Creating Effective Web-Based Learning Environments: Relevant Research and Practice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wijekumar, Kay

2005-01-01

Web-based learning environments are a great asset only if they are designed well and used as intended. The urgency to create courses in response to the growing demand for online learning has resulted in a hurried push to drop PowerPoint notes into Web-based course management systems (WBCMSs), devise an electronic quiz, put together a few…

Creating a Multimedia Enhanced Problem-Based Learning Environment for Middle School Science: Voices from the Developers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Liu, Min; Horton, Lucas; Lee, Jaejin; Kang, Jina; Rosenblum, Jason; O'Hair, Matthew; Lu, Chu-Wei

2014-01-01

This paper describes the design and development process used to create Alien Rescue, a multimedia-enhanced learning environment that supports problem-based learning (PBL) in middle school science. The goal of the project is to further our understandings of technology, pedagogy, and instructional theories as they relate to the application of PBL…

Learning Environments for Children.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sanoff, Henry; And Others

This booklet (prepared by architects, educators, and community groups) presents some guidelines for creating learning environments in child care centers. The ideas and information could be used for creating new centers, for redesigning facilities, or for remodeling existing buildings. Emphasis is placed on the interrelatedness of the goals of a…

Virtual Representations in 3D Learning Environments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shonfeld, Miri; Kritz, Miki

2013-01-01

This research explores the extent to which virtual worlds can serve as online collaborative learning environments for students by increasing social presence and engagement. 3D environments enable learning, which simulates face-to-face encounters while retaining the advantages of online learning. Students in Education departments created avatars…

Create a good learning environment and motivate active learning enthusiasm

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bi, Weihong; Fu, Guangwei; Fu, Xinghu; Zhang, Baojun; Liu, Qiang; Jin, Wa

2017-08-01

In view of the current poor learning initiative of undergraduates, the idea of creating a good learning environment and motivating active learning enthusiasm is proposed. In practice, the professional tutor is allocated and professional introduction course is opened for college freshman. It can promote communication between the professional teachers and students as early as possible, and guide students to know and devote the professional knowledge by the preconceived form. Practice results show that these solutions can improve the students interest in learning initiative, so that the active learning and self-learning has become a habit in the classroom.

Linking Classroom Environment with At-Risk Engagement in Science: A Mixed Method Approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Collins, Stephen Craig

This explanatory sequential mixed-method study analyzed how the teacher created learning environment links to student engagement for students at-risk across five science classroom settings. The learning environment includes instructional strategies, differentiated instruction, positive learning environment, and an academically challenging environment. Quantitative and qualitative data were gathered in the form of self-reporting surveys and a follow-up interview. The researcher aimed to use the qualitative results to explain the quantitative data. The general research question was "What are the factors of the teacher-created learning environment that were best suited to maximize engagement of students at-risk?" Specifically explaining, (1) How do the measured level of teacher created learning environment link to the engagement level of students at-risk in science class? and (2) What relationship exists between the student perception of the science classroom environment and the level of behavioral, cognitive, emotional, and social engagement for students at-risk in science class? This study took place within a large school system with more than 20 high schools, most having 2000-3000 students. Participating students were sent to a panel hearing that determined them unfit for the regular educational setting, and were given the option of attending one of the two alternative schools within the county. Students in this alternative school were considered at-risk due to the fact that 98% received free and reduced lunch, 97% were minority population, and all have been suspended from the regular educational setting. Pairwise comparisons of the SPS questions between teachers using t-test from 107 students at-risk and 40 interviews suggest that each category of the learning environment affects the level of behavioral, cognitive, emotional, and social engagement in science class for students at-risk in an alternative school setting. Teachers with higher student perceptions of learning environment showed increased levels of all types of engagement over the teachers with a lower perception of learning environment. Qualitative data suggested that teachers who created a more positive learning environment had increased student engagement in their class. Follow-up questions also revealed that teachers who incorporated a wider variety of classroom instructional strategies increased behavioral engagement of students at-risk in science class.

Creating an Equitable Learning Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bayles, Taryn; Morrell, Claudia

2018-01-01

To better understand the components that create an equitable learning environment, we have analyzed a number of highly successful programs that we developed and conducted targeting K-12 students, their teachers, and university students. We identified four criteria experienced by the student that are essential for his or her recruitment,…

Creating a Safe Environment for Women's Leadership Transformation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Debebe, Gelaye

2011-01-01

This study used qualitative data to describe how transformational learning was achieved in a women-only training (WOT) program. The article argues that an environment conducive to transformational learning for women was created from the harmonious coalescing of the presence of all-women participants and instructors with gender-sensitive teaching…

Sustaining Teacher Control in a Blog-Based Personal Learning Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tomberg, Vladimir; Laanpere, Mart; Ley, Tobias; Normak, Peeter

2013-01-01

Various tools and services based on Web 2.0 (mainly blogs, wikis, social networking tools) are increasingly used in formal education to create personal learning environments, providing self-directed learners with more freedom, choice, and control over their learning. In such distributed and personalized learning environments, the traditional role…

Visualising Learning Design in LAMS: A Historical View

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dalziel, James

2011-01-01

The Learning Activity Management System (LAMS) provides a web-based environment for the creation, sharing, running and monitoring of Learning Designs. A central feature of LAMS is the visual authoring environment, where educators use a drag-and-drop environment to create sequences of learning activities. The visualisation is based on boxes…

Disrupting a Learning Environment for Promotion of Geometry Teaching

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jojo, Zingiswa

2017-01-01

Creating a classroom learning environment that is suitably designed for promotion of learners' performance in geometry, a branch of mathematics that addresses spatial sense and geometric reasoning, is a daunting task. This article focuses on how grade 8 teachers' action learning changed the learning environment for the promotion of geometry…

Students' Conception of Learning Environment and Their Approach to Learning and Its Implication on Quality Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Belaineh, Matheas Shemelis

2017-01-01

Quality of education in higher institutions can be affected by different factors. It partly rests on the learning environment created by teachers and the learning approach students are employing during their learning. The main purpose of this study is to examine the learning environment at Mizan Tepi University from students' perspective and their…

Creating and Nurturing Distributed Asynchronous Learning Environments.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kochtanek, Thomas R.; Hein, Karen K.

2000-01-01

Describes the evolution of a university course from a face-to-face experience to a Web-based asynchronous learning environment. Topics include cognition and learning; distance learning and distributed learning; student learning communities and the traditional classroom; the future as it relates to education and technology; collaborative student…

Clinical Environment as a Learning Environment: Student Nurses' Perceptions Concerning Clinical Learning Experiences.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Papp, Inkeri; Markkanen, Marjatta; von Bonsdorff, Mikaela

2003-01-01

Finnish student nurses (n=16) described their clinical learning experiences. Several themes were identified: feeling appreciated and supported, the quality of mentoring and patient care, and self-directedness. School and clinical staff cooperation helped create a good learning environment in which theory and practice complemented each other.…

Learning System Design Consideration in Creating an Online Learning Environment.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schaffer, Scott

This paper describes the design of a Web-based learning environment for leadership facilitators in a United States military organization. The overall aim of this project was to design a prototype of an online learning environment that supports leadership facilitators' knowledge development in the content area of motivation. The learning…

An Interdisciplinary Design Project in Second Life: Creating a Virtual Marine Science Learning Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Triggs, Riley; Jarmon, Leslie; Villareal, Tracy A.

2010-01-01

Virtual environments can resolve many practical and pedagogical challenges within higher education. Economic considerations, accessibility issues, and safety concerns can all be somewhat alleviated by creating learning activities in a virtual space. Because of the removal of real-world physical limitations like gravity, durability and scope,…

Creating Learning Environments for Indigenous Students through Cultured-Based Math Modules

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yao, Ru-Fen

2016-01-01

The main purposes of this one-year case study are to create learning environments for indigenous students through culture-based mathematics instructional modules, and what teachers' responds are in two tribes. The researcher leads sixteen in-service teachers and seven pre-service teachers to enter two indigenous tribes- "Cado" and…

Creating a High Impact Learning Environment for Engineering Technology Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zhan, Wei; Wang, Jyhwen; Vanajakumari, Manoj; Johnson, Michael D.

2018-01-01

This paper discusses an initiative called Product Innovation and Development (PID) that was launched at Texas A&M University. The goal of PID is to create a high impact learning environment that focuses on innovative product development. Undergraduate students are hired to develop innovative new products. The student teams generate ideas for…

Second Life: Creating Worlds of Wonder for Language Learners

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ocasio, Michelle A.

2016-01-01

This article describes Second Life, a three-dimensional virtual environment in which a user creates an avatar for the purpose of socializing, learning, developing skills, and exploring a variety of academic and social areas. Since its inception in 2003, Second Life has been used by educators to build and foster innovative learning environments and…

Designing Multimedia for Meaningful Online Teaching and Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Terry, Krista P.; Doolittle, Peter E.; Scheer, Stephanie B.; McNeill, Andrea

2004-01-01

The development of distance and distributed learning environments on college campuses has created a need to reconsider traditional approaches to teaching and learning by integrating research and theories in human learning, pedagogy, and instructional technology. Creating effective and efficient multimedia for Web-based instruction requires a…

Teaching & Learning for International Students in a "Learning Community": Creating, Sharing and Building Knowledge

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kemp, Linzi

2010-01-01

This article considers the culture of learning communities for effective teaching. A learning community is defined here as an environment where learners are brought together to share information, to learn from each other, and to create new knowledge. The individual student develops her/his own learning by building on learning from others. In a…

Creating Successful Learning Environments for African American Learners with Exceptionalities.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Obiakor, Festus E. Ed.; Ford, Bridgie Alexis, Ed.

The 17 papers in this collection offer innovative pedagogical techniques to improve the learning of African American students with disabilities. Papers are grouped into three sections that address foundations of educational change, managing learning environments, and complementing the school environment. The papers are: (1) "School…

Blended Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Imbriale, Ryan

2013-01-01

Teachers always have been and always will be the essential element in the classroom. They can create magic inside four walls, but they have never been able to create learning environments outside the classroom like they can today, thanks to blended learning. Blended learning allows students and teachers to break free of the isolation of the…

Perceptions of Pre-Service Teachers on the Design of a Learning Environment Based on the Seven Principles of Good Practice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Al-Furaih, Suad Abdul Aziz

2017-01-01

This study explored the perceptions of 88 pre-service teachers on the design of a learning environment using the Seven Principles of Good Practice and its effect on participants' abilities to create their Cloud Learning Environment (CLE). In designing the learning environment, a conceptual model under the name 7 Principles and Integrated Learning…

Learner Self-Regulation and Web 2.0 Tools Management in Personal Learning Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yen, Cherng-Jyh; Tu, Chih-Hsiung; Sujo-Montes, Laura E.; Armfield, Shadow W. J.; Chan, Junn-Yih

2013-01-01

Web 2.0 technology integration requires a higher level of self-regulated learning skills to create a Personal Learning Environment (PLE). This study examined each of the four aspects of learner self-regulation in online learning (i.e., environment structuring, goal setting, time management, & task strategies) as the predictor for level of…

Utilizing Twitter and #Hashtags toward Enhancing Student Learning in an Online Course Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bledsoe, T. Scott; Harmeyer, Dave; Wu, Shuang Frances

2014-01-01

The authors offer an answer to the research question, To what extent and in what ways is Twitter helpful to student learning when group hashtags are created and used in collaborative educational environments? Sixty-two students in a spring 2012 graduate online Research Methodology course worked individually and in groups to create discussions on…

Creating Optimal Learning Environments through Invitational Education: An Alternative to Control Oriented School Reform

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fretz, Joan R.

2015-01-01

Understanding what motivates people to put forth effort, persevere in the face of obstacles, and choose their behaviors is key to creating an optimal learning environment--the type of school that policy makers desire, but are unknowingly sabotaging (Dweck, 2000). Many motivation and self-concept theories provide important insight with regard to…

The Relationship between Pre-Service Science Teachers' Epistemological Beliefs and Preferences for Creating a Constructivist Learning Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Saylan, Asli; Armagan, Fulya Öner; Bektas, Oktay

2016-01-01

The present study investigated the relationship between pre-service science teachers' epistemological beliefs and perceptions of a constructivist learning environment. The Turkish version of Constructivist Learning Environment Survey and Schommer's Epistemological Belief Questionnaire were administered to 531 pre-service science teachers attending…

Service Learning Creates a Positive Relationship between Teachers and Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lubchenko, Sandra

2016-01-01

The current pedagogy in creating a positive school climate is building personal relationships with students. Teachers and students work together to create a safe environment where students engage in the academic pursuit of knowledge. Service-learning projects that create this close bond and offer a collective pursuit of helping others give…

Interactive eLearning - a safe place to practice.

PubMed

Einarson, Elisabeth; Moen, Anne; Kolberg, Ragnhild; Flingtorp, Gry; Linnerud, Eva

2009-01-01

Interactive web-based learning environment offers refreshing opportunities to create innovative solutions to explore and exploit informatics support on-the-job training. We report from a study where a hospital is created a interactive eLearning resource. The modules are creating a safe place to practice - to be used for introduction to the work and preparation for certification or re-certification of competencies.

Creating an Authentic Learning Environment in the Foreign Language Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nikitina, Larisa

2011-01-01

Theatrical activities are widely used by language educators to promote and facilitate language learning. Involving students in production of their own video or a short movie in the target language allows a seamless fusion of language learning, art, and popular culture. The activity is also conducive for creating an authentic learning situation…

Can the Physical Environment Have an Impact on the Learning Environment?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lippman, Peter C.

2010-01-01

This article argues in favour of challenging "best practice" generally accepted by the architectural profession by embracing a responsive design approach for creating learning environments. Such an approach accepts that the environment shapes the learner, and that learners influence their environment. A responsive design approach would embrace the…

A Cognitive Multimedia Environment and Its Importance: A Conceptual Model for Effective E-Learning and Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Phan, Huy P.

2011-01-01

Multimedia learning is innovative and has revolutionised the way we learn online. It is important to create a multimedia learning environment that stimulates active participation and effective learning. The significance of multimedia learning extends to include the cultivation of professional and personal experiences that reflect the reality of a…

Navigating the Active Learning Swamp: Creating an Inviting Environment for Learning.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Johnson, Marie C.; Malinowski, Jon C.

2001-01-01

Reports on a survey of faculty members (n=29) asking them to define active learning, to rate how effectively different teaching techniques contribute to active learning, and to list the three teaching techniques they use most frequently. Concludes that active learning requires establishing an environment rather than employing a specific teaching…

How Parents and Teachers Are Helping To Create Better Environments for Learning. Energy-Smart Building Choices.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Department of Energy, Washington, DC.

This guide explores the contributions that parents and teachers can make to enhance energy choice decisions that affect the design and operation of educational facilities. It also examines how making the right choice can create better learning environments. The guide reveals how schools have turned energy improvements into powerful teaching tools;…

Creating an Inclusive Collegiate Learning Environment for Students on the Autism Spectrum: A Participatory Action Research Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Maxam, Susan L.

2012-01-01

Despite the growing number of students on the autism spectrum in postsecondary institutions around the nation, there is a paucity of literature dealing with issues and interventions related to creating inclusive, collegiate learning environments from the perspectives of both faculty and these students. Therefore, this study sought to gain a deeper…

A Simulated Learning Environment for Teaching Medicine Dispensing Skills

PubMed Central

Styles, Kim; Sewell, Keith; Trinder, Peta; Marriott, Jennifer; Maher, Sheryl; Naidu, Som

2016-01-01

Objective. To develop an authentic simulation of the professional practice dispensary context for students to develop their dispensing skills in a risk-free environment. Design. A development team used an Agile software development method to create MyDispense, a web-based simulation. Modeled on virtual learning environments elements, the software employed widely available standards-based technologies to create a virtual community pharmacy environment. Assessment. First-year pharmacy students who used the software in their tutorials, were, at the end of the second semester, surveyed on their prior dispensing experience and their perceptions of MyDispense as a tool to learn dispensing skills. Conclusion. The dispensary simulation is an effective tool for helping students develop dispensing competency and knowledge in a safe environment. PMID:26941437

Putting Structure to Flipped Classrooms Using Team-Based Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jakobsen, Krisztina V.; Knetemann, Megan

2017-01-01

Current educational practices and cognitive-developmental theories emphasize the importance of active participation in the learning environment, and they suggest that the first, and arguably most important, step to creating a better learning environment is to make learning an active and reciprocal process. Flipped classrooms, in which students…

Cognitive Presence and Effect of Immersion in Virtual Learning Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Katernyak, Ihor; Loboda, Viktoriya

2016-01-01

This paper presents the approach to successful application of two knowledge management techniques--community of practice and eLearning, in order to create and manage a competence-developing virtual learning environment. It explains how "4A" model of involving practitioners in eLearning process (through attention, actualization,…

Learning in Transformational Computer Games: Exploring Design Principles for a Nanotechnology Game

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Masek, Martin; Murcia, Karen; Morrison, Jason; Newhouse, Paul; Hackling, Mark

2012-01-01

Transformational games are digital computer and video applications purposefully designed to create engaging and immersive learning environments for delivering specified learning goals, outcomes and experiences. The virtual world of a transformational game becomes the social environment within which learning occurs as an outcome of the complex…

Verbal and Behavioral Cues: Creating an Autonomy-Supportive Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Young-Jones, Adena; Cara, Kelly Copeland; Levesque-Bristol, Chantal

2014-01-01

Teaching practices can create a range of autonomy-supportive or controlling learning environments. Research shows that autonomy-supportive techniques are more conducive to positive learning outcomes than controlling techniques. This study focused on simple verbal and behavioral cues that any teacher could use to create a positive learning…

Combining Collaborative Learning with Learning Management Systems in Teaching Programming Language

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cavus, Nadire; Uzunboylu, Huseyin; Ibrahim, Dogan

2006-01-01

The development of collaborative studies in learning has led to a renewed interest in the field of web-based education. In this experimental study, a highly interactive and collaborative teaching environment was created using Moodle, a learning management system with two types of Collaborative Tools (CTs): Standard CT and Advanced CT to create a…

Classroom Learning Environment Differences between Resilient, Average, and Nonresilient Middle School Students in Reading

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Padrón, Yolanda N.; Waxman, Hersh C.; Lee, Yuan-Hsuan

2014-01-01

The lack of achievement of students from high-risk and high-poverty environments necessitates changes in today's middle school environments to create a caring, supportive environment where all middle school students can succeed. This study investigated the classroom learning environments of resilient, average, and nonresilient minority students in…

The Effects of Study Tasks in a Computer-Based Chemistry Learning Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Urhahne, Detlef; Nick, Sabine; Poepping, Anna Christin; Schulz , Sarah Jayne

2013-01-01

The present study examines the effects of different study tasks on the acquisition of knowledge about acids and bases in a computer-based learning environment. Three different task formats were selected to create three treatment conditions: learning with gap-fill and matching tasks, learning with multiple-choice tasks, and learning only from text…

A Practical Guide, with Theoretical Underpinnings, for Creating Effective Virtual Reality Learning Environments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

O'Connor, Eileen A.; Domingo, Jelia

2017-01-01

With the advent of open source virtual environments, the associated cost reductions, and the more flexible options, avatar-based virtual reality environments are within reach of educators. By using and repurposing readily available virtual environments, instructors can bring engaging, community-building, and immersive learning opportunities to…

Impact on Student Motivation by Using a QR-Based U-Learning Material Production System to Create Authentic Learning Experiences

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chin, Kai-Yi; Lee, Ko-Fong; Chen, Yen-Lin

2015-01-01

This study developed a QR-based U-Learning Material Production System (QR-ULMPS) that provides teachers with an education tool to motivate college level students enrolled in a liberal arts course. QR-ULMPS was specifically designed to support the development of u-learning materials and create an engaging context-aware u-learning environment for…

Challenging Heteronormativity: Creating a Safe and Inclusive Environment for LGBTQ Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Steck, Andy K.; Perry, David

2018-01-01

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer/questioning (LGBTQ) youth face hostile and exclusionary learning environments. A qualitative phenomenographic method involving semistructured interviews of seven secondary school administrators was conducted to identify perceptions of experiences creating a safe and inclusive environment for students…

Creating Learning Environment Connecting Engineering Design and 3D Printing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pikkarainen, Ari; Salminen, Antti; Piili, Heidi

Engineering education in modern days require continuous development in didactics, pedagogics and used practical methods. 3D printing provides excellent opportunity to connect different engineering areas into practice and produce learning by doing applications. The 3D-printing technology used in this study is FDM (Fused deposition modeling). FDM is the most used 3D-printing technology by commercial numbers at the moment and the qualities of the technology makes it popular especially in academic environments. For achieving the best result possible, students will incorporate the principles of DFAM (Design for additive manufacturing) into their engineering design studies together with 3D printing. This paper presents a plan for creating learning environment for mechanical engineering students combining the aspects of engineering design, 3D-CAD learning and AM (additive manufacturing). As a result, process charts for carrying out the 3D printing process from technological point of view and design process for AM from engineering design point of view were created. These charts are used in engineering design education. The learning environment is developed to work also as a platform for Bachelor theses, work-training environment for students, prototyping service centre for cooperation partners and source of information for mechanical engineering education in Lapland University of Applied Sciences.

Innovative eLearning: Technology Shaping Contemporary Problem Based Learning: A Cross-Case Analysis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Blackburn, Greg

2015-01-01

Preparing students to be critical thinkers and effective communicators is essential in today's multinational and technologically sophisticated environment. New electronic technologies provide opportunities for creating learning environments that extend the possibilities of "old" but still essential technologies: books, blackboards, and…

eLearning in the Cloud

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sclater, Niall

2010-01-01

Elearning has grown rapidly in importance for institutions and has been largely facilitated through the "walled garden" of the virtual learning environment. Meanwhile many students are creating their own personal learning environments by combining the various Web 2.0 services they find most useful. Cloud computing offers new…

The Power of "We" Language in Creating Equitable Learning Environments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Erb, Cathy Smeltzer

2010-01-01

Effective teaching values the classroom as a learning community in which instructional approaches optimize learning for all students. Contrary to the principles of an equitable learning environment is the use of "me" language by teachers, a practice that promotes the role of teacher as high status and inadvertently excludes students from the…

A Measurement Model of Gestures in an Embodied Learning Environment: Accounting for Temporal Dependencies

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Andrade, Alejandro; Danish, Joshua A.; Maltese, Adam V.

2017-01-01

Interactive learning environments with body-centric technologies lie at the intersection of the design of embodied learning activities and multimodal learning analytics. Sensing technologies can generate large amounts of fine-grained data automatically captured from student movements. Researchers can use these fine-grained data to create a…

Can a Hypermedia Cooperative e-Learning Environment Stimulate Constructive Collaboration?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pragnell, Mary Victoria; Roselli, Teresa; Rossano, Veronica

2006-01-01

The growing use of the Internet in learning environments has led to new models being created addressing specific learning domains, as well as more general educational goals. In particular, in recent years considerable attention has been paid to collaborative learning supported by technology, because this mode can enhance peer interaction and group…

Creating a Learning Environment for Pre-Service Teachers.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Diggs, Laura L.

This paper presents statistics from ongoing research on a unique learning environment developed at the University of Missouri-Columbia College of Education (MU-CoE). MU-CoE has developed a new approach to space devoted to learning, not teaching. This new concept of progressive learning and performance support integrates interactive networked…

Galileo Educational Network: Creating, Researching, and Supporting 21st Century Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Friesen, Sharon

2009-01-01

School and classroom structures designed to meet the needs of the industrial past cannot "maintain the temperature required for sustaining life." Recent learning sciences research findings compel educators to invent new learning environments better suited to meet the demands of the 21st century. These new learning environments require…

Solo Life to Second Life: The Design of Physical and Virtual Learning Spaces Inspired by the Drama Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nicholls, Jennifer; Philip, Robyn

2012-01-01

This paper explores the design of virtual and physical learning spaces developed for students of drama and theatre studies. What can we learn from the traditional drama workshop that will inform the design of drama and theatre spaces created in technology-mediated learning environments? The authors examine four examples of spaces created for…

Leveraging 21st Century Learning & Technology to Create Caring Diverse Classroom Cultures

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tarbutton, Tanya

2018-01-01

Creating diverse caring classroom environments, for all students, using innovative technology, is the impetus of this article. Administrators and teachers in many states have worked to integrate 21st Century Learning Outcomes and Local Control and Accountability Plans (LCAP) into daily teaching and learning. These initiatives are designed to…

Reflections from the Field: Creating an Elementary Living Learning Makerspace

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shively, Kathryn L.

2017-01-01

This article features the creation of a makerspace in the elementary education (ELED) living and learning community (LLC) residence hall. This space was created based on the growing body of literature demonstrating the rise of makerspaces across learning environments as well as the need to expose pre-service teachers (PSTs) to early field…

PUPIL-TEACHER ADJUSTEMENT AND MUTUAL ADAPTATION IN CREATING CLASSROOM LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

FOX, ROBERT S.; AND OTHERS

AN ANALYSIS OF THE DYNAMICS OF THE LEARNING SITUATIONS IN A VARIETY OF PUBLIC SCHOOL CLASSROOMS WAS UNDERTAKEN. THE PROJECT MADE A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE PATTERNS OF COOPERATION OR ALIENATION AMONG PARENTS, TEACHERS, PEERS, AND INDIVIDUAL PUPILS. THE PATTERNS CREATE LEARNING CULTURES OF DIFFERENT PRODUCTIVITY IN VARIOUS CLASSROOMS. THE DATA…

Maker Culture and "Minecraft": Implications for the Future of Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Niemeyer, Dodie J.; Gerber, Hannah R.

2015-01-01

Collaborative learning environments found with gaming communities can provide excellent structures to study the way that learners act within informal learning environments. For example, many of these gaming communities encourage gamers to create videogames and virtual world walkthroughs and commentaries. Walkthroughs and commentaries provide…

Needs, Pains, and Motivations in Autonomous Agents.

PubMed

Starzyk, Janusz A; Graham, James; Puzio, Leszek

This paper presents the development of a motivated learning (ML) agent with symbolic I/O. Our earlier work on the ML agent was enhanced, giving it autonomy for interaction with other agents. Specifically, we equipped the agent with drives and pains that establish its motivations to learn how to respond to desired and undesired events and create related abstract goals. The purpose of this paper is to explore the autonomous development of motivations and memory in agents within a simulated environment. The ML agent has been implemented in a virtual environment created within the NeoAxis game engine. Additionally, to illustrate the benefits of an ML-based agent, we compared the performance of our algorithm against various reinforcement learning (RL) algorithms in a dynamic test scenario, and demonstrated that our ML agent learns better than any of the tested RL agents.This paper presents the development of a motivated learning (ML) agent with symbolic I/O. Our earlier work on the ML agent was enhanced, giving it autonomy for interaction with other agents. Specifically, we equipped the agent with drives and pains that establish its motivations to learn how to respond to desired and undesired events and create related abstract goals. The purpose of this paper is to explore the autonomous development of motivations and memory in agents within a simulated environment. The ML agent has been implemented in a virtual environment created within the NeoAxis game engine. Additionally, to illustrate the benefits of an ML-based agent, we compared the performance of our algorithm against various reinforcement learning (RL) algorithms in a dynamic test scenario, and demonstrated that our ML agent learns better than any of the tested RL agents.

Sudden Unexpected Infant Death and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome: Reducing the Risk

MedlinePlus

... the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) to learn more about these and other actions. Creating a Safe Sleep Environment Learn more about safe sleep environments and reducing ...

Strategic planning for future learning environments: an exploration of interpersonal, interprofessional and political factors.

PubMed

Schmidt, Cathrine

2013-09-01

This article, written from the stance of a public planner and a policy maker, explores the challenges and potential in creating future learning environments through the concept of a new learning landscape. It is based on the belief that physical planning can support the strategic goals of universities. In Denmark, a political focus on education as a mean to improve national capacity for innovation and growth are redefining the universities role in society. This is in turn changing the circumstances for the physical planning. Drawing on examples of physical initiatives in three different scales--city, building and room scale, the paper highlights how space and place matters on an interpersonal, an interprofessional and a political level. The article suggests that a wider understanding of how new learning landscapes are created--both as a material reality and a political discourse--can help frame an emerging community of practice. This involves university leaders, faculty and students, architects, designers and urban planners, citizens and policy makers with the common goal of creating future learning environments today.

The World as Functional Learning Environment: An Intercultural Learning Network. Interactive Technology Laboratory Report #7.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cohen, Moshe; And Others

Electronic networks provide new opportunities to create functional learning environments which allow students in many different locations to carry out joint educational activities. A set of participant observation studies was conducted in the context of a cross-cultural, cross-language network called the Intercultural Learning Network in order to…

Experience in Education Environment Virtualization within the Automated Information System "Platonus" (Kazakhstan)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Abeldina, Zhaidary; Moldumarova, Zhibek; Abeldina, Rauza; Makysh, Gulmira; Moldumarova, Zhuldyz Ilibaevna

2016-01-01

This work reports on the use of virtual tools as means of learning process activation. A good result can be achieved by combining the classical learning with modern computer technology. By creating a virtual learning environment and using multimedia learning tools one can obtain a significant result while facilitating the development of students'…

The Application of an Adaptive, Web-Based Learning Environment on Oxidation-Reduction Reactions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Own, Zangyuan

2006-01-01

The World Wide Web is increasingly being used as a vehicle for flexible learning, where learning is seen to be free from time, geographical, and participation constraints. In addition to flexibility, the Web facilitates student-centered approaches, creating a motivating and active learning environment. The purpose of this study is to set up an…

An Exploratory Review of Design Principles in Constructivist Gaming Learning Environments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rosario, Roberto A. Munoz; Widmeyer, George R.

2009-01-01

Creating a design theory for Constructivist Gaming Learning Environment necessitates, among other things, the establishment of design principles. These principles have the potential to help designers produce games, where users achieve higher levels of learning. This paper focuses on twelve design principles: Probing, Distributed, Multiple Routes,…

Breaking the Waves: Routines and Rituals in Entrepreneurship Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Neergaard, Helle; Christensen, Dorthe Refslund

2017-01-01

Learning is related to the environment created for the learning experience. This environment is often highly routinized and involves a certain social structure, but in entrepreneurship education, such routinization and structure may actually counteract the learning goals. This article investigates how classroom routines and rituals impact on…

Understanding Students' Experiences of Well-Being in Learning Environments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stanton, Alisa; Zandvliet, David; Dhaliwal, Rosie; Black, Tara

2016-01-01

With the recent release of a new international charter on health promoting universities and institutions of higher education, universities and colleges are increasingly interested in providing learning experiences that enhance and support student well-being. Despite the recognition of learning environments as a potential setting for creating and…

A Comparative Study of Immigrant Children Starting Childcare

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Guo, Karen

2017-01-01

This comparative study investigated the experiences of starting childcare of three immigrant children in three different learning environments in New Zealand. The notion of learning environment was explored as a way of thinking about how different people, places, and approaches to learning have interacted to create a particular site for the…

Creating an Interactive and Responsive Teaching Environment to Inspire Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Paladino, Angelina

2008-01-01

Teaching students to understand, disable, and solve problems is one of the largest challenges educators face in undergraduate marketing education. My teaching philosophy is centered on the creation of an interactive learning environment. This encompasses problem-based teaching and collaborative learning to foster discussions between students and…

Creating an Organic Knowledge-Building Environment within an Asynchronous Distributed Learning Context.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Moller, Leslie; Prestera, Gustavo E.; Harvey, Douglas; Downs-Keller, Margaret; McCausland, Jo-Ann

2002-01-01

Discusses organic architecture and suggests that learning environments should be designed and constructed using an organic approach, so that learning is not viewed as a distinct human activity but incorporated into everyday performance. Highlights include an organic knowledge-building model; information objects; scaffolding; discourse action…

Restructuring for Caring and Effective Education: An Administrative Guide to Creating Heterogeneous Schools.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Villa, Richard A.; And Others

This collection of papers offers advice on restructuring education to create heterogeneous schools, with the goal of creating happy, comfortable, and successful learning environments for all the children and adults who learn and teach in them. Section I, titled "A Rationale for Restructuring and the Change Process," contains the following papers:…

The role of physicality in rich programming environments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Allison S.; Schunn, Christian D.; Flot, Jesse; Shoop, Robin

2013-12-01

Computer science proficiency continues to grow in importance, while the number of students entering computer science-related fields declines. Many rich programming environments have been created to motivate student interest and expertise in computer science. In the current study, we investigated whether a recently created environment, Robot Virtual Worlds (RVWs), can be used to teach computer science principles within a robotics context by examining its use in high-school classrooms. We also investigated whether the lack of physicality in these environments impacts student learning by comparing classrooms that used either virtual or physical robots for the RVW curriculum. Results suggest that the RVW environment leads to significant gains in computer science knowledge, that virtual robots lead to faster learning, and that physical robots may have some influence on algorithmic thinking. We discuss the implications of physicality in these programming environments for learning computer science.

Pupil-Teacher Adjustment and Mutual Adaptation in Creating Classroom Learning Environments. Final Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fox, Robert S.; And Others

This investigation is directed toward an analysis of the dynamics of the learning situations in a variety of public school elementary and secondary classrooms. The focus of the project is to make a comparative analysis of the patterns of cooperation or alienation among parents, teachers, peers and individual pupils which create learning cultures…

Negotiation: How Four Youth Organizations Create Learning Environments.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Deschenes, Sarah; McDonald, Morva

This paper details the efforts of four organizations that have been able to negotiate their environments effectively, in the hopes that the analysis provides insights into how organizations are able to establish valuable learning environments for youth in nonschool hours. The negotiation, the process of dealing with various layers of environments…

Networked Environments that Create Hybrid Spaces for Learning Science

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Otrel-Cass, Kathrin; Khoo, Elaine; Cowie, Bronwen

2014-01-01

Networked learning environments that embed the essence of the Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework utilise pedagogies that encourage dialogic practices. This can be of significance for classroom teaching across all curriculum areas. In science education, networked environments are thought to support student investigations of scientific problems,…

Treasure hunt of mineral resources: a serious game in a virtual world

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Boniello, Annalisa

2015-04-01

This posterdescribes a geoscience activities on mineral resources for students of 14-18 years old. The activities are created as a treasure hunt of mineral resources, students must pass test and solve questions, search mineral in different environments: near a volcanos, in the river, in a lake, in a cave, under the sea and on a mountain. The activity is created using a virtual environment a virtual world built with a software, Opensim, a opensource software. In this virtual world every student as avatar, a virtual rapresentation of himself, search information, objects, mineral as in a serious game, a digital serious game. In the serious game buit as a treasure hunt, students interact with environment in a learning by doing, and they interact with other students in a cooperative learning and a collaborative environment. In the hunt there is a challenge that student must overcome: understanding what is a mineral resource collecting data on mineral analyzing environments where they are created so the students can improve motivation and learn, and improve scientific skills.

Mathematical Teachers' Perception: Mobile Learning and Constructing 21st Century Collaborative Cloud-Computing Environments in Elementary Public Schools in the State of Kuwait

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Alqallaf, Nadeyah

2016-01-01

The purpose of this study was to examine Kuwaiti mathematical elementary teachers' perceptions about their ability to integrate M-learning (mobile learning) into their current teaching practices and the major barriers hindering teachers' ability to create an M-learning environment. Furthermore, this study sought to understand teachers' perceptions…

MODeLeR: A Virtual Constructivist Learning Environment and Methodology for Object-Oriented Design

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Coffey, John W.; Koonce, Robert

2008-01-01

This article contains a description of the organization and method of use of an active learning environment named MODeLeR, (Multimedia Object Design Learning Resource), a tool designed to facilitate the learning of concepts pertaining to object modeling with the Unified Modeling Language (UML). MODeLeR was created to provide an authentic,…

From the Perspective of Community of Inquiry Framework: An Examination of Facebook Uses by Pre-Service Teachers as a Learning Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kucuk, Sirin; Sahin, Ismail

2013-01-01

Online and blended learning, developed with advances in technology, have gained relative importance in modern communities. In recent years, the concept of creating learning communities has been coined to increase effectiveness of these learning environments. Based on this concept, Garrison, Anderson, and Archer (2000) developed the Community of…

The lifecycle of e-learning course in the adaptive educational environment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gustun, O. N.; Budaragin, N. V.

2017-01-01

In the article we have considered the lifecycle model of the e-learning course in the electronic educational environment. This model consists of three stages and nine phases. In order to implement the adaptive control of the learning process we have determined the actions which are necessary to undertake at different phases of the e-learning course lifecycle. The general characteristics of the SPACEL-technology is given for creating adaptive educational environments of the next generation.

Instructional Designers' Media Selection Practices for Distributed Problem-Based Learning Environments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fells, Stephanie

2012-01-01

The design of online or distributed problem-based learning (dPBL) is a nascent, complex design problem. Instructional designers are challenged to effectively unite the constructivist principles of problem-based learning (PBL) with appropriate media in order to create quality dPBL environments. While computer-mediated communication (CMC) tools and…

Promoting Positive Academic Dispositions Using a Web-Based PBL Environment: The GlobalEd 2 Project

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brown, Scott W.; Lawless, Kimberly A.; Boyer, Mark A.

2013-01-01

Problem-based learning (PBL) is an instructional design approach for promoting student learning, understanding and knowledge development in context rich settings. Previous PBL research has primarily focused on face-to-face learning environments, but current technologies afford PBL designers the opportunities to create online, virtual, PBL…

Comparison of 1:1 and 1:m CSCL Environment for Collaborative Concept Mapping

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lin, C.-P.; Wong, L.-H.; Shao, Y.-J.

2012-01-01

This paper reports an investigation into the effects of collaborative concept mapping in a digital learning environment, in terms of students' overall learning gains, knowledge retention, quality of student artefacts (the collaboratively created concept maps), interactive patterns, and learning perceptions. Sixty-four 12-year-old students from two…

Assessment in Immersive Virtual Environments: Cases for Learning, of Learning, and as Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Code, Jillianne; Zap, Nick

2017-01-01

The key to education reform lies in exploring alternative forms of assessment. Alternative performance assessments provide a more valid measure than multiple-choice tests of students' conceptual understanding and higher-level skills such as problem solving and inquiry. Advances in game-based and virtual environment technologies are creating new…

Web-Based History Learning Environments: Helping All Students Learn and Like History

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Okolo, Cynthia M.; Englert, Carol Sue; Bouck, Emily C.; Heutsche, Anne M.

2007-01-01

This article explores the benefits of the Internet to enhance history instruction for all learners. The authors describe a Web-based learning environment, the Virtual History Museum (VHM), that helps teachers create motivating, inquiry-based history units. VHM also allows teachers to build supports for learners with disabilities or other learning…

Creating Learning Momentum through Overt Teaching Interactions during Real Acute Care Episodes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Piquette, Dominique; Moulton, Carol-Anne; LeBlanc, Vicki R.

2015-01-01

Clinical supervisors fulfill a dual responsibility towards patient care and learning during clinical activities. Assuming such roles in today's clinical environments may be challenging. Acute care environments present unique learning opportunities for medical trainees, as well as specific challenges. The goal of this paper was to better understand…

Cultivating ICT Students' Interpersonal Soft Skills in Online Learning Environments Using Traditional Active Learning Techniques

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Myers, Trina S.; Blackman, Anna; Andersen, Trevor; Hay, Rachel; Lee, Ickjai; Gray, Heather

2014-01-01

Flexible online delivery of tertiary ICT programs is experiencing rapid growth. Creating an online environment that develops team building and interpersonal skills is difficult due to factors such as student isolation and the individual-centric model of online learning that encourages discrete study rather than teamwork. Incorporating teamwork…

Wise Humanising Creativity: Changing How We Create in a Virtual Learning Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chappell, Kerry; Walsh, Chris; Wren, Heather; Kenny, Karen; Schmoelz, Alexander; Stouraitis, Elias

2017-01-01

This article interrogates how a particular conception of creativity: "wise humanising creativity" (WHC) is manifest within a virtual learning environment (VLE) with children and young people. It reports on the outcomes of C[superscript 2]Learn, a three-year European Commission funded project which introduced innovative digital gaming…

The Physics Learning Program at UW-Madison: Strategies for Creating an Inclusive Learning Environment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nossal, S. M.; Watson, L. E.; Jacob, A. T.; Reading, J. A.

2005-05-01

The Physics Learning Program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison provides a supportive learning environment for introductory physics students potentially at-risk for having academic trouble or for feeling isolated at the University. Physics is a gateway course for many undergraduate science majors such as biology, physics, geophysics, atmospheric science, and astronomy, and for pre-health professions. Many students struggle with their physics courses due to factors including large class sizes, isolation and lack of study partners, and/or lack of confidence in mathematical problem solving skills. Our students include those with learning disabilities, no high school physics, weak math backgrounds, and/or on academic probation. We also work with students who may be feeling isolated, such as students from historically underrepresented racial and ethnic groups, first generation college students, returning adults, international students, and students from small rural schools. Many of our students are also part of retention programs such as the TRIO program, the Academic Advancement Program, the McNair Scholars Program, and the McBurney Disability Resource Center. The Physics Learning Program's Peer Mentor Tutor program is run in conjunction with similar programs for chemistry and biochemistry at the University of Wisconsin. We will discuss strategies we use for creating an inclusive learning environment that engages students in their learning. Such strategies include small group instruction, ongoing training of the tutors, teaching problem solving skills, and creating a welcoming atmosphere.

Cultivating Collaborations: Site Specific Design for Embodied Science Learning.

PubMed

Gill, Katherine; Glazier, Jocelyn; Towns, Betsy

2018-05-21

Immersion in well-designed outdoor environments can foster the habits of mind that enable critical and authentic scientific questions to take root in students' minds. Here we share two design cases in which careful, collaborative, and intentional design of outdoor learning environments for informal inquiry provide people of all ages with embodied opportunities to learn about the natural world, developing the capacity for understanding ecology and the ability to empathize, problem-solve and reflect. Embodied learning, as facilitated by and in well-designed outdoor learning environments, leads students to develop new ways of seeing, new scientific questions, new ways to connect with ideas, with others and new ways of thinking about the natural world. Using examples from our collaborative practices as experiential learning designers, we illustrate how creating the habits of mind critical to creating scientists, science-interested, and science-aware individuals benefits from providing students spaces to engage in embodied learning in nature. We show how public landscapes designed in creative partnerships between educators, scientists, designers and the public have potential to amplify science learning for all.

Towards New Cultures of Learning: Personal Learning Environments as a Developmental Perspective for Improving Higher Education Language Courses

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Laakkonen, Ilona; Taalas, Peppi

2015-01-01

This article provides readers with an understanding of the concept of the personal learning environment (PLE). It suggests that PLEs can be used in two complementary ways: as a developmental lens for integrating ICT and creating new pedagogical practices and digital literacies for academic language learning, and as a context in which learners can…

Supporting Self-Improvement in Teaching, Literacy, Language and Numeracy. Tools for Staff Development. Module 3: Resources and the Learning Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Basic Skills Agency, 2007

2007-01-01

In unit 1 we consider practical approaches to: (1) creating an effective learning environment; (2) selecting and using resources; (3) using ICT at different stages in the teaching and learning cycle; and (4) getting away from worksheets. Unit 2 looks at effective working with learning supporters and co-workers. [For related reports, see…

Women of Color School Leaders: Leadership Schools Should Not Ignore

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Haar, Jean M.; Robicheau, Jerry W.

2009-01-01

School districts are faced with challenges resulting from the changing demographics of the student population. Consequently, school districts are creating positive, multicultural learning environments. School districts intent on establishing multicultural learning environments should consider the contributions people of color, specifically women…

Synchronous Learning Best Practices: An Action Research Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Warden, Clyde A.; Stanworth, James O.; Ren, Jian Biao; Warden, Antony R.

2013-01-01

Low cost and significant advances in technology now allow instructors to create their own virtual learning environments. Creating social interactions within a virtual space that emulates the physical classroom remains challenging. While students are familiar with virtual worlds and video meetings, they are inexperienced as virtual learners. Over a…

Socio-Technical Dimensions of an Outdoor Mobile Learning Environment: A Three-Phase Design-Based Research Investigation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Land, Susan M.; Zimmerman, Heather Toomey

2015-01-01

This design-based research project examines three iterations of Tree Investigators, a learning environment designed to support science learning outdoors at an arboretum and nature center using mobile devices (iPads). Researchers coded videorecords and artifacts created by children and parents (n = 53) to understand how both social and…

The Effects of Collaborative Models in Second Life on French Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hsiao, Indy Y. T.; Yang, Stephen J. H.; Chia-Jui, Chu

2015-01-01

French is the ninth most widely used language globally, but French-learning environments in Taiwan have been insufficient. Language acquisition is easier in a natural setting, and so such a setting should be available to language learners wherever possible. This study aimed to (1) create an authentic environment for learning French in Second Life…

Cognitive Diffusion Model: Facilitating EFL Learning in an Authentic Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shadiev, Rustam; Hwang, Wu-Yuin; Huang, Yueh-Min; Liu, Tzu-Yu

2017-01-01

For this study, we designed learning activities in which students applied newly acquired knowledge to solve meaningful daily life problems in their local community--a real, familiar, and relevant environment for students. For example, students learned about signs and rules in class and then applied this new knowledge to create their own rules for…

Creating an Optimal Language Learning Environment: A Focus on Family and Culture

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cheng, Li-Rong Lilly

2009-01-01

Understanding the family systems and structures of our diverse populations is one of the most important tasks of professionals in education. Children learn from their family, school, and community. They learn from their experiences by observing, talking, and interacting with their environment. Parents play a pivotal role in the education of their…

Learning Objects and Gerontology

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Weinreich, Donna M.; Tompkins, Catherine J.

2006-01-01

Virtual AGE (vAGE) is an asynchronous educational environment that utilizes learning objects focused on gerontology and a learning anytime/anywhere philosophy. This paper discusses the benefits of asynchronous instruction and the process of creating learning objects. Learning objects are "small, reusable chunks of instructional media" Wiley…

The OpenForest Portal as an Open Learning Ecosystem: Co-Developing in the Study of a Multidisciplinary Phenomenon in a Cultural Context

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Liljeström, Anu; Enkenberg, Jorma; Vanninen, Petteri; Vartiainen, Henriikka; Pöllänen, Sinikka

2014-01-01

This paper discusses the OpenForest portal and its related multidisciplinary learning project. The OpenForest portal is an open learning environment and ecosystem, in which students can participate in co-developing and co-creating practices. The aim of the OpenForest ecosystem is to create an extensive interactive network of diverse learning…

Creating learning momentum through overt teaching interactions during real acute care episodes.

PubMed

Piquette, Dominique; Moulton, Carol-Anne; LeBlanc, Vicki R

2015-10-01

Clinical supervisors fulfill a dual responsibility towards patient care and learning during clinical activities. Assuming such roles in today's clinical environments may be challenging. Acute care environments present unique learning opportunities for medical trainees, as well as specific challenges. The goal of this paper was to better understand the specific contexts in which overt teaching interactions occurred in acute care environments. We conducted a naturalistic observational study based on constructivist grounded theory methodology. Using participant observation, we collected data on the teaching interactions occurring between clinical supervisors and medical trainees during 74 acute care episodes in the critical care unit of two academic centers, in Toronto, Canada. Three themes contributed to a better understanding of the conditions in which overt teaching interactions among trainees and clinical supervisors occurred during acute care episodes: seizing emergent learning opportunities, coming up against challenging conditions, and creating learning momentum. Our findings illustrate how overt learning opportunities emerged from certain clinical situations and how clinical supervisors and trainees could purposefully modify unfavorable learning conditions. None of the acute care episodes encountered in the critical care environment represented ideal conditions for learning. Yet, clinical supervisors and trainees succeeded in engaging in overt teaching interactions during many episodes. The educational value of these overt teaching interactions should be further explored, as well as the impact of interventions aimed at increasing their use in acute care environments.

The experiment editor: supporting inquiry-based learning with virtual labs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Galan, D.; Heradio, R.; de la Torre, L.; Dormido, S.; Esquembre, F.

2017-05-01

Inquiry-based learning is a pedagogical approach where students are motivated to pose their own questions when facing problems or scenarios. In physics learning, students are turned into scientists who carry out experiments, collect and analyze data, formulate and evaluate hypotheses, and so on. Lab experimentation is essential for inquiry-based learning, yet there is a drawback with traditional hands-on labs in the high costs associated with equipment, space, and maintenance staff. Virtual laboratories are helpful to reduce these costs. This paper enriches the virtual lab ecosystem by providing an integrated environment to automate experimentation tasks. In particular, our environment supports: (i) scripting and running experiments on virtual labs, and (ii) collecting and analyzing data from the experiments. The current implementation of our environment supports virtual labs created with the authoring tool Easy Java/Javascript Simulations. Since there are public repositories with hundreds of freely available labs created with this tool, the potential applicability to our environment is considerable.

Participatory Culture as a Model for How New Media Technologies Can Change Public Schools. WCER Working Paper No. 2016-7

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Halverson, Rich; Kallio, Julie; Hackett, Sarah; Halverson, Erica

2016-01-01

Students who have mastered the ability to create their own learning environments have an advantage over students who rely on traditional environments to structure their learning. Students who understand how to use new tools for school learning typically do not pick up these skills at school--they learn from the habits of parents and peers who work…

Natural Learning: The Life of an Environmental Schoolyard. Creating Environments for Rediscovering Nature's Way of Teaching.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Moore, Robin C.; Wong, Herb H.

The "Environment Yard" project is a 10-year effort to transform an ordinary asphalt schoolyard into a lush, naturalized environment. This book describes the project from which a natural extension of the classroom was created, reducing student boredom and antisocial behavior as they became engaged in the landscape. It instructs on how to…

Produsage in a/synchronous learner-led e-learning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kazmer, Michelle M.

2011-04-01

Creating a successful produsage environment for a required course taught via e-learning requires analyzing various factors: the learning context, learner-led education in required classes, the structure of the class, and reflections and evaluations of each semester's iteration of the course. Taking a produsage perspective, this paper analyzes the long-term development of a required graduate-level course in information organization. The course is examined closely to show how its materials, assignments, technology, instruction, and culture contribute to a learner-led produsage environment and lasting knowledge creation. The analysis leads to implications for course design and working with learners to create knowledge that may be applied in multiple settings.

Innovation in Open & Distance Learning: Successful Development of Online and Web-Based Learning.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lockwood, Fred, Ed.; Gooley, Anne, Ed.

This book contains 19 papers examining innovation in open and distance learning through development of online and World Wide Web-based learning. The following papers are included: "Innovation in Distributed Learning: Creating the Environment" (Fred Lockwood); "Innovation in Open and Distance Learning: Some Lessons from Experience…

Using the Chemistry Classroom as the Starting Point for Engaging Urban High School Students and Their Families in Pro-Environmental Behaviors

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Daubenmire, Patrick L.; van Opstal, Mary T.; Hall, Natalie J.; Wunar, Bryan; Kowrach, Nicole

2017-01-01

Evolving mobile technology and the rapid spread of STEM-focused informal learning environments have created a unique opportunity to break through the barriers that have traditionally separated diverse learning contexts such as school, family, and community. Previous research suggest that in a well-designed family learning environment, both parents…

A Guide to Personalizing Learning: Suggestions for the Race to the Top-District Competition. An Education White Paper

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Evans, Meg

2012-01-01

The top priority for the U.S. Department of Education's new Race to the Top-District (RTT-D) competition is to create personalized-learning environments to bolster student achievement: "Absolute Priority 1: Personalized Learning Environments. To meet this priority, an applicant must coherently and comprehensively address how it will build on…

Innovative Socio-Technical Environments in Support of Distributed Intelligence and Lifelong Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fischer, G; Konomi, S.

2007-01-01

Individual, unaided human abilities are constrained. Media have helped us to transcend boundaries in thinking, working, learning and collaborating by supporting "distributed intelligence". Wireless and mobile technologies provide new opportunities for creating novel socio-technical environments and thereby empowering humans, but not without…

Healthy Children Ready to Learn

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ellerbee, William J.; Bramson-Paul, Phyllis; Marcellino, Sara

2006-01-01

Education leaders throughout California are playing a key role in creating healthy school environments for the 6 million students in the state's public schools. Recognizing the strong connection between health and learning, they have made significant changes to the nutrition environment in their schools. This article looks at how these…

Autism and Digital Learning Environments: Processes of Interaction and Mediation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Passerino, Liliana M.; Santarosa, Lucila M. Costi

2008-01-01

Using a socio-historical perspective to explain social interaction and taking advantage of information and communication technologies (ICTs) currently available for creating digital learning environments (DLEs), this paper seeks to redress the absence of empirical data concerning technology-aided social interaction between autistic individuals. In…

Location-Based Learning through Augmented Reality

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chou, Te-Lien; Chanlin, Lih-Juan

2014-01-01

A context-aware and mixed-reality exploring tool cannot only effectively provide an information-rich environment to users, but also allows them to quickly utilize useful resources and enhance environment awareness. This study integrates Augmented Reality (AR) technology into smartphones to create a stimulating learning experience at a university…

(Re)Designing Learning Environments.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Edutopia, 2002

2002-01-01

This 20-page issue explores the opportunity for creating 21st century learning environments that not only focus on different kinds of educational architecture but also emphasize how time is used, teacher-student relationships, collaboration, the benefits of real-world projects, and community involvement. In Minnesota, high school juniors and…

Speeding Up Team Learning.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Edmondson, Amy; Bohmer, Richard; Pisano, Gary

2001-01-01

A study of 16 cardiac surgery teams looked at how the teams adapted to new ways of working. The challenge of team management is to implement new processes as quickly as possible. Steps for creating a learning team include selecting a mix of skills and expertise, framing the challenge, and creating an environment of psychological safety. (JOW)

Beyond the Biology: A Systematic Investigation of Noncontent Instructor Talk in an Introductory Biology Course

PubMed Central

Seidel, Shannon B.; Reggi, Amanda L.; Schinske, Jeffrey N.; Burrus, Laura W.; Tanner, Kimberly D.

2015-01-01

Instructors create classroom environments that have the potential to impact learning by affecting student motivation, resistance, and self-efficacy. However, despite the critical importance of the learning environment in increasing conceptual understanding, little research has investigated what instructors say and do to create learning environments in college biology classrooms. We systematically investigated the language used by instructors that does not directly relate to course content and defined the construct of Instructor Talk. Transcripts were generated from a semester-long, cotaught introductory biology course (n = 270 students). Transcripts were analyzed using a grounded theory approach to identify emergent categories of Instructor Talk. The five emergent categories from analysis of more than 600 quotes were, in order of prevalence, 1) Building the Instructor/Student Relationship, 2) Establishing Classroom Culture, 3) Explaining Pedagogical Choices, 4) Sharing Personal Experiences, and 5) Unmasking Science. Instances of Instructor Talk were present in every class session analyzed and ranged from six to 68 quotes per session. The Instructor Talk framework is a novel research variable that could yield insights into instructor effectiveness, origins of student resistance, and methods for overcoming stereotype threat. Additionally, it holds promise in professional development settings to assist instructors in reflecting on the learning environments they create. PMID:26582237

Creating a Learning Organization: A Case Study of Outcomes and Lessons Learned.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bierema, Laura L.; Berdish, David M.

1999-01-01

Discusses how organizations are gaining a competitive edge in a global business environment through learning and highlights a learning organization implementation case study of a division of Ford Motor Company. Examines the strategic initiative; performance improvement results; individual learning, including interpersonal development and…

Flexible Learning in an Information Society

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Khan, Badrul, Ed.

2007-01-01

Flexible Learning in an Information Society uses a flexible learning framework to explain the best ways of creating a meaningful learning environment. This framework consists of eight factors--institutional, management, technological, pedagogical, ethical, interface design, resource support, and evaluation--and a systematic understanding of these…

Technology-Supported Learning Environments in Science Classrooms in India

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gupta, Adit; Fisher, Darrell

2012-01-01

The adoption of technology has created a major impact in the field of education at all levels. Technology-supported classroom learning environments, involving modern information and communication technologies, are also entering the Indian educational system in general and the schools in Jammu region (Jammu & Kashmir State, India) in…

Selecting Educational Equipment and Materials for School and Home.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Moyer, Joan, Ed.

This revised publication focuses on selection issues relating to multicultural anti-bias curriculum, diversity, and inclusion while giving special consideration to the use of computers in classrooms. The first part of the booklet deals with the learning environment. The first article, "Creating the Learning Environment: Context for Learning…

The Design of Learning Experiences: A Connection to Physical Environments.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stueck, Lawrence E.; Tanner, C. Kenneth

The school environment must create a rich, beautiful, dynamic, meaningful experience for students to learn; however, architects, school boards, and the state focus almost exclusively only on the building when making design decisions. This document lists specific aspects to developing a visionary campus: one that provides a three-dimensional…

Teaching Strategies Used to Maintain Classroom Order

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Roman, Daniel

2007-01-01

With the ever evolving environment of the classroom setting the role of the teacher is constantly being challenged and the responsibilities remain the same. Teachers are required to create a safe learning environment for student learning. Although this is an overwhelming responsibility it is not impossible. This study explored teachers'…

Developing a Supportive Learning Environment in a Newly Formed Organisation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lancaster, Sue; Di Milia, Lee

2015-01-01

Purpose: The aim of this study was to examine the factors that employees perceived were important in creating a supportive learning environment in a recently merged organisation. The study provides rich qualitative data from the employees' perspective. Design/methodology/approach: This case study used a qualitative phenomenological constructivist…

The Components of Good Acoustics in a High Performance School

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stewart, William

2009-01-01

Acoustics has received greater importance in the learning environment in recent years. In August 2000, The Acoustical Society of America (ASA) published the study "Classroom Acoustics: A Resource for Creating Learning Environments with Desirable Listening Conditions" providing a framework for understanding the qualities, descriptors of the…

Audio Visual Technology and the Teaching of Foreign Languages.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Halbig, Michael C.

Skills in comprehending the spoken language source are becoming increasingly important due to the audio-visual orientation of our culture. It would seem natural, therefore, to adjust the learning goals and environment accordingly. The video-cassette machine is an ideal means for creating this learning environment and developing the listening…

A Model for Social Presence in Online Classrooms

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wei, Chun-Wang; Chen, Nian-Shing; Kinshuk,

2012-01-01

It is now possible to create flexible learning environments without time and distance barriers on the internet. However, research has shown that learners typically experience isolation and alienation in online learning environments. These negative experiences can be reduced by enhancing social presence. In order to better facilitate the perceived…

Prevention Research & the IDEA Discipline Provisions: A Guide for School Administrators.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

2001

This guide from the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services in the U.S. Department of Education is designed to assist school administrators in understanding the challenges faced in creating safe, effective learning environments, whole school practices that have dramatically increased effective learning environments, and under what…

Technology Uses in Creating Second Language Learning Environments: When Learners Are Creators

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zhang, Gaoming

2010-01-01

From a learner-as-creator perspective, this study investigates how second language learners use technology, especially computers and the Internet, to construct their language learning environments. This study also attempts to identify factors that affected the frequency of technology by second language learners. Participants were 102 Chinese…

Stereotyping in the Learning Environment: Teachers' Perceptions and Strategies for Change.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hoover, Nora Lee

This paper calls for the elimination of sex role stereotyping in classrooms and reading programs and suggests strategies for creating nonsexist learning environments. The first section defines sex role stereotpying, explains its detrimental effects, and points to evidence of its existence in classrooms and instructional materials. The second…

Supporting Teacher Orchestration in Ubiquitous Learning Environments: A Study in Primary Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Muñoz-Cristóbal, Juan A.; Jorrín-Abellán, Iván M.; Asensio-Pérez, Juan I.; Martínez-Monés, Alejandra; Prieto, Luis P.; Dimitriadis, Yannis

2015-01-01

During the last decades, educational contexts have transformed into complex technological and social ecologies, with mobile devices expanding the scope of education beyond the traditional classroom, creating so-called Ubiquitous Learning Environments (ULEs). However, these new technological opportunities entail an additional burden for teachers,…

Creating learning environments.

PubMed

Ollier, D

1995-01-01

The Healthcare Forum Journal has compiled this compendium to serve as a resource in building learning organizations. Our aim is to help healthcare organizations, policymakers, and others (payers, providers, patients, physicians, and citizens) rethink the system of healthcare delivery by opening up a dialogue--the ideas presented in Sandra Seagal's interview, ¿The Pillars of Learning¿, provide the groundwork for understanding how human dynamics impact learning, and the further resources section offers readers an annotated bibliography on the subject, as well as a listing of organizations that focus on systems thinking and how to create organizations that continually learn.

Energizing the nursing lecture: Application of the Theory of Multiple Intelligence Learning.

PubMed

Amerson, Roxanne

2006-01-01

Nurse educators struggle to find ways to create learning opportunities that are interactive and appeal to the needs of various students. The key to energizing the nursing lecture is to create an environment that encourages students to be active participants. It is essential to use creativity to design cognitive strategies that appeal to students' learning preferences. This article discusses the methods one educator has used to implement the Theory of Multiple Intelligence Learning in the classroom. Specific cognitive strategies that address the learning preferences of each intelligence are discussed.

Dimensions of E-Learning.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Khan, Badrul H.

2002-01-01

Considers factors that must be weighed in creating effective electronic learning environments and presents a basic framework for Web-based or electronic learning. Highlights include the institutional dimension; the pedagogical dimension; technological dimension; interface design; evaluation; management; resource support; and ethical…

Perspectives on learning through research on critical issues-based science center exhibitions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pedretti, Erminia G.

2004-07-01

Recently, science centers have created issues-based exhibitions as a way of communicating socioscientific subject matter to the public. Research in the last decade has investigated how critical issues-based installations promote more robust views of science, while creating effective learning environments for teaching and learning about science. The focus of this paper is to explore research conducted over a 10-year period that informs our understanding of the nature of learning through these experiences. Two specific exhibitions - Mine Games and A Question of Truth - provide the context for discussing this research. Findings suggest that critical issues-based installations challenge visitors in different ways - intellectually and emotionally. They provide experiences beyond usual phenomenon-based exhibitions and carry the potential to enhance learning by personalizing subject matter, evoking emotion, stimulating dialogue and debate, and promoting reflexivity. Critical issues-based exhibitions serve as excellent environments in which to explore the nature of learning in these nonschool settings.

A phenomenological research study: Perspectives of student learning through small group work between undergraduate nursing students and educators.

PubMed

Wong, Florence Mei Fung

2018-06-18

Small group work is an effective teaching-learning approach in nursing education to enhance students' learning in theoretical knowledge and skill development. Despite its potential advantageous effects on learning, little is known about its actual effects on students' learning from students' and educators' perspectives. To understand students' learning through small group work from the perspectives of students and educators. A qualitative study with focus group interviews was carried out. Semi-structured interviews with open-ended questions were performed with 13 undergraduate nursing students and 10 educators. Four main themes, "initiative learning", "empowerment of interactive group dynamics", "factors for creating effective learning environment", and "barriers influencing students' learning", were derived regarding students' learning in small group work based on the perspectives of the participants. The results showed the importance of learning attitudes of students in individual and group learning. Factors for creating an effective learning environment, including preference for forming groups, effective group size, and adequacy of discussion, facilitate students' learning with the enhancement of learning engagement in small group work. The identified barriers, such as "excessive group work", "conflicts", and "passive team members" can reduce students' motivation and enjoyment of learning. Small group work is recognized as an effective teaching method for knowledge enhancement and skill development in nursing education. All identified themes are important to understand the initiatives of students and group learning, factors influencing an effective learning environment, and barriers hindering students' learning. Nurse educators should pay more attention to the factors that influence an effective learning environment and reduce students' commitment and group dynamics. Moreover, students may need further support to reduce barriers that impede students' learning motivation and enjoyment. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Professional Connections through the Technology Learning Community

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ancar, LeQuetia N.; Freeman, Steven A.; Field, Dennis W.

2007-01-01

A learning community is a relatively old phenomenon that has resurfaced; it is making educators at institutions of higher education stand up and take notice. Grounded in collaborative and cooperative learning theories, learning communities have created environments in which student learning is the center of attention. The social construction of…

Developing Interactive E-Learning Activities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Watkins, Ryan

2005-01-01

Although e-learning can offer interactive and engaging learning experiences, the creative ideas that are necessary to create such environments are not always easy to come up with when designing, developing, or teaching e-learning courses. E-learning activities use online technologies such as chat rooms, discussion boards, or email to facilitate…

Blended Learning at the Boundary: Designing a New Internship

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Heckman, Robert; Østerlund, Carsten S.; Saltz, Jeffrey

2015-01-01

This paper explores how blended learning can enhance learning at the boundary between academia and industry, and make possible the design of a new kind of internship. Boundary theory proposes that socio-cultural discontinuities between different environments create opportunities for learning. Blended learning pedagogy makes it possible to make the…

Learning, Engagement, and Technology: Middle School Students' Three-Year Experience in Pervasive Technology Environments in South Korea

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hur, Jung Won; Oh, Jaekyeon

2012-01-01

This study explored an initiative that created a pervasive learning environment in a middle school in South Korea and examined its impact on student academic achievement and learning engagement. Forty students received a laptop to use for class projects, online collaboration, and lesson reviews over a 3-year period. To measure the effect of laptop…

Using Instructional Pervasive Game for School Children's Cultural Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chen, Cheng-Ping; Shih, Ju-Ling; Ma, Yi-Chun

2014-01-01

In the past ten years, mobile learning (m-learning) has created a new learning environment that enables learners, through active learning aids. Instructional pervasive gaming (IPG) seems to be an innovative way introduced to enhance m-learning. This study employed a theoretical IPG model to construct a cultural-based pervasive game. Individual and…

Social Virtual Worlds for Technology-Enhanced Learning on an Augmented Learning Platform

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jin, Li; Wen, Zhigang; Gough, Norman

2010-01-01

Virtual worlds have been linked with e-learning applications to create virtual learning environments (VLEs) for the past decade. However, while they can support many educational activities that extend both traditional on-campus teaching and distance learning, they are used primarily for learning content generated and managed by instructors. With…

Human Machine Learning Symbiosis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Walsh, Kenneth R.; Hoque, Md Tamjidul; Williams, Kim H.

2017-01-01

Human Machine Learning Symbiosis is a cooperative system where both the human learner and the machine learner learn from each other to create an effective and efficient learning environment adapted to the needs of the human learner. Such a system can be used in online learning modules so that the modules adapt to each learner's learning state both…

Confusion and Complex Learning during Interactions with Computer Learning Environments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lehman, Blair; D'Mello, Sidney; Graesser, Art

2012-01-01

Folk wisdom holds that being confused is detrimental to learning. However, research on emotions and learning suggest a somewhat more complex relationship between confusion and learning outcomes. In fact, it has been proposed that impasses that trigger states of cognitive disequilibrium and confusion can create opportunities for deep learning of…

A Development of Game-Based Learning Environment to Activate Interaction among Learners

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Takaoka, Ryo; Shimokawa, Masayuki; Okamoto, Toshio

Many studies and systems that incorporate elements such as “pleasure” and “fun” in the game to improve a learner's motivation have been developed in the field of learning environments. However, few are the studies of situations where many learners gather at a single computer and participate in a game-based learning environment (GBLE), and where the GBLE designs the learning process by controlling the interactions between learners such as competition, collaboration, and learning by teaching. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to propose a framework of educational control that induces and activates interaction between learners intentionally to create a learning opportunity that is based on the knowledge understanding model of each learner. In this paper, we explain the design philosophy and the framework of our GBLE called “Who becomes the king in the country of mathematics?” from a game viewpoint and describe the method of learning support control in the learning environment. In addition, we report the results of the learning experiment with our GBLE, which we carried out in a junior high school, and include some comments by a principal and a teacher. From the results of the experiment and some comments, we noticed that a game may play a significant role in weakening the learning relationship among students and creating new relationships in the world of the game. Furthermore, we discovered that learning support control of the GBLE has led to activation of the interaction between learners to some extent.

Using Language To Create Community: An Ethnographic Study.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kiedaisch, Jean

A study examined first-year students' out-of-class lives, focusing on the "potentially rich" environment created when students who are enrolled in a first-year seminar also live together. The students observed were members of the University of Vermont's Living and Learning Center. Both the living environment and the class were designed…

Effective Instructional Practice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Paulsel, Michelle L.

2004-01-01

Prospective teachers often take a course in classroom management to learn how to create an environment conducive to student learning. Typically, prospective teachers learn how to establish routines, develop rules to maintain classroom order, and arrange the classroom to facilitate learning. Many teachers graduate from college, however, with only…

How School Administrators and Board Members Are Improving Learning and Saving Money. Energy-Smart Building Choices.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Department of Energy, Washington, DC.

This guide shows ways that school administrators and board members can contribute to energy choice decisions for educational facilities, and it discusses how reducing operating costs also can create better learning environments. The guide reveals how design guidelines help create high-performance school buildings. It explains the use of energy…

Creating a Powerful Learning Environment with Networked Mobile Learning Devices

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Crawford, Valerie M.

2007-01-01

Highly mobile devices can make important information available to teachers in real-time, anywhere in the classroom, and in the form of easy-to-read graphical displays that support classroom decision making. By supporting such important teaching activities, we can create a high-performance classroom that supports teachers and the art of teaching,…

Building a Market Simulation to Teach Business Process Analysis: Effects of Realism on Engaged Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Peng, Jacob; Abdullah, Ira

2018-01-01

The emphases of student involvement and meaningful engagement in the learner-centered education model have created a new paradigm in an effort to generate a more engaging learning environment. This study examines the success of using different simulation platforms in creating a market simulation to teach business processes in the accounting…

Mobile Voting Tools for Creating Collaboration Environment and a New Educational Design of the University Lecture

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Titova, Svetlana

2014-01-01

Mobile devices can enhance learning experience in many ways: provide instant feedback and better diagnosis of learning problems; enhance learner autonomy; create mobile networking collaboration; help design enquiry-based activities based on augmented reality, geo-location awareness and video-capture. One of the main objectives of the international…

An Analysis of Factors Influencing Urbanite Woman Learner-Participation in Functional Literacy Programs in Selected Christian Churches, Accra

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Saah, Albert Amoah

2013-01-01

The promotion of adult functional literacy programs per se, neither creates the necessary motivation for learning, nor enhances the participation of adult learners in work-oriented or socio-cultural functional literacy programs. The task in learning-teaching transaction is to create the enabling environment for harnessing and enhancing…

Creating a Transformational Learning Experience: Immersing Students in an Intensive Interdisciplinary Learning Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

White, Shelley K.; Nitkin, Mindell Reiss

2014-01-01

The Simmons World Challenge is a unique, interdisciplinary program recently developed at Simmons College. It immerses students in an intensive winter-session course that challenges them to tackle a pressing social issue, such as poverty or hunger, and create actionable solutions to the problem. The program was conceived and designed to harness the…

Introducing Inmates to Extension through Financial Education and Experiential Learning Tools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Richel, Karen

2013-01-01

Research shows that in order to reduce recidivism rates in prisons, financial education and other life skills should be a mandatory topic in our prison systems. By creating a learning environment conducive to the specialized needs of this audience, an inmate's ability to set goals, recognize wants and needs, maintain bank accounts, create a…

Joyful Learning in Kindergarten. Revised Edition.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fisher, Bobbi

Applying the conditions of natural learning to create caring kindergarten classroom environments may support students as lifelong learners. This book presents a natural learning classroom model for implementing a whole-language approach in kindergarten. The chapters are as follows: (1) "My Beliefs about How Children Learn"; (2) "Applying Whole…

In-School Psychosocial Support Services for Safeguarding Children's Rights: Results and Implications of a Botswana Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ntinda, Kayi; Maree, Jacobus Gideon; Mpofu, Elias; Seeco, Elizabeth

2014-01-01

In-school psychosocial support services are intended to create safe learning environments for children, enabling the children to attain age-appropriate developmental tasks. This study investigated protections to children's right to safe learning environments through the provision of in-school psychosocial support services. Participants were 230…

Modeling Students' Problem Solving Performance in the Computer-Based Mathematics Learning Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lee, Young-Jin

2017-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to develop a quantitative model of problem solving performance of students in the computer-based mathematics learning environment. Design/methodology/approach: Regularized logistic regression was used to create a quantitative model of problem solving performance of students that predicts whether students can…

Study of the Index System for Assessing Learner-Centered Online Courses

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Li, Mei

2015-01-01

With the development of e-learning, the quality of web-based courses attracts extensive interest. This paper draws upon the results conducted amongst students enrolled in an online language course at a northern Chinese university. The design of the course aims to create the learner-centered environment: personalized learning environment,…

Creating Safe Learning Environments for At-Risk Students in Urban Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Smith, Shonta M.

2011-01-01

This article shows that students tend to prosper in safe learning environments and that stakeholders are disturbed by the number of at-risk students that are being suspended and expelled from urban schools. The suspensions and expulsions result from repeated offenses, including disrespect and insubordination, gang fights, and possession of illegal…

Assistive Technology for Young Children: Creating Inclusive Learning Environments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sadao, Kathleen C.; Robinson, Nancy B.

2010-01-01

Assistive technology (AT) can help young children with disabilities fully participate in natural, inclusive learning environments--but many early childhood professionals don't get the training they need to harness the power of AT. Fill that gap with this unintimidating, reader-friendly resource, the go-to guide to recommended AT practice for…

Mapping Context-Based Learning Environments: The Construction of an Instrument

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

de Putter-Smits, L. G. A.; Taconis, R.; Jochems, W. M. G.

2013-01-01

The current trend in science curricula is to adopt a context-based pedagogical approach to teaching. New study materials for this innovation are often designed by teachers working with university experts. In this article, it is proposed that teachers need to acquire corresponding teaching competences to create a context-based learning environment.…

Students' Reaction to WebCT: Implications for Designing On-Line Learning Environments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Osman, Mohamed Eltahir

2005-01-01

There is a growing number of web-based and web-assisted course development tools and products that can be used to create on-line learning environment. The utility of these products, however, varies greatly depending on their feasibility, prerequisite infrastructure, technical features, interface, and course development and management tools. WebCT…

Constructing Liminal Blends in a Collaborative Augmented-Reality Learning Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Enyedy, Noel; Danish, Joshua A.; DeLiema, David

2015-01-01

In vision-based augmented-reality (AR) environments, users view the physical world through a video feed or device that "augments" the display with a graphical or informational overlay. Our goal in this manuscript is to ask "how" and "why" these new technologies create opportunities for learning. We suggest that AR is…

The Complete Learning Spaces Book for Infants and Toddlers.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Isbell, Rebecca; Isbell, Christy

Based on the view that the early childhood care and education environment can have a tremendous influence on infant and toddler development, this book will assist early childhood teachers/caregivers in meeting the challenge of creating an effective learning environment for infants and toddlers. The book includes ideas for planning, using, and…

Learner-Responsive Instructional Strategies for Adults in Accelerated Classroom Formats: Creating Inclusive Learning Environments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gupta, Kalpana

2012-01-01

This study was focused on investigating inclusive learning environments in accelerated classroom formats. Three 8-week sections of an undergraduate course at Regis University were examined. Results from observations and surveys were analyzed to determine the effectiveness and consistency of 13 inclusive strategies derived from Wlodkowski and…

Creating the Strategic Learning Environment at City University London

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Quinsee, Susannah; Bullimore, Anise

2011-01-01

Purpose: This paper aims to describe the creation of a new approach to the implementation of educational technologies at a UK Higher Education Institution. Driven by changes in technology, an evaluation of the virtual learning environment (VLE) provided the opportunity to reassess the application of technology to the curriculum. However, such an…

Designing Science Learning Environments That Support Emerging Bilingual Students to Problematize Electrical Phenomena

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Suarez, Enrique A.

This dissertation investigates how emerging bilingual students make sense of natural phenomena through engaging in certain epistemic practices of science, and the elements of the learning environment that created those opportunities. Specifically, the dissertation focuses on how emerging bilingual students problematized electrical phenomena, like electric flow and electrical resistance, and how the design features of the environment (e.g., sequencing of activities, linguistic practices) may have supported students as they made sense of phenomena. The first study describes how for students presented and evaluated mechanistic models of electric flow, focusing specifically on how students identified and negotiated a disagreement between their explanatory models. The results from this study highlight the complexity of students' disagreements, not only because of the epistemological aspects related to presenting and evaluating knowledge, but also due to interpersonal dynamics and the discomfort associated with disagreeing with another person. The second study focuses on the design features of the learning environment that supported emerging bilingual students' investigations of electrical phenomena. The findings from this study highlight how a carefully designed set of activities, with the appropriate material resources (e.g., experimental tools), could support students to problematize electrical resistance. The third study describes how emerging bilingual students engaged in translanguaging practices and the contextual features of the learning environment that created and hindered opportunities for translanguaging. The findings from this study identify and articulate how emerging bilingual students engaged in translanguaging practices when problematizing electrical resistance, and strengthen the perspective that, in order to be equitable for emerging bilingual students, science learning environments need to act as translanguaging spaces. This dissertation makes three contributions to how science educators understand how elementary-aged emerging bilingual students learning science. First, I offer a detailed account of how emerging bilingual students engaged in epistemic practices to problematize electrical phenomena. Secondly, I argue learning environments need to create opportunities for emerging bilingual students to engage in productive epistemic work through leveraging multiple kinds of resources from their semiotic repertoires. Finally, this dissertation contributes to our understanding of how emerging bilingual students engage in translanguaging practices as they investigate and talk about the natural world.

E-Classroom of the 21st Century: Information Gaps

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Oluwatumbi, Oso Senny

2015-01-01

The introduction of technology into the classroom has revolutionized teaching and learning process. The 21st century learning environment creates exciting learning for students to collaborate and learn at their own pace making them active participants in learning process. The teacher is no-longer a dictator, pouring knowledge into passive learners…

A Situated Cultural Festival Learning System Based on Motion Sensing

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chang, Yi-Hsing; Lin, Yu-Kai; Fang, Rong-Jyue; Lu, You-Te

2017-01-01

A situated Chinese cultural festival learning system based on motion sensing is developed in this study. The primary design principle is to create a highly interactive learning environment, allowing learners to interact with Kinect through natural gestures in the designed learning situation to achieve efficient learning. The system has the…

Adaptive Learning Systems: Beyond Teaching Machines

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kara, Nuri; Sevim, Nese

2013-01-01

Since 1950s, teaching machines have changed a lot. Today, we have different ideas about how people learn, what instructor should do to help students during their learning process. We have adaptive learning technologies that can create much more student oriented learning environments. The purpose of this article is to present these changes and its…

Creating a Positive School Climate at the Junior High Level.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Licata, Vincent F.

One of the seven correlates of an effective school, as identified by the Effective Schools Research, is a positive school climate: a positive attitude on the part of the entire staff and student body exhibited through overt behavior that creates a warm, orderly learning environment. Development of such an environment depends upon: (1) strong…

Using Facebook as an informal learning environment.

PubMed

Cain, Jeff; Policastri, Anne

2011-12-15

To create, implement, and assess the effectiveness of an optional Facebook activity intended to expose students to contemporary business issues not covered in the core content of a pharmacy management and leadership course and to perspectives of experts and thought leaders external to their university. An informal learning strategy was used to create a Facebook group page and guest experts were identified and invited to submit posts pertaining to business-related topics. Students were given instructions for joining the Facebook group but informed that participation was optional. A mixed-methods approach using a student questionnaire, results on examination questions, and a student focus group was used to assess this activity. The informal design with no posting guidelines and no participation requirement was well received by students, who appreciated the unique learning environment and exposure to external experts. Facebook provides an informal learning environment for presenting contemporary topics and the thoughts of guest experts not affiliated with a college or school, thereby exposing students to relevant "real world" issues.

Using Facebook as an Informal Learning Environment

PubMed Central

Policastri, Anne

2011-01-01

Objective. To create, implement, and assess the effectiveness of an optional Facebook activity intended to expose students to contemporary business issues not covered in the core content of a pharmacy management and leadership course and to perspectives of experts and thought leaders external to their university. Design. An informal learning strategy was used to create a Facebook group page and guest experts were identified and invited to submit posts pertaining to business-related topics. Students were given instructions for joining the Facebook group but informed that participation was optional. Assessment. A mixed-methods approach using a student questionnaire, results on examination questions, and a student focus group was used to assess this activity. The informal design with no posting guidelines and no participation requirement was well received by students, who appreciated the unique learning environment and exposure to external experts. Conclusions. Facebook provides an informal learning environment for presenting contemporary topics and the thoughts of guest experts not affiliated with a college or school, thereby exposing students to relevant “real world” issues. PMID:22345726

The Use of MOOC as a Means of Creating a Collaborative Learning Environment in a Blended CLIL Course

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Titova, Svetlana

2017-01-01

The objective of this action research is to work out the possible ways of Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) integration in a blended Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) course to create an authentic online collaborative community. The theoretical framework of the intervention is based on current MOOC theories, connectivism, and the…

Mobile Voting Systems for Creating Collaboration Environments and Getting Immediate Feedback: A New Curriculum Model of a University Lecture

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Titova, Svetlana; Talmo, Tord

2014-01-01

Mobile devices can enhance learning and teaching by providing instant feedback and better diagnosis of learning problems, helping design new assessment models, enhancing learner autonomy and creating new formats of enquiry-based activities. The objective of this paper is to investigate the pedagogical impact of mobile voting tools. The authors'…

Socio-Emotional Connections: Identity, Belonging and Learning in Online Interactions--A Literature Review

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Delahunty, Janine; Verenikina, Irina; Jones, Pauline

2014-01-01

This review focuses on three interconnected socio-emotional aspects of online learning: interaction, sense of community and identity formation. In the intangible social space of the virtual classroom, students come together to learn through dialogic, often asynchronous, exchanges. This creates distinctive learning environments where learning…

Stealth Learning: Unexpected Learning Opportunities through Games

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sharp, Laura A.

2012-01-01

Educators across the country struggle to create engaging, motivating learning environments for their Net Gen students. These learners expect instant gratification that traditional lectures do not provide. This leaves educators searching for innovative ways to engage students in order to encourage learning. One solution is for educators to use…

Close Early Learning Gaps with Rigorous DAP

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brown, Christopher P.; Mowry, Brian

2015-01-01

Rigorous DAP (developmentally appropriate practices) is a set of 11 principles of instruction intended to help close early childhood learning gaps. Academically rigorous learning environments create the conditions for children to learn at high levels. While academic rigor focuses on one dimension of education--academic--DAP considers the whole…

An Exploratory Study Comparing the Effectiveness of Lecturing versus Team-Based Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Huggins, Christopher M.; Stamatel, Janet P.

2015-01-01

Lecturing has been criticized for fostering a passive learning environment, emphasizing a one-way flow of information, and not adequately engaging students. In contrast, active-learning approaches, such as team-based learning (TBL), prioritize student interaction and engagement and create multidirectional flows of information. This paper presents…

Personalizing Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McNair, Ellen L.

2017-01-01

The creation and identification of high-yield practices for empowering students to think, wonder, and own their learning is a high priority for school librarians who value instructional leadership. Future-ready librarians are working to create flexible learning environments in which their students design solutions, consider possibilities, and…

Five Dispositions for Personalization

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Carter, Kim

2017-01-01

The author reviews various ways personalized learning has come to be interpreted and asserts that rather than requiring we create individualized learning plans for each student, true personalization requires that teachers give learners the tools, knowledge, skills, and dispositions to manage themselves and their learning environment. Teachers…

Security

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Technology & Learning, 2008

2008-01-01

Anytime, anywhere, learning provides opportunities to create digital learning environments for new teaching styles and personalized learning. As part of making sure the program is effective, the safety and security of students and assets are essential--and mandated by law. The Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA) addresses Internet content…

Designing new collaborative learning spaces in clinical environments: experiences from a children's hospital in Australia.

PubMed

Bines, Julie E; Jamieson, Peter

2013-09-01

Hospitals are complex places that provide a rich learning environment for students, staff, patients and their families, professional groups and the community. The "new" Royal Children's Hospital opened in late 2011. Its mission is focused on improving health and well-being of children and adolescents through leadership in healthcare, research and education. Addressing the need to create "responsive learning environments" aligned with the shift to student-centred pedagogy, two distinct learning environments were developed within the new Royal Children's Hospital; (i) a dedicated education precinct providing a suite of physical environments to promote a more active, collaborative and social learning experience for education and training programs conducted on the Royal Children's Hospital campus and (ii) a suite of learning spaces embedded within clinical areas so that learning becomes an integral part of the daily activities of this busy Hospital environment. The aim of this article is to present the overarching educational principles that lead the design of these learning spaces and describe the opportunities and obstacles encountered in the development of collaborative learning spaces within a large hospital development.

Making Your Environment "The Third Teacher"

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Carter, Margie

2007-01-01

The Italian Schools of Reggio Emilia are acclaimed for the stunning environments their educators have created, provoking us to recognize the instructive power of an environment. Their schools vibrantly exemplify learning environments that dazzle the senses, invite curiosity and discovery, and foster strong, respectful relationships. Unlike…

Hey Teach! Your Values Are Showing

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rice, Ann Smith; Rice, M. D.

1975-01-01

Humaneness and motivation are logical partners in education. Humane teachers are humane motivators. They create a humane environment for learning where pressures are reduced and where students are incited to learn by their surroundings. (Author)

Creating a Dialogic Environment for Transformative Science Teaching Practices: Towards an Inclusive Education for Science

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Reynaga-Peña, Cristina G.; Sandoval-Ríos, Marisol; Torres-Frías, José; López-Suero, Carolina; Lozano Garza, Adrián; Dessens Félix, Maribel; González Maitland, Marcelino; Ibanez, Jorge G.

2018-01-01

This paper focuses on the design and application of a teacher training strategy to promote the inclusive education of students with disabilities in the science classroom, through the creation of adult learning environments grounded on the principles of dialogic learning. Participants of the workshop proposal consisted of a group of twelve teachers…

Pedagogical, Social and Technical Designs of a Blended Synchronous Learning Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wang, Qiyun; Huang, Changqin

2018-01-01

In this study, a blended synchronous learning environment (BSLE) was designed from pedagogical, social and technical perspectives. It was created for a group of master's students to attend lessons in the classroom and at the same time allow a few of them to join the identical sessions using video conferencing from different sites. The purpose of…

Interaction of Students' Academic Background and Support Levels in a Resource-Based Learning Environment on Earth's Movement

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

So, Wing Mui Winnie; Kong, Siu Cheung

2010-01-01

This research aims to study how a resource-based learning environment (RBLE) helps primary students develop better understanding of the Earth's movement. One objective of the study is to establish an RBLE by creating authentic contexts, selecting appropriate resources, designing relevant tools and adopting necessary scaffolds. The other objective…

Doing It for Themselves: Students Creating a High Quality Peer-Learning Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Galloway, Kyle W.; Burns, Simon

2015-01-01

To support our students during their study and exam preparation we have developed a novel synoptic revision exercise using the online PeerWise system. Academic staff involvement was passive after introducing the assignment to the cohort via scaffolding activities, thus generating an entirely student-led peer-learning environment for the task.…

Mobile City and Language Guides--New Links between Formal and Informal Learning Environments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bo-Kristensen, Mads; Ankerstjerne, Niels Ole; Neutzsky-Wulff, Chresteria; Schelde, Herluf

2009-01-01

One of the major challenges in second and foreign language education, is to create links between formal and informal learning environments. Mobile City and Language Guides present examples of theoretical and practical reflections on such links. This paper presents and discusses the first considerations of Mobile City and Language Guides in…

Pre-K Standards (Guidelines): Utah State Office of Education.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Utah State Office of Education, Salt Lake City.

This document presents standards created for parents, preschool teachers, and child care providers as they endeavor to develop the best learning environment for the 3- and 4-year-old children in Utah. The document is organized in six sections. Section 1 defines the elements of a positive learning environment related to the unique nature of each…

Maximising Meaning: Creating a Learning Environment for Reading Comprehension of Informative Texts from a Vygotskian Perspective

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

van Rijk, Yvonne; Volman, Monique; de Haan, Dorian; van Oers, Bert

2017-01-01

Sociocultural theories based on the work of Vygotsky have been increasingly influential in educational sciences. Developmental education (DE) is a pedagogical approach based on Vygotskian theory that has inspired primary schools in the Netherlands to change the learning environment innovatively in a comprehensive way. In this article, we focus on…

Nurturing Supportive Learning Environments in Higher Education through the Teaching of Study Skills: To Embed or Not to Embed?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Allan, Jo; Clarke, Karen

2007-01-01

The transnational widening of participation in higher education (HE) and the concomitant emphasis on promoting successful progression and high retention are focusing attention on how best to create supportive learning environments in HE. Using a phenomenographic approach, we explore variance in how first year undergraduate students experience the…

The Perceptions of Prospective Teachers on the Democratic Aspects of the Constructivist Learning Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bay, Erdal; Gundogdu, Kerim; Kaya, Halil Ibrahim

2010-01-01

Introduction: The nations which have the aim to create democratic societies should also realize the same ideals in educational practices. Related literature declare that learning environments based on constructivist approach is assumed to be democratic. In line with this frame, the aim of this study is to determine the perceptions of prospective…

Creating and Nurturing a Community of Practice for Language Teachers in Higher Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

MacKinnon, Teresa

2013-01-01

This case study investigates the implementation of a virtual learning environment designed for language teachers for an institution-wide language programme in a UK higher education institution. This development has taken place over a 3 year period and included a pilot virtual learning environment for 300, followed by a full implementation to more…

Educating Managers to Create Healthy Workplaces

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gilbreath, Brad

2012-01-01

This article provides management educators with a comprehensive, research-based set of concepts they can use to enrich students' understanding of how to create healthy workplaces. To assist with that endeavor, learning objectives related to creating healthy workplaces are provided. Work environment stressors are discussed along with human and…

Creating a Culture of Professional Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

von Frank, Valerie, Ed.

2008-01-01

This compilation of articles from NSDC's newsletters and JSD is a comprehensive resource on creating a positive school culture. The collection includes descriptions of healthy cultures and specific information about how district and school leaders can take actions to create more positive environments, beginning with the audits provided and…

When Learning and Change Collide: Examining Student Claims to Have "Learned Nothing"

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

White, Justin; Pinnegar, Stefinee; Esplin, Pat

2010-01-01

The study presents an analysis of student papers at the end of a problem-based course designed to create an active learning environment and encourage a deep approach to learning. It explores the achievement and participation characteristics of students claiming to have "learned nothing" and suggests the impact of student resistance. (Contains 3…

ICT-Based Learning Personalization Affordance in the Context of Implementation of Constructionist Learning Activities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ignatova, Natalija; Dagiene, Valentina; Kubilinskiene, Svetlana

2015-01-01

How to enable students to create a personalized learning environment? What are the criteria of evaluation of the ICT-based learning process personalization affordance? These questions are answered by conducting multiple case study research of the innovative ICT-based learning process in iTEC (Innovative Technologies for Engaging Classrooms)…

The Effect of Higher Education Faculty Training in Improvisational Theatre Techniques on Student Learning and Perceptions of Engagement and Faculty Perceptions of Teaching and Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Massie, DeAnna

2017-01-01

College instructors are content experts but ineffective at creating engaging and productive learning environments. This mixed methods study explored how improvisational theatre techniques affect college instructors' ability to increase student engagement and learning. Theoretical foundations included engagement, active learning, collaboration and…

State-of-the-Art Model Driven Game Development: A Survey of Technological Solutions for Game-Based Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tang, Stephen; Hanneghan, Martin

2011-01-01

Game-based learning harnesses the advantages of computer games technology to create a fun, motivating and interactive virtual learning environment that promotes problem-based experiential learning. Such an approach is advocated by many commentators to provide an enhanced learning experience than those based on traditional didactic methods.…

Creating a virtual community of learning predicated on medical student learning styles.

PubMed

McGowan, Julie; Abrams, Matthew; Frank, Mark; Bangert, Michael

2003-01-01

To create a virtual community of learning within the Indiana University School of Medicine, learning tools were developed within ANGEL to meet the learning needs and habits of the medical students. Determined by student feedback, the integration of digital audio recordings of class lectures into the course management content with several possible outputs was paramount. The other components included electronic enhancement of old exams and providing case-based tutorials within the ANGEL framework. Students are using the curriculum management system more. Faculty feel more secure about their intellectual property because of the authentication and security offered through the ANGEL system. The technology applications were comparatively easy to create and manage. The return on investment, particularly for the digital audio recording component, has been substantial. By considering student learning styles, extant curriculum management systems can be enhanced to facilitate student learning within an electronic environment.

Emotional Design in Multimedia Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Um, Eunjoon; Plass, Jan L.; Hayward, Elizabeth O.; Homer, Bruce D.

2012-01-01

Can multimedia learning environments be designed to foster positive emotions that will improve learning and related affective outcomes? College students (N = 118) were randomly assigned to 4 conditions created by 2 factors related to learners' emotion: "external mood induction" (positive vs. neutral emotions) and "emotional design induction"…

Learning Design and Inquiry in Australian History Classrooms

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Carroll, Kay

2012-01-01

Global and digital connectivity transform Australian classrooms by creating rich environments for inquiry learning. Developing inquiry learning in this Information Communication Technology (ICT) context is an Australian educational goal. Recently the Australian Curriculum reform and the Digital Education Revolution has become a catalyst for…

Addressing Learning Disabilities with UDL and Technology: Strategic Reader

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hall, Tracey E.; Cohen, Nicole; Vue, Ge; Ganley, Patricia

2015-01-01

CAST created "Strategic Reader," a technology-based system blending Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and Curriculum-Based Measurement (CBM) in a digital learning environment to improve reading comprehension instruction. This experimental study evaluates the effectiveness of Strategic Reader using two treatment conditions for measuring…

Transforming Children's Health Spaces into Learning Places

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nisselle, Amy; Green, Julie; Scrimshaw, Chantel

2011-01-01

Purpose: Chronic health conditions can cause children extended school absences, creating significant barriers for continued education. Out-of-school learning environments, such as hospitals, provide opportunities to maintain children's learning identities during school absences. This paper seeks to present an example of hospital-based teaching and…

Preventing Child Sexual Abuse within Youth-serving Organizations: Getting Started on Policies and Procedures

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Saul, Janet; Audage, Natalie C.

2007-01-01

Youth-serving organizations strive to create a safe environment for youth, employees, and volunteers so that youth can grow, learn, and have fun. Part of creating a safe environment is making sure that youth are not harmed in any way while participating in organization-sponsored activities. One risk in any organization working directly with youth…

Teaching Project Management On-Line: Lessons Learned from MOOCs

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Falcao, Rita; Fernandes, Luis

2016-01-01

Creating a course for teaching project management online in a full online distance-learning environment was a challenge. Working with adult learners from different continents that want to complete a Master degree was an additional challenge. This paper describes how different MOOCs were used to learn about teaching -(meta) e-learning. MOOCs…

Successful Implementation of a Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning System in Teaching E-Commerce

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ngai, E. W. T.; Lam, S. S.; Poon, J. K. L.

2013-01-01

This paper describes the successful application of a computer-supported collaborative learning system in teaching e-commerce. The authors created a teaching and learning environment for 39 local secondary schools to introduce e-commerce using a computer-supported collaborative learning system. This system is designed to equip students with…

Effective Blended Learning Practices: Evidence-Based Perspectives in ICT-Facilitated Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stacey, Elizabeth, Ed.; Gerbic, Philippa, Ed.

2009-01-01

New innovations of online learning within blended environments create a need within academia for research on best practices in teaching. This book provides insight into the practice of blended learning in higher education. This unique book collects new international research into many aspects of blended learning from the perspectives of learners,…

Learning from Experience: Creating Leadership Capabilities through Computer Simulated Leadership Challenges

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stewart, Alice C.; Black, Sylvia Sloan; Smith-Gratto, Karen; Williams, Jacqueline A.

2007-01-01

Leadership is often described as something that is learned from experience. However, experiences do not often occur within a controlled environment where learning and its impact can be evaluated. In this paper, we investigate the efficacy of two types of learning experiences. University students received leadership training of equal length through…

The Place of Game-Based Learning in an Age of Austerity

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Whitton, Nicola

2012-01-01

Digital games have the potential to create active and engaging environments for learning, supporting problem-solving, communication and group activities, as well as providing a forum for practice and learning through failure. The use of game techniques such as gradually increasing levels of difficulty and contextual feedback support learning, and…

An Investigation of Coopetitive Pedagogic Design for Knowledge Creation in Web-Based Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fu, Fong-Ling; Wu, Ya-Ling; Ho, Hsi-Chuan

2009-01-01

Information and communication technologies (ICTs) have created a supportive environment for collaborative learning at the expense of student motivation and engagement. This study attempts to explore the development of a productive learning atmosphere in the context of Web-based learning. An experiment is conducted with university-level students…

Influence of Students' Learning Styles on the Effectiveness of Instructional Interventions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lehmann, Thomas; Ifenthaler, Dirk

2012-01-01

This research contributes to answer the question whether learning/cognitive styles of students serve as a justified starting point for creating target-group appropriate instruction. The study was realized in a self-regulated problem-based learning environment. Data of 56 participants on their individual learning styles, their acquired problem…

Computer-Assisted Language Learning: Diversity in Research and Practice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stockwell, Glenn, Ed.

2012-01-01

Computer-assisted language learning (CALL) is an approach to teaching and learning languages that uses computers and other technologies to present, reinforce, and assess material to be learned, or to create environments where teachers and learners can interact with one another and the outside world. This book provides a much-needed overview of the…

Using the Internet and Computer Technologies in Learning/Teaching Process

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Geladze, Darejan

2015-01-01

According to the new national curriculum innovations are in a successful outcome for the introduction of many factors, the most important things are learning environment, which includes the suitable equipment, place, space utilization, and the selection of learning resources to support teaching and learning problem solving process, by creating the…

Student Perceptions of Learning Strategies in a Secondary Video Production Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Doles, Jeffrey M.

2016-01-01

This qualitative case study asked the participants to reflect on their own learning experiences as a result of the instructional practices employed by the instructor to create an improved learning environment for students. The research investigated student perceptions of their learning via classmates' produced tutorials and how viewing the…

An Investigation into Cooperative Learning in a Virtual World Using Problem-Based Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Parson, Vanessa; Bignell, Simon

2017-01-01

Three-dimensional multi-user virtual environments (MUVEs) have the potential to provide experiential learning qualitatively similar to that found in the real world. MUVEs offer a pedagogically-driven immersive learning opportunity for educationalists that is cost-effective and enjoyable. A family of digital virtual avatars was created within…

Educator Experiences Transitioning to Blended Learning Environment in K-6 Public Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Somera, Sandra Lopez

2018-01-01

Enrollments in blended learning programs are growing, creating a challenge to find educators who understand blended learning pedagogy. The purpose of this study was to identify and understand the challenges and pedagogical transformations of elementary educators who recently adopted blended learning. The concerns-based adoption model provided a…

The implementation of an integrated on-line health education system at RMIT.

PubMed

Zylinski, J; Allan, G L; Jamieson, P; Maher, K P; Green, R; Hislop, J

1998-06-01

The Faculty of Biomedical and Health Sciences at RMIT has been developing an on-line health education system using a systems thinking approach, to create a learning environment whose basis is supported by Information Technology (IT). The centre-piece of this system is the Faculty Learning Centre, which has been created, both in space and layout, to promote collaborative learning between the students, so that the educator is physically assimilated with the student body. This facility is supplemented by the Faculty WWW server, which has been the main vehicle for course material dissemination to students. To ensure an effective on-line teaching environment, the position of an on-line facilitator has been created, whose responsibilities include both the continual evaluation of the system and the implementation of appropriate system changes. Aspects have included the production of a staff development training program and extensive user documentation. This paper discusses the systems thinking approach used to implement this integrated on-line system, and the establishment of explicit educational rationales in the use of IT to support learning strategies. Some examples of the on-line educational programs are also presented.

Problem-Based Learning in Accounting

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dockter, DuWayne L.

2012-01-01

Seasoned educators use an assortment of student-centered methods and tools to enhance their student's learning environment. In respects to methodologies used in accounting, educators have utilized and created new forms of problem-based learning exercises, including case studies, simulations, and other projects, to help students become more active…

User-Centered Computer Aided Language Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zaphiris, Panayiotis, Ed.; Zacharia, Giorgos, Ed.

2006-01-01

In the field of computer aided language learning (CALL), there is a need for emphasizing the importance of the user. "User-Centered Computer Aided Language Learning" presents methodologies, strategies, and design approaches for building interfaces for a user-centered CALL environment, creating a deeper understanding of the opportunities and…

Developing Dialogic Learning Space: The Case of Online Undergraduate Research Journals

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Walkington, Helen

2012-01-01

This paper explores the learning spaces associated with two geography undergraduate research journals. Wikis provide dedicated spaces for postgraduate reviewers to collaboratively develop constructive feedback to authors creating a supportive online learning environment. In becoming published authors, undergraduates reported that they gained not…

Triangulating Assessment of Online Collaborative Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lock, Jennifer; Johnson, Carol

2015-01-01

Collaboration plays an integral role in the construction of knowledge in online learning environments. A supportive foundation for learning can be created through the intentional design of formative and summative assessments that embrace self-, peer-, and instructor assessment practices. The purpose of this article is to: (1) examine current…

The Effect of Manipulatives on Mathematics Achievement across Different Learning Styles

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kablan, Zeynel

2016-01-01

The current study investigates the influence of manipulatives used in combination with traditional approaches to mathematics education and how varying amounts of time spent on manipulative use influence student achievement across different learning styles. Three learning environments were created that incorporated varying proportions of…

The clinical learning environment in nursing education: a concept analysis.

PubMed

Flott, Elizabeth A; Linden, Lois

2016-03-01

The aim of this study was to report an analysis of the clinical learning environment concept. Nursing students are evaluated in clinical learning environments where skills and knowledge are applied to patient care. These environments affect achievement of learning outcomes, and have an impact on preparation for practice and student satisfaction with the nursing profession. Providing clarity of this concept for nursing education will assist in identifying antecedents, attributes and consequences affecting student transition to practice. The clinical learning environment was investigated using Walker and Avant's concept analysis method. A literature search was conducted using WorldCat, MEDLINE and CINAHL databases using the keywords clinical learning environment, clinical environment and clinical education. Articles reviewed were written in English and published in peer-reviewed journals between 1995-2014. All data were analysed for recurring themes and terms to determine possible antecedents, attributes and consequences of this concept. The clinical learning environment contains four attribute characteristics affecting student learning experiences. These include: (1) the physical space; (2) psychosocial and interaction factors; (3) the organizational culture and (4) teaching and learning components. These attributes often determine achievement of learning outcomes and student self-confidence. With better understanding of attributes comprising the clinical learning environment, nursing education programmes and healthcare agencies can collaborate to create meaningful clinical experiences and enhance student preparation for the professional nurse role. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Design and Usability Assessment of a Dialogue-Based Cognitive Tutoring System to Model Expert Problem Solving in Research Design

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hung, Wei-Chen; Smith, Thomas J.; Smith, M. Cecil

2015-01-01

Technology provides the means to create useful learning and practice environments for learners. Well-designed cognitive tutor systems, for example, can provide appropriate learning environments that feature cognitive supports (ie, scaffolding) for students to increase their procedural knowledge. The purpose of this study was to conduct a series of…

"Holding Environments": Creating Spaces to Support Children's Environmental Learning in the 21st Century

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Malone, Karen

2004-01-01

For many children across the globe, whether in low or high income nations, growing up in the 21st century will mean living in overcrowded, unsafe and polluted environments which provide limited opportunity for natural play and environmental learning. Yet Agenda 21, the Habitat Agenda and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child…

Developing Instruments to Capture Young People's Perceptions of How School as a Learning Environment Affects Their Well-Being

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Awartani, Marwan; Whitman, Cheryl Vince; Gordon, Jean

2008-01-01

This article describes the Universal Education Foundation's (UEF) activities to create research tools and methodologies that capture the voices of children concerning their perceptions of the effect of the school learning environment on their well-being. UEF defines well-being as the realisation of one's physical, emotional, mental, social and…

Social Influences on the Creative Process: An Examination of Children's Creativity and Learning in Dance

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Giguere, Miriam

2011-01-01

The purpose of this paper is to look at the influences of social interaction and learning environment on children's creativity in dance. Data from two separate studies are examined in which a total of thirty-seven fifth grade students created nine dances. This examination aims to (1) identify crucial elements of the classroom environment, which…

Upgrading School Buildings in Mexico with Social Participation. "The Better Schools Programme". Centre for Effective Learning Environments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Blyth, Alastair; Almeida, Rodolfo; Forrester, David; Gorey, Ann; Chavez Zepeda, Juan Jose

2012-01-01

This review of Mexico's Better Schools Programme was conducted in 2012 by the OECD Centre for Effective Learning Environments (CELE). In 2008, the federal government created the Programme to repair and improve the physical infrastructure of schools for basic education throughout Mexico. A key characteristic of the programme is social participation…

"Get Some Secured Credit Cards Homey": Hip Hop Discourse, Financial Literacy and the Design of Digital Media Learning Environments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Devane, Ben

2009-01-01

In the midst of the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, there exists a deficit of compelling financial education curricula in urban schools that serve financially vulnerable working-class students. Part of a design-based research investigation aimed at creating culturally-relevant financial literacy learning environments, this study…

An Alternative Model of Multimedia Development: Small Projects within an Academic Environment.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stoney, Sue; McMahon, Mark

This paper reports on a project at Edith Cowan University (Australia) in which a multidisciplinary team designed and created a self-paced learning environment for students to learn about share valuation and investment, with a focus on the inclusion of features that would motivate students to use and engage with the program. The resultant program,…

HYPER-­TVT: Development and Implementation of an Interactive Learning Environment for Students of Chemical and Process Engineering

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Santoro, Marina; Mazzotti, Marco

2006-01-01

Hyper-TVT is a computer-aided education system that has been developed at the Institute of Process Engineering at the ETH Zurich. The aim was to create an interactive learning environment for chemical and process engineering students. The topics covered are the most important multistage separation processes, i.e. fundamentals of separation…

Students' Perspectives on the Design and Implementation of a Blended Synchronous Learning Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wang, Qiyun; Huang, Changquin; Quek, Choon Lang

2018-01-01

This study investigated a blended synchronous learning environment (BSLE), which was designed for a group of master's students taking a course at a teacher education institute. The BSLE was created for the majority of the students to attend the course face-to-face and at the same time allowed the rest to join the identical sessions using…

An Algorithm for Automatic Checking of Exercises in a Dynamic Geometry System: iGeom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Isotani, Seiji; de Oliveira Brandao, Leonidas

2008-01-01

One of the key issues in e-learning environments is the possibility of creating and evaluating exercises. However, the lack of tools supporting the authoring and automatic checking of exercises for specifics topics (e.g., geometry) drastically reduces advantages in the use of e-learning environments on a larger scale, as usually happens in Brazil.…

Designing and Improving a Blended Synchronous Learning Environment: An Educational Design Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wang, Qiyun; Lang Quek, Choon; Hu, Xiaoyong

2017-01-01

In this study, a blended synchronous learning environment (BSLE) was created to support a group of graduate students when they were taking a course. Instruction was delivered to both face-to-face (F2F) and online students simultaneously. The purpose of this paper is to present how this BSLE was gradually designed, implemented, and improved by…

A Novel Learning Environment: Case Study of the Pan African e-Network Project

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nanda, Silima; Saxena, Ashlesh

2013-01-01

The constructivist form of learning creates such an environment where the learners are not only active but they become actors' i.e members and contributors of the social and information space without taking into consideration the geographic boundaries. Such an innovative form of distance education was initiated in India in the year 2007 and it was…

A Case Study on Using Prediction Markets as a Rich Environment for Active Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Buckley, Patrick; Garvey, John; McGrath, Fergal

2011-01-01

In this paper, prediction markets are presented as an innovative pedagogical tool which can be used to create a Rich Environment for Active Learning (REAL). Prediction markets are designed to make forecasts about specific future events by using a market mechanism to aggregate the information held by a large group of traders about that event into a…

Science inquiry learning environments created by National Board Certified Teachers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Saderholm, Jon

The purpose of this study was to discern what differences exist between the science inquiry learning environments created by National Board Certified Teachers (NBCTs) and non-NBCTs. Four research questions organized the data collection and analysis: (a) How do National Board Certified science teachers' knowledge of the nature of science differ from that of their non-NBCT counterparts? (b) How do the frequencies of student science inquiry behaviors supported by in middle/secondary learning environments created by NBCTs differ from those created by their non-NBCT counterparts? (c) What is the relationship between the frequency of students' science inquiry behaviors and their science reasoning and understanding of the nature of science? (d) What is the impact of teacher perceptions factors impacting curriculum and limiting inquiry on the existence of inquiry learning environments? The setting in which this study was conducted was middle and high schools in Kentucky during the period between October 2006 and January 2007. The population sampled for the study was middle and secondary science teachers certified to teach in Kentucky. Of importance among those were the approximately 70 National Board Certified middle and high school science teachers. The teacher sample consisted of 50 teachers, of whom 19 were NBCTs and 31 were non-NBCTs. This study compared the science inquiry teaching environments created by NBCTs and non-NBCTs along with their consequent effect on the science reasoning and nature of science (NOS) understanding of their students. In addition, it examined the relationship with these science inquiry environments of other teacher characteristics along with teacher perception of factors influencing curriculum and factors limiting inquiry. This study used a multi-level mixed methodology study incorporating both quantitative and qualitative measures of both teachers and their students. It was a quasi-experimental design using non-random assignment of participants to treatment and control groups and dependent pre- and post-tests (Shadish, Cook, & Campbell, 2002). Teacher and student NOS understanding was measured using the Student Understanding of Science and Science Inquiry (SUSSI) instrument (Liang, et. al, 2006). Science inquiry environment was measured with the Elementary Science Inquiry Survey (ESIS) (Dunbar, 2002) which was given both to teachers and their students. Science inquiry environment measurements were triangulated with observations of a stratified random sub-sample of participating teachers. Observations were structured using the low-inference Collaboratives for Excellence in Teaching Practice (CETP) Classroom Observation Protocol (COP) (Lawrenz, Huffman, & Appleldoorn 2002), and the high-inference Reform Teaching Observation Protocol (RTOP) (Piburn & Sawada, 2000). NBCTs possessed more informed view of NOS than did non-NBCTs. Additionally, high school science teachers possessed more informed views regarding NOS than did middle school science teachers, with the most informed views belonging to high school science NBCTs. High school science NBCTs created learning environments in which students engaged in science inquiry behaviors significantly more frequently than did high school science non-NBCTs. Middle school science NBCTs, on the other hand, did not create learning environments that differed in significant ways from those of middle school science non-NBCTs. Students of high school science NBCTs possessed significantly higher science reasoning than did students of high school science non-NBCTs. Middle school students of science NBCTs possessed no more science reasoning ability than did middle school students of science non-NBCTs. NOS understanding displayed by students of both middle school and high school science NBCTs was not distinguished from students of non-NBCTs. Classroom science inquiry environment created by non-NBCTs were correlated with science teachers' perceptions of factors determining the curriculum, and the factors limiting inquiry. NBCT classroom science inquiry environment were not correlated with science teacher perceptions. They were, however, strongly correlated with science teacher attendance at science workshops and negatively correlated with teacher perception that experience limits inquiry. The results of this study have implications for policy, practice, and research. Having a science teacher who is an NBCT appears to benefit high school students; however, the benefit for students of middle school science NBCTs appears only when the teacher is also experienced. Additionally, science NBCTs appear to be able to create more controlled science inquiry learning environments than do science non-NBCTs. At the high school level the practice of using data to explain patterns appears to positively affect student science reasoning. Implications results of this study have for further research include examining the differences of the NBPTS certification process for middle and high school teachers; deeper investigation of the causes of the differences in science reasoning between students of NBCTs and non-NBCTs; and studies of the relationship between the NBPTS certification process and teacher efficacy and personal agency.

The Flipped Exam: Creating an Environment in Which Students Discover for Themselves the Concepts and Principles We Want Them to Learn

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lujan, Heidi L.; DiCarlo, Stephen E.

2014-01-01

Students are naturally curious and inquisitive with powerful intrinsic motives to probe, learn, and understand their world. Accordingly, class activities must capitalize on this inherently energetic and curious nature so that learning becomes a lifelong activity where students take initiative for learning, are skilled in learning, and want to…

Online EEG-Based Workload Adaptation of an Arithmetic Learning Environment.

PubMed

Walter, Carina; Rosenstiel, Wolfgang; Bogdan, Martin; Gerjets, Peter; Spüler, Martin

2017-01-01

In this paper, we demonstrate a closed-loop EEG-based learning environment, that adapts instructional learning material online, to improve learning success in students during arithmetic learning. The amount of cognitive workload during learning is crucial for successful learning and should be held in the optimal range for each learner. Based on EEG data from 10 subjects, we created a prediction model that estimates the learner's workload to obtain an unobtrusive workload measure. Furthermore, we developed an interactive learning environment that uses the prediction model to estimate the learner's workload online based on the EEG data and adapt the difficulty of the learning material to keep the learner's workload in an optimal range. The EEG-based learning environment was used by 13 subjects to learn arithmetic addition in the octal number system, leading to a significant learning effect. The results suggest that it is feasible to use EEG as an unobtrusive measure of cognitive workload to adapt the learning content. Further it demonstrates that a promptly workload prediction is possible using a generalized prediction model without the need for a user-specific calibration.

A collaboration among health sciences schools to enhance faculty development in teaching.

PubMed

Sicat, Brigitte L; O'Kane Kreutzer, Kathy; Gary, Judy; Ivey, Carole K; Marlowe, Elizabeth P; Pellegrini, Joan M; Shuford, Veronica P; Simons, Dianne F

2014-06-17

Those involved in providing faculty development may be among only a few individuals for whom faculty development is an interest and priority within their work setting. Furthermore, funding to support faculty development is limited. In 2010, an interprofessional, self-formed, faculty learning community on faculty development in teaching was established to promote collaboration on faculty development initiatives that have transference to faculty members across disciplines and to share expertise and resources for wider impact. The organic structure and processes of the faculty learning community created an environment that has not only resulted in an increased offering of faculty development opportunities and resources across the health science campus, but has created a rich environment that combines the knowledge, innovation, and experience to promote collaborative efforts that benefit all. The background, structure, processes, successes, and lessons learned of the interprofessional faculty learning community on faculty development in teaching are described.

What If...?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wolff, Bretta Weiss; Werner, Pat

1999-01-01

Offers suggestions for creating a prepared environment for teachers, within the context of Montessori practice. Maintains that teachers' status can be ensured by practices such as giving concrete individual acknowledgments, creating social times together, learning together, doing purposeful process work, exhibiting respectful behavior,…

Afterschool Programs: Inspiring Students with a Connected Learning Approach

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Afterschool Alliance, 2015

2015-01-01

Afterschool programs have been among the pioneers in applying a connected learning approach-creating a learning environment for students that builds on their interests; introduces them to new passions; provides mentors and a supportive peer network; and links this engagement to academics, careers and civic participation. This report, discusses the…

Technology Supported Facilitation and Assessment of Small Group Collaborative Inquiry Learning in Large First-Year Classes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lawrie, Gwendolyn A.; Gahan, Lawrence R.; Matthews, Kelly E.; Weaver, Gabriela C.; Bailey, Chantal; Adams, Peter; Kavanagh, Lydia J.; Long, Phillip D.; Taylor, Matthew

2014-01-01

Collaborative learning activities offer the potential to support mutual knowledge construction and shared understanding amongst students. Introducing collaborative tasks into large first-year undergraduate science classes to create learning environments that foster student engagement and enhance communication skills is appealing. However,…

A Path to the Future: Creating Accountability for Personalized Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hyslop, Anne; Mead, Sara

2015-01-01

A small but growing number of schools and districts across the country are experimenting with personalized learning, an innovation that customizes students' experiences to their individual needs and strengths. Through new kinds of environments, technologies, and ways to demonstrate their knowledge, personalized learning aims to meet students where…

Enabling Creative Learning Design through Semantic Technologies

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Charlton, Patricia; Magoulas, George; Laurillard, Diana

2012-01-01

The paper advocates an approach to learning design that considers it as creating digital artefacts that can be extended, modified and used for different purposes. This is realised through an "act becoming artefact" cycle, where users' actions in the authors' software environment, named Learning Designer, are automatically interpreted on…

Learner-Interface Interaction for Technology-Enhanced Active Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sinha, Neelu; Khreisat, Laila; Sharma, Kiron

2009-01-01

Neelu Sinha, Laila Khreisat, and Kiron Sharma describe how learner-interface interaction promotes active learning in computer science education. In a pilot study using technology that combines DyKnow software with a hardware platform of pen-enabled HP Tablet notebook computers, Sinha, Khreisat, and Sharma created dynamic learning environments by…

Designing a Responsive E-Learning Infrastructure: Systemic Change in Higher Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chow, Anthony S.; Croxton, Rebecca A.

2017-01-01

As university administrators respond to increasing demands of the educational market to offer greater opportunities for online learning, their capacity to create an economically stable, sustainable, yet rich teaching and learning environment deserves immediate and continued attention. A university-wide study involving 130 participants examined the…

Integrating an Awareness of Selfhood and Society into Virtual Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stricker, Andrew, Ed.; Calongne, Cynthia, Ed.; Truman, Barbara, Ed.; Arenas, Fil, Ed.

2017-01-01

Recent technological advances have opened new platforms for learning and teaching. By utilizing virtual spaces, more educational opportunities are created for students who cannot attend a physical classroom environment. "Integrating an Awareness of Selfhood and Society into Virtual Learning" is a pivotal reference source that discusses…

Creating an Effective Educational Environment for Adult Learners: A Qualitative, Multi-Case Study of Off-Campus Center Administrator's Use of Invitational Leadership

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McKnight, Carolyn P.

2012-01-01

This qualitative, multi-case study was designed to examine off-campus centers and their administrators in creating an effective learning environment for adult learners. Serving as the conceptual framework, invitational leadership theory is a holistic approach which nurtures the belief that everyone is intrinsically motivated and it is the leaders'…

Creating an Effective Educational Environment for Adult Learners: A Qualitative, Multi-Case Study of Off-Campus Center Administrator's Use of Invitational Leadership

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McKnight, Carolyn P.; Martin, Barbara N.

2015-01-01

This study was designed to examine off-campus centers and their administrators in creating an effective learning environment for adult learners using a new innovative leadership theory, invitational, which is a holistic approach that nurtures the belief everyone is intrinsically motivated and it is the leaders' responsibility to unleash their true…

Formation of an internal model of environment dynamics during upper limb reaching movements: a fuzzy approach.

PubMed

MacDonald, Chad; Moussavi, Zahra; Sarkodie-Gyan, Thompson

2007-01-01

This paper presents the development and simulation of a fuzzy logic based learning mechanism to emulate human motor learning. In particular, fuzzy inference was used to develop an internal model of a novel dynamic environment experienced during planar reaching movements with the upper limb. A dynamic model of the human arm was developed and a fuzzy if-then rule base was created to relate trajectory movement and velocity errors to internal model update parameters. An experimental simulation was performed to compare the fuzzy system's performance with that of human subjects. It was found that the dynamic model behaved as expected, and the fuzzy learning mechanism created an internal model that was capable of opposing the environmental force field to regain a trajectory closely resembling the desired ideal.

The Relation between Assessment for Learning and Elementary Students' Cognitive and Metacognitive Strategy Use

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Baas, Diana; Castelijns, Jos; Vermeulen, Marjan; Martens, Rob; Segers, Mien

2015-01-01

Background: Assessment for Learning (AfL) is believed to create a rich learning environment in which students develop their cognitive and metacognitive strategies. Monitoring student growth and providing scaffolds that shed light on the next step in the learning process are hypothesized to be essential elements of AfL that enhance cognitive and…

Fostering a Web 2.0 Ethos in a Traditional e-Learning Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Martin, Marie; Noakes, Michaela

2012-01-01

As technology continues to flatten the world and as Web 2.0 changes the way knowledge is created and shared, tertiary education institutions are turning increasingly to e-learning to extend access to students globally as well as to improve the quality of their learning experience. Learning Management Systems (LMS) currently dominate the delivery…

Understanding Work-Related Learning: The Case of ICT Workers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gijbels, David; Raemdonck, Isabel; Vervecken, Dries; Van Herck, Jonas

2012-01-01

Purpose: A central issue in the field of workplace learning is how work-related learning can be stimulated so that a powerful learning work environment is created. This paper seeks to further enlarge understanding on this issue. Based on the demand-control-support the aim is to investigate the influence of job-characteristics on the work-related…

From Assumptions to Practice: Creating and Supporting Robust Online Collaborative Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lock, Jennifer; Johnson, Carol

2017-01-01

Collaboration is more than an activity. In the contemporary online learning environment, collaboration needs to be conceived as an overarching way of learning that fosters continued knowledge building. For this to occur, design of a learning task goes beyond students working together. There are integral nuances that give rise to: how the task is…

From the Learning Diary to the ELP: An E-Portfolio for Autonomous Language Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bertolotti, Greta; Beseghi, Micol

2016-01-01

In 2011 the Language Centre of the University of Parma introduced a self-study programme aimed at creating an autonomy-inspired language learning environment. Students are actively engaged in the management of their own learning and co-directed by advisors and teachers in the phases of planning, monitoring and assessment. Reflective diary writing…

Conceptual Framework to Help Promote Retention and Transfer in the Introductory Chemical Engineering Course

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hanyak, Michael E., Jr.

2015-01-01

In an introductory chemical engineering course, the conceptual framework of a holistic problem-solving methodology in conjunction with a problem-based learning approach has been shown to create a learning environment that nurtures deep learning rather than surface learning. Based on exam scores, student grades are either the same or better than…

Constructivism and Reflectivism as the Logical Counterparts in TESOL: Learning Theory versus Teaching Methodology

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

al Mahmud, Abdullah

2013-01-01

The gist of the entire constructivist learning theory is that learners are self-builders of their learning that occurs through a mental process in a social context or communication setting, and teachers as facilitators generate learning by creating the expected environment and/or utilizing the process. This article theoretically proves…

The Effect of Smartphone Video Camera as a Tool to Create Gigital Stories for English Learning Purposes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gromik, Nicolas A.

2015-01-01

The integration of smartphones in the language learning environment is gaining research interest. However, using a smartphone to learn to speak spontaneously has received little attention. The emergence of smartphone technology and its video recording feature are recognised as suitable learning tools. This paper reports on a case study conducted…

The Effectiveness of Web-Based Learning Environment: A Case Study of Public Universities in Kenya

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kirui, Paul A.; Mutai, Sheila J.

2010-01-01

Web mining is emerging in many aspects of e-learning, aiming at improving online learning and teaching processes and making them more transparent and effective. Researchers using Web mining tools and techniques are challenged to learn more about the online students' reshaping online courses and educational websites, and create tools for…

iSee: Teaching Visual Learning in an Organic Virtual Learning Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Han, Hsiao-Cheng

2017-01-01

This paper presents a three-year participatory action research project focusing on the graduate level course entitled Visual Learning in 3D Animated Virtual Worlds. The purpose of this research was to understand "How the virtual world processes of observing and creating can best help students learn visual theories". The first cycle of…

Creating a Culture of Peace in the Elementary Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hunter, Tiffany J.

2008-01-01

In this article, the author shares how she created a "peaceable classroom" through activities which she incorporated into a 1st-grade curriculum and which fulfilled academic requirements. As a 1st-grade teacher at Redlands Adventist Academy in Redlands, CA, she wanted to create a learning environment that would foster values like…

Online faculty development for creating E-learning materials.

PubMed

Niebuhr, Virginia; Niebuhr, Bruce; Trumble, Julie; Urbani, Mary Jo

2014-01-01

Faculty who want to develop e-learning materials face pedagogical challenges of transforming instruction for the online environment, especially as many have never experienced online learning themselves. They face technical challenges of learning new software and time challenges of not all being able to be in the same place at the same time to learn these new skills. The objective of the Any Day Any Place Teaching (ADAPT) faculty development program was to create an online experience in which faculty could learn to produce e-learning materials. The ADAPT curriculum included units on instructional design, copyright principles and peer review, all for the online environment, and units on specific software tools. Participants experienced asynchronous and synchronous methods, including a learning management system, PC-based videoconferencing, online discussions, desktop sharing, an online toolbox and optional face-to-face labs. Project outcomes were e-learning materials developed and participants' evaluations of the experience. Likert scale responses for five instructional units (quantitative) were analyzed for distance from neutral using one-sample t-tests. Interview data (qualitative) were analyzed with assurance of data trustworthiness and thematic analysis techniques. Participants were 27 interprofessional faculty. They evaluated the program instruction as easy to access, engaging and logically presented. They reported increased confidence in new skills and increased awareness of copyright issues, yet continued to have time management challenges and remained uncomfortable about peer review. They produced 22 new instructional materials. Online faculty development methods are helpful for faculty learning to create e-learning materials. Recommendations are made to increase the success of such a faculty development program.

Schools as Ecosystems

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Seydel, Jennifer

2011-01-01

Creating green schools often hinges on administrators. Principals, superintendents, and other school leaders have the authority and skill sets to make important, even if incremental, progress toward creating green learning environments. This article provides background and reference information that will help administrators with their initial…

The Effects of Project APPLE (Autistic Preadolescent Proactive Learning Environments) on Academic, Behavioral, and Transitional Needs of Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cayce, Robin M.

2012-01-01

This study addressed the effects of Project APPLE, an intervention created by the researcher and supported by the Guide to Project APPLE, a handbook which provided research-based teaching strategies, modificaitons to the learning environment, and transitional supports for students with ASD, and the teachers with whom their care and education is…

The Effect of Classroom Teachers' Attitudes toward Constructivist Approach on Their Level of Establishing a Constructivist Learning Environment: A Case of Mersin

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Uredi, Lutfi

2013-01-01

This study aims to determine the attitudes of classroom teachers towards constructivist approach and to analyze the effect of their attitudes towards constructivist approach on their level of creating a constructivist learning environment. For that purpose, relational screening model was used in the research. The research sample included 504…

The Edison Responsive Environment Learning System, or the Talking Typewriter Developed by Thomas A. Edison Laboratory, a Subsidiary of McGraw Edison Company.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sanderson, Barbara A.; Kratochvil, Daniel W.

The "Talking Typewriter" is a computerized electric typewriter with visual and audio capabilities. It was designed to create an environment where learning to read would be a successful, enjoyable experience for the student by allowing him to explore, discover relationships, to progress at his own speed, and to receive feedback. This…

Examining the Usefulness of Student-Produced PSAs to Learn Advocacy in a Human Behavior and the Social Environment Course

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chu, Yee Han; Quinn, Andrew

2018-01-01

Advocacy is a complex set of applications that applies knowledge of human behavior in the social environment to promote the rights of others. The purpose of this study was to explore the usefulness of student-created public service announcements (PSAs) to help BSW students learn cause-based advocacy. Our results suggest that assigning a PSA…

A Blended Learning Approach to Teaching Project Management: A Model for Active Participation and Involvement--Insights from Norway

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hussein, Bassam A.

2015-01-01

The paper demonstrates and evaluates the effectiveness of a blended learning approach to create a meaningful learning environment. We use the term blended learning approach in this paper to refer to the use of multiple or hybrid instructional methods that emphasize the role of learners as contributors to the learning process rather than recipients…

Grappling with Grammar on a Virtual Learning Platform: The Case of First Year French Students at the University of Wollongong

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bissoonauth-Bedford, A.; Stace, Ray

2012-01-01

This paper reports on an online discussion forum that was created on the University of Wollongong's Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) to aid and support the learning of French grammar at beginner/false beginner level. The aim was to provide a blended learning situation which combines face to face teaching with online learning using multimedia…

Effect of Blended Learning Strategy on Achievement in Biology and Social and Environmental Attitude of Students at Secondary Level

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nair, Tara S.; Bindu, R. L.

2016-01-01

Blended Learning is mostly understood as the use of resources which combine e-learning with other educational resources. In this study, a blended learning strategy was designed with a variety of factors addressed to create a meaningful learning environment facilitated by a variety of modes, methods and moments through a combination of Objectives…

Virtual Education: Guidelines for Using Games Technology

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schofield, Damian

2014-01-01

Advanced three-dimensional virtual environment technology, similar to that used by the film and computer games industry, can allow educational developers to rapidly create realistic online virtual environments. This technology has been used to generate a range of interactive Virtual Reality (VR) learning environments across a spectrum of…

Creating Successful Scientist-Teacher-Student Collaborations: Examples From the GLOBE Program

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Geary, E.; Wright, E.; Yule, S.; Randolph, G.; Larsen, J.; Smith, D.

2007-12-01

Actively engaging students in research on the environment at local, regional, and globe scales is a primary objective of the GLOBE (Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment) Program. During the past 18 months, GLOBE, an international education and science program in 109 countries and tens of thousands of schools worldwide, has been working with four NSF-funded Earth System Science Projects to involve K-12 students, teachers, and scientists in collaborative research investigations of Seasons and Biomes, the Carbon Cycle, Local and Extreme Environments, and Watersheds. This talk will discuss progress to date in each of these investigation areas and highlight successes and challenges in creating effective partnerships between diverse scientific and educational stakeholders. More specifically we will discuss lessons learned in the following areas: (a) mutual goal and responsibility setting, (b) resource allocation, (c) development of adaptable learning activities, tools, and services, (d) creation of scientist and school networks, and (e) development of evaluation metrics, all in support of student research.

Creating an Inclusive Classroom Address Wide-Ranging Developmental Needs through Your Classroom Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Greenspan, Stanley, I.

2005-01-01

In this article, the author answers the following question: In addition to the usual wide-ranging abilities of a new class, I have one 4-year-old who has learning delays and three children with speech and language disorders. What can I do to be sure that I'm creating a classroom environment where the needs of all the children in my group can be…

Best practices for creating social presence and caring behaviors online.

PubMed

Plante, Kathleen; Asselin, Marilyn E

2014-01-01

To identify best practices and evidence-based strategies for creating an online learning environment that encompasses caring behaviors and promotes social presence. Faculty who teach online classes are challenged to create a sense of social presence and caring behaviors in a virtual world in which students feel connected and part of the learning environment. To extrapolate evidence to support best practices, a review of literature was conducted focused on social presence and caring online. Faculty messages that are respectful, positive, encouraging, timely, and frequent foster social presence and caring behaviors while also allowing for caring interactions, mutual respect, and finding meaning in relationships. A variety of measures to emulate caring online intertwine with social presence to promote a sense of caring and belonging. More research is needed to support the evidence for these strategies.

Systems Thinking: A New Lens for Old Problems

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bierema, Laura L.

2003-01-01

This article introduces systems thinking and identifies its implications for practice-based learning and improvement. The article defines systems, identifies fundamental aspects of systems thinking, and provides strategies for creating more practice-based learning environments in medical contexts. (Contains 1 table.)

Organizational Factors that Influence E-Learning Development and Implementation in the Corporate Context

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wang, Feng-Kwei; Schwen, Thomas

2003-01-01

In the context of Autoparts, a multinational manufacturer for automotive electronics, Lotus Notes was employed to create an e-learning system. This system was titled "Using Notes for Case-based Learning Environments" (UNCLE). The UNCLE project attempted to encapsulate knowledge and understanding of those organizational factors that might influence…

Social Scripts in Educational Technology and Inclusiveness in Classroom Practice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Heemskerk, Irma; Volman, Monique; ten Dam, Geert; Admiraal, Wilfried

2011-01-01

Educational Information and Communication Technology (ICT) can be an appropriate tool for creating flexible learning environments. ICT can contribute to flexibility through its potential to keep content up-to-date and to address personal learning needs. ICT could, thus, make learning more accessible to a wider group of students. However, doing…

Cross-Cultural Delivery of e-Learning Programmes: Perspectives from Hong Kong

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wong, Andrew Lap-sang

2007-01-01

The growing popularity of e-learning may pose one of the greatest challenges currently facing traditional educational institutions. The questions often asked are how, rather than whether, to embrace this new form of instructional delivery and how to create an appropriate learning environment for the learners. Educational institutions in Hong Kong…

Useful Interactive Teaching Tool for Learning: Clickers in Higher Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Camacho-Miñano, María-del-Mar; del Campo, Cristina

2016-01-01

Many university lecturers are encouraged to implement innovative teaching tools and methodologies such as clickers in order to create an interactive learning environment and improve student learning, but its performance must be evaluated. The aim of this paper is to test empirically the impact of the use of clickers on students' learning…

Transforming the Social Practices of Learning with Representations: A Study of Disciplinary Discourse

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nichols, Kim; Hanan, Jim; Ranasinghe, Muditha

2013-01-01

This study used an interactive dynamic simulation of action potential to explore social practices of learning among first year undergraduate biology students. It aimed to create a learning environment that fosters knowledge building discourse through working with multiple concept-specific representations. Three hundred and eighty-nine students and…

Investigating the Role of Minecraft in Educational Learning Environments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Callaghan, Noelene

2016-01-01

This research paper identifies the way in which Minecraft Edu can be used to contribute to the teaching and learning of secondary students via a multiple case research study. Minecraft Edu is recognised as a gamification tool that enables its users to create and evaluate project-based learning activities within a classroom context. Learning…

The Learning City in a "Planet of Slums"

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Plumb, Donovan; Leverman, Andrew; McGray, Robert

2007-01-01

This paper considers the implications of current notions of the learning city. It argues that popular neoliberal ideologies create an environment in which lifelong learners strive for the learning city as an end product, both in production and for consumption, rather than embrace it as a living, social context. The rhetoric of the knowledge…

Exploring Self-Regulated Learning Choices in a Customisable Learning Pathway MOOC

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Crosslin, Matt

2018-01-01

Open online courses provide a unique opportunity to examine learner preferences in an environment that removes several pressures associated with traditional learning. This mixed methods study sought to examine the pathways that learners will create for themselves when given the choice between an instructor-directed modality and learner-directed…

Collaborative Approaches to Deepen Student Learning: Information Literacy, Curriculum Design, and Student Learning Workshops

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hurvitz, Tate; Benvau, Roxane; Parry, Megan

2015-01-01

Creating a collaborative environment across student services and instruction is often more challenging than it may first seem. Although effective collaboration is context specific, keeping student learning at the center of the work is a powerful element in successful collaborations. Grossmont College's first year experience program has attempted…

A Case of a Laptop Learning Campus: How Do Technology Choices Affect Perceptions?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Percival, Jennifer; Percival, Nathan

2009-01-01

Laptop learning programs have been developed to create ubiquitous online learning environments. Given the infancy of many programs, there is little understanding of aspects of the program are perceived to provide value to faculty and students. This paper focuses on the value proposition (with respect to perceived benefits versus capital…

Active Learning with Interactive Videos: Creating Student-Guided Learning Materials

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Baker, Ariana

2016-01-01

Distance learning programs across the country continue to grow and evolve. In order to support these programs, librarians are often expected to convert face-to-face classes and reference sessions to the online environment. Due to the necessity of explaining information literacy concepts and demonstrating the access and use of library resources,…

Lights, Camera, Action! Learning about Management with Student-Produced Video Assignments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schultz, Patrick L.; Quinn, Andrew S.

2014-01-01

In this article, we present a proposal for fostering learning in the management classroom through the use of student-produced video assignments. We describe the potential for video technology to create active learning environments focused on problem solving, authentic and direct experiences, and interaction and collaboration to promote student…

Action Research in a Business Classroom--Another Lens to Examine Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Smith, Janice Witt; Clark, Gloria

2010-01-01

This research study looks at the implementation of an action research project within a blended learning human resource management class in employee and labor relations. The internal and external environment created conditions that converged in the Perfect Storm and resulted in an almost disastrous learning experience for faculty and students. What…

Training ELF Teachers to Create a Blended Learning Environment: Encouraging CMS Adoption and Implementation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cote, Travis; Milliner, Brett

2015-01-01

E-learning has become a crucial component of most tertiary institution's education initiatives (Park, Lee, & Cheong, 2007) and core to most e-learning strategies is the institution's Content Management System (CMS). A CMS has the potential to enhance language courses by facilitating engagement with class content, providing students with…

Creating Environments Conducive for Lifelong Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Derrick, M. Gail

2003-01-01

A technological transformation during the past decade has eliminated the boundaries between formal and informal learning. As people adapt to a knowledge-driven society, a cultural transformation is occurring. Lifelong learning is an essential goal of education as a means to improve the quality of life for an individual, a culture, or a society.…

Using Action Learning Sets to Support Students Managing Transition into the Clinical Learning Environment in a UK Medical School

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McKee, Anne; Markless, Sharon

2017-01-01

This paper reports on a Curriculum Innovation Project to empower third-year Undergraduate Medical students to recognise learning opportunities in their clinical placements and to proactively use them to develop their understanding and practice. The project created action learning sets (ALS) in response to the challenges students face when trying…

Gendered Socialization with an Embodied Agent: Creating a Social and Affable Mathematics Learning Environment for Middle-Grade Females

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kim, Yanghee; Lim, Jae Hoon

2013-01-01

This study examined whether or not embodied-agent-based learning would help middle-grade females have more positive mathematics learning experiences. The study used an explanatory mixed methods research design. First, a classroom-based experiment was conducted with one hundred twenty 9th graders learning introductory algebra (53% male and 47%…

Architecture for robot intelligence

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Peters, II, Richard Alan (Inventor)

2004-01-01

An architecture for robot intelligence enables a robot to learn new behaviors and create new behavior sequences autonomously and interact with a dynamically changing environment. Sensory information is mapped onto a Sensory Ego-Sphere (SES) that rapidly identifies important changes in the environment and functions much like short term memory. Behaviors are stored in a DBAM that creates an active map from the robot's current state to a goal state and functions much like long term memory. A dream state converts recent activities stored in the SES and creates or modifies behaviors in the DBAM.

A Virtual Education: Guidelines for Using Games Technology

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schofield, Damian

2014-01-01

Advanced three-dimensional virtual environment technology, similar to that used by the film and computer games industry, can allow educational developers to rapidly create realistic online vir-tual environments. This technology has been used to generate a range of interactive Virtual Real-ity (VR) learning environments across a spectrum of…

Accelerated nursing students and theater students: creating a safe environment by acting the part.

PubMed

Cangelosi, Pamela R

2008-01-01

Traditional approaches to teaching basic nursing skills are being questioned for accelerated, or second-degree, nursing students. Since accelerated nursing students have demonstrated the ability to quickly assimilate new information and to transfer skills from a previous career into a new field, it is thought that they may benefit from teaching strategies that promote experiential learning. Through a hermeneutic phenomenological approach, this study inquired into the experiences of 22 accelerated baccalaureate nursing students to determine if narrative learning in a campus laboratory setting helped them integrate content from classroom and clinical practica and move quickly along the pathway to the competencies that are needed for safe nursing practice. Data analysis revealed the teaching/learning significance of narratives for these students and is identified in the theme, "Creating a Safe Environment".

Web-based learning resources - new opportunities for competency development.

PubMed

Moen, Anne; Nygård, Kathrine A; Gauperaa, Torunn

2009-01-01

Creating web-based learning environments holds great promise for on the job training and competence development in nursing. The web-based learning environment was designed and customized by four professional development nurses. We interviewed five RNs that pilot tested the web-based resource. Our findings give some insight into how the web-based design tool are perceived and utilized, and how content is represented in the learning environment. From a competency development perspective, practicing authentic tasks in a web-based learning environment can be useful to train skills and keep up important routines. The approach found in this study also needs careful consideration. Emphasizing routines and skills can be important to reduce variation and ensure more streamlined practice from an institution-wide quality improvement efforts. How the emphasis on routines and skills plays out towards the individual's overall professional development needs further careful studies.

Discussion of the enabling environments for decentralised water systems.

PubMed

Moglia, M; Alexander, K S; Sharma, A

2011-01-01

Decentralised water supply systems are becoming increasingly affordable and commonplace in Australia and have the potential to alleviate urban water shortages and reduce pollution into natural receiving marine and freshwater streams. Learning processes are necessary to support the efficient implementation of decentralised systems. These processes reveal the complex socio-technical and institutional factors to be considered when developing an enabling environment supporting decentralised water and wastewater servicing solutions. Critical to the technological transition towards established decentralised systems is the ability to create strategic and adaptive capacity to promote learning and dialogue. Learning processes require institutional mechanisms to ensure the lessons are incorporated into the formulation of policy and regulation, through constructive involvement of key government institutions. Engagement of stakeholders is essential to the enabling environment. Collaborative learning environments using systems analysis with communities (social learning) and adaptive management techniques are useful in refining and applying scientists' and managers' knowledge (knowledge management).

Cognitive theories and the design of e-learning environments.

PubMed

Gillani, Bijan; O'Guinn, Christina

2004-01-01

Cognitive development refers to a mental process by which knowledge is acquired, stored, and retrieved to solve problems. Therefore, cognitive developmental theories attempt to explain cognitive activities that contribute to students' intellectual development and their capacity to learn and solve problems. Cognitive developmental research has had a great impact on the constructivism movement in education and educational technology. In order to appreciate how cognitive developmental theories have contributed to the design, process and development of constructive e-learning environments, we shall first present Piaget's cognitive theory and derive an inquiry training model from it that will support a constructivism approach to teaching and learning. Second, we will discuss an example developed by NASA that used the Web as an appropriate instructional delivery medium to apply Piaget's cognitive theory to create e-learning environments.

Establishing a virtual learning environment: a nursing experience.

PubMed

Wood, Anya; McPhee, Carolyn

2011-11-01

The use of virtual worlds has exploded in popularity, but getting started may not be easy. In this article, the authors, members of the corporate nursing education team at University Health Network, outline their experience with incorporating virtual technology into their learning environment. Over a period of several months, a virtual hospital, including two nursing units, was created in Second Life®, allowing more than 500 nurses to role-play in a safe environment without the fear of making a mistake. This experience has provided valuable insight into the best ways to develop and learn in a virtual environment. The authors discuss the challenges of installing and building the Second Life® platform and provide guidelines for preparing users and suggestions for crafting educational activities. This article provides a starting point for organizations planning to incorporate virtual worlds into their learning environment. Copyright 2011, SLACK Incorporated.

The Role of Multicultural Information in Experiential Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shen, Lan

2011-01-01

This paper is based on the author's empirical experience in assisting cultural immersion programs through developing multicultural collections, promoting diversity resources, and creating a supportive information environment for faculty and students. After summarizing the significance, goals, learning objectives, and program models of cultural…

Distributed Administration of Online Learning Accounts

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gamrat, Betsy

2004-01-01

Distance learning is a vital part of today's educational environment. Using complex technology, schools are able to connect instructors and students across geographic, physical, and temporal boundaries. Sophisticated software and world-wide connectivity create virtual classrooms that span the globe. These large, accessible, asynchronous,…

Student-Led Podcasting for Engineering Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Alpay, E.; Gulati, S.

2010-01-01

The use of podcasts is challenging traditional communication methods in higher education, with the potential for creating engaging and flexible resources for learning and development. Likewise, podcasts are helping to facilitate a stronger student identity and community within learning environments, replacing traditional student newsletter and…

Student nurse dyads create a community of learning: proposing a holistic clinical education theory.

PubMed

Ruth-Sahd, Lisa A

2011-11-01

This paper is a report of a qualitative study of students' experiences of cooperative learning in the clinical setting. Although cooperative learning is often used successfully in the classroom, it has not been documented in the clinical setting with sophomore nursing students being paired with other sophomore nursing students. Using a grounded theory methodology a sample of 64 participants (32 student nurse dyads, eight clinical groups, in two different acute care institutions) were observed on their first day in the clinical setting while working as cooperative partners. Interviews were also conducted with students, patients and staff preceptors. Data were collected in the fall of 2008, spring and fall of 2009 and the spring of 2010 using semi-structured interviews and reflective surveys. Data were analysed using the constant comparative method. A holistic clinical education theory for student nurses was identified from the data. This theory includes a reciprocal relationship among five categories relevant to a community of learning: supportive clinical experience; improved transition into practice; enhanced socialization into the profession; increased accountability and responsibility; and emergence of self-confidence as a beginning student nurse. The use of student dyads creates a supportive learning environment while students were able to meet the clinical learning objectives. Cooperative learning in the clinical setting creates a community of learning while instilling very early in the education process the importance of teamwork. This approach to clinical instruction eases the transition from the classroom to the clinical learning environment, and improves patient outcomes. © 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

The effects of a shared, Intranet science learning environment on the academic behaviors of problem-solving and metacognitive reflection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Parker, Mary Jo

This study investigated the effects of a shared, Intranet science environment on the academic behaviors of problem-solving and metacognitive reflection. Seventy-eight subjects included 9th and 10th grade male and female biology students. A quasi-experimental design with pre- and post-test data collection and randomization occurring through assignment of biology classes to traditional or shared, Intranet learning groups was employed. Pilot, web-based distance education software (CourseInfo) created the Intranet learning environment. A modified ecology curriculum provided contextualization and content for traditional and shared learning environments. The effect of this environment on problem-solving, was measured using the standardized Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal test. Metacognitive reflection, was measured in three ways: (a) number of concepts used, (b) number of concept links noted, and (c) number of concept nodes noted. Visual learning software, Inspiration, generated concept maps. Secondary research questions evaluated the pilot CourseInfo software for (a) tracked user movement, (b) discussion forum findings, and (c) difficulties experienced using CourseInfo software. Analysis of problem-solving group means reached no levels of significance resulting from the shared, Intranet environment. Paired t-Test of individual differences in problem-solving reached levels of significance. Analysis of metacognitive reflection by number of concepts reached levels of significance. Metacognitive reflection by number of concept links noted also reach significance. No significance was found for metacognitive reflection by number of concept nodes. No gender differences in problem-solving ability and metacognitive reflection emerged. Lack of gender differences in the shared, Intranet environment strongly suggests an equalizing effect due to the cooperative, collaborative nature of Intranet environments. Such environments appeal to, and rank high with, the female gender. Tracking learner movements in web-based, science environments has metacognitive and problem-solving learner implications. CourseInfo software offers one method of informing instruction within web-based learning environments focusing on academic behaviors. A shared, technology-supported learning environment may pose one model which science classrooms can use to create equitable scientific study across gender. The lack of significant differences resulting from this environment presents one model for improvement of individual problem-solving ability and metacognitive reflection across gender.

Facilitative and obstructive factors in the clinical learning environment: Experiences of pupil enrolled nurses.

PubMed

Lekalakala-Mokgele, Eucebious; Caka, Ernestine M

2015-03-31

The clinical learning environment is a complex social entity that influences student learning outcomes in the clinical setting. Students can experience the clinical learning environment as being both facilitative and obstructive to their learning. The clinical environment may be a source of stress, creating feelings of fear and anxiety which in turn affect the students' responses to learning. Equally, the environment can enhance learning if experienced positively. This study described pupil enrolled nurses' experiences of facilitative and obstructive factors in military and public health clinical learning settings. Using a qualitative, contextual, exploratory descriptive design, three focus group interviews were conducted until data saturation was reached amongst pupil enrolled nurses in a military School of Nursing. Data analysed provided evidence that acceptance by clinical staff and affordance of self-directed learning facilitated learning. Students felt safe to practise when they were supported by the clinical staff. They felt a sense of belonging when the staff showed an interest in and welcomed them. Learning was obstructed when students were met with condescending comments. Wearing of a military uniform in the public hospital and horizontal violence obstructed learning in the clinical learning environment. Students cannot have effective clinical preparation if the environment is not conducive to and supportive of clinical learning, The study shows that military nursing students experience unique challenges as they are trained in two professions that are hierarchical in nature. The students experienced both facilitating and obstructing factors to their learning during their clinical practice. Clinical staff should be made aware of factors which can impact on students' learning. Policies need to be developed for supporting students in the clinical learning environment.

Finding the "Royal Road" to Learning to Teach: Listening to Novice Teacher Voices in Order to Improve the Effectiveness of Teacher Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Snyder, Catherine

2012-01-01

Adults learn differently than children or adolescents (Brookfield, 1986; Dewey, 1938; Kegan, 1994; Kolb, 1984; Mezirow, 2000). A thorough understanding of how adults learn is imperative to the successful education of adults. It is only by understanding the unique ways in which adults learn that the academy can create environments where adults…

Social Media as Avenue for Personal Learning for Educators: Personal Learning Networks Encourage Application of Knowledge and Skills

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Eller, Linda S.

2012-01-01

Social media sites furnish an online space for a community of practice to create relationships and trust, collaboration and connections, and a personal learning environment. Social networking sites, both public and private, have common elements: member profiles, groups, discussions, and forums. A community of practice brings participants together…

Coral Reefs, Convicts, Cadavers, Coffee Shops and Couture: Customizing Experiential Learning to Increase Comfort and Engagement

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Grabowsky, Gail L.; Hargis, Jace; Davidson, Janet; Paynter, Allison; Suh, Junghwa; Wright, Claire

2017-01-01

Experiential learning (EL) can offer a high impact educational opportunity that benefits students from diverse backgrounds, creating an inclusive learning environment. Barriers to the generalization of EL can include a lack of institutional support, risk avoidance, time, and faculty instructional ability. As well EL require additional efforts from…

Open for Business: Learning Economics through Social Interaction in a Student-Operated Store

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Broome, John P.; Preston-Grimes, Patrice

2011-01-01

This study examines teaching and learning economics and entrepreneurship through a student-run Montessori middle school store. By designing and managing a school store, students created a "community of practice" to learn economics concepts in their daily environment. Questions guiding this study were: (a) How do students' social-interactions in a…

The Social Foundation of Team-Based Learning: Students Accountable to Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sweet, Michael; Pelton-Sweet, Laura M.

2008-01-01

As one form of small group learning, team-based learning's (TBL's) unique sequence of individual and group work with immediate feedback enables and encourages students to engage course content and each other in remarkable ways. Specifically, TBL creates an environment where students can fulfill their human need to belong in the process of…

Support and Promotion of Self-Regulated Learning through the Educational Material at the Hellenic Open University

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nikolaki, Evi; Koutsouba, Maria I.

2012-01-01

In distance education both the physical separation between learner and instructor, and the use of technology create an educational environment that is characterized by learning autonomy and the learner's active involvement. Because of these, self-regulated learning constitutes an inseparable concept of distance education. This study explores the…

Students' Personal and Social Meaning Making in a Chinese Idiom Mobile Learning Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wong, Lung-Hsiang; Chin, Chee-Kuen; Tan, Chee-Lay; Liu, May

2010-01-01

In this paper, we present a design research study in Mobile Assisted Language Learning (MALL) that emphasizes learner created content and contextualized meaning making. In learning Chinese idioms, students proactively used smartphones on a 1:1 basis to capture photos of the real-life contexts pertaining to the idioms, and to construct sentences…

Creating Participatory Online Learning Environments: A Social Learning Approach Revisited

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Conley, Quincy; Lutz, Heather S.; Padgitt, Amanda J.

2017-01-01

Online learning has never been more popular than it is today. Due to the rapid growth of online instruction at colleges and universities, questions about the effectiveness of online courses have been raised. In this paper, we suggest guidelines for the selection and application of social media tools. In addition to describing the potential…

Applying Universal Design for Learning and the Inclusion Spectrum for Students with Severe Disabilities in General Physical Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Grenier, Michelle; Miller, Nancy; Black, Ken

2017-01-01

General physical education (GPE) affords many opportunities for students with and without disabilities to interact and develop positive peer relationships. This case study describes one teacher's use of collaborative practices, universal design for learning (UDL), and the inclusion spectrum to create an accessible learning environment in which the…

Teachers' Perceptions of the Learning Environment and Their Knowledge Base in a Training Program for Novice University Teachers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Johannes, Christine; Fendler, Jan; Seidel, Tina

2013-01-01

Despite the complexity of teaching, learning to teach in universities is often "learning by doing". To provide novice university teachers with pedagogic teaching knowledge and to help them develop specific teaching objectives, we created a structured, video-based, one-year training program. In focusing on the core features of…

Cultivating Attitudes and Trellising Learning: A Permaculture Approach to Science and Sustainability Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lebo, Nelson; Eames, Chris

2015-01-01

This article reports on an inquiry that used permaculture design thinking to create a science and sustainability education intervention for a secondary science class. The aims were to cultivate student attitudes towards science, towards learning science in school, and towards the environment, and to trellis learning of science and sustainability.…

Transformational Leadership & Professional Development for Digitally Rich Learning Environments: A Case Study of the Galileo Educational Network.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jacobsen, Michele; Clifford, Pat; Friesen, Sharon

The Galileo Educational Network is an innovative educational reform initiative that brings learning to learners. Expert teachers work alongside teachers and students in schools to create new images of engaged learning, technology integration and professional development. This case study is based on the nine schools involved with Galileo in…

A Real Community Bridge: Informing Community-Based Learning through a Model of Participatory Public Art

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stephens, Pamela Geiger

2006-01-01

Community-based learning has the power to encourage and sustain the intellectual curiosity of learners. By most accounts, community-based learning is a process that creates a collaborative environment of scholarship that holds individual differences, as well as similarities, in high esteem. It is a process, as the phrase suggests, that extends…

Exploiting Distance Technology to Foster Experimental Design as a Neglected Learning Objective in Labwork in Chemistry

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

d'Ham, Cedric; de Vries, Erica; Girault, Isabelle; Marzin, Patricia

2004-01-01

This paper deals with the design process of a remote laboratory for labwork in chemistry. In particular, it focuses on the mutual dependency of theoretical conjectures about learning in the experimental sciences and technological opportunities in creating learning environments. The design process involves a detailed analysis of the expert task and…

Creating an Effective and Meaningful Learning Environment for High-Ability Learners!

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Davis, Joy Lawson

2013-01-01

An effective and meaningful classroom for high-ability students is one in which teaching and learning is focused on meeting students' intellectual, academic, and psychosocial needs using specific strategies to impact their learning today as they prepare for tomorrow. As parents become more engaged with teachers, it also is important for them…

College Students' Perspectives of E-Learning System Use in High Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yanga, Ju-Yin; Yenb, Yen-Chen

2016-01-01

The purpose of this study was primarily to create, on a digital learning platform, a digital learning environment with freedom from such constraints for a group of seven college students. The researchers selected seven students from the Applied English program that were taking part in an internship combination program at San Diego State…

The Effect of Selected "Desirable Difficulties" on the Ability to Recall Anatomy Information

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dobson, John L.; Linderholm, Tracy

2015-01-01

"Desirable difficulties" is a theory from cognitive science used to promote learning in a variety of contexts. The basic premise is that creating a cognitively challenging environment at the learning acquisition phase, by actively engaging learners in the retrieval of to-be-learned materials, promotes long-term retention. In this study,…

Prevalence of Mind Mapping as a Teaching and Learning Strategy in Physical Therapy Curricula

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zipp, Genevieve; Maher, Catherine

2013-01-01

Background and Purpose: Regardless of our discipline educators seek to create environments that actively engage students in their learning journey. One teaching and learning strategy that has emerged in higher education is mind mapping (MM). The purpose of this exploratory study was to determine the prevalence of MM usage in a health science…

Creating Dynamic Learning Environment to Enhance Students’ Engagement in Learning Geometry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sariyasa

2017-04-01

Learning geometry gives many benefits to students. It strengthens the development of deductive thinking and reasoning; it also provides an opportunity to improve visualisation and spatial ability. Some studies, however, have pointed out the difficulties that students encountered when learning geometry. A preliminary study by the author in Bali revealed that one of the main problems was teachers’ difficulties in delivering geometry instruction. It was partly due to the lack of appropriate instructional media. Coupling with dynamic geometry software, dynamic learning environments is a promising solution to this problem. Employing GeoGebra software supported by the well-designed instructional process may result in more meaningful learning, and consequently, students are motivated to engage in the learning process more deeply and actively. In this paper, we provide some examples of GeoGebra-aided learning activities that allow students to interactively explore and investigate geometry concepts and the properties of geometry objects. Thus, it is expected that such learning environment will enhance students’ internalisation process of geometry concepts.

Using a critical reflection process to create an effective learning community in the workplace.

PubMed

Walker, Rachel; Cooke, Marie; Henderson, Amanda; Creedy, Debra K

2013-05-01

Learning circles are an enabling process to critically examine and reflect on practices with the purpose of promoting individual and organizational growth and change. The authors adapted and developed a learning circle strategy to facilitate open discourse between registered nurses, clinical leaders, clinical facilitators and students, to critically reflect on practice experiences to promote a positive learning environment. This paper reports on an analysis of field notes taken during a critical reflection process used to create an effective learning community in the workplace. A total of 19 learning circles were conducted during in-service periods (that is, the time allocated for professional education between morning and afternoon shifts) over a 3 month period with 56 nurses, 33 students and 1 university-employed clinical supervisor. Participation rates ranged from 3 to 12 individuals per discussion. Ten themes emerged from content analysis of the clinical learning issues identified through the four-step model of critical reflection used in learning circle discussions. The four-step model of critical reflection allowed participants to reflect on clinical learning issues, and raise them in a safe environment that enabled topics to be challenged and explored in a shared and cooperative manner. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Distributed Learning. CAUSE Professional Paper Series, No. 14.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Oblinger, Diana G.; Maruyama, Mark K.

This paper synthesizes current thought about the role of networking technologies in instruction and addresses the need for higher education to create affordable and flexible student-centered "distributed learning environments" employing networking technologies. First, relevant trends are identified in the areas of information volume, technology…

Four Sides to Every Story: Creating Effective Multimedia Business Simulations.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Graham, William; Legere, Sylvie M.

1998-01-01

Discusses the goal-based design concepts used to build a CD-ROM-based course for senior executives at Andersen Consulting. Topics include quality management; continuous improvement; problem-centered learning; video storytelling; feedback; multimedia learning environments; course organization; and possible future applications. (Author/LRW)

Think Global/Design Glocal

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zuiker, Steven J.

2010-01-01

The technologies underlying virtual environments like videogames and the methodologies of the learning sciences create an important intersection for work in educational technology. Coupling these fields enables us to consider participatory learning in terms of the ways that "context" shapes a process of making meaning. In this article,…

Connectivism: 21st Century's New Learning Theory

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kropf, Dorothy C.

2013-01-01

Transformed into a large collaborative learning environment, the Internet is comprised of information reservoirs namely, (a) online classrooms, (b) social networks, and (c) virtual reality or simulated communities, to expeditiously create, reproduce, share, and deliver information into the hands of educators and students. Most importantly, the…

Reducing Apprehensions of Adolescent Singers in Choral Classrooms

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Silvey, Philip E.

2014-01-01

Choral music educators can purposefully create a learning environment that helps minimize the anxieties of young singers. According to Parker Palmer, "to teach is to create a space" that possesses three qualities: hospitality, openness, and boundaries. Choral music educators can influence these characteristics by applying five strategies…

Culturally Proficient Coaching: Supporting Educators to Create Equitable Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lindsey, Delores B.; Martinez, Richard S.; Lindsey, Randall B.

2006-01-01

Multicultural classrooms require a multifaceted approach to creating inclusive, learning-rich environments that empower all students. To meet this growing need, "Culturally Proficient Coaching" provides educators with a simple, yet comprehensive, new framework: a powerful fusion of the field-tested and respected Cognitive Coaching and Cultural…

Linking Course Web Sites to Library Collections and Services

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rieger, Oya Y.; Horne, Angela K.; Revels, Ira

2004-01-01

A five-month research study at Cornell University Library (CUL) confirmed the strategic importance of a library presence in faculty-created course Web sites. It sparked specific recommendations to support the seamless integration of the CUL digital library within the virtual learning environments created by faculty.

Designing Environment for Teaching Internet of Things

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Simic, Konstantin; Vujin, Vladimir; Labus, Aleksandra; Stepanic, Ðorde; Stevanovic, Mladen

2014-01-01

One of the new topics taught at technical universities is Internet of Things. In this paper, a workshop for organizing a lab in academic environment for the subject Internet of Things is described. The architecture of the platform, scenario and a description of components used for creating the environment for learning Internet of things are also…

Personalized Learning: From Neurogenetics of Behaviors to Designing Optimal Language Training

PubMed Central

Wong, Patrick C. M.; Vuong, Loan; Liu, Kevin

2016-01-01

Variability in drug responsivity has prompted the development of Personalized Medicine, which has shown great promise in utilizing genotypic information to develop safer and more effective drug regimens for patients. Similarly, individual variability in learning outcomes has puzzled researchers who seek to create optimal learning environments for students. “Personalized Learning” seeks to identify genetic, neural and behavioral predictors of individual differences in learning and aims to use predictors to help create optimal teaching paradigms. Evidence for Personalized Learning can be observed by connecting research in pharmacogenomics, cognitive genetics and behavioral experiments across domains of learning, which provides a framework for conducting empirical studies from the laboratory to the classroom and holds promise for addressing learning effectiveness in the individual learners. Evidence can also be seen in the subdomain of speech learning, thus providing initial support for the applicability of Personalized Learning to language. PMID:27720749

Virtual Jupiter - Real Learning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ruzhitskaya, Lanika; Speck, A.; Laffey, J.

2010-01-01

How many earthlings went to visit Jupiter? None. How many students visited virtual Jupiter to fulfill their introductory astronomy courses’ requirements? Within next six months over 100 students from University of Missouri will get a chance to explore the planet and its Galilean Moons using a 3D virtual environment created especially for them to learn Kepler's and Newton's laws, eclipses, parallax, and other concepts in astronomy. The virtual world of Jupiter system is a unique 3D environment that allows students to learn course material - physical laws and concepts in astronomy - while engaging them into exploration of the Jupiter's system, encouraging their imagination, curiosity, and motivation. The virtual learning environment let students to work individually or collaborate with their teammates. The 3D world is also a great opportunity for research in astronomy education to investigate impact of social interaction, gaming features, and use of manipulatives offered by a learning tool on students’ motivation and learning outcomes. Use of 3D environment is also a valuable source for exploration of how the learners’ spatial awareness can be enhanced by working in 3-dimensional environment.

To belong or not to belong: nursing students' interactions with clinical learning environments - an observational study.

PubMed

Liljedahl, Matilda; Björck, Erik; Kalén, Susanne; Ponzer, Sari; Bolander Laksov, Klara

2016-08-05

Belongingness has been argued to be a prerequisite for students' learning in the clinical setting but making students feel like they belong to the workplace is a challenge. From a sociocultural perspective, workplace participatory practices is a framework that views clinical learning environments to be created in interaction between students and the workplace and hence, are dependent on them both. The aim of this study was to explore the interdependence between affordances and engagement in clinical learning environments. The research question was: How are nursing students influenced in their interactions with clinical learning environments? An observational study with field observations and follow-up interviews was performed. The study setting comprised three academic teaching hospitals. Field observations included shadowing undergraduate nursing students during entire shifts. Fifty-five hours of field observations and ten follow-up interviews with students, supervisors and clinical managers formed the study data. A thematic approach to the analysis was taken and performed iteratively with the data collection. The results revealed that students strived to fill out the role they were offered in an aspirational way but that they became overwhelmed when given the responsibility of care. When students' basic values did not align with those enacted by the workplace, they were not willing to compromise their own values. Workplaces succeeded in inviting students into the community of nurses and the practice of care. Students demonstrated hesitance regarding their desire to belong to the workplace community. The results imply that the challenge for clinical education is not to increase the experience of belongingness but to maintain students' critical and reflective approach to health care practice. Additionally, results suggest students to be included as an important stakeholder in creating clinical learning environments rather than being viewed as consumer of clinical education.

The learning environment of paediatric interns in South Africa.

PubMed

Naidoo, Kimesh L; Van Wyk, Jacqueline M; Adhikari, Miriam

2017-11-29

South African (SA) paediatric interns (recently qualified medical graduates) work in a high disease burdened and resource deficient environment for two years, prior to independent practice. Perceptions of this learning environment (LE) influences their approaches to training as well as the outcomes of this period of development. Obstacles to creating a supportive LE and supervisor interaction affects the quality of this training. Measuring perceptions of the LE with validated instruments can help inform improvements in learning during this crucial period of medical education. The aims of this study was to determine the psychometric qualities of the Postgraduate Hospital Educational Environment Measure (PHEEM) amongst paediatric interns across four hospital complexes in South Africa and to measure the LE as perceived by both interns and their supervisors. Construct validity was tested using factor analysis and internal consistency was measured with Cronbach's alpha. A total of 209 interns and 60 supervisors (69% intern response rate) responded to the questionnaire. The PHEEM was found to be very reliable with an overall Cronbach's alpha of 0.943 and 0.874 for intern and supervisors respectively. Factor analysis using a 3-factor solution accounted for 42% of the variance with the teaching subscale having the best fit compared with the other sub-scales of the original tool. Most interns perceived the learning environment as being more positive than negative however, their perceptions differed significantly from that of their supervisors. Poor infrastructural support from institutions, excessive workloads and inadequate supervision were factors preventing optimal training of paediatric interns. The SA version of the PHEEM tool used was found to be a reliable and valid instrument for use in interns amongst high disease burdened contexts. Various obstacles to creating an ideal learning environment for paediatric interns were identified to be in need of urgent review. Key differences in perceptions of an ideal learning environment between interns and their supervisors need to be fully explored as these may result in sub-optimal supervision and mentoring.

A Virtual Reality Simulator Prototype for Learning and Assessing Phaco-sculpting Skills

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Choi, Kup-Sze

This paper presents a virtual reality based simulator prototype for learning phacoemulsification in cataract surgery, with focus on the skills required for making a cross-shape trench in cataractous lens by an ultrasound probe during the phaco-sculpting procedure. An immersive virtual environment is created with 3D models of the lens and surgical tools. Haptic device is also used as 3D user interface. Phaco-sculpting is simulated by interactively deleting the constituting tetrahedrons of the lens model. Collisions between the virtual probe and the lens are effectively identified by partitioning the space containing the lens hierarchically with an octree. The simulator can be programmed to collect real-time quantitative user data for reviewing and assessing trainee's performance in an objective manner. A game-based learning environment can be created on top of the simulator by incorporating gaming elements based on the quantifiable performance metrics.

Apparatus for multiprocessor-based control of a multiagent robot

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Peters, II, Richard Alan (Inventor)

2009-01-01

An architecture for robot intelligence enables a robot to learn new behaviors and create new behavior sequences autonomously and interact with a dynamically changing environment. Sensory information is mapped onto a Sensory Ego-Sphere (SES) that rapidly identifies important changes in the environment and functions much like short term memory. Behaviors are stored in a DBAM that creates an active map from the robot's current state to a goal state and functions much like long term memory. A dream state converts recent activities stored in the SES and creates or modifies behaviors in the DBAM.

Architecture for Multiple Interacting Robot Intelligences

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Peters, Richard Alan, II (Inventor)

2008-01-01

An architecture for robot intelligence enables a robot to learn new behaviors and create new behavior sequences autonomously and interact with a dynamically changing environment. Sensory information is mapped onto a Sensory Ego-Sphere (SES) that rapidly identifies important changes in the environment and functions much like short term memory. Behaviors are stored in a database associative memory (DBAM) that creates an active map from the robot's current state to a goal state and functions much like long term memory. A dream state converts recent activities stored in the SES and creates or modifies behaviors in the DBAM.

The Construction of Knowledge through Social Interaction via Computer-Mediated Communication

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Saritas, Tuncay

2008-01-01

With the advance in information and communication technologies, computer-mediated communication--more specifically computer conferencing systems (CCS)--has captured the interest of educators as an ideal tool to create a learning environment featuring active, participative, and reflective learning. Educators are increasingly adapting the features…

Virtual Reference Services.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brewer, Sally

2003-01-01

As the need to access information increases, school librarians must create virtual libraries. Linked to reliable reference resources, the virtual library extends the physical collection and library hours and lets students learn to use Web-based resources in a protected learning environment. The growing number of virtual schools increases the need…

Students' Perspectives on LGBTQ-Inclusive Curriculum

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Snapp, Shannon D.; Burdge, Hilary; Licona, Adela C.; Moody, Raymond L.; Russell, Stephen T.

2015-01-01

Implementing curriculum that is inclusive of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning (LGBTQ) people has the potential to create an equitable learning environment. In order to learn more about students' experiences of LGBTQ-inclusive curriculum, 26 high school students with diverse racial/ethnic, sexual, and gender identities…

Ten Things that Teachers Should Teach (and Students Should Learn) about Language.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Barratt, Leslie

1988-01-01

To create an environment which motivates students to learn the conventions of formal writing, teachers must teach children the place that these conventions have in language and in linguistic history. Principles that give students a broad picture of language are listed. (JL)

Creating Asynchronous Online Learning Communities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kerr, Crystal

2009-01-01

This research project examined how to develop and sustain online, asynchronous learning communities in continuous intake, distance education environments for learners in grades 7 through 10. The study is an action research project that is based upon in-depth, qualitative data. Interviews were conducted with distance education teachers,…

Rethinking the Library Game: Creating an Alternate Reality with Social Media

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Battles, Jason; Glenn, Valerie; Shedd, Lindley

2011-01-01

In recent years, libraries have made efforts to create games, often for the purpose of information literacy instruction. Games can provide an interactive alternative to traditional instruction by introducing research tools and resources while also teaching problem solving skills within a collaborative learning environment. Despite the benefits,…

The Fairness Committee: Restorative Justice in a Small Urban Public High School

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hantzopoulos, Maria

2013-01-01

Rather than creating safer schools, punitive policies--such as zero-tolerance discipline policies--appear only to have created hostile learning environments. In response, many advocacy organizations have urged schools to adopt a human rights framework, including restorative practices. Schools with restorative approaches have noted dramatic…

Habitat Gardening--How Schoolyards Are Being Transformed into Wildlife Sanctuaries.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dunne, Niall

2000-01-01

Students from JFK High School and community gardening clubs in the Bronx cleaned up wetlands adjacent to the school and created various small theme gardens supporting diverse wildlife. Nationally, the schoolyard habitat movement aims to create stimulating outdoor environments where students can learn about local ecology, biodiversity, and…

Reaching Digital Natives on Their Terms

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dessoff, Alan

2010-01-01

From replacing print textbooks with digital content created by teachers or gathered from outside sources to encouraging students to explore the world around them digitally, many districts are creating a new type of student-friendly teaching and learning environment that goes beyond just adding computers to classrooms. Through a wide range of…

Multimedia Madness: Creating with a Purpose

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bodley, Barb; Bremer, Janet

2004-01-01

High school students working in a project-driven environment create "projects with a purpose" that give younger students technology-based activities to help them practice skills in reading, math, spelling and science. An elective semester-long course using the Macromedia suite of programs with the objective of learning the software skills of…

Authentic, Dialogical Knowledge Construction: A Blended and Mobile Teacher Education Programme

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ruhalahti, Sanna; Korhonen, Anne-Maria; Rasi, Päivi

2017-01-01

Background: Knowledge construction and technology have been identified as critical for an understanding of the future of teacher education. Knowledge is discovered, applied and created collaboratively from authentic starting points. Today's new mobile and blended learning environments create increased opportunities for such processes, including…

Games and Students: Creating Innovative Professionals

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Davis, Jason Stratton

2011-01-01

To create professionals for the future, who will be innovative and internationally competitive, we need to change the learning environment. The current traditional delivery systems of education do not develop the necessary interpersonal, analytical and creative skills to deal with the new knowledge economy. Baer (2005), in calling for a new model…

The Effects of Study Tasks in a Computer-Based Chemistry Learning Environment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Urhahne, Detlef; Nick, Sabine; Poepping, Anna Christin; Schulz, Sarah Jayne

2013-12-01

The present study examines the effects of different study tasks on the acquisition of knowledge about acids and bases in a computer-based learning environment. Three different task formats were selected to create three treatment conditions: learning with gap-fill and matching tasks, learning with multiple-choice tasks, and learning only from text and figures without any additional tasks. Participants were 196 ninth-grade students who learned with a self-developed multimedia program in a pretest-posttest control group design. Research results reveal that gap-fill and matching tasks were most effective in promoting knowledge acquisition, followed by multiple-choice tasks, and no tasks at all. The findings are in line with previous research on this topic. The effects can possibly be explained by the generation-recognition model, which predicts that gap-fill and matching tasks trigger more encompassing learning processes than multiple-choice tasks. It is concluded that instructional designers should incorporate more challenging study tasks for enhancing the effectiveness of computer-based learning environments.

Opportunistic Behavior in Motivated Learning Agents.

PubMed

Graham, James; Starzyk, Janusz A; Jachyra, Daniel

2015-08-01

This paper focuses on the novel motivated learning (ML) scheme and opportunistic behavior of an intelligent agent. It extends previously developed ML to opportunistic behavior in a multitask situation. Our paper describes the virtual world implementation of autonomous opportunistic agents learning in a dynamically changing environment, creating abstract goals, and taking advantage of arising opportunities to improve their performance. An opportunistic agent achieves better results than an agent based on ML only. It does so by minimizing the average value of all need signals rather than a dominating need. This paper applies to the design of autonomous embodied systems (robots) learning in real-time how to operate in a complex environment.

Nursing students' perceptions of factors influencing their learning environment in a clinical skills laboratory: A qualitative study.

PubMed

Haraldseid, Cecilie; Friberg, Febe; Aase, Karina

2015-09-01

The mastery of clinical skills learning is required to become a trained nurse. Due to limited opportunities for clinical skills training in clinical practice, undergraduate training at clinical skills laboratories (CSLs) is an essential part of nursing education. In a sociocultural learning perspective learning is situated in an environment. Growing student cohorts, rapid introduction of technology-based teaching methods and a shift from a teaching- to a learning-centered education all influence the environment of the students. These changes also affect CSLs and therefore compel nursing faculties to adapt to the changing learning environment. This study aimed to explore students' perceptions of their learning environment in a clinical skills laboratory, and to increase the knowledge base for improving CSL learning conditions identifying the most important environmental factors according to the students. An exploratory qualitative methodology was used. Nineteen second-year students enrolled in an undergraduate nursing program in Norway participated in the study. They took the same clinical skills course. Eight were part-time students (group A) and 11 were full-time students (group B). Focus group interviews and content analysis were conducted to capture the students' perception of the CSL learning environment. The study documents students' experience of the physical (facilities, material equipment, learning tools, standard procedures), psychosocial (expectations, feedback, relations) and organizational (faculty resources, course structure) factors that affect the CSL learning environment. Creating an authentic environment, facilitating motivation, and providing resources for multiple methods and repetitions within clinical skills training are all important for improving CSL learning environments from the student perspective. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Closing the Summer Learning Gap for Vulnerable Learners: An Exploratory Study of a Summer Literacy Programme for Kindergarten Children At-Risk for Reading Difficulties

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Graham, Ashley; McNamara, John K.; Van Lankveld, Jackie

2011-01-01

School summer vacation may create a significant gap in the learning cycle. Such a gap may be particularly detrimental for vulnerable children such as those with lower academic achievement due to learning and language disabilities, lower socio-economic environments or learning in a language other than their native language. The current exploratory…

Beyond the Biology: A Systematic Investigation of Noncontent Instructor Talk in an Introductory Biology Course.

PubMed

Seidel, Shannon B; Reggi, Amanda L; Schinske, Jeffrey N; Burrus, Laura W; Tanner, Kimberly D

2015-01-01

Instructors create classroom environments that have the potential to impact learning by affecting student motivation, resistance, and self-efficacy. However, despite the critical importance of the learning environment in increasing conceptual understanding, little research has investigated what instructors say and do to create learning environments in college biology classrooms. We systematically investigated the language used by instructors that does not directly relate to course content and defined the construct of Instructor Talk. Transcripts were generated from a semester-long, cotaught introductory biology course (n = 270 students). Transcripts were analyzed using a grounded theory approach to identify emergent categories of Instructor Talk. The five emergent categories from analysis of more than 600 quotes were, in order of prevalence, 1) Building the Instructor/Student Relationship, 2) Establishing Classroom Culture, 3) Explaining Pedagogical Choices, 4) Sharing Personal Experiences, and 5) Unmasking Science. Instances of Instructor Talk were present in every class session analyzed and ranged from six to 68 quotes per session. The Instructor Talk framework is a novel research variable that could yield insights into instructor effectiveness, origins of student resistance, and methods for overcoming stereotype threat. Additionally, it holds promise in professional development settings to assist instructors in reflecting on the learning environments they create. © 2015 S. B. Seidel et al. CBE—Life Sciences Education © 2015 The American Society for Cell Biology. This article is distributed by The American Society for Cell Biology under license from the author(s). It is available to the public under an Attribution–Noncommercial–Share Alike 3.0 Unported Creative Commons License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0).

In pursuit of a holistic learning environment: the impact of music in the medical physiology classroom.

PubMed

Modell, Harold I; DeMiero, Frank G; Rose, Louise

2009-03-01

A holistic learning environment is one that nurtures all aspects of students' learning. The environment is safe, supportive, and provides opportunities to help students deal with nonacademic as well as academic factors that impact their learning. Creation of such an environment requires the establishment of a supportive learning community. For a variety of reasons, establishing such a learning community of first-year medical students can be challenging. This communication presents one approach to meeting this challenge in a medical school Human Physiology course. Steps were taken at the beginning of the course to create the community, and activities designed to reinforce these efforts were incorporated into the course as it progressed. Two pilot studies were conducted to test the hypothesis that providing students with a participatory music experience may help to promote a holistic learning environment by helping them restore a sense of balance to their emotional well-being as well as reinforce a sense of community in the classroom. Student response to these activities indicated that these efforts provided emotional support during stressful periods during the quarter, helped promote a feeling of safety within the environment, and re-energized the class during long class sessions. This project illustrates that each instructor, within the confines of his/her own classroom, can make a significant contribution to achieving a holistic learning environment for his/her students.

Self-Regulated Learning in a TELE at the Universite de Technologie de Compiegne: An Analysis from Multiple Perspectives

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Trigano, Philippe

2006-01-01

Self-regulation has become a very important topic in the field of learning and instruction. At the same time, the introduction of new technologies in the field of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) has made it possible to create rich Technology-Enhanced Learning Environments (TELEs) with multiple affordances for supporting…

A Blended-Learning Pedagogical Model for Teaching and Learning EFL Successfully through an Online Interactive Multimedia Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Banados, Emerita

2006-01-01

Faced with the need to teach English to a large number of students, the "Universidad de Concepcion," Chile, has created an innovative Communicative English Program using ICT, which is made up of four modules covered in four academic terms. The English program aims to develop integrated linguistic skills with a focus on learning for…

Full Spectrum Training and Development: Soldier Skills and Attributes

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-07-01

aspects of social interdependence theory , which suggests that socioemotional as well as cognitive benefits can accrue from such training (O’Donnell...sociocognitive learning theories . In the ARC, P2P training can guide cadre and student interaction while creating an active learning environment...learning theories (Costanza et al., 2009). Behavioral theory prescribes gradually approximating, or shaping, the desired response until it meets

Creating a Framework of a Resource-Based E-Learning Environment for Science Learning in Primary Classrooms

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

So, Winnie W. M.

2012-01-01

Advancements in information and communications technology and the rapid expansion of the Internet have changed the nature and the mode of the presentation and delivery of teaching and learning resources. This paper discusses the results of a study aimed at investigating how five teachers planned to integrate online resources in their teaching of…

Role and Constructivist Competencies of an Online Instructor: Elements of an Online Learning Course

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Parker, Marsha L.

2014-01-01

Distance learning programs in higher education are evolving into the preferred model for how we educate learners in the 21st century. The traditional role of an instructor was focused on creating an effective learning environment based in a physical classroom setting. In this decade, institutions are educating and training online instructors to a…

Affinity Spaces: How Young People Live and Learn on Line and out of School

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gee, James Paul

2018-01-01

In the digital age, young people's most powerful learning opportunities often occur online, in experiences and environments created by people working outside of the K-12 school system. In a sense, the internet has given new life to an older, less formal approach to education, in which individuals seek out and learn from others who share their…

Create Online Learning for Where It's Going To Be, Not Where It's Been: An Online Pedagogy for 2006.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brinsmead, Anne-Marie; Lang, Gregory M.; McTavish, Lee

This paper presents an online pedagogy for 2006 and highlights the learning environment of the School of Continuing Studies at the University of Toronto's Web Forum (i.e., an online education management system that combines teaching and learning systems with management and administration systems). The following components of the Web Forum are…

Creating Online Content with Real World Application by Designing and Implementing Online Practicums for Virtual and Physical Environments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Barrett, Bob

2012-01-01

Universities need to assess student learning in order to determine if they are reaching the needs of the students, linking learning to course objectives, and determining if their courses have academic rigor. While many courses focus on the immediate course learning objectives, the use of final program projects and program assessments are becoming…

Gamified Pedagogy: From Gaming Theory to Creating a Self-Motivated Learning Environment in Studio Art

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Han, Hsiao-Cheng

2015-01-01

This research is an empirical study using gamified pedagogy in a 3-D animation course in a Visual Communication Design Department. By conducting this research, I hope to increase student interest in learning 3-D animation and to decrease student fears of learning professional 3-D software. Through this research, I have developed a theory of…

More Technology, Better Learning Resources, Better Learning? Lessons from Adopting Virtual Microscopy in Undergraduate Medical Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Helle, Laura; Nivala, Markus; Kronqvist, Pauliina

2013-01-01

The adoption of virtual microscopy at the University of Turku, Finland, created a unique real-world laboratory for exploring ways of reforming the learning environment. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the students' reactions and the impact of a set of measures designed to boost an experimental group's understanding of abnormal histology…

Delivering "Jugyou Kenkyuu" for Reframing Schools as Learning Organizations: An Examination of the Process of Japanese School Change

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Arani, Mohammad Reza Sarkar; Shibata, Yoshiaki; Matoba, Masami

2007-01-01

This paper first clarifies the role of "jugyou kenkyuu" for creating an effective environment in schools for teachers to learn from each other and for developing more learning-centered education that focuses on the real needs of students. Secondly, it examines various practical strategies used by both professors and teachers through…

Building Literacy with Child-Constructed Sociodramatic Play Centers.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ferguson, Christine J.

1999-01-01

Presents suggestions for creating play-learning environments designed to promote children's early literacy. Suggests that stimulating and inviting environments, abundant in print-rich materials, realistic props, and manipulatives meaningful to children are most valuable. Themes include hospital, pizza restaurant, hardware store, flower shop, candy…

Creating a Community of Inquiry in Online Library Instruction

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rapchak, Marcia E.

2017-01-01

According to the Community of Inquiry (CoI) model (Garrison, Anderson, & Archer, 2000), an enriching educational experience online in a collaborative learning environment requires three interdependent elements: social presence, teaching presence, and cognitive presence. Social presence provides interaction in the online environment that allows…

[Learning about social determinants of health through chronicles, using a virtual learning environment].

PubMed

Restrepo-Palacio, Sonia; Amaya-Guio, Jairo

2016-01-01

To describe the contributions of a pedagogical strategy based on the construction of chronicles, using a Virtual Learning Environment for training medical students from Universidad de La Sabana on social determinants of health. Descriptive study with a qualitative approach. Design and implementation of a Virtual Learning Environment based on the ADDIE instructional model. A Virtual Learning Environment was implemented with an instructional design based on the five phases of the ADDIE model, on the grounds of meaningful learning and social constructivism, and through the narration of chronicles or life stories as a pedagogical strategy. During the course, the structural determinants and intermediaries were addressed, and nine chronicles were produced by working groups made up of four or five students, who demonstrated meaningful learning from real life stories, presented a coherent sequence, and kept a thread; 82% of these students incorporated in their contents most of the social determinants of health, emphasizing on the concepts of equity or inequity, equality or inequality, justice or injustice and social cohesion. A Virtual Learning Environment, based on an appropriate instructional design, allows to facilitate learning of social determinants of health through a constructivist pedagogical approach by analyzing chronicles or life stories created by ninth-semester students of medicine from Universidad de La Sabana.

Going Virtual… or Not: Development and Testing of a 3D Virtual Astronomy Environment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ruzhitskaya, L.; Speck, A.; Ding, N.; Baldridge, S.; Witzig, S.; Laffey, J.

2013-04-01

We present our preliminary results of a pilot study of students' knowledge transfer of an astronomy concept into a new environment. We also share our discoveries on what aspects of a 3D environment students consider being motivational and discouraging for their learning. This study was conducted among 64 non-science major students enrolled in an astronomy laboratory course. During the course, students learned the concept and applications of Kepler's laws using a 2D interactive environment. Later in the semester, the students were placed in a 3D environment in which they were asked to conduct observations and to answers a set of questions pertaining to the Kepler's laws of planetary motion. In this study, we were interested in observing scrutinizing and assessing students' behavior: from choices that they made while creating their avatars (virtual representations) to tools they choose to use, to their navigational patterns, to their levels of discourse in the environment. These helped us to identify what features of the 3D environment our participants found to be helpful and interesting and what tools created unnecessary clutter and distraction. The students' social behavior patterns in the virtual environment together with their answers to the questions helped us to determine how well they understood Kepler's laws, how well they could transfer the concepts to a new situation, and at what point a motivational tool such as a 3D environment becomes a disruption to the constructive learning. Our founding confirmed that students construct deeper knowledge of a concept when they are fully immersed in the environment.

Using Invitational Learning to Address Writing Competence for Middle School Students with Disabilities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ornelles, Cecily; Black, Rhonda S.

2012-01-01

This study describes the process of creating an Invitational Learning environment to improve the writing competence of middle school students in two special education classes. Teacher-student interactions were coded according to Purkey and Novak's (1996) Intentionality/Invitation Quadrant with levels corresponding to intentionally disinviting,…

Strategies, Challenges and Prospects for Active Learning in the Computer-Based Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Holbert, K. E.; Karady, G. G.

2009-01-01

The introduction of computer-equipped classrooms into engineering education has brought with it a host of opportunities and issues. Herein, some of the challenges and successes for creating an environment for active learning within computer-based classrooms are described. The particular teaching approach developed for undergraduate electrical…

Cultivating Intellectual Safety in a Women and Leadership Course

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shollen, S. Lynn

2016-01-01

This application brief provides pedagogical strategies for teaching and learning about women and leadership as a potentially sensitive subject, with emphasis on creating an intellectually safe learning environment. Findings from a study of students' expectations and experiences with a Women and Leadership course showed that the strategies affected…

Advances in Computer-Supported Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Neto, Francisco; Brasileiro, Francisco

2007-01-01

The Internet and growth of computer networks have eliminated geographic barriers, creating an environment where education can be brought to a student no matter where that student may be. The success of distance learning programs and the availability of many Web-supported applications and multimedia resources have increased the effectiveness of…

Effective Task Design for the TBL Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Roberson, Bill; Franchini, Billie

2014-01-01

Group and team tasks are the culminating outputs of student learning in team and collaborative learning environments. How they are conceived and designed, therefore, can directly determine the success of the pedagogical strategy. A key design issue for creating effective tasks is how best to focus student knowledge, observation, and analysis…

Simulating a Volcanic Crisis in the Classroom.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Harpp, Karen S.; Sweeney, William J.

2002-01-01

Reports on the design of a multi-week cooperative learning activity for an undergraduate introductory volcanology class which culminates in the simulation of a volcanic monitoring crisis. Suggests that this activity creates an effective and exciting learning environment in which students have the opportunity to apply theoretical concepts to a more…

The Virtual Classroom: A Catalyst for Institutional Transformation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Subramaniam, Nantha Kumar; Kandasamy, Maheswari

2011-01-01

This study explores the use of the virtual classroom which has been created in "myVLE", a learning management system used by the Open University Malaysia (OUM). The virtual classroom in "myVLE" is an asynchronous-based online learning environment that delivers course materials to learners and provides collaboration and…

Web-Based Instruction (WBI): An Introduction.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Khan, Badrul H.

1998-01-01

Advances in information technology, coupled with changes in society, are creating new paradigms for education. The Web, as a medium of learning and instruction, has the potential to support the creation of well-designed resources. A table of features and components associated with Web-based instruction learning environments is provided.…

A New Approach to Accountability: Creating Effective Learning Environments for Programs

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Surr, Wendy

2012-01-01

This article describes a new paradigm for accountability that envisions afterschool programs as learning organizations continually engaged in improving quality. Nearly 20 years into the era of results-based accountability, a new generation of afterschool accountability systems is emerging. Rather than aiming to test whether programs have produced…

Quality Time after School: What Instructors Can Do To Enhance Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Grossman, Jean; Campbell, Margo; Raley, Becca

2007-01-01

Improving the quality of out-of-school time activities and creating effective learning environments is of keen interest to practitioners, funders and policymakers. Funded by The William Penn Foundation, "Quality Time After School" identifies characteristics of after-school activities that are linked to youth engagement and learning…

Investigating the Experiential Impact of Sensory Affect in Contemporary Communication Design Studio Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Marshalsey, Lorraine

2015-01-01

The studio is the primary site for learning in specialist Communication Design education worldwide. Differing higher education institutions, including art schools and university campuses, have developed a varied range of studio environments. These diverse learning spaces inherently create a complex fabric of affects. In addition, Communication…

Learner-Centered Pedagogy: Considerations for Application in a Didactic Course

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Moate, Randall M.; Cox, Jane A.

2015-01-01

A learner-centered teaching approach is well known in higher education but has not been fully addressed within counselor education. Instructors who adopt this approach value a collaborative approach to teaching and learning, one that honors students' wisdom and contributions. Teachers create a learning environment encouraging students to actively…

Effects of Generative Video on Students' Scientific Problem Posing. Draft.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hickey, Daniel T.; Petrosino, Anthony

A central premise of the discovery-learning and progressive education movements was that the child's own questions are the most appropriate starting point for instruction. Recent advances present new opportunities for discovery-oriented learning. This project has been attempting to create a classroom environment which affords students the…

Creating a Rich Learning Environment for Remote Postgraduate Learners

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lonie, Anne-Louise; Andrews, Trish

2009-01-01

At Rangelands Australia, a centre in the School of Natural and Rural Systems Management at the University of Queensland, we have recently trialled virtual classroom technology for the delivery of postgraduate support courses. We wanted to explore the capacity of this learning modality to provide collaborative, interactive, synchronous learning…

Transforming Physical Educators through Adventure-Based Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ressler, James Donald

2012-01-01

Adventure-based Learning (ABL) is the purposeful use of activities in sequence to improve personal and social development of participants (Cosgriff, 2000). ABL goes beyond instant activities (i.e. ice-breakers, cooperative games) to create an environment in which students enjoy the challenge while developing emotional and social competencies…

Learning with Security

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jokela, Paivi; Karlsudd, Peter

2007-01-01

The current higher education, both distance education and traditional campus courses, relies more and more on modern information and communication technologies (ICT). The use of computer systems and networks results in a wide range of security issues that must be dealt with in order to create a safe learning environment. In this work, we study the…

"Mano a Mano": Arts-Based Nonfiction Literacy and Content Area Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bryce, Nadine

2012-01-01

At the James Weldon Johnson Leadership Academy in East Harlem, New York, administrators, teachers, students, families, and community-based artists worked together to create a visually explosive environment that reflected enriched learning experiences based on their multidisciplinary study of New York's history. The Mano a Mano ("Hand to…

Cheater or Collaborator?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jakes, David

2009-01-01

As more social technologies and processes enter the classroom, new questions arise about how these tools and processes serve teaching and learning. Many have the potential to create dynamic learning environments. They also have the potential to cause distraction. In this article, the author describes one scenario that relates only to the social…

Designing a Technology-Enhanced Learning Environment to Support Scientific Modeling

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wu, Hsin-Kai; Hsu, Ying-Shao; Hwang, Fu-Kwun

2010-01-01

Modeling of a natural phenomenon is of value in science learning and increasingly emphasized as an important component of science education. However, previous research has shown that secondary school students encounter difficulties when engaging in modeling activities and need substantial support in order to create meaningful scientific models.…

Greening School Grounds: Creating Habitats for Learning.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Grant, Tim, Ed.; Littlejohn, Gail, Ed.

Schoolyard greening is an excellent way to promote hands-on, interdisciplinary learning about the environment through projects that benefit schools and increase green space and biodiversity in communities. This book features step-by-step instructions for numerous schoolyard projects from tree nurseries to school composting to native plant gardens,…

The Educational Process in the Emerging Information Society: Conditions for the Reversal of the Linear Model of Education and the Development of an Open Type Hybrid Learning Environment.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Anastasiades, Panagiotes S.; Retalis, Simos

The introduction of communications and information technologies in the area of education tends to create a totally different environment, which is marked by a change of the teacher's role and a transformation of the basic components that make up the meaning and content of the learning procedure as a whole. It could be said that, despite any…

Midwifery students' experiences of simulation- and skills training.

PubMed

Lendahls, Lena; Oscarsson, Marie G

2017-03-01

In Sweden, simulation- and skills training are implemented in midwifery education in order to prepare students for clinical practice. Research regarding the use of both low to high levels of fidelity in simulation in midwifery programme is limited. The aim of this study was to explore midwifery students' experiences of simulation- and skills training. Midwifery students (n=61), at advanced level, were interviewed in 13 group interviews from 2011 to 2105. A semi-structured interview guide was used, and data were analysed by content analysis. The results are presented in four main categories: develops hands on skills and communication, power of collaborative learning, highly valued learning environment and facilitates clinical practice. The majority of students felt that the simulation- and skills training were necessary to become familiar with hands on skills. Having repetitive practices in a safe and secure environment was viewed as important, and students highly valued that mistakes could be made without fear of comprising patient safety. Student's collaboration, reflections and critical thinking increased learning ability. Simulation- and skills training created links between theory and practice, and the lecturer had an important role in providing instructions and feedback. Students felt prepared and confident before their clinical practice, and simulation- and skills training increased safety for all involved, resulting in students being more confident, as patients in clinical practice became less exposed. Furthermore, mentors were satisfied with students' basic skills. Simulation- and skills training support the development of midwifery skills. It creates links between theory and practice, which facilitates students' learning ability. Training needs to include reflections and critical thinking in order to develop their learning. The lecturer has an important role in encouraging time for reflections and creating safe environment during the skills and simulation training. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

PhET: Interactive Simulations for Teaching and Learning Physics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Perkins, Katherine; Adams, Wendy; Dubson, Michael; Finkelstein, Noah; Reid, Sam; Wieman, Carl; LeMaster, Ron

2006-01-01

The Physics Education Technology (PhET) project creates useful simulations for teaching and learning physics and makes them freely available from the PhET website (http://phet.colorado.edu). The simulations (sims) are animated, interactive, and game-like environments in which students learn through exploration. In these sims, we emphasize the connections between real-life phenomena and the underlying science, and seek to make the visual and conceptual models of expert physicists accessible to students. We use a research-based approach in our design—incorporating findings from prior research and our own testing to create sims that support student engagement with and understanding of physics concepts.

Brain-Emulating Cognition and Control Architecture (BECCA) v. 0.2 beta

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

ROHRER, BRANDON; & MORROW, JAMES

2009-06-16

BECCA is a learning and control method based on the function of the human brain. The goal behind its creation is to learn to control robots in unfamiliar environments in a way that is very robust, similar to the way that an infant learns to interact with her environment by trial and error. As of this release, this software contains an application for controlling robot hardware through a socket. The code was created so as to make it extensible to new applications. It is modular, object-oriented code in which the portions of the code that are specific to one robotmore » are easily separable from those portions that are the constant between implementations. BECCA makes very few assumptions about the robot and environment it is learning, and so is applicable to a wide range of learning and control problems.« less

Smart Schools an Innovation in Education: Malaysian's Experience

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mirzajani, Hassan; Bayekolaei, Mehraneh Delaviz; Kookandeh, Meysam Rajaby; Rezaee, Seyede Safoora Razzaghpoor; Kamalifar, Ali Akbar; Shani, Hassan Razaghi

2016-01-01

According to the new environment created by the information period, training and learning new skills are being inevitable. Retraining the skills of group working to coordinate the information age has created special conditions for education. Smart schools are one of the strategies adopted by schools in response to today's modern needs. Smart…

Evaluating the Motivational Impact of CALL Systems: Current Practices and Future Directions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bodnar, Stephen; Cucchiarini, Catia; Strik, Helmer; van Hout, Roeland

2016-01-01

A major aim of computer-assisted language learning (CALL) is to create computer environments that facilitate students' second language (L2) acquisition. To achieve this aim, CALL employs technological innovations to create novel types of language practice. Evaluations of the new practice types serve the important role of distinguishing effective…

Fieldale-Collinsville Middle School: Banishing Anonymity

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Principal Leadership, 2010

2010-01-01

It is no accident that the staff at Fieldale-Collinsville Middle School adopted a central tenet of "Breaking Ranks in the Middle"--to banish anonymity by creating a personalized learning environment for all of its students. The school was created six years ago when the four middle schools in Henry County, VA, were consolidated into two…

Success for All? The Role of the School Counselor in Creating and Sustaining Culturally Responsive Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports Programs

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Betters-Bubon, Jennifer; Brunner, Todd; Kansteiner, Avery

2016-01-01

Successful implementation of Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS) programs should include culturally responsive practices to reduce disproportionality in school discipline referrals and create effective learning environments for all students. Sustaining culturally responsive PBIS programs requires attention to student demographics…

Education and the Environment: Creating Standards-Based Programs in Schools and Districts

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lieberman, Gerald A.

2013-01-01

In this timely book, curriculum expert Gerald A. Lieberman provides an innovative guide to creating and implementing a new type of environmental education that combines standards-based lessons on English language arts, math, history, and science with community investigations and service learning projects. By connecting academic content with local…

The Frazzled Principal's Wellness Plan: Reclaiming Time, Managing Stress, and Creating a Healthy Lifestyle

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Queen, J. Allen; Queen, Patsy S.

2004-01-01

This wellness guide for today's busy principals, school leaders, supervisors, and administrators has been custom crafted by the authors to address the stresses of managing workplace environments, juggling time and competing priorities, learning to delegate, balancing personal and professional agendas, and creating win-win situations. Special…

Personalizing the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning: A 2001-2002 Carnegie Scholars Project Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gayle, Barbara Mae

Societal acceptance of polarized discourse poses challenges for communication professors engaged in teaching ethical public speaking processes to undergraduates. This study explores how creating caring and safe environments for the discussion of difficult dialogues is paramount to creating civil and reasoned discourse that can address issues of…

Targeted Food Marketing to Youth: Engaging Professionals in an Online Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Katras, Mary Jo; Kunkel, Kelly; Croymans, Sara R.; Routh, Brianna; Schroeder, Mary; Olson, Carrie Ann

2014-01-01

The use of technology provides unique ways to create an engaged online community of learning for professionals that can be integrated into existing and future Extension programming. The Targeted Food Marketing to Youth online professional development course uses strategies and tools to create and support an engaged online community.

The clinical learning environment and supervision by staff nurses: developing the instrument.

PubMed

Saarikoski, Mikko; Leino-Kilpi, Helena

2002-03-01

The aims of this study were (1) to describe students' perceptions of the clinical learning environment and clinical supervision and (2) to develop an evaluation scale by using the empirical results of this study. The data were collected using the Clinical Learning Environment and Supervision instrument (CLES). The instrument was based on the literature review of earlier studies. The derived instrument was tested empirically in a study involving nurse students (N=416) from four nursing colleges in Finland. The results demonstrated that the method of supervision, the number of separate supervision sessions and the psychological content of supervisory contact within a positive ward atmosphere are the most important variables in the students' clinical learning. The results also suggest that ward managers can create the conditions of a positive ward culture and a positive attitude towards students and their learning needs. The construct validity of the instrument was analysed by using exploratory factor analysis. The analysis indicated that the most important factor in the students' clinical learning is the supervisory relationship. The two most important factors constituting a 'good' clinical learning environment are the management style of the ward manager and the premises of nursing on the ward. The results of the factor analysis support the theoretical construction of the clinical learning environment modelled by earlier empirical studies.

Mentor experiences of international healthcare students' learning in a clinical environment: A systematic review.

PubMed

Mikkonen, Kristina; Elo, Satu; Tuomikoski, Anna-Maria; Kääriäinen, Maria

2016-05-01

Globalisation has brought new possibilities for international growth in education and professional mobility among healthcare professionals. There has been a noticeable increase of international degree programmes in non-English speaking countries in Europe, creating clinical learning challenges for healthcare students. The aim of this systematic review was to describe mentors' experiences of international healthcare students' learning in a clinical environment. The objective of the review was to identify what influences the success or failure of mentoring international healthcare students when learning in the clinical environment, with the ultimate aim being to promote optimal mentoring practice. A systematic review was conducted according to the guidelines of the Centre for Reviews and Dissemination. Seven electronic databases were used to search for the published results of previous research: CINAHL, Medline Ovid, Scopus, the Web of Science, Academic Search Premiere, Eric, and the Cochrane Library. Search inclusion criteria were planned in the PICOS review format by including peer-reviewed articles published in any language between 2000 and 2014. Five peer-reviewed articles remained after the screening process. The results of the original studies were analysed using a thematic synthesis. The results indicate that a positive intercultural mentor enhanced reciprocal learning by improving the experience of international healthcare students and reducing stress in the clinical environment. Integrating international healthcare students into work with domestic students was seen to be important for reciprocal learning and the avoidance of discrimination. Many healthcare students were found to share similar experiences of mentoring and learning irrespective of their cultural background. However, the role of a positive intercultural mentor was found to make a significant difference for international students: such mentors advocated and mediated cultural differences and created a welcoming environment for international students by helping to minimise feelings of social isolation. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The Developing Infant Creates a Curriculum for Statistical Learning.

PubMed

Smith, Linda B; Jayaraman, Swapnaa; Clerkin, Elizabeth; Yu, Chen

2018-04-01

New efforts are using head cameras and eye-trackers worn by infants to capture everyday visual environments from the point of view of the infant learner. From this vantage point, the training sets for statistical learning develop as the sensorimotor abilities of the infant develop, yielding a series of ordered datasets for visual learning that differ in content and structure between timepoints but are highly selective at each timepoint. These changing environments may constitute a developmentally ordered curriculum that optimizes learning across many domains. Future advances in computational models will be necessary to connect the developmentally changing content and statistics of infant experience to the internal machinery that does the learning. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Investigation of learning environment for arithmetic word problems by problem posing as sentence integration in Indonesian language

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hasanah, N.; Hayashi, Y.; Hirashima, T.

2017-02-01

Arithmetic word problems remain one of the most difficult area of teaching mathematics. Learning by problem posing has been suggested as an effective way to improve students’ understanding. However, the practice in usual classroom is difficult due to extra time needed for assessment and giving feedback to students’ posed problems. To address this issue, we have developed a tablet PC software named Monsakun for learning by posing arithmetic word problems based on Triplet Structure Model. It uses the mechanism of sentence-integration, an efficient implementation of problem-posing that enables agent-assessment of posed problems. The learning environment has been used in actual Japanese elementary school classrooms and the effectiveness has been confirmed in previous researches. In this study, ten Indonesian elementary school students living in Japan participated in a learning session of problem posing using Monsakun in Indonesian language. We analyzed their learning activities and show that students were able to interact with the structure of simple word problem using this learning environment. The results of data analysis and questionnaire suggested that the use of Monsakun provides a way of creating an interactive and fun environment for learning by problem posing for Indonesian elementary school students.

Innovative Methodologies for 21st Century Learning, Teaching and Assessment: A Convenience Sampling Investigation into the Use of Social Media Technologies in Higher Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kivunja, Charles

2015-01-01

The advent of the Web as a social technology has created opportunities for the creation of informal learning environments, which have potential for innovative methodologies in learning, teaching and assessment. However, as Wolfe (2001) admonishes, "contrary to the rhetoric of cheerleaders, the Web places greater demands on students than…

Changing Perception: The Red Arrow Division in WWI

DTIC Science & Technology

2017-05-25

arriving in France. Further analysis of the division’s development in actual combat highlights its growth as a learning organization, commander’s...growth as a learning organization, commander’s visualization and application of operational art, and how capable staffs enable both. Critical...mentoring our seminar and creating a learning environment that led to significant personal and professional growth. To the numerous mentors over the course

Nurses "Fit for Purpose": Using a Task-Centred Group to Help Students Learn from Experience

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Platt, Chris

2002-01-01

In a time of high demand for qualified nurses, mass education has become the norm. This is a necessary constraint within which we have to learn to function. However, the need to educate large numbers of nurses may lead to a one-sided unimaginative reliance on the traditional lecture method, creating a learning environment that inadvertently limits…

Profiling medical school learning environments in Malaysia: a validation study of the Johns Hopkins Learning Environment Scale.

PubMed

Tackett, Sean; Bakar, Hamidah Abu; Shilkofski, Nicole A; Coady, Niamh; Rampal, Krishna; Wright, Scott

2015-01-01

While a strong learning environment is critical to medical student education, the assessment of medical school learning environments has confounded researchers. Our goal was to assess the validity and utility of the Johns Hopkins Learning Environment Scale (JHLES) for preclinical students at three Malaysian medical schools with distinct educational and institutional models. Two schools were new international partnerships, and the third was school leaver program established without international partnership. First- and second-year students responded anonymously to surveys at the end of the academic year. The surveys included the JHLES, a 28-item survey using five-point Likert scale response options, the Dundee Ready Educational Environment Measure (DREEM), the most widely used method to assess learning environments internationally, a personal growth scale, and single-item global learning environment assessment variables. The overall response rate was 369/429 (86%). After adjusting for the medical school year, gender, and ethnicity of the respondents, the JHLES detected differences across institutions in four out of seven domains (57%), with each school having a unique domain profile. The DREEM detected differences in one out of five categories (20%). The JHLES was more strongly correlated than the DREEM to two thirds of the single-item variables and the personal growth scale. The JHLES showed high internal reliability for the total score (α=0.92) and the seven domains (α, 0.56-0.85). The JHLES detected variation between learning environment domains across three educational settings, thereby creating unique learning environment profiles. Interpretation of these profiles may allow schools to understand how they are currently supporting trainees and identify areas needing attention.

Profiling medical school learning environments in Malaysia: a validation study of the Johns Hopkins Learning Environment Scale

PubMed Central

Tackett, Sean; Bakar, Hamidah Abu; Shilkofski, Nicole A.; Coady, Niamh; Rampal, Krishna; Wright, Scott

2015-01-01

Purpose: While a strong learning environment is critical to medical student education, the assessment of medical school learning environments has confounded researchers. Our goal was to assess the validity and utility of the Johns Hopkins Learning Environment Scale (JHLES) for preclinical students at three Malaysian medical schools with distinct educational and institutional models. Two schools were new international partnerships, and the third was school leaver program established without international partnership. Methods: First- and second-year students responded anonymously to surveys at the end of the academic year. The surveys included the JHLES, a 28-item survey using five-point Likert scale response options, the Dundee Ready Educational Environment Measure (DREEM), the most widely used method to assess learning environments internationally, a personal growth scale, and single-item global learning environment assessment variables. Results: The overall response rate was 369/429 (86%). After adjusting for the medical school year, gender, and ethnicity of the respondents, the JHLES detected differences across institutions in four out of seven domains (57%), with each school having a unique domain profile. The DREEM detected differences in one out of five categories (20%). The JHLES was more strongly correlated than the DREEM to two thirds of the single-item variables and the personal growth scale. The JHLES showed high internal reliability for the total score (α=0.92) and the seven domains (α, 0.56-0.85). Conclusion: The JHLES detected variation between learning environment domains across three educational settings, thereby creating unique learning environment profiles. Interpretation of these profiles may allow schools to understand how they are currently supporting trainees and identify areas needing attention. PMID:26165949

Intelligible machine learning with malibu.

PubMed

Langlois, Robert E; Lu, Hui

2008-01-01

malibu is an open-source machine learning work-bench developed in C/C++ for high-performance real-world applications, namely bioinformatics and medical informatics. It leverages third-party machine learning implementations for more robust bug-free software. This workbench handles several well-studied supervised machine learning problems including classification, regression, importance-weighted classification and multiple-instance learning. The malibu interface was designed to create reproducible experiments ideally run in a remote and/or command line environment. The software can be found at: http://proteomics.bioengr. uic.edu/malibu/index.html.

Perceptions of teaching and learning automata theory in a college-level computer science course

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Weidmann, Phoebe Kay

This dissertation identifies and describes student and instructor perceptions that contribute to effective teaching and learning of Automata Theory in a competitive college-level Computer Science program. Effective teaching is the ability to create an appropriate learning environment in order to provide effective learning. We define effective learning as the ability of a student to meet instructor set learning objectives, demonstrating this by passing the course, while reporting a good learning experience. We conducted our investigation through a detailed qualitative case study of two sections (118 students) of Automata Theory (CS 341) at The University of Texas at Austin taught by Dr. Lily Quilt. Because Automata Theory has a fixed curriculum in the sense that many curricula and textbooks agree on what Automata Theory contains, differences being depth and amount of material to cover in a single course, a case study would allow for generalizable findings. Automata Theory is especially problematic in a Computer Science curriculum since students are not experienced in abstract thinking before taking this course, fail to understand the relevance of the theory, and prefer classes with more concrete activities such as programming. This creates a special challenge for any instructor of Automata Theory as motivation becomes critical for student learning. Through the use of student surveys, instructor interviews, classroom observation, material and course grade analysis we sought to understand what students perceived, what instructors expected of students, and how those perceptions played out in the classroom in terms of structure and instruction. Our goal was to create suggestions that would lead to a better designed course and thus a higher student success rate in Automata Theory. We created a unique theoretical basis, pedagogical positivism, on which to study college-level courses. Pedagogical positivism states that through examining instructor and student perceptions of teaching and learning, improvements to a course are possible. These improvements can eventually develop a "best practice" instructional environment. This view is not possible under a strictly constructivist learning theory as there is no way to teach a group of individuals in a "best" way. Using this theoretical basis, we examined the gathered data from CS 341. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

Dental nursing education and the introduction of technology-assisted learning.

PubMed

Sheridan, C; Gorman, T; Claffey, N

2008-11-01

The aim of this paper is to explore the profile of dental nursing students in the National Dental Nurse Training Programme of Ireland and their adjustment to a technology-assisted learning environment. Evaluation by students of the course and their reactions to the course were analysed. Dental nurses must possess the skills and knowledge to proficiently function in the modern day dental surgery. The implementation of a dental nurse programme that is heavily reliant on technology has started to create a group of dental nurses equipped with basic skills to access and retrieve information over a lifetime. However, the transition to a technology-assisted learning environment including online learning activities requires adaptation and expertise by educators and students alike. Careful evaluation and stakeholder feedback is imperative in the creation and maintaining of a quality programme. In conclusion, the students in this study responded well to the transition to a technology-based learning environment. Furthermore, the findings of this study suggest that the use of an online environment is an effective and stimulating learning environment for the students of a dental nurse programme; however, familiarity skills and knowledge of information technology is a prerequisite for success.

Learner-Centered Environments: Creating Effective Strategies Based on Student Attitudes and Faculty Reflection

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bishop, Catharine F.; Caston, Michael I.; King, Cheryl A.

2014-01-01

Learner-centered environments effectively implement multiple teaching techniques to enhance students' higher education experience and provide them with greater control over their academic learning. This qualitative study involves an exploration of the eight reasons for learner-centered teaching found in Terry Doyle's 2008 book, "Helping…

Constructs for Web 2.0 Learning Environments: A Theatrical Metaphor

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tu, Chih-Hsiung; Blocher, Michael; Roberts, Gayle

2008-01-01

Web 2.0 technologies empower learners to create personalized and community-based collaborative environments. Social networking technology affords learners to weave their human networks through active connections to understand what we know and we want to know. Social acts that bring out identities, awareness, relationships, connections, and…

The Habitability Framework: Linking Human Behavior and Physical Environment in Special Education.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Preiser, Wolfgang F. E.; Taylor, Anne

1983-01-01

The concept of environmental design cybernetics is explained, and its use by special educators and architects in creating learning environments is discussed. A proposed habitability framework is defined, and its applications to buildings and building occupants/users are offered. Research on architectural design applied to special education…

Emotion Management in Online Groupwork Reported by Chinese Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Xu, Jianzhong; Du, Jianxia; Fan, Xitao

2014-01-01

Emotion and emotion regulation are increasingly viewed as critical issues in online learning environments. Online collaborative environments in particular create novel challenges for emotion regulation. Few studies, however, have focused on a range of factors that may influence students' efforts to manage their emotion in online collaborative…

Can Massively Multiplayer Online Gaming Environments Support Team Training?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

O'Connor, Debra L.; Menaker, Ellen S.

2008-01-01

Instructional games are created when training is deliberately added to a gaming environment or when gaming aspects are deliberately incorporated into training. One type of game that is currently attracting the attention of the education and training field is the massively multiplayer online game (MMOG). Because evidence about learning outcomes…

Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Students--Radically or Invisibly at Risk.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Piernik, Thomas E.

1992-01-01

New research and structures of higher education must be explored to create positive learning environments for gay, lesbian, and bisexual students, whose needs may be different from those of traditional students. This requires attention to college and classroom environment, curriculum, and services, including campus activities, career and personal…

Changes in Teachers' Beliefs and Practices in Technology-Rich Classrooms.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dwyer, David C.; And Others

1991-01-01

The Apple Classrooms of Tomorrow (ACOT) project is a flexible consortium of researchers, educators, students, and parents who have worked collaboratively to create and study innovative learning environments since 1985. ACOT classrooms are true multimedia environments where students move from competitive work patterns toward collaborative ones. (10…

Creating Learning Places for Teachers, Too.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Frase, Larry E.; Conley, Sharon C.

This book advances the premise that teachers, in addition to students, must be viewed as customers of the school. Teachers' jobs and work environments must therefore be redesigned for maximum professional growth and development. Unless teachers are supported in developing a quality work environment, efforts to improve schools will be marginally…

An Investigation into the Organization Levels of Social Studies Teachers with Regard to Constructivist Learning Environments in Terms of Several Variables=Sosyal Bilgiler Ögretmenlerinin Yapilandirmaci Ögrenme Ortamlarini Düzenleme Düzeylerinin Çesitli Degiskenlere Göre Incelenmesi

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Çaliskan, Hüseyin

2015-01-01

The purpose of this research project was to evaluate the performance and conditions of elementary-level social studies teachers, and how such variables affect their overall ability to create a constructivist learning environment. The research group was composed of 241 social studies teachers. A Turkish translation of the work "Constructivist…

Creating Ideal Facilities.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kennedy, Mike

2002-01-01

Reviews ways that schools can provide effective indoor learning environments by paying attention to the following areas: daylighting, acoustics, space allocation, technology implementation, ergonomics, maintenance, indoor air quality, safety, restrooms, and roofing. (GR)

Game-Based Learning Theory

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Laughlin, Daniel

2008-01-01

Persistent Immersive Synthetic Environments (PISE) are not just connection points, they are meeting places. They are the new public squares, village centers, malt shops, malls and pubs all rolled into one. They come with a sense of 'thereness" that engages the mind like a real place does. Learning starts as a real code. The code defines "objects." The objects exist in computer space, known as the "grid." The objects and space combine to create a "place." A "world" is created, Before long, the grid and code becomes obscure, and the "world maintains focus.

Creating an Agile ECE Learning Environment through Engineering Clinics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jansson, P. M.; Ramachandran, R. P.; Schmalzel, J. L.; Mandayam, S. A.

2010-01-01

To keep up with rapidly advancing technology, numerous innovations to the electrical and computer engineering (ECE) curriculum, learning methods and pedagogy have been envisioned, tested, and implemented. It is safe to say that no single approach will work for all of the diverse ECE technologies and every type of learner. However, a few key…

Reading and Mathematics Bound Together: Creating a Home Environment for Preschool Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Godwin, Amber J.; Rupley, William H.; Capraro, Robert M.; Capraro, Mary Margaret

2016-01-01

The combination of mathematics and reading in family reading time can positively impact children's ability to make sense of representations in both mathematics and reading. Four families volunteered to participate in this field based inquiry to learn how to integrate mathematics and reading in parent-supported activities. Four parents and their…

Instructional Leadership: The Role of Heads of Schools in Managing the Instructional Programme

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Manaseh, Aaron Mkanga

2016-01-01

Scholars and practitioners agree that instructional leadership (IL) can be one of the most useful tools for creating an effective teaching and learning environment. This paper investigates the instructional leadership practices engaged in by heads of secondary schools to enhance classroom instruction and students learning, particularly the way…

Teacher Openness and Prosocial Motivation: Creating an Environment Where Questions Lead to Engaged Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Crane, Bret D.

2017-01-01

Evidence suggests that student engagement in the classroom leads to improved learning outcomes. As a result, teachers of management have promoted ways to involve students through Socratic teaching methods, case-based pedagogy, and class discussion. These approaches to learning emphasize the use of questions to stimulate student engagement.…

Using Electronic Technologies To Support Teaching and Learning: Building a Future.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Eastwood, Kenneth W.; And Others

The Oswego City School District is committed to creating--through the implementation of its technology plan--an environment that supports effective teaching and learning and prepares all students to succeed in a technologically sophisticated world. This report summarizes the efforts to build a community-wide consensus for a meaningful technology…

Teacher, I Had a Dream: A Glimpse of the Spiritual Domain of Children Using Project-Based Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Harris, Kathleen

2013-01-01

Children's dreams have the potential to awaken feelings, question attitudes and inspire new learning experiences to deepen awareness of spiritual development. Both guidance and spiritual environments created by nurturing educators and parents foster dreams that captivate and motivate children to increase their spiritual self-awareness, leading…

Building Guided Inquiry Teams for 21st-Century Learners

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kuhlthau, Carol C.; Maniotes, Leslie K.

2010-01-01

How can students learn to think for themselves, make good decisions, develop expertise, and become lifelong learners in a rapidly changing information environment? How can students learn, create, and find meaning from multiple sources of information? These are fundamental questions facing educators in designing schools for 21st-century learners.…

Effects of the Application of Graphing Calculator on Students' Probability Achievement

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tan, Choo-Kim

2012-01-01

A Graphing Calculator (GC) is one of the most portable and affordable technology in mathematics education. It quickens the mechanical procedure in solving mathematical problems and creates a highly interactive learning environment, which makes learning a seemingly difficult subject, easy. Since research on the use of GCs for the teaching and…

Educating English Language Learners: Instructional Approaches and Teacher Collaboration in Philadelphia Public Schools. PERC Research Brief

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Reumann-Moore, Rebecca; Rowland, Jeannette; Hughes, Rosemary; Lin, Joshua

2016-01-01

Districts, charter management organizations, and individual schools can learn a great deal from each other about strategies for creating robust and supportive learning environments for English Language Learners (ELLS). This brief highlights key findings about how Philadelphia public schools were crafting instructional approaches to serve their…

Investigating Factors Affecting Group Processes in Virtual Learning Environments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hazari, Sunil; Thompson, Sandra

2015-01-01

With the widespread popularity of distance learning, there is a need to investigate elements of online courses that continue to pose significant challenges for educators. One of the challenges relates to creating and managing group projects. This study investigated business students' perceptions of group work in online classes. The constructs of…

Using Linked Data to Annotate and Search Educational Video Resources for Supporting Distance Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yu, Hong Qing; Pedrinaci, C.; Dietze, S.; Domingue, J.

2012-01-01

Multimedia educational resources play an important role in education, particularly for distance learning environments. With the rapid growth of the multimedia web, large numbers of educational video resources are increasingly being created by several different organizations. It is crucial to explore, share, reuse, and link these educational…

Social Network Analysis in E-Learning Environments: A Preliminary Systematic Review

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cela, Karina L.; Sicilia, Miguel Ángel; Sánchez, Salvador

2015-01-01

E-learning occupies an increasingly prominent place in education. It provides the learner with a rich virtual network where he or she can exchange ideas and information and create synergies through interactions with other members of the network, whether fellow learners or teachers. Social network analysis (SNA) has proven extremely powerful at…

Selected Lessons Learned through the ISS Design, Development, Assembly, and Operations: Applicability to International Cooperation for Standardization

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hirsch, David B.

2009-01-01

This slide presentation reviews selected lessons that were learned during the design, development, assembly and operation of the International Space Station. The critical importance of standards and common interfaces is emphasized to create a common operation environment that can lead to flexibility and adaptability.

On Location Learning: Authentic Applied Science with Networked Augmented Realities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rosenbaum, Eric; Klopfer, Eric; Perry, Judy

2007-01-01

The learning of science can be made more like the practice of science through authentic simulated experiences. We have created a networked handheld Augmented Reality environment that combines the authentic role-playing of Augmented Realities and the underlying models of Participatory Simulations. This game, known as Outbreak @ The Institute, is…

Cooperative Learning Environment with the Web 2.0 Tool E-Portfolios

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Or Kan, Soh

2011-01-01

In recent years, the development of information and communication technology (ICT) in the world and Malaysia namely has created a significant impact on the methods of communicating information and knowledge to the learners and consequently, innovative teaching techniques have evolved to change the ways teachers teach and the ways students learn.…

Developing, Implementing and Evaluating Case Studies in Materials Science

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Davis, Claire; Wilcock, Elizabeth

2005-01-01

The use of case studies to teach materials science undergraduates is an exciting and interesting educational approach. As well as helping learners to connect theory and practice, the case method is also useful for creating an active learning environment, developing key skills and catering for a range of different learning styles. This paper…

"Practice Story Exchanges" and Their Creative Invitation to Informal Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Willis, Peter

2013-01-01

This is a study of how members of a collaborative group interested in promoting convivial civilisation in human society took up exchanging practice stories--stories of doing something or seeing something done as examples of convivial backyard civilisation--in order tacitly to create an informal learning environment where practices of such a…

From Seatwork to Feetwork: Engaging Students in Their Own Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nash, Ron

2011-01-01

How do you teach students to communicate, collaborate, and solve problems? In his engaging style, Ron Nash shows teachers how to create a student-centered environment that transforms learners from passive attendees into active participants and leaders in the classroom. Building on the foundation of his prior works on active learning, he combines…

Using Social Media to Reinforce Environmental Learning and Action-Taking for School Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Warner, Alan; Eames, Chris; Irving, Robyn

2014-01-01

Environmental experiences often engage learners and create an intention to act, which is then not followed through once the learner is removed from the environment. This study utilized an exploratory, interpretive framework with younger primary school classes to investigate if transfer of learning from field trip experiences "in" and…

Designing a Programmatic Digital Learning Environment: Lessons from Prototyping

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gal, Diane; Lewis, Mark

2018-01-01

Promoted as a way to enhance learning and improve efficiencies, the steady rise of technology adoption across higher education has created both new opportunities and new challenges. Borrowing principles of design thinking and related user- or learner-centered design practices, this descriptive case study offers an example of how institutions of…

Designing Ubiquitous Computing to Enhance Children's Learning in Museums

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hall, T.; Bannon, L.

2006-01-01

In recent years, novel paradigms of computing have emerged, which enable computational power to be embedded in artefacts and in environments in novel ways. These developments may create new possibilities for using computing to enhance learning. This paper presents the results of a design process that set out to explore interactive techniques,…

Hey, We See It Differently! Lessons on Team Dynamics.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Walz, Lynn; Vandercook, Terri; Medwetz, Laura; Nelson, Marilyn; Thurlow, Martha

This monograph summarizes lessons learned from the 5 years that the Together We're Better (TWB) program worked to create inclusive learning environments in four Minnesota school districts. Each of the partner districts established a collaborative core planning team to provide leadership and management of efforts toward school change and inclusive…

Transforming the Undergraduate Research Experience through Sustained Mentoring: Creating a Strong Support Network and a Collaborative Learning Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Camacho, Erika T.; Holmes, Raquell M.; Wirkus, Stephen A.

2015-01-01

This chapter describes how sustained mentoring together with rigorous collaborative learning and community building contributed to successful mathematical research and individual growth in the Applied Mathematical Sciences Summer Institute (AMSSI), a program that focused on women, underrepresented minorities, and individuals from small teaching…

On Becoming a Qualitative Researcher: A View through the Lens of Transformative Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Carawan, Lena W.; Knight, Sharon; Wittman, Peggy; Pokorny, Marie; Velde, Beth P.

2011-01-01

This article describes a graduate-level qualitative research course informed by transformational learning theory. It presents strategies an interdisciplinary team of instructors used to engage and support students as they entered and moved through the course. The strategies focused on creating a safe, supportive, learner-centered environment,…

Transition and Transformation--From Military Combat to College Classroom: Strategies for Success

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brewer, Charles Mark

2016-01-01

Research shows that faculty, staff, and administrators at institutions of higher learning have a fundamental responsibility to create a safe and effective learning environment for returning military combat veterans. Studies of student veterans have shown that combat veterans have both unique strengths and barriers that must be taken into account…

Team Teaching. IDEA Paper #55

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Plank, Kathryn M.

2013-01-01

Team teaching has the potential to have a profound impact on both teaching and learning. Many who have taught as part of a team report the break from solitary practice brings renewed excitement for teaching and the course that makes them better teachers. It also creates a learning environment in which students can explore multiple perspectives and…

A Platform Independent Game Technology Model for Model Driven Serious Games Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tang, Stephen; Hanneghan, Martin; Carter, Christopher

2013-01-01

Game-based learning (GBL) combines pedagogy and interactive entertainment to create a virtual learning environment in an effort to motivate and regain the interest of a new generation of "digital native" learners. However, this approach is impeded by the limited availability of suitable "serious" games and high-level design…

Technology-Enhanced Learning Environments. Case Studies in TESOL Practice Series.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hanson-Smith, Elizabeth, Ed.

This edited volume presents case studies from Europe, North America, Asia, and the Middle East in which teachers have adapted and pioneered teaching innovations. The book is divided into 4 parts, 12 chapters, and an introduction. Part one, "Building a Computer Learning Center," has two chapters: "Guerilla Tactics: Creating a…

Collaborative Learning in Architectural Education: Benefits of Combining Conventional Studio, Virtual Design Studio and Live Projects

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rodriguez, Carolina; Hudson, Roland; Niblock, Chantelle

2018-01-01

Combinations of Conventional Studio and Virtual Design Studio (VDS) have created valuable learning environments that take advantage of different instruments of communication and interaction. However, past experiences have reported limitations in regards to student engagement and motivation, especially when the studio projects encourage abstraction…

The CAMILLE Project: Espana Interactiva (The CAMILLE Project: Interactive Spanish).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gimeno, Ana; Ingraham, Bruce

CAMILLE's primary objective is to exploit recent developments in multimedia computing to create a flexible, student-centered, electronic language learning environment to support the acquisition of a second language. The consortium's first target was to produce a learning resource for beginners of Spanish and another for beginners of Dutch, as well…

Using a Synchronous Online Learning Environment to Promote and Enhance Transactional Engagement beyond the Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wdowik, Steven

2014-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to create a synchronous online learning community through the use of "Blackboard Collaborate!" to promote and enhance transactional engagement outside the classroom. Design/methodology/approach: This paper employs a quantitative and qualitative approach where data were sourced from a third year…

Designing a Flashcard with Knowledge Pills for Learning to Solve Chemistry Exercises

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cancela, Angeles; Sanchez, Angel; Maceiras, Rocio

2012-01-01

Nowadays, universities tend to promote more learner-centred learning, creating a more interactive and motivational environment for students and teachers. This paper describes an expanded framework to help chemical educators to construct a quiz for solution of chemical exercises in their courses. The novelty of this contribution is that the…

Interactive Learning Environment: Web-based Virtual Hydrological Simulation System using Augmented and Immersive Reality

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Demir, I.

2014-12-01

Recent developments in internet technologies make it possible to manage and visualize large data on the web. Novel visualization techniques and interactive user interfaces allow users to create realistic environments, and interact with data to gain insight from simulations and environmental observations. The hydrological simulation system is a web-based 3D interactive learning environment for teaching hydrological processes and concepts. The simulation systems provides a visually striking platform with realistic terrain information, and water simulation. Students can create or load predefined scenarios, control environmental parameters, and evaluate environmental mitigation alternatives. The web-based simulation system provides an environment for students to learn about the hydrological processes (e.g. flooding and flood damage), and effects of development and human activity in the floodplain. The system utilizes latest web technologies and graphics processing unit (GPU) for water simulation and object collisions on the terrain. Users can access the system in three visualization modes including virtual reality, augmented reality, and immersive reality using heads-up display. The system provides various scenarios customized to fit the age and education level of various users. This presentation provides an overview of the web-based flood simulation system, and demonstrates the capabilities of the system for various visualization and interaction modes.

Art Forms.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hoekstra, Joel

2002-01-01

Describes the Fine Arts Interdisciplinary Resource (FAIR) Arts Middle School in Crystal, Minnesota, an award-winning school building that the architects hope will create a more conducive learning environment. Includes photographs and floor plans. (EV)

Addressing the Needs of Overweight Students in Elementary Physical Education: Creating an Environment of Care and Success

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tingstrom, Catherine A.

2015-01-01

The rising prevalence of obesity in society has resulted in an increased need for physical education teachers to create learning opportunities that promote physical activity among children. However, the presence of anti-fat attitudes and a limited understanding of the challenges associated with being overweight in a physical activity environment…

Using Learning Environments to Create Meaningful Work for Co-Op Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nevison, Colleen; Drewery, David; Pretti, Judene; Cormier, Lauren

2017-01-01

For students in cooperative education (co-op) programs, meaningful work is a critical aspect of participation and a key component of program success. However, studies have not explored how meaningful work can be created for co-op students. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the relationship between co-op students' perceptions of a learning…

Cuba: The New Frontier of Study Abroad Programs for U.S. Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Henthorne, Tony L.; Panko, Thomas R.

2017-01-01

The growing reconciliation between the United States and Cuba has created a unique opportunity for U.S. business and hospitality students to observe and experience first-hand an economy in marked transition. Attempting to balance the tenets of socialism with a rapidly growing reliance on capitalism creates a rare learning environment for students.…

Linking Shared Organisational Context and Relational Capital through Unlearning: An Initial Empirical Investigation in SMEs

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cegarra-Navarro, Juan G.; Dewhurst, Frank W.

2006-01-01

Purpose: The environment provided by an organisation to facilitate learning and create knowledge has been defined as the shared organisational context. The value to an organisation of knowledge created by the shared organisational context is called intellectual capital, of which one key component is relational capital. The purpose of this paper is…

Assessing the Success Rate of Students Using a Learning Management System Together with a Collaborative Tool in Web-Based Teaching of Programming Languages

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cavus, Nadire; Ibrahim, Dogan

2007-01-01

The development of collaborative studies in learning has led to a renewed interest in the field of Web-based education. In this experimental study a highly interactive and collaborative virtual teaching environment has been created by supporting Moodle LMS with collaborative learning tool GREWPtool. The aim of this experimental study has been to…

Connecting to Communities: Powerful Pedagogies for Leading for Social Change.

PubMed

Wagner, Wendy; Mathison, Patricia

2015-01-01

This chapter explores the use of powerful pedagogies such as service-learning, cultural immersion, and community-based research to enhance leadership development. Four key principles are presented that describe how leadership educators can facilitate community-based learning in a way that creates an optimal learning environment for students, while also engaging ethically with individuals and organizations in the community. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc., A Wiley Company.

Examining the Impact of Critical Multicultural Education Training on the Multicultural Attitudes, Awareness, and Practices of Nurse Educators.

PubMed

Beard, Kenya V

Some nurse educators lack training in the educational methods that facilitate learning among underrepresented groups. Limited awareness of equitable pedagogical practices could threaten the academic achievement of underrepresented groups and hinder efforts to make the nursing profession more heterogeneous. Training in multicultural education could strengthen the capacity of educators to create culturally responsive learning environments. This quasi-experimental study examined the impact that training in critical multicultural education had on the multicultural attitudes, awareness, and practices of 37 nurse educators. A pre-posttest design without a control group found that the training was an effective way to strengthen the multicultural awareness and attitudes of nurse educators, although there was little impact on the multicultural practices. The nation's capacity to improve the quality of health care hinges upon educators who can create inclusive learning environments and graduate diverse nurses. The findings could inform policies seeking to promote diversity and inclusion in nursing education. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Towards a Framework for Creative Online Collaboration: A Research on Challenges and Context

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stockleben, Björn; Thayne, Martyn; Jäminki, Seija; Haukijärvi, Ilkka; Mavengere, Nicholas Blessing; Demirbilek, Muhammet; Ruohonen, Mikko

2017-01-01

The OnCreate project was initiated by ten universities with expertise in collaborative work in online-based learning environments and explores the specific challenges of implementing university courses in creative disciplines in such an environment. The first research phase comprises a literature search on creativity and its contextual factors in…

Excellence in Coaching: The Art and Skill of Elite Practitioners

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nash, Christine S.; Sproule, John; Horton, Peter

2011-01-01

During this study, 10 expert coaches were interviewed to examine their views on aspects of their individual coaching practice. Four themes emerged from the interviews: (a) the long-term approach, (b) the authentic coaching environment, (c) creating a learning environment, and (d) the quality and quantity of training sessions. These coaches were…

Scientific and Policy Statements on Environmental Agents Associated with Neurodevelopmental Disorders

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gilbert, Steven G.; Miller, Elise; Martin, Joyce; Abulafia, Laura

2010-01-01

Damage to the brain or nervous system at an early developmental stage creates lifelong challenges for the individual. To examine one source of harm to the developing nervous system, the Collaborative on Health and the Environment's (CHE) Learning and Developmental Disabilities Initiative (LDDI) (Collaborative on Health and the Environment, 2009)…

Types of Homeschool Environments and Need Support for Children's Achievement Motivation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bell, Debra A.; Kaplan, Avi; Thurman, S. Kenneth

2016-01-01

Working within a self-determination theory (SDT) framework, this study used cluster analysis to examine the naturally occurring types of homeschool-learning environments parents (N = 457) have created. Measures of support for student autonomy, mastery goal structure, and use of conditional regard were adapted for a homeschool context and used as…

Ethics Education and Scientific and Engineering Research: What's Been Learned? What Should Be Done? Summary of a Workshop

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hollander, Rachelle, Ed.; Arenberg, Carol R., Ed.

2009-01-01

Increasing complexity and competitiveness in research environments, the prevalence of interdisciplinary and international involvement in research projects, and the close coupling of commerce and academia have created an ethically challenging environment for young scientists and engineers. For the past several decades, federal research agencies…

Child Development Associate. Safety for Young Children.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Oscar Rose Junior Coll., Midwest City, OK.

This Child Development Associate (CDA) training module, one of a series of 18, provides a guide to establishing a safe and healthy preschool environment and promoting health and safety practices among preschool children. Upon completion of the module, CDA trainees are expected to be able to create a safe learning environment for children,…

Creating a Technology-Rich Learning Environment for Infants and Toddlers with Disabilities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Judge, Sharon; Floyd, Kim; Wood-Fields, Colleen

2010-01-01

Assistive technology offers infants and toddlers with disabilities a set of tools to assist in achieving developmental goals while interacting with objects, materials, adults, and other children in their environment. This article focuses on assistive technology devices that can promote young children's participation in activities and routines in…