Education and Information Technologies最新文献

In recent years, the incorporation of technology into education has transformed teaching methods and learning settings, especially within the domain of special education. The emergence of Special Education (SPED) Smart Schools represents a significant advancement in offering customized assistance and materials to accommodate the varying learning requirements of students. This quantitative study delves into the intricacies of professional happiness among SPED teachers within the context of Smart Schools. Employing a questionnaire survey, data was collected from 600 SPED teachers and analyzed using SPSS software. The result demonstrates that higher levels of technology integration in SPED classrooms within smart schools positively correlate with increased professional happiness among SPED teachers. The findings indicate that increased administrative support in smart SPED schools is found to be positively associated with higher levels of professional happiness among SPED teachers. The findings reveal that adequate access to relevant and ongoing professional development opportunities positively correlates with increased professional happiness among SPED teachers in smart schools. The uniqueness of this research stems from its examination of the particular environment within SPED Smart Schools and its impact on the professional happiness of SPED teachers. Furthermore, the findings reveal that higher levels of Transformational Leadership (TL) behaviors within the administration positively impact the professional happiness of SPED teachers. The findings highlight the crucial role of social and environmental elements in enhancing career satisfaction and professional happiness among special education teachers in smart schools.

Existing studies have measured the effect of video-based feedback on student performance or satisfaction. Other issues are underacknowledged or merit further investigation. These include sociocultural aspects which may shape the design and implementation of video-based feedback, the ways students use technology to engage in feedback, and the processes through technology may transform learning. This study investigates the design and implementation of a video-annotated peer feedback activity to develop students’ presentation skills and knowledge of climate science. It explores how their use of a video annotation tool re-mediated established feedback practices and how the systematic analysis of contradictions in emerging practices informed the subsequent redesign and reimplementation of the approach. Employing a formative intervention design, the researchers intervened in the activity system of a first-year undergraduate education module to facilitate two cycles of expansive learning with an instructor and two groups of Hong Kong Chinese students (n = 97, n = 94) across two semesters. Instructor interviews, student surveys, and video annotation and system data were analysed using Activity Theory-derived criteria to highlight contradictions in each system and suggest how these could be overcome. The findings highlight the critical importance of active instructor facilitation; building student motivation by embedding social-affective support and positioning peer feedback as an integrated, formative process; and supporting students’ use of appropriate cognitive scaffolding to encourage their interactive, efficient use of the annotation tool. Conclusions: In a field dominated by experimental and quasi-experimental studies, this study reveals how an Activity Theory-derived research design and framework can be used to systemically analyse cycles of design and implementation of video-annotated peer feedback. It also suggests how the new activity system might be consolidated and generalised.

There is a widespread agenda of improving teaching and learning in higher education by engaging students with educational technology. Based on a large-scale literature review, the article presents 61 specific, research-based recommendations for realising the engagement potential of eight types of educational technologies in higher education. These recommendations can be used, for example, by educators to incorporate specific, available educational technologies into their teaching or as an educational development method to enhance particular forms of student engagement. Based on the evidence, the article points out that some educational technologies have a more documented and sometimes also broader potential to engage the students behaviourally, affectively, and/or cognitively than others and that this likely is related to the extent the technology supports structure, active learning, communication, interaction, and activities on the higher levels on the learning taxonomies.

Virtual reality (VR) has become a promising tool for enhancing social skills in special education, K-12 education, and post-secondary education. However, there is a lack of comprehensive meta-analyses examining the effectiveness of VR social skills training and the factors that moderate its efficacy. In this study, a meta-analysis approach was used to quantitatively analysis 31 experimental or quasi-experimental studies, systematically examining the effectiveness of VR social skills training. The results indicate that VR training is an effective method for improving social skills, with a statistically significant overall effect size (ES = 0.667). However, the effectiveness of VR training varies depending on the complexity of the social skills being targeted. While VR training significantly enhances trainees’ complex social skills (ES = 0.984), it does not have a significant effect on basic social skills (ES = 0.133). Furthermore, the intervention duration and interaction methods were found to be important factors influencing the efficacy of social skills training. These findings suggest that VR social skills training can be an effective approach, particularly for complex social skills, and that intervention duration and interaction method should be carefully considered when designing VR training programs. The paper concludes with a discussion of the results and provides directions for future research.

In recent decades, under the influence of technological advancements, evolving student demographics, and shifting societal demands, the landscape of higher education has undergone significant transformations. Among numerous learning approaches, Flipped Learning (FL) has gained particular prominence due to its ability to enhance students’ performance through active engagement and self-directed learning. Another teaching and learning linked to indicators of students’ academic achievements is Peer-Assisted Learning (PAL). However, previous research on PAL remains scarce. To fill this gap in the literature, the effects of the integration of Peer Counseling (PC) activity into PAL on both academic and personal development within the flipped classroom setting over time were investigated in the present study. The study participants were counseling students (n = 91), including 60 students in the PAL-integrated flipped classroom and 31 in traditional classroom used as the control group. The results revealed that, over a 14-week period, PAL-integrated flipped classroom led to improvement in students’ Solution-Focused Thinking (SFT) skills, self-efficacy, and effective counselor characteristics, with medium to large effect sizes. The results also indicated the positive effect of PC on students’ counseling performance and achievement scores. These findings offer important implications for creating a collaborative learning environment. The paper concludes with a discussion of challenges typically associated with the implementation of flipped classroom in higher education.

The success of online learning relies on college students’ self-regulated learning. The common visualizations (e.g., presentation learning behaviors’ frequency and duration) are widely used to enhance online self-regulated learning. But most college students still have difficulty in accurately understanding their learning patterns and self-regulating. Online self-regulated learning follows a phased and cyclical process, and compared with the common visualizations, the learning paths can better show these characteristics. However, learning paths visualizations are seldom provided to students for supporting online self-regulated learning. This study aimed to explore the impact of visualizations with learning paths on students’ online self-regulated learning. Sixty-eight college students were randomly divided into two groups (experimental group = 34, control group = 34), and the experiment lasted 12 weeks. The study measured the results including students’ learning performance (academic achievements and online self-regulated learning abilities), behavior patterns and satisfaction. The results indicated the positive effects of visualizations with learning paths on students’ academic achievements and partial online self-regulated learning abilities (task strategies, time management, and self-evaluation). In addition, visualizations with learning paths optimized students’ online self-regulated learning process, making their learning patterns more regular and efficient. Besides, college students expressed high satisfaction with the visual learning paths. The findings suggest a new direction for optimizing visualizations and have implications for promoting the quality of online learning.

Despite the potential for personalized learning, e-learning courses often suffer from low completion rates. In order to address this issue, we propose and empirically test a theoretical mechanism that examines how gamification can enhance the completion rate in adaptive learning courses by promoting a more positive behavioral response and attitude among students. To identify causal effects, we employ a quasi-experimental design with a time-discontinuity in treatment attribution. Our study involves a sample of 6592 adults who participated in a Belgian financial education platform. The effect sizes were estimated using non-parametric survival analysis. Our findings indicate that gamification led to a 5.7% increase in the number of questions answered and a 1.6 percentage point rise in the completion rate. These effects were particularly pronounced among younger individuals, single adults, and in relation to socioeconomic status questions used in the personalization survey. However, gamification did not significantly impact the completion rate for decision-making questions. By demonstrating that gamification serves as a causal mechanism for enhancing completion rates in adaptive learning courses, our study contributes to the underlying e-learning theory. Specifically, we highlight the role of psychological factors, such as improved behavior and attitude, which are particularly relevant during personalization surveys.

Researchers have increasingly engaged in academic communities on social networking sites (SNSs). This study seeks to examine the impact of academic community engagement on Facebook (ACEF) on researchers’ creative behaviour and work performance, with the mediating mechanisms of relationship quality and knowledge sharing. Data were obtained from 213 researchers in an emerging country, i.e., Vietnam. Results of structural equation modelling demonstrate that ACEF indirectly influences researchers’ creative behaviour and work performance in dualistic approaches. In particular, the relationships between ACEF and work performance and between ACEF and creative behaviour are positively mediated by relationship quality. Furthermore, knowledge sharing positively mediates the ACEF-creative behaviour and relationship quality-creative behaviour links. This study is among the first to develop and validate a unique model explaining the mechanism through which ACEF impacts researchers’ work and behavioural outcomes. The findings have important implications for researchers and educational institutions in promoting academic community engagement on SNSs, which can enhance knowledge sharing, creative behaviour and work performance.

This study aims to determine the misconceptions of teacher candidates about the greenhouse effect concept by using Artificial Intelligence (AI) algorithm instead of human experts. The Knowledge Discovery from Data (KDD) process model was preferred in the study where the Analyse, Design, Develop, Implement, Evaluate (ADDIE) instructional design cycle was used. The dataset obtained from 402 teacher candidates was analysed by Natural Language Processing (NLP) methods. Data was classified using Machine Learning (ML), one of the AI tools, and supervised learning algorithms. It was concluded that 175 teacher candidates did not have sufficient knowledge about the concept of greenhouse effect. It was found that the AI algorithm with the highest accuracy rate and used to predict teacher candidates’ misconceptions was Multilayer Perceptron (MLP). Furthermore, through the Enhanced Ensemble Model Architecture developed by researchers, the combination of ML algorithms has achieved the highest accuracy rate. The kappa (κ) value was examined in determining the significant difference between the AI algorithm and the human expert evaluation, and it was found that there was a significant difference, and the strength of agreement was significant according to the research findings. The findings of the current study represent a significant alternative to the prevailing pedagogical approach, which has increasingly come to rely on information technologies in the process of improving conceptual understanding through the detection of conceptual misconceptions. In addition, recommendations were made for future studies.

This paper investigated teachers’ perceptions towards the integration of Artificial Intelligence educational tools (AIED) into their educational practices.Indeed, AI rapidly advances across various fields, including education, and it is essential to understand teachers’ perceptions to effectively harness its potential.The study used a quantitative methodology, employing a questionnaire to collect perspectives from 1101 Saudi teachers across different levels and backgrounds. The research attempted to address two research questions focused on (1) The potential of AI as a tool to enhance teaching practice, and (2) the Difficulties encountered by teachers when utilizing AIED tools. The findings showed many teachers acknowledge AIED’s potential to save time, assist in designing enriching activities, and personalize learning experiences, however, concerns exist regarding the effort required for training, potential job displacement, a lack of creativity and critical thinking, unintended consequences, and trust in AI’s error- free performance. Although teachers have explicit optimism about AIED’s benefits, a cautious stance emerges due to concerns about its impact on educational quality, human touch, and potential risks. These results emphasize the need for targeted professional development, collaborative efforts between educators and policymakers, and ethical considerations to ensure responsible and effective integration of AIED. Understanding teachers’ perspectives is crucial for informed decision-making and fostering a balanced approach that optimizes AIED’s contributions while upholding the principles of effective and inclusive education in the rapidly evolving Saudi educational landscape.