk@hkucc.hku.hk

This paper describes a case study where a distributed learning model was used to enhance the traditional teaching of a freshwater ecology practical class by providing students with a student-centred constructivist environment. Prior to the practical session, a website was created and students were encouraged to think about the morphological adaptations of stream organisms. They were then divided into groups and taken to a real stream to collect specimens and bring them back to the laboratory for further examination and discussion. After the practical, each student group was required to produce a web page concerning the adaptations of the stream organisms, to answer a set of online tutorial questions, and to participate in web-based discussion. Feedback by questionnaire showed that the great majority of students enjoyed working with the website and found the content very useful. More than half of the students preferred this type of web-assisted, student-centred practical to conventional practicals, while about a third showed no special preference between the two approaches.

Keywords: Case study; Computer-mediated; Distributed; Ecology; Questionnaire; Student-centred; Undergraduate; World-wide web.

Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 18, 3, 309-319

Accepted: 22 May 2002