Journal of Educational Computing Research

A growing number of studies have been conducted on digital game-based learning (DGBL). However, there has been a lack of attention paid to individuals’ self-efficacy and learning performance in the implementation of DGBL. This study therefore investigated how the badge mechanism in DGBL enhanced users’ self-efficacy in the subject domain of English as a foreign language. In the study, a digital game-based English learning environment was designed with a badge mechanism including digital badges, leaderboard ranking, and learning practice with star icons. A quasi-experimental design was implemented. A total of 50 third-grade elementary school students participated in this study. Hypotheses were tested, and data were analyzed using paired sample t tests, multiple regression analyses, linear regression analyses, and logistic regression analyses. The results show that the badge mechanism had a significant positive influence on the learners’ self-efficacy and English learning performance. The study also investigated how self-efficacy could affect English learning performance, with the results revealing that it had a significant positive influence on learning performance. In addition, a subsequent analysis showed that those students with higher self-efficacy performed better than those with lower self-efficacy.

Nghiên cứu này xem xét vai trò của việc học tự điều chỉnh (SRL) trong việc tạo điều kiện cho sinh viên chuyển sang các mô hình tâm lý phức tạp hơn về hệ thống tuần hoàn, như được chỉ ra bởi cả dữ liệu hiệu suất và quy trình. Chúng tôi bắt đầu với mô hình xử lý thông tin về SRL của Winne và các đồng nghiệp (Winne, 2001; Winne & Hadwin, 1998) và sử dụng nó để xem xét cách sinh viên điều chỉnh việc học của mình khi sử dụng môi trường siêu phương tiện để học về hệ thống tuần hoàn. Sinh viên đại học (N = 24) đã được đào tạo để sử dụng một môi trường siêu phương tiện để học về hệ thống tuần hoàn. Dữ liệu từ bài kiểm tra trước, bài kiểm tra sau và giao thức bằng lời đã được thu thập để đo lường sự chuyển biến trong sự hiểu biết khái niệm (từ bài kiểm tra trước đến bài kiểm tra sau) và các biến SRL liên quan đến sự chuyển biến trong sự hiểu biết khái niệm. Chúng tôi đã sử dụng phân chia trung vị để chia mẫu thành hai nhóm học sinh—nhóm chuyển biến cao và nhóm chuyển biến thấp (tức là, sinh viên đã cho thấy sự tiến bộ lớn trong sự hiểu biết khái niệm hoặc chỉ có tiến bộ ít hoặc không có tiến bộ trong sự hiểu biết khái niệm của họ). Các phát hiện cho thấy rằng nhóm chuyển biến cao đã chuyển đổi trung bình 4,5 mô hình tâm lý, trong khi nhóm chuyển biến thấp có sự chuyển đổi trung bình là dưới một mô hình tâm lý từ bài kiểm tra trước đến bài kiểm tra sau. Dữ liệu giao thức bằng lời đã được mã hóa cho các biến tự điều chỉnh khác nhau để xem xét các biến SRL nào phân biệt nhóm chuyển biến thấp với nhóm chuyển biến cao. Nhóm chuyển biến cao thể hiện khả năng điều chỉnh việc học của mình tốt hơn trong suốt hoạt động xây dựng kiến thức. Nói chung, họ đã sử dụng các chiến lược hiệu quả, lập kế hoạch học bằng cách tạo ra các mục tiêu phụ và kích hoạt kiến thức trước đó, theo dõi sự hiểu biết đang phát triển và lập kế hoạch thời gian và nỗ lực của mình. Ngược lại, nhóm chuyển biến thấp đã sử dụng một lượng bằng nhau các chiến lược hiệu quả và không hiệu quả, lập kế hoạch học bằng cách sử dụng các mục tiêu phụ và tái chế các mục tiêu trong bộ nhớ làm việc, xử lý những khó khăn và yêu cầu của nhiệm vụ chủ yếu bằng cách tìm kiếm sự giúp đỡ, và không dành nhiều thời gian để giám sát việc học của họ. Kết quả của chúng tôi cung cấp một mô tả khởi đầu có giá trị về vai trò của SRL trong việc giải thích sự khác biệt trong những tiến bộ về kiến thức khái niệm khi sinh viên sử dụng môi trường siêu phương tiện để học về các chủ đề khoa học phức tạp. Ngoài ra, chúng tôi thảo luận về những ý nghĩa giáo dục tổng thể của những phát hiện của chúng tôi và cách chúng có thể được sử dụng để thông báo cho việc thiết kế các môi trường siêu phương tiện nhằm dạy sinh viên về các hệ thống phức tạp.

Interactive Simulated Patient (ISP) is a computer-based simulation tool designed to provide medical students with the opportunity to practice their clinical problem solving skills. The ISP system allows students to perform most clinical decision-making procedures in a simulated environment, including history taking in natural language, many hundreds of laboratory tests (e.g., images and endoscopy), and physical examination procedures. The system has been evaluated in a number of courses at three universities, Karolinska Institutet and Uppsala University in Sweden, and Stanford University in the United States. This article describes a study conducted in 2002, with an emphasis on results that pertain to collaboration between students. Results indicate that ISP is engaging and stimulates more active student involvement than traditional paper-based case presentation methods and that students seem to collaborate more easily when using ISP compared to traditional paper-based methods.

A study of fifty-four female and fifty-nine male Gymnasium (high school) students from four ninth-grade classes oriented toward natural sciences and mathematics surveyed students' attitudes toward computers in relation to gender and computer experience and found that males showed a more positive attitude toward computers than females, even when computer experience was controlled. An additional study of fifty-one females and fifty-four males from the initial sample found that males did show more interest in computer science than females, but these differences could not explain gender differences in computer attitude.

Patterns of computer use are studied based on analysis of data from the Longitudinal Study of American Youth (LSAY) in which a cohort of students and their parents were surveyed for five consecutive years. Special attention is given to students who were heavier users of computers. Heavier use is associated with high SES as well as superiority in grades. Heavier use declined as this cohort progressed from the seventh grade to high school despite increasing access to computers at home. Parents with computers at home reported that their children used computers mostly for educational purposes. Males were significantly more likely to be heavier users until the 1992 survey when the gap with females narrowed. A substantial proportion but less than half (42%) of heavier users remained more frequent users from 1988 to 1992. Analysis suggests that computer ownership and parental interest in their children using computers exerted the biggest impacts on the likelihood of being a heavier user.

The study of social media acceptance and adoption is not a new research topic. However, the analysis of the educational and information systems (IS) theories/models that are used to examine the social media acceptance and adoption is considered an important research direction. To examine these theories/models and provide researchers with a clear vision of this research topic, we should be aware of the leading educational and IS theories/models used in this line of research. To this end, this systematic review retrieved and analyzed 2,382 articles. The retrieved articles were then critically examined to meet the inclusion and exclusion criteria, in which 122 articles published between 2009 and 2018 were eventually selected for further critical analysis. The main findings indicated that the uses and gratifications theory (U&G) and the social constructivism theory were considered the most widely used educational theories in social media. Besides, the technology acceptance model (TAM) and the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) were considered the most extensively used IS models in studying the social media acceptance and adoption. These results afford a better understanding of social media studies related to the educational and IS theories/models and form a constructive reference for future research.

Electronic books (e-books) are a prevalent method for integrating technology in preschool and elementary classrooms; however, there is a lack of consensus concerning the extent to which e-books increase literacy skills in the domains of comprehension and decoding. This article assesses the efficacy of e-books with a comprehensive review method, including a systematic literature search, comparison of outcomes with effect sizes, and discussion of individual studies that met either (a) randomized-trial synthesis criteria, or (b) quasi-experimental/observational narrative synthesis criteria. Seven studies met the randomized-trial criteria and 20 studies met the quasi-experimental/observational narrative review criteria. Results from the randomized trials indicate that the effects of e-books on comprehension-related outcomes were small to medium in size. Only two randomized trials examined decoding-related outcomes, thereby preventing firm conclusions. The narrative review suggests some interactive e-book features support comprehension, whereas other incongruent features may hinder comprehension. Educational implications and future research directions are discussed.

This study attempts to find appropriate interaction analysis/content analysis techniques that assist in examining the negotiation of meaning and co-construction of knowledge in collaborative learning environments facilitated by computer conferencing. The authors review strengths and shortcomings of existing interaction analysis techniques and propose a new model based on grounded theory building for analyzing the quality of CMC interactions and learning experiences. This new Interaction Analysis Model for Examining Social Construction of Knowledge in Computer Conferencing was developed after proposing a new definition of “interaction” for the CMC context and after analyzing interactions that occurred in a Global Online Debate. The application of the new model for analysis of collaborative construction of knowledge in the online debate and in a subsequent computer conference are discussed and future research suggested.

Twenty-eight students (aged 9 to 17) freely explored a science Web site structured either in an outline (linear) format or “puzzle” (non-linear) format for 2.5 hours. Subjects then engaged in tasks involving locational memory and informational recall. The results indicate that presence of metacognitive skills was a necessary but not sufficient condition for learning in hypermedia environments; the navigational structure of the Web site also was important. Metacognitive skill (as measured by the Junior Metacognitive Awareness Inventory (Jr. MAI) (Sperling, Howard, Miller, & Murphy, 2002) and the How I Study Questionnaire (HISP) (Fortunato, Hecht, Tittle, & Alvarez, 1991) was not a significant predictor of measures of retention within an outline structure (where the conventional structure did not stimulate meta-cognitive knowledge), while metacognition was a significant predictor of informational recall within the puzzle structure (which required active meta-cognitive knowledge to make meaning within the unfamiliar structure). The results point to the need for instructional designers to consider the structure of Web sites, with particular emphasis on the use of recognizable conventions, in order to reduce the metacognitive demands upon working memory involved in deciphering the structure.

This study examined the relationship between epistemological beliefs, meta-cognition, and student achievement in a hypermedia learning environment. Epistemological beliefs refer to beliefs about the nature of knowledge and knowing (see review by Hofer & Pintrich, 1997) and metacognition refers to the ability to reflect upon, understand, and control one's learning (Schraw & Dennison, 1994). We predicted that the epistemological beliefs and meta-cognitive awareness of 116 preservice teachers would be significantly related to achievement in a hypermedia tutorial. Achievement was measured by a posttest based on the tutorial content. Results from a forced-order, hierarchical regression analysis indicated that reading comprehension, GPA, and three of the five epistemological beliefs (i.e., fixed ability, omniscient authority, and quick learning) significantly predicted posttest performance. Belief in omniscient authority and fixed ability being related to lower achievement supports previous research. Contrary to our expectations, a belief in quick learning was positively correlated with achievement. Educational and instructional design implications are discussed.