Submitted by Jorge Silva (jorgelmsilva@ufrrj.br) on 2017-05-12T19:15:41Z No. of bitstreams: 1 2016 - Marcos Guedes de Matos.pdf: 2810699 bytes, checksum: 5df934a2d6cc5b3422a4a09a634ed143 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-05-12T19:15:41Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 2016 - Marcos Guedes de Matos.pdf: 2810699 bytes, checksum: 5df934a2d6cc5b3422a4a09a634ed143 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-08-31 / CAPES / The purpose of this paper is to show that you can work mathematical content with the aid of technological devices in the student's daily life, such as phones and tablets, making use of a world-renowned and award-winning software, GeoGebra. And to achieve this goal, we developed a qualitative research with teachers from state schools operating in the municipality of Paracambi-RJ. In addition, experiments were developed with two groups formed by students of the 3rd year of high school State College President Rodrigues Alves, located in the municipality of Paracambi-RJ, applying different methodologies for each group, in order to study the results. / A proposta deste trabalho ? mostrar que ? poss?vel trabalhar conte?dos matem?ticos com o aux?lio de fatores tecnol?gicos presentes no cotidiano do aluno, como celulares e tablets, fazendo uso de um software mundialmente conhecido e premiado, o GeoGebra. E para atingir este objetivo, desenvolvemos uma pesquisa qualitativa com professores da rede estadual de ensino que atuam no munic?pio de Paracambi-RJ. Al?m disso, experi?ncias foram desenvolvidas com dois grupos, formados por alunos do 3? ano do Ensino M?dio do Col?gio Estadual Presidente Rodrigues Alves, localizado no Munic?pio de Paracambi-RJ, aplicando metodologias distintas a cada grupo, a fim de estudar os resultados obtidos.

Learner engagement, or the involvement of the student's cognitive and emotional energy to accomplish a learning task, has been called "the holy grail of learning" (Sinatra, Heddy, & Lombardi, 2015, p. 1) because of its correlations to academic achievement, persistence, and satisfaction. In the 21st century, learning will be increasingly "blended," combining face-to-face with computer-mediated instruction. Research is already exploring learner engagement in blended contexts, but no theoretical framework guides inquiry or practice. Developing models and measures of the factors that facilitate learner engagement is important to the advancement of the domain. This multiple-article format dissertation addresses the theoretical gap in research on learner engagement in blended settings. The first article reviews the existing literature on learner engagement, delineates a set of constructs most relevant to the contexts of blended learning, and proposes a theoretical framework for learner engagement in blended settings. The second article operationalizes and tests the proposed model of blended learning engagement using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. It creates and evaluates an end-of-course self-report measure of cognitive and emotional engagement. The unique factor structure of online and face-to-face indicators of learner engagement is clearly demonstrated in the results of this study.

Although a mandate was given in an urban southern university for instructors in the Adult Professional Studies Program (APS) to begin transitioning their face-to-face courses to online curricula, few courses have been converted. The purpose of this case study was to determine APS instructors' perceptions of developing and transitioning face-to-face courses to an online format. Lewin's change theory and force field analysis provided the conceptual framework for this study. The research questions concerned the faculty's perceptions of developing and transitioning courses to an online format. A purposeful sample of fulltime and adjunct faculty, with different levels of expertise in online courses within the APS department was invited to participate. Semistructured interview data from these faculty (n = 9) - were analyzed manually using color coding to determine the needs and barriers for instructors transitioning their face-to-face courses to online curricula. According to the study findings, the APS faculty saw value in online education, but perceived many obstacles that keep them from fully investing into this type of instruction. 10 themes were identified through data analysis in this study. These themes were used to create a 3-day professional development (PD) project for faculty members in the APS to assist educators in creating appropriate innovations for teaching and learning in an online setting. Creating a comprehensive, 3-day PD training for APS staff and faculty that address barriers noted in the findings of the study and diverse learning opportunities created learning opportunities for nontraditional students in the APS.

Technology evolution throughout history has initiated many changes in different aspects of human activities. Learning, as one of the most representative human activities has also been subject to these changes. Nowadays, the use of information and communication technologies has considerably changed the way people learn and collaborate. These changes have been accompanied by new approaches to support learning using a wide range of mobile devices, software applications and different communication platforms. In these technology rich landscapes, the notion of context emerges as a crucial component to be considered for the design and technical implementation of technology-enhanced learning environments. The main research question investigated in this thesis relates to the use of different context instantiations for the design and development of innovative technology-enhanced learning environments.This thesis is a collection of eight papers that describe the results of the research efforts conducted in four different experimental cases during a period of four years. These experiments have been designed and developed as part of two research projects. The theoretical foundations that guided this research were based on the view of context and interaction from a learning theory, human-computer-interaction perspective, as well as dimensional data modelling techniques. Different methodological approaches, (such as action-oriented, design-based research and case study) have been used while investigating the main research question. The main contribution that this thesis offers to the research community is a conceptual context model accompanied by a dimensional data model that can be used as a design tool for embedding learning activities in context. In the four trials that encompass my empirical work, the conceptual model proposed in the thesis guided the design and technical development of the different novel technology-enhanced learning activities. The outcomes of these efforts provided various insights regarding the use of different context instantiations that have implications for the design and development of these environments. This thesis advocates that computational context attributes should be used as metadata descriptors that would potentially promote personalization and interoperability of digital learning content. Content personalization offers opportunities for personalized learning that increases learners’ engagement and eventually could lead to better learning results. Furthermore, the research and industrial community could use the context model developed in this thesis as a guiding tool to promote the creation of new ways to personalize services and technologies.

The design of intelligent learning environments requires significant up-front resources and expertise. These environments generally maintain complex and comprehensive knowledge bases describing pedagogical approaches, learner traits, and content models. This has limited the influence of these technologies in higher education, which instead largely uses learning content management systems in order to deliver non-classroom instruction to learners. This dissertation puts forth a data-assisted approach to embedding intelligence within learning environments. In this approach, instructional experts are provided with summaries of the activities of learners who interact with technology enhanced learning tools. These experts, which may include instructors, instructional designers, educational technologists, and others, use this data to gain insight into the activities of their learners. These insights lead experts to form instructional interventions which can be used to enhance the learning experience. The novel aspect of this approach is that the actions of the intelligent learning environment are now not just those of the learners and software constructs, but also those of the educational experts who may be supporting the learning process. The kinds of insights and interventions that come from application of the data-assisted approach vary with the domain being taught, the epistemology and pedagogical techniques being employed, and the particulars of the cohort being instructed. In this dissertation, three investigations using the data-assisted approach are described. The first of these demonstrates the effects of making available to instructors novel sociogram-based visualizations of online asynchronous discourse. By making instructors aware of the discussion habits of both themselves and learners, the instructors are better able to measure the effect of their teaching practice. This enables them to change their activities in response to the social networks that form between their learners, allowing them to react to deficiencies in the learning environment. Through these visualizations it is demonstrated that instructors can effectively change their pedagogy based on seeing data of their students’ interactions. The second investigation described in this dissertation is the application of unsupervised machine learning to the viewing habits of learners using lecture capture facilities. By clustering learners into groups based on behaviour and correlating groups with academic outcome, a model of positive learning activity can be described. This is particularly useful for instructional designers who are evaluating the role of learning technologies in programs as it contextualizes how technologies enable success in learners. Through this investigation it is demonstrated that the viewership data of learners can be used to assist designers in building higher level models of learning that can be used for evaluating the use of specific tools in blended learning situations. Finally, the results of applying supervised machine learning to the indexing of lecture video is described. Usage data collected from software is increasingly being used by software engineers to make technologies that are more customizable and adaptable. In this dissertation, it is demonstrated that supervised machine learning can provide human-like indexing of lecture videos that is more accurate than current techniques. Further, these indices can be customized for groups of learners, increasing the level of personalization in the learning environment. This investigation demonstrates that the data-assisted approach can also be used by application developers who are building software features for personalization into intelligent learning environments. Through this work, it is shown that a data-assisted approach to supporting instructional interventions in technology enhanced learning environments is both possible and can positively impact the teaching and learning process. By making available to instructional experts the online activities of learners, experts can better understand and react to patterns of use that develop, making for a more effective and personalized learning environment. This approach differs from traditional methods of building intelligent learning environments, which apply learning theories a priori to instructional design, and do not leverage the in situ data collected about learners.

Technology mediated learning (TML) refers to an environment in which the learner interacts with learning materials, peers, and/or instructors that are mediated through advanced information technology (Alavi and Leidner, 2001). Recently, there have been increasing interests in investigating if TML can yield positive learning outcome. In this thesis, an interpretive study of TrainNet, a TML implementation by a well-known multinational corporation, is conducted. The study bases its investigation on the TML framework suggested by Alavi and Leidner (2001). The findings show that different stakeholders of TrainNet hold different views of learning effectiveness. For the manger, learning effectiveness means cost reduction; for the trainer, speedy information dissemination; and for the technicians, the profit, skill and social network. Yet, while TrainNet satisfies both managers and trainers in reducing cost and enhancing speedy information dissemination, it has failed to meet the aspiration of the technicians. These may result from the fact that instructional strategies have been changed from the experiental learning focus to abstract, conceptual learning. The change in turn has the adverse effect of undermining technicians¡¦ motivation to learn. Furthermore, the context governing the strategy of TrainNet adoption plays a key role in this change. A technical/economic perspective of system adoption and an objectivism approach to instructional strategy causes the company to ignore the important learning effectiveness issues that are important to learners. For TML to be effective, business must go beyond the technical and economic focus. The social cultural perspectives must be incorporated into the design of information technology and instructional strategies.

<p>Learning materials have multiple forms, such as books, overhead slides, computer files, blackboard notes by teachers, narration to the notes, video/audio tapes etc. Since the forms are highly inhomogeneous, it becomes difficult to collect and practically use them by a particular learner for individual study at home. Such multiple media are also expensive in management, since human resources are needed to keep the material repositories in order. One solution of the problem lies in centralized active digital repositories. Such repositories aim to simplify the learner’s work and boost learning efficiency. With introduction of interactivity and live communication tools such repositories become learning platforms exceeding the functionality of “passive” digital libraries. Such learning platforms could be easily used both for on-campus and distance education.</p><p>This dissertation presents an evaluation of a digital repository of interactive multimedia content in the field of Heat and Power Technology: Computerized Educational Platform (CompEdu HPT). The platform evaluation consisted of integration of the tool into the university curriculum and then collection of feedback from students and teachers. The evaluation concerned usefulness of the platform for learning, aspects of instruction improvement, collecting observations about how the platform is used by students, as well as their opinions about the IT application direction chosen. The methods included: online feedback forms, questionnaires, interviews, discussions and observations.</p><p>The evaluation demonstrated that the main strength of the platform is the integration of learning materials in one portable package. The students appreciated structured and logically arranged information that was available for easy access. Coverage of a broad area of knowledge related to heat and power technology was also pointed out as an advantage with reflection on the very low price of acquisition of the materials. The most popular elements of the content in use included: simulations, lecture notes, the print function, the glossary, and calculation exercises. A major part of the students declared the high value of CompEdu in facilitating home study. Nevertheless, not all the students had a positive impression: around one-fifth of them did not find the platform useful and expressed preference for more traditional learning media. The majority of the negative opinions concerned content quality, which directly related to weaknesses of the content production and review process.</p><p>The evaluation emphasized the importance of material quality and amount as the key issue for a good learning platform with relatively smaller importance of presentation forms. The evaluation also considered aspects of functionality from the user point of view. Differentiation between popularity of simulations showed that simulations used by teachers during lectures have higher educational value than those for individual use only. The popularity of the printing option indicated a need for adaptation of digital materials for paper publishing. The general conclusion for practical use of multimedia tools in education was that high usability and simplicity of information access should be the focus point of any chosen approach in the direction.</p><p>The CompEdu evaluation suggested that after thorough content review and addition of an efficient search mechanism the platform can successfully deliver rich learning content. The platform gave an extensive real-case illustration of how multimedia can be used in educational practice. Due to the evaluation, the CompEdu e-learning group has collected rich experience and know-how in the field of active knowledge repositories. The experience will be used for development of a more sophisticated learning platform working in the global Internet environment with major focus on information accessibility by easy search.</p>

In traditional models of university education, students gather in classrooms, listen to instructors lecture on specific topics, and take notes with limited time for interaction. Students are then expected to spend additional time outside of the classroom reading textbooks, completing assignments, and preparing for tests. Instructors are viewed as experts providing information to students in much the same manner that they learned the content as students in college. The advent of the World Wide Web in 1991 allowed a dramatic change in the way students and faculty gather information, conduct research, and publish ideas. Internet-based technologies can transform traditional classroom experiences. Student participation can be increased by promoting group and collaborative learning online, and by the use of tools such as e-mail, discussion boards, and synchronous chat sessions. The objectives of this study were to 1) determine which factors affected faculty members’ use of technology integration in their instruction, and 2) determine what effect the integration of technology had on the role and teaching styles of faculty members. The study employed a mixed-methods research methodology. A survey instrument was developed and sent to faculty members at the five largest, public research institutions. The level of technology integration was calculated on a scale ranging from nonuse to full integration. The scale included practices such as providing online discussion areas, allowing/requiring students to use the Internet for assignments, and using anonymous online surveys to gather student feedback. Faculty members were then asked to elaborate on their answers. After the quantitative and qualitative survey results were analyzed, a select group of faculty members at one campus were interviewed to verify or dispute the findings. The survey results revealed the factors that significantly contributed to the overall level of technology integration were: instructional resources, professional and personal computer use, level of class, gender, title, and type of online teaching experience. One of the most significant factors was the level of instructional resources. Instructors with a facilitative teaching style were most likely to integrate technology into their instruction. This information can inform institutions when creating faculty development programs and budgeting limited resources. / text

As universities transition from instructor-driven to student-centered learning environments, the institutional learning structure is being redesigned to emphasize active learning. Instructional technologies, employing active learning models, have been a critical component in the redesign. The active learning model suggests that the student engages in various activities, and uses various strategies, to gather information and achieve understanding. Technology-driven learning environments therefore often instill activities that direct the student's learning. Use of on-line technologies, such as the Internet, is one method for creating active learning activities that direct the student's learning. This experiment explores how active learning activities, specifically how a student engages in research by accessing on-line information, affects their understanding of the material. The experiment is a 2 (Task Complexity) x 2 (Data Resource) design testing a student's (N=194) ability to synthesize information as they traversed through a specified set of resources. The findings indicate that students who access topic-specific resources engage in more research activities than students who access broad-topic resources. Furthermore, the findings indicate that students who access topic-specific resources will synthesize the relevant material into a more clear and concise response than students who access broad-topic resources. Suggestions and further research are posited to further understand how instructors can engage use of on-line resources, specifically the Internet, and instructional technologies, such as Distance Learning, to facilitate student learning.

This concurrent mixed methods study sought to determine e-learning readiness by distance education students in Nigeria based on their level of communication technology usage and perceptions of distance education delivery methods, and comparing learning experiences via the Internet and via study centre methods in Nigeria. This exploratory study using quantitative survey instrument measured the current levels of students’ technology usage, while qualitative interview instrument was used to examine students’ perceptions, attitudes and experiences of communication technology by distance education students in Nigeria. The results of this study reported high communication technology usage based on the high level of smart phone ownership and Internet browsing, high level of personal computer usage, high level of internet social networking, and high positive response for online learning, among other positive indicators. Consequently, the research findings seemed to indicate that distance education students surveyed are highly enthusiastic and are ready for e-learning in Nigeria. / 2012 - June