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2021
Flipped classroom is an active learning method that encourages students to access study material prior to class time. Ensuring the flipping process took place, understanding how it occurred, and verifying whether it produced positive results has been a challenge for lecturers. In this article, we analyze a flipped classroom scenario through process mining techniques. Process mining was applied to an event log provided by a learning management system that supported a particular undergraduate course offering. The outcomes provide evidence for the flip of the classroom, adding precision and reliability to lecturer analyses.
» [Full Article]
TYPE: HIGHER EDUCATION
In recent years, substantial progress has been made in the application of technology for learning environments to support interaction and learning. However, current digital assessments still need to be modified to measure student learning in more engaging and effective ways. Conversation-based assessment (CBA) advances the conventional digital assessments by creating a conversational environment between test-takers and agents where each test-taker receives feedback for their correct responses and hints or follow-up questions for their incorrect responses through a natural conversation. This work provides a summary of CBAs by discussing their advantages and differences from conventional digital assessments.
» [Full Article]
TYPE: HIGHER EDUCATION
Learning modalities and technology offer dozens of ideas on how to teach online, but still, two things often seem to be missing in the online classroom: class interaction and efficient grading and feedback. In this article, the author describes in detail two kinds of weekly recording activities that greatly add to student engagement and learning in asynchronous courses. Students can be a rather passive audience, but they become much more active in group-conversation video recordings in which the instructor is not present but does provide feedback upon review of the recording.
» [Full Article]
TYPE: HIGHER EDUCATION
This article summarizes the main themes and chapters for The Learner-Centered Instructional Designer (Stylus Publishing, 2021) and provides a critical evaluation and recommendations for prospective readers. The book consists of 19 short essay-like chapters where 20 experienced instructional designers cover a range of topics related to instructional design consulting in higher education. The various authors share practical strategies and best practices about working with instructors to create online courses.
» [Full Article]
REVIEW: LITERATURE,
TYPE: DESIGN FOR LEARNING
As with most aspects of life, assessment practices have been challenged by the events of 2020. The combination of the consequences of COVID-19 restrictions and the increased awareness and reckoning with systemic racism requires the field to take a hard look at our assessment systems. The main function of assessment is to gather evidence by which one makes inferences about what people know and can do. Over the past decade, our digital capabilities have increased exponentially and offer the potential to approach assessment differently. We now have digital learning environments that capture the actions of students as they engage in learning activities.
» [Full Article]
TYPE: HIGHER EDUCATION
Concept maps (CM) are a learning tool that has emerged into an efficient e-learning and e-assessment knowledge tool. The aim of this research is to propose and share the most important aspects, practices, and achievements of using, with science teachers and a master student, a combination of a metacognitive tool-advanced concept mapping (ACM) to assess mental models with immediate real-time feedback assessment tool. The use of the logic branching feature of multiple-choice Google Forms (MCGF) may enable teachers to customize surveys and to assess within many students' high order thinking skills, with the convenience and efficiency of an automatic grading system.
» [Full Article]
TYPE: HIGHER EDUCATION
This review analyzes ideas and themes that emerged from Beyond Multiple Choice 2020 (BMC2020), the third iteration of an annual conference exploring the future of assessment. Taking place online due to restrictions surrounding COVID-19, BMC2020 attracted speakers and delegates from across the globe, representing various facets of the assessment industry. Altogether, the presentations compiled a bird's-eye snapshot of challenges and opportunities for advancing assessment to better meet 21st-century training and education needs.
» [Full Article]
REVIEW: EVENTS,
TYPE: MANAGEMENT
An overview of performance testing and key considerations before adding performance elements to an assessment process. A real-world example is provided as the authors describe why and how Microsoft launched labs in their technical certification program, and lessons learned.
» [Full Article]
TYPE: CORPORATE LEARNING, PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
The U.S. Army sought to develop capabilities that allow for the automated or semi-automated, with greatly reduced human involvement, creation of tests and assessments. In recognizing the potential for an assessment approach that goes beyond multiple-choice, the Army chose our team to introduce and evaluate automated capabilities to author concept mapping-based assessments. This paper describes our initial approaches toward introducing efficiencies into the authoring process for concept map-based assessments. We are developing and evaluating methods to automatically generate concept maps from a knowledge domain and convert the maps into assessments for formative and summative purposes. Our initial work has sought to overcome challenges as we introduced artificial intelligence into the authoring process.
» [Full Article]
TYPE: EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES
Authors for this special issue presented their work, perspectives, and recommendations that look to move learning assessment at all levels "beyond multiple-choice."
» [Full Article]
TYPE: OPINION
During the past decade, K-12 education systems have been increasingly relying on digital forms of educational assessments. Therefore, digital assessments have been integrated into the instructional process and curriculum in multiple ways to promote student learning inside and outside the classroom. When developing digital assessments, one of the most important elements is the type of items used in the assessment. As technological innovations continue to change the type of tasks we can measure using digital assessments, new types of items also emerge. Items in digital assessments can go beyond the limits of what can be measured on a paper-and-pencil assessment with traditional multiple-choice items.
» [Full Article]
TYPE: K-12 BLENDED AND ONLINE LEARNING
Delivery of proctored exams on-screen has existed for more than 15 years. The pandemic has pushed the technology and its radical service encounter into the mainstream. But new visibility brings new responsibilities and issues to resolve. A gold rush of new and existing suppliers means many learners now have the new exam experience they needed while others have had challenging experiences.
» [Full Article]
TYPE: MANAGEMENT
In this opinion piece, Susan Lyons explores the imperative to amplify diverse voices and perspectives in the field of educational measurement. She identifies two negative effects of the lack of cultural diversity in leadership positions within the field and ends by calling for a higher level of critical consciousness within the profession of educational measurement.
» [Full Article]
TYPE: OPINION
In an online, general education course, for a course grade, students were to submit video posts to an introductory course activity. Student responses (by text) were also required for that activity. Initial posts and responses were cataloged by race and gender across multiple sections of the course through multiple semesters and years. Statistical tests were performed to analyze mean numbers of responses and determined that evidence supported that different numbers of responses occurred depending on the race or gender of the original poster, but not both the race and the gender.
» [Full Article]
TYPE: HIGHER EDUCATION
Blended learning offers adult learners unique opportunities for instructional continuity given work and personal commitments. However, learners participating in blended learning may experience a sense of isolation and/or problems with technology. To address the challenges of a blended program, an expanded orientation, called "onboarding," was designed to ensure learners feel connected to their program and clearly understand the programmatic requirements. Onboarding spans six months and includes a series of activities to provide learners with technological, interaction, and self-directed learning skills needed to succeed in a blended program. Results from the evaluation survey reveal that learners feel most engaged with the program through one-to-one interactions with their academic advisors and interactions with peers in an online discussion board.
» [Full Article]
TYPE: HIGHER EDUCATION
In 2020-2021, elearning became essential at all levels of education due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This editorial provides a year in review for eLearn Magazine. A common theme was the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic in online education and opportunities for overcoming these challenges.
» [Full Article]
TYPE: OPINION
While adult and workplace training were quick to adopt the use of online learning, many of these efforts have not advanced far beyond taking presentation slides or video recordings from formerly in-person training and making them available on learning-management systems. Compared to formal education, adult and workplace training has been much slower to iterate and improve upon early digital and virtual educational methods, leaving online learning that is viewed as neither engaging for the end-user nor effective at achieving intended outcomes. The COVID-19 pandemic and resulting lockdown added urgency to this problem, with many organizations being forced to either improve upon existing virtual training methods or finally completely replace in-person training with online options.
» [Full Article]
TYPE: PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Annie Murphy Paul's new book, "The Extended Mind: The Power of Thinking Outside the Brain," covers emerging research that extends our understanding of thinking beyond the typical view of "mind in the brain." Illustrated with stories, this book unpacks new recognitions, and provides the implications for the design of learning and instruction.
» [Full Article]
REVIEW: LITERATURE,
TYPE: NONFORMAL/INFORMAL LEARNING
How might the online learning experience, and the support required for success, differ for men and women? New survey research captures insights from 505 participants, including 295 women, who graduated from online programs between 2015 and 2020. This article provides an overview of the characteristics of online students, highlighting the challenges female students face and considerations for supporting their success. Differences in demographic characteristics across gender were found in the areas of degree level and academic major, income, age, and ethnic diversity. More men chose computer and information sciences majors, while more women were in healthcare and education. Female students were also younger and at lower income levels than their male counterparts when they were enrolled in their online programs.
» [Full Article]
TYPE: HIGHER EDUCATION
An interview with Bartosz Skwarczek, CEO of G2A, includes an examination of a recent survey of U.K. and U.S. teachers regarding perceptions of games as a learning and curricular tool. Interview results are shared as well as a review of the resulting G2A Academy aimed at teacher training for building skills to utilize games in the classroom.
» [Full Article]
TYPE: INTERVIEW, K-12 BLENDED AND ONLINE LEARNING
COVID-19 has forced vast numbers of educational institutions to shift their operations from being delivered face-to-face to being delivered online. As a result, academic institutions have had to scramble to find complex solutions that meet systems-wide online teaching and learning needs. The quality of interaction that occurs between the educator and the student is crucial to the success of delivering education via online technologies, and it is incumbent on the host institution to provide a usable, effective, and satisfying form of communication all participants may communicate with while maintaining a sense of social presence. It requires little effort to compile a list of potential benefits of using webcams in educational settings.
» [Full Article]
TYPE: DESIGN FOR LEARNING, EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES
During the COVID-19 pandemic, most, if not all, courses were shifted to online learning formats. In this article, we share our experiences related to teaching and learning in a completely online, condensed (seven-week) graduate-level course during the fall 2020 semester. More specifically, we discuss the important role of emotional literacy as a mechanism for framing online course design, adaptation, and evaluation. We explore emotional literacy in terms of its necessity in teaching and learning in online contexts during a pandemic, beyond the scope of other obviously important non-traditional literacies, such as technological and informational literacies.
» [Full Article]
TYPE: DESIGN FOR LEARNING, HIGHER EDUCATION
With so much formal learning now taking place online, eLearning educators have the opportunity to incorporate Wikipedia as a multifaceted pedagogical resource. I argue that doing so facilitates the cultivation of 21st century skills and empowers learners to participate in creating positive social change. The article concludes with various ways educators may incorporate Wikipedia into teaching practice, appropriate Wikipedia assignments for students.
» [Full Article]
TYPE: OPINION
While online education has been with us for more than 20 years, and many faculty are proficient at designing and teaching highly interactive, intellectually stimulating asynchronous classes, other faculty have chosen to remain focused on their teaching in the classroom. However, COVID-19 has rapidly and without warning ushered all higher ed teaching and learning into emergency remote environments. By now, many who support faculty in transitioning courses have received varying levels of participation and are examining ways to increase support opportunities.
» [Full Article]
TYPE: PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT, MANAGEMENT
Students in online classes may have difficulty or believe they cannot develop a rapport with fellow students. There is significant research that indicates that this rapport greatly increases the student?s success in a class. Students can easily build rapport in an in-person classroom and often the instructor is not involved. However, in the online classroom, the problem becomes how do students build this rapport when they only see each other in a virtual space in the classroom to help increase their learning and course success.
» [Full Article]
TYPE: DESIGN FOR LEARNING, HIGHER EDUCATION, PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
This article explored the transformation of an early childhood center from face-to-face instruction to online learning and examined how principles of effective online instruction design were related to community building, interactivity, and online presence. The case study is from an early head start institution in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. After creating an online program over the summer of 2020, teachers share their perspectives of teaching online with young learners. Results suggest benefits of technology integration in early learning classrooms.
» [Full Article]
TYPE: K-12 BLENDED AND ONLINE LEARNING
The possibilities for meaningful elearning experiences are endless, yet intentional work must be done to see that students are engaged and motivated. Through the fundamental elements of self-directed learning, students and teachers can forge new paths in education and create a bright future for teaching and learning online.
» [Full Article]
TYPE: OPINION
