This study sets up to test the extent to which gender variety moderates the impact of power disparity on group cognitive complexity (GCC) and satisfaction with the group in a collaborative learning setting. Using insights from gender differences in perceptions, orientations and conflict handling behavior in negotiation, as well as gender…

We study project-based, technology-enhanced learning environments in higher education, which should produce, by means of specific mechanisms, learning outcomes in terms of transferable knowledge and learning-, thinking-, collaboration- and regulation-skills. Our focus is on the role of objects from professional practice serving as boundary objects…

In peer feedback literature, little is known about the patterns of success for peer feedback activities in online learning environments. This study aims to explore the peer feedback patterns of successful, less successful, and unsuccessful higher education students for argumentative essay writing. In this exploratory study, 330 higher education…

Since the publication of the IMS Learning Design (IMS LD) specification in 2003, many initiatives have been undertaken to build authoring tools that are simple enough to be used by non-technical instructors and teachers. IMS LD's technical complexity is believed to be a major burden for the adoption of the specification. We have developed a new…

In primary teacher education, using a multimedia learning environment, we challenge student teachers to develop narratives of paradigmatic classroom situations. In this digital environment they observe footage of classroom practice (mathematics lessons) and discuss, analyse, and interpret these episodes. The environment will stimulate student…

A large number of studies in CMC have assessed how social interaction, processes and learning outcomes are intertwined. The present research explores how the degree of self-determination of learners, that is the motivational orientation of a learner, influences the communication and interaction patterns in an online Problem Based Learning…

This study investigated the effects of problem-based learning (PBL) on knowledge acquisition and knowledge retention in a controlled experiment in a lab setting. Eighty-eight first-year psychology students were randomly assigned to either a PBL condition, a lecture condition, or a self-study condition. All participants had the opportunity to study…

Self-regulated learners are expected to plan their own learning. Because planning is a complex task, it is not self-evident that all learners can perform this task successfully. In this study, we examined the effects of two planning support tools on the quality of created plans, planning behavior, task load, and acquired knowledge. Sixty-five…

Despite the continuous and abundant growth of the game market the uptake of games in education has been hampered by the general impression that games require complex technologies and that games are difficult to organise and to embed in education curriculums. This article explores to what extent a simple serious game scenario that can be easily…

The Opera eLearning project developed a solution for opera singing distance lessons at the graduate level, using high bandwidth to deliver a quality audio and video experience that has been evaluated by singing teachers, chorus and orchestra directors, singers and other professional musicians. Prior to finding a technological model that suits the…

This article presents a Web 2.0 approach for the arrangement of peer tutoring in online learning. In online learning environments, the learners' expectations of obtaining frequent, one-to-one support from their teachers tend to increase the teachers' workloads to unacceptably high levels. To address this problem of workload a self-organised peer…

Whether fading support for problems affects accuracy of hypertext navigation and problem performance is investigated in this study. In a student-centered e-learning environment conceptual support is added to help domain novices get an overview of the problem domain, while strategic support is provided to help domain novices get insight into the…

The traditional notion of the curriculum as a fixed list of topics to be studied sequentially is under strain as the pressure for flexibility in education increases. However, curriculum flexibility can lead to curriculum complexity, so that guidance systems are needed to assist learners in their study choices. This article proposes the use of the…

This paper outlines and discusses a self-contained multimedia-training program on psychological diagnostics. The program aims to play an intermediate role between theory and working practice, while offering students a simulated environment to prepare for practical work with real humans. The program simulates the entire diagnostic cycle in…