Melbourne Graduate School of Education - Research Publications

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    Models for understanding student engagement in digital learning environments
    Wiseman, P ; KENNEDY, G ; Lodge, J ; Baker, S ; Dawson, S ; Pardo, A ; Colvin, C (Australasian Society for Computers in Learning in Tertiary Education, 2016)
    Digital learning environments are increasingly prevalent in higher education. The flexible and less constrained nature of these environments, means students often need to be more autonomous in managing their own learning. This implies that students are sufficiently self­motivated to successfully engage in autonomous learning. The concept of "student engagement" has shown promise in assisting researchers' and educators' understanding of how students' general involvement in study, and their more specific completion of learning tasks, can lead to beneficial outcomes in digital learning environments. However, student engagement has taken on multiple, diffuse definitions in higher education creating confusion about what engagement is and how best to promote it. In this paper we build on a model of engagement from organisational psychology that offers insight into task-level engagement. Established models in the area of student motivation are integrated to bring clarity to the construct at task-level in digital learning environments.
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    Editorial: Brain, mind and educational technology
    Lodge, J ; Kennedy, G ; Lockyer, L (ASCILITE, 2016)
    There has been substantial hype around the growing body of research investigating how learning occurs in the brain. Over the last century, in particular, we have learned more about how the brain functions than has been discovered throughout history (Albright, Jessell, Kandel & Posner, 2000). New imaging techniques, such as electroencephalography (EEG) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), have been pivotal in driving this research agenda. The emergence of the field of cognitive neuroscience has further helped to align foundational work on uncovering how the brain works with what is known about learning from the psychological sciences. In combination with education, new fields such as ‘educational neuroscience’ have emerged with the aim of translating the findings from the laboratory to the classroom (e.g. Ansari, Coch & De Smedt, 2011).
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    All roads lead to Rome: Tracking students’ affect as they overcome misconceptions
    Kennedy, G ; LODGE, J ; Barker, S ; Dawson, S ; Pardo, A ; Colvin, C (ASCILITE, 2016-11-28)
    Helping students to overcome misconceptions is a complex problem in digital learning environments in which students need to monitor their own progress and self-regulate their own learning. This is particularly so in flexible, discovery-based environments that have been criticised for the lack of support and structure provided to students. Emerging evidence suggests that discovery-based environments might be ineffective due to students becoming confused, frustrated or bored. In the study reported here, we examined the affective experience of students as they worked to overcome a common misconception in a discovery-based environment. While the results suggest that students experience a range of emotions, they all successfully overcame their initial misconception. Implications for the investigation of student affect in discovery-based environments and the design of these environments are also discussed.
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    Prior knowledge, confidence and understanding in interactive tutorials and simulations
    LODGE, J ; Kennedy, G (ascilite, 2015)
    The balance between confidence and understanding can be difficult for students to manage, particularly in digital learning environments where they start with different levels of prior knowledge. The level of prior knowledge and perception of how well understood this prior knowledge is will drive the level of engagement and integration of new knowledge as students are exposed to it. Exploring the relationship between these factors is therefore important for the design of digital learning environments. In this paper we describe two studies examining the levels of confidence and understanding reported by students completing interactive and non-interactive exercises in a digital learning environment. The reported levels of confidence and understanding are then contrasted against pre- and post-test performance and self-reports of the experience completed at the conclusion of the session. The results suggest that students' prior knowledge influences their confidence and perceived difficulty of the material but does not necessarily influence performance.
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