Predicting eLearning Dropout
September 23rd, 2009
Despite its promise, a continuing challenge to online learning/ distance learning/ and eLearning is student dropout. Studies have consistently found higher student dropout rates in these courses than in in-person courses. There have been numerous studies attempting to predict dropout, but few have gotten to the holy grail of being able to identify students who [...]
Tags: dropout
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Development of Help-Seeking
September 21st, 2009
Help! How do I…?
The use of help features in computer-based learning has been an issue of recent research. Learning outcomes appear to be at least partially dependent on available support, and help-seeking on the part of students is seen as a positive sign of self-regulated learning. How do students ask for help? Are there developmental [...]
Tags: eLearning, help
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Failing at Ill-Structured Problems
September 9th, 2009
When is it good to let students fail? Is there something good that happens when students struggle and don’t succeed? These questions are explored by Kapur & Kinzur (2008) in the International Journal of Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning.
At a high level, they have groups of students randomly assigned to work on physics problems in triads on [...]
Tags: failure, ill-structured problems
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Teachers’ Views of Homework and Effects on Students
September 4th, 2009
What do teachers think is the primary purpose of homework? How much do they think parents should be involved? How do those attitudes effect student effort and achievement?
A group of researchers studying teachers in Switzerland (hey! a non-US study!) conducted a survey of 93 teachers of French as a second language. Their survey included scales [...]
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Are you polite on discussion boards?
September 3rd, 2009
How do people interact on discussion boards in an education setting? In my experience, people are much more polite and restrained in classroom discussion boards than on more general boards on the web. It turns out that politeness is actually a construct studied by sociolinguists. They define it in the context of discussion boards as [...]
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Cognitive Biases that Increase with Education
August 28th, 2009
We usually think of education as reducing misconceptions and poor reasoning. However, it appears this is not always the case. Cognitive biases are those “short cuts” in thinking we take that save cognitive effort, but often cause us to reach erroneous conclusions. For example, the bandwagon effect is the tendency to believe something because many [...]
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Socializing during science lab work
August 24th, 2009
So what did you do in science class while you were waiting for all those chemical reactions to happen? Did you sit around and chit-chat with your lab partner? What did you talk about? Does it matter?
Del Carlo & Bodner think it does matter. They completed a participant observation of four chemistry classes over the [...]
Tags: science labs, socialization
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Mirror Neurons Help Reduce Cognitive Load
August 10th, 2009
Educational Psychology Review devoted a recent issue to cognitive load theory. I recently blogged about an article relating the theory to collaborative learning. A second article looks at how our neurons may be helping us reduce cognitive load.
Van Gog, Paas, Marcus, Ayres & Sweller remind us about mirror neurons. These are the neurons that fire [...]
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Motivation and Textbooks
July 31st, 2009
Who uses textbooks? Do students actually read the text? A study out in Teaching Educational Psychology by Derryberry & Wininger looked at the relationship between student motivation and textbook selection and use.
The authors combine a group of measures to create a group of “internal motivation” measures, including need for cognition (enjoying effortful thinking), mastery goal [...]
Tags: motivation, reading, textbooks
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High School Writing Practices
July 22nd, 2009
If you have spent time around college professors talking about students, you have surely heard complaints about writing skills (more specifically, lack thereof). The majority opinion is that students do not express themselves well in written form. So, what are high school teachers doing in the way of teaching writing?
Kiuhara, Graham, & Hawken conducted a survey [...]
Tags: high school, writing practices
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- Games and Simulation in Science
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