Virtual Group Learning Effectiveness via eLearning Mediums

Online learning provides the potential for more differentiated, integrated, and open learning environments to solve team project assignments. We argue that although it is feasible to increase information richness via adopting multimedia technologies, the effectiveness to promote interpersonal skills, critical thinking, and cognitive learning processes via virtual group discussion is uncertain. To substantiate the argument, we invited 156 subjects, divided into 46 groups, to resolve decision- and intellective-tasks in text-messaging and audio-conferencing e-learning environments. A pedagogical interpretation of how we can use these two e-learning systems to improve effectiveness for group-based tasks was posited

FORGE: An eLearning Framework for Remote Laboratory Experimentation on FIRE Testbed Infrastructure

The Forging Online Education through FIRE (FORGE) initiative provides educators and learners in higher education with access to world-class FIRE testbed infrastructure. FORGE supports experimentally driven research in an eLearning environment by complementing traditional classroom and online courses with interactive remote laboratory experiments. The project has achieved its objectives by defining and implementing a framework called FORGEBox. This framework offers the methodology, environment, tools and resources to support the creation of HTML-based online educational material capable accessing virtualized and physical FIRE testbed infrastruc- ture easily. FORGEBox also captures valuable quantitative and qualitative learning analytic information using questionnaires and Learning Analytics that can help optimise and support student learning. To date, FORGE has produced courses covering a wide range of networking and communication domains. These are freely available from FORGEBox.eu and have resulted in over 24,000 experiments undertaken by more than 1,800 students across 10 countries worldwide. This work has shown that the use of remote high- performance testbed facilities for hands-on remote experimentation can have a valuable impact on the learning experience for both educators and learners. Additionally, certain challenges in developing FIRE-based courseware have been identified, which has led to a set of recommendations in order to support the use of FIRE facilities for teaching and learning purposes

Enhancing Student Engagement Through Social Media A School of Business Case Study

While many universities have been deploying both electronic learning (eLearning) and social media applications for academic purposes, there is currently little research on the impact on their use on students’ overall learning experiences and associated learning possibilities. This paper elaborates on several online academic activities, such as Facebook, Twitter and quizzes for one classroom taught school of business undergraduate (UG) module. The similarities and differences discovered across all aspects of this paper’s research findings are examined against Chickering & Gamson’s (1987) seven principles of good practice teaching and Astin’s (1984) five tenets of engagement. Online activities were tracked over a period of one academic semester (fifteen weeks) and results insinuate that innovative and sustainable social media can indeed be utilised in higher education to enhance student learning and engagement

Rolling out podcasting to enhance teaching and learning: a case of the University of the Western Cape

Tool-use extends our sense of self-identity, social identity, and our experiences of social relationships within particular places. Education professionals use specific kinds of technologies (analogue and digital) and are influenced by particular characteristics of the technologies they use (Watson, 2001). Our social and cultural understanding of tools and complex digital technologies affect our ability to use them for learning (Pierson, 2001). The context and conditions of these understandings affect how we know when, where, and why ICT belongs in our educational practices. A number of advantages of using blogs, wikis and podcasts have been identified which translates to the fact that technology has brought with it more convenience, independence to students learning and enable students to reveal their natural propensity to show their creativity. This paper reports on the eLearning institutional podcast project that was undertaken at the University of the Western Cape (UWC). This large scale podcast project targeted both lecturers and students and aimed to enable learners to create podcasts; edit the recording via open source software - Audacity; export the podcast as an MP3 file; and upload it into the online environment. These eTools skills training processes are directly linked to the students’ fieldwork within their respective disciplines. The authors highlight the practical benefits of the project in various disciplines

Thinking Systemically: a Study of Course Communication and Social Processes in Face-to-Face and Online Courses

Traditionally, research that has examined online courses compared course modes, online and face-to-face (f2f). Studies tend to examine the two modes to determine whether online courses are as effective as online courses by comparing student outcomes, such as student learning and satisfaction. Seldom has research examined how the course communication in online and f2f courses impact student outcomes. Moreover, there is little examination of the relationship between the design of the course and the relationship with social processes, in particular, communication. In this study, t-tests indicated that there were no significant differences between antecedents (technological familiarity and instructional characteristics) and outcomes variables (learning, performance, and satisfaction) between online or face-to-face courses. However, there were significant differences in course communication constructs including richness, social presence, learning community, and active learning behaviors. Multiple regression analyses indicated assessment and evaluation in instructional characteristics explained 36% of the variance in social presence, 42% of the variance in richness, and 27% of the variance in a learning community. Two components in instructional characteristics, organization and instructional design and course support, did not contribute to the model predicting these communication variables. However, they did predict 55% of the variance in engagement. Assessment and evaluation did not contribute to the model for predicting engagement. Assessment and evaluation are key factors in predicting communication variables where organization and instructional design and course support are a key factor in predicting engagement. Finally, multiple regression analyses indicated that 67% of the variance of learning can be predicted by communication variables of social presence, richness, engagement, and learning community, 52% of the variance of performance can be predicted by richness and engagement, 72% of the variance of satisfaction can be predicted by richness, engagement, and presence. Self-reported active learning behaviors did not predict learning, performance, or satisfaction

Designing an ELearning Portal for Developing Countries: An Action Design Approach

This paper presents the first phase of a study on using course design, including current eLearning and social trends, to overcome challenges in eLearning within developing countries, particularly for vocational/non-mainstream training. The paper outlines the research and development of an ICT artefact using the Action Design Research method. The artefact will later be deployed and evaluated. The paper discusses the previous research that has categorised challenges in eLearning in developing countries and explores how these can be overcome through course and element design. Course design includes training development, platform selection and platform hosting, particularly in the context of developing countries. Element design looks at the creation of content that should be available, practical and viable to both the user and developer through the exploitation of current eLearning and social trends. The paper concludes with the concept of the ICT artefact that has been designed for phase two of the study.Comment: Research-in-progress ISBN# 978-0-646-95337-3 Presented at the Australasian Conference on Information Systems 2015 (arXiv:1605.01032

A Mixed Methods Study Of The Implementation Of Collaborative Technology Tools For Enhancing Collaboration And Student Engagement In Online Learning: Faculty Experiences And Student Perspectives

The appropriate implementation of collaborative technology tools in online courses leads to a culture of social learning where technology empowers students to take central roles in their learning. Yet, critical questions still exist about how faculty design, develop, implement collaborative eLearning activities using technology tools that support collaboration and student engagement in online courses, and what perspectives students have toward their experiences while participating in these activities. The purpose of the study is to explore the experiences of faculty members implementing collaborative technology tools in online courses to support collaboration and student engagement, in addition, to obtain the perspectives of students toward their experiences while participating in these activities. The study attempts to better understand the potential and use of technology for enhancing collaboration and student engagement in online settings and the factors that influence the selection of collaborative technology tools for incorporating collaborative eLearning activities in online courses. An explanatory sequential mixed methods approach was utilized to collect data from a total of 210 faculty and student participants who met the participation criteria and volunteered to participate in the study at a large Midwestern state university. Out of the 210 participants, 29 faculty members and 181 students were surveyed, and after a review of the results, follow-up interviews were conducted with four faculty members and two students. The findings of this study confirmed that collaborative technology tools have the potential to create a virtual collaborative environment that enables instructors to establish a learning community within online courses where students can synchronously or asynchronously work together toward a common task, in which each student adds to an emerging pool of knowledge of the group. This study provides evidence that the use of collaborative technology tools positively affects students’ experiences with collaborative eLearning activities in online learning. The instructor\u27s ability to successfully select and implement collaborative technology tools that effectively support collaborative eLearning and student engagement in online courses is a primary concern. This concern raises the demand for online instructors who are well-prepared and fully-supported to integrate collaborative technology tools into online settings and design eLearning activities that engage students and foster interaction and collaboration. Possible implications of the study and practical recommendations drawn from the findings of the study for professional and meaningful practice are discussed

teleMARC – an eLearning opportunity @ NLSA

Paper presented at the 2 day Seminar, 8-9 June 2011 "The e-Learning environment: future trends and impact on library services", Sanlam Auditorium, Conference Centre, Hatfield Campus, Pretoria, South Africa.SWET

ICTs in Education Industry: Understanding Virtual Learning Pedagogy: Evidence from Literature

It will be observed that before the COVID-19 pandemic, online education was not popular in Nigeria’s higher and lower educational institutions of learning, either due to a lack of awareness, finance, or outright negligence by the authorities concerned. During the pandemic, most educational institutions were directed to study virtually (online), even when there were no previous plans. The remote learning idea failed to meet the needs of many students/learners in Nigeria, and some other parts of the globe alike. Many schools in Nigeria, if not all were shut down, and many educators noticed that the emergency virtual/remote learning option negatively influenced students’ and teachers’ social, emotional, and academic well-being. Because of these problems encountered, the Nigerian government cannot just watch, because online learning has become the in-thing, and has the potential to unlock every possibility in the Nigerian education system. So, the technological innovations of the 21st century have entrenched into most of all modern life activities, of which the education sector is now embedded in technology. Therefore, human beings need to keep pace with social change by adapting to the availability of these new technologies. Virtual learning has become one of these outcomes of technological innovations/inventions of the century in the field of education that has come to alleviate many educational challenges of citizens, especially in the Nigerian education system. Consequently, this paper, based on the evidence from the literature attempts to find out the importance, benefits, and pitfalls of a virtual learning environment in the Nigerian educational institutions’ context. Finally, the four learning theories that enhance or enable electronic learning were discussed, and in an attempt to discuss the characteristics of virtual learning, the author concisely highlighted the futuristic of online learning in Nigerian educational institutions