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Construction companies are increasingly adopting sensing technologies like laser scanners, making it necessary to upskill the future workforce in this area. However, limited jobsite access hinders experiential learning of laser scanning, necessitating the need for an alternative learning environment. Previously, the authors explored mixed reality (MR) as an alternative learning environment for laser scanning, but to promote seamless learning, such learning environments must be proactive and intelligent. Toward this, the potentials of classification models for detecting user difficulties and learning stages in the MR environment were investigated in this study.

The study adopted machine learning classifiers on eye-tracking data and think-aloud data for detecting learning stages and interaction difficulties during the usability study of laser scanning in the MR environment.

The classification models demonstrated high performance, with neural network classifier showing superior performance (accuracy of 99.9%) during the detection of learning stages and an ensemble showing the highest accuracy of 84.6% for detecting interaction difficulty during laser scanning.

The findings of this study revealed that eye movement data possess significant information about learning stages and interaction difficulties and provide evidence of the potentials of smart MR environments for improved learning experiences in construction education. The research implication further lies in the potential of an intelligent learning environment for providing personalized learning experiences that often culminate in improved learning outcomes. This study further highlights the potential of such an intelligent learning environment in promoting inclusive learning, whereby students with different cognitive capabilities can experience learning tailored to their specific needs irrespective of their individual differences.

The classification models will help detect learners requiring additional support to acquire the necessary technical skills for deploying laser scanners in the construction industry and inform the specific training needs of users to enhance seamless interaction with the learning environment.

Students of mixed-ability learning together in one class is a challenge for all educators, especially in English as foreign language (EFL) contexts. Timed reading activity (TRA) is an activity that can help educators address the learning needs of students in such a context. The present study investigated the effectiveness of the TRA in enhancing EFL students' reading rate and reading comprehension as well as in making them aware of potentially wrong reading strategies that they may be using.

A classroom intervention was designed for a group of preparatory year (PY) students at a Saudi university. The study sample consisted of one intact class of 29 students. Data were collected from pre- and post-tests of students' reading rate and reading comprehension as well as progress charts. In addition, a questionnaire was used to identify the reading strategies used by the students.

The results showed that the TRA generally enhanced the reading comprehension and the reading rate of EFL mixed-ability students as well as raised their awareness of their use of wrong fast reading strategies.

The results of the study support the use of TRA as a remedial reading activity in EFL mixed-ability classes.

The racial makeup of the United States' elementary school population is in flux. While much discussion addresses the shrinking White population and the growing Latinx population, less highlighted is the growing number of individuals who identify as belonging to two or more races. This group of individuals currently constitutes the youngest, fastest growing racial subgroup. According to the US Census' projections, the two or more races population will grow by 226% between 2014 and 2060, almost double the Asian population, the next fastest growing subgroup. Though individuals with multiplicity to their racial backgrounds have existed in the United States since its inception, only recently has the government provided the option for individuals to quantify their self-reported belonging to multiple races. The resulting statistics alert educators to the fact that individuals identifying as biracial and multiracial are going to be an increasingly sizable group of students requiring, as all children do, individualized care and support within school walls. In this chapter, I draw upon Black-White biracial women's elementary school recounts to help educational practitioners understand lived experiences that inform young girls' navigations of the intersections of their Blackness and Whiteness in schooling spaces.

The purpose of this paper is to report on developments and applications of mixed reality cubicles and their impacts on learning in higher education. This paper investigates and presents the cost effective application of augmented reality (AR) as a mixed reality technology via or to mobile devices such as head-mounted devices, smart phones and tablets. Discuss the development of mixed reality applications for mobile (smartphones and tablets) devices leading up to the implementation of a mixed reality cubicle for immersive three dimensional (3D) visualizations.

The approach adopted was to limit the considerations to the application of AR via mobile platforms including head-mounted devices with focus on smartphones and tablets, which contain basic feedback–to-user channels such as speakers and display screens. An AR visualization cubicle was jointly developed and applied by three collaborating institutions. The markers, acting as placeholders acts as identifiable reference points for objects being inserted in the mixed reality world. Hundreds of participants comprising academics and students from seven different countries took part in the studies and gave feedback on impact on their learning experience.

Results from current study show less than 30 percent had used mixed reality environments. This is lower than expected. About 70 percent of participants were first time users of mixed reality technologies. This indicates a relatively low use of mixed reality technologies in education. This is consistent with research findings reported that educational use and research on AR is still not common despite their categorization as emerging technologies with great promise for educational use.

Current research has focused mainly on cubicles which provides immersive experience if used with head-mounted devices (goggles and smartphones), that are limited by their display/screen sizes. There are some issues with limited battery lifetime for energy to function, hence the need to use rechargeable batteries. Also, the standard dimension of cubicles does not allow for group visualizations. The current cubicle has limitations associated with complex gestures and movements involving two hands, as one hand are currently needed for holding the mobile phone.

The use of mixed reality cubicles would allow and enhance information visualization for big data in real time and without restrictions. There is potential to have this extended for use in exploring and studying otherwise inaccessible locations such as sea beds and underground caves. Social implications – Following on from this study further work could be done to developing and application of mixed reality cubicles that would impact businesses, health and entertainment.

The originality of this paper lies in the unique approach used in the study of developments and applications of mixed reality cubicles and their impacts on learning. The diverse composition in nature and location of participants drawn from many countries comprising of both tutors and students adds value to the present study. The value of this research include amongst others, the useful results obtained and scope for developments in the future.

Software training is a new trend in software applications. A key problem with software training is that video tutorials are developed without considering the target audience. Although video tutorials are popular, little attention is given to their design features. This study aims to investigate how two multimedia research principles, visual cueing (VC) and practice type, influence task performance, mental effort and motivation.

Three video tutorials on non-linear editing were viewed by 118 Computer Science undergraduate students with high information communication technology experience. To analyse the relationships between the research variables, a 2 (non-VC versus VC) × 2 (post-video viewing practice versus stepwise viewing-based practice (SVBP) mixed factorial design was used.

The results indicated that neither VC nor SVBP influenced task performance; however, both practice type conditions led to higher levels of motivation.

The incorporation of VC and practice type in complex software training is less likely to be beneficial for domain experts. Future studies should record eye tracking data to capture learners’ behaviours whilst learning a software application. Moreover, practice targeted with immediate feedback should be incorporated as it enhances scaffolding.

Neither practice type was considered effective by experts. A practice strategy with user-controlled pausing (i.e. markers) could enhance retention by allowing users to practice tasks after locating the most relevant parts of the video tutorial.

This study contributes to the literature by investigating two guidelines: VC and practice type in the context of complex software training targeting domain experts.

The purpose of this paper is to extend the theoretical understanding and conceptualization of shared leadership by examining the impact of cognitive trust as an antecedent of shared leadership. Further, the study examines the mediating effect of team learning on relationship between shared leadership and team creativity.

The study adopted a mixed method approach with sequential explanatory research strategy. Using a survey questionnaire, data from 44 teams were collected at two different time points. Semistructured interviews were carried out with 22 teams to explain the results that emerged from the quantitative study.

The study found that cognitive trust positively influences shared leadership. Further, team learning fully mediates the relationship between shared leadership and team creativity. The major themes that emerged from the qualitative study are participant's experiences of shared leadership in team, reasons to exert leadership, reasons to accept leadership and consequences of shared leadership.

Organizations can enhance team creativity by promoting shared leadership in the organization.

This study examines the mediating process of team learning between shared leadership and team creativity. Mixed method approach adopted in the study explains the shared leadership process by building on both quantitative and qualitative research.

Quality circles, project teams, autonomous work groups, and self‐managed teams are very much a part of organizational life in today′s competitive and constantly changing work environment. Considers the issues in developing groups as a focus for learning for individuals and the organization as a whole. Reports on a two‐year project evaluating the processes and outcomes of learning groups, and suggests that lessons learned from this project can be applied to help maximize learning and performance in groups in a wide range of organizational contexts. Presents outcomes regarding effective group selection, learning achievements and group processes. Draws conclusions and highlights key issues.

This paper aims to show how collective embodiment with physical objects (i.e. props) support young children’s learning through the construction of liminal blends that merge physical, virtual and conceptual resources in a mixed-reality (MR) environment..

Building on Science through Technology Enhanced Play (STEP), we apply the Learning in Embodied Activity Framework to further explore how liminal blends can help us understand learning within MR environments. Twenty-two students from a mixed first- and second-grade classroom participated in a seven-part activity sequence in the STEP environment. The authors applied interaction analysis to analyze how student’s actions performed with the physical objects helped them to construct liminal blends that allowed key concepts to be made visible and shared for collective sensemaking.

The authors found that conceptually productive liminal blends occurred when students constructed connections between the resources in the MR environment and coordinated their embodiment with props to represent new understandings.

This study concludes with the implications for how the design of MR environment and teachers’ facilitation in MR environment supports students in constructing liminal blends and their understanding of complex science phenomena.

The purpose of this paper is to explore, using fine-grained exploratory multi-case studies, organisational learning practices – and associated constraints – impacting the performance of four small- and medium-sized project organisations which deliver energy efficiency projects in South Africa and whose learning practice mixes are of wider significance for the emerging project society in the region.

The unit of analysis is the Energy Efficiency Demand Side Management (EEDSM) programme; a US$104m grant funded the initiative directed at supporting energy efficient retro-fit projects across local municipalities in South Africa. Thematic analysis is undertaken, based on multiple exploratory interviews with project practitioners working for small- and medium-sized EEDSM project organisations.

Recognising the criticality of tacit knowledge as a focus for learning, within unstructured, novel, non-routine and technically specialised learning contexts in particular, the widespread lack of organisational harnessing through linkages to strategy and performance are noted, and advocacy is offered for the development of appropriate learning cultures linked to communities of practice that bring specialists together from across regional project societies.

The socio-political context of the EEDSM programme, although briefly addressed for its organisational cultural implications, was not given detailed consideration in the exploratory interviews. This would have enhanced the idiographic complexity of the findings, while also reducing prospects for distilling generalisable organisational learning improvement opportunities for emerging project societies. However, the study does not seek to provide evidence for specific learning practice effects on performance as this was not something the interviewees felt able to comment on in significant detail.

Learning practice studies for small- and medium-sized project organisations remains sparse, so are studies of business environments within developing countries, in general, or sub-Saharan Africa, in particular. Looking beyond narrow individual project views of performance, the present study’s project society-based business environment is theorised as both constraining and benefiting from the project-learning practices discussed by the respondents.

The aim of this paper is to profile the information seeking behaviour of nursing students, according to learning style, personality and self‐efficacy in information literacy. Such profiles should help students to reflect on their information seeking, and should help librarians in designing information literacy programmes that are targeted to student needs.

A questionnaire using existing validated scales for learning styles, personality, and information literacy self‐efficacy was developed. The information seeking portion was based on an information behaviour model with core processes (opening, orientation and consolidation) and corresponding micro‐processes. The questionnaire was administered to nursing students (n=261, response rate 74 per cent, 194/261) at one UK university.

Neither information literacy self‐efficacy, nor learning style on their own appeared to change as students progressed. There is a significant association between learning style and self‐efficacy. There appears to be some associations between personality and learning style, and between personality, learning style and preferred information seeking processes. Odds ratios analyses were used to help in preliminary development of profiles. Students with a higher degree of confidence about their information literacy are more likely to: think about their search; work out strategies; and build and adapt their searches. Deep learners take a broad, exploratory approach to searching and score highest for the openness personality trait; whilst strategic learners think about their search, adapt as they progress and score highest for conscientiousness and emotional stability. Surface learners do less planning. Additionally, personality traits (which are essentially stable over time) are positively or negatively associated with various aspects of information seeking.

The sample size limits the extent of statistical analyses and possible generalizations. The planned qualitative research may help in confirmation of the information seeking profiles.

The research extends existing research evidence on the impact of personality and learning style on student information behaviour by including an information literacy scale and information seeking micro‐processes.