0000000000297431
AUTHOR
Dimitri Molerov
Integrating Computational Linguistic Analysis of Multilingual Learning Data and Educational Measurement Approaches to Explore Learning in Higher Education
This chapter develops a computational linguistic model for analyzing and comparing multilingual data as well as its application to a large body of standardized assessment data from higher education. The approach employs both an automatic and a manual annotation of the data on several linguistic layers (including parts of speech, text structure and content). Quantitative features of the textual data are explored that are related to both the students’ (domain-specific knowledge) test results and their level of academic experience. The respective analysis involves statistics of distance correlation, text categorization with respect to text types (questions and response options) as well as lang…
Adapting and Validating the Collegiate Learning Assessment to Measure Generic Academic Skills of Students in Germany: Implications for International Assessment Studies in Higher Education
Starting in 2015, a German research team from the program Modeling and Measuring Competencies in Higher Education (KoKoHs), in collaboration with the US Council for Aid to Education (CAE), adapted and validated the Collegiate Learning Assessment (CLA+) for the German language and cultural context to measure generic higher-order cognitive skills of university students and graduates in Germany. In this chapter, the conceptual and methodological background, the framework of the adaptation and validation study, as well as preliminary results are presented. Finally, findings are discussed critically, and future challenges and perspectives are explored.
Conceptual Fundamentals for a Theoretical and Empirical Framework of Positive Learning
We present a short overview of the idea, genesis and developing process of PLATO (Positive Learning in the Age of InformaTiOn) as a new, complex, international, interdisciplinary program aimed at investigating the phenomena of positive and negative learning in the digital age. While the basic idea of PLATO originated in empirical educational research, many other very different disciplines have consequently been incorporated into this program, in order to expand learning research and to offer a comprehensive and multi-perspective explanation of learning in 21st century higher education. We draw upon and critically discuss previous research, highlighting implications for developing a theoreti…
Validating a Test for Measuring Knowledge and Understanding of Economics Among University Students
Abstract. University students' knowledge and understanding of economics have mostly been investigated cross-sectionally; however, longitudinal analyses are needed to determine which factors influence knowledge development and to draw valid conclusions based on test results. In the WiWiKom II project, a quasi-experimental longitudinal study was conducted assessing bachelor students of business and economics over the course of their studies in Germany (N = 39 universities). In this project, running from 2016 – 2019, the test-takers complete the WiWiKom II-test of economic knowledge (adapted TUCE4G and TEL4G items) and a general cognitive ability test (BEFKI 11) at four measurement points, ea…
How do university students’ web search behavior, website characteristics, and the interaction of both influence students’ critical online reasoning?
The Internet has become one of the main sources of information for university students’ learning. Since anyone can disseminate content online, however, the Internet is full of irrelevant, biased, or even false information. Thus, students’ ability to use online information in a critical-reflective manner is of crucial importance. In our study, we used a framework for the assessment of students’ critical online reasoning (COR) to measure university students’ ability to critically use information from online sources and to reason on contentious issues based on online information. In addition to analyzing students’ COR by evaluating their open-ended short answers, we also investigated the stude…
What Can We Learn from Theoretical Considerations and Empirical Evidence on Learning in Higher Education? Implications for an Interdisciplinary Research Framework
Since the development of the hypertext markup language (HTML), a myriad of data from different sources has become increasingly cross-linked, resulting in entire information landscapes; more than 21 billion electronic devices (Web 4.0) will be in use by 2020. Access to and processing of multimedia content and unverified and algorithmically preselected information are constitutive elements of learning in the Internet Age. As learning occurs in- and outside of formal higher education institutions and cannot be explained by educational or technological factors alone, it is a crucial cross-disciplinary topic, equally important for all areas of science and education. Yet, research on learning in …