Abstract: In this we focus on critical thinking activities conducted in an online environment and interaction markers based on the data collected from those activities. The work is based on the ENACT framework. We conducted an empirical study to understand the clusters of critical thinkers based on Performance and interactional marker values of the participants (n=37). The highlights the definitions of the interaction markers and conducts an clustering analysis of the of Critical Thinking patterns that emerged. The results show two clusters with similar critical thinking outcome performance but different action patterns. We discuss the need of further empirical evidence relating learning effect on the actions and Critical Thinking.

Education policy implementation is a highly complex process involving multiple stakeholders, including policymakers, administrators, teachers, students, parents, and community members. The interactions and ongoing decision-making process by the different stakeholders can immensely affect the policy outcomes. The process being highly contextual, varying with culture, politics, and socio- economic conditions, it is crucial to study the role of different factors/determinants influencing the design and implementation of policies in different settings. The present study is a preliminary attempt to categorize and analyze some of the perceived realities of different stakeholders involved in the implementation of an education policy. Two determinant types extensively used in implementation research were used to analyze the data. When passed through multiple levels, the policy guidelines get shaped and reshaped by the local agenda and respective modus operandi of each stakeholder involved in the implementation process. The results emphasize the need to develop strategies to better understand the role of different contextual factors — how and why they influence the implementation of education policies involving technology.

Recent advances in artificial intelligence have led to the development of large language models (LLMs), which are able to generate text, images, and source code based on prompts provided by humans. In this paper, we explore the capabilities of an LLM - OpenAI's GPT-3 model to provide feedback for student written code. Specifically, we examine the feasibility of GPT-3 to check, critique and suggest changes to code written by learners in an online programming exam of an undergraduate Python programming course.

Many novice programmers struggle to write code from scratch and get frustrated when their code does not work. Parsons problems can reduce the difficulty of a coding problem by providing mixed-up blocks that the learner assembles in the correct order. Parsons problems can also include distractor blocks that are not needed in a correct solution, but which may help students learn to recognize and fix errors. Evidence indicates that students find Parsons problems engaging, easier than writing code from scratch, useful for learning patterns, and typically faster to solve than writing code from scratch with equivalent learning gains. This working group leverages the work of the 2022 ITiCSE working group which published an extensive literature review of Parsons problems and designed and piloted several studies based on the gaps identified by the literature review. The 2023 working group is revising, conducting, and creating new studies. We will analyze the data from these multi-institutional and multi-national studies and publish the results as well as recommendations for future working groups.

In this paper, we investigate the relationship between student experiences and transactional distance in a 12 week online undergraduate Python programming course. Transactional distance is defined as the psychological and communication space between students and instructors due to geographical separation. Although several studies have examined learning from a transactional distance perspective, there has been a lack of research which describe computing education courses from this perspective.

ENaCT is a framework for the design and analysis of critical thinking environments based on 4E cognition perspectives. In this paper, we describe a web-based critical thinking environment designed to implementœ the ENaCT framework. When users perform a critical thinking task in the environment their interaction logs are captured. We report on a pilot study with undergraduate participants and analyse how participants used the affordances in the environment as they performed the critical thinking task. One case of task-related behaviours (high activity) is elaborated to highlight the current possibilities of the system and discuss implications for redesign.

Learning Analytics (LA) platforms can gather data from the teaching-learning interactions during a course. While there have been previous discussions regarding the individual tools, limited scholarship describes the utility of a LA framework for supporting evidence-based teaching-learning practices. We have proposed LEAF, a framework to bridge that gap. We implement the framework in a platform by integrating LMS, learning behaviour sensors such as an ebook reader, learning analytics dashboard and an evidence portal through Learning Tools Interoperability (LTI). The platform was then made available to teachers from different colleges in India to orchestrate their course offering for one semester. This paper describes the design of the teacher training module for the adoption of the platform based on the A2I2 model as its theoretical basis. The A2I2 model explicitly focuses on encouraging scholarship of learning and teaching among participating teachers and thus is an ideal candidate for utilizing an evidence-based framework.

As MOOCs are expanding in popularity and scope, problems such as lack of learner engagement and low participation in discussion forums have been reported. Challenges in MOOCs not only include large numbers of learners but great diversity in learners' background, ages, experiences, and motivation for participating. While issues such as certification, equitable access, and sustainability are being discussed, without advances in the pedagogical format, MOOCs may end up being an online version of a traditional lecture format. Instructors, especially those who are new to the online learning format need support in designing MOOCs to promote learner engagement, address learner diversity and cultivate peer learning. The Learner-centric MOOC (LCM) model guides instructors in maintaining a learner-centric pedagogical approach while planning, designing and orchestrating a MOOC. The model provides a set of guidelines, activity formats and actions that instructors can apply during various stages of the MOOC instructional design process. In this tutorial, we describe the structural and dynamic aspects of the LCM model, demonstrate the application of the model in various MOOCs and illustrate research results from MOOCs based on the LCM model. We will share activity constructors and templates that have been developed to scaffold instructors in applying the LCM model to design their MOOC.

Most major Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) providers are focusing on design of xMOOCs. In these courses, a central course design team develops necessary learning content (in form of videos and/or documents), automated assessments and manages discussion forums to engage the participants in a structured manner. However the xMOOCs have been criticized for their cognitive-behaviourist pedagogic design, lower student engagement with discussion forums and lower completion rates that make it unsuitable for direct use in Teacher Professional Development (TPD). In this paper we introduce the idea of ‘Learner Perseverance’ that can be used as a better design goal for an xMOOC developed for TPD. The design principles of Immersivity and Pertinency were utilized in adapting the xMOOC components of videos, auto-graded assessment problems and discussion forums for a TPD MOOC (ET601Tx) to achieve learner perseverance. It was seen that there were 3447 active participants (67.5% of enrolled) in the course, i.e. people who have accessed courseware at least once. The data from the course logs show that 1201 (47.1%) active learners had participated in the discussion forum generating 5023 discussion threads generating 9861 comments (i.e. 4 threads and 8 comments per active learner who participated in the discussion forum). It was also seen that there is a completion rate of 36.58% (1261 learners) for ET601Tx, which is quite high compared to the average completion rates reported in xMOOCs (6-7%). The course completion survey indicated that these pedagogical designs were useful and relevant for the teachers in their own practice. Based on these findings we recommend use of a ‘Learner Perseverance’ based design for improving learner participation in xMOOCs that are used for TPD.

The outcome-based approach of education requires engineering faculty to be able to align the student learning objectives with their instructional and assessment strategies. With the increasing use of educational technology, faculty technology integration also becomes an essential part of this alignment. Though there exists instances of training programmes that help faculty to achieve this alignment and integration, there are no validated frameworks or models that will enable teacher educators to prepare good instructional development programmes for the faculty. Attain-Align-Integrate (A2I) is a model for teacher educators to create short-term training programmes (STTP) to achieve constructive alignment in use of Information and Communication Technology. In this paper we describe the model, its key features, then the instantiation of the model as a STTP. Following this, the evaluation of the STTP is described to explain the utility of the model for attaining faculty professional development goals. The results of STTP indicate that participants have shifted from a teachercentric instructional strategy to a student-centered one, however they require more practice in the alignment to integrate it completely within their teaching learning environment.

Teach 10000 Teachers is a project supported by the Government of India for training large numbers college instructors through distance education. The mode used is Synchronous Remote Classrooms (SRC), in which lectures are transmitted from a single location and participants attend them synchronously in their respective classrooms. In this paper we present a model for adapting well-known active learning (AL) strategies from face-to-face classrooms to the SRC mode, so as to enable effective learning. Our model identifies three levels of interactions – student-content, student-student and student-instructor – and then adapts these interactions to the SRC mode, using the affordances of the technology. We implemented this model with five AL strategies, in a 1-week workshop. We validated the model by examining participants' perception of the effectiveness of the AL strategies for their learning and engagement. We found that 86% of 1287 participants found our adapted AL strategies to be useful in learning. We also found that there is a high correlation (γ=0.75 ) between the perceptions of overall satisfaction and usefulness of AL strategies.