Search

Universities, significantly impacted by the shift to online learning during pandemic, must critically evaluate their teaching methods and outcomes to enhance performance in the post‐pandemic era. However, there has been a limited examination of whether students achieved comparable levels in cognition and social interaction during the pandemic compared to traditional face‐to‐face learning. Addressing this gap, this exploratory study utilized a quasi‐experimental design to analyse and compare the learning performance and outcomes of two cohorts of students (totalling 45) in a 12‐week university course delivered through the computer‐supported collaborative learning (CSCL) approach, both during and after the pandemic. Employing quantitative analysis and lag sequential analysis, the study examined students' behaviours, similarities and differences in performance within CSCL environments under two distinct social situations. Results indicated that students engaged in complete online learning with CSCL and those in face‐to‐face teaching with CSCL achieved similar levels of conceptual understanding. Additionally, a comparable distribution pattern of learning behaviours was observed. However, significant differences in behaviour sequences emerged between the two implementations, with students exhibiting a higher level of engagement in CSCL activities during the post‐pandemic period. These findings inform the design of CSCL environments should integrate student‐centred activities and include guiding scripts, prompts and scaffoldings in navigating learning endeavours effectively. Practitioner notes What is already known about this topic The CSCL environment could facilitate teacher‐student and student–student interaction in learning activities. Studies have been conducted on the impact of scripts and prompts on students' cognition and social interaction in CSCL environment. There is a crucial need for conducting more in‐depth data analysis to comprehensively explore the CSCL process within university settings. What this paper adds A well‐designed CSCL environment, coupled with effective instructional strategies, exhibits resilience, sustaining its beneficial effects on students' academic performance and interaction. Both cohorts demonstrated a proclivity for engaging in repetitive behaviours, particularly focused on reviewing and reading activities. The latter cohort displayed a preference for individual tasks over collaborative efforts, showcasing a relatively higher frequency of individual work as opposed to group activities. Notably absent in both groups were crucial behavioural sequences, namely VR‐IA and VC‐IA, underscoring potential areas for CSCL improvement. Implications for practice and/or policy In the CSCL environment, a variety of activities rooted in student‐centred pedagogy (ie, self‐regulated learning, inquiry‐based learning and peer feedback) should be seamlessly integrated. It is recommended to furnish students with scripts, prompts and scaffoldings to bolster their navigation through collaborative and independent learning endeavours within CSCL environment. Students are encouraged to bridge their newly acquired knowledge with their existing understanding, for enhancing engagement and promoting deeper comprehension. What is already known about this topic The CSCL environment could facilitate teacher‐student and student–student interaction in learning activities. Studies have been conducted on the impact of scripts and prompts on students' cognition and social interaction in CSCL environment. There is a crucial need for conducting more in‐depth data analysis to comprehensively explore the CSCL process within university settings. What this paper adds A well‐designed CSCL environment, coupled with effective instructional strategies, exhibits resilience, sustaining its beneficial effects on students' academic performance and interaction. Both cohorts demonstrated a proclivity for engaging in repetitive behaviours, particularly focused on reviewing and reading activities. The latter cohort displayed a preference for individual tasks over collaborative efforts, showcasing a relatively higher frequency of individual work as opposed to group activities. Notably absent in both groups were crucial behavioural sequences, namely VR‐IA and VC‐IA, underscoring potential areas for CSCL improvement. Implications for practice and/or policy In the CSCL environment, a variety of activities rooted in student‐centred pedagogy (ie, self‐regulated learning, inquiry‐based learning and peer feedback) should be seamlessly integrated. It is recommended to furnish students with scripts, prompts and scaffoldings to bolster their navigation through collaborative and independent learning endeavours within CSCL environment. Students are encouraged to bridge their newly acquired knowledge with their existing understanding, for enhancing engagement and promoting deeper comprehension. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the present paper, we assess whether website rating systems are useful for selecting educational apps for preschool age children. We selected the 10 highest scoring and 10 lowest scoring apps for 2–4‐year‐olds from two widely used websites (Good App Guide; Common Sense Media). Apps rated highly by the two websites had a higher educational potential as assessed by a validated questionnaire for evaluating the educational potential of apps and were more likely to include a learning goal and feedback compared to low scoring apps. However, high scoring apps scored on average just 9/20 for indicators of educational potential, and both high and low scoring apps had poor language quality as determined by psycholinguistic and construction type analyses. We argue that website rating systems should also include quality of feedback, adjustable content, social interactions, storyline and a more fine‐grained analysis of language in their assessments. Practitioner notesWhat is already known about this topic Appropriately designed apps for preschool age children have the potential to teach early school readiness skills.Selecting high quality educational apps for preschool age children is challenging.The children's app marketplace is currently unregulated.What this paper adds We assess whether two leading app rating websites are useful for selecting educational apps for preschool age children.Children's apps rated highly by two app website rating systems had a higher educational potential than low rated apps as measured by a research informed app evaluation tool.In‐depth analysis of the language in apps shows that highly rated children's apps on app rating websites may not enrich a child's early language environment.Implications for practice and/or policy Children's app rating website assessments should include potential for feedback, language, adjustable content, storyline and social interactions.Policy should be implemented for app ratings in the app stores or on website app rating systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While interactive touchscreens are currently entering into educational practice, little is known about what this means for learning in early childhood and, in particular, how touchscreens shape action and communication. In this paper, we examine the interactions of 2‐year‐olds and their teachers in a multilingual preschool in Sweden. We analyse the communicative environment between the children, teachers and shared touchscreens and books in the context of reading. A mixed‐methods analysis was used, taking a concept of action that includes both verbal, non‐verbal utterances and digital touch. The analysis shows a reconfiguration to the interactional dynamic where children perform comparable amounts of actions in sessions with the touchscreen and book reading but less talk during the touchscreen sessions. However, while talking less, children display other types of communicative actions. We analyse the changing interactional dynamic that follows, its implications to learning and early childhood pedagogical practice and how interaction can be reconceptualised as cycles of communication and action in which educational scaffolding unfolds. Practitioner notesWhat is already known about this topic Touchscreens are a significant part of children's lives and educational curricula.There is considerable uncertainty on how touchscreens can be incorporated into early childhood education.Little is known about how educational social interaction changes with touchscreens such as iPads.What this paper adds A mixed methods multimodal analysis of the changing actions and dynamics of iPads as compared with bookreading.Children's patterns of communication change towards less talk and more bodily communication, while teachers' actions remain somewhat similar.Touch actions change the dynamics of interaction, can alter the pedagogical situation and bring a reconceptualisation towards a cyclical and embodied view of interaction.Implications for practice and/or policy New patterns of action may require a recalibration of educational practices.Teachers need to attend to new sets of touch actions that children use to communicate and act with as displays of knowledge.The use of touch screens should be seen as complementary to established practices of language and literacy training (such as book reading) rather than replacing them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Computer‐supported collaborative learning (CSCL) has been an effective pedagogy in the field of education. However, productive collaborative learning often does not occur spontaneously, and learners often have difficulties with collaborative knowledge building and socially shared regulation. To address this research gap, this study proposes an automatic knowledge graph construction approach based on deep neural network models. In total, 63 groups comprising 189 college students participated in this study and were assigned to three conditions, namely, the automatic activated and unactivated knowledge graph (AAUKG) condition, the automated activated knowledge graph (AAKG) condition, and the traditional online collaborative learning (TOCL) condition. The findings revealed that the AAUKG approach had more significant and positive impacts on collaborative knowledge building, group performance, social interaction, and socially shared regulation than the AAKG and TOCL approaches. This study provides substantial evidence of utilising both automatically activated and unactivated knowledge graphs to improve collaborative learning performance. Practitioner notesWhat is already known about this topic Knowledge graphs have been widely used in many fields for searches, recommendations, analytics, and automation.Researchers have explored how to construct knowledge graphs. However, few studies have automatically constructed knowledge graphs in the CSCL context.What this paper adds An automatic knowledge graph construction approach is proposed and validated in the CSCL context.The findings indicate that the AAUKG approach has more significant and positive impacts on collaborative knowledge building, group performance, social interaction, and socially shared regulation than the AAKG and TOCL approaches.Implications for practice and/or policy The AAUKG approach is an effective method for improving knowledge building and group performance in the CSCL context.Researchers and practitioners are encouraged to consider how knowledge graphs can be applied to facilitate collaborative learning efficiently. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Problem‐oriented teaching (POT) activities are important in classroom instruction. The level of student response can be influenced by different teacher behaviours in POT. However, the characteristics of teachers' multimodal behaviours at different levels of response are unclear. This study applied epistemic network analysis to explore the characteristics of teachers' multimodal behaviours in POT with different response levels. Using 256 POT segments from 12 classroom teaching videos in primary and secondary schools, this study found that authentic questions and iconic gestures occupied a central position in multimodal behaviours. The concomitant use of multimodal behaviours and the flexibility in eye contact could improve the response levels of students. These findings help understand how teachers' multimodal behaviours can promote students' responses. Practitioner notesWhat is already known about this topic Various behaviours have been shown to impact learners' response, such as teachers' responses to students and teachers' non‐verbal behaviours.Epistemic network analysis can be used to analyse the structure of the connections between cognitive, social and interaction data.What this paper adds This study analyses the characteristics of teachers' multimodal behaviours during problem‐oriented activities.It also compares the salient properties of non‐verbal, verbal and multimodal behavioural networks generated by interactive fragments of students' responses of different cognitive levels.Implications for practice and policy Teachers should ask more authentic questions in the classroom to promote in‐depth thinking processes in students.The appropriate coordination of multimodal behaviours by teachers is crucial to promote the cognitive level of students' responses.Upon making eye contact with students, teachers should also use iconic gestures and be flexible regarding the use of eye contact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

E‐learning platforms are becoming more and more important and they are gradually changing people's learning ways. In the e‐learning platforms, users actively create and join their favorite communities to share their questions and ideas. With the increase of users of e‐learning platforms, the number of communities is increasing dramatically. In this context, it has become difficult for users to find learning communities that match their interests and preferences. Therefore, how to effectively recommend the learning community for users has become an urgent need. However, compared to learning item recommendation, there is relatively limited work on learning community recommendation, and the existing research on community recommendation often ignores the personality information. Personality is considered one of the primary factors that influence human behavior and social relationships, as it affects how people react and interact with others. Several studies have demonstrated that people with similar personality tend to have similar interests. Furthermore, homophily theory also states that social interactions between similar individuals occur at a higher rate than among dissimilar ones. Since interests and interactions are important driving forces for users to join the learning communities, personality has an important impact on users' choices of communities. Therefore, this paper aims at shedding some light on the impact of personality information on the accuracy of community recommendations. Particularly, we propose three enhanced matrix factorization models based on the Big Five personality framework. To evaluate the effectiveness of our proposed models, we conducted extensive experiments on myPersonality datasets. The results prove that the personality information can improve the performance of the learning community recommendation model and alleviate the data sparsity problem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study is to contribute to a better understanding of the complexity of conceptualising and measuring learner engagement in Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). The paper develops and validates a MOOC engagement scale (MES) to measure learner engagement. The initial questionnaire items of the scale were developed by reviewing existing related literature and validated student engagement constructs. This was followed by a modified scale development process, including two focus group interviews (n = 10), an exploratory survey (n = 12), an expert review (n = 10), a pilot survey (n = 15), an item purification study (n = 590) and a construct validation study (n = 303). The final version of the scale is made up of four dimensions: behavioural engagement, cognitive engagement, emotional engagement and social engagement. The paper concludes with recommendations for how the MES can be used to assess the pattern of engagement in MOOCs and to investigate the relationship between learner engagement and other important MOOC teaching and learning factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Asynchronous online discussion environments are important platforms to support learning. Research suggests, however, threaded forums, one of the most popular asynchronous discussion environments, do not often foster productive online discussions naturally. This paper explores how certain properties of threaded forums have affected or constrained the quality of discussions, and argues that developing alternative discussion environments is highly needed to offer better support for asynchronous online communication. Using the Productive Online Discussion Model developed by Gao, Wang and Sun, we analyzed current work on four types of asynchronous discussion environments that have been developed and researched: constrained environments, visualized environments, anchored environments and combined environments. The paper has implications for developing future asynchronous online discussion environments. More specifically, future work should aim at (1) exploring new environments that support varied goals of learning, (2) integrating emerging technologies to address the constraints of current environments, (3) designing multifunctional environments to facilitate complex learning and (4) developing appropriate instructional activities and strategies for these environments. Practitioner Notes What is already known about this topic Asynchronous online discussion plays an important role in facilitating learning., It is hard to foster a focused, interactive and in-depth asynchronous discussion in traditional threaded forums., Researchers have investigated multiple ways of structuring or facilitating asynchronous online discussions., What this paper adds The paper analyzes how existing features of threaded forums constrain the quality of online discussion., The paper identifies the progress made in designing alternative asynchronous discussion environments and discusses four major types of asynchronous discussion environments that have been developed and researched., The paper provides suggestions for developing future asynchronous discussion environments., Implications for practice and/or policy Designing alternative asynchronous discussion environments is necessary to improve the quality of online discussion and communication., New asynchronous discussion environments need to be designed to meet varied learning goals and facilitate complex learning., Appropriate instructional strategies need to be developed for both existing and new online discussion environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we review past empirical research studies on the use of three-dimensional immersive virtual worlds in education settings such as K-12 and higher education. Three questions guided our review: (1) How are virtual worlds (eg, Active Worlds, Second Life) used by students and teachers? (2) What types of research methods have been applied? (3) What research topics have been conducted on virtual worlds in teaching and learning, as well as their related findings? Overall, we found that virtual worlds may be utilised for the following uses: (1) communication spaces, (2) simulation of space (spatial), and (3) experiential spaces (‘acting’ on the world). Most of the studies reviewed were descriptive and conducted in polytechnic and university settings, and past virtual world research had been most frequently carried out in the media arts and health and environment disciplines. Three main research topics were found: participants' affective domain, learning outcomes and social interaction. We conclude by summarising some major findings and discussing three limitations of previous empirical studies. Several recommendations for future research related to virtual worlds in education settings are also provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews the effects of new technology on teaching and learning by considering examples of studies carried out with five kinds of teaching in five contexts. The five teaching situations are direct instruction, adjunct instruction, facilitating the skills of learning, facilitating social skills and widening learners’ horizons. The five contexts are primary schools, secondary schools, higher education, special education and out of school. The aim of the paper is primarily to inform teachers about current work in these different areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Collaborative learning flow patterns (CLFPs) formulate best practices for the orchestration of activity sequences and collaboration mechanisms that can elicit fruitful social interactions. Mobile technology features offer opportunities to support interaction mediation and content accessibility. However, existing mobile collaborative learning research has mostly focussed on simple activity orchestrations from the perspective of collaborative flow orchestration and flexibility requirements, predominantly in face‐to‐face pre‐university educational contexts. This paper proposes a particularisation of the Pyramid CLFP to support flexible face‐to‐face and distance mobile learning scenarios in which learners interact in increasingly larger groups along a sequence of activities (Pyramid levels). PyramidApp implements this Pyramid particularisation that provides both a web‐based authoring tool and an enactment tool accessible through web or mobile devices. The authoring tool was evaluated in workshops where teachers appreciated its design and applicability to their educational contexts. PyramidApp flows were enacted in three higher education settings. Learners enjoyed the activities but usage and satisfaction varied depending on several design and contextual factors like the epistemic tasks given, the education level and application mode (face‐to‐face or distance). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although serious games are more and more used for learning goals, high-quality empirical studies to prove the effectiveness of serious games are relatively scarce. In this paper, three empirical studies are presented that investigate the effectiveness of serious games as opposed to traditional classroom instruction on learning features as well as learning outcomes. All three studies used a similar longitudinal case-control study design and measured the same set of learning features (control, challenge, feedback, engagement and social interaction). Learning outcomes were measured by self-report and knowledge tests. Results of the three studies show that students that played the serious games scored higher on features associated with high-quality learning. Furthermore, the studies show that serious gaming is more effective on self-reported learning outcomes than traditional classroom instruction. Effects of serious gaming on the knowledge tests were not found. The studies serve as a first step to the development of a generic evaluation framework for serious gaming. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Education through the Internet is being shaped by the next wave of Web technology where productivity, collaborative tools and the ubiquity of computers play a major role in changing methods of peer interaction and collaboration. Because future educational technologists will play vital roles in navigating through this technical complexity and exploring potential learning opportunities, it is imperative to understand their intentions to participate in online teaching. This study adopted Ajzen's Theory of Planned Behavior (TpB) as a theoretical framework, and used its four constructs (attitude, subjective norm, perceived control and intention) to survey 119 educational technology doctoral students' intentions to participate in online teaching. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis and content analysis were used to analyze the data collected. Results showed that the attitudinal and subjective norm constructs of TpB had significant impacts on prediction of participants' intentions to participate in online teaching. Results also indicated that age and online teaching experience played a significant mediating role in affecting participants' attitude toward online teaching. Implications of the findings were discussed. Practitioner Notes What is already known about this topic Concerns and issues related to personal dimension variables for the successful adoption of online teaching in higher education settings., Future educational technologists will play vital roles in navigating through this technical complexity and exploring potential learning opportunities., Successful online instructors are the ones who are equipped with effective pedagogical practices and technological know-how to improve the quality of online learning experiences., What this paper adds Issues related to technology readiness with other personal dimension variables for the successful adoption of online teaching., Future educational technologists' positions and readiness toward online teaching., Age, computer usage and online teaching experience were factors that significantly differentiated respondents' intentions to participate in online teaching., Respondents' overall attitudes about the worth of online teaching and their concerns about the control of online teaching had an effect on their intentions to participate in online teaching. Similarly, respondents perceived that the public and colleagues' viewpoints about usefulness of online teaching also had an effect on their intentions to participate in online teaching., Implications for practice and/or policy Help educators, researchers, administrators and policy makers to obtain a baseline understanding of future educational technologists' intentions to participate in online teaching as well as factors that may affect the introduction of new technology into learning environments., Respondents cited features associated with the Internet (such as remote access, any time availability and rich resources) as the major reasons for them to consider teaching online. Another major reason for adoption was related to administrative factors where student demands, university requirements and cost played an important role in influencing respondents' willingness to teach online., The need for instructional support in online teaching in addition to the usual technical assistance provided by an institution., The need to explore course integration further at the curriculum level in order to ensure that students who are interested in online teaching receive adequate learning and training opportunities before they begin to teach online or provide instructional support to instructors and students., For respondents, online teaching is a skill or knowledge that would be comfortably acquired when given opportunities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While the positive effects of peer tutoring in a face-to-face classroom are well documented, studies of computer-aided peer tutoring are less common. However, such exercises have the potential to introduce additional student-student interaction in distance, online and blended courses. Additionally, technology can provide both students and instructors with unprecedented amounts of information related to tutor competency and methods. With these ideas in mind, we have developed a web-based peer-tutoring system called Opal (Online Peer-Assisted Learning) for use in problem-based undergraduate courses. Tutoring interactions on Opal use problems as both contexts for discussion and enforcers of tutor competency-that is, each interaction is based on a single problem, and students must demonstrate competency by answering the problem correctly on a computer before they become eligible to teach it. Based on social network analysis methods and a student assessment of learning gains survey, the introduction of this method of peer tutoring has had a positive effect on student-student interaction and student learning in our course and may have broad implications for peer tutoring in courses that involve digital problem solving as a key component. Practitioner Notes What is already known about this topic Traditional peer tutoring improves student motivation, learning and persistence and has a positive effect on student-student interaction., Reciprocal peer-tutoring designs, in which students tutor one another without defined tutor and tutee roles, benefit from structured designs with concrete rewards., Tutor competency is a significant issue for peer-tutoring programs, as students respond negatively when their tutors are unqualified to teach., What this paper adds Tracking and facilitating peer-tutoring interactions through the web is possible using a website we have developed., Within our system, tutoring eligibility is tied to digital problem solving (we call this approach 'gated'). The digitally gated approach maximizes tutor competency without significant instructor labor., Use of the system improved student-student interaction in our course and helped facilitate student learning, as measured by the Student Assessment of Learning Gains survey., Implications for practice and/or policy Courses involving significant amounts of digital problem solving may benefit from peer-tutoring exercises, particularly with respect to student-student interactions., Web-based interfaces for peer tutoring provide unprecedented tracking capabilities and allow instructors to structure peer tutoring exercises in new ways with minimal effort., Instructors should look to technology not just as a means for conveying content, but also as a way to connect students to one another. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the results of a study of the role of the computer in scaffolding pupils' interaction and its effects on the disabled (D) pupils' participation and inclusion in the context of socio-cultural theories and the ideals of inclusive education. The study investigated the interactions of pairs of D and non-disabled (ND) pupils working together on computer-based tasks, in mainstream primary schools in Cyprus. Twenty dyads of pupils (each comprising a D child and an ND peer) were observed and videotaped while working together at the computer. Data analyses were based on the collaborative nature of events for the non-verbal interaction and the functional–structural approaches for verbal interaction. Through application of video analyses, seven central aspects of interaction were identified: helping behaviours, motivation, self-confidence, peer-acceptance, affection, positive and negative socio-emotional status, and the input of the computer. Results of the study showed that the computer was a mediational scaffolding agent of the other six areas of the participants' interaction as it: (1) was an important interactional agent in initiating and terminating a conversation, (2) facilitated interaction and participation, as an intellectual and physical tool, (3) promoted different styles of interaction (not always positive ones) through the various input and output devices, by differentiating participation. Hence, the computer emerged as the third party in the collaborative activity which provided various opportunities and motivations for interaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social Network Analysis (SNA) has enabled researchers to understand and optimize the key dimensions of collaborative learning. A majority of SNA research has so far used static networks, ie, aggregated networks that compile interactions without considering when certain activities or relationships occurred. Compressing a temporal process by discarding time, however, may result in reductionist oversimplifications. In this study, we demonstrate the potentials of temporal networks in the analysis of online peer collaboration. In particular, we study: (1) social interactions by analysing learners' collaborative behaviour, part of a case study in which they worked on academic writing tasks, and (2) cognitive interactions through the analysis of students' self‐regulated learning tactics. The study included 123 students and 2550 interactions. By using temporal networks, we show how to analyse the longitudinal evolution of a collaborative network visually and quantitatively. Correlation coefficients with grades, when calculated with time‐respecting temporal measures of centrality, were more correlated with learning outcomes than traditional centrality measures. Using temporal networks to analyse the co‐temporal and longitudinal development, reach, and diffusion patterns of students' learning tactics has provided novel insights into the complex dynamics of learning, not commonly offered through static networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While technological improvements of the computer supported collaborative learning (CSCL) have been substantial, its nontask social aspect has not received proportional attention. This study investigates the notion of nontask sociability of CSCL, and identifies its relationship with the students' learning outcomes using the case of an Australian postgraduate programme. Learning outcome is defined as a multiple variable consisting of pedagogical affect, student's interest and perceived learning. Five items were identified for operationalising the nontask sociability. These are 'finding help', 'sense of appealing', 'sense of boringness', 'sense of interactivity' and 'sense of frustration'. In addition, a strong relationship was revealed between nontask sociability and learning outcomes which implies that further attention needs to be given to the nontask aspect of the CSCL interactions. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are then discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Motivated by mixed evidence on the effectiveness of reading companions on children's reading performance, as well as the clear and present need for libraries to conduct literacy education, this study sought to investigate the feasibility of using social robots in library literacy activities and to extract the essential functions of effective reading companions by comparing human and robot co‐readers. A humanoid robot, Robot Julia, was developed as a social robot to provide oral conversation and offer children tactful and stimulating support for their reading. An experimental study was conducted to examine child patrons' perceptions and performance in reading activities with the robot companion as compared to human companions. A total of 36 elementary school children participated in the study. The results positively supported that the participants perceived the robot companion as more favourable and desirable to read with than a human co‐reader. The children favoured robotic verbalisation over human verbalisation. According to the results of the comparison, cognitively it was found that human and robot companions facilitated children's reading comprehension in different ways and that the children performed similarly well with both kinds of reading companions. Affectively, the robot co‐reader induced more social interaction during the reading sessions. Despite all the positive aspects, it is also necessary to consider the limitations including the novelty effect of the approach. This study contributes empirical evidence in the pragmatic field of library science and expands upon social robot research by exploring one‐on‐one child–robot interactions in reading, as opposed to the group contexts in previous studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Connectivist learning is interaction-centered learning. A framework describing interaction and cognitive engagement in connectivist learning was constructed using logical reasoning techniques. The framework and analysis was designed to help researchers and learning designers understand and adapt the characteristics and principles of interaction in connectivist learning contexts. In this study empirical evidence to support and further develop this framework is presented. This study analyzed 6 weeks of data harvested from the daily newsletter, Twitter, and a Facebook group in a well-known cMOOC led by George Siemens and Stephen Downes. These text transcripts were analyzed using a deductive approach of qualitative content analysis. This study revealed the main activity patterns of participants as they engage in four levels of interaction (operation interaction, wayfinding interaction, sensemaking interaction, and innovation interaction) during the MOOC. Generally the framework serves as a conceptual model to understand and to analyze the interaction in this cMOOC, although some implied interaction is hard to recognize and categorize. The relationship of the four levels of interaction and the role of each element in the framework were explored with the intent of offering the framework as a conceptual and analytic tool to guide both researchers and practitioners in designing and studying connectivist learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explored the in-game experiences of massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) players focusing on game leadership and offline leadership. MMORPGs have enormous potential to provide gameplayers with rich social experiences through various interactions along with social activities such as joining a game community, team play and others. In this study, a total of 808 Korean online gameplayers participated in an online survey. Amongst them, 300 MMORPG players were used as the final sample group. The results showed that joining a game community and playing in teams may help players build their leadership experience in games. The findings also suggest that there is a significant positive relationship between in-game leadership and offline leadership. However, there were no significant differences in gender regarding in-game and offline leadership. This study suggests that MMORPGs offer a useful place where people can grow their leadership skills and potentially transfer them into the real world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a need for collaborative group activities that promote student social interaction in the classroom. Handheld computers interconnected by a wireless network allow people who work on a common task to interact face to face while maintaining the mediation afforded by a technology-based system. Wirelessly interconnected handhelds open up new opportunities for introducing collaboration and thereby changing classroom pedagogical practices. We present a conceptual framework and a method for the design of a mobile computer-supported collaborative learning system based on Activity Theory. An instance of the framework for teaching basic mathematics skills was evaluated with 24 6- and 7-year-old children in a month-long study. Positive effects were observed on student social interaction, motivation and learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]