Chen, Wenli

Students’ perceptions of collaboration and satisfaction are key factors that affects students’ dropout behavior. In this study, an online collaborative learning approach which integrated intra-group and inter-group discussions was proposed. Through questionnaire survey and interview, this study explores Chinese undergraduate students’ perceptions of collaboration and satisfaction in an online collaborative learning activity. The results showed that students took a positive attitude to the process of collaboration and were satisfied with the online learning activities. Finally, some suggestions about design and implement online collaborative learning activity were proposed.

This study is to gather baseline data on the technology experiences and competencies of the new generation of pre-service teachers who were born after 1980. This paper presents findings from a survey study conducted in 2009 with 1554 young pre-service teachers in Singapore. The results show that ICT permeates all aspects of the new generation of pre-service teachers' lives. It is found that they own the mainstream ICT devices (such as desktop and laptop computers) and they are comfortable with a core set of ICT applications but have less access to emerging devices (such as smartphone, PMP) and are less comfortable with specialised technologies. Student use of ICT and competency with emerging technologies is far from universal. Only a minority of the students are engaged in content creation activities using multimedia tools. There is a gap between their everyday ICT skills and the skills of ICT for teaching and learning. The findings are discussed in light of Prensky's notions of the 'Digital Natives'. The implications for using technology to support teaching and learning in teacher education are discussed.

In this paper, we articulate a framework (called AppleTree) for assessing collaborative argumentation with the purpose of evaluating and empowering the development of argumentation skills, collaboration skills and content knowledge in school learning. The framework is motivated by the need to achieve “learning to argue” and “arguing to learn” and the necessity to embed on-going and automated formative assessments for collaborative learning as reflected in existing literature. It builds on existing systems for collaborative argumentation and automated assessment of collaborative learning to achieve assessment for learning and to realize it in authentic classroom environments. We illustrate the framework by instantiating it in the conceptual design of one such system for use in schools.

Computer-based writing (CBW) has become integral in language education, enabling personalised learning and online collaboration. In Singapore, CBW is being introduced in Chinese Language (CL) classes, yet challenges persist, particularly for students using the phonetic-based pinyin input method. This study investigated the impact of partially replacing paper-and-pen-based writing (PPBW) with CBW in primary schools. Using mixed-effects modeling, we compared post-CBW and post-PPBW scores, considering CL achievement levels. Results indicated CBW's positive influence on writing quality regardless of prior competence. Furthermore, CBW significantly benefits low and medium-achieving students' performance. Typing speed and handwriting speed are influential for these students, while different writing strategies play distinct roles. Informed by the findings, we propose an online writing community platform, WeeWrite, incorporating generative AI to enhance CL CBW skills, offering personalised and collaborative learning experiences.

随着教育大数据在过去 10 年内的兴起，学习分析(Learning Analytics)成为教育技术领域的新兴课题。本文以学习分析和人工智能(Artificial Intelligence，简称 AI)教育为中心，分别从数据挖掘与分析的关键步骤，知识发现与转化的核心方式，前沿关注与发展动态三个方面，重点讨论了大数据的收集，处理， 学习分析与评估，以及人工智能教育系统的应用开发，借助研究案例，从而对学习分析的主要目的，作用及方法，数据挖掘与分析的重要研究趋势，人工智能教育，这三个研究重点有清晰的了解和认识。

How should and how do primary students learn about environmental issues and be actually involved in actions to participate in Reduce, Reuse or Recycle (3Rs) things that people usually throw away? This study uses an inquiry-based experiential learning approach to involve students in investigating how wastes are produced and what impact 3Rs can have on protecting the environment. By taking advantage of mobile learning technologies, i.e. PDAs and their inter-connectivity with the Internet, this study tries to answer the following questions: (a) How to design inquiry-based learning activities that make use of mobile learning technologies? (b) What are the student learning outcomes when using mobile technology integrated curricula? (c) How do teachers integrate mobile learning technologies for student-centered learning? Primary four teachers, Heads of Department of Science and IT, and students from six Singapore schools participated in the pilot study involving the National Environmental Agency (NEA) and a local supermarket chain store. We selected two classes each from two of the schools, and tracked student activities and learning trajectories. Field notes, surveys of student and teacher technology competence and attitude, pre- and post-tests of student understanding of 3Rs, target student and teacher interviews, audios of target group conversation, classroom videos and student artifacts, are collected and analyzed. Our preliminary results showed that students’ understanding of 3Rs was improved; they held positive attitude towards using PDAs in learning, and their skills in using PDAs was improved significantly.

This study examines 10 weeks of collaborative learning activities that are supported by the GroupScribbles (GS) software technology in 2 Singapore Primary 4 Science classrooms. It is found that GS supports instant formative feedback from students and from teachers effectively. GS plays a positive role at both the level of individual learners and that of group learners. Several emergent collaboration behaviors manifested by students in GS were observed. With GS, the construction of knowledge is distributed across individual learners when they engage in social discourse within the activities. Students were found to have more opportunities to participate in class discussions to share and were better able to organize their ideas by using GS. The results show that the GS classes performed better than non-GS classes as measured by traditional assessments.

The importance of peer feedback in collaborative argumentation has been well-established. However, little is known about the extent to which peer feedback is associated with the quality of collaborative argumentation. Particularly, there is limited evidence for how specific types of feedback is related to argumentation quality. This study investigated peer feedback against four dimensions of collaborative argumentation quality (clarity, multiple perspectives, selection of evidence, and elaboration and depth). Collaborative argumentation quality was also compared against peer feedback types (appropriateness, specificity, and elaboration). In this design-based research (DBR), a class of 40 secondary Grade Three students in Singapore participated in three cycles of argumentation and peer feedback activities using the AppleTree online learning environment, each cycle consisting of five collaborative learning phases scripted by the Spiral Model of Collaborative Knowledge Improvement (SMCKI): Individual ideation, group synergy, peer critique, group refinement, and individual achievement. Scaffolds of sentence openers and reflections were added in Cycles 2 and 3. Quantitative analyses comparisons of argumentation and per feedback quality across three cycles revealed that except for the multiple perspectives dimension of argumentation quality, students performed significantly better in forming their argumentations and giving peer feedback. Additionally, the quality of argumentation improved significantly over the three cycles when accounting for peer feedback types as correlates, and vice versa.