Toward Measuring and Maintaining the Zone of Proximal Development in Adaptive Instructional Systems

Murray, Tom; Arroyo, Ivon

doi:10.1007/3-540-47987-2_75

Cited by 72 publications

(39 citation statements)

References 1 publication

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“…ZPD, originally proposed by Vygotsky (9) , is the gap between what a learner has already mastered (actual level of development) and what he or she can achieve when provided with educational support (potential development) (10) . An operational definition, given by Murray et al (11) , is that ZPD is the zone of instructional interaction wherein the material given to the learner is neither too difficult nor too easy, so that the learner is neither too bored nor too confused. The concept of flow, introduced by Csikszentmihalyi (12) , postulates that motivation to do a task can be increased by matching the task difficulty to user performance, so that the user is neither overwhelmed nor bored.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The effect of different difficulty adaptation strategies on enjoyment and performance in a serious game for memory training

Nagle¹,

Novak

Wolf³

et al. 2014

2014 IEEE 3nd International Conference on Serious Games and Applications for Health (SeGAH)

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Objective: The goal of this study was to evaluate two kinds of difficulty adaptation techniques in terms of enjoyment and performance in a simple memory training game: one based on difficultyperformance matching ("task-guided") and the other based on providing a high degree of control/choice ("user-guided"). Methods: Performance and enjoyment are both critical in making serious games effective. Therefore the adaptations were based on two different approaches that are used to sustain performance and enjoyment in serious games: 1) adapting task difficulty to match user performance by leveraging the theories of zone of proximal development and flow, thus maximizing performance that can then lead to increased enjoyment and 2) providing a high degree of control and choice by using constructs from self-determination theory, which maximizes enjoyment, that can potentially increase performance. 24 participants played a simple memory training serious game in a fully randomized, repeated measures design. The primary outcome measures were enjoyment and performance. Results: Enjoyment was significantly greater in user-guided (p < 0.05), whereas performance was significantly greater in taskguided (p < 0.05). Conclusion: The results suggest that a trade-off between maximizing performance and maximizing enjoyment could be achieved by combining the two approaches into a "hybrid" adaptation mode that gives users a high degree of control in setting difficulty, but also advises them about optimizing performance.Other titles: O efeito de diferentes adaptações de dificuldade em estratégias de diversão e performance em serious games para trieno de memória El efecto de diferentes adaptaciones de dificultades en estrategias de diversion y performance en serious games para entrenamiento de memoria ABSTRACTObjective: The goal of this study was to evaluate two kinds of difficulty adaptation techniques in terms of enjoyment and performance in a simple memory training game: one based on difficulty-performance matching ("task-guided") and the other based on providing a high degree of control/choice ("user-guided"). Methods: Performance and enjoyment are both critical in making serious games effective. Therefore the adaptations were based on two different approaches that are used to sustain performance and enjoyment in serious games: 1) adapting task difficulty to match user performance by leveraging the theories of zone of proximal development and flow, thus maximizing performance that can then lead to increased enjoyment and 2) providing a high degree of control and choice by using constructs from self-determination theory, which maximizes enjoyment, that can potentially increase performance. 24 participants played a simple memory training serious game in a fully randomized, repeated measures design. The primary outcome measures were enjoyment and performance. Results: Enjoyment was significantly greater in user-guided (p < 0.05), whereas performance was significantly greater in task-guided (p < 0.05). Conclusion: The results sug...

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The effect of different difficulty adaptation strategies on enjoyment and performance in a serious game for memory training

Nagle¹,

Novak

Wolf³

et al. 2014

2014 IEEE 3nd International Conference on Serious Games and Applications for Health (SeGAH)

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“…Other than in a traditional classroom environment, where in its most extreme case all students work through the same 95 problems in the same pace, adaptive practice systems function as individual tutors. Vygotsky's theory of the zone of proximal development (Vygotskii, 1978) is central to this practice (Murray & Arroyo, 2002), and adaptive practice systems can be viewed as systems that seek to explore what a student can do with instruction or the outer boundary of what a student can do without 100 instruction (depending on the level of instruction in the system). Specifically, Math Garden exploits the estimated difficulties of the problems, and makes sure each student receives little to no problems that are either too easy or too hard, and thus by balancing on the boundary of what a student can do without instruction.…”

Section: Effortful Practicementioning

confidence: 99%

Delaying access to a problem-skipping option increases effortful practice: Application of an A/B test in large-scale online learning

Savi

Ruijs

Maris

et al. 2018

Computers & Education

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We report on an online double-blind randomized controlled field experiment (A/B test) in Math Garden, a computer adaptive practice system with over 150, 000 active primary school children. The experiment was designed to eliminate an unforeseen opportunity to practice with minimal effort. Some children tend to skip problems that require deliberate effort, and only attempt problems that they can spontaneously answer. The intervention delayed the option to skip a problem, thereby promoting effortful practice. The results reveal an increase in the exerted effort, without being at the expense of engagement. Whether the additional effort positively affected the children's learning gains could not be concluded. Finally, in addition to these substantial results, the experiment demonstrates some of the advantages of A/B tests, such as the unique opportunity to apply truly blind randomized field experiments in educational science.

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“…This research community has explored how we can design adaptive technology that takes a learner's context and potential collaborators into account (Greer, McCalla, Cooke, Collins, Kumar, Bishop, andVassileva, 1998, andMurray andArroyo, 2002, for example). By moving beyond the desktop and outside the classroom context, wireless, mobile and ubiquitous technologies have been shown to engage learners in hands-on experience and activities in real world learning situations.…”

Section: What Is Context?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Using Mobile Technology to Create Flexible Learning Contexts

Luckin¹,

Boulay²,

Smith³

et al. 2005

JIME

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Toward Measuring and Maintaining the Zone of Proximal Development in Adaptive Instructional Systems

Cited by 72 publications

References 1 publication

The effect of different difficulty adaptation strategies on enjoyment and performance in a serious game for memory training

The effect of different difficulty adaptation strategies on enjoyment and performance in a serious game for memory training

Delaying access to a problem-skipping option increases effortful practice: Application of an A/B test in large-scale online learning

Using Mobile Technology to Create Flexible Learning Contexts

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