Research Article
Gholamreza Gholizadeh, Mehrak Rahimi
CONT ED TECHNOLOGY, Volume 15, Issue 2, Article No: ep411
ABSTRACT
Mobile learning has extensively influenced students’ learning gains and motivation due to the hardware and software development of mobile devices and applications in recent decades. On-the-go learning increases the capacity for flexible and joyful learning and guarantees access to the instructional content anywhere, anytime. Despite their potential benefits, the presence of mobile applications in students’ every educational activity can be detrimental to their cognitive abilities as misuse or overuse of specific applications may influence students’ concentration and critical thinking. One such downside is reported for overusing automatic spelling correction software, known as AutoCorrect (AC), in language learning. Uncertainty regarding the educational values of AC has increased as students’ spelling skills and vocabulary knowledge have declined. The main problem this study addressed is examining the relationship between EFL learners’ AC use and their vocabulary size; and if their academic self-regulation mediates this association. Data were gathered from 101 foreign language learners who completed the measures of AC use, academic self-regulation, and vocabulary size. The results showed significant positive correlations between AC use, vocabulary size, and self-regulation. Further, testing the model supported a mediating role for self-regulation in the relationship between AC use and vocabulary size, suggesting that AC use can lead to more knowledge of English words in the condition of deploying self-regulatory strategies. The study signifies how academic self-regulation can assist learners in exploiting mobile learning (m-learning) to their advantage and attaining their educational goals more efficiently.
Keywords: AutoCorrect, vocabulary, size, self-regulation, mediating
Review Article
Chih-Hsuan Wang, Jill D. Salisbury-Glennon, Yan Dai, Sangah Lee, Jianwei Dong
CONT ED TECHNOLOGY, Volume 14, Issue 4, Article No: ep388
ABSTRACT
Most college students have grown up using technology and consequently, they are proficient with its many uses and applications. The use of this technology provides many benefits to college students’ learning, both in and out of the classroom. However, despite the numerous benefits of technology, these digital activities can also lead to much digital distraction. Digital distractions may include Internet surfing, watching movies, checking texts, reading, and sending emails, and perusing social media. These digital distractions often result in limited attention and engagement during class, as well as less learning and academic achievement overall. Digital distraction can result from such factors as anxiety and depression, motivational variables, the need to keep up and the fear of missing out, emotional numbing and procrastination as well as an overreliance on multitasking. It is suggested here that the use of self-regulated learning (SRL) strategies may be effective in assisting college students in avoiding digital distractions, both in and out of the classroom. SRL strategies include forethought, planning, activation; monitoring, control and reflection on the learner’s cognition, motivation/affect, and behavior. Through the use of these SRL strategies, college students may be taught to decrease digital distractions and, thus, experience higher levels of learning and academic performance.
Keywords: digital distraction, self-regulation, college students, academic achievement
Research Article
Suthanit Wetcho, Jaitip Na-Songkhla
CONT ED TECHNOLOGY, Volume 13, Issue 4, Article No: ep319
ABSTRACT
Self-regulation is an essential skill in teacher development, especially for pre-service teachers who need to develop their own self-regulated skills while simultaneously promoting self-regulation in learners. This study outlines a teacher development program in which pre-service teachers participated in a self-regulatory process in a Mobile Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning (mCSCL) online learning environment. Our aim is to fill the existing gap in this area by adding more collaborative learning processes. This study aimed to investigate the predictive effects that self-evaluation to define tasks and goals (at forethought phase) has on self-reflection, which is mediated by collaboration. Furthermore, we have drawn the possibility of embedding collaboration into the socio-emotional note-taking process by using the concept of mCSCL throughout the self-regulated learning process. Data was collected from undergraduate students, working as pre-service teachers, and studying at two institutes in Thailand (N=147), with 17 items of self-regulatory inventory obtained from the original self-regulatory inventory together with 5 other collaboration developed by the author. Structural equation modelling (SEM) analysis was used to confirm a partial mediation model via direct and indirect effects. Later the path analysis, the qualitative data is acquired to re-design the socio-emotional collaborative note-taking on mCSCL tools during the self-regulatory learning process, corresponding with the model testing phase according to the previous study by a semi-structure interview with 5 pre-service teachers. The results proved that collaboration was found to be a significant partial mediator of self-evaluation and self-reflection, in accordance with the empirical data. With our findings we were able to design a socio-emotional collaborative note-taking activity in the mCSCL setting. We proposed collaborative note-taking activities which collaboration procedure is highlighted throughout 3 phases: collaboration in pre-performance (recording ideas and planning), collaboration during the performance (sharing and brainstorming, support and seeking helps), and collaboration in post-performance (reflecting and evaluating) in which the activity was taking place between instructors and peers during supervision period.
Keywords: self-regulation, collaborative-notetaking, MCSCL, socio-emotional, teacher development
Research Article
Ahmet Coymak
CONT ED TECHNOLOGY, Volume 10, Issue 1, pp. 94-105
ABSTRACT
There is a growing interest in the use of computer-based learning environments to enhance learning in higher education, but the implications of this on the improvement of metacognition in higher education have yet to be adequately explored. In the current study, 175 students who enrolled in an introductory psychology course were randomly assigned to experimental and control groups (computer-assisted vs. self-managed). In the computer-assisted condition, besides the lecture delivered four hours per week and for three months in total, students took a set of assignments based on evidence-based teaching in a computer-based environment. The control group, however, took these assignments as in-and-out class activities without using a computer environment. An assessment based on Bloom’s taxonomy was utilized to obtain metacognitive and competency scores for both groups. The results of the study showed that the students who completed the structured learning assignments as computer-based, self-learning environment showed better metacognition performance than those in the self-managed group, who did not engage with the online platform, even though there was no significant difference between the groups regarding competence on the course’s learning objectives. The current experiment offers an empirical validation for why instructors should use technology as a self-regulatory tool that enhances students’ metacognitive performance and competence of learning outcomes.
Keywords: Metacognition, University teaching, Self-regulation in learning, Computer-based learning
Research Article
Harun Cigdem
CONT ED TECHNOLOGY, Volume 6, Issue 1, pp. 19-37
ABSTRACT
This study focuses on learners’ self-regulation which is one of the essential skills for student achievement in blended courses. Research on learners’ self-regulation skills in blended learning environments has gained popularity in recent years however only a few studies investigating the correlation between self-regulation skills and student achievement in blended learning environments exist. Self-regulation is related to self-efficacy, anxiety, interactivity, satisfaction with and usefulness of the system. Self-regulated learners are more likely to accomplish at online learning. In this study, a total of 267 military vocational college students were taught computer programming during a 15-week-long semester in a blended learning context, which involved using both face to face teaching and online learning through MOODLE over intranet. Participants were the graduates of vocational high schools and the students at the departments of Computer Technologies and Electronics & Communication Technologies and were all male. Liaw and Huang’s Self-Regulation Scale with six subscales was used to collect the data during the last two weeks of instruction. Regression analyses were conducted to analyze the data. The results revealed that self-regulation was affected by perceived anxiety, interactivity in the online learning environment, and perceived self-efficacy. Learners’ academic achievement has been affected only by perceived self-efficacy
Keywords: Blended learning, Computer programming course, Course achievement, Interactivity, Self-regulation, Perceived self-efficacy