Search results for "Learning environment"

2020

Critical evaluation skills when using online information are considered important in many research and education frameworks; critical thinking and information literacy are cited as key twenty-first century skills for students. Higher education may play a special role in promoting students' skills in critically evaluating (online) sources. Today, higher education students are more likely to use the Internet instead of offline sources such as textbooks when studying for exams. However, far from being a value-neutral, curated learning environment, the Internet poses various challenges, including a large amount of incomplete, contradictory, erroneous, and biased information. With low barriers t…

Ant Colony Models for a Virtual Educational Environment Based on a Multi-Agent System

2008

We have designed a virtual learning environment where students interact through their computers and with the software agents in order to achieve a common educational goal. The Multi-Agent System (MAS) consisting of autonomous, cognitive and social agents communicating by messages is used to provide a group decision support system for the learning environment. Learning objects are distributed in a network and have different weights in function of their relevance to a specific educational goal. The relevance of a learning object can change in time; it is affected by students', agents' and teachers' evaluation. We have used an ant colony behavior model for the agents that play the role of a tu…

Understanding disruptive situations in physical education : Teaching style and didactic implications

2020

Several studies have emphasized the importance of handling disruptive situations in the physical education (PE) learning environment; however, few have investigated complex disruptive situations in PE and included both teacher and student perspectives. The aims of this study, which discusses an alternative teaching style for reducing disruptive situations, were to gain a better understanding of student and teacher experiences of complex disruptive situations in PE, and to explore how the teacher handled these situations. The philosophical perspective used in this study was Rorty’s philosophical pragmatism. Methods included written narratives, interviews, observation, and video recordings o…

Learning about Dynamic Problems with Computer Simulators: A Case of System Dynamics Simulation Models

2008

A vast body of research shows that people by and large fail to understand and manage dynamic environments. Given the increasing complexity of our world, there is an urgent need to develop more effective ways to present dynamic problems. Many studies propose computer simulators as virtual learning environments to help people understand and manage complex problems. Still, experimental data show that simulators often carry problems from reality into the virtual laboratory. An analysis from the perspective of cognitive load theory suggests that learning about complex problems could be improved by enhancing descriptions with simulation elements that would facilitate interactive exploration of th…

The Early Bird gets the Word

2019

Success in an increasingly globalized world sets requirements for versatile communication skills and understanding about other cultures. One of the keys to success is versatile language skills, on which the European Commission spoke out as early as in 1995, recommending that every European citizen should learn two foreign languages in addition to their mother tongue. Now, more than twenty years later, the launch of early A1 language teaching that is to begin in the first grade in Finland, in January 2020, is a significant step towards this goal. Studies show that early foreign language learning needs to be carefully carried out in order to achieve positive effects and the effects that have …

The role of individual processes and learning environment in the prediction of grades in a sample of Norwegian students

2018

Student grades are traditionally used to evaluate academic achievement in higher education. A review of previous research indicates a relatively clear tendency to adopt either an individual or contextual approach in exploring this subject. The present study represents an attempt to simultaneously examine effects of individual variables and learning environment on academic achievements as measured in grades. The study adopts a quantitative approach and reports data collected from students enrolled in early childhood education in a mid-sized university in Norway. Results of a stepwise hierarchical regression demonstrate that individual variables (e.g. nonmandatory school attendance, self-effi…

Creating teacher capacity in Early Childhood Education and Care institutions implementing an authoritative adult style

2017

The being together intervention intends to raise teacher capacity in Norwegian Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) institutions and promote social and emotional development in preschoolers by implementing an authoritative (warm and predictable) adult style in the institution. An authoritative adult balances between building up high quality interactions with children, while at the same time having a predictable structure with clear norms and social expectations in the learning environment. The purpose of this study was to investigate what helped the ECEC institutions to successfully implement the program principles and core components, and what were the challenges. The staff groups of …

Public Institutions as Learning Environments in Finland

2012

Public cultural institutions in this article are understood to be a part of the built up environment. The services provided by these are available to all citizens in Finland. These include: libraries, museums, various art institutions, theatres, music institutions and science centres. The expertise of the writers of the article is based on museums and libraries as learning environments, so the content of the article will focus on them. Finland has a broad network of public libraries and museums.

Can easy-to-use software deliver effective e-learning in dental education? A randomised controlled study

2012

Introduction:  For the production of computer-based learning environments, a wide range of software solutions can be used which differ not only in their functionality but also vary in cost and ease to program. The aim of our study was to evaluate the overall efficiency and student′s perception of two case-based e-learning programs that were produced with either an easy-to-use or a complex software. Materials and Methods:  Eighty-five dental students were randomly assigned to one of two experimental groups. One group studied with a laborious, high-interactive e-learning program (complex-software group). The second group studied within a low-interactive learning environment (easy-software gro…

Bhaskar’s Theory of Publishing and Its Contribution to Theorizing (Evolving New Forms of) Educational Media

2021

Enterprises which are usually categorized as educational publishers increasingly develop and market products like learning platforms. Such products are at least to a considerable extent pieces of software rather than products based on content in the sense of texts, images, and maybe moving images or sounds (which typically constitute products of the media industries). Michael Bhaskar’s The Content Machine. Towards a Theory of Publishing (2013) represents one of the most comprehensive theoretical approaches to publishing in recent years. This contribution discusses, how far products like learning platforms can be described as results of acts of (educational) publishing or can be considered (…