Teacher Education

This survey study investigates teachers’ perception and their intention to use the Student Learning Space (SLS) in a Singapore School. The SLS is a unique learning portal, created by the Ministry of Education (MOE), to support teachers’ deeper ICT integration for curriculum, pedagogy and assessment where MOE-curated resources are made available for students and teachers. This study uses the five attributes of innovation in the Innovation Diffusion Theory (Rogers & Shoemaker, 1971) and the Behavioural intention to use in the Technology Acceptance Model (Davis, 1989). The five attributes of innovation are: relative advantage, compatibility, complexity, observability and trialability. The integrative approach for IDT and TAM was applied in this study, where the relative advantage (IDT) is similar to the perceived usefulness (TAM) and complexity (IDT) is similar to the perceived ease of use (TAM). 31 teachers’ perception on the five attributes of innovation and their intention to use the SLS were examined. The finding on the correlations among the attributes of innovation and intention to use the Student Learning Space was consistent with past studies where relative advantage, compatibility, and complexity were consistently related to innovation adoption (Chang & Tung, 2008; Wu & Wang, 2005). This study showed that the greater the perception of relative advantage, compatibility and complexity, the better perceived intention to use the SLS innovation. Therefore it supports the idea that the perceived relative advantage, compatibility and complexity are variables to be harnessed to improve users’ intention to use and adopt an innovation. As adopting an innovation is a continuous process, the qualitative findings suggested that teachers needed support in terms of advice, training and sharing of good ideas and practices in using the SLS. These qualitative findings will be of use to school administrators for planning and implementing the Student Learning Space for their schools. 

This study investigated how network externalities affect learners’ persistence in completing massive online open courses (MOOCs) through the mediation of human factors.
Network externalities are concerned with the factors that yield network effects, including network size and complementary goods or services (Economides, 1996), and have been considered of high importance in generating and diffusing technological innovation (Kathuria, 1999; K.-Y. Lin & Lu, 2011). In the context of MOOCs, network effects are manifested when the benefits that people attain from completing certain MOOCs depend on the number of other people joining the same MOOCs and the availability of complementary products or services that generate additional value for people attending these MOOCs    (C. P. Lin & Bhattacherjee, 2008). Moreover, existing research on internet technologies has indicated a significant role played by human factors in their design and applications (e.g., Chang, Hung, & Lin, 2015; Hong & Zhu, 2006; Lehto & Landry, 2012).
Research Question: How do network externalities affect users’ persistence in completing MOOCs through the mediation of human factors such as user experience, user preference, and motivation to achieve in MOOCs?
346 students from a public university were recruited. The data were collected using a survey instrument and analyzed by partial least square structural equation modelling. The findings indicate that users’ persistence in completing MOOCs was a function of network benefit, user preference, and motivation to achieve. Network benefit, which was strongly predicted by network size (direct network externalities) and perceived complementarity (indirectly network externalities), also indirectly influenced users’ persistence in completing MOOCs through user preference and motivation to achieve. Furthermore, this study found that the duration of MOOC usage made a significant difference in the effect of network externalities on users’ persistence in completing MOOCs. For instance, user preference had a stronger influence on users’ persistence in completing MOOCs for one-year users than above-one-year users, while motivation to achieve in MOOCs had a stronger effect on users’ persistence in completing MOOCs for above-one-year users than one-year users.

Practitioner Notes:
What is known about the topic
1. ICAP and SAMR Model are catalyst for identifying the various levels in which technology is implemented in educational settings
2. SOLO taxonomy is used by educators to form criteria for learning outcomes
What this Paper adds
1. The different ways to integrate SAMR, SOLO taxonomy and ICAP hypothesis for Technology enhanced assessment
2. Applying the integrated framework to Google Classroom, Padlet and Edulastic
Implications
1. A combination of ways to use light authoring technology tools to enhance assessment in planning and organising courseware 2. Demonstrating how technology-facilitates feedback and technology generates feedback with the interactive learning environments (ILE) such as Google Classroom, Padlet and Edulastic would be useful to educators in the 21st century.
This study explores the potential of three interactive learning environments, such as Google Classroom, Padlet and Edulastic for Blended Learning and Technology-Enhanced Assessment by means of Technology generated feedback that enhances Online Formative Assessment for Adult Learners in a Skills-Future blended learning course and provides the opportunity for educators to plan and prepare their lessons in a similar way.
The guiding pedagogical frameworks used in this study is a mix of SOLO taxonomy, SAMR model and ICAP hypothesis to demonstrate the different ways in which light authoring technology tools found in the ILEs can be used to enhance assessments via Technology-facilitated feedback (TFF) and Technology-generated feedback (TGF) in a blended learning course. The ILEs was seamlessly integrated and students work, marked automatedly, feedback was also provided for learning, however such as in all classrooms the educator will need to be ready for possible user invitations and permissions to be given to students for registration and enrolment respectively in the various platforms before assessment commences.