Predictors of Learning
As many of us continue to teach online and some preparing to continue online for the spring 2021, I thought that this article sharing predictors of learning might be helpful. Gurer (October 2020) shares results of his paper entitled, "Sense of Community, Peer Feedback and Course Engagement as Predictors of Learning in Blog Environments." Students created content using WebQuest, digital video and digital storytelling to publish on blogs.
These data for this study were collected from 170 university students in a computer science course. Data were analyzed through correlation and multiple regression tests. It was found that students’ perceived learning, sense of community, peer feedback perceptions and course engagement were high; and perhaps more importantly these attributes were significant predictors of their learning. The author investigated learner characteristics of:
Sense of Community as “the sense of belonging, the feeling that members care about each other and the group, and a common belief that the needs of the members will be met together” (McMillan & Chavis, 1986) [Sense of Community and Perceived Learning Scales developed by Halic et al. (2010)];
Peer Review as reviewing, clarifying and correcting others’ work which involves students in new knowledge, and help students to deepen the comprehension of the new content subject (Topping, 1998) [Peer Feedback Perception Scale developed by Vaezi and Abbaspour (2015)]; and
Course Engagement as the organization of cognitive, affective and motivational strategies for explanatory procedures (Bangert-Drowns & Pyke, 2001) [Student Course Engagement Scale by Handelsman et al. (2005)].
The authors conclude that "The most valuable feature of blogs is that it allows individual reflection, peer interaction and evaluation. First, blogs have a higher impact when combined with compatible pedagogical environments and processes. Secondly, it is central to build a classroom community to help students learn in integrated environments, to help them develop positive experiences in peer feedback, and to engage in learning activities."
References
Gurer, M. (2020). Sense of community, peer feedback and course engagement as predictors of learning in blog environments. Turkish Online Journal of Distance Education-TOJDE, 21(4), Article 14. ISSN 1302-6488
Bangert-Drowns, R. L., & Pyke, C. (2001). A taxonomy of student engagement with educational software: An exploration of literate thinking with electronic text. Journal of Educational Computing Research, 24(3), 213-234. https://doi.org/10.2190/0CKM-FKTR-0CPF-JLGR
Halic, O., Lee, D., Paulus, T., & Spence, M. (2010). To blog or not to blog: Student perceptions of blog effectiveness for learning in a college-level course. Internet and Higher Education, 13, 206–213. DOI:10.1016/j.iheduc.2010.04.001
Handelsman, M. M., Briggs, W. L., Sullivan, N., & Towler, A. (2005). A measure of college student course engagement. The Journal of Educational Research, 98, 184–191. DOI:10.3200/JOER.98.3.184-192
McMillan, D. W., & Chavis, D. M. (1986). Sense of community: A definition and theory. Journal of Community Psychology, 14, 6–23. DOI:10.1002/1520-6629(198601)14:1<6::AIDJCOP2290140103>3.0.CO;2-I
Topping, K. (1998). Peer assessment between students in colleges and universities. Review of Educational Research, 68, 249–276. DOI:10.3102/00346543068003249
Vaezi, S., & Abbaspour, E. (2015). Asynchronous online peer written corrective feedback: effects and affects. In: Mehrak R. (Ed.), Handbook of Research on Individual Differences in Computer-Assisted Language Learning, (pp 271–297). PA: USA.
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