Abstracts
Abstract
Theories of cognitive information retrieval can work in concert with those of educational psychology to better formalize self-regulatory processes, such as task understanding, in online learning. Results from a prior statistical exploration of 38 graduate learners using a topic map (ISO 13250) index to browse an online repository of instructor-annotated essays in order to complete an ill-structured essay task indicate improved performance and task understanding. This follow-up study analyzes the inductive content of interviews and computer-based user traces for a theoretical sample of 12 of these 38 learners, showing how the semantic nature of the topic map enabled them to pursue distinct paths to browse essays according to individual task understanding and information need.
Keywords:
- Topic Maps (ISO 13250),
- online learning environments,
- self-regulated learning,
- cognitive information retrieval
Résumé
Les modèles de recherche d’information cognitive et de la psychologie de l’éducation peuvent travailler de pair pour mieux formaliser les processus reliés à l’autorégulation, comme la compréhension des tâches, dans un contexte d’apprentissage virtuel. Les résultats d’une étude antérieure de 38 élèves de maîtrise et de doctorat, lesquels utilisaient une carte thématique (ISO 13250) pour parcourir un ensemble d’épreuves écrites annotées et ainsi compléter une épreuve écrite mal structurée, semblent indiquer un rendement et une compréhension accrus de leurs tâches. Dans cette étude complémentaire, l’analyse inductive des entrevues et des fichiers journaux traces d’un échantillon théorique de 12 de ces 38 élèves montre comment la nature sémantique de la carte thématique a permis aux élèves de suivre des cheminements distincts en parcourant les épreuves écrites annotées selon leur degré de compréhension des tâches et leur besoin d’information.
Mots-clés:
- Les cartes thématiques (ISO 13250),
- les environnements d’apprentissage virtuels,
- la théorie d’autorégulation,
- le modèle de recherche d’information cognitive
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Appendices
Authors’ Notes
This study was made possible through a number of sources, including three fellowships received by the first author, two of which were from Concordia University and the third from le Fonds québecois de la recherche sur la société et la culture (FQRSC). The second author was awarded two fellowships, one from Concordia University and the other from FQRSC. In addition, funding was provided to the first author by Concordia University’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences Research Development program.
The authors wish to thank Stef Rucco from the Department of Education for his technical expertise in setting up the environment described in this study, as well as Patrick Harzheim for programming the tracking tools used in this study. The first author is indebted to Lars Marius Garshol from Bouvet AS, Oslo, Norway for granting the academic/research license to use the Omnigator topic map authoring tool.
The authors also wish to acknowledge the insightful comments and suggestions for manuscript revision by two anonymous reviewers.
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