Key Issues in e-Learning: Research and Practice

180 Pages·2011·6.56 MB·English

by  Norbert Pachler, Caroline Daly

Key Issues
in e-Learning:
Research and Practice
http://avaxho.me/blogs/ChrisRedfield
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The e-Learning Reader, Jill Jameson and Sara de Freitas
Key Issues
in e-Learning:
Research and
Practice
Norbert Pachler
and Caroline Daly
Continuum International Publishing Group
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11 York Road Suite 704
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www.continuumbooks.com
© Norbert Pachler and Caroline Daly 2011
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted
in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying,
recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission
in writing from the publishers.
Norbert Pachler and Caroline Daly have asserted their right under the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as Author of this work.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN: 978-1-8470-6360-1 (paperback)
978-1-8470-6358-8 (hardcover)
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Pachler, Norbert.
Key issues in e-learning : research and practice / Norbert Pachler and Caroline
Daly.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-84706-358-8 (hardcover) -- ISBN 978-1-84706-360-1 (pbk.) 1.
Internet in education. 2. Information technology. 3. Virtual computer systems. 4.
World Wide Web. I. Daly, Caroline. II. Title.
LB1044.87.P335 2011
371.33’44678--dc22
2010029086
Typeset by Free Range Book Design & Production
Printed and bound in India
Contents
FiguresandTables vii
Introduction 1
1
The “e” in e-Learning 11
Whatdowemeanby“e-learning”? 11
Whatislearning? 17
Towardsatheoryof/fore-learning 18
Policyasadriverfore-learning 19
Potentialsandbenefitsoftechnologyineducation 21
Whatdowemeanbye-learning?Revisited 25
Sometheoreticalconsiderations 25
Theimportanceofself-regulationandmeta-learning 28
e-Learning2.0? 32
Someadditionaltheoreticalconsiderations 33
Conclusion 35
2
Changing Contexts 37
Introduction 37
Ecologyoflearningwithtechnologies 38
Technologicaldevelopmentsandchangingviewsof
knowledgeandlearners 40
Socio-culturalpractices 43
Policy-making 45
Policytensionsaffectingeducationalinstitutions 49
Changingpersonal/publicboundaries 51
Challengesforschools,post-16collegesand
universities 54
Conclusion 55
3
Theories, Concepts and Models 57
Introduction 57
Thesharedconstructionofknowledge 61
vi
Contents
Laurillard’sConversationalFramework 63
Computer-mediatedcommunication 64
CMCasaliteratelearningpractice 65
Participation 67
Theindividualandagentivedimensionsofe-learning 71
Theoreticalperspectivesonpractitionerdevelopment 75
Conclusion 78
4
Online Learning and Teaching and Learning
about Online Teaching 81
Learningrevisited 81
Affordance 83
Knowledgeconstructionthroughinteraction 83
Supportingcollaborationandartefactcreation 85
Distributedcognition? 87
Asenseofplace 90
Pedagogicaltemplates,modelsandframeworks 91
Conclusion 108
5
e-Assessment, e-Portfolios, Quality Assurance and
the Student Experience 109
Introduction 109
Qualityassuranceandthestudentexperience 109
e-Assessment 111
Someexamplesofe-assessmentpractices 119
e-Portfolios 122
Conclusion 126
6
Researching e-Learning 129
Introduction 129
Maturationofe-learningresearch 130
Researchingthelearningine-learning 135
The“narrativeturn” 138
TheQualitativeContentAnalysismodel 141
Wherenext? 143
Thetheory–practicechallengefore-learningresearch 145
References 149
Index 169
Figures and Tables
Figures
0.1 (Unhelpful)Discourses(createdwithInspiration8) 2
0.2 AdvancesinCommunicationandInformationResources
forHumanInteraction(source:adaptedfromBorgmanetal.,
2008:11) 3
0.3 The“WholePictureofE-learning”model(source:
GeorgeSiemens,http://www.elearnspace.org/
Articles/wholepicture.htm) 7
1.1 e-learning=enhancedlearning(source:JISC,2004:10) 15
1.2 e-learning=enhancedlearning(source:JISC,2007:10) 16
1.3 Theconversationalframeworkforthelearningprocess
(source:Laurillardetal.,2000) 26
1.4 Theconversationalframeworkforsupportingtheformal
learningprocess(source:Laurillard2007:160) 27
1.5 Keycomponentsofasocio-culturalecologicalapproach
(source:http://www.londonmobilelearning.net) 28
1.6 Themesoftransitionine-learningexperiences
(source:http://www.wlecentre.ac.uk/cms/files/projects/
reports/PR_Daly-Pachler-Pickering-Bezemer_2006.pdf) 30
3.1 Pedagogicaltechnologicalcontentknowledge.Thethree
circles,Content,PedagogyandTechnology,overlapto
leadtofourmorekindsofinterrelatedknowledge
(source:http://tpack.org/tpck/images/tpck/a/a1/
Tpack-contents.jpg) 77
4.1 Learner-centredpsychologicalprinciples(source:McCombs
andVakili,2005:1585–6) 101–2
4.2 Amodelofe-learning(source:Anderson,2008: 61) 103
4.3 Communityofinquirymodel(source:http://communities
ofinquiry.com/files/coi_model.pdf) 104
4.4 ConoleandFill’smodeloflearning(source:Conoleand
Fill,2005:8) 105
viii
Figures and Tables
4.5 Acircleofknowledgebuildingandsharing(source:Brown
andAdler,2008:28) 107
5.1 Goodassessmentandfeedbackpractices
(source:Nicol,2007:3) 112–13
5.2 WordcloudcreatedusingWordle(http://www.wordle.net) 117
5.3 Amodelofe-portfoliobasedlearning
(source:JISC,2008a:9) 124
6.1 Co-evolutionarycontextualmodel(source:Andrewsand
Haythornthwaite,2007:40) 135
Tables
0.1 Examplesofperceivede-learningtechnologyamplification
andreductions(source:KanukaandRourke,2008:9) 8
1.1 Sevenareasofe-learningactivity 20
4.1 E-learningpedagogicaltemplates(source:Jaraand
Mohamad,2007:7) 96
4.2 “Parallel”template 97
4.3 Communityofinquirycategories(source:Vaughanand
Garrison,2007:142) 106
5.1 Keyaspectsofformativeassessment(source:Black
andWiliam,2009:8) 118
Introduction
“Questions of cost and usefulness dog e-learning”: thus read a headline
on 4 June 2009 in the Times Higher Education.1 According to the article,
which reports on a survey carried out amongst 125 university staff, many
academics see e-learning as expensive and time consuming: “it takes
much longer to create high-quality e-learning material than to prepare
for a traditional form of teaching to achieve the same level of learning
and outcome” (p. 9). Another respondent felt that “E-learning is not as
good as face-to-face interaction, but it is sometimes a necessity”.
At the 2009 conference of the Centre for Excellence in Work-Based
Learning for Education Professionals2 at the Institute of Education,
London (9 July) a roundtable discussion about the use of (digital)
technology was held in which participants were invited to discuss what
they perceived to be “(unhelpful) discourses” in the field. Figure 0.1
sets out which issues came up in the discussion. As can be seen, there
are deemed to exist a number of unhelpful discourses dominating the
implementation of (digital) technologies, in particular transmission
models around the delivery of content or the use of technology for control
and management purposes around increased effectiveness. Judging by
the comments made by expert discussants on the day, there appear to
exist problems in embedding (digital) technologies in existing practices,
an issue this book seeks to address. “Perpetual obsolescence” leads to
problems around sustainability and often efforts around the introduction
of e-learning are framed by a productivity and modernization paradigm.
All in all, even if not a comprehensive list, this is a challenging agenda
for university staff wanting to implement e-learning.
In this book we explore questions around e-learning with a view to
establishing what best be understood by it, mostly with reference to
teaching and learning in the context of higher education provision. We
also explore why the phenomenon achieved the prominence it has in
the last 10 years or so with many providers offering a range of types