Birkbeck Knowledge Lab Seminar: Supporting online project-based learning through visible thinking and progressive learning
When:
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Venue:
Online
Project-based learning (PjBL) is increasingly promoted and extended to online environments. However, PjBL involves complex cognitive processes which may pose challenges to students especially in online settings without prompt support from teachers. This talk reports a study on supporting online PjBL through visible thinking and progressive learning. We proposed a visible thinking-based online learning environment to make the complex process accessible to students and to track their performance during the process of PjBL. Further, considering that completing a whole-task project is challenging to novices, we incorporated a simple-to-complex progressive learning approach in PjBL. Senior college students participated in this study for online PiBL of computer programming delivered through the proposed learning environment. We found that the students using the progressive learning approach outperformed those not using it in terms of thinking skills and product quality. By incorporating the simple-to-complex progressive learning approach, the visible thinking-based learning environment is more effective in improving student thinking and performance in online PjBL.
Contact name:
George Magoulas
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Prof Maggie Minhong Wang
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Dr. Minhong (Maggie) Wang is Professor and Director of the Laboratory for Knowledge Management & E-Learning (KM&EL Lab) in the Faculty of Education, the University of Hong Kong. She has engaged in multiple disciplinary research in the areas of technology-enhanced learning, knowledge visualization for creative thinking and problem solving, workplace learning, and artificial intelligence in education and business. More information can be found at her HKU profile.