DESIGN, DEVELOPMENT AND EVALUATION OF TECHNOLOGY ENHANCED LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS: LEARNING STYLES AS AN EVALUATION TOOL FOR METACOGNITIVE SKILLS

MUESSER CEMAL NAT

A dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the University of Greenwich for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy

December 2012

I certify that this work has not been accepted in substance for any degree, and is not concurrently being submitted for any degree other than that of Doctor of Philosophy being studied at the University of Greenwich. I also declare that this work is the result of my own investigations except where otherwise identified by references and that I have not plagiarised the work of others.

Andrew Wicks

Prof. Liz Bacon

Prof. Lachlan MacKinnon

Dr. Constantinos Ierotheou

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

ABSTRACT

Table of Contents

List of Figures	iv

List of Tables	v

Abbreviations	vi

CHAPTER 1	Introduction	1

1.1	Motivation for the Research	1

1.2	Scope of the Research	1

1.3	Research Questions	1

1.4	Aims and Objectives of the Research	1

1.5	Methodology	1

1.6	The Contribution of the Research	2

1.7	The Structure of the Dissertation	2

CHAPTER 2	Literature Review	4

2.1	Introduction	4

2.2	Technology Enhanced Learning	4

2.2.1	The Impact of Technology Enhanced Learning Environments on Learning	4

2.2.2	Conclusion of the Section	4

2.3	Refining Research Questions	4

2.3.1	Refined primary question	4

2.3.2	Refined Aims and Objectives of the Research	5

CHAPTER 3	Designing and Developing Technology Enhanced Learning Environments	6

3.1	Design of TEL Environments	6

3.1.1	Incorporated Learning Activities based on FSLSM	6

3.2	General Design of Learning Environments	6

3.3	Conclusion of the Chapter	6

CHAPTER 4	Experimental Design and Methodology of the Study	7

4.1	Exploratory Experiment	7

4.1.1	Discussion of the Findings	7

4.2	Main Experiment	7

4.2.1	Evaluation of the Method	7

4.3	Conclusion of the Chapter	7

CHAPTER 5	Analysis of Data and Discussion of the Results	8

5.1	Introduction	8

5.2	Discussion of the Findings	8

5.3	General Discussion of Findings	8

CHAPTER 6	Conclusion and Future Work	9

6.1	Summary	9

6.2	Contributions	9

6.3	Limitations	9

6.4	Future Work	9

References	10

Appendices	11

Appendix 1 - Pre-knowledge Test Questions	11

Appendix 2 - Non-adaptive Learning Environment User Interfaces	12

Appendix 3 – Published Papers	13

List of Figures

No table of figures entries found.

List of Tables

Table 1 - List of Abbreviations	v

Abbreviations

Table 1 - List of Abbreviations

Key Terms

The following definitions of key terms apply solely to this research study and they could be defined differently in other research studies.

Technology enhanced learning: The use of ICT and Internet technologies to provide and enhance students’ learning.

Introduction

This chapter provides an overview on the motivation and scope of this research, and explains the aims and objectives of this study. Subsequently, the research methodology and the structure of the thesis are also described.

Motivation for the Research

Scope of the Research

Research Questions

Aims and Objectives of the Research

Methodology

The Contribution of the Research

The Structure of the Dissertation

This section describes the methodology chosen to meet the research goals, and outlines the structure of the dissertation.

The dissertation is organised in 6 chapters as follows:

Chapter 2 provides background information about this study

Chapter 3.

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6 concludes the thesis by reflecting on its contributions, limitations, and future directions.

Literature Review

Introduction

Technology Enhanced Learning

The Impact of Technology Enhanced Learning Environments on Learning

Conclusion of the Section

Refining Research Questions

Based on the literature review above and the new understanding of the concept of impact of metacognition on students’ learning within TEL environments, a refined version of the research questions was appropriate and developed as follows:

Refined primary question

Refined Aims and Objectives of the Research

As a result of modifications to the original research question, the research procedure has now also been adapted, and is outlined below:

Designing and Developing Technology Enhanced Learning Environments

Design of TEL Environments

Incorporated Learning Activities based on FSLSM

General Design of Learning Environments

Conclusion of the Chapter

Experimental Design and Methodology of the Study

Exploratory Experiment

Discussion of the Findings

Main Experiment

Evaluation of the Method

Conclusion of the Chapter

Analysis of Data and Discussion of the Results

Introduction

Discussion of the Findings

General Discussion of Findings

Conclusion and Future Work

In this chapter a summary of the work conducted during this research is provided.

Summary

Contributions

Limitations

Future Work

References

Appendices

Appendix 1 - Pre-knowledge Test Questions

Appendix 2 - Non-adaptive Learning Environment User Interfaces

Appendix 3 – Published Papers