Title: Drinking Our Own Champagne: Analyzing the Impact of Learning-by-doing Resources in an E-learning Course
Given the demonstrated prevalence of a “doer effect” showing that active practice is related to substantially larger learning gains than passive approaches, an important research goal is to investigate whether and how different active practice features promote students’ learning outcomes. We investigated these questions in the context of an online learning platform that teaches e-learning design principles. In particular, we considered two different practice modes -practice activities inserted in the text (inline practice) and review practice quizzes -and compared their contributions to students' learning outcomes, in terms of module quizzes, periodic exams, and course projects. Our results showed that the different practice modes had distinct impacts on learning outcomes. Doing inline practice activities contributed to students’ quiz performance at the first attempt and project performance while doing review practice quizzes helped students improve their periodic exam performance. We offer some instructional suggestions such as emphasizing practice activities that are more clearly linked with specific learning objectives for projects, and emphasizing review practice quizzes for exam preparation. more »« less
Wu, Sally P. W.; Van Veen, Barry; Rau, Martina A.(
, Journal of Engineering Education)
AbstractBackground
Recent engineering education research has found improved learning outcomes when instructors engage students actively (e.g., through practice problems) rather than passively (e.g., in lectures). As more instructors shift toward active learning, research needs to identify how different types of activities affect students' cognitive engagement with concepts in the classroom. In this study, we investigate the effects of prompting novice students to draw when solving problems, a professional practice of engineers.
Purpose
We investigate whether implementing instructional prompts to draw in an active learning classroom (a) increases students' use and value of drawing as a problem‐solving strategy and (b) enhances students' problem‐solving performance.
Method
We compared survey data and exam scores collected in one undergraduate class that received prompts to draw in video lectures and in‐class problems (drawing condition) and one class that received no drawing prompts (control condition).
Results
After drawing prompts were implemented, students' use and value of drawing increased, and these effects persisted to the end of the semester. Students were more likely to draw when provided drawing prompts. Furthermore, students who received prompts outperformed students who did not on exam questions that target conceptual understanding.
Conclusions
Our findings reveal how implementing drawing prompts in an active learning classroom may help students engage in drawing and solve problems conceptually. This study contributes to our understanding of what types of active learning activities can improve instructional practices in engineering education. Particularly, we show how prompts that foster authentic engineering practices can increase cognitive engagement in introductory‐level engineering courses.
Carvalho, Paulo F.; Sana, Faria; Yan, Veronica X.(
, npj Science of Learning)
Abstract
In this study, we examined students’ natural studying behaviors in massive, open, online course (MOOC) on introductory psychology. We found that, overall, distributing study across multiple sessions—increasing spacing—was related to increased performance on end-of-unit quizzes, even when comparing the same student across different time-points in the course. Moreover, we found important variation on who is more likely to engage in spaced study and benefit from it. Students with higher ability and students who were more likely to complete course activities were more likely to space their study. Spacing benefits, however, were largest for the lower-ability students and for those students who were less likely to complete activities. These results suggest that spaced study might work as a buffer, improving performance for low ability students and those who do not engage in active practices. This study highlights the positive impact of spacing in real-world learning situations, but more importantly, the role of self-regulated learning decisions in shaping the impact of spaced practice.
Well-designed instructional videos are powerful tools for helping students learn and prompting students to use
generative strategies while learning from videos further bolsters their effectiveness. However, little is known
about how individual differences in motivational factors, such as achievement goals, relate to how students learn
within multimedia environments that include instructional videos and generative strategies. Therefore, in this
study, we explored how achievement goals predicted undergraduate students’ behaviors when learning with
instructional videos that required students to answer practice questions between videos, as well as how those
activities predicted subsequent unit exam performance one week later. Additionally, we tested the best measurement models for modeling achievement goals between traditional confirmatory factor analysis and bifactor confirmatory factor analysis. The bifactor model fit our data best and was used for all subsequent analyses. Results indicated that stronger mastery goal endorsement predicted performance on the practice questions in the multimedia learning environment, which in turn positively predicted unit exam performance. In addition, students’ time spent watching videos positively predicted practice question performance. Taken together, this research emphasizes the availing role of adaptive motivations, like mastery goals, in learning from instructional videos that prompt the use of generative learning strategies.
Li, Qingxia; Gross, Thomas; McCarroll, Patricia(
, Journal of STEM education: Innovations and Research)
null
(Ed.)
The purpose of this paper was to give a demonstration of the primary materials and methods we used in learning communities (LCs) for biology students. The LCs were based on the performance pyramid theoretical structure. The objectives were to show the pedagogical links biological and mathematical concepts through co-curricular projects; assess students’ perceptions of the performance pyramid model, and demonstrate a method for assessing LC efficacy directly related to General Biology I and College Algebra course content. Forty-eight students were recruited into the LCs with 39 students completing the LCs. The participants completed co-curricular projects that linked biology and mathematics course content with guidance from a peer leader. The LC participants completed the Augmented Student Support Needs Scale (SSNS-A) to assess perceptions of performance pyramid elements, as well as separate biology and mathematics quizzes related to their General Biology I and College Algebra courses, respectively. It was found that all co-curricular projects had biology and mathematics learning objective and outcomes. The SSNS-A had adequate internal consistency for appraising multiple aspects of the performance pyramid in general. However, some aspects and student responses might need more clarification. The quizzes had adequate internal consistency and LC students had large gains in biology (d = 1.88) and mathematics (d = 2.62) knowledge and skills from the beginning to end of their General Biology I and College Algebra courses. Promising aspects and limitations the LC activities and assessments are discussed.
Perez Leon, C.; Verdin, D.(
, Zone 1 Conference of the American Society for Engineering Education)
This theory paper focuses on understanding how mastery learning has been implemented in undergraduate engineering courses through a systematic review. Academic environments that promote learning, mastery, and continuous improvement rather than inherent ability can promote performance and persistence. Scholarship has argued that students could achieve mastery of the course material when the time available to master concepts and the quality of instruction was made appropriate to each learner. Increasing time to demonstrate mastery involves a course structure that allows for repeated attempts on learning assessments (i.e., homework, quizzes, projects, exams). Students are not penalized for failed attempts but are rewarded for achieving eventual mastery. The mastery learning approach recognizes that mastery is not always achieved on first attempts and learning from mistakes and persisting is fundamental to how we learn. This singular concept has potentially the greatest impact on students’ mindset in terms of their belief they can be successful in learning the course material. A significant amount of attention has been given to mastery learning courses in secondary education and mastery learning has shown an exceptionally positive effect on student achievement. However, implementing mastery learning in an undergraduate course can be a cumbersome process as it requires instructors to significantly restructure their assignments and exams, evaluation process, and grading practices. In light of these challenges, it is unclear the extent to which mastery learning has been implemented in undergraduate engineering courses or if similar positive effects can be found.
Therefore, we conducted a systematic review to elucidate, how in the U.S., (1) has mastery learning been implemented in undergraduate engineering courses from 1990 to the present time and (2) the student outcomes that have been reported for these implementations. Using the systematic process outlined by Borrego et al. (2014), we surveyed seven databases and a total of 584 articles consisting of engineering and non-engineering courses were identified. We focused our review on studies that were centered on applying the mastery learning pedagogical method in undergraduate engineering courses. All peer-reviewed and practitioner articles and conference proceedings that were within our scope were included in the synthetization phase of the review. Most articles were excluded based on our inclusion and exclusion criteria.
Twelve studies focused on applying mastery learning to undergraduate engineering courses. The mastery learning method was mainly applied on midterm exams, few studies used the method on homework assignments, and no study applied the method to the final exam. Students reported an increase in learning as a result of applying mastery learning. Several studies reported that students’ grades in a traditional final exam were not affected by mastery learning. Students’ self-reported evaluation of the course suggests that students prefer the mastery learning approach over traditional methods. Although a clear consensus on the effect of the mastery learning approach could not be achieved as each article applied different survey instruments to capture students’ perspectives. Responses to open-ended questions have mixed results. Two studies report more positive student comments on opened-ended questions, while one study report receiving more negative comments regarding the implementation of the mastery learning method. In the full paper we more thoroughly describe the ways in which mastery learning was implemented along with clear examples of common and divergent student outcomes across the twelve studies.
Hou, Xinying, Carvalho, Paulo F., and Koedinger, Kenneth R. Drinking Our Own Champagne: Analyzing the Impact of Learning-by-doing Resources in an E-learning Course. Retrieved from https://par.nsf.gov/biblio/10277323. Companion Proceedings of the 11thInternational Conference on Learning Analytics & Knowledge LAK20 .
Hou, Xinying, Carvalho, Paulo F., & Koedinger, Kenneth R. Drinking Our Own Champagne: Analyzing the Impact of Learning-by-doing Resources in an E-learning Course. Companion Proceedings of the 11thInternational Conference on Learning Analytics & Knowledge LAK20, (). Retrieved from https://par.nsf.gov/biblio/10277323.
Hou, Xinying, Carvalho, Paulo F., and Koedinger, Kenneth R.
"Drinking Our Own Champagne: Analyzing the Impact of Learning-by-doing Resources in an E-learning Course". Companion Proceedings of the 11thInternational Conference on Learning Analytics & Knowledge LAK20 (). Country unknown/Code not available. https://par.nsf.gov/biblio/10277323.
@article{osti_10277323,
place = {Country unknown/Code not available},
title = {Drinking Our Own Champagne: Analyzing the Impact of Learning-by-doing Resources in an E-learning Course},
url = {https://par.nsf.gov/biblio/10277323},
abstractNote = {Given the demonstrated prevalence of a “doer effect” showing that active practice is related to substantially larger learning gains than passive approaches, an important research goal is to investigate whether and how different active practice features promote students’ learning outcomes. We investigated these questions in the context of an online learning platform that teaches e-learning design principles. In particular, we considered two different practice modes -practice activities inserted in the text (inline practice) and review practice quizzes -and compared their contributions to students' learning outcomes, in terms of module quizzes, periodic exams, and course projects. Our results showed that the different practice modes had distinct impacts on learning outcomes. Doing inline practice activities contributed to students’ quiz performance at the first attempt and project performance while doing review practice quizzes helped students improve their periodic exam performance. We offer some instructional suggestions such as emphasizing practice activities that are more clearly linked with specific learning objectives for projects, and emphasizing review practice quizzes for exam preparation.},
journal = {Companion Proceedings of the 11thInternational Conference on Learning Analytics & Knowledge LAK20},
author = {Hou, Xinying and Carvalho, Paulo F. and Koedinger, Kenneth R.},
editor = {null}
}
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