Given the rising popularity of online-based learning scenarios such as MOOCs, flipped classrooms and regular lecture recordings, students face new challenges compared to traditional classroom settings. This paper explores the role of self-regulated learning (SRL) strategies in online learning environments – specifically when working with online lecture recordings – and how university students apply SRL strategies to reach their learning goals. To this end, a series of thirteen problem-centered interviews was conducted with undergraduate students of the learning sciences at a major German university. The findings reveal a dramatically suboptimal use of SRL strategies, leading us to the conclusion that interventions such as basic time management and general planning strategy training may have to be implemented more firmly in undergraduate education, in order to enhance university students’ future learning experience.

Research on technology acceptance in educational contexts often shows little or no influence of user acceptance on use intention or use behavior. While recent attempts to factor in learners’ motivation appear promising, the problem of limited explanatory value of technology acceptance models remains. This paper further explores the relationship between motivational and acceptance factors in different learning contexts. Data (N = 673) from four studies conducted among users of two online learning environments at a major university in Germany are analyzed using a combined data set containing items relating to user motivation (according to Self-Determination Theory) and technology acceptance (according to the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology). The data show significant differences in acceptance and motivational levels between these four groups, as well as a connection between acceptance and motivation. Implications of these results include a recommendation to revisit UTAUT assumptions and variables in future research.

In very recent years, the advent of Learning Analytics (LA) has resulted in a number of publications reporting on empirical research. This literature overview identifies the mainstream of empirical LA research, and emphasizes insufficiently investigated directions that display a higher innovation potential. The mainstream consists of learning trajectory visualizations aimed to predict learner success. Single studies prove innovative by addressing in particular: informal educational settings, video and audio records as data sources, automated assessment and error/misconception analysis. A central issue of empirical LA research consists of the frequent lack of an explicit theoretical framework from educational perspective. We maintain that educational and psychological theories are urgently needed for significant progress of upcoming LA research.

Informal learning in online knowledge communities (OKCs) comprises visitor inquiries on specific topics. Learning can occur only if the OKC adequately respond. This study aims to predict OKC response, using a social learning analytics approach based on computational linguistics and Bakhtin’s theory of dialogism. Observing the blog topic (cooking vs. politics & economics) and the visitor inquiry format (off-topic vs. on-topic), a field experiment with a 2 × 2 factorial design was conducted on a sample of N = 68 blogger communities with a total of 25,303 members. For the entire sample, the community response was influenced only by the inquiry format. In a separate examination of experimental groups, only for one examined topic (cooking) this remained true, while for the other (politics & economics) the community response only depended on the previously established dialog quality. The findings suggest identification criteria for responsive communities, which can support OKC integration in learning environments.

Recent technological developments such as the evolution of digital video and online video streaming stimulate the further development of online lecture videos (OLV) as a base for various learning scenarios in modern higher education. Currently, there is little research on the effect students' acceptance and motivations have on their use of the provided tools. This paper describes an OLV system implemented at a large German university, providing lecture videos with synchronized presentation slides, where OLV users can collaboratively annotate the slides with comments, questions and answers. Further, the study explores the predictors and effects of students' acceptance and motivation on their use of the system. Based on performance and effort expectations, and on social influence, students accept OLV to a high degree, which in turn influences their use behavior. While intrinsic motivation positively affects usage, identified regulation seems to have a negative effect on the study-related use of OLV. The findings suggest further OLV development coordinated with specific learning scenarios, and, from theoretical perspective, a reconsideration of previous acceptance theories.

User-generated FAQ collections are a common aspect of the Internet culture that integrates knowledge of particular practices, thus playing the role of technology-based conceptual artifacts. However, FAQs are seldom used when specific knowledge or help is needed, thus raising the question, which factors influence FAQ acceptance in a community of practice (CoP). This paper proposes a conceptual model explaining conceptual artifacts' acceptance, based on the CoP and academic help-seeking approaches. Both are extensively covered by psychological and educational research literature, however their combination is not yet sufficiently investigated. A correlational study conducted in an academic software users' CoP, and involving structural equations modeling, validates the model, suggesting thus a research line that is worth further pursuing. For educational practice, the study suggests three ways of supporting knowledge sharing in CoPs, i.e. availability of technology-based conceptual artifacts, role definitions and division of labor, and purposeful communication in CoPs.

Several authors point at mass customization as an application that is already proven and established in the economical sector. They demand similar applications in education, aimed at adapting courses and training to the individual characteristics of a high number of students, but without causing additional costs. However the available educational research literature provides neither explicit design principles for mass-customized learning environments nor examples of such applications. This contribution formulates in its first section four design principles of MC, deduced from a literature review in the field of economics. It shows related work from the educational field, discussing its relevance for MC as well as its limitations. The second part presents amittrade, an example of mass-customized, problem-based learning environment, along with the pilot evaluation results and some conclusions for further development and research