幫助學生激發近側發展區間的電腦系統：以課堂發問與網站實作為例

本篇論文根據Vygotsky的社會建構論與ZPD概念，認為學生的學習是跟老師或是跟其他有能力的人在與他們互動的過程中進行的，而老師或是其他有能力的人，應該要在學生學習的過程中瞭解他們的狀況，並且適時的給予幫助，才能讓學生發揮最大的學習潛能。本篇論文的目的是如何透過電腦系統的協助，讓老師能在學生學習的過程中瞭解學生的學習狀況，並且給予學生幫助。論文內容可以分成兩個部分來看，第一部分是透過電腦系統（稱為NATA）降低學生課堂發問的壓力，解決學生「不發問或幾乎不發問」這個長久以來普遍存在的問題；第二部分則是在實作課程上（以網站設計課程為例），透過電腦系統（稱為Web Arena）所建立模擬真實世界壓力的環境，激發學生動機讓網站做得更好，並且同時發展動態評量系統，讓老師可以隨時掌握學生的學習狀況，適時幫助需要幫助的學生。第一部份「學生發問」的研究結果顯示，使用NATA的確會增加學生課堂發問意願，並且也會促進學生的發問行為，無論是在學生準備問題的數量上或是舉手人數上都明顯高於傳統方式提問。根據系統使用之意見調查結果發現，超過90%的學生指出本研究所設計的電腦提問系統NATA比起傳統的舉手提問方式讓他們覺得比較自在也比較願意提出問題，表示NATA對於改善學生發問動機的成果是明顯的。換句話說，NATA提供了一個有趣的發問環境，讓學生覺得發問不再有壓力（減少壓力），而樂於思考問題並提出問題。第二部份「激發學生動機讓網站做得更好，並且發展動態評量系統」上，大部分的學生不願意花太多的時間在期末的網站設計作業上，因為他們感受不到來自真實世界裡做網站所面臨的壓力，往往認為它只是一份作業，交給老師就完成了。因此，我們設計一套稱為Web Arena的電腦系統，它可以模擬出真實世界中製作網站時所面臨的壓力。透過網站公開，讓學生產生「我的網站應該可以做得更好」的心態，進而實際行動改進網站的設計與品質。研究結果顯示，將近90%的學生表示，如果看到別人的網站表現比較好時，他們會感到緊張，並且有將近70%的學生表示這樣的結果會促使他們改進網站。由於學生的學習過程都在電腦所建立的環境中進行，因此，我們發展出學習指標圖（Liearning Indicator Diagram），讓老師可以在不需要工作負擔太大的情況下，隨時掌握學生的學習狀況，適時的幫助需要幫助的學生。

關鍵字

發問；近側發展區間；網站製作；學習指標圖；動態評量

並列摘要

According to Vygotsky’s social constructivism and the concept of ZPD, students learn by interacting with their teachers or more capable others. In order to help students reach their maximum learning potential, teachers or more capable others would have to understand the students’ status and provide timely and appropriate assistance during their learning processes. The purpose of this study is to assist teachers in discovering the students’ problems of learning by using computer technology and also to provide appropriate assistance according to the students’ needs. There are two focuses in this study. The first focus is to solve the long-standing problem that students do not or seldom ask questions. This is done by using a computer system called NATA (for Not Afraid to Ask) to reduce the students’ pressure of asking questions in the classroom. The second focus is to design a computer system called Web Arena for authentic curriculum. Web Arena was used in Web-Design Course. It provides an environment to simulate the pressure of doing projects that one might experience in the real world, thereby motivating the students in building better web sites. A dynamic assessment system was developed. It uses the data collected in Web Arena to assist teachers in monitoring the students’ learning processes and status and to privide support tailored to students’ needs. It can be shown that NATA could increase the students’ willingness of asking questions in the classroom. It can also be shown that NATA helps to improve the students’ questioning behaviors. The number of questions prepared by students and the number of students who “raised hands” (digitally) to ask questions were significantly higher when compared to traditional classroom teaching. According to the results of the students’ opinions questionnaire, more than 90% of the students in this study agreed that they were more comfortable and willing to ask questions using NATA. There was also a significant improvement in the students’ motivation of questioning in class according to the teachers’ observations. NATA reduced the students’ questioning pressures, and motivated students to think and ask questions. The research focus of Web Arena was to help students construct make better web sites and also to develop a dynamic assessment system. When students are asked to build web sites as their final projects, it is common often that they do not spend too much time and effort on the project. They typically view the projects as “just another assignment to hand in”. As a result, the quality and usability of these web sites are often inferior to their real world counterparts. Constructing Web sites in an academic environment, students do not get feedback or experience the pressure of making a popular web site. To deal with this problem, Web Arena is designed to provide an environment that can simulate the pressure of designing and constructing web sites, just as what one will experience in the real world. All web sites made by students are made known to the public in Web Arena. The purpose was to make students think that they could construct better web sites and also take necessary actions to improve the design and quality of their web sites. The results indicated that almost 90% of the students agreed that they felt nervous when they saw other web sites performed better. About 70% of the students said that they would improve their web sites under that condition. To record the efforts that students made on the projects and the feedback or popularity of the web sites, a real-time system called LID (for Learning Indicator Diagram) was developed. For each team, LID compares their recorded efforts with their recorded popularity, making it possible for the teacher to monitor the students’ learning status at any time, thereby helping them overcome difficulties.