British Journal of Educational Technology最新文献

Deep neural networks are increasingly employed to model classroom dialogue and provide teachers with prompt and valuable feedback on their teaching practices. However, these deep learning models often have intricate structures with numerous unknown parameters, functioning as black boxes. The lack of clear explanations regarding their classroom dialogue analysis likely leads teachers to distrust and underutilize these AI-powered models. To tackle this issue, we leveraged explainable AI to unravel classroom dialogue analysis and conducted an experiment to evaluate the effects of explanations. Fifty-nine pre-service teachers were recruited and randomly assigned to either a treatment (n = 30) or control (n = 29) group. Initially, both groups learned to analyse classroom dialogue using AI-powered models without explanations. Subsequently, the treatment group received both AI analysis and explanations, while the control group continued to receive only AI predictions. The results demonstrated that teachers in the treatment group exhibited significantly higher levels of trust in and technology acceptance of AI-powered models for classroom dialogue analysis compared to those in the control group. Notably, there were no significant differences in cognitive load between the two groups. Furthermore, teachers in the treatment group expressed high satisfaction with the explanations. During interviews, they also elucidated how the explanations changed their perceptions of model features and attitudes towards the models. This study is among the pioneering works to propose and validate the use of explainable AI to address interpretability challenges within deep learning-based models in the context of classroom dialogue analysis.

A 360-degree video offers a novel visual experience for education. This immersive experience not only amplifies students' engagement and curiosity but also assists them in delving into and comprehending intricate concepts from a multitude of viewpoints. Given its novelty, there is a relative shortage of studies on 360-degree video's overall effectiveness in education. This study conducted a meta-analysis of 49 peer-reviewed articles. Utilizing a random-effects model to compute effect sizes (ES), the results showed that 360-degree videos have a moderate impact on both learning (Hedges' g = 0.525) and non-cognitive outcomes (Hedges' g = 0.527), with notable heterogeneity observed across the studies. Furthermore, the studies were coded to examine the moderating effects of their characteristics, such as the level of education, the field of education, the display types, experimental design, the sample size and the control treatment. The findings suggest a medium effect of 360-degree videos on knowledge acquisition and a smaller effect on task performance. In terms of non-cognitive outcomes, the least impact was noted in the domain of social and emotional qualities, while the most significant impact was in attitudes and beliefs. Based on these findings, the study proposed future research directions focusing on enhancing teaching strategies and improving research designs concerning the use of 360-degree videos in educational contexts.

This study investigates a virtual reality (VR) cross-cultural interactive learning environment that combines a 360-degree video camera for content creation, a viewing tool, and a video conference platform for real-time interaction. This environment aims to address the limitations of traditional 360-degree VR tools, particularly in enabling simultaneous, interactive engagement among multiple users. The study recruited 31 university students from China and Indonesia utilizing convenience sampling to test the efficacy of the environment in fostering cognitive development and challenging cross-cultural stereotypes. The methodology included analysing student-created content, questionnaire responses, and insights from semistructured interviews. The analysis, grounded in a cognitive development taxonomy and an assessment of stereotype changes, revealed that the students reached the “remember” and “understand” cognitive levels. Additionally, prevalent stereotypes held by the students were addressed. The immersive nature of the VR environment and the interactions with foreign peers were highly appreciated, significantly contributing to cognitive growth and stereotype mitigation. These findings offer valuable insights for educators and researchers in technology-assisted cross-cultural education, emphasizing the importance of designing interactive VR-based activities that effectively facilitate cognitive development and address cross-cultural stereotypes.

In this study, we integrated corpus technology in pre-service TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) teachers' technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK) development in corpus technology, termed corpus-based language pedagogy (CBLP), and highlighted the collaborative effort for knowledge building among participants for TPACK development. The study examined the role of online collaboration in facilitating how pre-service TESOL teachers developed their CBLP (TPACK in corpus technology) using a learning-by-design approach, enacted it in co-designing lessons, revised their lessons and reflected on their collective knowledge building processes. Using a case study approach involving 33 participants, the study focused on both intra- and inter-group interactions to understand the pre-service teachers' learning dynamics/changes and unpack the interaction mechanism involved in online collaborative learning. To these ends, we collected data including CBLP group lesson designs, intra-group data (interviews) and inter-group peer critical comments and analysed them based on the two stages (comprehension and transformation) of Shulman's pedagogical reasoning. The results suggest that engaging in online collaboration, facilitated by the learning-by-design approach, is instrumental in enabling pre-service teachers to learn corpus technology and expand their repertoire of teaching strategies. Our findings imply that both intra- and inter-group collaboration modes are important to help pre-service TESOL teachers holistically develop TPACK for language teaching. Similar implications may be applied to other subject-specific TPACK training.

Digital technologies are increasingly used in assessment. On the one hand, this use offers opportunities for teachers to practice assessment more effectively, and on the other hand, it brings challenges to the design of pedagogically sound and responsible digital assessment. There is a lack of validated instruments and models that explain, assess and support teachers' critical pedagogical practice of digital assessment. This explorative work first develops and validates a survey instrument to examine teachers' digital assessment practices. Secondly, we build a model to investigate to what extent teachers' pedagogical digital assessment knowledge is a foundation for the future of digital assessment (ie, authentic, accessible, automated, continuous and responsible). A total of 219 university teachers at a large European university participated in the survey study. Factor exploratory analysis and structural equation modelling were used to validate the reliability and validity of items and internal causal relations of factors. The results show the survey is a valid and reliable instrument for assessing teachers' digital assessment practice in higher education. Teachers' pedagogical knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge of digital assessment is critical, while teachers' technological pedagogical knowledge seems to have a more limited impact on the future of digital assessment.