This paper explores the process of knowledge convergence and knowledge sharing in the context of classroom collaboration in which students do a group learning activity mediated by a generic representation tool. In analysing the transcript of the interactions of a group, we adapt the group cognition method of Stahl and the uptake analysis…

Facebook and other social media have been hailed as delivering the promise of new, socially engaged educational experiences for students in undergraduate, self-directed, and other educational sectors. A theoretical and historical analysis of these media in the light of earlier media transformations, however, helps to situate and qualify this…

Repositories with educational resources can support the formation of online learning communities by providing a platform for collaboration. Users (e.g. teachers, tutors and learners) access repositories, search for interesting resources to access and use, and in many cases, also exchange experiences and opinions. A particular class of online…

Available research has explored a wide variety of factors influencing information and communication technologies (ICT) adoption and integration in classroom teaching; however, existing research seldom centre on the combined impact of these variables. In addition, the little research available is set up in the Chinese context. The latter is…

This paper explores the relationship between practitioners' pedagogical purposes, values and practices in designing for inquiry-based learning in higher education, and the affordances of the Learning Activity Management System (LAMS) as a tool for creating learning designs in this context. Using a qualitative research methodology, variation was…

A field experiment compares the effectiveness and satisfaction associated with technology-assisted learning with that of face-to-face learning. The empirical evidence suggests that technology-assisted learning effectiveness depends on the target knowledge category. Building on Kolb's experiential learning model, we show that technology-assisted…

Personalized instruction is seen as a desideratum of today's e-learning systems. The focus of this paper is on those platforms that use learning styles as personalization criterion called learning style-based adaptive educational systems. The paper presents an innovative approach based on an integrative set of learning preferences that alleviates…

Describes the Vicarious Learner Project, a project which investigates the fundamental role of dialog for learning, specifically the benefits to learners of being able to observe others participating in discussion. Theoretical aspects of the work, a high-level process model of learning, and a more detailed logic model of what happens in educational…

Despite the widespread use of social media by students and its increased use by instructors, very little empirical evidence is available concerning the impact of social media use on student learning and engagement. This paper describes our semester-long experimental study to determine if using Twitter--the microblogging and social networking…

Active learning is considered by many academics as an important and effective learning strategy. Assessment is integrated in learning as a tool for learning, but traditional assessment methods often encourage surface learning (passive learning) rather than deep learning (active learning). Peer assessment is a method of motivating students,…

The introduction of elearning often leads to an increase in the time staff spends on tutoring. To alleviate the workload of staff tutors, we developed a model for organizing and supporting learner-related interactions in elearning systems. It makes use of the knowledge and experience of peers and builds on the assumption that (lifelong) learners,…

This paper investigates the impact of Web. 2.0 technologies on the ways learning can be conceived of as a narrative process within contemporary contexts, using blogs as an illustrative example. It is premised on the concept of narrative as a way in which individuals represent and organize experience in order to learn from it and make it shareable…

This study investigates the case-based learning experience of 133 undergraduate veterinarian science students. Using qualitative methodologies from relational Student Learning Research, variation in the quality of the learning experience was identified, ranging from coherent, deep, quality experiences of the cases, to experiences that separated…

Peer facilitation is proposed as a solution to counter limited interaction in asynchronous online discussions. However, there is a lack of empirical research on online peer facilitation. This study identifies, through cross-case comparison of two graduate-level blended courses attended by Asian Pacific students, the actual peer facilitation…

The popularity of intelligent tutoring systems (ITSs) is increasing rapidly. In order to make learning environments more efficient, researchers have been exploring the possibility of an automatic adaptation of the learning environment to the learner or the context. One of the possible adaptation techniques is adaptive item sequencing by matching…