Essential Design Features of Online Collaborative Learning

With the goal of working towards a paradigm shift from delivery-centered to participation-centered pedagogy in mind, this chapter presents a set of essential design features that readers need to consider for designing online collaborative learning environments. Meaningful interaction and collaboration in online environments need the consideration of design elements as well as the understanding of the affordances of interactive learning technologies. This chapter presents a 3-dimensional design activity - social structures, tools, and learner diversity - as the fundamental elements that educators and instructional designers need to consider. It is important to note that the combination of these essential features is not prescriptive, but rather, is situational dependent on the learning context to achieve the “goodness of fit” for the desired learning outcomes. To demonstrate the design and enactment of the 3-D design features, the authors present a case example of a problem-centered learning environment designed for secondary learners’ science learning. In conclusion, the authors suggest that while the pedagogical advantages of collaborative learning have been well-supported, more research is needed to better understand the complex nature of designing collaborative learning in online settings, especially through the mediation of emerging technologies such as Web 2.0 technology tools.

Alternative Realities

As students increasingly engage with alternative social networking (or realities) there is a scope for educators to explore whether they pose opportunities for rethinking learning and teaching spaces. The authors argue that there is a requirement to shift away from mapping traditional thinking about what constitutes a learning experience when considering virtual worlds. This chapter draws upon two case studies that have provided two distinctly different learning designs for Logistics students and pre-service teachers. These cases, alongside a comprehensive review of the use of virtual worlds in education will draw out issues and factors which need to be considered when pursuing virtual worlds as learning spaces. Specifically, discussion and recommendations will have a focus on pedagogical, organisational, equity and access, cultural, economic and social factors relevant to the use of virtual worlds in distance education.

Positioning the Learning Organization for a Successful Distance Education Strategy

Compared to traditional educational offerings, Distance Education requires a significantly different business model involving factors such as learning culture, target audience, infrastructure, course and content development, support models, and others. The following perspective is put forth in an effort to illustrate particular concerns that may affect internal operations, perceptions, and attitudes as well as external reception and market positioning of distance education offerings. Recommendations and solutions will be discussed that center around organizational systemic anchoring and faculty development as a critical success factor. All of these pieces will help to provide a framework that could be utilized in building a successful, and more importantly, sustainable distance education strategy and associated process. Emerging developments in the realm of distance education will be presented and provide an outlook of how this educational field may change and evolve in the near future.

Instructional Challenges in Higher Education Online Courses Delivered through a Learning Management System by Subject Matter Experts

The authors are Instructional Designers developing online courses in higher education. These courses are facilitated by Subject Matter Experts and delivered through a Learning Management System. They propose that instructional alignment with pedagogic beliefs is the best instructional foundation for original course designs in this instructional context, and examine three factors unique to this context. They propose new instructional design models and a new instructional system of design to address the instructional challenges specific to their learning system context.

Structure and Change in E-learning

This chapter provides a view of e-learning from the perspective of ecological systems with nested levels of structure, organizing principles, and emergent properties for use in accomplishing at least three goals: to evaluate emergent patterns in the development of e-learning; to assess current threats and enablers at any level; and to plan for successful growth within determinate niches. E-learning is structured into four levels: the International/National level; the Institutional level; the Class/Community level; and the Learning Object level. Within each level, and between them, there are organizing principles of integration and differentiation contributing to their stability or decay. Those that the authors have identified include: transactional distance in delivery of learning; industrialization of learning functions; functional equivalence of learning experiences; virtualization of knowledge; technological convergence of learning media; developmental growth of learning systems; and requisite variety in learning strategies. For administrators, practitioners, and faculty whose institutions have an identity within the ecology, the authors introduce the GEMS process to better control the Goals, Engagement, Management and Support of system elements between and across their levels of e-learning structures. Both the broad ecological view upon e-learning -and the specific tools of GEMS useful within it- are applied to existing structures in e-learning, such as open courseware and course management systems, and to e-learning innovations, such as mobile learning, meta-worlds, and virtual gaming.

Identifying Student Usability Needs for Collaborative Learning Environment Design

Performance of Web-based collaborations depends not only on pedagogical strategies but also on the effectiveness of e-learning systems. The factors that may help designers in creating collaborative environments acceptable to users are considered. It is shown that usability needs may differ among students attending the same course who have similar technical skills, and it is difficult to determine average user requirements. The research is based on two case studies of students evaluating the same environment. As an experimental result, it is stated that usability requirements may be influenced by learning style preferences, and therefore student groups may be created. Some indications concerning identification of usability needs are presented.

From Traditional Teaching to Online Learning

In Portugal, like in most Western countries, most higher education institutions are already using elearning platforms. However, this does not mean that these institutions are now offering distance education programmes but rather that they are using these tools as content repositories to support normal f2f academic disciplines. Therefore effective e-learning adoption is still limited to episodic, non systematic, initiatives. This chapter presents the e-learning initiative of the Higher Institute of Business Science and Tourism (ISCET). This initiative is relevant, precisely because it represents a holistic and revolutionary approach. All the students of ISCET were involved and there was a provision of online environments for the entire body of subjects offered in ISCET. The evaluation of the experimental stage setup the path to a systematic approach to distance education in the institute and provided valuable clues for other institutions that want to replicate ISCET’s e-learning initiative.

Online Social Constructivism

Renowned Soviet psychologist and father of social constructivist learning theory Lev Vygotsky (1978) stated: “Every function in the child’s cultural development appears twice: first, on the social level, and later, on the individual level” (p. 57). In online practice, social constructivism involves students learning from and with each other in computer-mediated collaborative learning communities. In order for students and faculty to succeed in the online social constructivist environment these efforts demand institutional support. This chapter will introduce issues facing students and faculty that relate to the implementation of online social constructivism. Recommendations focusing on online student support and professional development will be offered as well as a discussion of future trends pointing toward a digital divide between the students of institutions who do support these practices and students of institutions in which faculty have to make do.

Lecture Capture

This chapter provides faculty members and distance learning administrators with a broad overview of the options available to capture, store, edit, distribute, and re-purpose in-class lectures. The authors propose three dimensions to guide the selection of lecture capture systems, review existing technologies for enterprise and individual lecture capture, and discuss the technical and pedagogical challenges associated with implementing lecture capture solutions. They close by considering the emerging trend of community captured audio and video and its impact on how students interact with lecture materials.

Employing Technology to Create Authentic Learning Environments

The increased access to technologies in schools has opened avenues to explore non-traditional styles of teaching and learning. Educational theorists and researchers have long been calling for learnercentered instruction that situates learners in activities that allow them to explore concepts and construct understanding. However, as constructivist theorists and researchers continue to show the benefits of situating learning in meaningful tasks, many barriers still prevent the use of technology-enhanced authentic activities in classrooms (Ertmer, 2005; Shaw, 2003). This chapter aims to analyze the underlying theories of authentic learning and propose methods to support classroom teachers with the design, implementation and assessment of authentic activities.