A context-aware video prompt approach to improving students’ in-field reflection levels I-Chun Hung a , Xiu-Jun Yang a , Wei-Chieh Fang a , Gwo-Jen Hwang b , Nian-Shing Chen a, * a Department of Information Management, National Sun Yat-sen University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan b Graduate Institute of Digital Learning and Education, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taipei, Taiwan article info Article history: Received 25 October 2012 Received in revised form 10 August 2013 Accepted 12 August 2013 Keywords: Context-aware ubiquitous learning Reflection prompt Sensing technology Video-based prompt strategy Reflection level abstract Engaging students in reflection during real-world observation and inquiry activities has been recognized as an important issue for improving students’ learning achievement and motivation. Many studies in the literature have adopted text-based reflection prompts as an important strategy to promote learning performance, this study argues that using videos as a reflection prompt would be more effective for improving learners’ ubiquitous learning experiences and can provide a more sensible scenario that is better fitting the real-world contexts than the text-based prompts. In this study, a context-aware video- based prompt approach is proposed for improving students’ reflection levels and satisfaction by providing timely and personalized guidance using mobile, wireless communication and sensing tech- nologies. An experiment was conducted for evaluating the effectiveness of the proposed video-based prompt strategy with 70 participants in two groups. The results show that learners’ reflection levels were significantly improved with the use of the proposed approach and that positive attitudes were observed toward the use of video-based prompts in the context-aware ubiquitous learning environment. Ó 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction The rapid advancement of computer and network technologies has attracted researchers to develop web-based learning environments in which learners can access digital learning materials as well as utilize various learning facilities (Hsu et al., 2012; Ketelhut & Schifter, 2011). Although using such digital learning systems has the advantages of economy and convenience, educators have indicated the necessity of situating students in real-world environments, in which they can learn to deal with real-world issues and identify the problems to be coped with (Lave, 1991; Li & Lim, 2008). At the same time, the efficiency and popularity of mobile and sensing technologies have provided a good opportunity to personalize learning guidance by conducting learning activities in real-world learning contexts (Chen, Hwang, Yang, Chen, & Huang, 2009; Hung, Lin, & Hwang, 2010). With the help of these new technologies, individual learners, by using mobile devices to access digital content via wireless communications, are able to learn in real-world situations with support or instructions from the computer system (Hwang & Chang, 2011; Shih, Chuang, & Hwang, 2010). Furthermore, the learning systems are able to detect and record students’ learning behaviors in both the real world and the digital world with the help of the sensing technologies. Such a sensing technology-enhanced mobile learning has been called context-aware ubiquitous learning (Hwang, Tsai, & Yang, 2008). It not only provides learners with an alternative to deal with problems in the real world, but also enables the learning system to more actively assist the learners in the right place and at the right time (Chu, Hwang, Tsai, & Tseng, 2010; Ogata & Yano, 2004). While context-aware ubiquitous learning is recognized as having high potential for motivating learners and improving their learning performance, researchers have also suggested the importance of providing effective learning support in order to benefit students in real- world learning activities (Hwang & Chang, 2011). Dewey (1933) firstly proposed the idea of reflection, which describes the process in which a learner thinks actively, continually and carefully about the learned knowledge and ultimately arrives at a conclusion. Bain, Ballantyne, Packer, and Mills (1999) further proposed five levels of reflection from low to high by analyzing a learner’s reflective writing, * Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: ichung@mis.nsysu.edu.tw (I.-C. Hung), proverb70@gmail.com (X.-J. Yang), wfjohnny@gmail.com (W.-C. Fang), gjhwang.academic@gmail.com (G.-J. Hwang), nschen@mis.nsysu.edu.tw (N.-S. Chen). Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Computers & Education journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/compedu 0360-1315/$ – see front matter Ó 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2013.08.007 Computers & Education 70 (2014) 80–91