Journal of Educational Computing Research

Drawing on research literature on online discussion and on reading and learning from the text, we argue that research on learning from text has much to offer but has been largely absent in informing the design and study of online learning environments. We propose several key issues to be considered in research and development of online discussion, and a framework for examining the goals and features of online discussions. We then report on an exploratory study of an online discussion environment informed by this framework.

This study explores the efforts at Brigham Young University to improve preservice candidates' technology integration using the Teacher Work Sample (TWS) as an assessment tool. Baseline data that was analyzed from 95 TWSs indicated that students were predominantly using technology for productivity and information presentation purposes even though they had been taught to use technology for active student learning. Researchers discovered that decisions made about technology integration were heavily influenced by field instructors and TWS rubrics. An intervention plan was developed to train field instructors and 99 TWSs were analyzed the following year. The TWSs showed noticeable improvements including increases in the percentage of candidates who involved their K-12 students in using technology in their lessons.

The present investigation examined middle school students' evaluations of the usefulness for addressing a social studies inquiry question of a variety of sources of information, and the basis of these judgments. This task situation simulates an early phase of information gathering and selection in the context of inquiry. For each of nine sources, students were provided with, and asked to rate, the usefulness of six attributes (i.e. title, author, venue, date, type of publication, and a two-three sentence content summary) and the overall usefulness of each source. The sources varied in usefulness as determined by expert ratings. Students' overall ratings showed that some clearly differentiated the usefulness of the sources while others did not. Analyses of the ratings of individual attributes indicated that “higher” differentiators primarily considered content indicators (i.e., title and summary) when making usefulness judgments; “lower” differentiators considered author and venue of publication, with much less emphasis on source content. Discussion focuses on the instructional and practical implications of skill at differentiating more from less useful sources of information during initial information gathering and selecting in the context of 21st century Internet resources.

This study investigates the effects of using both specific labels and diagrammatic arrows in the animation of salt dissolution. Four different versions of the animation served as treatments that were developed based upon principles of educational technology and cognitive psychology. The researchers studied the effects of spatial ability (high or low) and gender in terms of interaction with the treatments and control using ANCOVA statistical procedure. The dependent variable was posttest knowledge conveyed in the animation. Participants were drawn from a college chemistry course for science majors. Overall, high spatial ability students performed better on the post-test than the low spatial ability students (p = .001). In terms of gender, females outperformed males on the post-test (p = .009). Students in the “arrows-only” treatment group tended to score lower on the post-test that the other groups (p = .083). In the article the authors discuss how the principles of educational technology might account for these findings.

This study investigated the potential of using a computer-simulated animal in a handheld virtual pet videogame to improve children's empathy and humane attitudes. Also investigated was whether sex differences existed in children's development of empathy and humane attitudes resulting from play, as well as their feelings for a virtual pet. The results showed that after playing Nintendogs for 3 weeks, the participants of both sexes, on average, scored higher levels of empathy on the Bryant Empathy Index, and had higher levels of humane attitudes on the Intermediate Attitude Scale, compared to their pretest scores before they played. A statistical association also was revealed between time playing with a computer-simulated animal and improved scores in empathy and humane attitudes toward animals. The findings also showed that participants tended to form emotional attachments with their virtual pet and considered it a real pet.