Personalized practice systems focus on supporting self-organized learning in a free practice mode. Adapting to the learners’ knowledge and goals, these systems help them navigate the increasing volumes of smart learning content, guide them to practice opportunities that are most appropriate to their level of knowledge and increase their motivation to practice. In this paper, we distill the experience generated by 20 years of research on personalized practice systems into a set of AI-based technologies that make these systems efficient, engaging, and user-friendly.

In its first part, this paper revisits and discusses central concepts related to Personalized Learning Environments, including pedagogical definitions and essential goals of personalized learning. It also reviews the historical origins of agent support in intelligent tutoring systems, specific educational technologies such as web-based learning environments and educational recommender systems, adaptive curricula and individualized learning paths, as well as approaches to metacognitive and motivational scaffolding. On this basis, four examples of personalized learning environments are classified and compared regarding their main features. Finally, directions for future research are indicated.

This study explores the automation of formative assessment and the enhancement of meaningful learning through recomposition concept mapping. In this framework, learners are given a predefined set of components (kit) and asked to create maps by recomposing the kit. A kit, generated by decomposing a reference map, represents the desired understanding within a specific teaching and learning context. The recomposition concept map framework enables precise and automatic formative assessment by providing personalized feedback to bridge the gaps between learners’ understanding and the desired understanding. This framework also supports collaborative learning by facilitating component sharing and mutual recomposition, leading to improved discussions and deeper understanding. Although fixed components can limit originality and creativity, future directions should include the integration of more flexible components. The recomposition concept map framework offers a robust tool for educators and learners to advance formative assessments and meaningful learning.

This study aimed to elucidate the impact of visual information absence on participants’ speech and their evaluation of virtual discussions. Fifty-eight Japanese university students were divided into 29 pairs and randomly assigned positions on various topics. These pairs were then randomly allocated into two groups: (a) the balanced group, wherein both participants viewed the video, and (b) the unbalanced group, wherein one participant had the video on while the other turned it off. Virtual discussions were conducted to resolve position-based problems through interaction. The results showed no differences between the video conditions regarding the evaluation of comfort and interactivity during discussions. However, the unbalanced group exhibited fewer utterances favoring the other-side and less frequent revoicing of opposing opinions. These results suggest that the absence of visual information in virtual discussions may hinder the sharing of opposing viewpoints without participants’ awareness.

In English education, reading comprehension exercises are one way educators can test a student’s understanding of a passage of text. Given the myriad skills which are used to comprehend text, creating good exercises is a very time-consuming process which prevents many educators from using reading comprehension more often. This paper utilized a generative AI model to create questions and answers on reading comprehension exercises and then conducted an empirical study targeting Japanese teachers of English. The surveys had the participants rank human-authored and AI-authored questions and answers on several different qualities and additionally collected the opinions of the participants regarding AI-assisted material creation. The results indicated that the questions created by the AI model still lag human-authored questions in several important respects but was still deemed as a useful tool to assist in question creation by the surveyed teachers.

“Online teaching” has been challenging for many university faculty members since 2020. Moreover, we have yet to find studies examining explanations for this improved understanding. In this study, we set up a live online explanation situation to examine the effectiveness of confirmation (i.e., asking questions to verify a figure drawn or the listener’s understanding of the speaker’s explanations). We recruited 44 pairs of university students (88 in total) for this experiment. However, these results did not indicate a significant effect. This may be because online verbal explanations have unique characteristics that differ from face-to-face explanations. Future research should examine factors not considered in previous studies on face-to-face situations, such as the timing of status confirmation and nonvocal cues.

Although proactive behavior, characterized by individuals’ active and proactive work on themselves and their environment to adapt to an organization, is noted to improve their working ability and self-understanding in the workplace, the process has not been studied. This study examines the effect of young workers’ proactive behavior on improving their competence at work, focusing on the mediating effect of reflection. A quantitative survey was conducted on 942 employees working in Japanese companies, all in their 20s. The participants had a mean age of 26.6 years, with 46.0% being women. Factor analysis demonstrated that proactive behavior comprised feedback-seeking, organizational information-seeking, and networking behavior, and their impact on ability improvement was examined through reflection. The path analysis showed that the feedback-seeking and organizational information-seeking behaviors of young workers positively influenced the improvement of competence in the workplace through the mediating effect of reflection. Based on the results, the significance of this study and future issues are discussed.

This study aimed to clarify the relationship between children’s listening ability, its influencing factors, and their academic abilities in science. In the teaching matters of listening, as indicated by the courses of study for elementary schools, the Japanese language version notified by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology in 2017, we defined children’s listening ability as listening to and understanding what the speaker wants to say and what they want to hear, and having their own impressions and thoughts based on what they hear. We examined whether children’s listening ability and its influencing factors defined participants’ academic ability in science using structural equation modeling. The results showed that academic ability in science is predicted by children’s listening ability, Kanji writing ability, and verbal working memory. The results suggest that designing lessons and curricula focusing on children’s listening ability, Kanji writing ability, and verbal working memory can improve their academic abilities in science.

This study aimed to explore the provision of experiential learning and reflective support to mid-level employees by conducting semi-structured interviews with managers who balance organizational performance and subordinate development. The purpose was to comprehend their approaches, and the data were analyzed using the Modified Grounded Theory Approach. The findings revealed that these managers executed business strategies following the Plan-Do-Check-Action cycle, based on a mid-term plan spanning approximately 2–3 years. This plan integrated their perspectives on both work and the development of their subordinates. Throughout the management process, mid-level employees were faced with a gap between the role expectations and initial plans of the organization and the actual actions and results. Furthermore, managers emphasized the significance of experiential learning, ensuring mid-level employees’ awareness peaked at crucial junctures. Additionally, it was found that this work was facilitated by managers themselves actively reflecting on themselves and deepening the meaning of improvement and development in their own management behavior. In conclusion, this study explored the ideal managerial practices necessary for effectively providing experiential learning and reflective support to mid-level employees.