Winter 2006

The ICT agenda

Online learning services in first gear

With the effort expended by educators being the greatest cost of e-learning, Gerry White suggests that unless technology can assist teachers in offering improved learning programs, then its use should be questioned.

The advent of e-learning is potentially the most important event in education and training for many decades. It has the potential to transform traditional teaching and learning into forms that will provide greater choice for learners and global access to quality information and services.

In education, most online content, services and networks will be free of cost. These online services will be built using open standards in education and, probably, mostly using open source software.

Connectedness

Today’s teachers face constant demands for accountability and improvement in learning outcomes. The real cost of e-learning will be in the effort expended by educators to build communities of users and to share learning experiences online. Technology already enables learners to communicate globally. High quality, global, digital services will enable learners and teachers to make real choices in selecting and using the most appropriate content and online services. Teachers will be able to cater for different learning styles and online services will provide pedagogical tools for teachers to engage learners.

Education and training have traditionally focused on learners engaged in the creation of knowledge within institutional boundaries such as schools, colleges, universities and businesses. To successfully engage learners in a digital world, education today needs to examine new ways of learning, and connect learners in communities of practice using the best available online resources.

Learning management systems

Educational visionaries and excellent teachers have pioneered new ways of learning using technology. Although the road to implementing information and communication technology (ICT) in learning programs has not been easy, the rich dialogue and discussion that has occurred about implementation experiences has helped to share and improve conceptual thinking about new ways of learning.

Teachers and visionaries have experimented with software that has come to be known as learning management systems (LMS). LMS have been used very successfully in distance education where course delivery and student management are important.

Commercial LMS are usually closed software packages that deliver and manage content such as courses, as well as allowing some group discussion, management of records and student engagement in courses. Some examples of commercially provided LMS packages used in Australia are WebCT www.webct.com, Blackboard www.blackboard.com, TopClass www.wbtsystems.com and Janison www.janison.com.au/janison/default.asp.

Recently, a number of open source LMS type software packages have emerged. These include two well known Australian software packages, Moodle moodle.org and the Learning Activity Management System —LAMS www.lamsinternational.co. These packages have been designed for education by educators and are based on sound theories of connectedness and social constructivist learning. Teachers and learners are able to select the most appropriate content and services for their learning programs. These open source packages also enable teachers and learners to choose how they wish to work.

Assumptions

More needs to be done before we can comfortably say that teachers are well supported in the use of online technologies. A number of assumptions seem to underpin the use of digital tools in teaching and learning environments; they have arisen from experience and emerged in the literature.

Firstly, there is an expectation that teachers and learners use technology-enabled services. Although this is a sensible expectation, major questions of pedagogy and equity are rarely addressed. The use of technology in education is generally under-funded and lacks national policy and direction.

Secondly, there is an expectation that access to Internet and web-based services is adequate. Educational jurisdictions in Australia have successfully deployed computers, networks, broadband and limited content at a time when financial pressures and diverse requirements have been strong. Excellent online services exist in Education Network Australia www.edna.edu.au and in career exploration www.myfuture.edu.au. However, the need for greater capacity in education has already increased and the provision of suitable content and services is constrained.

Thirdly, LMS have been developed for delivery, management and control, but teachers and learners require flexible learning spaces where choices can be made and utilised almost immediately.

Fourthly, the level of skill required by teachers and learners to successfully use digital resources and services has been grossly underestimated.

Users

Research undertaken every two years by education.au has shown that there are four types of educational users of online services.

These can be categorised as:

1. Searchers or task-specific users.
2. Explorers or task-general users.
3. Self-improvers or self-learning users.
4. Participators or social users who engage with online communities which may be work-related or non-work-related.

These categories should not be seen as fixed. Users vary their behaviour once they are using a web service, so the type of usage changes specific to purpose.

E-learning evaluation

An e-learning environment is where learning takes place and the learner or learning leader, such as a teacher, interacts with technology-enabled services. The learner may be part of a class group, a small group or an individual.

In 2004, The Le@rning Federation (TLF) developed a thorough Framework for EvaluatingOnline Learning Systems in Australia. This framework was developed for application in schools and by school administrators. It was developed to be consistent with a national architectural framework. The criteria to guide evaluation of online learning systems are particularly interesting and useful. The framework gives many clues to designers of learning environments planning for the use of technology-enabled services.

Simplicity

Teachers and learners are busy people. Their time is limited and often constrained by other factors such as school events, timetables and administrative requirements. Learners and teachers need to maintain their focus on learning activity without disruption by the tools and services they use.

Online learning environment services used in schools, therefore, need to be fast; they need to be easy to install; they need to be cheap; and, finally, they need to be very simple or intuitive to use. In this way, using online learning systems could become seamless with learning activities.

Access to sufficient bandwidth is absolutely essential for successful use of online learning services in schools.

Often when using online learning systems, an additional module, add-on or program extension must be installed. Installation needs to be easily accomplished. If this is not the case, then the learning momentum can easily be lost.

Schools have many pressures for funds, not the least of which is associated with resources, information, services and tools for learners and teachers. These need to be inexpensive for use in schools, especially if their use in learning programs is only limited or selective.

Finally, resources, information, services and tools need to be simple, almost intuitive, to use. There is nothing more frustrating for a learner or teacher than to confront complex or difficult interfaces with online services.

In summary, online learning services for use by learners and teachers need to be quick (Q), Easy to install (E), Cheap (C) and Simple (S) to use. Let’s call this QECS. If an online learning system is not QECS, then learners and teachers will avoid using it.

Besides being QECS, online services need also to have the capacity to enable learners and teachers to customise and personalise the online services they use. This should be considered fundamental to the selection of any online learning service in education.

Learners need to be able to enter and leave online services at any stage. So, the capacity of online learning systems to store documents such as working sheets and to save searches, links, content, activity progress and other necessary items is also important. Enabling online learning services to be personalised in this way can assist learners and teachers to be more effective and efficient.

Conclusion

Many existing software packages known as learning management systems (LMS) are appropriate for managing content, delivering courses and managing student records. They are a specific part of the e-learning agenda but should not be considered comprehensive e-learning packages. In the main, such packages are most suitable for distance learning. E-learning, on the other hand, includes a diversity of learners engaged in technology-enabled services.

Education service providers and software vendors have yet to provide integrated online suites of services from which learners and teachers can choose their preferred resources organised on a desktop designed for education.

Web resources

Blogs
www.e-learningcentre.co.uk/eclipse/Resources/elblogs.htm,

Collaborative spaces
www.groups.edna.edu.au/course/view.php?id=40

Discussion lists
http://lists.rite.ed.qut.edu.au/mailman/listinfo/oz-teachers

Websites
www.edna.edu.au and www.groups.edna.edu.au

Wikis
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-learning

References

Downes, S (2005). ‘Internet 2.0’, ElearnMagazine, available at http://elearnmag.org/subpage.cfm?section=articles&article=29-1

Lonsdale, M (2003). ‘Global Gateways: a guide to online knowledge networks’, available at www.educationau.edu.au/research/index.html.

MCEETYA (2003). ‘Learning Architecture Framework’, available at http://icttaskforce.edna.edu.au/interop/index.html

The Le@rning Federation (2004). Frameworkfor Evaluating Online Learning Systems, available at www.thelearningfederation.edu.au/tlf2/showMe.asp?nodeID=92

White, G (2005). ‘Beyond the Horseless Carriage: harnessing the potential of ICT in education and training’, available at www.educationau.edu.au/jahia/Jahia/pid/51

Gerry White is chief executive officer of education.au limited.

The author owns the copyright in this article. For information related to the reuse of this work in any form please contact the publisher denise.quinn@curriculum.edu.au