Improving Students’ Computing Skills and Attitudes toward Learning via Web-Mediated Self-Regulated Learning with Feedback in an Online Problem-Solving Environment

Introduction And Problem Statement

Contemporary science educators suggests that students should learn to solve real-world problems, which can be viewed as classes of problem-solving tasks that are relatively more complex and ill-defined in nature, as well as creatively more demanding in contrast to those utilized in traditional textbooks (Wang, Chang, & Li, 2008). One of the key learning outcomes in problem-solving domains is the development of flexible knowledge, where learners know multiple strategies and adaptively choose efficient strategies (Star & Rittle-Johnson, 2008). A strategy is defined as a step-by-step procedure for solving a problem (Siegler, 1996). However, it challenges both instructors and students to apply strategies and learn through problem-solving in a web-based course without the teacher’s on-the-spot assistance and monitoring (Shen, Lee, Tsai, & Ting, 2008). For teachers and researchers who strive to understand how to achieve successful student learning performances with learning technologies, the challenge becomes greater when new and unknown aspects are introduced to the university classroom (Ellis, Hughes, Weyers, & Riding, 2009). To respond to this challenge, the authors adopted a web-mediated self-regulated learning (SRL) with feedback approach to help students develop their computing skills and improve their attitudes toward learning in an online environment.

The following section outlines the context of vocational education in Taiwan, the need for SRL, and the need for feedback. Subsequently, we illustrate the research design and the interventions of web-mediated SRL with feedback in the blended learning (BL) environments. Finally, the main findings and implications for teachers and educators are discussed.