Effect of summarizing scaffolding and textual cues on learning performance, mental model, and cognitive load in a virtual reality environment: An experimental study (2023)

Computers & Education, Volume 198, 2023, Article 104762

Improving e-learning involves various levels of supports. Accordingly, researchers usually adopt complex research designs with a multilevel structure or repeated measurements to capture a heuristic view of learners’ perceptions, comprehension, and behavior in e-learning settings. A total of 76 studies with Hierarchical Linear Modeling (HLM) as a multilevel modeling technique in 13 major e-learning journals from January 2000 to September 2022, published in the Web of Science, were reviewed. We assessed the applications of the following key criteria: reasons for using HLM, data characteristics, sample characteristics, model characteristics, variables used in the research, software use, and main technology used in the research. The results revealed that two-level models and random-intercept models are mostly used in multilevel model building. Moreover, most e-learning studies included two-level random intercept models with “students” as sampling units of analysis in Level 1, and “cognitive learning” (i.e., examination score, learning achievement) as the dependent variable in Level 1. Based on our review results, we provide suggestions and potential applications of using multilevel modeling in e-learning studies.

Computers & Education, Volume 199, 2023, Article 104786

The present study assessed the effectiveness of video-based tutorials for software training in which three practice schedules (i.e., blocked, interleaved and hybrid) were systematically varied. Forty-nine participants studied the video tutorials and engaged in task practice to learn advanced formatting tasks for Word. The conditions were compared for processing of the videos and effectiveness judgments. Also, self-efficacy and knowledge development were assessed. No effect of practice schedule was found on video processing measures (i.e., total time, unique play time, replays). Self-efficacy development was positive and significant. For untrained items this development favoured the hybrid over the interleaved practice schedule. Effectiveness judgments were favourable and similar for the three conditions. Both conceptual and procedural knowledge development (during and after training) was significant. No effect of practice schedule on these developments was found.

Computers and Education Open, Volume 4, 2023, Article 100136

The relationships between digital technologies and the realization of teaching and learning activities have received increased attention in interdisciplinary research. Knowledge of the connections between technological designs and users’ meaning making in semiotic chains is, however, still partial. Teachers’ and students’ remediation of technological designs through cognitive processing was studied in this paper to gain insights into semiotic chain configurations. Data consisting of video recordings, interviews, and observations were processed with quantitative content analysis and learning analytics strategies. The findings suggest that the technological design's visualized functions greatly affect the semiotic chain configuration when integrated with their users’ meaning making in lower-level actions. Technological designs seem to buttonize meaning making, and teaching and learning activities become technologized. Scaled cognitive processes can provide insights into differentiated meaning making according to the technologies, and perspectives on paralanguage are proposed.

Computers & Education, Volume 199, 2023, Article 104775

The modality effect occurs when people learn better from a combination of pictures and narration than from a combination of pictures and written text. Despite the strong empirical results in earlier studies, the modality effect has been less prominent in later studies of children in learner-paced settings. However, the generalizability of these results in practice may be limited because the studies included notable differences compared to a classroom context. The present study examined the modality effect in a learner-paced classroom context. In a within-subjects experiment, fifth graders learned from illustrated texts and videos and completed pre-, post-, and delayed tests on two science topics. The video group outperformed the illustrated text group in retention, delayed retention, cognitive load, and efficiency measures but there were no statistical differences in transfer. In both learning conditions, the cognitive load was moderate and did not correlate with any learning outcomes. The results suggest that while the modality effect can occur in a learner-paced classroom context, it may not be based on the avoidance of cognitive overload. Alternative explanations concerning the differences in settings and materials between classroom contexts and modality effect research are discussed.

Computers & Education, Volume 198, 2023, Article 104764

While virtual reality (VR) provides a great potential for musical instrument learning, little attention has been paid to the instructional design in creating a VR musical instrument. Previous research has suggested that high embodied interaction or added visual cues (e.g., distinctive colors, flashing areas) on VR-based musical instrument may aid students' learning. In this study, we investigated the feasibility and efficacy of the embodied design (low and high level of embodiment; LoEmb and HiEmb) and visual cues (low and high level of visual cues; LoViz and HiViz) on students' musical instrument learning. Four corresponding virtual Chinese dulcimers (Yangqin) were thereby designed. A sample of 112 university students participated in our study, and they were randomly assigned into the four conditions (LoEmb & LoViz, LoEmb & HiViz, HiEmb & LoViz, and HiEmb & HiViz). Results showed that the LoEmb design benefited students' completion rate, the HiViz improved students' playing rhythmic accuracy. Both LoEmb and HiViz decreased students' playing errors and improved their overall performance. Moreover, we found that the HiViz and HiEmb designs had a combined effect on reducing students’ cognitive load and improving the instructional efficiency of learning material. These findings collectively reveal that the design of VR learning materials should carefully consider the trade-off between the level of embodiment and visual cues.

Computers & Education, Volume 199, 2023, Article 104777

During COVID-19 pandemic the teachers were suddenly forced to change their teaching and use distance learning practices, and become innovative in their ways of teaching online. In the current study we sought to understand whether teachers considered themselves innovative and how this affected their distance learning self-efficacy, accountability, and distance learning teaching practices. Two hundred elementary and secondary school teachers from Israel were asked to fill in a questionnaire comprising the four abovementioned components. Findings indicated that it was teachers' self-innovativeness which had significantly influenced their distance learning self-efficacy, accountability, and distance learning teaching practices. Findings indicate that work experience directly affected self-innovativeness, and older, more experienced teachers perceived themselves as more innovative in adopting and using distance learning compared to less experienced ones. The second finding was that professional development affected distance learning teaching practices but had no effect on teachers' self-innovativeness. The study shows that increasing teachers' self-innovativeness may affect their self-efficacy and accountability and lead to better distance learning teaching practices. Therefore, it is suggested to change the focus of professional development programs to promoting teachers' self-innovativeness and encouraging them to create novel and tailored combinations of hybrid learning.