Andy Saltarelli

Technology-mediated versions of both education and treatment for mental health have seen much of their potential undercut by the large numbers of participants who don't complete the work. Understanding the broader online psychology behind this attrition can point to steps that minimize it.

First impressions influence subsequent behavior, especially when deciding how much effort to invest in an activity such as taking an online course. In computer programming courses, a context where social group stereotypes are salient, social cues early in the course can be used strategically to affirm members of historically underrepresented groups in their sense of belonging. We tested this idea in two randomized field experiments (N=53,922) by varying the social identity and status of the… Show more

First impressions influence subsequent behavior, especially when deciding how much effort to invest in an activity such as taking an online course. In computer programming courses, a context where social group stereotypes are salient, social cues early in the course can be used strategically to affirm members of historically underrepresented groups in their sense of belonging. We tested this idea in two randomized field experiments (N=53,922) by varying the social identity and status of the presenter of a welcome video and assessing online learners’ persistence and achievement. Counter to our hypotheses, we found lower persistence among women in certain age groups if the welcome video was presented by a female instructor or by lower-status peers. Men remained unaffected. The results suggest that women are more responsive to social cues in online STEM courses, an environment where their social identity has been negatively stereotyped. Presenting a male and female instructor together was an effective strategy for retaining women in the course. Show less

Online learning has rapidly expanded in the last decade and today nearly one in three US college students takes at least one online course during their academic career and 15% are enrolled in entirely online programs. Digital learning platforms have become ubiquitous on college campuses and many institutions see online learning as a strategy to expand enrollments and access while at the same time balancing shrinking budgets. Massive open online courses have been cited as an effective way to… Show more

Online learning has rapidly expanded in the last decade and today nearly one in three US college students takes at least one online course during their academic career and 15% are enrolled in entirely online programs. Digital learning platforms have become ubiquitous on college campuses and many institutions see online learning as a strategy to expand enrollments and access while at the same time balancing shrinking budgets. Massive open online courses have been cited as an effective way to affordably scale online learning while increasing access for traditionally marginalized students, especially in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines. However, accumulating evidence suggests that online learning environments perpetuate enrollment and participation gaps in STEM courses. Thus, it may be the case that, like face-to-face environments, online learning platforms contain contextual cues that activate psychological biases and make certain groups of learners (e.g., women in STEM courses) feel unwelcome. With rising demand for online higher education, especially in STEM, there is a pressing need to understand how to design online learning environments that are psychologically inclusive and welcoming for students with diverse backgrounds. Show less

Advocates for free massive open online courses (MOOCs) have heralded them as vehicles for democratizing education and bridging divides within and across countries (1). More than 25 million people enrolled in MOOCs between 2012 and 2015, including 39% from less-developed countries (LDCs) (2). But the educated and affluent in all countries enroll in and complete MOOCs at relatively higher rates (3, 4). Judged by completion rates, MOOCs do not spread benefits equitably across global regions… Show more

Advocates for free massive open online courses (MOOCs) have heralded them as vehicles for democratizing education and bridging divides within and across countries (1). More than 25 million people enrolled in MOOCs between 2012 and 2015, including 39% from less-developed countries (LDCs) (2). But the educated and affluent in all countries enroll in and complete MOOCs at relatively higher rates (3, 4). Judged by completion rates, MOOCs do not spread benefits equitably across global regions. Rather, they reflect prevailing educational disparities between nations (see the first chart) (5). Although the global achievement gap could be caused by barriers in LDCs, such as less broadband Internet access, formal education, and English proficiency, we explore another potential but underappreciated cause. Members of LDCs may suffer from the cognitive burden of wrestling with feeling unwelcome while trying to learn and, therefore, underperform. This can be exacerbated by social identity threat, which is the fear of being seen as less capable because of one's group (6). We discuss field experiments with interventions that targeted social identity threat and caused substantial improvements in MOOC persistence and completion rates among learners in LDCs, eliminating the global achievement gap. Show less

Key Takeaways
- Personalized learning at scale need not rely solely on predictive analytics — it can be facilitated by connecting and empowering distributed communities of learners to co-create their learning experience.

- Many students are not prepared to engage in personalized, connected learning and require clear messaging about the vision, values, and skills that will help them succeed.

- Personalized learning requires a delicate balance between student autonomy and… Show more

Key Takeaways
- Personalized learning at scale need not rely solely on predictive analytics — it can be facilitated by connecting and empowering distributed communities of learners to co-create their learning experience.

- Many students are not prepared to engage in personalized, connected learning and require clear messaging about the vision, values, and skills that will help them succeed.

- Personalized learning requires a delicate balance between student autonomy and instructor-led direction and scaffolding, along with openness as a pedagogy and toward content licensing, to achieve personalized, crowdsourced, connected learning.

- The most effective personalized learning at scale requires the thoughtful integration of many pedagogies and emerging technologies including learning analytics, openness, and connectivism. Show less

Key Takeaways
-Stanford University used MOOCs as an opportunity to create a supportive environment for faculty to explore, create, and express themselves in new ways through open and digital education.

- Following its early support for MOOCs, Stanford built "soft infrastructure" to incubate good ideas and allow courses to evolve over time to include different formats, audiences, or goals based on the involved faculty members' interests and motivations.

- Interviews with faculty… Show more

Key Takeaways
-Stanford University used MOOCs as an opportunity to create a supportive environment for faculty to explore, create, and express themselves in new ways through open and digital education.

- Following its early support for MOOCs, Stanford built "soft infrastructure" to incubate good ideas and allow courses to evolve over time to include different formats, audiences, or goals based on the involved faculty members' interests and motivations.

- Interviews with faculty revealed that soft infrastructure created a context where a wide diversity of faculty members' values, motivations, and interests could flourish and creative ideas could be affirmed.

- The soft infrastructure helped more than 280 faculty and instructors across Stanford launch over 200 distinct online, blended, or flipped course offerings in a period of less than three years. Show less

Adapting face-to-face (FTF) pedagogies to online settings raises boundary questions about the
contextual conditions in which the same instructional method stimulates different outcomes. We address this issue by examining FTF and computer-mediated (CMC) versions of constructive controversy, a cooperative learning procedure involving dialogic argumentation and the shared goal of reaching an integrative position. One hundred and seventy-one undergraduates were randomly assigned to a 3… Show more

Adapting face-to-face (FTF) pedagogies to online settings raises boundary questions about the
contextual conditions in which the same instructional method stimulates different outcomes. We address this issue by examining FTF and computer-mediated (CMC) versions of constructive controversy, a cooperative learning procedure involving dialogic argumentation and the shared goal of reaching an integrative position. One hundred and seventy-one undergraduates were randomly assigned to a 3 (synchronicity: face-to-face, synchronous CMC, asynchronous CMC) x 3 (belongingness: acceptance, mild rejection, control) quasi-experimental design. As predicted, FTF and synchronous CMC conditions increased cooperation, epistemic conflict regulation, motivation (interest-value) and achievement (completion rate, integrative statements), while asynchronous CMC increased competition and relational conflict regulation and decreased motivation and achievement. Also as predicted, satisfying belongingness needs (through acceptance) increased cooperation, epistemic conflict regulation, and motivation compared to control. Unexpectedly, there was no evidence that mild rejection diminished outcomes. Results inform theory by demonstrating that FTF and CMC synchronicity represent boundary conditions in which constructive controversy stimulates different social-psychological processes and, in turn, different outcomes. Results also inform practice by showing that synchronicity and belongingness have additive effects on constructive controversy, and that satisfying belongingness needs buffers but does not offset the deleterious effects of asynchronous CMC. Show less

Multimedia and simulation programs are increasingly being used for anatomy instruction, yet it remains unclear how learning with these technologies compares with learning with actual human cadavers. Using a multilevel, quasi-experimental-control design, this study compared the effects of “Anatomy and Physiology Revealed” (APR) multimedia learning system with a traditional undergraduate human cadaver laboratory. APR is a model-based multimedia simulation tool that uses high-resolution pictures… Show more

Multimedia and simulation programs are increasingly being used for anatomy instruction, yet it remains unclear how learning with these technologies compares with learning with actual human cadavers. Using a multilevel, quasi-experimental-control design, this study compared the effects of “Anatomy and Physiology Revealed” (APR) multimedia learning system with a traditional undergraduate human cadaver laboratory. APR is a model-based multimedia simulation tool that uses high-resolution pictures to construct a prosected cadaver. APR also provides animations showing the function of specific anatomical structures. Results showed that the human cadaver laboratory offered a significant advantage over the multimedia simulation program on cadaver-based measures of identification and explanatory knowledge. These findings reinforce concerns that incorporating multimedia simulation into anatomy instruction requires careful alignment between learning tasks and performance measures. Findings also imply that additional pedagogical strategies are needed to support transfer from simulated to real-world application of anatomical knowledge. Show less

Cooperative learning capitalizes on the relational processes by which peers promote learning, yet it remains unclear whether these processes operate similarly in face-to-face and online settings. This study addresses this issue by comparing face-to-face and computer-mediated versions of constructive contro- versy, a cooperative learning procedure designed to create intellectual conflict among students. One hundred and one undergraduates were randomly assigned to a 1 (control: face-to-face) x 3… Show more

Cooperative learning capitalizes on the relational processes by which peers promote learning, yet it remains unclear whether these processes operate similarly in face-to-face and online settings. This study addresses this issue by comparing face-to-face and computer-mediated versions of constructive contro- versy, a cooperative learning procedure designed to create intellectual conflict among students. One hundred and one undergraduates were randomly assigned to a 1 (control: face-to-face) x 3 (medium: video, audio, text) x 2 (synchronicity: synchronous, asynchronous) experimental-control design. Show less