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Background: Behavioural intention (BI) has been predicted using other variables by adopting the technology acceptance model (TAM). However, few studies have examined whether BI can predict learning performance. Objectives: The present study used an extended TAM to investigate whether students' BI is a predictor of their listening learning performance (LLP) through vocabulary learning performance (VLP) in the context of mobile vocabulary‐assisted listening learning by using two mobile learning tools. Methods: A total of 129 college students with a pre‐intermediate level of English were recruited as participants, and a 10‐week mobile vocabulary‐assisted, listening‐learning course was conducted in 2022. In each task of this course, the students had to learn target words from a listening passage on Quizlet and then engage in listening activities on Randall's ESL Cyber Listening Lab. Quantitative responses obtained through an online questionnaire were analysed through partial‐least‐squares structural equation modelling. Results: The analysis results indicated that BI significantly predicted LLP through VLP. Perceived ease of use (PEU) and perceived usefulness (PU) were significant antecedents of BI. However, PEU did not significantly predict PU because of the difficulty of navigating between the two technological tools used in this study. The extended model demonstrated its effectiveness in explaining listening learning performance, as evidenced by an explained variance (R2) of 69%. Conclusion: The extended model validates the influence of BI on learning performance and it can also draw teachers' focus toward the significance of enhancing students' BI to improve their listening learning performance. Pedagogical implications based on the results are provided in this paper. Lay Description: What is already known about this topic?: TAM was used to study learners' acceptance of mobile‐assisted language learning.TAM incorporates latent variables to explore mobile‐assisted language learning.Investigating factors influencing BI is a primary research focus in extended TAM literature.Mobile tools could improve listening learning and vocabulary retention. What this paper adds to that: Learning performance was considered as a dependent variable in an extended TAM.BI might predict students' learning performance in vocabulary and listening in an extended TAM.Teachers used two mobile tools to design mobile vocabulary‐assisted listening tasks.Pre‐learning the target words facilitate students' listening learning performance. Implications for practice and/or policy: We show the importance of BI on predicting listening learning performance.The impact of BI on other factors became another focus of TAM research.Results highlight pre‐learning target words' importance for better listening performance.Existing mobile tools improve listening performance, avoiding new system development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Previous studies have shown that dynamic illustrations, as compared to their static counterparts, lead to higher achievement levels, especially for hand‐based procedures. Other researchers have investigated how the presence of seductive details (i.e., appealing but irrelevant adjunct displays) influences students' interest positively but their learning negatively. Objectives: The purpose of the two present studies was to investigate the effects of animated versus static presentations, combined with the presence of seductive details, on student performance on a paper‐folding task (i.e., origami) in a naturalistic school environment. Methods: Fifty‐five children (5–6 years old) participated in the first study and were randomly assigned to one of four groups. The second study was conducted with older children (72 s or third graders) and a more complex origami task. Results and Conclusions: In the first study, results demonstrated negative effects of seductive details on children's performance and time on task, but no effects of presentation format. In the second study, no negative effects of seductive details on student achievement were found, but animated illustrations significantly improved children's performance and reduced time on task. However, seductive details tended to impair learning more greatly given the presence of static, as compared to animated, presentations. Task difficulties and pupils' ability to inhibit irrelevant information may explain these results. Lay Description: What is already known about this topic: Seductive details negatively influence young children's performance.Animated illustrations have been shown to improve students' learning for dynamic procedure. What this paper adds: This is the first study investigating the influence of animated vs. static illustrations combined with seductive details on children's learning performance.Animated illustrations improve children's performance for a challenging dynamic procedure.Seductive details tended to impair more learning from static than from animated presentations.Results are discussed in relation to the task's difficulty as well as students' ability to inhibit irrelevant information. Implications for practitioners: Animated illustrations should be used when presenting dynamic procedures.Instructors should use seductive details cautiously in pedagogical documents particularly when the task is difficult. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Writing is an important and complex skill, which could be enhanced by teaching students effective writing strategies such as outlining. Electronic outlining ‐ integrated feature in Microsoft® Word – has been shown to enhance students' writing performance. However, little is known about the optimal didactic approach for electronic outlining. Objective: This study examined the effects of learning to use electronic outlining either via observational learning or via learning‐by‐doing on students' argumentative writing performance. Methods: Students (N = 129, 10th‐grade) were assigned with their complete class to one of three conditions: a control (traditional pen and paper outlines via learning‐by‐doing), outline (electronic outlines via learning‐by‐doing) or observation (electronic outlines via observational learning) condition. Students followed an argumentative writing lesson‐series that differed across conditions in terms of planning strategies and didactic approaches used. To examine the influence of the different conditions on students' writing, argumentative texts were used as pre‐ and post‐tests, and the quality was evaluated with an analytic assessment protocol. In addition, data regarding students' perceived mental effort and the organisation of the writing process were collected. Finally, students' attitudes towards electronic outlining were assessed. Results and Conclusion: Although the overall text structure had improved after the lesson series, no significant differences were found between conditions. Electronic outlining increased the total amount of time dedicated to the texts as well as the revision ratio. Students in the observation condition showed a higher pause ratio and a lower fluency on the post‐test as compared to students who learned by doing (both control and outline conditions). With regard to perceived mental effort, students in the outline and control conditions perceived significant decreases over tasks, as opposed to those in the observation condition. In conclusion, the self‐reports indicate that students in the outline condition appropriated electronic outlining significantly better than those in the observation condition, suggesting that practice enhanced students' appropriation of electronic outlining. Lay Description: What is already known about this topic: Planning as a writing strategy helps students organise their writing and reduce mental effort.Electronic outlining is an effective and efficient tool to support a planning strategy.Observational learning is an effective didactic approach in writing education. What this paper adds: Traditional planning and electronic outlining via either observational learning or learning‐by‐doing affect writing products equally.Tool appropriation is greater for students who learned‐by‐doing. Implications for practice: Importance of elaborated and explicit (strategy) instruction.Advantage of video‐based modelling for teacher efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: There are only few guidelines on how instructional videos should be designed to optimize learning. Recently, the effects of social cues on attention allocation and learning in instructional videos have been investigated. Due to inconsistent results, it has been suggested that the visual complexity of a video influences the effect of social cues on learning. Objectives: Therefore, this study compared the effects of social cues (i.e., gaze & gesture) in low and high visual complexity videos on attention, perceived cognitive load, and learning outcomes. Methods: Participants (N = 71) were allocated to a social cue or no social cue condition and watched both a low and a high visual complexity video. After each video, participants completed a knowledge test. Results and Conclusions: Results showed that participants looked faster at referenced information and had higher learning outcomes in the low visual complexity condition. Social cues did not affect any of the dependent variables, except when including prior knowledge in the analysis: In this exploratory analysis, the inclusion of gaze and gesture cues in the videos did lead to better learning outcomes. Takeaways: Our results show that the visual complexity of instructional videos and prior knowledge are important to take into account in future research on attention and learning from instructional videos. Lay Description: What is already known about the topic: Instructional videos are widely used in education.Learners need to timely attend to relevant content to learn successfully.Learners' attention might be guided towards relevant content with social cues (gaze and gesture of a presenter or instructor) but findings regarding learning outcomes are inconclusive. What does this paper add: This paper is the first to examine the role of the visual complexity of an instructional video in the interplay between social cues (gaze and gesture), learners' attention allocation, and learning outcomes. Implications for practice: The results show that visual complexity influences the learners' attention allocation and learning outcomes.Social cues (i.e., gaze & gesture) improved learning outcomes when controlling for learners' prior knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Deep discussions play an important role in students' online learning. However, researchers have largely focused on engaging students in deep discussions in online asynchronous forums. Few studies have investigated how to promote deep discussion via mobile instant messaging (MIM). Objectives: In this study, we applied learning analytical tools (i.e., KBdeX and word clouds) to enhance students' shared epistemic agency and thereby support their deep discussions in MIM. Methods: Forty Chinese college students participated in this study and reflected on their MIM engagement by participating in the learning analytics (LA)‐augmented meta‐discourse sessions. The study used multiple data analysis methods, including content analysis, statistical analysis, epistemic network analysis and lag sequential analysis. Results: We found that LA engaged students in deep discussions and shared epistemic agency‐related discourse, such as creating shared understanding, creating knowledge objects, and projective and regulative processes. In particular, word clouds engaged students in more complete shared epistemic agency discourse trajectory which started from creating awareness of unknowns, then progressed to setting projective plans and sharing information, and ultimately, creating shared understanding. Moreover, our analysis indicated that epistemic agency discourse moves of creating shared understanding led students to a high level of deep discussion. Implications: This study contributes to research by extending the 'comparison paradigm', which focuses on comparing (a)synchronous forums with MIM, to a 'design paradigm', which mobilises design features from (a)synchronous forums to MIM and using learning analytical tools to engage students in deep online discussions by promoting their epistemic agency. Lay Description: What is known in this subject matter: Supporting students' online deep discussions is important.Prior studies have shown multiple technological and pedagogical strategies to support deep discussions in (a)synchronous discussion forums, but few studies in mobile instant messaging (MIM).MIM is a quasi‐synchronous tool. It is difficult to transform the traditional external scaffolds (i.e., scripts or teachers' facilitation) which promote deep discussions from (a)synchronous forums to MIM. What this paper adds to this: We constructed a design framework which used learning analytical tools‐augmented meta‐discourse to engage students in shared epistemic agency discourse moves to promote their deep discussion in MIM.We conducted multiple types of analyses (content analysis, statistical analysis, epistemic network analysis and lag sequential analysis) on students' WeChat message (a major MIM in China).Results indicated both learning analytical tools helped engage students in shared epistemic agency discourse moves, such as creating shared understanding, creating knowledge objects, projective and regulative, thus, to promote students' deep discussions. Word cloud especially engaged students in more complete shared epistemic agency discourse trajectory. Moreover, analysis results indicated that shared epistemic agency discourse moves of creating shared understanding would lead students to a high level of deep discussions. Implications of study findings for practitioners: Our study provides a feasible way to educational practitioners who want to promote students' deep discussions in their online learning course (both fully online and flipped classroom mode).Knowledge Building Discourse Explorer (KBDeX presents the original analysis results of students' written messages in discussion forums as socio‐cognitive networks.) could be implemented in the classroom. The objective is to encourage students to understand the importance of connecting with peers' ideas in a one‐session implementation period.If time allows, teachers could use word cloud and meta‐discourse to engage students in socio‐metacognitive conversations in class to promote their shared epistemic agency discourse in online discussions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: How to improve learning with online multimedia lessons has attracted widespread concern. Prior studies have attempted to help students learn by breaking a video lesson into several segments. However, there has been a debate about whether learners can use pause time effectively and whether prompting them to engage in different types of generative learning activities during pauses can better facilitate learning. Objectives: This study aimed to explore how to maximize learning by asking students to engage in generative processing activities during pauses in segmented narrated video lessons. Methods: Three experiments explored the effectiveness of segmenting, and whether adding summaries between segments can improve learning performance. In Experiment 1, participants were asked to view a segmented video or a continuous video. In Experiment 2, we examined whether adding summarizing activities during pauses can improve the effects of segmenting. In Experiment 3, we further investigated the effects of adding different types of summarizing activities during pauses. Results and Conclusions: In Experiment 1, segmenting improved performance on retention tests, but not on transfer tests. In Experiment 2, the effects of segmenting on the retention and transfer tests were enhanced when learners were asked to produce written summaries during the pauses. In Experiment 3, asking participants to imagine or write summaries during the pauses in segmented lessons improved retention and transfer test performance, but providing a summary only helped on retention. Takeaways: Adding generative learning activities (i.e., summarizing) during pauses prompted learners to learn the material more deeply. Results are consistent with the ICAP framework and the cognitive theory of multimedia learning. Lay Description: What is already known about this topic: Video lessons are being widely used in online learning environments.Previous studies explored the effectiveness of video lessons by adding a pause between segments of an animation.Students' generating learning activities (e.g., summarizing) could affect students' learning.Previous studies on summarizing have mostly focused on science texts. What this paper adds: The study investigated the effects of segmenting (pause vs. continuous) and summarizing (i.e., student‐generated written summaries, student‐generated imagined summaries, and instructor‐provided summaries) in an instructional animation.The results showed the benefits of adding generating learning activity (i.e., summarizing) between segments of an instructional animation.Student‐generated imagined summaries were similar in effectiveness to student generated written summaries during pauses in a segmented multimedia lesson.Instructor‐provided summaries during pauses were most likely to improve retention rather than transfer performance. The implications of study findings for practitioners: It would be better for instructional designers to provide pauses and encourage students to engage in appropriate cognitive processing during pauses to improve learning performance in video lectures.Instructional designers should adopt appropriate strategies according to different teaching objectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Though pedagogical artificial agents are expected to play a crucial role in the years to come, earlier studies provide inconsistent results regarding their effect on learning. This might be because their potential for exhibiting subtle nonverbal behaviours we know from human teachers has been untapped. What is more, there is little evidence of the processes underlying the effect of nonverbal behaviours of teachers (either human or artificial) on learning, so as to better guide their practical application. Objectives: The aims of the current research were threefold: firstly, to examine the effect of an artificial agent's vocal expressiveness on non‐verbal immediacy (teachers' ability to increase psychological closeness through nonverbal communication). Secondly, to test whether an artificial agent showing strong vocal expressiveness will enhance affective and cognitive learning (perceived and actual), as compared to an artificial agent that shows weak vocal expressiveness. Thirdly, to examine whether the underlying mechanisms of motivation and attention explain the effect of immediacy (and thereby also of vocal expressiveness) on the two learning outcomes. Methods: The study used a between‐participants design, with the participants being randomly assigned to one of the two experimental conditions: artificial modelling with strong expressiveness and artificial modelling with weak vocal expressiveness. Results and conclusions: Results showed that an artificial agent with strong vocal expressiveness increased affective and perceived cognitive learning. Partial support was found for actual cognitive learning. What is more, our findings revealed that vocal expressiveness is related to affective and perceived cognitive learning because it promotes nonverbal immediacy. Finally, results provided evidence of motivation as a mediator of the path from immediacy to affective learning. Major takeaways: The current findings verify the important role of nonverbal immediacy found in traditional educational settings. However, showing that these results also apply to artificial teachers is essential, given that the educational landscape is changing and reshaping by artificial intelligence. Thus, taking into consideration the role of vocal expressiveness in the development of artificial teachers or voice assistants like Alexa, Siri, and Google assistant, as a way to enhance immediacy and affective experience of learners is of imperative value, since they will be found more and more in our societies. Lay Description: What is currently known about the subject matter: There is a positive effect of nonverbal cues of human teachers on students' learningThe artificial agent's voice is important for learning. What their paper adds to this: Provides strong evidence of the positive effect of vocal expressiveness of artificial agents on learning outcomes.Reveals that vocal expressiveness is related to learning outcomes because it enhances immediacy.Examines the proposed mechanisms of motivation and attention as mediators of the path from immediacy to affective and cognitive learning. Implications of study findings for practitioners: Taking into consideration vocal expressiveness of artificial agents during the design process is essential for increased learning.The combination of the vocal parameters of pitch and speech rate is effective for constructing vocal expressiveness.By showing the underlying mechanisms of artificial agents' nonverbal cues (i.e., vocal cues) on learning, it helps designers to make a better decisions during construction.The study's findings are also pertinent for human teachers in improving students' learning in traditional educational settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Failure to effectively organize and manage learning time is an important factor influencing online learners' performance. Investigation of time‐investment patterns for online learning will provide educators with useful knowledge of how learners engage in and regulate their online learning and support them in tailoring online course design and teaching. However, understanding of how learners invest and manage their time during online learning remains limited. Objectives: This study aims to discover the typical time‐investment patterns of MOOC learners and their temporal‐learning characteristics based on a systematic time‐investment analysis framework and their relationship with learning performance. Methods: Based on a proposed time‐investment‐analysis framework, this study applied statistical, cluster and lag sequential analyses to investigate learners' time‐investment patterns and their relationships with learning performance, session time allocation, and learning sequences by analysing the learning data from 12,463 participants of a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) in China. Results and Conclusions: Seven time‐investment patterns of MOOC learners were defined, and learning performance was found to differ among them. Further analysis shows that high performers invested time throughout the whole course and allocated time to multiple activities, exam‐takers performed better in time management and produced more behavioural sequences related to cognitive strategy and recourse use, and learners' motivation and prior knowledge affected the management and effectiveness of their time investment. Implications: The results support the recognition and evaluation of online learning time‐investment patterns and suggest relevant cues for improving MOOC design and teaching. Lay Description: What is currently known about the subject matter: Insufficient learning time affects learning persistence and effectiveness in open and online education programs.Learning time investment and management regarded as an element of self‐regulated learning is a predictor of learning performance.Some proxy behavioural variables or characteristics of online learning time management have been found in previous studies.Learning analysis can be used to dig the knowledge implicit in learning data for online teaching evaluation and improvement. What is paper adds to the subject: Based on a comprehensive analytic framework, seven time‐investment patterns of MOOC learners and their relationship with achievement are identified.Under different time frames, learners' time allocation and learning behaviour pattern are different.Learners performing better in time management across course learning allocate more time to multiple activities in session learning.Exam‐takers perform better in time management across MOOC learning, and produce more behaviour sequences related to cognitive strategy and course recourse use. The implications of study findings for practitioners: The recognition of time investment pattern can support online course design and teaching improvement.MOOC design and teaching need to consider the differences in learners' time resources and their ability of time management.MOOC design and teaching need to encourage learners lacking of performance motivation to engage in various learning activities instead of just watching videos.MOOC design need consider the differences in learners' prior knowledge, and offer personalized learning path based on assessment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The increased availability of immersive virtual reality (IVR) has led to a surge of immersive technology applications in education. Nevertheless, very little is known about how to effectively design instruction for this new media, so that it would benefit learning and associated cognitive processing. Objectives: This experiment explores if and how traditional instructional design principles from 2D media translate to IVR. Specifically, it focuses on studying the underlying mechanisms of the redundancy‐principle, which states that presenting the same information concurrently in two different sensory channels can cause cognitive overload and might impede learning. Methods: A total of 73 participants learned through a specifically‐designed educational IVR application in three versions: (1) auditory representation format, (2) written representation format, and (3) a redundancy format (i.e. both written and auditory formats). The study utilized advanced psychophysiological methods of Electroencephalography (EEG) and eye‐tracking (ET), learning measures and self‐report scales. Results and Conclusions: Results show that participants in the redundancy condition performed equally well on retention and transfer post‐tests. Similarly, results from the subjective measures, EEG and ET suggest that redundant content was not found to be more cognitively demanding than written content alone. Implications: Findings suggest that the redundancy effect might not generalize to VR as originally anticipated in 2D media research, providing direct implications to the design of IVR tools for education. Lay Description: What is currently known about the topic: Immersive virtual reality (IVR) applications for learning are on the rise, yet little is known about how to effectively design this medium to impact learning and cognition.Even in IVR, many use traditional learning content of text and audio, and ground instructional design decisions in 2D media design guidelines, such as the Redundancy Principle.Redundancy principle states that presenting the same information concurrently in two different sensory channels can cause cognitive overload and might impede learning. What this paper adds to the field: This study examines if and how the Redundancy Principle translates from traditional 2D media to immersive VR.EEG, Eye‐tracking and objective measures were used to study the underlying mechanisms of redundant information processing. The implications of study findings for practitioners: Results show that the redundancy effect might not generalize to VR as originally anticipated in 2D media research.Study shows that the redundancy group performed equally well on learning outcomes and it wasn't found to be more cognitively loading.The study is amongst the first to reveal that participants spend most of their time reading in the redundancy condition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study investigates affective‐motivational, attention, and learning effects of unexplored emotional design manipulation: Contextual animation (animation of contextual elements) in multimedia learning game (MLGs) for children. Participants (N = 134; Mage = 9.25; Grades 3 and 4) learned either from an experimental version of the MLG with a high amount of contextual animation or from an identical MLG with no contextual animation (control). Children strongly preferred (χ2 = 87.04, p <.001) and found the experimental version more attractive (p <.001, d = −1.11). No significant differences in overall enjoyment and learning outcomes were found. Attention differences, measured by dwell times and fixation durations, were small and reached only borderline significance (p =.035; d = −0.39). The implication is that contextual animation in MLG for children increases such instructional materials' attractiveness without compromising cognitive processes needed for learning; however, it does not lead to their higher instructional efficiency. Lay Description: What is already known about this topic: Contextual animation is frequently used in multimedia learning games (MLGs) for children.Contextual animation is understood to be non‐expository picture motion, which can be added to already existing representational pictures that provide context for target instruction.It is not known whether or not contextual animation, which embellishes already existing representational contextual pictures, harms learning for children in the case of MLGs. What this paper adds: Children (Grades 3 and 4) strongly prefer the game with added contextual animation compared to the game without it.No between‐group differences in overall learning enjoyment and learning outcomes were found.Small attention‐allocation effects of borderline significance were detected. Implications for practice Adding contextual animation (i.e., added non‐expository picture motion) to multimedia learning games for children will increase the attractiveness of the materials and will not hamper learning. Investment into the production of costly contextual animation may be worthwhile in the case of instructional games intended for uncontrolled settings (e.g., at home or during leisure time). In formal contexts (e.g., school), it is less clear whether investment into contextual animation is needed, since children are extraneously motivated to learn and animation does not appear to enhance learning outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to gain a better understanding of how the newly arisen social messaging may impact the practice of peer assessment. Seventy‐nine ESL (English as second language) students reviewed each other's English essays in three peer assessment groups: a three‐member group using wiki (wiki group), a three‐member group using social messaging (small messaging group), and a six‐member group using social messaging (big messaging group). Data analysis suggested that peer assessment facilitated by social messaging can be at least of the same effectiveness as wiki‐facilitated peer assessment on ESL students' writing skills and intrinsic motivation. In addition, the findings indicated that students in the small messaging group outperformed students in the big messaging group on essay writing and reported a significantly higher rating on perceived competence, a positive indicator of the behavioural measures of intrinsic motivation, than students in the big messaging group. Lay description: What is already known about this topic are the following: Technology, such as social media, has greatly shaped and reshaped the practice of online peer assessment.Newly arisen social messaging signals a new and drastic shift in the landscape of social media.Yet, little is known regarding if and how social messaging should be used to facilitate peer assessment. What this paper adds are the following: Peer assessment facilitated by social messaging can be effective.Students benefit more from small social messaging settings than from big social messaging settings in terms of learning and intrinsic motivation. Implications for practice and/or policy are the following: Different generations of technology may engage students and foster their learning in different ways and offer different promises.It is feasible to adopt social messaging podiums to engage students in online peer assessment learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Metacomprehension as reflected in judgements of one's learning is crucial for self-regulated study, yet their accuracy is often low. We investigated text difficulty as a constraint on metacomprehension accuracy in text learning. A total of 235 participants studied a 10-section expository text and afterwards took a knowledge test. They made judgements of learning after each section. Sections were of high, medium or low difficulty; we manipulated between participants the order of difficulty levels across sections. In blocked orders, texts in each block (sections 1-4; sections 5-6; sections 7-10) were of the same difficulty level. In mixed orders, difficulty varied throughout the learning unit either from easy to difficult or from difficult to easy. Our general tenet was that orders would trigger different extents of experience-based processing and thus influence metacomprehension accuracy to different degrees. As hypothesized, accuracy was higher for blocked difficulty orders. Late-section judgement magnitude decreased more strongly in the blocked groups. At the same time, late-section judgement accuracy was higher in the blocked group. We discuss implications and limitations of the influence of fluctuations in text difficulty on judgements of learning accuracy together with some avenues for further research. Lay Description What is already known about this topic? Metacomprehension as reflected in judgements of one's learning (JOL) is crucial for effective self-regulated study., JOL accuracy is often low., Text difficulty appears to bias metacomprehension in topically non-coherent series of texts., What this paper adds? This paper establishes text difficulty as a constraint on metacomprehension accuracy in topically coherent texts., This paper explains text difficulty effects as different relative weights of experience-based and theory-based processing, respectively., Implications for practice and/or policy: Taking systematic text difficulty effects into account may help avoid unintended adverse effects of difficulty order on metacomprehension accuracy., Arranging difficulty levels block-wise may enhance experience-based processing and thus judgement accuracy., Additionally, with topically coherent texts, increasing difficulty across texts benefits performance in a later knowledge text. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous studies on the interactive response system (IRS) have generally adopted the lecture method to facilitate teaching and learning, while few have made efforts to investigate the learning effects of instructional methods and IRS activities on learning and teaching. The purpose of the present study was therefore to explore whether the use of the IRS with two different teaching methods would affect students' learning performance. A quasi-experimental design was employed, with the teacher conducting the course using the learner as leader strategy in the experimental group (E.G.) and the teacher leader strategy in the control group (C.G.). The experiment was conducted over a period of 15 weeks (a semester), and questionnaires were administered at the beginning, in the middle and after the experiment to elicit the learners' views on the IRS application. The results support previous research which found that using the IRS improved learners' engagement and interaction. They also provide further evidence that the use of the IRS with both teaching strategies not only had a short-term learning effect but could also be a tool for sustaining students' learning motivation and self-directed learning for long-term learning purposes. Besides, the use of the learner as leader strategy contributed to enhancing discussion in groups, especially for the leading groups. The use of the IRS with the learner as leader strategy benefited those who acted as leaders in taking the initiative to learn the course content, and also engaged the students who acted as learners in concentrating on the course because it was their classmates who were leading. Lay Description What is already known about this topic The interactive response system (IRS) facilitates course interaction, and increases course attendance and learning performance, Most studies have integrated the IRS with lectures to facilitate teaching and learning, What this paper adds The paper explored the effectiveness of using the IRS with two teaching methods on students' learning for a semester., The use of the learner as leader strategy with IRS benefited the learners who acted as leaders in taking the initiative to learn the course content, and engaged the students who acted as learners in concentrating on the course., Implications for practice and/or policy Students are benefited in taking the initiative to learn the contents through hosting the IRS activity., Teachers could adopt both lectures and learner as leader strategy with IRS to sustain students' learning motivation and self-directed learning for long-term learning purposes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to investigate how working memory (WM) performances and instructional strategy choices affect learners' complex cognitive task performance in online environments. Three different e-learning environments were designed based on Merrill's (2006a) model of instructional strategies. The lack of experimental research on his framework is the main argument of this paper. The participants' WM processes with the n-back task scores were used for defining their WM performances. This study is designed as repeated measures. Thirty-five undergraduate students completed complex cognitive tasks three times. According to their WM groups, the participants were assigned to experimental conditions randomly by counterbalancing. The main results of the study indicated that although no performance differences were observed in complex cognitive tasks across instructional strategies, there was a statistically significant change observed across WM groups in favour of those who had high WM performances. The interaction effect did not have an effect on participants' overall performance. These results indicate that cognitive differences lead to different outcomes when the instructional design is set to be the same for all. Therefore, it is concluded that instructional design choices could take individual cognitive differences into account when developing adaptive e-learning environments. Lay Description What is already known about this topic: E-learning environments are often considered to be complex environments mainly because of their navigational nature (i.e., design of hyperlinks and the tools embedded within the system for personal and collaborative use)., Yet, from the learners' perspective, it is not clear whether it is the content or merely the design choice that could make the online environment (more) complex., Moreover, cognitive differences play a crucial role during individuals' interactions with(in) the course materials., When measuring the performance on cognitive tasks, working memory (WM) performance is a strong predictor., What this paper adds: The literature on Merrill's instructional strategies which is one of the instructional models in designing how to teach complex tasks is mainly limited to conceptual discussions., Using different instructional strategies did not significantly change individuals' performances when dealing with complex cognitive tasks., Individuals with high level working memory performance performed significantly better., Implications for practice and/or policy: Cognitive differences lead to different outcomes when the instructional design is set to be the same for all., Studies in the field of mind, brain and education (MBE) may provide additional necessary tools not only for practitioners but also for instructional designers to better design personalized e-learning environments in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This exploratory experimental study investigates the impact of motivational strategies based on the Attention, Relevance, Confidence, Satisfaction, and Volition (ARCS‐V) model on online learners' academic performance, motivation, volition, and course interest. The research was conducted over an 11‐week semester with 122 undergraduate online learners within two groups. One group received a traditional e‐course, while the other group was offered the course with extra motivational strategies derived from the ARCS‐V model. The results revealed that the group who used motivational strategies showed significantly higher gains in motivation, academic performance, and course interest scores. However, there were no significant differences between the groups regarding the volition. Furthermore, the motivation and interest variables were measured with Attention, Relevance, Confidence, and Satisfaction subscales of the ARCS‐V model. In terms of interest variable, there was only a statistically significant difference on the Attention subscale. Regarding motivation variable, the results also showed a statistically significant difference on the attention, confidence, and satisfaction subsections of the ARCS‐V model. The findings of the present study offer insights into ARCSV model‐based research by examining the effects of the model as a valid and reliable framework for online learning environments. The implications and directions for future research are then discussed. Practitioner Notes/ Lay Description: What is already known about this topic: Learning motivation is the most vital factor that influencing effective and efficient learning process.The attention, relevance, confidence, and satisfactionARCS model of motivational design has been used myriad times to design motivational instructions in a wide range of educational settings (from traditional to computer‐assisted instruction and distance education).Few studies address the online learners" motivation through the attention, relevance, confidence, satisfaction, and volition (ARCS‐V) ‐based motivational strategies. What this paper adds to this: A quasi‐experimental study was conducted in online learning environment to research the effects of the ARCS‐V ‐based motivational strategies.The impact of the ARCS‐V ‐based motivational strategies on online learners" academic performance, motivation, volition, and course interest was investigated.The results showed that the ARCS‐V ‐based motivational strategies had positive effects on online learners' regarding to academic performance, motivation, volition, and course interest. The implications of study findings for practitioners: This research provided evidences for effects of the ARCS‐V motivational strategies on online learners.Online learners who took the ARCS‐V ‐based motivational messages had positive effects regarding to academic performance, motivation, volition, and course interest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Because the microworld can create a learning environment that allows learners to interact with the real world, the view of the microworld has been widely used in education and training. In this study, the simulated transactional interactive concurrent system (STICS) was used to provide an environment that simulates the stock market trading of the Taiwan Stock Exchange; the goal is to explore the effectiveness of using STICS in enhancing the financial literacy of students. This study adopts a quasi‐experimental design approach and divides students into two groups. The intervention group was made up of 42 students who learned financial knowledge aided by STICS, with a comparison group consisting of 43 students who learned with traditional lecturing and dictating methods. The study found that learners who used the STICS as an aid to learn financial knowledge had significantly better learning effectiveness than those who did not use STICS, in terms of motivation, attitude, and achievement. The intervention group also made significant improvements in average scores in learning motivation and achievement after 8 weeks of experimental teaching and learning. Lay Description: What is already known about this topic This study employs the microworld perspective as a learning scaffold which simulates the real financial environment through computer assistant learning.By means of the computer assistant learning pattern of STICS, it not only enhances the financial literature of learners, but also increases the happiness and fun in the learning process. What this paper adds This allows learners can free from the barrier of insufficient investment funds by using STICS computer assistant learning.The STICS computer assistant learning system have the potential of promoting interactivity between learners and instructors, and improving the students' financial achievements. Implications for practice and/or policy The benefits of the STICS computer assistant learning are not only to enable students to deepen their understanding of the content of the textbook, but also to experience practical trading environment, such as profitability, risk, delivery and payment, long‐buying and short‐selling, etc.From this study, it is known that improving students' financial literacy not only contributes to personal wealth, but also avoids the recurrence of financial turmoil.In the future, we should devote ourselves to teach students how to apply knowledge to the real environment in an immersive learning, without being out of reality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Self‐generated learning (SGL) activities are characterized as an active learning strategy that functions as a support for deeper comprehension. However, the question arises which factors could be essential to fully exploit the effectiveness of SGL activities. One possible factor may be the emotional state of learners during learning. Because different emotional states are associated with different styles of information processing, in turn, they may support learning with SGL activities. Consequently, this study addresses learning with a type of SGL activities, answering elaborative interrogations, and the impact of learners' emotional states. German students (N = 123) were assigned to one of four conditions, resulting from a 2 × 2 design with instructional material (elaborative interrogations vs. no elaborative interrogations) and emotional state (positive vs. negative) as independent variables. Results showed that learners learning with elaborative interrogations experienced the instructional material as more difficult than without elaborative interrogations. Learning with them led to a better transfer learning outcome of concepts that had to be generated by interrogations (not for concepts that were already readable in the text) and had no effect for retention. Unexpectedly, neither an influence of the learners' emotional state nor an interaction of both independent variables could be shown. Lay Description: What is currently known about this topic: So‐called SGL activities force the learner to deal with instructional material more actively, which in turn should result in better comprehension of the content.Answering elaborative interrogations, one type of SGL activity, prompt learners to elaborate on information that are essential to understand the learning issue.Different emotional states are associated with varied information processing: positive enhances flexible thinking and motivation to learn; negative supports rather rigid learning strategies with just enough effort to learn the issue. What this paper adds: The combination of this both possibly influencing factors: the effectiveness of answering elaborative interrogations might be affected by learners' emotional state.Learners with a positive emotional state should profit from learning with the additional challenging task (assessed by knowledge tests).Learners with a negative emotional state should not profit from this learning strategy to the same extent than the learners with the positive but would rather benefit through the use of text‐only.Motivation of learners could play a mediating role. Implications for practice and/or policy: It is important to know under which conditions the effectiveness of SGL activities is enhanced or even not.Accordingly, other SGL activities have to be investigated, too.In school context, teachers could get a better idea under which conditions which learning strategy is effectiveLearners can profit from knowing which learning strategy best suits according to the learning issue [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Instructor behaviour is known to affect learning performance, but it is unclear which specific instructor behaviours can optimize learning. We used eye‐tracking technology and questionnaires to test whether the instructor's gaze guidance affected learners' visual attention, social presence, and learning performance, using four video lectures: declarative knowledge with and without the instructor's gaze guidance and procedural knowledge with and without the instructor's gaze guidance. The results showed that the instructor's gaze guidance not only guided learners to allocate more visual attention to corresponding learning content but also increased learners' sense of social presence and learning. Furthermore, the link between the instructor's gaze guidance and better learning was especially strong for participants with a high sense of social connection with the instructor when they learned procedural knowledge. The findings lead to a strong recommendation for educational practitioners: Instructors should provide gaze guidance in video lectures for better learning performance. Lay Description: What is currently known about the subject matter: Learners reported that they had to be far more focused when watching video lecture, and the learning effectiveness of video lectures was not satisfactory in educational practice.Attentional cues are non‐content information that can timely guide learners' visual attention to the information instructor mentioned.Human cues in video lectures not only inferred instructor's gestures but also inferred eye guidance. What their paper adds to this: The instructor's gaze guidance not only increased learners' level of social presence but also timely guided learners to allocate more visual attention to corresponding learning content.The instructor's gaze guidance facilitated learners' performance when learning via video lectures. The implications of study findings for practitioners: Instructor should provide gaze guidance in video lectures for better learning performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Teaching Mandarin as a second language (L2) has become an important profession and an important research area. The acquisition of unaspirated and aspirated consonants in Mandarin has been reported to be rather challenging for L2 learners. Objectives: In the current study, a 3‐D airflow model was integrated into the virtual talking head for audiovisual pronunciation training in these Mandarin consonants. Methods: Using the eye‐tracking technique, Experiment 1 investigated L2 learners' general acceptance and gauged attention distribution online while learning with the system. To further compare training efficacy, learning outcomes were evaluated by randomly dividing Japanese learners of Mandarin into different training groups using the 3‐D tutor with and without an airflow model, respectively, in Experiment 2. Results and Conclusions: Eye‐tracking results showed that the talking head was well accepted, and was successful in directing L2 learners' attention to the visual modality of the airflow model marking the contrast in aspiration. Furthermore, the additional visual cue of the airflow model helped enhance their production of the aspirated Mandarin stops. Moreover, this computer‐assisted training approach was shown to be robust as the advantage of training with an airflow model can be generalized to novel syllables with a change of tones or rimes. Lay Description: Using a virtual talking head has the benefit of providing additional visual cues to facilitate L2 pronunciation learning.The virtual 3‐D talking head is well accepted by L2 learners as suggested by eye‐tracking data.The current 3‐D articulatory model with aspiratory animations provides an ideal pronunciation training method for L2 learners of Mandarin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Educational robotics programs offer an engaging opportunity to potentially teach core computer science concepts and practices in K–12 classrooms. Here, we test the effects of units with different programming content within a virtual robotics context on both learning gains and motivational changes in middle school (6th–8th grade) robotics classrooms. Significant learning gains were found overall, particularly for groups introduced to content involving program flow, the structural logic of program execution. Relative gains for these groups were particularly high on items that require the transfer of knowledge to dissimilar contexts. Reaching units that included program flow content was also associated with greater maintenance of programming interest when compared with other units. Therefore, our results suggest that explicit instruction in the structural logic of programming may develop deeper transferrable programming knowledge and prevent declines in some motivational factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tagging systems represent the conceptual knowledge of a community. We experimentally tested whether people harness this collective knowledge when navigating through the Web. As a within-factor we manipulated people's prior knowledge (no knowledge vs. prior knowledge that was congruent/incongruent to the collective knowledge inherent in the tags). As between-factor we manipulated whether people had tag clouds available or not. In line with the Information Foraging Theory and with the Co-Evolution Model of individual learning and collective knowledge building, we found that people's prior knowledge and tag clouds influenced their navigation. Tags which were congruent with people's prior knowledge had a higher probability of being selected. A knowledge test showed that participants adapted their individual conceptual knowledge to the collective knowledge. This incidental learning shows that people harness collective knowledge just by navigation with tag clouds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study used survey data to measure the effect of learners' reported interactions with content, peers, and instructors on several course outcomes in two virtual high school courses that emphasized interactive learning. Surveys found that the large majority of students viewed all investigated types of interaction as educational and motivational. Students perceived learner-instructor and learner-content interactions to have significantly higher educational value (α < 0.01) than learner-learner interactions, and viewed learner-instructor interaction to be significantly more motivational (α < 0.01) than learner-content interaction. Furthermore, nine significant correlations were found involving the time students reported spending on human interaction and course outcomes. Seven of the significant correlations were related to the time students reported spending in human interaction and the more affective outcomes, such as course satisfaction and disposition towards the subject area. Outcomes also indicate that learner-learner interaction had higher correlations with course outcomes than learners' interactions with the content or their instructor. Students' perceived learning was not significantly correlated with any type of interaction, and only students' total reported time spent on learner-learner interaction and students' social learner-learner interaction were significantly correlated with their grade. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]