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1. Problems of Problem-Based Learning: Exploring Meta-Agency in Problem-Based Cybersecurity Learning in College Education

   Park, Jongchan ; Deng Yuli ; Agrawal Garima ; Techawitthayachinda Ratrapee ; Chen Ying-Chih ; Huang Dijiang ; Liu Huan ( April 2023 , Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association 2023)

   In college cybersecurity education, problem-based learning has been introduced to promote student agency in solving a complex problem. However, a dilemma of balancing the student agency persist and previous research has focused on students’ cognitive, metacognitive, and regulatory to enhance the efficacy of PBL. Given the importance of students’ self-awareness of their agency, this study suggests a concept of meta-agency as an essential learner characteristic that influences the effectiveness of student agency in PBL. Four dimensions of meta-agency, perceptions of productive struggle, expectation alignment between instructor and students, strategies for regulating agency, and familiarity with PBL tasks, were qualitatively explored with student interview data. Features of meta-agency and how students’ meta-agency level develop through cybersecurity PBL sessions were further investigated. 

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2. The Effect of Informing Agency in Self-Directed Online Learning Environments

   https://doi.org/10.1145/3386527.3405928  

   Xie, Benjamin ; Nelson, Greg L. ; Akkaraju, Harshitha ; Kwok, William ; Ko, Amy J. ( August 2020 , ACM Learning at Scale)

   Background and Context: Current introductory instruction fails to identify, structure, and sequence the many skills involved in programming. Objective: We proposed a theory which identifies four distinct skills that novices learn incrementally. These skills are tracing, writing syntax, comprehending templates (reusable abstractions of programming knowledge), and writing code with templates. We theorized that explicit instruction of these skills decreases cognitive demand. Method: We conducted an exploratory mixed-methods study and compared students’ exercise completion rates, error rates, ability to explain code, and engagement when learning to program. We compared material that reflects this theory to more traditional material that does not distinguish between skills. Findings: Teaching skills incrementally resulted in improved completion rate on practice exercises, and decreased error rate and improved understanding of the post-test. Implications: By structuring programming skills such that they can be taught explicitly and incrementally, we can inform instructional design and improve future research on understanding how novice programmers develop understanding. 

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3. Learning to teach science during the clinical experience: Agency, opportunity, and struggle

   https://doi.org/10.1002/sce.21667  

   Windschitl, Mark ; Lohwasser, Karin ; Tasker, Tammy ; Shim, Soo‐Yean ; Long, Caroline ( June 2021 , Science Education)

   null (Ed.)

   Agency has been used as a lens to focus on how educators learn through pedagogical risk-taking, advocacy for curricular reform, and resisting policies that are not focused on the needs of students. We explored the role of agency as 65 preservice science teachers created learning opportunities for themselves during their clinical placements. Specifically, we investigated whether the types of agentive episodes varied by the level of congruence novices perceived between the vision of science teaching supported in their university coursework and the prevailing practices and culture of their host classrooms. Interview and survey data of participants from three preparation programs indicate that those in highly congruent placements experienced earlier and more mentor-scaffolded opportunities to take on active roles in teaching, and exercised agency to extend research-informed practices or tools they observed their mentors using. This resulted in participants seeing the richness of students' thinking and how capable they were of challenging work, given strategic supports. Those in low congruence placements had fewer chances to play active roles in teaching, were more likely to draw upon agency to make minor adjustments as they emulated their mentors' instructionally conservative lessons, and expressed concern they were “getting better” at aspects of teaching they viewed as inequitable or less responsive to students. Regardless of congruence, however, even simple acts of agency such as asking mentors to explain their instructional decisions were remarkably rare. 

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4. Framing agency as a lens into constructionist learning

   Svihla, V. ; Peele-Eady, T. B. ( May 2020 , Proceedings of Constructionism 2020)

   null (Ed.)
5. Considering Context as it Relates to Student Agency Conditions in Intelligent Game-Based Learning Environments

   https://doi.org/10.1145/3514094.3539554  

   Banzon, Allison Macey ( January 2022 , AIES '22: Proceedings of the 2022 AAAI/ACM Conference on AI, Ethics, and Society)