Using students' perceptions of participation in collaborative learning activities in the design of online learning environments

Zafeiriou, Georgia; Nunes, J.M.B.; Ford, Nigel

doi:10.3233/efi-2001-19201

Cited by 30 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…Researchers, nonetheless, appear to be more keen on finding out users’, that is, students’ and teachers’, perceptions of the relatively new experience of online teaching and learning (eg, Angulo and Bruce, 1999; Daugherty and Funke, 1998; Goh and Tobin, 1999; Zafeiriou et al , 2001) rather than on delving into what sort of effect can be brought about in education by such Internet applications. Nevertheless, our limited review of literature discovered a few approaches to the theme relating to the effects of online learning.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Direct and indirect effects of online learning on distance education

Shin

Chan²

2004

Brit J Educational Tech

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This paper presents an exploratory study that investigates the effects of online learning on distance education students in an open university context. Two hypotheses are posited: (1) a direct relationship exists between students' involvement in online learning and distance learning outcomes, and (2) an indirect relationship exists between these two domains via the mediating variable of an institutional Transactional Presence (TP), that is, a student's sense of the availability of and connectedness with an educational institution. Student learning achievement, satisfaction and intent-to-persist are used as indicators of outcomes of distance learning. The analysis of data garnered from 285 distance students reveals multifaceted relationships between students' engagement in online learning, their perceptions of institutional TP and the three learning outcome variables. Besides the findings, the paper will discuss factors affecting students' engagement in online learning in relation to different requirements, that is, optional or compulsory online use as well as the level of the course (undergraduate or postgraduate). IntroductionThis paper presents an exploratory study that is part of a research project investigating the effects of online learning on various aspects of distance education at the Open University of Hong Kong (OUHK). To support its students, the OUHK has developed an Online Learning Environment (OLE) for both English and Chinese courses. The aim of the OLE is to provide distance students with rich resources for learning as well as a more flexible mode of interaction with teachers and other students, thereby enriching students' learning experiences. This has been the standard rhetoric of distance education programme providers when they adopt online technology partly, or entirely, in a course delivery system. This belief, however, may weaken unless buttressed by valid evidence.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Direct and indirect effects of online learning on distance education

Shin

Chan²

2004

Brit J Educational Tech

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“…Therefore, a decreased frequency of role changes in Free Ludo would not be a meaningful result -it would merely reflect the laboratory constraints. Second, a strict, automatic role distribution causes by definition an equal balance, which is beneficial for collaborative learning (Zafeiriou et al, 2001). Therefore, the interesting question was neither whether Strict Ludo causes balanced role distribution nor whether it is beneficial for learning (which was shown in previous work, cf.…”

Section: Summary and Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Role of Personal and Shared Displays in Scripted Collaborative Learning

Streng¹

2009

Human-Computer Interaction – INTERACT 2009

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iii ABSTRACTOver the last decades collaborative learning has gained immensely in importance and popularity due to its high potential. Unfortunately, learners rarely engage in effective learning activities unless they are provided with instructional support. In order to maximize learning outcomes it is therefore advisable to structure collaborative learning sessions. One way of doing this is using collaboration scripts, which define a sequence of activities to be carried out by the learners. The field of computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) produced a variety of collaboration scripts that proved to have positive effects on learning outcomes. These scripts provide detailed descriptions of successful learning scenarios and are therefore used as foundation for this thesis.In many cases computers are used to support collaborative learning. Traditional personal computers are often chosen for this purpose. However, during the last decades new technologies have emerged, which seem to be better suited for co-located collaboration than personal computers. Large interactive displays, for example, allow a number of people to work simultaneously on the same surface while being highly aware of the co-learners' actions. There are also multi-display environments that provide several workspaces, some of which may be shared, others may be personal. However, there is a lack of knowledge regarding the influence of different display types on group processes. For instance, it remains unclear in which cases shareable user interfaces should replace traditional single-user devices and when both personal and shared workspaces should be provided. This dissertation therefore explores the role of personal and shared workspaces in various situations in the area of collaborative learning. The research questions include the choice of technological devices, the seating arrangement as well as how user interfaces can be designed to guide learners.To investigate these questions a two-fold approach was chosen. First, a framework was developed, which supports the implementation of scripted collaborative learning applications. Second, different prototypes were implemented to explore the research questions. Each prototype is based on at least one collaboration script. The result is a set of studies, which contribute to answering the above-mentioned research questions. With regard to the choice of display environment the studies showed several reasons for integrating personal devices such as laptops. Pure tabletop applications with around-the-table seating arrangements whose benefits for collaboration are widely discussed in the relevant literature revealed severe drawbacks for text-based learning activities. The combination of laptops and an interactive wall display, on the other hand, turned out to be a suitable display environment for collaborative learning in several cases. In addition, the thesis presents several ways of designing the user interface in a way that guides learners through collaboration scripts. ACKNOWLEDGMENTST...

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“…One facet that affects how students view their interaction with technology is their access to the technology (Stocks and Freddolino, 1998;Vrasidas and Mclsaac, 1999;Zafeiriou, Nunes and Ford, 2001). Technological problems can cause frustration in even the most seasoned computer user.…”

Section: Figurementioning

confidence: 99%

Using mathematical model and empirical study to compare the face-toface interaction between the physical and cyber environments

Hsieh

Chen

Kinshuk

2009

Journal of Information and Optimization Sciences

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Interaction is an important factor for effective teaching and learning and Face-to-Face (F2F) interaction is found to be a crucial element in it. Advancements in communication technologies and ICT tools now allow us to have cyber synchronous interactions with audio/video, document and whiteboard sharing that occur in real-time with similar levels of fidelity as in the physical F2F environment. However, many people still challenge the quality of online courses due to the fact that there is no F2F interaction as in traditional physical classroom. Therefore, it is imperative that we understand the features of cyber synchronous F2F environment compared with the physical F2F environment. This research uses transactional distance theory from the viewpoint of visual distance to compare the difference of physical F2F and cyber synchronous F2F environments. We use a mathematical model to formulate the transactional distance in comparing the interaction distance of physical F2F and cyber synchronous F2F. Transaction distance is then used to analyze the communication gap between the learner and the instructor, content, and other learners. * Finally, the paper verifies the validity of the transactional distance calculated through the mathematical model with the input of a questionnaire based survey that elicits students' perception towards these two environments.

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Using students' perceptions of participation in collaborative learning activities in the design of online learning environments

Cited by 30 publications

References 27 publications

Direct and indirect effects of online learning on distance education

Direct and indirect effects of online learning on distance education

The Role of Personal and Shared Displays in Scripted Collaborative Learning

Using mathematical model and empirical study to compare the face-toface interaction between the physical and cyber environments

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