Assessment 3 Critical Analysis

Introduction
Alevan et al (2003) discuss ‘Help seeking and help design in interactive learning environments’. They report on recent studies indicating that ‘learners are not using help facilities effectively despite the positive influences on learning outcomes’. The text examines theoretical perspectives on the role of on-demand help in interactive learning environments (ILEs), reviews literature on the relations between help seeking and learning in ILEs, and identifies reasons for the lack of effective help use. The main focus of this critical analysis is to examine the interaction between metacognition skills and cognitive factors in relationship with learner and system related factors. The text aims to inform readers about the limited use of on demand help, intended to positively influence learning. Alevan et al (2003) outlines six conclusions based on a review of the existing literature.

1. Different instructional goals result in different types of ILEs whose help systems provide different types of information.

2. Learners often use help systems ineffectively or ignore them altogether. However, when they do use help, learning processes and outcomes may be substantially improved.

3. A variety of learner characteristics influence help seeking, individually or in combination.

4. Different types of help may cause different types of help-seeking activities and result in different learning outcomes.

5. Design and learner-related factors interact in their effect on help seeking and learning.

6. Depending on the learning context, the same type of help may trigger different help-seeking behavior, which in turn is related to different effects on learning outcomes.

The text provides important insights into the effects of various system characteristics, students’ behaviors, student characteristics, and the interactions among these factors. The text highlights important links between cognition, motivation and instruction on help seeking in ILEs. The text seeks to enhance a deeper understanding of help design and help seeking in ILEs and creates open arena for discussion in improving educational practice.

Firstly an analysis of the research methodologies will be conducted. Secondly a summary of meta cognition and system/learner related factors will be made followed by a critique relating findings, conclusions or recommendations made by the researcher to issues in development or design of interactive learning environments.

Review of research methodologies
Help-seeking and help design is a highly relevant issue in the changing nature of education. A “paradigm shift” (Desai, Hart & Richards, 2008) has seen 21st century learning take on a new meaning in preparing students to become active citizens of society in a technologically savvy world. This new meaning transforms the learning environment from a teacher driven indiviualised learning environment to an interactive learning environment (Hmelo-Silver, Chernobilsky & Jordan, 2008) using new forms of interactive computer based tools to enhance the learning experience and afford students with new skills necessary for future success. With the rapid development of new technologies, interactive learning environments (ILE’s) have become widespread and are beginning to have a profound influence on the daily practice of education (Dillon & Gabbard, 1998; Koedinger, Anderson, Hadley, & Mark, 1997) The title of the article gives a clear indication as to the aim of the study in addressing different types of ILE’s and what they do and do not offer in terms of support for learners.

The researchers motives, background, perspectives and preliminary hypothesis are presented with the issues of help seeking and help design being at the forefront of discussion despite minimal research in help seeking and help design in ILE’s as opposed to other similar context (such as classroom environments).

Various strategies for data collection are presented including qualitative and quantitative methods of evaluation such as standardized tests and tests focusing on the use of presentations and problem solving. The approach chosen, aims to inform readers of the various affordances of help seeking in an ILE. A range of consequences are also presented that highlight the implications for various types of users and present new strategies to close the gap that exists between users. A number of characteristics regarding learning needs are addressed in enough depth to understand the study and context.

A number of theoretical frameworks are drawn upon (e.g. Tutoring and Vygotskian Frameworks) from a variety of perspectives (such as cognitive skill acquisition) that have been put forward by designers of ILE’s in order to interpret the data presented. Each framework encompasses help-seeking and help design methods.

The principals and procedures for data organisation and analysis are fully described allowing the reader to understand what happened and how results were drawn upon. Preconceptions were defined in advance of data presentation and a number of strategies are used to validate results presented such as crosschecks between various forms of data.

Te findings are extremely relevant to the aim of the study in that it identifies the relationship between help seeking and learning in ILE’s and the effect of system and student related factors and the interaction between these cognitive factors and metacognition skills in establishing appropriate help seeking methods.

Validity of the selected studies and heavily scrutinized in their relationship and relevance to ILE’s. The findings have been compared with several theoretical frameworks and empirical research studies. In light of this a few consequences of the study are proposed highlighting further need for research and possible research questions.

The study is easy to understand and is clearly contexualised. It is easy to distinguish between the voices of the informants and those of the researchers. Research is appropriately presented to assist developers of ILE’s despite there being minimal research in this area.


Summary of findings
Meta-cognition refers to learners’ automatic awareness of their own knowledge and their ability to understand, control and manipulate their own cognitive processes (Flavell, 1979, Corno, 1986). Existing research describes three areas of meta-cognition
1. Metamemory refers to the learners’ awareness of knowledge about their own memory systems and strategies for using their memories effectively.
2. Metacomprehension refers to the learners’ ability to monitor the degree to which they understand information being communicated to them, to recognise failures to comprehend, and to employ repair strategies when failures are identified.
3. Self-Regulation ability of learners’ to make judgments in their own learning processes in response to their perception of feedback regarding their current status of learning. Self-Regulation combines the learners’ ability to monitor learning along with the ability to implement appropriate strategies to enhance learning.

Essential understanding of these three areas of Meta cognition is necessary when examining a relationship with learner and system related cognitive factors. Help seeking is an important strategy and can be instrumental in the development of independent skill and ability (Ames 1983; Nelson-LeGall, 1981; Newman, 1994). Help seeking is reliant on a number of individual learner related factors. However recent studies provide evidence that learners often do not use help functions effectively or even ignore them totally. The proficient use of help facilities would seem to be an important factor determining learning outcomes among individuals working in these environments. The implications and proficiencies can be due to a number of learners’ related factors. Some of these factors are discussed below in further detail.

1. Prior knowledge is one of the most important factors influencing student performance (Dochy & Alexander, 1995). Aleven et al (2003) describe prior knowledge of the domain and prior knowledge of the learning environment to be two domains of interest in ILE’s. The research found that students with a higher prior knowledge are better able to control and monitor their help seeking behaviour as well as being more likely to seek help after an error is made to correct it. On the other hand students with lower prior knowledge were seemingly less proficient in help seeking as well as being less likely to seek help after an error is made. Further evidence for effects of prior knowledge on help seeking is found in the work of Renkl (2002) his analysis suggests that users other than those with high prior knowledge fare better if they seek help more often.

2. Self Regulation

Further evidence shows that help seeking can be defined as a self regulatory skill. Aleven et al (2003) discuss its relevance to Nelson-LeGall (1981) and Newman’s (1998) process model whereby students help seeking depends on the ability for them to: recognise that they are in need of help, decide the possible options for seeking help, identify potential helpers, use strategies to elicit help and evaluate the effectiveness of the help seeking episode. It is highly evident that these specific characteristics are a match for Meta cognition functioning.


The system related factors are discussed in relation to the following four areas.
1. Operative help - is defined as a list of steps that have been taken to achieve a goal. This method is often
2. Function oriented help – provides an explanation on how a function works.

Dutke & Reimer (2000) suggest that operative help supports better performance than function oriented help during training and function oriented help is more effective during transfer tasks. With this in mind educators can design tasks based on these suggestions to improve learning outcomes and minimise the help required to perform tasks.

3. Concrete hints – makes reference to concrete objects and make connections to real life problems.

4. Abstract hints – Existing in thought or idea making minimal to no reference to concrete objects.

Students high in cognitive development were said to do better using abstract hints and students with a lower cognitive development were said to do better using concrete hints to solve problems. Sweller (1999) states that “help seeking requires additional cognitive effort by the learner. Such effort may increase cognitive load and consequently reduce learning outcomes”. Therefore learners may refrain from seeking help in order to avoid cognitive load. It is also important to note that the type of information presented as feedback can make a difference in students learning results. Therefore the level of help should be adapted to the learners level of cognitive development (Arroyo et al, 2001).


Critique
The text identifies four ILE’s that support collaborative learning. These include: Intellectual Tutoring Systems (ITS’s); Computed Assisted Instruction (CAI); Educational Hypermedia Systems and Project or Problem-Oriented Learning. Each of these ILE’s providing a range of help functions that support learning not task performance. As previously mentioned a “paradigm shift” has seen technology become a significant focus of education and with this in mind the text fails to consider that “Learning becomes as much social as cognitive, as much concrete as abstract, and becomes intertwined with judgment and exploration,”(Lombardi, 2007) just as it is in an actual workplace. Although many of the studies are authentic in their design some of them do not take into account the possibility of an overload in cognition. The text does however suggest a number of conclusions aimed at optimising further learning experiences from instructional and self explanations: provision of feedback, provision of learner demand, minimalism, progressive help and a focus on principles.

A number of recommendations for how the text can be improved in terms of research approach and theories are listed below.
1. The use of multiple intelligence theory to enhance help-seeking skills for a variety of learners.
2. Further discussion on the impact of student input into help design to enhance learning.
3. Deeper analysis on the various pedagogical approaches of the systems and learning goals.
4. How help systems are used in different contexts to bring about the most successful methods of help design.

Conclusion
The text provides much insight into the effects of various system characteristics, student behaviours, student characteristics, and interactions among these factors. Important links have been made between cognition and instruction in relation to help-seeking and help design for ILE’s. The research provided leads to deeper knowledge and understanding of help design and help seeking in ILE’s. Help seeking skills are instrumental when learners face new learning goals and for some learners help seeking is the key to understanding and interpreting information that is presented.

References

Aleven, V., Stahl, E., Schwom, S., Fischer, & Wallace, R. (2003) Help seeking and help design in interactive learning environments. Review of Educational Research, 73 (3), 277-320

Ames, R. (1983). Help-seeking and achievement orientation: Perspectives from attribution theory. In B. DePaulo, A. Nadler, & J. D. Fisher (Eds.), New directions in helping 2, 165–186

Arroyo, I., Beck, J., Beal, C., Wing, R., & Woolf, B. (2001). Analysing students’ response to help provision in an elementary mathematics intelligent tutoring system. In R. Luckin (Ed.), Papers of the AIED-2001 Workshop on Help Provision and Help Seeking in Interactive Learning Environments. Available: http://www.hcrc.ed.ac.uk/aied2001/workshops.html

Corno, L. (1986) The metacognitive control components of self regulated learning. Journal of Contemporary Educational Psychology, 11 (4), 333-346

Desai, M., Hart, J. & Richards, T. (2008) E-Learning: Paradigm Shift in Education, Journal of Education, 129, (2), 327-334.
Dillon, A., & Gabbard, R. (1998) Hypermedia as an educational technology: A review of the quantitative research literature on learner comprehension, control, and style. Review of Educational Research, 68, 322–349.

Dochy, F, & Alexander, P. (1995) Mapping prior knowledge:A framework for discussion among researchers. European Journal of Psychology of Education, 10, 225–242.

Dutke, S., & Reimer, T. (2000) Evaluation of two types of online help information for application software: Operative and function-oriented help. Journal of Computer-Assisted Learning, 16, 307–315.

Flavell, J. (1979). Metacognition and cognitive monitoring: A new area of cognitive-developmental inquiry. American Psychologist, 34, 906 - 911.

Hmelo-Silver, C., Chernobilsky, E & Jordan, R. (2008) Understanding collaborative learning processes in new learning environments. Journal of Instructional Science, 36 (5), 409-430

Koedinger, K. R., Anderson, J. R., Hadley, W. H., & Mark, M. A. (1997). Intelligent tutoring goes to school in the big city. International Journal of Artificial Intelligence in Education, 8, 30–43.

Lombardi, M (2007) Authentic learning for the 21st century: An overview. EDUCAUSE retrieved Septemeber 10, 2011 http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ELI3009.pdf

Nelson-Le Gall, S. (1981). Help-seeking: An understudied problem-solving skill in children. Developmental Review, 1, 224–246.

Newman, R. S. (1994). Adaptive help seeking: A strategy of self-regulated learning. In D. H. Schunk & B. J. Zimmerman (Eds.), Self-regulation of learning and performance: Issues and educational applications 283–301

Newman, R. S. (1998b). Students’ help seeking during problem solving: Influences of personal and contextual achievement goals. Journal of Educational Psychology, 90, 644–658.

Renkl, A. (2002) Learning from worked-out examples: Instructional explanations supplement self-explanations. Learning & Instruction, 12, 529-556.

Sweller, J. (1999). Instructional design in technical areas. Camberwell, Victoria, Australia: Australian Council for Educational Research.