The facilitation of peer feedback on academic writing is often lauded for its myriad cognitive, affective, social, and linguistic benefits. However, educators face conflicting research results when seeking empirical guidance on efficient methods to support peer feedback, particularly for their English language learners. This study contributes to the body of research on second language peer review by examining the effects of being an anonymous peer online writing advisor on the advisor's own (1) writing proficiency, (2) quality of feedback he or she produces, and (3) self- regulation. Unlike previous studies that have focused on the reciprocal relationships between classmates as the "peers" exchanging a common assignment, this mixed-methods study investigates group co-construction of feedback for third party writers. Different from previous work is the focus on the giver of feedback, separate and distinct, from the original writer who asked for help.

The givers of feedback, peer advisors, in this 12-week study were 10 EFL writers working in a peer online writing center in Japan. They were compared with 11 similar students who had applied to be peer advisors, but who had missed the required pre-semester training. Peer advisors were given an online intervention that provided layers of feedback-on-feedback, not just from other peer advisors, but also from teachers facilitating the quality of advice.

Though the treatment of being a peer advisor did not improve writing quality on timed persuasive writing tests, peer advisors wrote longer essays that included a greater range of metadiscourse features. In 12 weeks, peer advisors increased the length of the feedback they provided and the number of techniques they used in advice giving, particularly improving how they addressed the writer's question, showed sensitivity to positive affect, and modeled appropriate language-use for writers. In addition, the practice of co-constructing online peer feedback was found to trigger and sustain advisors' own self-regulation. Peer advisors reported using more writing strategies than the comparison group. Last, within-group analysis of peer advisors according to previous work experience suggested that giving peer feedback improved self-regulation and quality of advice-giving over time.

Many medical schools have developed computer-based, multimedia learning environments to fill the knowledge gap and provide common cases and resources to students. However, considering that multimedia in education may impede effective learning if the characteristics of learners and tasks are not considered thoroughly in instructional design, it is critical to develop a comprehensive understanding of learner characteristics in medical multimedia learning environments. Although many researchers agree that learners’ prior knowledge, self-regulation, and motivation are important to explain learning processes, few studies have investigated their combined effects. Therefore, the current study examined the direct and indirect effects of medical clerkship students’ prior knowledge, self-regulation, and motivation on learning performance in multimedia learning environments using structural equation modeling. The data of 386 medical clerkship students from 6 U.S. medical schools were analyzed. Students completed a prior knowledge test, the Self-Regulation Measure in Computer-assisted learning (SRMC), and motivational questionnaires (self-efficacy, goal-orientation, task value) during the first week of clerkship. From the second to the fourth week of clerkship rotation, the participants were asked to use the 45-minute Web Initiatives for Surgical Education-MD (WISE-MD) module on carotid artery disease. Right after taking the module, they completed posttest measures including the knowledge posttest and the Script Concordance test. The structural model showed that medical clerkship students’ prior knowledge directly positively affected their learning outcome (β = .422, p < .001), self-efficacy (β = .300, p < .001) and performance approach goal orientation (β = .294, p < .001). The learners’ self-regulation showed a significant positive direct effect on learning outcome (β = .581, p < .001). In terms of motivational constructs, learners’ mastery goal orientation directly affected their learning outcome (β = .358, p = .006). However, inconsistent with the hypothesis, learners’ performance approach goal orientation showed a significant negative direct effect on learning outcome (β = -.261, p = .024), and performance avoidance goal orientation had a significant positive effect on learning outcome (β = .259, p = .010). The findings were discussed to develop a more comprehensive understanding of the role of individual characteristics in medical multimedia learning environments.

What factors contribute to effective multimedia learning? Increasingly, interactivity is considered a critical component that can foster learning in multimedia environments, including simulations and games. Although a number of recent studies investigate interactivity as a factor in the effective design of multimedia instruction, most examine only the broad question of whether interactivity is included or excluded. This study focuses on a more fine-grained exploration of how interactive elements can be designed to be most effective. Based on theoretical approaches to active learning, it investigates whether differences at the level of presentation and motor control influence the effectiveness of a computer presentation. How does the added modality of gesture contribute to what is heard and seen? Do the specific motor actions performed in using a computer simulation, for example dragging versus clicking, affect retention of the information presented? Participants were presented with a series of forty spoken phrases describing actions, such as "walk the dog." They were asked to listen to each phrase and, in addition, do one of the following: simply listen; look at a graphic; click on the graphic to see an animation of the phrase; click and drag the graphic to "perform" the action described in the phrase. They were subsequently asked to recall as many of the phrases as possible. It was hypothesized that the higher level of motor activity involved in clicking and dragging would result in the best recall.

This study examined participant response to a series of educational video segments delivered on a handheld computer. Each intervention video segment was developed to test a relevant theory of educational media production. The study addressed two related issues: Should an educational video presentation feature people who are ethnically matched to the viewer, or will the depiction of people who intentionally do not match the viewer result in greater effectiveness? Further, does video content designed to elicit a positive emotional response in viewers lead to greater effectiveness than content designed to elicit a negative emotional response, such as fear or anger?

To study issues of matching and emotional content in an authentic, meaningful context, I developed a computer-based video learning environment to educate emergency department patients about HIV testing and prevention. It appears from the data that various groups responded to this study's treatments in very different ways. Not only did interesting between-group differences emerge by ethnicity, but the treatments which resulted in greater numbers of people accepting an HIV test when they had not been offered a test at triage were not necessarily the same treatments that led participants to accept a test after they had refused one earlier.

This may indicate that instead of the standard practice of delivering a single type of educational video content to all learners, or even to particular groups of learners, future interventions can be fine-tuned for greater effectiveness among members of specific population groups and to achieve specific cognitive, affective, or behavioral outcomes.

A national survey found that a majority of adults and teens agree that schools should give teens a strong message that they should abstain from sex until they are at least out of high school (National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, 2003), yet there is no consensus in our country as to whether programs that have a strong abstinence message are effective in delaying teen sexual involvement (Hymowitz, 2003).

The present study compares the effect of an abstinence-centered sexual health education multimedia program based on cognitive flexibility theory on the attitudes and intentions of ninth-grade students at a New Jersey high school with the effects of a multimedia program that utilizes a traditional instructive, directive approach. In addition, the study compares the effect of a presentation based on the Health Beliefs model emphasizing consequences of teen sexual behavior on teens' attitudes and intentions with the impact of a presentation based on a Character Education model that asserts norms of healthy sexual behaviors.

Both the traditional instructional design and the Cognitive Flexibility Theory (CFT)-based design for abstinence-centered teen sexuality education were significantly more effective than no sex education in impacting the sexual attitudes and intentions of this racially diverse cohort of ninth-grade students, including the several racial/ethnic groups represented in the study and both genders. The traditional instructional design was significantly more effective than the CFT design, suggesting that a directive, instructional approach in abstinence-centered sexual health education can strengthen the impact on teens' attitudes and intentions to abstain from sex. Both the threat-appeal presentation and the norms/ideals presentation were significantly effective in impacting both male and female students' sexual attitudes and intentions. The norms/ideals presentation was significantly more effective than the threat-appeal presentation in impacting many attitudinal scales and questions, suggesting that discussions of norms and ideals should not be omitted in sex education that seeks to increase teen abstinence.

The purpose of this 12-week study was to examine the impact of an after-school technology program that was designed to appeal to girls to see if it would affect their attitudes about computers or their willingness to continue to explore technology in the future. The study was also designed to gather information on what some girls like and dislike when working with computers in the hopes that this knowledge might help educators to create more palatable learning environments for women that could inspire increased interest in technology.

Subjects included a total of 39 female students consisting of 23 fourth-graders and 17 fifth-graders who voluntarily joined an after-school computer club created for the study at a suburban elementary school in the Mid-Hudson Valley region of New York State. Both quantitative and qualitative data were compiled.

No significant difference was found in girls' general technology attitudes and interests from pre-test to post-test conditions in this study. Significant differences were, however, found in response to six individual questions indicating some change in girls' attitudes by the end of study.

This study examined and acknowledged the complex interconnected influences on female technology attitudes that make solutions to improving girls' attitudes demanding to find. It concluded with an appeal not to let the difficulty of this task deter researchers from continued investigation.

Read Now

The purpose of this study was to explore instructional design of online discussions effective at fostering critical thinking. The participants were pre-service teachers enrolled in a special education teacher education program. Undergraduate juniors in a practicum participated in online discussions about case studies of children with emotional and behavioral disorders. One case study presented information about a child in an interactive multimedia learning program. The other case study was of a real child in the participants' student teaching field placement.

Prior research indicated a growing use of online discussion in educational programs blended with face-to-face instruction. Advantages that have been cited for using online discussions include: (a) time to think-through more structured and in-depth responses before posting; (b) exposure to multiple perspectives; and, (c) increasing higher-order thinking by helping students make connections and become better at critiquing, questioning, and analyzing. Online discussions offer opportunities for discourse to help teacher-candidates reflect upon their beliefs, the perspectives of others, and how those beliefs may influence their teaching practices. The effectiveness of online discussions requires careful balancing among the task design, facilitation of the interaction process and scaffolding of participants.

In this quasi-experimental research design of two course sections, critical thinking evident in online discussions structured around authentic roles involved in working with children with special needs was compared with the critical thinking resulting from open-ended discussion forums. Critical thinking was measured using the Interaction Analysis Model's five phases of knowledge construction wherein phases III to V denotes critical thinking. No statistically significant differences were found. Evidence suggests, however, that the task requirement for group summaries of key discussion points, conclusions, or recommendations advanced critical thinking for both course sections. Evidence also indicates that the treatment may have lead to participants' postings that represented deeper, more critical understanding of the concepts and issues of the course materials.

Commercial video games can be beneficial to second language acquisition; however, interactivity, a fundamental feature of the media, has been nearly ignored in terms of its effect on noticing and recall. In this study, I investigated the effect of video game interactivity on vocabulary acquisition from two perspectives, either that the interactivity would induce extraneous cognitive load and hinder learning, or that the interactivity would make the players experience telepresence (i.e., feel present in the game world) and help learning. Eighty Japanese university undergraduates were randomly selected and paired based on similar language and game proficiencies; one subject played a commercial English-language rhythm video game for 20 minutes and the other subject watched the game simultaneously on a connected monitor. Following the gameplay, subjects completed identical vocabulary recall tests, cognitive load measures (i.e., mental effort and perceived difficulty), telepresence measures, experience questionnaires, and a 2-week delayed vocabulary recall test. Both the players and the watchers of the video game did recall second language vocabulary; however, the players recalled significantly less vocabulary, which seems to be a result of the cognitive load induced by the interactivity of the game. The players and watchers seem to have invested similar mental effort in the game and its language, but the players perceived both to be more difficult than the watchers did. The interactivity appeared to have prevented the players from noticing and recalling vocabulary. The subjects did not differ significantly in their experiences of telepresence, which may be a result of the type of the interactivity in the game. If the interactivity had been more reflective, planned, or purposeful, the players may have felt more present in the world of the video game, and perhaps noticed the vocabulary in a different manner. The interactivity of this game seems to have hindered attention to its vocabulary; however, other types of interactivities may have different results. Further language learning projects should target other types of game interactivity, and students and teachers should consider interactivity's potential hindrance of learning outcomes.

Does the design of the user interface affect learners' emotions in educational environments? For example, does an aesthetically pleasing design enhance multimedia learning? Research indicates that interacting with any multimedia design inevitably induces emotions in learners, and that the induced emotions are important environmental input that may affect multimedia learning. This dissertation investigates how aesthetically pleasing design affects multimedia learning. Two studies were conducted in which the participants watched a multimedia module with a scientific explanation about the formation of lightning that either contained an aesthetically pleasing interface design or a neutral interface design.

Study 1 answered the question whether an aesthetically pleasing design can induce positive emotions in the learners. Interview results indicated that viewing the aesthetically pleasing design did induce much stronger positive emotions than viewing the neutral design. Quantitative data from the Positive Emotions Inventory (PEI) did not reveal a similar effect of the interface design on learners' emotions. Study 2 examined whether an aesthetically pleasing design enhanced multimedia learning. The results showed that the interface design did not affect lower-level learning as measured by recall performance. However, learners receiving the aesthetically pleasing interface design had increased higher-level learning as measured by a problem-solving test than learners receiving the neutral design.

Combining the results from both studies, findings indicate that learners' emotions were effected by interface manipulations such as the aesthetically pleasing interface, and that these interface manipulations improved higher-level learning, but not lower-level learning. This suggests that aesthetically pleasing design enhanced mental model construction but not rote learning. The results of this dissertation offer encouraging evidence that aesthetically pleasing design can result in deeper learning if the design induces positive emotions in the learners. Therefore, instructional designers should consider the effects that the design of educational materials can have on learners' emotions, and, in turn, on learning outcomes.

Reneta Lansiquot, Ph.D. 2008

A three-month study examined how interactive iconography (interactive: non-sequential and user-controlled interfacing; iconography: a set of pictures or symbols connected with people or themes) impacts social studies and promotes critical writing skills. Groups of three middle-school immigrant students constructed museum labels (paragraphs, textual descriptions of an artifact) using Scope Out, an experimental online revision tool that makes iconography interactive. This study included three comparison groups and one control group. All students provided paper-based writing samples before and after the study. Analyses of student writing revealed multiple revisions and statistically significant improvement over the control group. Overall, student-reported writing apprehension and computer anxiety decreased. Results indicate a positive relationship between the reading of iconography and writing skills.

Richard Panzer, Ph.D. 2008

A national survey found that a majority of adults and teens agree that schools should give teens a strong message that they should abstain from sex until they are at least out of high school (National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, 2003), yet there is no consensus in our country as to whether programs that have a strong abstinence message are effective in delaying teen sexual involvement (Hymowitz, 2003).

The present study compares the effect of an abstinence-centered sexual health education multimedia program based on cognitive flexibility theory on the attitudes and intentions of ninth-grade students at a New Jersey high school with the effects of a multimedia program that utilizes a traditional instructive, directive approach. In addition, the study compares the effect of a presentation based on the Health Beliefs model emphasizing consequences of teen sexual behavior on teens' attitudes and intentions with the impact of a presentation based on a Character Education model that asserts norms of healthy sexual behaviors.

Both the traditional instructional design and the Cognitive Flexibility Theory (CFT)-based design for abstinence-centered teen sexuality education were significantly more effective than no sex education in impacting the sexual attitudes and intentions of this racially diverse cohort of ninth-grade students, including the several racial/ethnic groups represented in the study and both genders. The traditional instructional design was significantly more effective than the CFT design, suggesting that a directive, instructional approach in abstinence-centered sexual health education can strengthen the impact on teens' attitudes and intentions to abstain from sex. Both the threat-appeal presentation and the norms/ideals presentation were significantly effective in impacting both male and female students' sexual attitudes and intentions. The norms/ideals presentation was significantly more effective than the threat-appeal presentation in impacting many attitudinal scales and questions, suggesting that discussions of norms and ideals should not be omitted in sex education that seeks to increase teen abstinence.