Jan Elen

KU Leuven | ku leuven · Research unit for Education and Training

The relationship between technology and educational processes is a complex one. At this moment, increased digitization as well as efforts to limit the use of digital tools can be observed. In view of (a) deepening our understanding of the relationship between technology and educational processes and (b) strengthening the productive educational use...

Due to swift technological changes in society, programming tasks are proliferating in formal and informal education around the globe. However, challenges arise regarding the acquisition of programming skills. Many students are unequipped to develop programming skills due to limited instruction or background and therefore feel insecure when encounte...

Critical thinking is a recurrent educational ambition. At the same time, it is not self‐evident how that ambition can be realised. This is partly due to the different perspectives from which Critical Thinking can be approached. The literature on critical thinking is extensive and diverse, different meanings and aspects of critical thinking have bee...

Students' Approaches to Learning (SAL) are a critical determinant of learning outcomes and have been assessed around the world, from Asia to Africa, using the traditional questionnaires developed in the Western context. However, studies in Asia have challenged the traditional dichotomous view of SAL by supporting the presence of intermediate approa...

As online learning becomes a recurrent component of higher education, there have been growing interests in the interaction between students and educational resources within digital environments so as to understand and facilitate students’ initiative in managing those resources. The present study is an explorative inquiry into the relationships betw...

Teacher-driven personalisation can be challenging to facilitate, especially in large heterogeneous classes and during demanding courses. Because of the growing digitalisation, more possibilities arise towards technology-driven personalisation. Nonetheless, little is known about how teachers interact with or implement digital personalised learning (...

In order to design learning environments that foster students’ research skills, one can draw on instructional design models for complex learning, such as the 4C/ID model (in: van Merriënboer and Kirschner, Ten steps to complex learning, Routledge, London, 2018). However, few attempts have been undertaken to foster students’ motivation towards learn...

Although digital personalized learning (DPL) is assumed to be beneficial for the student as well as the teacher, the implementation process of DPL tools can be challenging. Therefore, the aim of our study is to scrutinize teachers’ perceptions towards the implementation of DPL in the classroom. A total of 370 teachers from primary and secondary edu...

Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate how mobile medical teams (MMTs) search for the etiology of a cardiac arrest (CA) and to investigate the association between the discovery of etiology and patient outcome. Subjects and methods: Resuscitations of all adult patients who experienced an in- or out-of-hospital CA between 2016 and 2018 w...

In recent years, there has been greater interest and commitment in developing countries to transform their higher education (HE) using ICT. Evidence shows that ICT is underutilized by instructors in these countries. However, a rigorous context-specific model which explains this observation is currently lacking. In this large-scale study, the causal...

Developing countries exert much effort to improve the quality of their higher education. The use of information and communication technology (ICT) may address some of the quality problems in higher education in these countries. Previous studies on this topic stressed the impact of ICT use on learning, the status of ICT integration in education, and...

With its long tradition, research on misconceptions helps to understand how concepts are learned and how learning in the disciplines can be supported. Up to now, research on misconceptions has focused on natural sciences, while research on misconceptions in behavioral sciences is scarce, not to say absent. In this study an attempt was made to revea...

Het Vlaams Forum Onderwijsonderzoek vroeg aan drie prominente stemmen uit het Vlaamse onderwijslandschap om te reflecteren over hoe het is om in coronatijden aan onderwijsonderzoek te doen en om een bijdrage te formuleren rond een (post)-COVID onderwijsonderzoeksagenda. Jan Elen, hoogleraar instructiepsychologie en -technologie en programmadirecteu...

Critical thinking is one of the most desirable outcomes of education, yet it is often not well defined in curricula. Additionally, there are open questions concerning the domain specificity of critical thinking. In this work, we present two studies aimed at secondary education. Starting from Halpern’s conceptualisation of critical thinking we devel...

Due to the increasing digitisation, interest in digital personalised learning (DPL) continues to grow. Many empirical studies on the effect of adaptive tools have used a wide variety of conceptualisations and operationalisations of DPL. This systematic review aims to address the lack of consensus by presenting an analysis of empirical studies on te...

ICT can address concerns about access and quality of higher education in developing countries like Ethiopia. The crucial role of ICT in education has become more evident than ever during the COVID 19 crisis. Despite its role in addressing educational quality and access issues, evidence about the educational use of ICT in developing countries is sca...

n their chapter onConceptions of learning and knowledge in higher education:Relationships with study behaviour and influences of learning environments, Entwistleand Peterson consider a series of interrelated concepts that have been shown to beassociated with student learnin gin hi gher education, includin gconceptions ofknowledge and learning, lear...

In today’s complex world, the acquisition of research skills is considered an important goal in education. Consequently, there is a growing body of literature that recognizes the value of well-designed learning environments for effectively supporting the development of this complex set of skills. However, a clear consensus on how these research ski...

In the article ‘Factors predicting online university students’ use of a mobile learning management system (m-LMS)’, Joo, Kim and Kim (Educ Technol Res Dev 64:611–30, 2016) explain actual usage of a mobile learning management system by looking at continuance intention, satisfaction, perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use and expectation confirm...

Blended forms of learning have become increasingly popular. However, it remains unclear under what circumstances blended learning environments are successful. Studies suggest that blended learning challenges learners’ self-regulation. Yet little is known about what self-regulatory behaviour learners exhibit in such environments. This limited unders...

Background While open-cohort blended education programmes allow for accessible and flexible study trajectories, they may present social challenges to learners. Social presence is a possible a way of enhancing adult learners’ success. It can lead to an increased perception of community, which may result in lower rates of dropping out. Purpose This...

During the COVID-19 crisis, students are taking lessons from home, with a strong emphasis on online learning. This contribution, on the initiative of the Department of Education and Training of Belgium's Flemish Community 2 , addresses the issue of students' physical learning environment at home during the corona crisis. It explains why a good, ser...

Education is characterized by at least the following features: (a) it offers learning environments that help students to achieve preset goals, (b) it induces learners to engage in relevant learning tasks, and (c) it offers support while learners execute learning tasks. Offering learning environments builds on the assumption that learners will actua...

Leerlingen volgen door de COVID-19 crisis de komende weken massaal les van thuis uit, met een sterke nadruk op e-learning. Deze bijdrage, op initiatief van het Departement Onderwijs en Vorming (Vlaamse overheid), gaat in op het vraagstuk van de fysieke leeromgeving thuis tijdens de corona-crisis. Er wordt uitgelegd waarom een goede, rustige fysieke...

The acquisition of research skills is an important goal of secondary education. Still, insights on what learner characteristics stimulate and hamper research skills are lacking. Therefore, this study investigates the relationship between students’ research skills (assessed by means of the Leuven Research Skills Test (LRST) and students’ gender, edu...

Several challenges faced by humanity, such as the world food problem, migration flows or climate change, are all taught about in geography courses worldwide. Behind these challenges are complex systems consisting of several interrelated causes and consequences. In order to better understand these highly complex geographical systems, a systems think...

Increasing interconnectedness of people and goods enhances the complexity of geographical problems. For students to understand geography, systems thinking—and in this context, the use of causal diagrams—is a promising approach. A quasi-experimental design is used in which the systems thinking ability of students working with causal diagrams is comp...

In today’s complex world, the acquisition of research skills is considered an important goal in (upper secondary) education. Consequently, there is a growing body of literature that recognises the value of well-designed (online) learning environments for effectively supporting the development of this complex set of skills. However, a clear consensu...

Higher Education is in constant transition. In the Flemish context this is illustrated by a gigantic transformation in teacher education (TE). In the context of this transformation Educational master-level programs (EQF 7 – VKS 7) are designed and will be implemented in 2019-2020. The main factor that has to be taken into account is the a priori ch...

First Principles of Instruction (FPI), a result of David Merrill's systematic review of existing instructional models in search for universal principles that can be applied to all teaching, have been reported to positively correlate with instruction quality. This study aims to develop an instrument to identify the application of FPI in use, which m...

This work is part of the ‘Critical Thinking Across the European Higher Education Curricula - CRITHINKEDU’ project, with the reference number 2016-1-PT01-KA203-022808, funded by the European Commission/EACEA, through the ERASMUS+ Programme.

Literature on blended learning emphasizes the importance of self-regulation for learning in blended learning environments and the role of learners' calibration. Although literature on calibration is clear on its importance for self-regulated learning, it provides inconclusive insight into the effect of support for calibration on learners' self-regu...

According to (inter)national policy and curriculum documents, the acquisition of research skills is an important objective of secondary education. However, the conceptualization and hence the operationalization of this concept seems ambiguous. Furthermore, no test exists to assess students’ proficiency in (a broad range of) research skills in a 11t...

Higher order thinking skills are commonly seen as a factor for academic success and subsequently of great importance for future teachers. Prospective teachers need to be equipped with specific skills to address complex situations witch demand higher and lower order skills that can be used effectively in divers situations. In addition Lee and Choi (...

Equipping students with scientific reasoning skills (SRS) is an important mission of twenty-first-century education and part of the national curriculum in Flemish secondary schools. Therefore, we need to gain a better understanding of ways in which the development of these skills can be promoted. To date, empirical research on learning environments...

In recent decades, conceptualizations and operationalizations of self-regulated learning (SRL) have shifted from SRL as an aptitude to SRL as an event. Alongside this shift, increased technological capability has introduced computer log files to the investigation of SRL, uncovering new research avenues. One such avenue investigates the time-related...

Blended learning is learning that happens in an instructional context characterized by a deliberate combination of online and classroom-based interventions for instigating and supporting learning. Blended forms of learning have become increasingly popular in education and are realized through a wide range of online and face-to-face instructional in...

The study investigates the explicit and integrated presentation of pedagogical content knowledge (PCK), pedagogical knowledge (PK), and content knowledge (CK) in teacher education. We compare learning environments to study whether only presenting PK and CK is sufficient for PCK development, whether only presenting PCK is sufficient for PK and CK de...

Within the scope of the CRITHINKEDU project , this intellectual output (Output 3) reports the experience of conceiving and delivering a European training course on Critical Thinking (CT) education for university teachers. It draws on the proposal of the “European inventory of critical thinking skills and dispositions for the 21st century” and the “...

To gain insight into complex sustainability problems and acknowledge complexity is essential and can be achieved by creating an overview of the entire system, including interaction between variables. Therefore, systems thinking is recognized as a vital cognitive skill required to grasp complex global problems. Nevertheless, the implementation of sy...

Interactive whiteboard offers a high-potential innovative tool in mathematical educational environments, in which teachers’ modeling processes and students’ exploring activities can easily be executed. Nevertheless, these affordances are not self-evident. There is a gap between the potential claims of the tool and its actual use in the classrooms....

The premise in instructional design theory is that, in order to identify and target instructional shortcomings, designers should conduct a thorough analysis of the various elements involved in the instructional process. This is also the case for technology-rich means of instruction such as online and blended learning. Nevertheless it often seems th...

This research aims at exploring an effective set to stimulate mathematics understanding and learning in an Interactive Whiteboard (IWB) environment. IWB affordances appear to be best used when mathematical tasks engage students in mathematical reasoning and when all students are involved in the discussion. The intent of this research project was to...

Research has revealed that the design of online learning environments can influence students’ use and performance. In this study, an online learning environment for learning French as a foreign language was developed in line with the four component instructional design (4C/ID) model. While the 4C/ID-model is a well-established instructional design...

Pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) is an important predictor of educational quality. PCK develops from various sources, such as teaching experience. Studies investigating the effects of teaching experience on PCK development mainly focus on the question whether experienced teachers differ from novices in the amount of PCK. In a mixed methods study...

Within the scope of CRITHINKEDU project, this report is directed to university teachers, pedagogical support teams and institutional leaders, providing an overall understanding on how European Higher Education Institutions (EHEI) foster Critical Thinking (CT), taking into account both the current educational intervention studies reported in the lit...

The Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) is regularly used to investigate students’ acceptance of virtual learning environments and the impact on students’ intention to use. Past TAM studies barely investigated students’ actual use of virtual learning environments, neither how actual use relates to their performance in an ecological valid educational...

Within the scope of the project CRITHINKEDU, this report provides an overall analysis of the understanding of Critical Thinking (CT) by employers and establishes similarities and differences in its expression, need and practical application at the workplace. Adopting a qualitative research methodology, 32 focus groups were conducted enrolling 189 p...

Although helping students develop the ability to think critically is a desirable educational outcome, little is known about how critical thinking (CT) instruction can effectively be embedded into domain-specific courses. This study examined the effects of two CT instructional approaches (i.e., Immersion and Infusion) on near- and far-transfer of CT...

In high school geography students are taught about complex geospatial relations that often focus on the interaction between humans and their environment. Systems thinking as an approach concentrates in general on understanding interconnections between variables in a system to see the bigger picture. Therefore systems thinking is an appropriate appr...

Full text: http://www.mictivo.be/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/BOOK_Eindrapport_MICTIVO-3_01.2019_OK.pdf

Introducción. En esta investigación se investigó la eficacia de dos intervenciones diferentes. Se compararon los efectos de una intervención concreta y abstracta con un método regular de intervención docente. Ambas intervenciones fueron diseñadas de acuerdo con las especificaciones de los principios clásicos de diseño de instrucción para el aprendi...

Omwille van de sterke invloed van professionele kennis van leraren op hun onderwijskwaliteit en op de leerresultaten van hun leerlingen is het belangrijk dat de lerarenopleiding optimaal inzet op de ontwikkeling van professionele kennis bij toekomstige leraren. Het is echter onduidelijk hoe de lerarenopleiding zo goed mogelijk kan bijdragen aan de...

An important goal of teacher education (TE) is to improve pre-service teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge (PCK), pedagogical knowledge (PK) and content knowledge (CK). It is not always clear what kind of opportunities to learn (OTL) in TE contribute to pre-service teachers’ knowledge development. We compared different cohorts (N = 360) in TE, a...

This chapter focuses on a new instructional design model for game-based learning (GBL) that pinpoints the elements that are to be considered when designing learning environments in which GBL occurs. One key element of the model is discussed more in detail, being the integration of instructional elements in a GBLE. Based on different studies, the ch...

An increasing interconnectedness of people and goods enhances the complexity of many geographical problems. For students to understand geography, systems thinking is a promising approach. It helps to understand increasing complexity by looking at the entire system and at the interconnectedness between the elements in the system. In order to develop...

Although there is consensus about the importance of the support of learners’ self-regulation, recent studies suggest that blended learning environments (BLEs) challenge learners’ self-regulation. Hardly any guidelines are formulated on how to support learners’ self-regulation in blended environments. In this study we focus on reflection as a key el...

This study examines the effects of an online learning environment on preservice teachers' pedagogical content knowledge (PCK), content knowledge (CK) (related to French in primary teacher education), and pedagogical knowledge (PK) in a quasi-experimental design. More specifically, the following research question is addressed: Is a systematically de...

Blended forms of learning have become increasingly popular. Learning activities within these environments are supported by a large variety of online and face-to-face interventions. However, it remains unclear whether these blended environments are successful, and if they are, what makes them successful. Studies suggest that blended learning challen...

Fostering the development of students’ critical thinking (CT) is regarded as an essential outcome of higher education. However, despite the large body of research on this topic, there has been little consensus on how educators best support the development of CT. In view of some of the controversies surrounding the teaching of CT skills in higher ed...

In this study we focus on the integration of mathematical learning content (i.e., proportional reasoning) in game-based learning environments (GBLE). More specifically, two kinds of GBLEs are set up: an extrinsically integrated GBLE and an intrinsically integrated GBLE. In the former environment, the mathematical content is not part of the core mec...

Innovating education at national agricultural university La Molina Peru is the objective of a project with collaboration of the Flemish interuniversity council (VLIR) led by KU Leuven. To improve the practicum period (two months), which is a compulsory requirement for all degree programs, an on-line survey study was conducted among students of the...

In recent years, embedding writing into subject teaching through genre-based writing instruction (GBWI) has been advocated in tertiary education. However, little is known about how this approach can be shaped and implemented in this context. In a design-based research study in Dutch higher professional education, we aimed to explore how GBWI can be...

This article theorises the functional relationship between the human components (i.e., scholars) and non-human components (i.e., structural configurations) of academic domains. It is organised around the following question: in what ways have scholars formed and been formed by the structural configurations of their academic domain? The article uses...

Blended forms of learning in adult education have become increasingly popular. Learning activities within these environments are supported by large varieties of online and face-to-face interventions. However, it remains unclear under what conditions these environments are successful. Studies suggest that blended learning challenges learners' self-r...

Blended forms of learning in adult education have become increasingly popular. Learning activities within these environments are supported by large varieties of online and face-to-face interventions. However, it remains unclear under what conditions these environments are successful. Studies suggest that blended learning challenges learners’ self-r...

In the first half of 2017 Dutch study programmes on Educational Sciences were visited as part of the assessment process. During and after the visits the panel reflected on chances to further strengthen the programmes on Educational Sciences. This contribution describes how the programmes (each of them on its own, but also in collaboration) may gras...

Children's intuitive understanding of number, i.e. number sense, is associated with individual differences in mathematics achievement. To investigate the causal association between number sense, traditionally assessed with comparison or number line estimation tasks, and mathematics achievement, often assessed with an arithmetic test, an interventio...

Uncovering the Relationship between Learners’ Self-Regulatory Behaviour Profiles and Designs of Blended Learning Environments.

This study investigates the impact of integrating conceptual clarifications as support in an educational math game, and explores the impact of adding this (internal vs. external) support on students’ game and mathematical performance, intrinsic motivation, and game perception. Three conditions are established: a condition in which internal support...

This study addresses the added value of faded worked examples in a computer game-based learning environment. The faded worked examples were introduced to encourage active selection and processing of domain content in the game. The content of the game was proportional reasoning and participants were 12- to 15-year-old students from prevocational edu...

The focus in this contribution is the challenge to develop an efficient and effective learning environment for student teachers, especially with respect to the remote organization of assessment and the remote support of internship for students who follow a distance education program. For both aspects it is examined whether the used methodologies/ap...