Design of Problem-based with Scaffolding Learning Activities in Ubiquitous Learning Environment to Develop Problem-solving Skills

Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 116 ( 2014 ) 4803 – 4808

1877-0428 © 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.Selection and/or peer-review under responsibility of Academic World Education and Research Center.doi: 10.1016/j.sbspro.2014.01.1028

ScienceDirect

5th World Conference on Educational Sciences - WCES 2013

Design of problem-based with scaffolding learning activities in ubiquitous learning environment to develop problem-solving skills

Noppadon Phumeechanya a *, Panita Wannapiroon b a Department of Computer and Information Technology, Faculty of Science and Technology,

Nakhon Pathom Rajabhat University, Nakhonpathom, 73000, Thailand. bInformation and Communication Technology for Education Division,

Faculty of Technical Education, King Mongkutt’s University of Technology North Bangkok, Bangkok, 10800, Thailand.

Abstract

These objectives the study were to 1) design of problem-based with scaffolding learning activities in ubiquitous learning environment to develop problem-solving skills, The design used a problem-based learning process and scaffolding strategy in learning activities. Students can learn everywhere and every time by using mobile devices as a tool for learning, and 2) evaluate the Problem-based with scaffolding learning activities in ubiquitous learning environment to develop problem-solving skills. The research procedures were divided into two phases. The first phase was to design of problem-based with scaffolding learning activities, and the second phase was to evaluate a learning activities. The sample group in this study consisted of 5 experts using purposive sampling. Data were analyzed by arithmetic mean and standard deviation. The research findings were as follows: 1)The learning activities consisted of four components as followed: 1)study of the content, 2)present the problem, 3)problem solving planning 4)problem solving and 5)identify generalization and principles derived from studying the problem. The objective of the learning activities is to develop problem-solving skills. 2)The experts agree that a learning activities was appropriateness in a good level. © 2013 The Authors Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved Selection and peer review under the responsibility of Prof. Dr. Servet Bayram Keywords: Learning Activities, Ubiquitous Learning Environment, Problem-based Learning, Scaffolding, Problem-solving Skills;

1. Introduction

Problem-solving skills are very important to the ways of living of humans. Human beings are solving problems all the time in order to achieve their goals. Therefore, the development of problem-solving skills is necessary and it is the main objective of education management. The said concept is also in accordance with that of Partnership for 21st Century Skills, which has indentified the concepts of skill development for 21st century. The organization requires that students learn about problem-solving skills because these skills will enable them to succeed in their life (Bellanca & Brandt, 2010)

The education management in Thailand has defined the guidelines to develop problem-solving skills of the students in National Education Act. Referring to the learning process, any educational institute must encourage the students to learn about thinking process, and hold any activity to let the students learn from real experiences, think

* Correspondng Author: Noppadon Phumeechanya. Tel.: +66-81-011-1148 E-mail address: [email protected]

Available online at www.sciencedirect.com

© 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.Selection and/or peer-review under responsibility of Academic World Education and Research Center.

4804 Noppadon Phumeechanya and Panita Wannapiroon / Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 116 ( 2014 ) 4803 – 4808

critically, take action and possess active learning. Thereby, the learning process that enables the students to have problem-solving skills is Problem-based Learning or PBL, a learning model based on the theories of Constructivism. In this model, the students generate new knowledge from the problems of the real world, which is considered a learning context to help the students receive skills of analytical thinking and problem-solving thinking (Woods, 1994).

During the problem-based learning activities, the teachers must be well-equipped with enough skills to stimulate, to guide and to provide relevant sources to the students. The said assistance to the students is called Scaffolding. Scaffolding refers to the assistance offered to the students in the form of support in order to help them achieve their tasks. Thereby, the said tasks are the ones that cannot be achieved by the students themselves. Once the students have more ability to do the said tasks, the assistance and the support will be decreased; and these are no longer necessary when the students can do the said tasks by themselves. According to the recent researches, it is found that the integration of problem-based learning activities and the scaffolding will increase the problem-solving skills of the students (Hung et. al, 2012). Hannafin (1999) classified the scaffolding techniques into 1) Conceptual Scaffolding, 2) Strategic Scaffolding, 3) Metacognitive Scaffolding, and 4) Procedural Scaffolding.

According to National ICT Policy Framework 2011-2020 (ICT 2020), the education in Thailand is projected to step into "Smart Learning", which continually supports the application and development of ICT learning media for educational personnel. This will lead to a life long learning society (Ministry of Information and Communication Technology of Thailand, 2012).

Ubiquitous Learning (u-Learning) refers to a learning model in which the learners can learn anytime anywhere with the aid of portable computer technology and wireless communication; and thereby, the said learning must emphasize on context-awareness of the learners. Ubiquitous Learning Environment (ULE) (Jones & Jo, 2004) is a management of learning environment in which everything can be learnt everywhere and anytime with portable computer to access the sources. This is in compliance with the theories of constructivism and the current learning models. Ubiquitous Learning Environment has the following characteristic (Yahya , Ahmad & Jalil, 2010): 1) Permanency, 2) Accessibility, 3) Immediacy, 4) Interactivity, 5) Context-awareness, and 6) Adaptability. All of the aforementioned will enable the students to learn anywhere and anytime with an emphasis on context-awareness. Besides, the problem-based learning with mobile device in Ubiquitous Learning Environment will facilitate the learners in solving the real-life problems and communicating with the team members. This will also enhance the efficiency of the learners because there is no limitation of time and place (Ku and Chang, 2010).

Therefore, the researcher had an idea to design the Problem-based with Scaffolding Learning Activities in Ubiquitous Learning Environment, in which everything can be learnt everywhere and anytime by emphasizing the context-awareness, to develop the problem-solving skills of the learners. This process would improve the life long learning ability of the learners.

2. Purpose of the study

2.1 To design of problem-based with scaffolding learning activities in ubiquitous learning environment to develop problem-solving skills. 2.2 To evaluate the Problem-based with scaffolding learning activities in ubiquitous learning environment to develop problem-solving skills.

3. Conceptual Framework

The conceptual framework of this research is to integrate the design of learning of ADDIE Model with the problem-based learning, the scaffolding and Ubiquitous Learning Environment, as shown in Figure 1.


Figure 1. Conceptual Framework

4. Methodology

4.1. The first phase

The first phase was to develop the problem-based with scaffolding learning activities in ubiquitous learning environment to develop problem-solving skills. 4.1.1 Study, analyze and synthesize documents and former researches relevant to the elements of ubiquitous learning activities, problem-based learning and scaffolding. 4.1.2 Study information about learning activity by interviewing the instructors in order to synthesize the data of learning activity; and by interviewing the students about their ability to use information technology and communication for learning, their learning and cognitive style 4.1.3 Design the problem-based with scaffolding learning activities in ubiquitous learning environment to develop problem-solving skills. 4.1.4 Present the problem-based with scaffolding learning activities to the advisors for consideration and revision. 4.1.5 Present the problem-based with scaffolding learning activities to the experts for consideration by in-depth interview. 4.1.6 Create the evaluation tools for evaluate the learning activities.

4.2. The second phase

This phase was to evaluating the problem-based with scaffolding learning activities in ubiquitous learning environment to develop problem-solving skills. 4.2.1 Present the designed activity to the 5 experts from the fields of instructional design, ubiquitous learning activities, problem-based learning and scaffolding for suitability evaluation. 4.2.2 Improve the model of problem-based with scaffolding learning activities as to the suggestions of the experts. 4.2.3 Analyze the results of evaluation of the model by mean ( ) and standard deviation (S.D.) consisting of 5 criteria for evaluation according to the idea of Likert scale.

5. Results

5.1. Learning Activities

The problem-based with scaffolding learning activities in ubiquitous learning environment to develop problem-solving skills, the details thereof are shown in Figure 2

Learning activities took place in Ubiquitous Learning Environment. In other words, each learner used a portable computer (tablet) as a learning tool; thereby, the learner could learn anything in any place where there was Wi-Fi, e.g. school areas, universities, home, public areas or the areas with 3G services. The learning activities included 5


steps. Each step employed different scaffolding techniques to help the learners solve different problems; the details thereof were as follow:

Figure 2. Problem-based with Scaffolding Learning Activities in Ubiquitous Learning Environment 5.1.1 Study of the content: This step was about the study of any contents via u-Learning (u- LMS). The system would send learning contents to the tablet and notify the learners so that they would study the contents to be learnt for that week. This step provided Conceptual Scaffolding that would present the structure of learning contents; and Procedural Scaffolding that would introduce the learning sources. 5.1.2 Present the problem: The system of u-LMS would automatically present the problem to the tablets of the learners. Then, the learners studied and figured out the said problem base. This step provided Metacognitive Scaffolding and Conceptual Scaffolding in order for the learners to understand the problem base profoundly. The learners would talk to the group members through the web board with their tablets. 5.1.3 Problem solving planning: The group members shared their ideas in the brainstorming so as to figure out the problem issue. The said brainstorming was conducted via a group conversation in the web board on their tablet. After that, the members identified and summarized the problem issue, analyzed the causes of problem, identified and prioritized the hypotheses, and set up the objectives of learning. This step provided Strategic Scaffolding that helped the learners set up a strategic plan to solve the problem.


5.1.4 Problem solving: The learners discussed via their tablet on the division of duty for each member to find out more information from the learning sources. This step provided them with Procedural Scaffolding, which guided them to use their tablet to access different learning sources such as www, search engine, wiki, etc; and apply the derived information to solve the problem. Also, the learners would receive Metacognitive Scaffolding, which suggested them some guidelines to solve the problem. In this step, therefore, the learners would have more problem-solving skills. 5.1.5 Identify generalization and principles derived from studying the problem: The group members discussed in the brainstorming via their tablet in order to summarize the learning, principles and concepts derived from studying the problem. Then, they proposed the guidelines of how to solve the problem and how to apply these in different situations. This step provided Metacognitive Scaffolding that could help the learners summarize principles and concepts in solving any problem. The representative of the group summarized the results and presented the steps of how to solve the problem they had been assigned. The measurement and the evaluation for each step were in the form of authentic assessment; thereby, the evaluation was performed in every step after the learners had handed in their job. The measurement of learning was done at the end of learning activities by means of tests that could measure the problem-solving skills of the learners.

5.2. Suitability Evaluation of Activities

Suitability evaluation of activities was performed by 5 experts, and the results thereof were presented in Table 1

Table 1. Suitability evaluation of activities

Suitability evaluation list Results

Level of suitability S.D.

1. Study of the content. 4.80 0.45 Very Good 2. Present the problem. 4.40 0.55 Good 3. Problem solving planning. 4.60 0.55 Very Good 4. Problem solving. 4.20 0.45 Good 5. Identify generalization and principles derived from studying the problem. 4.40 0.55 Good

Summary 4.48 0.51 Good

Form table 1 the experts agree that a learning activities was appropriateness in a good level. ( = 4.48, S.D. = 0.51)

6. Discussion

According to the assessment by experts, it was found that the learning activities were in high level of suitability. The results were in accordance with the research of Jones and Jo (2004) and Yahya (2010), who found that u-Learning helped facilitate the learners to study everywhere and anytime, and it complied with the theories of constructivism. Moreover, the results were in compliance with Hung (2012), who found out that the integration of problem-based learning activities and the scaffolding increased the problem-solving skills because the activities encouraged the learners to confront with the problems and think strategically in order to solve the said problems. Also, the results conformed to Ku and Chang (2010), who found that the problem-based learning with mobile device in Ubiquitous Learning Environment would facilitate the learners in solving the problems and communicating with the team members. This also enhanced the efficiency of the learners because there was no limitation of time and place.

To set up learning activity in Ubiquitous Learning Environment, any education institutes that desire to apply this learning model should be well prepared in terms of infrastructure, instructors, and learners.


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Design of Problem-based with Scaffolding Learning Activities in Ubiquitous Learning Environment to Develop Problem-solving Skills