Editorial for interactive learning environments August 2023 vol 31

Etkilesimli ogrenme ortamlari, cok yonlu ogretim ve etkilesim olanaklarina sahip, ogrencilerin ogrenmelerini yonlendirebildigi, zaman ve mekandan bagimsiz ortamlaridir. Etkilesimli ogretim ortamlarinin niteligini olumlu yonde etkileyen etmenler arasinda ogrencilerin algilama duzeylerine uygunlugu ve tasarimin ogrenci uzerinde olusturdugu algisal etki yer almaktadir. Bu nedenle etkilesimli ogretim ortamlarinin tasarlanmasinda kimi gorsel algi kuramlarinin ise kosulmasi onem tasimaktadir. Bu baglamda arastirmada, algilama surecinde tasarimin gelistirilmesine dogrudan etki edebilecek algi kuramlarindan Gestalt Gorsel Algi Kurami, Olasilikli Ogreti Kurami, Bilisimsel Algi Kurami, Noropsikolojik Algi Kurami, Yapilandirmaci Gorsel Algi Kurami ve Dogrudan Algi Kurami etkilesimli ortam tasarimina yansimalari baglaminda incelenmis ve bu yansimalara dayali bir etkilesimli ogretim ortami tasarlanmistir. Etkilesimli ogretim ortami, ortaokul ikinci sinif ogrencilerinin 'Isik ve Ses' unitesini ogrenmelerine yardimci olmasi amaciyla tasarlanmistir. Nitel arastirma yonteminin kullanildigi arastirmada etkilesimli ogretim ortamini kullanan ogrencilerin gorusleri alinmistir. Ogrenciler gorsel algi kuramlarina dayali olarak gelistirilen etkilesimli ogretim ortamini faydali ve guduleyici bulmuslardir.

Little attention has been given to the psychological and sociological value of play despite its many advantages to guiding the design of interactive multimedia learning environments for children and adults. This paper provides a brief overview of the history, research, and theory related to play. Research from education, psychology, and anthropology suggests that play is a powerful mediator for learning throughout a person's life. The time has come to couple the ever increasing processing capabilities of computers with the advantages of play. The design of hybrid interactive learning environments is suggested based on the constructivist concept of a microworld and supported with elements of both games and simulations.

behaviour, in particular how manipulations of some aspect of the system will effect its behaviour. In order to teach these behavioural characteristics, quantitative simulations of these systems are often used in computer-based learning environments. However, some behavioural fea~ tures are hard to communicate by a computer program that is based on such a quantitative simulation. Among others, generating causal explanations of the systems' behaviour, reasoning from structure (e.g., deriving the behaviour of a given structural description), and qualitativeness in general (e.g. a vocabulary for reasoning about behaviour in qualitative terms) cannot be dealt with adequately. A large part of the research on qualitative reasoning originated from efforts trying to cope with the limitations that followed from using quantitative simulators for teaching purposes. This talk will first discuss the idea of interactive learning environments. In particular, it will focus on the idea of learning by interacting with a simulation model. Next, the talk will present ideas on how qualitative models can be used for this purpose. During the past 10 years a large number of promising results have been achieved by the qualitative reasoning community, whereas at the same time the limitations of the current techniques are well understood. The talk will particularly focus on the use of causal models for curriculum planning, cognitive diagnosis and explanation. Finally, the use of digital multimedia technology provides opportunities to broaden the scope of communication between learner and computer. As such multimedia related issues are important for the construction of interactive articulated learning environments. Interesting is the notion of knowledge-based multimedia: automated generation and adaptation of a certain medium and its contents by a computer program in order to optimise the interaction with a learner or a trainee. The idea of automatic visualisation of qualitative models will be discussed.

There is a worldwide concern for young children’s online safety and a growing necessity for e-safety skills to be taught to children from a young age as part of formal schooling. The purpose of this study was to design and evaluate the effectiveness and motivational capacity of an interactive web-based learning environment for improving children’s e-safety skills. A quasi-experimental pre-test post-test control group design was used with an experimental group of 48 sixth-grade primary school students, who used the web-based learning environment over two 80-min lessons, and a control group of 25 students who did not. Findings revealed a statistically significant difference (t(47) = −14.06, p < 0.01) in the experimental group students’ e-safety performance, when students’ pre-test scores (mean (Μ) = 41.13, SD = 10.47) were compared to their post-test scores (Μ = 56.69, SD = 9.38). The analysis of an attitudes questionnaire and of student interviews documented the experimental group students’ positive attitudes toward the learning environment. Findings provide evidence of the effectiveness and motivational capacity of the web-based learning environment, which can be used in either formal education or informal learning settings, for improving children’s e-safety skills.

In-company training is facing new challenges in preparing employees for the demands of digitalized and automated manufacturing. New training concepts like microlearning are necessary to support work-process-related learning. To handle the limitations of microlearning, we develop a 360-degree learning system to demonstrate a realistic work environment and overcome the lack of design knowledge supporting the motivation and performance of employees using such systems. Based on a systematic literature review and semistructured interviews, we have developed design requirements for interactive 360-degree learning environments. We used a workshop-based mixed-method approach with interviews, concept maps, and video analysis to evaluate the motivation and performance of precision mechanics within a prototypical work-process-oriented learning environment in an intercompany vocational training center. The results show a positive effect on learning outcomes and motivation. In addition, the ease of use and sense of presence while using the learning environment are rated as high. We contribute to theory by shedding new light on learners' motivation and performance within work-process-oriented interactive 360-degree learning environments. Furthermore, we offer guidelines for developing interactive 360-degree learning environments against the background of the current metaverse discussion.

In this chapter a descriptive framework for designing interactive digital learning environments for young people is proposed. The proposed framework aims to analyse and compare interactive digital learning environments. This framework may be useful to guide the design of digital learning environments for young people and also to provide a structure for understanding the interface characteristics of such environments and how users interact with them. Young people's characteristics are briefly discussed in relation to the learning process. The approach to creating the framework is presented with the related literature. The framework is described and consists of three main components: learning, user interaction, and visual. Finally, conclusions on the design of interactive digital learning environments are drawn.

The purpose of this study was to develop recommendations for the use of 3D interactive technologies in the educational process to improve the learning of students. The experiment involved 200 students of the same age in two different groups who interacted with immersive or conventional technologies. The task was divided into four stages. In modern world, immersive technologies are constantly evolving, allowing for effective learning and thus the creation of a 3D learning environment. This study covered the significance of 3D interactive environments in the learning process, which affect the long-term retention of knowledge by students. The study analysed the perception and satisfaction of education through interactivity. The potential benefits of introducing 3D interactive learning environments into the educational process were identified. It was proved that interactive 3D learning environments can be an effective way of transmitting and storing information for such reasons as engaging students, visualising material, adapting to individual needs, preserving the information provided, and evaluating the result. The obtained findings helped to determine the effectiveness of understanding, sharing, and retaining knowledge in 3D interactive learning environment. It was established that the use of 3D learning environments helps to increase the interest and activity of students in the learning process. New opportunities are opening for visualising complex concepts and effective learning in a variety of fields. A significant aspect is that the potential of 3D learning environments as an innovative means of transferring and preserving knowledge is significant, and the impact on students is positive. The practical significance of the work is to determine the effectiveness of using interactive 3D technologies in the educational process, which contribute to increasing students’ interest, activity and long-term retention of knowledge

The paradigm shift in learning from a behaviourist to constructivist approach has changed the focus from traditional learning to the development of an interactive learning environment in both the classroom and online settings. An interactive learning environment encourages student engagement with educators, peers and the course content, thus contributing to greater academic success. With the globalisation of education, educators face the challenge of engaging international students (IS) in their teaching and learning environment. IS face significant academic, sociocultural and environmental barriers that inhibit their classroom and online engagement. The purpose of this study is to identify strategies that would help enhance IS academic engagement in the Institute of Technology and Polytechnics (ITP) sector in New Zealand. This paper systematically reviewed existing literature on IS engagement in tertiary business education. The emphasis was on identifying educationally purposeful activities that educators in ITPs can adopt in the classroom and online environment, to influence the behavioural dimension of learner engagement. Three well-known strategies, designing a blended learning environment, effective student–staff interactions, and designing a collaborative learning environment, were identified to enhance student engagement in the tertiary education context. The shift to emergency online teaching during the Covid-19 pandemic has increased the challenges educators face to engage IS. Actionable strategies for educators to engage learners in the online teaching and learning environment are discussed. Knowledge of these strategies will enhance the efficiency of educators to facilitate an interactive learning environment that fosters successful student engagement.

This paper reports a quantitative study related to Interactive Learning Environment and motivation of secondary school mathematics students. The aim of this research was to measure the impact of Interactive Learning Environment on Student’s motivation. The respondents were chosen from the public secondary schools situated in Islamabad (Federal Territory), working under control of Federal Directorate of school education. There were 101 public schools out of which 56 were for girls and 45 were for boys. This research study was delimited to pupil of grade 10th only. Total 12810 students were studying in these schools in grade tenth, out of which about 2 percent were selected randomly. Thus the sample of the study was 260 students. A questionnaire “What Is Happening in the Class (WIHIC)”was adapted and utilized to study the prevailing practices regarding to learning environment of the classroom. To determine the students’ level of motivation “Motivation Assessment Scale (MAS)” was used. The instruments were validated by professionals from the field of education and educational psychology. The reliability of the instrument was determined by using Cronbach Alpha which was found 0.89 for WIHIC questionnaire and 0.82 for MAS. Student’s cohesiveness was found most prevailing practice related to classroom learning environment in maths classrooms and maximum number of the students were at medium level of motivation. Findings also reveal that Interactive learning environment motivate the learners utmost. The major recommendation of the study was that learning environment may be interactive and directed in such a way that it should motivate the learners to learn and perform better.

In this paper an agent-based approach to interactive learning environments (ILE) is proposed. It is argued that current interactive learning systems, especially the intelligent tutoring systems, do not satisfy the minimal requirements of an ILE. A specification is given of an agent-based approach to ILE in which situated agents are associated with different aspects of the teacher's behaviour. It is argued that the interaction between these teacher agents and the student agent results in a highly adaptive and interactive learning system that satisfies the requirements of an ILE.The most promising is perhaps that the behaviour of the teacher seems already fairly complex even with a very limited amount of simple behaviours of the agents.

Computer programming is essential nowadays but still challenging to learn due to its invisible thinking. Current programming environments are mostly designed for operating on computers directly to learn concrete programming, but this approach lacks the support for clarifying learners’ thinking processes. On the other hand, using paper and pens shows usability in developing creative thinking, but it cannot help verify learners’ thinking results due to its nature. To benefit from both paper and computers, we developed an interactive programming learning environment consisting of a paper board game, a computer system, and a digitalization mechanism. Learners can use the learning environment to draw down their thinking results and verify them by comparing them with the evaluation on the computer system immediately. Two experiments were conducted to compare this learning environment with paper board games and computer programming environments, respectively. The experimental results show that the subjects who learn in our environment can learn to program better than those who learn with the other two. The proposed environment is easy to prepare for learners in a classroom as their first step to programming learning. It can help learners cross over from paper board games for computational thinking to computer programming environments.

This paper presents the development of an interactive learning environment for dynamic simulation and active vibration control of flexible plate structures. The work is aimed to facilitate the learning process of the subject area through the development of an interactive environment that can help users to simulate and visualise behaviour of flexible structures with given physical characteristics, to test and validate controller designs. Simulation algorithms based on finite difference scheme in characterizing the dynamic behaviour of a two-dimensional such as plate structures are incorporated. Controller design strategies are integrated within this framework. The design and implementation of the interactive learning system incorporating the simulation algorithms, modelling and control strategies, are developed using Matlab. The result of the simulation is further utilized in the modelling and control of the specified flexible plate structure.

Extending the learning and teaching environment with computers, multimedia, control technology, … enhances the possibilities to incite multiple and varying knowledge representations for knowledge categories from learners. Especially the development of interactive learning environments (e.g. control technology) looks appealing since, in this way, we can help learners to develop actively a large and rich variety of knowledge representations. This can help learners to get access to complex knowledge categories. At the theoretical level, this enrichment can be founded by referring to developmental psychological theories and recent constructivistic, cognitive theories of knowledge acquisition. This article elaborates this theoretical base. But this elaboration also puts forward a set of conditions in the educational setting. The latter is especially true if we pursue a gradual integration of multiple knowledge representations towards more comprehensive schemes or structures. This introduces a section in this article on doubts about the optimistic expectations that active learning and constructing personal knowledge representations is a straightforward result of learning in interactive learning environments. Guidelines are therefore put forward which educators have to take into account, and also the quality of the environment offered is discussed in this context. This critical section is followed by the elaboration of two examples that illustrate better practice. We finish the article by elaborating the remarkable parallelism between the discussion about interactive learning environments and science education.

The implementation of collaborative learning strategies in Islamic religious education (PAI) subjects aims to create a learning environment that is innovative, interactive, and relevant to the needs of students in the digital era. The purpose of this research is to determine the implementation of collaborative learning strategies in creating an innovative learning environment in PAI subjects, the challenges in implementing collaborative learning strategies in PAI lessons, and to determine the use of technology in collaborative learning strategies to create innovative learning environments in PAI subjects. . The results of this research show that collaborative learning strategies in Islamic Religious Education (PAI) create an innovative and interactive learning environment. Methods such as discussions, case studies, and collaborative projects help students apply Islamic values ​​in real life. The implementation of collaborative learning strategies in Islamic Religious Education (PAI) faces challenges such as classroom management, curriculum adjustments, evaluation, and individual differences between students. And the use of technology in PAI collaborative learning creates an innovative and interactive learning environment. Bold platforms and visual media increase student engagement, understanding and digital skills, while teachers create dynamic learning. Technology supports more effective and relevant PAI learning.

The observation and the monitoring of the learner is a fundamental problem for interactive learning environments (ILE). The ILE needs to provide tools to replace traditional means and the analysis of the learner's interactions with his learning environment must fill this gap through digital traces. Thus, we propose in our research, an approach of identification, analysis and interpretation of the traces allowing all the actors of the ILE (including the learner) to improve the experience of the learner, throughout his learning cycle. This approach is based on the implementation of attributes associated with the learner to which we will assign scores, as well as iterative clustering algorithms for modeling the learner profile. In addition, it is based on the adaptation of the course according to this profile in order to provide course recommendations. We will use the data sources offered by our MOOC Back to English (Ibn Tofail University, Kenitra, Morocco) to illustrate our modeling. In this article, we will focus only on the learner modeling steps using scoring techniques applied to collected traces as well as the grouping of learners via unsupervised clustering algorithms.