Search

Using a mixed methods design, this study examines graduate students' perceptions of attitudinal learning regarding the use of case-based learning (CBL) methods in an online instructional design course. One hundred and thirty-three students completed a survey taken from the Attitudinal Learning Inventory (ALI) in weeks three and seven of the eight-week course. Using Latent Profile Analysis (LPA), three classes of student types were identified: Skeptics who perceived low and declining attitudinal learning throughout the course, Adopters who perceived high and rising, and Advocates, who perceived very high and rising attitudes. Student reflection assignments on developing instructional design expertise using CBL, and a post-course questionnaire sent out five months after the course concluded were analyzed to gain further insights into student experiences and perspectives of both the course and CBL. Results indicated the majority of students perceived positive attitudinal learning throughout the course and had positive views of CBL as an instructional method. Students who struggled had less prior ID experience and seemed to exhibit a more negative perspective towards the course and CBL despite reporting less external challenges that impacted their learning in the course than the positive groups. Implications highlight the importance of facilitating SRL development and supplementing more novice CBL and ID students with additional support.

High dropout rates have been an unsolved issue in massive open online courses (MOOCs). As perceived effectiveness predicts learner retention in MOOCs, instructional design factors that affect it have been increasingly examined. However, self-regulated learning, self-efficacy, and task value have been underestimated from the perspective of instructors even though they are important instructional design considerations for MOOCs. This study investigated the influence of self-regulated learning strategies, self-efficacy, and task value on perceived effectiveness of successful MOOC learners. Three hundred fifty-three learners who successfully completed the "Mountain 101" MOOC participated in this study by completing a survey through e-mail. The results of stepwise multiple regression analysis showed that perceived effectiveness was significantly predicted by both self-regulated learning strategies and task value. In addition, the results of another stepwise multiple regression analysis showed that meta-cognitive activities after learning, environmental structuring, and time management significantly predicted perceived effectiveness.

This study examines the relationships between self-efficacy, task value, and the use of self-regulated learning strategies by massive open online course (MOOC) learners from a social cognitive perspective. A total of 184 participants who enrolled in two MOOCs completed surveys. The results of Pearson's correlation analysis show a positive correlation between self-efficacy and the use of self-regulated learning strategies, as well as a positive correlation between task value and the use of self-regulated learning strategies. The results of hierarchical multiple regression analysis show that self-efficacy and task value are significant predictors of the use of self-regulated learning strategies. There was a statistically significant difference in the use of self-regulated learning strategies between learners who possessed high self-efficacy and those who possessed low self-efficacy.In addition, learners who had high task value showed statistically significant higher average self-regulated learning scores than those who had low task value. Implications and future research directions are discussed based on the findings.

This study examined students' perceptions of attitudinal learning outcomes and instructional activities within a language and cultural exchange (LACE) course at a midwestern U.S. university and explored whether perceptions differed based on students' prior knowledge, major, and/or demographics. We utilized a mixed-methods approach to gather quantitative data from a survey sent out in Weeks 5 and 15 to 137 international students enrolled in multiple sections of a LACE course that gathered perceptions on attitudinal learning and the most impactful aspects of the course design. Follow-up structured interviews were conducted with 37 students. Results indicated students saw growth in their attitudinal learning, with the highest perceived gains regarding cognitive and then behavioral components. Data from student interviews provided specific examples of how student attitudes were changed in each of these four areas of learning. Limitations and future research are discussed. [See URL for appendix. https://www.ojed.org/index.php/jis/issue/view/86]

With more people moving abroad for education and work, many countries are becoming multicultural in population. Hence, developing multicultural attitudes is becoming imperative to prevent negative thoughts and feelings toward minorities that may translate into discriminatory behaviors toward them. One way to ensure this is through multicultural education. The aim of multicultural education is to ensure that students from diverse racial, ethnic, and social-class groups will experience educational equality. This qualitative case study analyzes the course design and instructional strategies implemented by a professor in a multicultural education course offered in a U.S. university. We have examined how the professor taught about multicultural education, ensured educational equality in her class, and also successfully produced multicultural attitudes among her students.

Environmental sustainability education should create eco-awareness and produce pro-environmental behaviors. Traditional instructional methods create eco-awareness but do not make people act. Purposefully designed digital games for attitudinal instruction provide cognitive knowledge, engage learners emotionally by showing the consequences of harmful behaviors, and encourage correct behaviors. Most studies involving games in different subjects showed that knowledge acquisition was greater in collaborative learning than individual game play. However, a similar comparison with respect to attitudinal learning involving a socio-scientific topic has not been conducted before. This mixed methods study conducted in a high school in India, examined the attitudinal learning among students who played a game individually (n = 45) and collaboratively (n = 44). Also, differences between students who played the game and a control group (n = 42) was examined. Surveys based on the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) and the Attitudinal Learning Instrument (ALI), showed that attitudinal learning from games was similar for collaborative and individual players. Also, attitudinal learning from games was higher compared to traditional instructional methods. Interviews explained the learning experiences of game players and how it produced pro-environmental behaviors.

Anthropogenic activities cause environmental degradation-related problems. However, people fail to perform pro-environmental behaviours because they believe that they cannot make a difference or they focus on short-term benefits. Interventions that address specific target groups aimed at breaking barriers and changing behaviours are required. To teach young learners, environmental education using digital games can be a more effective instructional method. This mixed-methods study, conducted among high school students in India, examined differences in pro-environmental attitudes and behaviours between students who played a game called EnerCities and those students who did not play that game. Significant differences existed between the two groups considering the unidimensional and multi-dimensional properties of the New Ecological Paradigm (NEP) scale. Thematic analysis with an inductive approach identified from the interview data: How EnerCities changed participants' environmental attitudes? This study finds implications for implementing games and using the NEP to examine environmental attitudes of high school students in India.

This case study examined a team of instructors' use of social presence, teaching presence, and attitudinal dissonance in a Massive Online Open Course (MOOC) on Animal Behaviour and Welfare (ABW), designed to facilitate attitudinal learning. The study reviewed a team of six instructors' use of social presence and teaching presence by applying the Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework, as well as the establishment of attitudinal dissonance within the announcements and discussion forums. The instructors entered the MOOC as a collaborative facilitation team and created a highly balanced manner of communication and positive atmosphere within the course. The instructional design focused on creating an informative and knowledgeable network of global learners that would agree that animal welfare was a critical social issue in today's society. These course goals and facilitation intentions were demonstrated through a high number of social and teaching presence indicators, with a significant use of all social presence, teaching presence, and attitudinal dissonance categories in evidence. The results present a review of an instructional team's facilitation that focused on shaping attitudes about the topic of animal behaviour and welfare within a MOOC. We conclude by providing insights into instructional design and facilitation of MOOCs in general or attitudinal learning specifically.

Despite the increased attention given to MOOCs over the last four years, learners' voices have been noticeably absent. This virtual ethnographic study was designed to examine the experiences of 12 adult learners with bachelors' and masters' degrees, enrolled in a four-week MOOC on the topic of human trafficking. Through the lenses of self-directed learning and self-determination theories, we were interested in investigating learners' motivations for enrolling in the MOOC, their perceptions of success and completion, and barriers encountered while trying to complete the MOOC. Reasons for enrollment varied from personal enjoyment to professional development, and differing definitions emerged regarding completion or success in a MOOC. Implications of this study include a proposed conceptual framework of adult learner MOOC motivations and goals, which may inform the intentional instructional design of MOOCs to better meet adults' self-directed learning needs. Results also pointed to the potential for social science MOOCs to promote activism and attitudinal and social change.

Students' self-reported attitudinal learning were compared between two different large courses that incorporated attitudinal learning objectives at a Midwestern US public university- a course on environmental sustainability utilising active learning instruction (100 participants) and a course on international economics utilising traditional lecture instruction (109 participants). Four factors of attitudinal learning were evaluated utilising a validated scale, the Attitudinal Learning Inventory (ALI): affective, cognitive, behavioural, and social learning outcomes. Results showed that students in the active learning instruction course perceived significantly higher attitudinal for all factors except for cognitive. Attitudinal learning components were not correlated with traditional course performance scores in the courses. Implications for assessing and designing instruction for attitudinal learning as well as implementing active learning instruction in large courses are discussed.

BackgroundLapatinib has clinical efficacy in the treatment of trastuzumab-refractory HER2-positive breast cancer. However, a significant proportion of patients develop progressive disease due to acquired resistance to the drug. Induction of apoptotic cell death is a key mechanism of action of lapatinib in HER2-positive breast cancer cells.MethodsWe examined alterations in regulation of the intrinsic and extrinsic apoptosis pathways in cell line models of acquired lapatinib resistance both in vitro and in patient samples from the NCT01485926 clinical trial, and investigated potential strategies to exploit alterations in apoptosis signalling to overcome lapatinib resistance in HER2-positive breast cancer.ResultsIn this study, we examined two cell lines models of acquired lapatinib resistance (SKBR3-L and HCC1954-L) and showed that lapatinib does not induce apoptosis in these cells. We identified alterations in members of the BCL-2 family of proteins, in particular MCL-1 and BAX, which may play a role in resistance to lapatinib. We tested the therapeutic inhibitor obatoclax, which targets MCL-1. Both SKBR3-L and HCC1954-L cells showed greater sensitivity to obatoclax-induced apoptosis than parental cells. Interestingly, we also found that the development of acquired resistance to lapatinib resulted in acquired sensitivity to TRAIL in SKBR3-L cells. Sensitivity to TRAIL in the SKBR3-L cells was associated with reduced phosphorylation of AKT, increased expression of FOXO3a and decreased expression of c-FLIP. In SKBR3-L cells, TRAIL treatment caused activation of caspase 8, caspase 9 and caspase 3/7. In a second resistant model, HCC1954-L cells, p-AKT levels were not decreased and these cells did not show enhanced sensitivity to TRAIL. Furthermore, combining obatoclax with TRAIL improved response in SKBR3-L cells but not in HCC1954-L cells.ConclusionsOur findings highlight the possibility of targeting altered apoptotic signalling to overcome acquired lapatinib resistance, and identify potential novel treatment strategies, with potential biomarkers, for HER2-positive breast cancer that is resistant to HER2 targeted therapies.

This study examines a MOOC instructor's use of social presence, teaching presence, and dissonance for attitudinal change in a MOOC on Human Trafficking, designed to promote attitudinal change. Researchers explored the MOOC instructor's use of social presence and teaching presence, using the Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework as a lens, and examined the facilitation of attitudinal dissonance within the discussion forum, announcements and blog postings in the course. The instructor entered the MOOC with the idea of serving as a co-participant and a facilitation choice was made to address the issue of multiple perspectives and experiences. The instructional design focused on establishing a collaborative community of learners and this was demonstrated through a high number of social presence indicators but with significant use of all three areas in evidence. Findings present a detailed examination of instructor strategies in a MOOC designed to focus on the establishment of a collaborative learning community and can inform future instructional design and instruction of MOOCs in general and MOOCs for attitudinal change specifically.

Preservice teachers' beliefs and attitudes impact the likelihood they will integrate technology in their future teaching. Consequently teacher preparation programs should provide courses designed to enhance preservice teachers' attitudes and beliefs towards technology use in the classroom. However, many programs instead focusing solely on technology skills and knowledge and are not designed to establish positive attitudes towards technology integration. It is therefore important for teacher education programs to integrate technology effectively in their own classes in to illustrate best practices. This study examines the beliefs and perceived attitudinal learning of preservice teachers in a technology integration course that utilized digital badges as a way to model effective technology integration. It also examines their perceptions of the instructional design of the course and the efficacy of digital badges as a learner-centered learning technology. Results showed that students by far perceived digital badges as the most beneficial aspect of the course to their attitudinal learning. In regards to their attitudinal learning, students perceived the highest growth in their cognitive learning and the lowest in their affective. Students perceived the lack of resources as the primary barrier to technology integration in their future classrooms.

How to provide effective attitudinal learning in large-enrollment classrooms is a continuing question in higher education. This qualitative single case study investigated instructional design strategies and activities that could effectively be applied to attitude change in large-enrollment learning contexts. By evaluating an undergraduate sustainability course from multiple perspectives, this study focused on answering four research questions: (1) Did students perceive that their attitudes towards sustainability changed after taking the course? (2) From expert instructional designers' perspectives, to what extent was the course design aligned with the first principles for attitudinal instruction? (3) From both the instructor and students' perspectives, what instructional activities were most effective for attitude change? (4) From the instructor's perspective, what were the key instructional design strategies for promoting effective attitudinal instruction? Results showed that despite the challenges a large course might present, this course successfully helped students change their attitudes towards sustainability. A variety of instructional strategies and activities were applied in this course, including active learning, instructional videos, collaborative projects, and teamwork. This case study set a successful example of incorporating active learning strategies and activities in large classroom contexts.

Despite arguments about the importance of self-regulated learning (SRL) in massive open online courses (MOOCs) (Terras & Ramsay, 2015), understanding of the topic is limited. This study offers a systematic review of empirical research on SRL in MOOCs. It revealed that the body of literature on SRL in MOOCs has grown from 2014 to 2016. The content analysis findings show that SRL was a factor positively influencing learning in MOOCs. SRL strategies were identified, including motivational regulation strategies, specifically self-efficacy, task value, and goal setting. Particular cognitive regulation strategies were not identified, and goal setting was found as a metacognitive regulation strategy. Regarding behavioural and contextual regulation strategies, help seeking, time management, and effort regulation were identified. In addition, several MOOC designs and SRL interventions that consider unique characteristics of MOOCs were proposed to promote SRL. Implications of these findings and future research are discussed.

In this paper, we present the development and validation of a new measure of attitudinal learning--the Attitudinal Learning Inventory (ALI). While specific scales are available for measuring attitudes, they largely focus on established attitudes, not the impact of instruction on those attitudes. We developed the inventory with two explicit objectives: (1) to measure a broad range of attitude constructs representing a holistic view of attitudinal learning and instruction; and (2) to facilitate the measurement of attitudinal learning that can be useful for educational researchers beyond traditional metrics. The ALI was developed and validated across two samples of a total of 1009 participants with diverse demographics. The ALI comprises 15 scale items and exhibited good psychometric properties and conformed to the theoretical four-dimensional structure of attitudinal learning: cognitive, affective, behavioral, and social. The ALI was also shown to correlate with behavioral metrics of class engagement. Future uses of the new measure are discussed. Participants were taken from entirely online populations, and while demographically diverse, implementation of the scale with face-to-face instruction, in varied settings, and across different groups of learners is needed to provide additional evidence of its intended generalizability and consider possible biases.

This study examined instructor and learner experiences in a Journalism for Social Change (JSC) Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) designed to introduce learners around the world to constructive, solutions-based journalism techniques, as well as engage learners in developing news stories promoting positive change about critical child welfare (CW) issues. Mixed-methods were used to identify five themes across instructor and learner experiences. Results suggest MOOCs have the potential to increase learners' journalism content knowledge and to mobilize citizen journalists around social justice topics impacting communities. This study adds to an ongoing body of work investigating MOOC design for changing attitudes.

Environmental Sustainability Education (ESE) is a critical element in youth education, as it facilitates learners to understand and realize the importance of creating a sustainable future for themselves and others. Changing learner attitudes and related behaviours is critical in ESE. Digital game-based learning (DGBL) environments offer a suitable pedagogical tool for ESE, as they enable youth to learn and test their behaviours within the game. This literature review looks at studies that examine the efficacy of games as a pedagogical tool for producing change in attitudes and behaviours regarding environmental sustainability. While there are limited longitudinal studies that test whether learners retained their environment-friendly behaviours over time, which highlights the need for more such research; existing studies do show that games have demonstrated the potential for producing attitudinal change.

This study (N = 427) examined perceived attitudinal learning gains (i.e., cognitive, affective, and behavioral learning) related to the course topic by comparing a self-paced version of a Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) with a fixed-scheduled version. Independent samples t-tests revealed that those in a self-paced classroom were more likely to perceive higher levels of attitudinal learning gains and satisfaction than those in a fixed-scheduled MOOC. Those enrolling in the self-paced course also identified significantly more diverse reasons for enrolling. Learners in both courses identified course videos as the most impactful instructional component. Implications for the design of self-paced MOOCs are discussed.

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) are offered on diverse topics in an attempt to reach global audiences. MOOCs have helped address limitations to educational access, yet the dropout rates are notoriously high. Many argue that high attrition in MOOCs is because the instructional design often does not align with the needs of adult learners. Adult learners tend to engage with MOOC content in a unique way, as they are often highly motivated simply to learn rather than to complete a professional credential. We examined the use of self-directed learning (SDL) strategies among 16 adults who completed a MOOC which focused on the science of happiness. We found that completers of the course indicated that the instructional design facilitated their self-directed learning in certain ways, such as incorporating activities to facilitate task motivation, requiring self-monitoring, and encouraging self and time management. Interestingly, these adult learners indicated that group work was often not beneficial to their learning experience.

This study seeks to examine perceptions of attitudinal change in relation to the primary assessment activity within four Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) that were designed for attitudinal learning. The purpose of this study was twofold. First, we sought to understand if by focusing on assessing cognitive learning (quizzes) as opposed to behavioral learning (personal projects), the courses would result in greater reported attitude change in the respective areas. The second component of the study examined whether learners who identified cognitive learning (quizzes) as opposed to behavioral learning (personal projects) as the most impactful learning activity (or vice versa) reported stronger learning in the respective attitudinal component. Using an author-created survey that included learner reported attitudinal learning, perceptions of attitude change were collected. Results revealed that learners who utilized assessment activities focusing on behavioral learning did not report higher perceptions of behavioral learning. In contrast, learners utilizing assessment activities that focused on cognitive learning did report higher perceptions of cognitive learning. We conclude with a discussion of instructional design and facilitation of learning in MOOCs, as well as instruction for attitudinal learning within open-learning environments.

This exploratory case study describes the design and facilitation of a massive open online course (MOOC) for attitudinal change regarding human trafficking. It examines the course from the learners', instructor's, and instructional designer's perspectives. Two interviews with the instructor and instructional designer were conducted, and data from a sample of learners via an end-of-course survey (n = 54) and follow-up questionnaire (n = 319) were gathered. Learners' discussion posts and sample assignments were also reviewed. Findings show that the instructor and instructional designer perceived the design and facilitation of the MOOC as highly complex and challenging. Learner feedback was contradictory, possibly due to different expectations and needs within the MOOC. Six instructional design considerations for MOOCs in general and for attitudinal change are discussed, including: (a) MOOCs as a unique platform for attitudinal change, (b) the support needed from platform providers and universities, (c) personal and flexible learning paths, (d) instructional activities for attitudinal dissonance, (e) creating a collaborative community, and (f) MOOC instructor preparation.

Massive open online courses (MOOCs) have gained significant attention in recent years for their potential to impact education at a global scale. This paper presents the findings from a study that examined the cases of three MOOCs, including Human Trafficking, US Food System, and Animal Behavior and Welfare, that were specifically designed to effect attitudinal change in its participants, specifically focusing on the three aspects of attitudinal change, cognitive, affective and behavioral as well as general learning. The study examined learners' perceptions of attitudinal change, including according to the MOOC they took, the instructional method utilized, and the influence of attitudinal components on each other. The findings from this research provide a number of implications that could be helpful for understanding instruction and instructional design of MOOCs, particularly those MOOCs addressing attitude change.