Theme 3: Research and Theory

Journal: “The Internet and Higher Education”. Impact Factor: 2.463

It is a quarterly, peer-reviewed journal, dedicated to address nowadays issues and future developments on online learning, teaching and administration on the Internet in higher education studies. Also, it pays attention in Internet technology and the effects of Internet and Information Technology on instruction in several contexts in higher education. It is an international and interdisciplinary journal, so it contains papers for various academic disciplines across the world. It publishes theory papers, research studies, critical essays, editorials, reviews, case studies, and social commentary contributions.

Paper: “The influence of student characteristics on the use of adaptive e-learning material” published at the “Computers & Education” international journal with impact factor 2.556. 
This paper is about adaptive e-learning systems and how heterogeneous academic students differ in their learning method when they work on them. The study provides empirical evidence to support educators’ decisions in the use of adaptive e-learning systems. The main aim is to answer how individual variables may determine the learning paths students follow and the learning strategies they use when they work with web-based learning environments Also, they want to investigate the self-regulate learning (SRL) strategies that students adopt when using adaptive e-learning material.

The main background information is lots of studies about the benefits of adaptive e learning system and the self regulate learning, however there are not much empirical evidences.
In the experiments took part 94 students from bachelor and master programmes. The characteristics that were selected are prior knowledge, study level, gender and intrinsic motivation. There selection was based on the likelihood that they have an influence on learning paths and strategies. Learning path is all the actions a student do to achieve the learning goal. The variables we measured to determine the learning path of students are: average step size chosen, average number of tries needed to complete an exercise, number of exercises to complete and time needed to finish the module. There were two learning strategies. the students’ approach to do exercises and their use of information sources, and the degree to which they regulate their learning by varying the step sizes. The approach to do exercises comprises the steps students undertake to answer the questions asked in the exercises. Students’ prior knowledge was meseaured with a pre test with one open question. After that, they used the adaptive learning material by doing the exercises that were presented to them. Students’ intrinsic motivation and demographic data were measured by a questionnaire after the intervention.

The adapted system was used in the study, called Proteus and was adapted to enable tracing of step size, average number of tries etc. Feedback also used in the exercises after each answer according to student characteristics.

Results shown that there is no difference between the choices of men and women. BSc students differed from MSc students in the intrinsic motivation they had and the learning paths and strategies they followed. To conclude adaptive e-learning material provides personalized instruction to heterogeneous groups of students.

 

Theory is a ​formal ​statement of the ​rules on which a ​subject of ​study is ​based or of ​ideas that are ​suggested to ​explain a ​fact or ​event or, more ​generally, an ​opinion or ​explanation. Theory is not the references, the data, the variables, the diagrams and the hypothesis. References help set the stage for new conceptual arguments. But there is no theory because no logic is represented to explain why. Data describes which empirical patterns where observed while theory explains why empirical patters were observed or are expected to be observed. Variables are part of the theory, but they do not constitute theory. A theory must also explains why variables or constructs came about or why they are connected. Diagrams can be a useful aid to building a theory. Hypothesis is concise statements about what is expected to occur, not why it is expected to occur. So we can see that the main cause of a theory is to explain “why”. 

The major theory of the theories in my papers is that adaptive e-learning systems are characterized based on what, where, why and how the systems can adapt (Knutov, De Bra, & Pechenizkiy, 2009). What, where, why and how not only characterize each system but it is also guidance during the built of it. It means that everything the system can adapt must be carefully investigated, so to be efficient, effective and relative to the user’s needs. The theory can be characterized as an analysis theory. The adaptive e-learning system of the paper, called Proteus, and it was built based on that theory. 

As I mentioned this theory helped to be built an effective e-learning adaptive system, a system that is based on what, where, why and how can we adapt. Following this theory a system failure is not so possible to happen. However, when you focus a lot one the theory, maybe you miss the opportunity to create an innovating system.