Technology Enhanced Learning - Science topic

The integration of machine and deep learning technologies in brain tumor identification brings to the forefront critical ethical and regulatory considerations. As these technologies offer promising advancements in accuracy and efficiency, concerns emerge regarding patient privacy, informed consent, and the potential impact of algorithmic biases. Striking a balance between the benefits of these innovations and safeguarding patient rights requires robust regulatory frameworks that govern data usage, sharing, and patient confidentiality. Collaboration among medical experts, technologists, ethicists, and policymakers becomes essential to ensure the responsible and transparent deployment of these technologies, aligning medical progress with ethical standards and regulatory compliance.

It's great that you're looking to propose a PhD project that addresses the gap between traditional classroom teaching and digital learning technologies. You may want to consider the following steps:

Conduct a literature review: Look for existing research related to the effectiveness of digital learning technologies in the field of management. Identify the gaps in existing research that you believe your PhD project can address.

Define your research question: Based on your literature review, define a clear research question that addresses the gap you have identified.

Develop your proposal: In your proposal, explain your research question and why it is important. Provide a detailed methodology for how you plan to address your research question, including the types of data you plan to collect and analyze. Also, explain how your research will contribute to the field of management.

Identify potential supervisors: Reach out to faculty members at your university who specialize in the field of management and may be interested in supervising your research. Send them your proposal and ask if they would be willing to meet with you to discuss your ideas.

Refine your proposal: Based on feedback from potential supervisors, refine your proposal and ensure that it meets the standards and expectations of your university's PhD program.

Remember, your proposal should be well-researched, innovative, and feasible within the timeframe of a PhD program. With careful planning and dedication, you can develop a proposal that will make a valuable contribution to the field of management. Good luck!

Dear Rolando Serra Toledo , this is fine solution!

Faculty are continually searching for effective ways to engage students in their courses. Video has long been a key resource for engagement, both in and out of the classroom, and libraries like yours have been eager to support this growing educational need and further integrate their content into the learning experience.

Academic Video Online's new learning tool - video interaction functionality - connects library content to the classroom and enhances student engagement for faculty. Now you can leverage video for collaboration, reflection, and assessment of student knowledge and retention of course concepts...

Lakshmipriya Subramanian : Based on the above description what i can find that , you have to give more information about the title , as the thesis title is crisp(Means: a brief about your work). As you have mentioned in descrption the tentative title of your thesis is "Prediction of Energy distribution from smart electricity grids using Deep Learning based method " or "Deep learning (CNN/RNN) based method for the prediction and distribution from Smart Electricity Grid"

Thanks.

Thank you.

Dear Prof. Abdelfatah!

May I state I am interested. Still, may I state I am not an IT - specialist. My focus is on digital supply chain management:

I am especially interested in the role of open science (policies for sharing of information) in advancing interactive learning:

1) Boström, L., Sjöström, M. MethodViz: designing and evaluating an interactive learning tool for scientific methods – visual learning support and visualization of research process structure. Educ Inf Technol (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-022-11139-9, Open access:

2) Cirkony, C., Tytler, R. & Hubber, P. Designing and delivering representation-focused science lessons in a digital learning environment. Education Tech Research Dev (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11423-022-10094-z, Open access:

3) Xia X. Application Technology on Collaborative Training of Interactive Learning Activities and Tendency Preference Diversion. SAGE Open. April 2022. doi:10.1177/21582440221093368, Open access:

I will contact YOU only in case you consider me to have the potential to be a partner in your research project.

Yours sincerely, Bulcsu Szekely

What is the difference between unsupervised classification and svm

Good idea, professor.

Dear Hasan Abu-Krooz this sounds interesting. would you share your work with us?

very interesing question and awesome topics for reserach, maybe we can collaboration research for this topics :)

Dear Liu Xuezheng

These articles might be useful, have a look:

1.

2. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40940-020-00132-8

3. https://www.spiedigitallibrary.org/conference-proceedings-of-spie/11379/1137903/Machine-learning-for-structural-health-monitoring-challenges-and-opportunities/10.1117/12.2561610.full?SSO=1

Kind Regards

Qamar Ul Islam

A lot of issues especially in developing countries where students as well as teachers have not access to modern technologies and they can not afford. But its encouraging every body is struggling

Moodle for learning journals & discussion forums, both used as graded assignments, Prof. Barbara Miller Hall.

Yes, it important to know the quality of online conference, and Congratulations for you, has published at good quality of conference.

There are many degree programs in Communication & Media Studies at top universities that cover your son's particular interests in one way or another.

Please following this link:

Nice Dear Felix Ivan Romero Rodríguez

Following

Dear Hussam Ali Mohammed ,

This is most important under this Pandemic Scienario( Covid19 ) .

Obviously it depends on Subject area , Class , Exam etc .

A Very Effective link may be Referred ( https://m.economictimes.com/industry/services/education/wud-shifts-to-online-learning-to-combat-covid-19-disruption/articleshow/74872301.cms )

Gladly! And I'll convey your questionnaire to my students as well.

Interesting questionnaire although quite long, but I hope your project will benefit from that.

I wish you good luck with your research!

Dear Prof. D A Gayan Nayanajith. Moodle is a good one for adaptive porpuses, but it is very time consuming for teachers, also as teachers we need some real training to properly use it---I crashed with him the first time---so my own experience indicates that it is better to start with something easier to use and also less time consuming. Thank you Prof. Mette Søgaard for your interesting thread. Best Regards.

Thank you, you've made a lot of things clear.

With all due respect to others who have posted, we should not jump to talking about tools before we have determined what we want to accomplish with our discussions. This is called Requirements-Based Planning, in which we determine what we want to accomplish, and then select the learning techniques and tools that will achieve the outcome (see the book chapter linked below for much more detail about this technique).

My sense of the question is that you are asking what online course learning activities could serve as a replacement for asynchronous threaded discussions. In other words, it sounds like you want to substitute some other kind of online learning activity.

So my question is "what do you want to accomplish with your discussions?"

In my online courses, my goal in using discussions/forums is to promote critical thinking. For this outcome goal, threaded asynchronous discussions work well, because students have time to think through their answers and make thoughtful posts. I give them guidelines about when their initial posts and replies must be made, but I also give them choices about which threads to pursue.

Maybe you have a different outcome goal for discussions and, for example, required live synchronous chat might be a better choice.

Remember, it is backward to select a tool and then try to figure out how to use it. FIRST determine your outcome goals/requirements/expectations, and then structure your learning activities (including discussions) to allow students to achieve those outcomes.

I guess this could help:

Katherine Carl Payne, Mark J. Keith, Ryan Schuetzler, Justin Scott Giboney, Examining the Learning Effects of Live Streaming Video Game Instruction over Twitch, Computers in Human Behavior (2017), doi: 10.1016/j.chb.2017.08.029.

Please find this paper attached.

I have definitely worked to adopt a more student-centered pedagogy than that which was used during my own schooling; I learn about my students' interests and try to incorporate them into the syllabus. In addition, I've made strong efforts to implement an Ethic of Care (Noddings, 1984), focusing more on my students' learning and personal needs rather than my own content-driven decision making. While it is very time consuming, I believe the payoff is worth the effort; students are more motivated and trust my decisions regarding content and assessments.

Dear all

Many thanks Anders Norberg and Michael W. Marek. The SRI report does look like a classic. Also the MALL analysis looks relevant for the mobile potential (and more). In particular the identified themes are really interesting.

Indeed, Tania Acosta. It appears that the SRI article Anders is suggesting is a good place to start. I – by the way — also came across this report by Price and Kirkwood (2011), which also identifies a number of themes: http://www.lth.se/fileadmin/lth/genombrottet/DTR/PLATP_Main_Report_2011.pdf

Best wishes,

Mikkel

Dear Tobias Wille

Check these articles, it may help you

Anshari, M., Alas, Y., Hj Mohd Yunus, N., Pg Hj Sabtu, N. & Sheikh Abdul Hamid, M. (2016). Online Learning: trends, issues and challenges in the Big Data Era. Journal of e-Learning and Knowledge Society, 12(1),. Italian e-Learning Association. Retrieved August 6, 2019 from https://www.learntechlib.org/p/171433/.

Karen Kear, Allan Jones, Georgina Holden & Mark Curcher (2016) Social technologies for online learning: theoretical and contextual issues, Open Learning: The Journal of Open, Distance and e-Learning, 31:1, 42-53, DOI: 10.1080/02680513.2016.1140570

Hi Mikkel,

You may need to explore the publications of the edtech societies such as AECT or ISTE. For instance, Educational Technology Research and Development (iconic journal of edtech) published by the iconic AECT (Association for Educational Communications and Technology) offers two specialized sections that might be relevant to you: a) The Development Section publishes research on planning, implementation, evaluation and management of a variety of instructional technologies and learning environments. Empirically based formative evaluations and theoretically based instructional design research papers are welcome, as are papers that report outcomes of innovative approaches in applying technology to instructional development; b) The Cultural and Regional Perspectives Section (formerly International Review) publishes innovative research about how technologies are used to enhance learning and instruction in a culture or region. Educational technology studies submitted to this section should be situated in cultural contexts that critically examine issues and ideologies prevalent in a culture or region or by individuals or groups in a culture or region.

The International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education may be of interest to you as they also publish case studies.

Best

High production of the animals themselves is the source of the methane. If you don't need the animals you don't presumably get production of the methane. We are the ones producing the animals although I hardly think that this cultured meat solution is the real solution to the problem. Better farming practices and lower consumption of meats lower waste, more local production and elimination of fast food production with it's high waste is the solution. More efficiency less waste is the solution. It will mean less profits for corporations but better lifestyles. Not sure I'd want to eat cultured meat.

Hi!

It is almost impossible to research learning with and without technology, since education itself is about technology in its core - writing to start with, print, video, etc etc - remember that not all technology is digital.

If you mean digital technology - watch first of all out for digital technology that basically does the same as earlier analogue technology, only faster, cheaper and more flexible. Not so much of a core difference. Does old kind of learning from a text on paper suddenly become e-learning when it is projected on a screen? Is it meaningful to measure any learning difference?

Next problem is that even if you make a reference teaching/leanring without any digital use - the students will anyway, uncontrolled by you, use digital ICTs to learn and communicate and get answer on questions and they will watch additional lecture videos on youtube if they did no understand something in class, etc.

You can make a big real Randomized Controlled Trial Study as in Medicine. That is very expensive and seldom done concerning teaching and learning. Take then only one, new digital tool you want to test any effects of on learning, run that in a group that uses the new tool, a group that uses some other digital technology and a reference group without - or similar - and compare them in a qualified way. Not so easy. Make it big so you compensate for individual differences concernign teachers and learners, etc.

In this light, for example the well-known case study of the type: Does learning increase if students blog online? and comparison last years results with this years result, can be interesting, but not of any meaningful evidence value. Almost all pedagogic / didactic research of this kind seems also always to be successful . but hard to replicate with other teachers and students.

I think personally that we can look for digital technology effects more successfully in the areas of access to education, inclusion, personalisation, possibility to study at own pace, etc.

This said, what you could have as help when elaborating a method, is the SAMR model for technology implementation in instructional design, see for example here: https://www.schoology.com/blog/samr-model-practical-guide-edtech-integration

Ask for example what technology substitution has been made, and how to test the value of that, what augmentation, modification, redefinition etc. You can find example of this kind of research I believe.

Philip, I have just spent three years doing a full time PhD on learning which incorporated a close look at the learning theories already mentioned and some that have not yet been mentioned. At a summary level, all learning theories come from a particular stance and set of beliefs (Behaviourism, Cognitivism). This is both a strength and downfall. For example, many of the psychological theories look at individual learning only. The social aspects of learning are more focused upon through interaction with educators in these individual learning theories. Sociocultural learning theories, on the other hand, include the social and cultural aspects of learning (Social constructionism, Constructivist including Vygotsky). These learning theories recognise that individual learners are part of social and cultural systems. Brofenbrenner's Ecological systems theory is the most complete learning theory in this regard.

However, with the advent of EdTech and its integration into learning processes, there has been a stronger recognition that individual learners are learning within a context. This context may be a community of practice/community of learning (Lave and Wenger, Garrison) such as found in online learning. Siemens and Downes have written extensively in online learning utilising networks and collaboration rather than focusing on individual learning processes. Their theory of connectivism is well worth reading as it moves away from educator to learner interaction to everybody in the community of learning interacting with each other, learning artifacts that are curated, and recognises that knowing how to learn is more important than what we learn. Therefore, it aligns with lifelong and lifewide learning.

After looking at the learning theories closely, I am left with the feeling that we need to move beyond their rigidities. In order to do this, we need to have a clear understanding of learning, how it occurs, what we as educators can do to promote learning, and ultimately we need to be research-informed in developing learning principles that work for our context and the learners with whom we work.

Thanks for the interesting question.

Thanks

Coursera MOOC's

Generally, the process of antenna design requires to find out the EM characteristics of antenna by observing the current distributions through simulations. These EM properties are then used for the parameters optimization. Machine learning (ML) can be combined with simulations to design an antenna. In smart antenna array, the reconfiguration of antenna can be obtained by optimization using Machine learning and Support Vector Machines (SVM). SVMs are a good candidate for the solution of antenna array processing problems such as beamforming and the angle of arrival estimation, because these algorithms provide superior performance in generalization ability and computational complexity.

Machine learning based methods are used for calculating the radar cross section (RCS) of the antenna-radome system. In this method, the back-propagation algorithm can be used to train the machine learning model. The machine leaning based RCS calculation becomes a promising area, especially for the industrial sector with large amount of measurement data. Compared to traditional methods, machine learning methods have the potential to handle complex.

Hi Fateme,

if the question stems from the need to find a suitable tES intervention, I would suggest to start with the analysis of psychopathological/neurobiological mechanism responsible for the "to-be-treated" phenomenon (i.e., is it related to a decreased activity of a brain structure/network or is it related to certain bands of oscillatory power?).

Although you could compare the duration of tDCS vs tACS aftereffects (e.g., reviewing single or multiple session tES studies), such comparison might not be therapeutically valid given that tDCS and tACS induce qualitatively diverging effect and you would need to consider WHICH of the effects are meaningful for the particular therapeutic intervention (rather than which lasts longer).

On the other hand, both tDCS and tACS are assumed to modulate neuroplasticity, so perhaps this could be set as the common feature, enabling a meaningful comparison to start with.

Best, M.

In our approach, we look at both the teacher behaviors and the student behaviors in a blended learning classroom. In terms of the teacher behaviors, we look at how the instruction is planned and how the teacher uses formative assessment and student feedback to regroup students to meet their specific learning needs in the given classroom. We also observe "live teaching" either by video recording of teaching or by viewing while it is occurring, to assess the effectiveness of delivery and the engagement of the students. In terms of the student behaviors we are evaluating the whether students are academically engaged and at what level of engagement we see their participation. Are students actively participating and helping to extend the thinking and understanding of classmates, are they able to ask questions, are they able to check their own understanding and get the sort of assistance they need to further their understanding, and do they have choice that allows them to work in a configuration that sparks their curiosity and creativity to explore topics more deeply and to progress at a speed that keeps them interested. The tool allows the observer to provide the teacher with immediate feedback for what is working, what can be refined, and an exercise for reflection on their practice. The other observational data are cataloged and used as a meta look at the practices of the teachers as a whole to identify professional development for the whole group, a small group, or even individuals.

Many thanks for your recommendation, according to Mckinsey Report 2017 reported that for those firm adopted AI earlier, which shown significant of revenue growth. Therefore, AI has significant contribute to the organization performance sustainability.

Thank you Ghadi. Yes I do know the journal. My question is about the visibility of Asian research that is perceived as innovative and not just based on traditional understandings of the field but something that may be significantly new.

If you take a closer look at reconstructed image of SRGAN, without seeing the ground truth image, it looks quite realistic. But if you compare the original together with the recovered SRGAN, the texture is not correct. GAN fills something else to the texture part which is not exist in the original picture. The observation becomes clearer at 'text' region in the reconstructed image. If the text is too small or distorted in the original image, SRGAN recovers totally different. It is no longer text or readable in SRGAN. It is because of the loss function I guess. It make the image look realistic in general --> leads to favor natural scene but not unnatural one (text, artificial structure).

This is somehow dangerous if you perform classification task related to these region (i.e. texture classification, licence plate recognition, etc.)

Sorry that I cannot attach the picture but you can take the closer look at visual result in the paper.

Best regards,

Unfortunately, the Academy of Management Ethics Education Committee would suggest that you would be on dangerous ground to attempt to publish the same publication in multiple journals.

One way around that problem is to make a significant change in the paper and you could then submit the new paper to a different journal or conference.

You may wish to familiarize yourself with the Code of Ethics of the Academy of Management -- or your appropriate academic area, should you be a part of a difference academic field.

Good luck!

CC

Dear all, I work in educational innovation through emerging learning technologies, with recent focus on AR, VR and MR (Mixed Realities), among others. In my experience, transformative learning using such technologies is definitely possible, but requires a good understanding of their potential by designers, educational technologists and practitioners, and most importantly, by host institutions (institutional transformation is a 'must' for the uptake of such technologies in education). Once the understanding and adequate knowledge is in place, and potential benefits become evident, then interests by all parties emerges with some good examples of end-user creativity around proposed learning platforms. See the links below where we touch on some of those issues discussed here. Best.

Hi! You seem to have two different questions, one in the title question and one in your first comment. About technology as enhancement and integrated: It is common to call something technology if it new and still not works as naturally for us as we would wish. When it begins to work well, we first call it an enhancement and then integrated and then forget all about it as technology, because we use it in a functional way without thinking of it. That applies to almost everything, in school from the invention of writing and forwards... Check this quote from Douglas Adams:

“I've come up with a set of rules that describe our reactions to technologies:

1. Anything that is in the world when you’re born is normal and ordinary and is just a natural part of the way the world works.

2. Anything that's invented between when you’re fifteen and thirty-five is new and exciting and revolutionary and you can probably get a career in it.

3. Anything invented after you're thirty-five is against the natural order of things.” (From The Salmon of Doubt, 2002)

Thank you Riina Vuorikari for uploading the Travel well dataset

I am interested in everything that is connected with tangible interfaces. If your project can be considered under this angle. We can collaborate.

Maybe this one meets your needs.

Hello Ed Cadura

please find attachments

Hi Charlotte,

This is actually a really interesting topic. I don't have any literature to refer to, but I do have experience that relates to your question. I provided clinical supervision the "administrators" (group facilitators) of a closed patient support on FB.

For me as a supervisor, I was drawing from small group dynamics, debriefing, group psychoeducation, ethical decision, and the related stuff that makes clinical supervision helpful. The FB patient group was a closed group (run as an "open group" in terms of group psychotherapy terms) and were screened for any clinically significant and untreated MH problems.

There were 6 admin who interacted in running the group in a "secret" (invisible) FB group they called "the back room". This is where the house keeping stuff, and supervision took place. As a clinical supervisor, what was exceptionally useful was that I had access to the patient and group facilitators interactions in the FB patient support group. That's almost unheard of in clinical supervision, and we usually have only "parallel process" to refer to in place of observing the direct clinician - patient interactions.

The FB setup could be worked in a similar manner to psych and Counsellor education where clinical skills are observed through one-way glass in counselling labs, or students provide digitally recorded interactions for Supervisors and educators to review. The beauty of the FB platform is that you have a written dialogue to refer to, and all the other benefits of FB (reliability, notifications, compression of time etc) Of course the paralinguistic and non verbal behaviour isn't available, but I think that matters so much for achieving learning outcomes. 

I've done some work in nursing education as well, and where there are overlaps with Counseling and psych education, teaching those clinical skills through a FB two-tiered (student group and evaluating educators group) is possible and an exciting area of research. 

I'd be interested to know if there is any past research out there on this as well. 

Hope that helps,

dr.j

Greetings, I recommend:

Biometrics R & D capabilities, solutions, and technology companies UPM

Biometric Research group

Biometric perils and patches

Technology: biometric recognition

doi: 10.1038 / 449,038th

Hi, Leah,

What is the aspect of instruction you are interested in analyzing?

I have several publications related to using content analysis, as Claudia mentioned. I focus specifically on the Interaction Analysis Model and have an unpublished manuscript analyzing its validity. Another article, including one of the original authors of the tool, is also attached.

I have also attached a journal article (which just won an award, by the way) about faculty behaviors that promote critical thinking in peer interaction.

Let me know if these are useful, or if you are trying to take your research in a different direction.

Best wishes,

Barb

Hi Raji,

Trying to answer your question by taking logical skill to mean more like reasoning skill, putting before them questions relating to their  everyday life which would involve their decision making after considering reasoning based on various disciplines would be a good idea.

Salil Bhatt

I used the NASA TLX with some degree of success. Pre and post testing is an indirect measure of CL too, provided all other variables are controlled.

This is a good paper 

Brünken, R. & Plass, J.L., 2003. Direct Measurement of Cognitive Load in Multimedia Learning. , 38(1), pp.53–61.

Most of the MOOC application replied on the stable internet access, it was designed to retrieve, interact and digest in that way. I wonder if we consider the infrastructure limitation, this may closer to the traditional e-learning research with a medium that people can bring home and launch standalone.

This idea sounds a little bit old fashion, but it may provide an insight to re-invent the MOOC for internet limited region, or even more, a more localize style MOOC, when I read this news: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/dec/23/cuba-offline-internet-weekly-packet-external-hard-drives

This is the most vitality news to see how people interact with the information technology, in their own way. Sorry, not provide too many useful research resources, hope this helps to gain you some new ideas. :)

Dear Debra, my students did not have much problems.   They were able to download lecture notes (as powerpoint) from the college portal.  But we found that when they had the notes in their mobiles or laptops, they did not pay attention during lectures.  So this semester, we do not put notes on the portal anymore.  We taught students Cornell note taking method, and made them write, so that they do not feel secure that they already have notes.  It worked well.  Students are required to pay full attention during lectures.  (For sciences, we have lecture, tutorial and practicals.  These are the 3 modes that we employ to transmit knowledge.)

Hello, 

I would like to suggest some publications that you can find in my profile. Specifically take a look to the following: 

1. Pellas, N. & Kazanidis, I. (2014). Online and hybrid university-level courses with the utilization of Second Life: Investigating the factors that predict student choice in Second Life supported online and hybrid university-level courses. Computers in Human Behavior, 40(2), 31-43.

2. Pellas, N. & Kazanidis, I. (2014). Engaging students in blended and online collaborative courses at university level through Second Life: Comparative perspectives and instructional affordances. New Review of Hypermedia and Multimedia Journal, 20(2), 123-144.

3. Pellas, N. & Kazanidis, I. (2013). On the value of Second Life for students’ engagement in blended and online courses: A comparative study from the Higher Education in Greece. Education and Information Technologies. DOI: 10.1007/s10639-013-9294-4 (In press).

Maybe you can find some other papers really useful looking in my profile.

Kind regards,

NP

It should not be an issue whether we beling to a developed or underdeveoped country so as to use/ not use ICT tools for teaching/learning. Because the ICT tools  make the Teaching/ learning process easier/interesting that's why people go for these. Many choices have already been suggested and any one or more of these can be considered depending upon requirement and suitability.

Hi Valerie,

Interesting research ! Please find attached some links that will enable you to add some value to your literature.

Best Wishes !

It's a little more complicated than which one is the best and many of the ones that have been shown to be effective aren't necessarily widely available. It's important to consider which ones are effective for the specified domain and context.

Here are some papers that may help you start to sort through the literature that you are finding.

VanLehn, K. (2006). The Behavior of Tutoring Systems. Int. J. Artif. Intell. Ed., 16(3), 227–265.

VanLehn, K. (2011). The Relative Effectiveness of Human Tutoring, Intelligent Tutoring Systems, and Other Tutoring Systems. Educational Psychologist, 46(4), 197–221.

Martin, B., Mitrovic, A., Koedinger, K. R., & Mathan, S. (2010). Evaluating and improving adaptive educational systems with learning curves. User Modeling and User-Adapted Interaction (UMUAI), 21(3), 249–283. http://doi.org/10.1007/s11257-010-9084-2

Mitrovic, A., Koedinger, K. R., & Martin, B. (2003). A Comparative Analysis of Cognitive Tutoring and Constraint-Based Modelling. In P. Brusilovsky, A. T. Corbett, & F. de Rosis (Eds.), 9th International Conference on User Modeling (UM) (pp. 313–322). Johnstown, PA, USA: Springer-Verlag. Retrieved from http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.101.1952

The International Journal of Artificial Intelligence in Education (IJAIED), User Modelling and User Adapted Interaction (UMUAI), and IEEE Transactions on Learning Technologies (TLT) will be good places to start your investigation of this area in a less overwhelming way.

This is a great question and I’ve enjoyed reading the existing submissions and examples. I tend to agree there is no “one” right template for course design (or layout for that matter), and many of the major course (and content) management systems have templates to choose from with respect to the graphical user interface as it concerns major and secondary navigation structures. If one is using one of the ubiquitous platforms like Blackboard, e-College, Desire2Learn, Moodle, edX.org, etc., you might ask the folks at these companies something like: Which layout schemes/nav structures are in widest use, most preferred (or least used) as related to your type of course and target audience? There is something to be said for standardization of the graphical user interface (GUI) over time as it facilitates familiarity, lowers those initial interface barriers, etc.

This said, if you want to strike out on your own with respect to the interface, it might be worthwhile, depending on your budget to conduct some use case scenarios with members of the target audience, develop some general personas of your typical users, and then ask them for feedback on completing some simple tasks within the environment (e.g., find/purchase a resource from the online store or library, add it to your personal space, create a collection with this and personal URLs of additional resources and share it via the community discussion forum, etc.). There are consultants for a modest fee that will conduct this type of GUI optimization for you, with some cool split screen videos that depict the facial expression of the user completing the scenario alongside the tracking of the mouse on the web site from the same user, as they perform a “think-aloud” sharing what they perceive as they attempt the task. It only takes 5-8 of these folks to provide keen insight and may help settle any internal “opinions” on nav structure and labeling of the same (e.g., what you call things matter)!

With respect to the “instructional design” of the course, this is a different matter altogether as related to a “template” and will, I suspect, draw upon your particular learning theory, desired learning outcomes for the course, and the sequence, frequency, and type of interactions you desire of your learners. Some of the “traditional” online courses are focused on weekly readings, reflections via a discussion forum, some larger group or individual project, alongside some longer individual writing assignments and online multiple choice tests. There are moves for more peer-to-peer interaction versus instructor-peer interaction (take MOOCs for example), and even in formal instructor-led courses, collaborative projects that involve individual accountability as well as an overall team grade, so all pull their weight equally.

I've read some nice things from Curtis Bonk at Indiana (years ago) about how to elevate peer-to-peer interaction in forums such as having weekly web discussion forum "starters" and "wrappers" to begin and conclude student-selected topics from an instructor list, pairing folks online with "critical web buddies" to overcome feelings of isolation, etc.

If you think about facilitating deeper and more flexible learning of knowledge and skills in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) areas, some espouse that the learning should be grounded in the exploration of locally relevant science phenomena and in designing solutions to engineering problems. With instructor guidance, learners could ask their own intrinsically motivated questions about how and why, as they wrestle with their own learning, engaging in practices such as developing and using models to understand phenomenon, collecting and analyzing data via investigations and designed solutions, incorporating mathematics and computational thinking, and communicating/arguing their claims and explanations based on evidence. The National Academy of Sciences developed a Framework addressing this “three-dimensional” nature of learning espousing that students will more deeply understanding the core ideas of science as they are engaged in the practices of science and engineering, and recognizing cross-cutting concepts such as patterns, system and system models, cause and effect, etc.

So, to the degree that one could look at the modes of delivery (synchronous/asynchronous), the mediums of delivery (web narrative/images, video, case studies, simulations, animations, immersive environments, augmented reality, mobile learning, online gaming, discussion forums, onsite lecture/demonstration, etc.), and the instructional methods at your disposal (debate, role-play, individual and/or group projects, investigations, design challenges, student presentation, student co-facilitating/teaching, etc.) , you might think about how the affordances across these areas might be “intermingled” and offered as varied opportunities for achieving the same targeted learning outcomes.

For example, video is good for affective motivation (if you seek changes in attitude/awareness to a topic), and has affordances for learning STEM topics such as slow motion; freeze frame, zoom, and rewind--that make exploration of certain science phenomena visible that otherwise would not. Simulations allow users to control variables that interact with each other and facilitate understanding of causal relationships in complex inter-related systems. Role-playing and case studies allow users to assume and learn about identities, explore dependencies, and engage in authentic scenarios as they apply critical thinking skills and analyze potential causes, anticipated outcomes, etc. So it's about how you might structure different learning pathways to facilitate coherent learning outcomes...

I hope this gets the creative juices flowing!

Marina:

Very relevant research that is in keeping with the move to go paperless in the 21st Classroom, allowing students the flexibility and convenience to study anywhere and anytime. I hope the RG link and attached on flexible learning environments can be of some help as I have not done research on your topic.

Best regards,

Debra

Technology adoption theory can be relevant here. See attached.

Best regards,

Debra

Flash Augmented Reality Authoring System (FLARAS) is a visual authoring tool for interactive Augmented Reality applications

Learning in a Flash, available at https://www.researchgate.net/publication/266477068_Learning_in_a_Flash, may be of tangential interest. The article recognizes that text is no longer the primary means of learning transfer and argues that character-based simulation—in which animated characters provide a social context to motivate learners—can improve cognition and recall and bodes well for high-impact e-learning. (So, the article is not about Massive Open Online Courses per se but about e-learning and the value that flash animations, which could be made part of MOOCS, might bring that.)

Students learn by making the topic interesting and relating it with real life situations.

Here are two sources I have used and found very instructive:

Debra

Syed:

I had to do a feature address at a principal's conference on your topic, so I hope the attached would be helpful to you.

Best regards,

Debra

You might also find useful  "Kolb’s Experiential Learning Cycle". If you want have a look at the following link:

Konak, A., Clark, T. K., & Nasereddin, M. (2014). Using Kolb’s Experiential Learning Cycle to improve student learning in virtual computer laboratories. Computers and Education, 72, 11–22. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2013.10.013

Emotions and attitudes such as learner attribution, learner autonomy, learner control of the learning process, learner creativity,  learner curiosity, learning flexibility, learner friendliness, learner locus of control, learner motivation, learner satisfaction, learner self-confidence, learner self-efficacy, learner self-image and learner self-esteem are some of the major variables known to positively contribute to enhanced e-learning, distance learning and m-learning based delivery platforms. Katz & Yablon (2009; 2011) as well as Katz (2013a; 2013b; 2013c; 2014a; 2014b; 2014c) confirmed the positive association of some or all of the above factors with effective  delivery of learning.using digital technology.

References

Katz, Y.J. (2013a) University students' attitudes toward cell-phone based learning. EURODL, (special issue on the best research papers presented at EDEN Conferences 2012), 92-105.

Katz, Y.J. (2013b) Concept learning via SMS delivery at the university level. In M.F. Paulsen and A. Szucs (Eds.) The  joy of learning: enhancing learning experience, improving learning quality - Proceedings of EDEN 2013 (pp. 125-134) .Budapest: European Distance Education Network.

Katz, Y.J. (2013c). SMS-based learning in tertiary education: achievement and attitudinal outcomes. In M.B. Nunes and M. McPherson (Eds.) Proceedings of the international conference: IADIS e-Learning 2013 (pp. 118-125). Lisbon, Portugal: IADIS Press.

Katz, Y.J. (2014a) The historical relationship between affective variables and ICT based learning and instruction and achievement in the Israeli school system. In A. Tatnall and W. Davey (Eds.) Reflections on the history of computers in education: early use of computers and teaching about computing in schools (pp.324-338). Heidelberg: Springer-Verlag.

Katz Y.J. (2014b). Cognitive and affective aspects of SMS based learning at the university level. Athens Journal of Education, 1(3), 259-269.

Katz, Y.J. (2014c). Mobile learning delivery via social networks: what platforms do first-year university students prefer? In A.M. Teixeira and A Szucs (Eds.) Challenges for research into open and distance learning: doing things better - doing better things - Proceedings of EDEN 2014 (pp. 249-256). Budapest: European Distance Education Network.

Katz, Y.J. and Yablon, Y.B. (2009). Mobile learning: a major e-learning platform. In  A. Szucs (Ed.). New technology platforms for learning revisited (pp. 121-126). Budapest: European Distance Education Network.

Katz, Y.J. and Yablon, Y.B. (2011). Affect and digital learning at the university level. Campus-Wide Information Systems, 28(2), 114-123.

Dinglei:

My concern with your question is that it implies that to teach online you tweak a f2f course, rather than rethink the pedagogy.  Some of the answers you've gotten respond to your question as asked, but basically explain a redesign of pedagogy.  Of course, what's missing from your question and some of the responses is the detail about what type of online course you/they are talking about.  My big issue with research about online education is the failure of the researcher to be specific about the instructional approach/pedagogy they study; report on.  There's a big difference between asynchronous and scheduled asynchronous, and synchronous, without mixing in blended.   They are different.  Have different pedagogies, and different approaches to content (or should) .  To think about those differences as tweaks or to only tweak a f2f course lessens the quality of online learning.

A different take

Ray

Hello Pablo,

I'd like to provide an answer to a slight variation of the question you've posed.  ¿What are the similarities between teaching via collaborative learning and online/hybrid learning?  My research points to three things that must be considered very carefully by teachers in these contexts:

(1) Skills for successful autonomous learning often must be taught and modeled.  Many of our strongest students have learnt these skills tacitly in one form or another, but my experience is that the majority of students have not.

(2) It is one thing to convince a group of students they must be responsible for their own learning, and it is another thing to change their epistemic beliefs regarding the nature of knowledge creation.  In that autonomous learning proves to be important in both collaborative learning and online/distance learning, the skills are not enough.  They are much more effective if the students come to acknowledge that they are now the creators of their new knowledge.  (I.e., they see the benefit, and they do not interpret the situation as the "teacher not doing their job.")

(3) Students want to be a part of a community.  The more opportunities to authentically work with other students, the better.  And, as it should not be assumed that the students will learn the other skills "along the way," it is best to provide specific activities to encourage students to build community early.

First, let me stress that I do not mean to suggest that these are not issues in regular classrooms.  But, it was a key point in my research when I first discovered the parallels of these three aspects in inquiry based learning and online instruction.  Second, I do not want to suggest that all students do not already know this.  In fact, having students share their strategies with each other has been a powerful learning experience for me, too.

Hope this proves to be useful information.

Cheers,

    gh

You may refer to the following: