Education delivered through the Internet known as E-learning is growing tremendously and attracts researchers’ attention in terms of its pedagogical merits. It is in that context of investigating the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) for efficient learning that the current research was carried out. This study consists of a critical assessment at a Local Level of UNISA’s Virtual Learning Environment (VLE1) in terms of Diana Laurillard’s Pedagogical Conversational Framework. It focuses on assessing how the E-learning platform (called SAKAI) used by UNISA supports the learning process of online students staying in Rwanda. A qualitative approach was followed and documentary analysis along with a questionnaire was used to collect useful data. Research findings are presented and discussed under two themes: the requirements for effective online learning and the use of the local UNISA’s VLE to support effective online learning of students based in Rwanda. It is revealed that effective online learning is a function of different aspects that can be grouped under three critical factors: Pedagogical, Technological and Managerial. Although, I have argued that the Pedagogical factor should be considered as the most important and guide all E-learning projects, the three factors mentioned are interrelated and interdependent. Findings about the use of the local UNISA VLE to support the learning process show that it provides sufficient tools to support all activities necessary for learning activities, as summarized in the Conversational Framework. However, the tools provided by the E-learning platform are underused by participants. Some necessary learning activities are not carried out, even though the E-learning platform used provides tools which could support those activities. The under usage of available tools is caused by two factors: inadequate consideration given to some necessary learning activities and the lack of skills on both usage of and information on the capability of UNISA’s VLE. These handicap the effective online learning. The gaps found in VLE used by UNISA are also mentioned. The research report ends with recommendations for more effective E-learning in local UNISA VLE. Further studies in related areas are suggested. 1

This quantitative study investigates the adequacy and quality of middle school facilities in Humble ISD middle schools as reported by the primary users of these facilities, the teachers and administrators. These middle school educators also provide an assessment of the impact that these facilities have on the learning environment. This study also assesses the quality and adequacy of these middle school facilities through a purely quantitative evaluation conducted by an unbiased assessment team. Humble ISD is undergoing unprecedented growth at all levels and has addressed the burgeoning elementary and high school aged growth occurring in the district by constructing and renovating these facilities. At the middle level, however, new facility construction is occurring at a slower pace. The purpose of this research is to ascertain which factors in each of these six facilities have the greatest quality and adequacy and the impact that they have on the learning environment. Furthermore, it is the purpose of this research to provide valuable and practical data, to which Humble ISD and others can refer in developing future building plans, renovating existing facilities, allocating funds, and creating student centered learning environments. This study also investigates the relationship between what educators perceive as adequate and quality facility factors and their perception of the impact that these factors have on the learning environment. Finally, this study reviews any congruency or agreement between educator’s perception of adequacy and quality and architect assessment of adequacy and quality. Middle level students are the most influential group of adolescents and it is important that we provide facilities that meet their very specific needs. This research will ultimately and positively impact the learning environment for these children.

A 2003 review of the literature shows a lack of formal institutional research focusing on the development of critical thinking as a situated experience--occurring in a specific context with a complex set of dynamics. Rather, much of the emphasis has been on learning outcomes as measured by various psychometric-approaches or an instructor's assignment, exam, or course grade. The problem with sole reliance on numerical data is that in it sheds little light on why or how a student performed the way her or she did in class, on an exam, or a standardized test in the first place. The purpose of this case study is to explore the experiences of students as they are situated in a first-year seminar that focuses on the development of their ability to think critically. Thus the author constructed a study that attended to both the content (critical thinking) and the context (the learning environment) in a way that presents students subjective experiences, and for the most part, articulated in their own words. The students were participants in a college success program, which requires that they take a first-year seminar in critical thinking. Constructed as a two-phase, sequential mixed methods design, statistical results from the College Classroom Environment Scales (CCES) are primarily used for descriptive purposes. Administered at the end of the semester, the CCES includes the following six constructs: cathectic learning climate, professorial concern, inimical ambiance, academic rigor, affiliation, and structure. The content and structure of the questions, however, were primarily used to guide the second phase of the research. During this qualitative phase, the researcher conducted personal interviews to probe deeper into students' experiences. After reconstructing the three classroom environments, the researcher focuses on students' preferences for and challenges in learning to think critically through discussion and the instructor's role in mediating safe, comfortable discursive environments conducive to risk-taking through public reasoning. Data interpretation is guided by work in discourse analysis as well as theoretical work in rhetoric and philosophy. Framed within a social, political, and ethics approach, the dissertation is largely influenced by American philosopher and education theorist John Dewey. Detailed recommendations for instruction and future research close the dissertation. / text

<p>This project is associated with the field of Information Systems and more specifically with Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs). These environments are becoming very popular the last years, especially in higher education. However we decided to focus in lower level education since there is lack of these learning platforms and their spreading is limited.</p><p>More specifically our project will focus on the description of a Virtual Learning Environment for preliminary schools. The target age will be 5-8 years old. The design of our system is based on the guidelines of a preliminary schoolteacher in Spain, who is actually our stakeholder. Designing a system for so young students means that various aspects have to be taken into consideration such as their level of computer knowledge, their maturity, their not still developed studying abilities and the fact that it is their first approach to school as a learning environment. However we believe that if they can be integrated in the information society in such an early age, it will be beneficial for their future and the future of information technologies as well. We hope that through this project we will be able to contribute to computer based education and equip the young students with new ways and potentials of learning.</p><p>On a theoretical basis, we could say that our project contains two different parts: a theoretical part and a more practical one. In the theoretical part, all the related work of similar VLEs is presented in an effort to see what products already exist in the market and try to create a new, innovative system taking into consideration various educational aspects. In addition, a review of our literature research concerning computer based education and VLEs is included in order to provide the necessary theoretical background before starting to design our system. Finally, a summary of our research made including questionnaires and interviews as well as the analysis and the conclusions of this research are presented since before designing our system we tried to include the opinion of the different people involved in this system like the students and their parents, the teachers and the pedagogues. On the other hand, the second more practical part focuses on the description of the learning platform. The architecture of the system as well as the use cases is included here. A prototype of the system is also provided but we were not able to complete the whole implementation due to time limitations.</p>

Master's thesis “Possibilities of formation of learning environment in primary school" analyses the theoretical basis of formation of learning environment and reveals the possibilities of its formation. According to the works of many scholars, such as L. Jovaisa, B. Bitinas, A. Zulumskyte, etc. the conception of learning environment was formulated and its structure analyzed. A profound analysis of documents and governmental decisions regulating primary education and significant to the formation of learning environment was carried out. Assumptions of formation of auspicious learning environment are revealed: • through psychological recognition of primary student, by emphasizing that it was not enough for the teacher “to know the change of child's mind and understand child's development following <...> the psychology of age only" (Butkiene and Kepalaite, 1996, p. 104), but the learner has to be recognized directly as "children develop differently and individual development may not have some typical features" (Ruzgiene and Petruziene, 2005, p. 96); • through analysis of ergonomical analysis of learning environment, as according to V. Kucinskas (1997) and A. Zulumskyte (2006), the space impacts emotions and spiritual state of students of various age and therefore, comfortable environment stimulates activity and mobilizes nervous and mental functions; • through revealing educator's role in the process of formation of learning environment as his competence has much... [to full text]

Social work education is increasingly changing, and instructors are experimenting with new methods to deliver social work curricula to reach a larger population of social work students. Students previously excluded from university education based on their geographic location, financial limitations, family or work demands now have an opportunity to access social work programs in Canada using distance education, and distance education has become an emerging field of research. The current study identified instructor and student characteristics and university supports that were assessed as critical in creating an effective learning environment for delivering an entire undergraduate program of social work via distance education. The exploratory-descriptive study utilized a mixed-methods design to examine the perceptions of social work distance educators from four universities that offer a complete BSW degree accredited by the Canadian Association for Social Work Education (CASWE-ACFTS) through distance education: the University of Calgary, the University of Manitoba, the University of Victoria and Dalhousie University. Thirty-four social work distance educators completed a survey questionnaire, and 24 of these participated in qualitative interviews to identify the critical characteristics and university supports. Study findings suggest that effective performance of five distinct roles by both instructors and students are essential to creating an effective learning environment in social work distance education. The required university supports to maintain those roles are also identified. Based on these results a conceptual model for achieving effectiveness in social work distance education is identified. The study suggests what is needed to establish an effective learning environment in social work distance education and confirms the benefits of distance education in social work undergraduate programs. Suggestions for future research are included along with recommendations for building an effective distance learning environment in social work education. / May 2016

This study focuses on the computer laboratory class as a learning environment in university courses. It involved the development and validation of two instruments, the Computer Laboratory Environment Inventory (CLEI) and the Attitude towards Computing and Computing Courses Questionnaire (ACCC). The CLEI has five scales for measuring students' perceptions of aspects of their laboratory environment. These are Student Cohesiveness, Open-Endedness, Integration, Technology Adequacy and Laboratory Availability. The ACCC has four scales, Anxiety, Enjoyment, Usefulness of Computers and Usefulness of the Course. The instruments were administered at three universities, one in Australia, one in England and one in the United States. The classes surveyed included those in which the development of software was the focus of study, such as Information Systems and Computer Science, and others in which the computer was used as a tool. With the exception of Laboratory Availability, all the environment variables were found to correlate significantly with all attitudinal variables. The only environment variable with significant association with achievement was Student Cohesiveness. However, the results showed that there were significant associations between the attitudinal variables, Anxiety, Enjoyment and Usefulness of the Course and achievement. Regression analysis supported the findings that the environment variables made a significant contribution to the attitudinal variables, and these in turn made a significant contribution to achievement. Further analysis using structural equation modelling suggests that computer laboratory environment affects achievement indirectly by directly affecting students' attitudes towards computers but even more so their attitude towards the course.The significance of this study is, that it is one of the first that has investigated the effectiveness of ++ / computer laboratory classes in a university setting in which the computer is central to the discipline being studied. The results demonstrate the importance of the laboratory environment in those courses in which the computer plays a major role. The CLEI will prove useful in the design and implementation of the laboratory component of a course and in the formative evaluation of such a course.

There are convincing arguments for the integration of computer applications into school programmes to support the learning of students. After more than 30 years of increasing investment in educational computing researchers are concerned that there has been very little impact on the experiences of students in schools. In the 1990s, a significant development in computer technology has been the emergence of low-cost, high-powered portable computers which some schools have introduced into classrooms. It is not clear what the impact of this development might be.This study addressed issues concerning the impact of student-owned, portable computers on students, teachers, the curriculum, and the classroom learning environment. It considered the classroom learning environment as the complex set of relationships between students, teachers, the curriculum, and the technology (principally computer hardware and software) within the physical confines of a classroom.The three year study was carried out at one girls' school, which progressively introduced portable computers into its secondary education program-me. The study used an interpretive methodology involving the collection of a range of qualitative and quantitative data. In each year of the study, data were collected about students, teachers and a selection of classrooms using observations of lessons, interviews, questionnaires, and a range of data obtained from the school's administration. As the study progressed, it focussed on those features of the psycho-social environment of the school which emerged as important from interpretation of data collected earlier.The study found that, apart from isolated teacher-class combinations, there was very little change at the classroom level which could be attributed to the presence of the computers. Very few teachers implemented substantial computer use and many of those who did, ++ / supported only a very limited role for the computers. While most students expressed a range of concerns, only a perceived lack of use of the computers appeared to have a consistent negative influence on their attitudes and behaviours.It is argued that the lack of use of the computers is largely related to teachers' preferred pedagogy, their lack of experience and knowledge in using computers in the classroom, and a lack of time to experiment with computer applications. Increasingly, the teachers who chose to facilitate the use of the computers did so to support predominantly student-centred learning environments. The study proposed a model to describe and explain teachers' responses to the portable computer program in terms of their facilitation of computer use by considering sets of forces and obstacles experienced by them.The findings of this study have important implications for educational policy makers, administrators and teachers, and enable a clearer understanding of the factors which determine the successful implementation of computers into school programmes to support student learning.NOTE: Referencing style used throughout this thesis report comes from the American Psychological Association's manual, fourth edition (1994).

The present research examined whether teachers in South Africa could use feedback from a learning environment instrument to help them to increase the degree to which they emphasised constructivist-oriented teaching strategies in their classroom. The study also investigated the validity of a widely-applicable classroom environment questionnaire, as well as associations between attitudes and classroom environment. The study involved a combination of quantitative and qualitative research methods and was carried out in two phases. In the first phase of the study, data were collected using the Constructivist Learning Environment Survey (CLES), to assess learners' perceptions of the constructivist learning environment, and an attitude scale to assess learners' attitudes towards their mathematics classroom. The instruments were administered to 1864 learners in 34 intermediate (Grades 4 - 6) phase and senior phase (Grades 7 - 9) classes. Data were analysed to determine whether (a) the CLES is valid and reliable for use in South Africa and (b) relationships exist between learners' perceptions of the learning environment and their attitude toward their mathematics classes. Descriptive analysis was used to generate feedback information for teachers based on graphical profiles of learners' perceptions of the actual and preferred learning environment for each class. Analyses of data collected from 1864 learners in 34 classes supported the factor structure, internal consistency reliability (Cronbach alpha coefficient), and discriminant validity of the CLES, as well as its ability to differentiate between classes. The results suggest that researchers and teachers can be confident about using the modified version of the CLES in mathematics classes in South Africa in the future. / Simple correlation and multiple regression analyses were conducted to examine whether associations exist between learners' attitudes towards their mathematics class and their perceptions of the learning environment. The results indicated that student attitudes were associated with more emphasis on all four CLES scales used. Two scales, Uncertainty and Student Negotiation, were found to contribute most to variance in student attitudes in mathematics classes in South Africa when the other CLES scales were mutually controlled. Descriptive analysis was used to provide information about the constructivist nature of mathematics classes in the Limpopo Province of South Africa. The results indicate that students would prefer a learning environment that is more positive than the one that they perceive as being present in terms of emphasis on all four CLES scales used. The second phase involved a 12-week intervention period during which two teachers used the pretest profiles of actual and preferred classroom environment means to assist them to develop strategies aimed at improving the constructivist orientation of their classroom learning environments. The teachers implemented the strategies and maintained daily journals as a means of reflecting on their teaching practices. Throughout the 12-week period, the researcher made regular support visits that included classroom observations, reviews of daily journals, discussions with teachers and interviews with learners. / As well, the researcher had the opportunity of giving support to the teachers in the implementation of their strategies. At the end of the 12 weeks, the CLES was re-administered to learners to determine whether their perceptions of the constructivist emphasis in their classroom learning environments had changed. The posttest graphical profiles indicated that there was a sizeable improvement in teachers' emphasis on CLES dimensions in their classrooms. Apparently, teachers using action research are able to use learners' responses to the CLES to develop and implement strategies for improving their learning environment. The study suggests that journal writing, as a tool used by teachers on a daily basis, can improve their professional expertise as reflective practitioners.

One purpose of the present study was to validate a modified version of the What is Happening In This Class? (WIHIC) questionnaire and the Test of Science Related Attitude (TOSRA) in both Australia and Indonesia. It was the first classroom environment study that used the two above questionnaires simultaneously in these two countries. The second aim of this study was to find out whether the scores on the WIHIC questionnaire and TOSRA vary with country and with gender. The third and final aim of this study was to evaluate the strength of the associations between students' perceptions of their classroom environment and their attitude to science in both Australia and Indonesia. The sample consisted of 1,161 students (594 students from 18 classes in Indonesia and 567 students from 18 classes in Australia). All the students came from private coeducational schools. The original WIHIC questionnaire had eight scales made up of ten items per scale while the original version of TOSRA had seven scales made up of ten items per scale. Principal components factor analysis followed by varimax rotation resulted in the acceptance of a revised version of the WIHIC comprising 55 items and a revised version of TOSRA comprising 20 items. The a priori factor structure of the revised version of each questionnaire was replicated in both countries, with nearly all items having a factor loading of at least 0.30 on their a priori scale and no other scale. / The use of MANOVA revealed that there were a few differences between Australian and Indonesian students' perceptions of their classroom environments and in their attitudes to science. For example, Australian students had a more positive attitude towards scientific inquiry while Indonesian students had a more positive attitude towards career interest in Science. A comparison between male and female students in the two countries revealed that both genders had almost similar perceptions of their learning environments and attitudes to science. However, female students had a slightly higher score when it came to career interest in science, student cohesiveness and equity. A series of simple correlation and multiple regression analyses revealed reasonably strong and positive associations between each classroom environment scale and the attitude scale. Overall Teacher Support and Involvement were the strongest independent predictors of student attitudes to science in both Indonesia and Australia.