社交网络影响在线自主学习课程完成的实证研究:基于学习分析的方法

Impacts of Social Network on Course Completion in Online Self-Regulated Learning:An Empirical Study Based on Learning Analytics

社交网络在商业领域的成功应用极大触发了教育研究者对其在促进和支持个体自主学习上的思考与探索。但已有研究大多数基于相似的研究情境,即社交网络的建立是在一群来自相同学习组织、班级或学校的同伴中发生,并有来自学校或老师的学习要求。如果条件不是这样,社交网络的影响是否还会是相同的积极效果呢?本研究围绕这一问题情境,依据从一个名为"知了网"的学习平台中获取来的真实学习数据,采用学习分析的方法对来自22个省231所学校的590个学生在平台上所开展的平均为期29天的自主学习展开了实证研究。通过方差、聚类、相关等分析方法,分析结果揭示,在一群几乎"陌生"的人群中开展在线自主学习,社交网络对在线自主学习的课程完成同样具有积极的影响,并且双向关注关系的朋友数量在不超过5个时能获得最为显著的学习影响成效;而在此情境下,学术方面的因素(比如,相同的学习目标、学业差异)相比社会方面的因素(比如,共同的身份)对是否建立朋友关系的影响更大。这些研究结论均可为今后在线学习平台中应用社交网络技术并设计学习同伴推荐机制支持自主学习提供有用的建议。

Research has confirmed the positive impacts of social network on students＇ learning experience, learning processes and learning outcomes. However, most the current studies have examined a similar learning context - learners came from the same learning organizations, classes or schools, and there were learning requirements demanded by the schools or the teachers. This study examined whether social network could have the same positive impacts on students＇ learning in a different context. Using the data acquired from ZhiLiao learning platform, this empirical study examined the self-regulated learning of 590 students who came from 231 schools in 22 provinces and studied together for 29 days in average. Students fully controlled their own learning process, and there were no learning requirements from their teachers and schools. Utilizing learning analytics as the researchmethod, this study found that： social This study can inform the use of social network technology and the design of appropriate learning peer recommendation mechanism to support online self-regulated learning.