Augmented reality (AR) as an emerging technology has gradually been incorporated into educational contexts; however, the cases that incorporate AR into early childhood contexts are underrepresented and especially scant in the literacy domain. Aiming to measure the impact of AR on early childhood learning and motivation in the literacy domain, this…

This study examined 342 teachers' views of professional development (PD) provided by a large school district to support its iPad initiative. We were interested in investigating teachers' perceptions of this district-provided PD, any change in teachers' views, and how they used iPads in their instruction while/after receiving PD. The findings,…

In this chapter, we, the faculty from the Learning Technologies Program at The University of Texas at Austin, describe our research interests and share findings from our research conducted in past few years. Through multiple research projects examining various factors affecting technology use in K-16, we discuss the affordances of different…

The purpose of this research was to explore the relationships between design, learning, and translanguaging in a 3D collaborative virtual learning environment for adolescent learners of Chinese and English. We designed an open-ended space congruent with ecological and dialogical perspectives on second language acquisition. In such a space,…

This paper describes the design and development process used to create Alien Rescue, a multimedia-enhanced learning environment that supports problem-based learning (PBL) in middle school science. The goal of the project is to further our understandings of technology, pedagogy, and instructional theories as they relate to the application of PBL…

This study examined how a group of ten middle school teachers implemented a technology enriched problem-based learning (PBL) environment. The goal was to understand their motivation, document their implementation techniques, and identify factors that teachers considered important in using technology-based PBL tools in their teaching. The analysis…

This chapter examines the various cognitive tools embedded in a multimedia-enriched PBL environment for middle school science known as "Alien Rescue" and shares the research findings of the use of these cognitive tools in assisting young learners' problem solving. The goal of this chapter is to illustrate strategies for designing…

This study examines middle school students' learning and motivation as they engaged in a new media enriched problem-based learning (PBL) environment for middle school science. Using a mixed-method design with both quantitative and qualitative data, we investigated the effect of a new media environment on sixth graders' science learning, their…

The purpose of this study is to examine the potential of using computer databases as cognitive tools to share learners' cognitive load and facilitate learning in a multimedia problem-based learning (PBL) environment designed for sixth graders. Two research questions were: (a) can the computer database tool share sixth-graders' cognitive load? and…

This study examined the effect of a hypermedia-enhanced problem-based learning environment in astronomy on sixth-graders' science knowledge, attitude toward learning science, and motivation toward learning. It was found that the students had significantly increased their science knowledge from pretest to post test and also retained much of what…