Mining for Gold: Identifying Content-Related MOOC Discussion Threads across Domains through Linguistic Modeling
This study addresses overload and chaos in MOOC discussion forums by developing a model to categorize threads based on whether or not they are substantially related to course content. A linguistic model was built based on manually-coded starting posts in threads from a statistics MOOC, and tested on the second offering of the course, another statistics MOOC, a psychology MOOC, a physiology MOOC and a test-set of reply posts. Results showed content-related starting posts had distinct linguistic features that appeared unrelated to the domain. The model demonstrated good reliability for all starting posts in statistics and ps...
Source: The Internet and Higher Education - August 4, 2016 Category: Information Technology Source Type: research
Exploring social and cognitive presences in communities of inquiry to perform higher cognitive tasks
This study also found that the nature of the learning task modulated the different components of social and cognitive presence in these contexts. (Source: The Internet and Higher Education)
Source: The Internet and Higher Education - August 2, 2016 Category: Information Technology Source Type: research
How health professionals regulate their learning in massive open online courses
This study addresses the research question ‘How do professionals self-regulate their learning in a MOOC?’ The study examined the ‘Fundamentals of Clinical Trials’ MOOC offered by edX, and presents narrative descriptions of learning drawn from interviews with 35 course participants. The descriptions provide an insight into the goal-setting, self-efficacy, learning and task strategies, and help-seeking of professionals choosing to study this MOOC. Gaining an insight into how these self-regulatory processes are or are not enacted highlights potential opportunities for pedagogic and technical design of MOOCs. (Source: ...
Source: The Internet and Higher Education - August 2, 2016 Category: Information Technology Source Type: research
Applying a web-based training to foster self-regulated learning — Effects of an intervention for large numbers of participants
Publication date: October 2016 Source:The Internet and Higher Education, Volume 31 Author(s): Henrik Bellhäuser, Thomas Lösch, Charlotte Winter, Bernhard Schmitz Trainings on self-regulated learning (SRL) have been shown to be effective in improving both competence of self-regulated learning and objective measures of performance. However, human trainers can reach only a limited number of people at a time. Web-based trainings (WBT) could improve efficiency, as they can be distributed to potentially unlimited numbers of participants. We developed a WBT based on the process model of SRL by Schmitz and Wiese (200...
Source: The Internet and Higher Education - July 30, 2016 Category: Information Technology Source Type: research
Faculty and Facebook friending: Instructor –student online social communication from the professor's perspective
Publication date: October 2015 Source:The Internet and Higher Education, Volume 27 Author(s): Susan H. Sarapin, Pamela L. Morris U.S. college faculty with Facebook profiles (N =308) were surveyed about their expectations of students' perceptions of their credibility, professionalism, and approachability in the classroom, as well as mutual connectedness with their instructors, resulting from out-of-classroom socializing with them and teacher self-disclosure on Facebook. Consistent with uses and gratifications theory, these teacher attributes made up the Professors' Expected Relationship Compensation scale (PERC), wh...
Source: The Internet and Higher Education - July 20, 2016 Category: Information Technology Source Type: research
Self-regulated learning strategies & amp; academic achievement in online higher education learning environments: A systematic review
Publication date: October 2015 Source:The Internet and Higher Education, Volume 27 Author(s): J. Broadbent, W.L. Poon As enrolments in online courses continue to increase, there is a need to understand how students can best apply self-regulated learning strategies to achieve academic success within the online environment. A search of relevant databases was conducted in December 2014 for studies published from 2004 to Dec 2014 examining SRL strategies as correlates of academic achievement in online higher education settings. From 12 studies, the strategies of time management, metacognition, effort regulation, and cr...
Source: The Internet and Higher Education - July 20, 2016 Category: Information Technology Source Type: research
Applying a web-based training to Foster self-regulated learning – Effects of an intervention for large numbers of participants
Publication date: Available online 17 July 2016 Source:The Internet and Higher Education Author(s): Henrik Bellhäuser, Thomas Lösch, Charlotte Winter, Bernhard Schmitz Trainings on self-regulated learning (SRL) have been shown to be effective in improving both competence of self-regulated learning and objective measures of performance. However, human trainers can reach only a limited number of people at a time. Web-based trainings (WBT) could improve efficiency, as they can be distributed to potentially unlimited numbers of participants. We developed a WBT based on the process model of SRL by Schmitz and Wies...
Source: The Internet and Higher Education - July 18, 2016 Category: Information Technology Source Type: research
Identifying significant integration and institutional factors that predict online doctoral persistence
Publication date: Available online 18 July 2016 Source:The Internet and Higher Education Author(s): Amanda J. Rockinson-Szapkiw, Lucinda S. Spaulding, Maria T. Spaulding Based on a synthesis of traditional attrition models and the empirical literature, an online doctoral persistence model was developed using archival data from 148 candidates. A predictive, correlation design and logistic regression were used to examine if a linear combination of institutional (financial support; program, curriculum, and instruction; and support services) and integration variables (academic, social, economic, and familial integrat...
Source: The Internet and Higher Education - July 18, 2016 Category: Information Technology Source Type: research
Relationships between students' perceived team learning experiences, team performances, and social abilities in a blended course setting
Publication date: Available online 7 July 2016 Source:The Internet and Higher Education Author(s): Yalın Kılıç Türel The main purpose of this study is to examine relationships between the social abilities, perceived team learning, and the performances of students in a blended learning setting. The participants, 82 undergraduate students, worked in small teams on a research method task over one semester. The instruments used for this study included a five-factor social ability scale and a one-dimensional perceived collaborative learning scale. The results showed moderate significant relationships between students...
Source: The Internet and Higher Education - July 7, 2016 Category: Information Technology Source Type: research
The experience of teaching online and its impact on faculty innovation across delivery methods
Publication date: Available online 24 June 2016 Source:The Internet and Higher Education Author(s): Lorna R. Kearns As traditional colleges and universities increasingly incorporate online learning programs into their curriculum, it is important to understand the benefits that may accrue to the faculty who teach in those programs, particularly those that influence instructors' continuing participation in face-to-face (f2f) teaching. The purpose of this qualitative study was to provide a greater understanding of how the experience of teaching online influenced instructors' thinking, planning, and enactment in their te...
Source: The Internet and Higher Education - June 23, 2016 Category: Information Technology Source Type: research
Learned risks and experienced rewards: Exploring the potential sources of students' attitudes toward social media and face-to-face communication
Publication date: Available online 16 June 2016 Source:The Internet and Higher Education Author(s): David Westerman, Emory S. Daniel, Nicholas D. Bowman The main purpose of this study was to examine various potential influences (including mass media reporting, instructors/teachers, and personal experience) of students' attitudes toward both social media and face-to-face (FtF) communication. Such questions emerged from recent debates over the role of technology in the college classroom that commonly center on the comparison of FtF and computer-mediated communication (CMC). Of the 545 college students surveyed onli...
Source: The Internet and Higher Education - June 15, 2016 Category: Information Technology Source Type: research
Cultural impacts on e-learning systems' success
This study provides a deeper understanding of the impact of students' cultural characteristics, for individualism/collectivism, on the perceived outcomes of e-learning systems use. This study proposes an e-learning systems success model that includes a cultural construct, individualism/collectivism. This paper reports an empirical study developed through an electronic survey distributed to higher education students belonging to various learning levels and from various universities. The study applies quantitative methods to obtain results. Our findings demonstrate that learners' perceived individual impact is positively inf...
Source: The Internet and Higher Education - June 14, 2016 Category: Information Technology Source Type: research
Mobile Instant Messaging Support for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education
This study evaluated the use of mobile instant messaging tools to support teaching and learning in higher education. A total of 61 undergraduate students enrolled at a teacher-training institute in Hong Kong who have smartphones with WhatsApp were assigned into experimental and control groups. Besides the traditional classroom learning for both groups, the experimental group was also supported with bite-sized multimedia materials and teacher-students interaction via WhatsApp outside school hours. The participants of the control group used WhatsApp only for academic communication. Pre-test scores were used as the covariate....
Source: The Internet and Higher Education - June 13, 2016 Category: Information Technology Source Type: research
Criticality and the exercise of politeness in online spaces for professional learning
Publication date: Available online 7 June 2016 Source:The Internet and Higher Education Author(s): Cate Watson, Anna Wilson, Valerie Drew, Terrie Lynn Thompson This research examines masters-accredited online professional learning aimed at fostering criticality and a disposition to collective professional autonomy. Drawing on a model of online learning conceived as a nexus of cognitive, social and teaching presence, we focus principally on the interaction between cognitive and social presence, and the ways in which written language mediates social presence in fostering a critical disposition to professional lea...
Source: The Internet and Higher Education - June 7, 2016 Category: Information Technology Source Type: research
University students' self-control and self-regulated learning in a blended course
Publication date: July 2016 Source:The Internet and Higher Education, Volume 30 Author(s): Yue Zhu, Wing Au, Greg Yates The paper aims to report the influence of self-control and self-regulated learning on a group of tertiary students' learning outcomes in a blended learning environment. In this project, 74 second-year students who were enrolled in a blended course of ICT in Education completed a questionnaire survey on self-control and self-regulated learning skills at the beginning of the course and weekly reports about their learning experiences during the course. It was found that self-control (as a dispositi...
Source: The Internet and Higher Education - May 20, 2016 Category: Information Technology Source Type: research
