The Theory and Practice of Online Learning

Terry Anderson, Terry Anderson

• Publisher: AU Press
• Year: 2008
• ISBN:
  9781897425077
• Edition: 2
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Inclusive Education

In this important collection of essays by practitioners and scholars that has been downloaded nearly half a million times is an overview of some of the most pressing issues in online education. By addressing transformations arising from educational technology advances and the new business conditions and modes of delivery of education, the contributors to The Theory and Practice of Online Learning provide insights into this complex, diverse, and rapidly evolving field.

PART I
ROLE AND FUNCTION OF THEORY IN ONLINE EDUCATION DEVELOPMENT AND DELIVERY

CHAPTER 1
FOUNDATIONS OF EDUCATIONAL THEORY FOR ONLINE LEARNING

MOHAMED ALLY
Athabasca University

INTRODUCTION

There is ongoing debate about whether using a particular delivery technology improves the learning (Beynon, 2007; Clark, 2001; Kozma, 2001). It has long been recognized that specialized delivery technologies can provide efficient and timely access to learning materials; however, Clark (1983) claims that technologies are merely vehicles that deliver instruction, and do not themselves influence student achievement. As Clark notes, meta-analysis studies on media research show that students gain significant learning benefits from audiovisual or computer media, as opposed to conventional instruction; however, the same studies also suggest that the reason for those benefits is not the medium of instruction, but the instructional strategies built into the learning materials. Similarly, Schramm (1977) suggests that learning is influenced more by the content and instructional strategy in the learning materials than by the type of technology used to deliver instruction.

According to Bonk and Reynolds (1997), to promote higher-order thinking on the Web, online learning must create challenging activities that enable learners to link new information to old; acquire meaningful knowledge; and use their metacognitive abilities; hence, it is the instructional strategy, not the technology, that influences the quality of learning. Kozma (2001), on the other hand, argues that the particular attributes of the computer are needed to bring real-life models and simulations to the learner; thus, according to Kozma, the medium does influence learning. Kozma claims that it is not the computer per se that makes students learn, but the design of the real-life models and simulations, and the students’ interaction with those models and simulations. The computer is merely the vehicle that provides the processing capability and delivers the instruction to learners (Clark, 2001).

Online learning allows participants to collapse time and space (Cole, 2000); however, the learning materials must be designed properly to engage the learner and promote learning. The delivery method allows for flexibility of access, from anywhere and usually anytime, but the learning must use sound instructional design principles. According to Rossett (2002), online learning has many promises, but it takes commitment and resources, and must be done right. Doing it right means that online learning materials must be designed properly, with the learners and learning in focus, and that adequate support must be provided. Ring and Mathieux (2002) suggest that online learning should have high authenticity (i.e., students should learn in the context of the work-place), high interactivity, and high collaboration. This chapter discusses the foundation of educational theory for the design of effective online learning materials, and suggests a model for developing online instruction based on appropriate educational theory.

Different terminologies have been used for online learning, which makes it difficult to develop a generic definition. Terms commonly used for online learning include e-learning, Internet learning, distributed learning, networked learning, tele-learning, virtual learning, computer-assisted learning, web-based learning, and distance learning. All of these terms imply that the learner is at a distance from the tutor or instructor, that the learner uses some form of technology (usually a computer) to access the learning materials, that the learner uses technology to interact with the tutor or instructor and with other learners, and that some form of support is provided to learners. This paper will use the term online learning throughout. There are many definitions of online learning in the literature, reflecting the diversity of practice and associated technologies. Carliner (1999) defines online learning as educational material that is presented on a computer. Khan (1997) defines online instruction as an innovative approach for delivering instruction to a remote audience, using the Web as the medium. Online learning, however, involves more than just the presentation and delivery of materials using the Web: the learner and the learning process should be the focus of online learning. As a result, the author defines online learning as

[t]he use of the Internet to access learning materials; to interact with the content, instructor, and other learners; and to obtain support during the learning process, in order to acquire knowledge, to construct personal meaning, and to grow from the learning experience. (Ally, p. 7)

BENEFITS OF ONLINE LEARNING

Increasingly, organizations are adopting online learning as the main delivery method to train employees (Simmons, 2002). At the same time, educational institutions are moving toward the use of the Internet for delivery, both on campus and at a distance. For organizations and institutions to make this often expensive move, there must be a perception that using online learning provides major benefits. Some of the benefits for learners and instructors are detailed below.

For learners, online learning knows no time zones, and location and distance are not issues. In asynchronous online learning, students can access the online materials anytime, while synchronous online learning allows for real-time interaction between students and instructors. Learners can use the Internet to access up-to-date and relevant learning materials, and can communicate with experts in the field which they are studying. Situated learning, or the application of knowledge and skills in specific contexts, is facilitated, since learners can complete online courses while working on the job or in their own space, and can contextualize the learning.

For instructors, tutoring can be done anytime, anywhere. Online materials can be updated, and learners can see the changes immediately. When learners are able to access materials on the Internet, it is easier for instructors to direct them to appropriate information based on their needs. If designed properly, online learning systems can be used to determine learners’ needs and current level of expertise, and to assign appropriate materials for learners to select from, to achieve their desired learning outcomes.

DESIGNING ONLINE LEARNING MATERIALS

The goal of any instructional system is to promote learning. Therefore, before any learning materials are developed, educators must tacitly or explicitly know the principles of learning and how students learn. This is especially true for online learning, where instructors and learners are separated. The development of effective online learning materials should be based on proven and sound learning theories. As discussed above, the delivery medium is not the determining factor in the quality of learning per se; rather, course design determines the effectiveness of the learning (Rovai, 2002).

There are many schools of thought on learning, and no one school is used exclusively to design online learning materials. As there is no single learning theory to follow, we can use a combination of theories to develop online learning materials. In addition, as research progresses, new theories that should be used are emerging and evolving. A recent example is connectivist theory, which is needed for the emerging age of distributed and network learning. Some may question the need for a new learning theory, however, especially when there are already well-established theories used successfully to design instruction. Also, past learning theories have been adapted to address new and changing learning contexts. These existing learning theories, however, were developed before distributed and networked learning was used widely by educators. According to Siemens (2004), we now need a theory for the digital age to guide the development of learning materials for the networked world. Educators should be able to adapt existing learning theories for the digital age, while at the same time using the principles of connectivism to guide the development of effective learning materials. What is needed is not a new stand-alone theory for the digital age, but a model that integrates the different theories to guide the design of online learning materials.

To select the most appropriate instructional strategies, the online developer must know the different approaches to learning. Strategies should be selected to motivate learners, facilitate deep processing, build the whole person, cater to individual differences, promote meaningful learning, encourage interaction, provide relevant feedback, facilitate contextual learning, and provide support during the learning process. The remaining sections of this chapter present the different schools of thought on learning and suggest how these different schools of thought can be used to develop effective online materials.

SCHOOLS OF LEARNING

Early computer learning systems were designed based on a behaviorist approach to learning. The behaviorist school of thought, influenced by Thorndike (1913), Pavlov (1927), and Skinner (1974), postulates that learning is a change in observable behaviour caused by external stimuli in the environment (Skinner, 1974). Behaviorists claim that observable behaviour indicates whether or not the learner has learned something, and not what is going on in the learner’s head. In response, some educators claim that not all learning is observable and there is more to learning than a change in behaviour. As a result, there has been a shift away from behaviorist to cognitive learning theories.

Cognitive psychology claims that learning involves the use of memory, motivation, and thinking, and that reflection plays an important part in learning. Cognitive theorists see learning as an internal process, and contend that the amount learned depends on the processing capacity of the learner, the amount of effort expended during the learning process, the depth of the processing (Craik & Lockhart, 1972; Craik & Tulving, 1975), and the learner’s existing knowledge structure (Ausubel, 1974).

Recently, there has been a move towards constructivism. Constructivist theorists claim that learners interpret the information and the world according to their personal reality, that they learn by observation, processing, and interpretation, and then personalize the information into personal knowledge (Cooper, 1993; Wilson, 1997). Learners learn best when they can contextualize what they learn for immediate application and personal meaning.

A recently proposed theory under discussion is connectivism (Downes, 2006; Siemens, 2004). According to Siemens, connectivism is the integration of principles explored by chaos, network, complexity and self-organization theories. Due to the information explosion in the current age, learning is not under the control of the learner. Changing environments, innovations, changes in the discipline and in related disciplines all suggest that learners have to unlearn what they have learned in the past, and learn how to learn and evaluate new information. What must be learned is determined by others and is continually changing. And since machines are becoming smart with the use of intelligent agents, Siemens also asks whether, in fact, learning may reside in machines. Some knowledge will reside in machines while some will reside in humans. The challenge for educators, therefore, is how to design instruction for both machines and humans, and how the two can interact with each other. For example, if there is a change in a procedure on how to use a machine, the wireless capability in the machine will allow the updated procedure to be downloaded into the machine’s memory. When a learner goes to interact with the recently updated machine, that learner will be informed that the procedure has changed and that the machine will guide them through the procedure (Siemens 2004).

Under a close analysis of the behaviorist, cognitivist, and constructivist schools of thought, many overlaps in the ideas and principles become apparent. The design of online learning materials can include principles from all three schools of thought. According to Ertmer and Newby (1993), the three schools of thought can, in fact, be used as a taxonomy for learning. Behaviorists’ strategies can be used to teach the what (facts); cognitive strategies can be used to teach the how (processes and principles); and constructivist strategies can be used to teach the why (higher-level thinking that promotes personal meaning, and situated and contextual learning). Janicki and Liegle (2001) analyzed different instructional design models to identify the components that support quality design of web-based instruction. They identify components from each of the behaviorist, cognitivist, and constructivist schools of learning, and explore connectivist theory to help designers use it to guide the design of learning materials.

Behaviorist School of Learning

The behaviorist school sees the mind as a black box, in the sense that a response to a stimulus can be observed quantitatively, thereby ignoring the effect of thought processes occurring in the mind. This school, therefore, looks at overt behaviours that can be observed and measured as indicators of learning (Good & Brophy, 1990).

Implications for Online Learning

1. Learners should be told the explicit outcomes of the learning so they can set expectations and judge for themselves whether or not they have achieved the outcome of the online lesson.

2. Learners must be tested to determine whether or not they have achieved the learning outcome. Online testing or other forms of testing and assessment should be integrated into the learning sequence to check individual learner’s achievement level and provide appropriate feedback.

3. The learning materials must be sequenced appropriately to promote learning. The sequencing could take the form of simple to complex, known to unknown, and knowledge to application.

4. Learners must be provided with feedback so that they can monitor how they are doing and take corrective action if required.

COGNITIVIST SCHOOL OF LEARNING

Cognitivists see learning as an internal process that involves memory, thinking, reflection, abstraction, motivation, and metacognition. Cognitive psychology looks at learning from an information processing point of view, where the learner uses different types of memory during learning (Figure 1). Sensations are received through the senses into the sensory store before processing occurs. The information persists in the sensory store for less than one second (Kalat, 2007), and if it is not transferred to working memory immediately, it is lost. Online instruction must use strategies to allow learners to attend to the learning materials so they can be transferred from the senses to the sensory store and then to working memory. The amount of information transferred to working mem...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication Page
• Contents
• Foreword to the Second Edition
• Introduction
• Part I: Role and Function of Theory in Online Education Development and Delivery
• Part II: Infrastructure and Support for Content Development
• Part III: Design and Development of Online Courses
• Part IV: Delivery, Quality Control, and Student Support of Online Courses