Educational outcomes are heavily reliant on student engagement, yet this concept is complex and subject to diverse interpretations. The intricacy of the issue arises from the broad spectrum of interpretations, each contributing to the understanding of student engagement as both complex and multifaceted. Given the emergence and increasing use of…

The purpose of the study was to examine (a) students' social annotation behaviors and engagement change in an undergraduate course throughout the semester, and (b) which social annotation behaviors impact active engagement time. A total of 91 university students' social annotation behaviors, as well as their active engagement time in readings,…

This study explored the impact of Digital Game-Based Learning (DGBL) on focus, engagement, and time-on-task learning behaviors among 8- to 10-year-old students. Grounded in Csikszentmihalyi's Theory of Flow, the study utilized a quantitative experimental design to compare DGBL experiences with alternative instructional strategies through learner…

Background: Scholars have confirmed the vital roles of self-regulated learning (SRL) behaviours in predicting task performance, especially within non-linear technology-rich learning environments (TREs). However, few studies focused on the learning costs (e.g., study effort and time-on-task) related to SRL and the efficiency outcome of SRL (i.e.,…

This dissertation presents the results and outcomes of an effort to design educational tools and curriculum to improve student learning in introductory programming courses. The work was conducted at the University of California, Merced (UC Merced), situated in the Central Valley of California, and home to a diverse student population. The findings…

Paying attention during academic instruction plays a significant role in learning. Students with off-task behaviors are less likely to obtain desired learning outcomes. Technology-based self-monitoring is one of the strategies designed to address this issue. This article introduces technology-based self-monitoring (TBSM) for elementary educators…

The online homework system WeBWorK has been successfully used at several hundred colleges and universities. Despite its popularity, the WeBWorK system does not provide detailed metrics of student performance to instructors. In this article, we illustrate how an analysis of the log files of the WeBWorK system can provide information such as the…

Self-monitoring is a promising evidence-based intervention for students who benefit from supplemental supports to stay on-task during academic periods. I-Connect, a technology-based self-monitoring intervention with a substantial body of research, allows students to discretely recognize and record their behavior on a mobile or desktop app at…

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of a technology-based self-monitoring application, I-Connect, to enhance the on-task behavior of five secondary students (ages 15-16) with autism spectrum disorder, intellectual disability, and specific learning disability during Biology instruction in a rural special education classroom. We…

With the advent of information technology, various online homework systems have often been utilized to enhance students' knowledge and skills. Several studies analyzed the effects of web-based homework systems on students' learning through comparing them with paper-pencil homework. However, few studies explored students' homework completion…

Background: Educational video games are increasingly used in classrooms because they can offer meaningful contexts for problem solving. However, educational video games bring together two historically disparate activities: school mathematics and video games. How these two activities complement, compromise, or contradict each other influences how…

To slow the spread of COVID-19, many universities have had to move to online teaching, which entails changing exams from in-person to online. Online exams can facilitate cheating when there is no direct proctoring. To provide some form of control in unproctored exams, Cluskey et al. (2011) suggested having substantial time pressure; yet there are…

This article uses a difference-in-differences strategy to evaluate the impact of a one-to-one laptop program. Teaching practices changed with the introduction of the program, and the district worked to make wireless Internet more accessible in the community. We find that while short-term impacts of the program were statistically insignificant,…

Media multitasking is a common artifact of the increasing presence of technologies in classrooms. However, research indicates learning decrements when students engage in inappropriate or "off-task" media multitasking during class time. This is a concern as many innovative teaching practices call for the use of technologies. The present…

Students who are not academically engaged spend less time mastering material, are less likely to be successful in school, and are more likely to be disruptive. The purpose of the current brief report was to investigate the effects of a technology-based self-monitoring intervention on elementary students' academic engagement during independent work…