Silvia Baldiris’s research while affiliated with Comfenalco Technological University Foundation and other places

Global education is facing major challenges, including the lack of strategies and methods to ensure that students are truly engaged in the learning process, self-regulating their learning, and promoting successful completion of the educational process. In this research, we introduce Autorregúlate, a methodology to support self-regulated learning in Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), which from the design of the MOOC contributes to maintaining motivation and self-regulation throughout the course. Autorregúlate provides concrete and easy-to-implement guidelines for diverse teams in the creation of MOOCs, based on Zimmerman's self-regulation model. The methodology was validated in real MOOC courses using two evaluation instruments, the Questionnaire OSLQ and the Keller's Motivation Survey. Results show high levels of motivations (M=3,83; SD=0,7). On the other hand, results revel self-regulation strategies adoption by the participants, in particular, Goal setting (M=4,0; SD=0,7), Environmental structuring (M=4,1; SD=0,7), Task strategies (M=3,7; SD=0,7), Time management (M=3,84; SD=0,8), Seeking help (M=4,1; SD=0,8) and Self-evaluation (M=4,0; SD=0,7). Therefore, Autorregúlate support students on self-regulating their learning while achieving a sustained motivation.

Massive Online Courses (MOOCs) suffer from the high desertion of enrolled students due to different factors, including bad time management by the participants, lack of planning, lack of help-seeking, and poor self-monitoring of their actions in the learning process, which suggests that students do not self-regulate their learning. Diverse software tools have been created to support MOOC participants by favouring self-regulated learning (SRL). However, there is still a lack of knowledge regarding how the different SRL model could be effectively, supported by ICT tools, what model inform in a better way the design of new tools to support SRL process in online setting, how the support of SRL affect the students’ performance in a MOOC environment or what is the best way to integrally evaluate the impact of the tools supporting SRL. In this article, we introduce the design and development process of the Autorregulate tool, a web application that supports self-regulation of learning in MOOCs. This tool is developed within the framework of broader research employing research-based design (RBD) to create methodological and technological tools to facilitate self-regulation in MOOCs. Autorregulate supports seven learning self-regulation strategies: Goal-Setting, strategic planning, time management, help-seeking, Self-Monitoring, Self-Recording (Take Note), and Self-Assessment, considering the SRL model proposed by Zimmerman. The tool was evaluated in a MOOC created on Moodle, with 224 participants, over three evaluation dimensions: 1) Students SRL to measure the effect of the Autorregulate tool on the self-regulation of the participants’ learning; 2) Autorregulate tool’s usability and usefulness and 3) Participants’ interactions within SRL services. Results show participants’ high level of self-regulation of learning after the intervention (M=4,3; SD=0,85) according to the online self-regulated learning questionnaire (OSLQ). On the other hand, 92% of participants considered the Autorregulate tool usable, and 97% considered the tool useful. Finally, results show SRL services are widely used by participants, especially those supporting the strategies with better performances by participants, according to OSLQ results. The findings of this study contribute to broadening the discussion regarding the use of ITC to support SRL on MOOCs.

Augmented Reality Game-Based Learning (ARGBL) is becoming increasingly relevant in Technology-Enhanced Learning. Games with AR characteristics, or even AR applications structured with rules and game elements, are proving to be effective and successful learning experiences. There is a need to include teachers in the design process. In this paper, two case studies are shown in order to validate a methodological approach for the co-design of ARGBL, in which 6 teachers participated. This is a co-design method that proposes a thorough, iterative process guided by design principles and mediated by dialogue among the stakeholders. Here, the process of co-design with teachers is analyzed and assessed using mixed-methods observations on the use of the produced ARGBL games with students on naturalistic environments. The validation process links the usefulness of the ensuing products with the use of the method and shows the benefits of using co-design methods to create ARGBL experiences.

Background Mobile‐based assessment has been an active area of research in the field of mobile learning. Prior research has demonstrated that mobile‐based assessment systems positively affect student performance. However, it is still unclear why and how these systems positively affect student performance. Objectives This study aims to identify the determinants of student performance during students' use of a mobile‐based assessment application in a formative assessment activity as part of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) courses in higher education. Methods A structural model based on hypotheses was validated using PLS‐SEM with data from the interaction of 127 students of eight EFL courses from the A1 and A2 levels of English that used a mobile‐based assessment system for a period of 4 weeks. Automatic data collection in the application and self‐reported instruments were applied. Results and Conclusions Use of scaffolding mechanisms, time on‐task and reported effort are strong predictors of students' learning outcomes. The use of scaffolding strategies predicts students' time on‐task. The provision of corrective feedback is not a predictor of students' learning performance but predicts other constructs such as perceived usefulness and the behavioural intention to use. Implications Mobile‐based assessment systems should include scaffolding mechanisms and integrate strategies to increase the perceived relevance of the formative assessment activity to increase the student learning performance. Scaffolding mechanisms are also useful to increase the student time on‐task in the formative assessment activity. In mobile‐based formative assessment activities more elaborated forms of feedback other than corrective feedback are needed to increase student performance.

Augmented Reality Game-Based Learning (ARGBL) is becoming increasingly relevant in Technology-Enhanced Learning. Games with AR characteristics, or even AR applications structured with rules and game elements, are proving to be effective and successful learning experiences. There is a need to include teachers in the design, development and implementation process as to make it more effective. In this paper, two case studies where 6 teachers participated are shown in order to validate a methodological approach for the co-design of ARGBL. This is a co-design method that proposes a thorough, iterative process guided by design principles and mediated by dialogue between the stakeholders. Here, the process of co-design with teachers is analyzed and assessed using mixed-methods observations on the use of the produced ARGBL games with students on naturalistic environments. The validation process links the usefulness of the ensuing products with the use of the method and shows the benefits of using co-design methods to create ARGBL experiences.

Authoring tools are software programs that allow users to create learning content, lessons, and courses, usually to be used in virtual learning environments. These tools are a reasonable choice for novice users, as they use pre-programmed elements and do not require specific programming skills. However, they do not always meet accessibility guidelines, nor do they ensure that the educational content generated through them is accessible. This study first evaluates the accessibility of four popular free open-source authoring tools based on the ATAG recommendations. Then it evaluates the accessibility of the educational content generated through them based on the WCAG recommendations. These evaluations allow us to identify the level of accessibility of the authoring tools and their potential to help people with disabilities to become not only consumers but also producers of accessible educational content. We conclude that, while much work remains to be done to ensure accessibility, authoring tools are a potential key to effective social inclusion. Based on the findings of this study, we establish a set of recommendations for stakeholders to help close some gaps regarding accessibility.

Background Mobile‐based assessment has been an active area of research in the field of mobile learning. Prior research has demonstrated that mobile‐based assessment systems positively affect student performance. However, it is still unclear why and how these systems positively affect student performance. Objectives This study aims to identify the determinants of student performance during students' use of a mobile‐based assessment application in a formative assessment activity as part of English as a Foreign Language courses in higher education. Methods A structural model based on hypotheses will be validated using partial least squares‐structural equation modelling with data from the interaction of around 100 students of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) courses from the A1 and A2 levels of English that used a mobile‐based assessment system for a period of 4 weeks. Results and Conclusions This registered report describes the related work, hypotheses development, methodology, and proposed analysis to validate the structural model based on hypotheses. No results or conclusions have been obtained yet.