eLearning Excellence In The Middle East 2008 (Forum Proceedings

Transcription

(1)
Table of Contents
Foreword ___________________________________________________________________ 5
Dr. Narimane Hadj Hamou, Forum Chair ____________________________________________ 5
When and How to Mentor, Coach Skills and Transfer Knowledge ___________________ 6
William A. Gray _________________________________________________________________ 6
Competency Development via E-Learning for Universities, Faculties and Students____ 13
William A. Gray ________________________________________________________________ 13
Towards Excellence in e-Mentoring and e-Coaching ____________________________ 24
Marilynne Miles Gray ____________________________________________________________ 24
Adoption of Learning Technologies to Alleviate the Impact of Social and Cultural
Limitations in Higher Education ____________________________________________ 40
Abdullah Tubaisahat ____________________________________________________________ 40
Eyas El-Qawasmeh _____________________________________________________________ 40
Evaluation of Online Education Quality via Frequent Pattern Mining ________________ 51
Taysir Hassan A. Soliman ________________________________________________________ 51
Can e-Learning be the Professional Development Panacea of the Future in “Quality” of
Education of People? ____________________________________________________ 61
Ian Erskine____________________________________________________________________ 61
Stephenson Anthony ____________________________________________________________ 61
Anton van Schalkwyk____________________________________________________________ 61
Transformation Pedagogies for Effective e-Learning Integration___________________ 81
A. Senteni ____________________________________________________________________ 81
Innovations in Defining, Designing and Delivering Online Corporate Trining Programs: A
Case Study____________________________________________________________ 99
Kanishka Bedi _________________________________________________________________ 99
Emerging Technologies for Powerful Learning: The Role of Aesthetically Driven
Instructional Design____________________________________________________ 114
Brent G. Wilson _______________________________________________________________ 114
The Value of e-Learning in the Palestinian Medical School ______________________ 124
Hani Abdeen _________________________________________________________________ 124
Malik Zaben __________________________________________________________________ 124
Anan Shtaya _________________________________________________________________ 124
AlQuds Medical School _________________________________________________________ 124
Colin Green __________________________________________________________________ 124
Northwick Park Institute for Medical Research, University College of London and ____________ 124
Ukraine Academy of Science_____________________________________________________ 124
e-Learning Information Portal Design Using PHP/MySQL _______________________ 132
Muntasser Khater______________________________________________________________ 132
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Virtaul Reality Technology in Education: Simulating Real-Life Experiences in an e-Learning
Environment _________________________________________________________ 148
Ros Yahya ___________________________________________________________________ 148
An Investigation of Education Management Information Systems in the Kingdom of
Bahrain _____________________________________________________________ 158
Maggie McPherson ____________________________________________________________ 158
University of Leeds, UK _________________________________________________________ 158
Ahmed Al Koofi _______________________________________________________________ 158
Ministry of Education, Kingdom of Bahrain __________________________________________ 158
FactorsLeading to Students’ Withdrawal from Courses in e-Learning Environment: An
Empirical Study _______________________________________________________ 170
Mohammad H. Haj-Ahmed ______________________________________________________ 170
e-TQM College, Dubai __________________________________________________________ 170
A Paradigm Shift in Management Education: Perceived Relevance of Online MBA Programs
in GCC Countries ______________________________________________________ 183
Syed Aziz Anwar ______________________________________________________________ 183
‘Edutainment’ as an Emerging Trend in Teaching Professional Development ________ 194
Fotni Paraskeva _______________________________________________________________ 194
Sofia Mysirlaki ________________________________________________________________ 194
Ioannna Talani ________________________________________________________________ 194
Creating e-Learning Board Games for School Settings Using the ELG Environment ___ 213
1
Symeon Retalis, ______________________________________________________________ 213
1
Loannis Arapoglou,____________________________________________________________ 213
1
Michalis Boloudakis, ___________________________________________________________ 213
1
Petros Georgiakakia, __________________________________________________________ 213
1
Georgia Lazakidou, ___________________________________________________________ 213
2
Charalambos Vrassidas ________________________________________________________ 213
ePortfolio: A Tool for Quality Assurance for Learning, eLearning and ePortfolios _____ 224
Kathryn Chang Barker __________________________________________________________ 224
eLearning Unit ________________________________________________________ 235
Kathryn Chang Barker __________________________________________________________ 235
Emirates’ eLearning Route Map: eLearning Policies and Implementation Strategy____ 268
Leena Farook_________________________________________________________________ 268
Emirates Airline _______________________________________________________________ 268
eMentoring: The Future of Online Learner Support ____________________________ 290
Jane Harris __________________________________________________________________ 290
An Evaluation of ICT Intefration in Education for Selected Abu Dhabi Schools _______ 298
Jihad Qadan _________________________________________________________________ 298
Samir Idris Ali_________________________________________________________________ 298
Using Artificial Intelligence for eLearning: Intelligence Web Agent ‘Sharing the Knowledge
Resources’ ___________________________________________________________ 316
Bassel Daoudi ________________________________________________________________ 316
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Th Feasiblity of Using Distance Collaborative Learning Tool for Postgraduate Medical
Students: A Radiology Study in Iraq as the Case Study ________________________ 329
Sama Yousif AL-Eshaiker _______________________________________________________ 329
Designing and Evaluating eLearning Courses Based on Students’ Learning Preferences and
Styles _______________________________________________________________ 336
Fawzi Baroud _________________________________________________________________ 336
The Global English Pedagogical Approach: The Evaluation of Technology and Value of
Online English Language Learning _________________________________________ 351
David Nunan _________________________________________________________________ 351
Let’s Bring the Fun Back into Learning: Deploy Serious Games That Can Deliver Learning
Outcomes____________________________________________________________ 370
Janaki Ram .V ________________________________________________________________ 370
B. Ravi Ramakrishnan __________________________________________________________ 370
Learning Object Metadata: Opportunities and Challenges for the Middle East and North
Africa _______________________________________________________________ 382
1
Jehad Najjar, ________________________________________________________________ 382
1
Stefaan Ternier, ______________________________________________________________ 382
1
Erik Duval, __________________________________________________________________ 382
2
Mohamed Amine Chatii ________________________________________________________ 382
1
Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium ___________________________________________ 382
2
RWTH Aachen University, Informatik 5. Ahornstr, Aachen, Germany _____________________ 382
eLearning and Best Practices: Reflections on Technology, Delivery, Training and Support
___________________________________________________________________ 395
Hassan Bayanouni_____________________________________________________________ 395
Innovation in eLearning Design: A Case Study of the Indian Chartered Accountants__ 405
1
Geeta M. K. _________________________________________________________________ 405
2
B. Ravi Ramakrishnan _________________________________________________________ 405
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Foreword
Dr. Narimane Hadj Hamou,
Forum Chair
The congruency between the forum site, the
thematic tracks designed for accommodating
the research papers, and the multinational mix
of the participants in the forum, in my
assessment, would go a long way in ensuring
great success of the forum in Dubai.
It is heartening for me to observe that the
response to the Call for Papers for the
thematic tracks of the forum has been quite
encouraging. Submissions came in large
number from various parts of the world. They
were reviewed by the Technical Committee of
Experts. I wish to take this opportunity to
express my gratitude to the distinguished
members of the committee for their kind
efforts in meticulously reviewing the abstracts
and making useful recommendations for
improving the quality of submissions. Only
the most appropriate papers were selected by
the committee for presentation at the forum.
The papers accepted by the Technical
Committee of Experts encouragingly reflect
fresh ideas . I am confident, the papers
compiled in the Proceedings would help carve
a distinctive and sustainable competitive edge
for e-learning in the MENA region.
Since the 1970s, the Middle-East and North
Africa (MENA) region has made significant
progress on the socio-economic front. The oil
boom of the 1970s paved the way for a large
number of countries of the region
considerably to expand their social and
economic infrastructures. However, major
challenges remain. One of the great
challenges facing the MENA region pertains
to knowledge creation and dissemination far
and wide.
The first e-Learning Excellence in the Middle
East 2008: Define, Design, and Deliver
forum organized by e-TQM College will
provide a perfect platform to present and
discuss research findings, current practices
and the challenges pertaining to the various
facets of the forum theme. The forum is the
outcome of a carefully crafted planning
process and a great organizational effort on
the part of the e-TQM College. The venue of
the forum also reflects the growing stature of
Dubai as the most relevant place in the
Middle East for generating innovative ideas
for e-learning excellence.
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When and How to Mentor, Coach Skills and Transfer Knowledge
William A. Gray
CMSI Corporate Mentoring Solutions Inc.
collaboratively plan one type of program; (3)
seeing a multi-functional web-based delivery
Abstract
In this practice-based workshop, a
Collaborative Planning Process will be used
for defining and designing distinctively
appropriate knowledge transfer or coaching
or mentoring programs to be delivered, in
which different groups are doing different
things for different purposes. Dr. Gray will
describe (a) how he has used his proven
Process to align the definition, design, and
delivery of a 150 different programs, and (b)
how a program is different than a lessstructured initiative.
This will enable
participants to understand the key differences
between: (1) a mentoring program for
developing complex competencies over
weeks/months; (2) a coaching program for
learning specific behavioral skills; (3) a
knowledge transfer program so Boomers can
transfer
important
knowledge
and
information before retiring.
Using this
conceptual framework, participants will use a
card sort process too collaboratively plan the
key components of a formalized mentoring
program. Finally, Dr. Gray will show a webbased software system that aligns definition,
design and delivery for two programs
previously discussed.
system that aligns definition and design, and
can be configured to support mentoring, skill
coaching or knowledge transfer while
reducing overall coordination/oversight time
by up to 80% so more individuals can
participate and benefit.
What Dr. Gray Has Done and
Learned over 29 Years
The U.S. Department of Labor’s Dictionary
of Occupational Titles asserts that mentoring
is the most complex type of human
interaction, being more complex than
teaching, counseling, supervising or coaching.
If mentoring one person is so complex, even
more complex is the planning and
implementation of a formalized mentoring
program for a targeted group so that each
individual protege develops his or her unique
talents.
In truly successful mentoring
programs, each protege and each mentor
benefits as well as the sponsoring
organization.
To produce such mutual
benefits requires thoughtful definition and
design, after which trained coordinators
oversee delivery or implementation. Initial
planning typically requires 1-3 days and
involves a Collaborative Program Planning
Process with key stakeholders; the amount of
time needed depends on the complexity of the
program and the number of different kinds of
programs being planned (Gray, 1989). See
Table 1.
Introduction
This four hour, practice-based workshop
consists of three sections: (1) learning what
Dr. Gray has done and learned since 1978 as a
practitioner and pioneer in developing
mentoring and coaching programs; (2)
applying this conceptual framework to
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Table 1. 2-Day Agenda for Collaboratively Planning a Successful Mentoring Program
Start time Day 1
8:30
9:00
9:30
12:00
1:00
2:45
4:30
Start time Day 2
8:30
9:45
10:30-1:00
12-1:00
1:00
4:00
4:30
Activities
Client’s Planning Team overviews challenges & why a Mentoring Program is needed, plus what’s
happened to date.
Dr. Gray describes Components of successful Mentoring Programs & Insights gained from 28 years
experience.
Dr. Gray describes other client’s answers to Essential Questions [e.g., Which group of people will
participate? What is the business case? What are expectations for mentors and protégés? What is the
role of the coordinator? What is the timeline?] The Team begins answering these and other
questions [for a presentation to a Focus Group on Day 2].
Lunch [on premises to facilitate discussion]
Planning Team continues answering Questions for the presentation to a Focus Group on Day 2.
Dr. Gray shows Demo of Colaboro System & overviews functions that can be activated for use.
Planning Team decides which Colaboro functions will be used. (Dr. Gray will present these to
Focus Group)
Wrap-up and Preview of Day 2. (There will likely be some “homework” to prepare for Day 2.)
Activities
Dr. Gray overviews Mentoring for Results Partner Training. (Dr. Gray will present this to Focus
Group).
Planning Team finalizes its presentation for the Focus Group.
Present to Focus Group (get feedback & suggestions to enhance Program and increase support for
it)
Working Lunch on premises with Focus Group [so we can continue soliciting feedback and input]
Dr. Gray & Planning Team use Focus Group feedback to revise Program.
Wrap up; decide next steps .
Adjourn.
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experience.
For example, Novices and
Advanced Beginners cannot define, design
and deliver Stage 3 or higher mentoring so it
produces intended mutual benefits for
participants and the organization. Because of
their lack of practical know-how, they
mistakenly believe that Stage 1 and 2
mentoring will produce the same intended
outcomes as Stage 3, 4 or 5. In contrast, a
Competent designer ensures that a program
for a targeted group achieves its goals (e.g.,
orienting new hires) while a Proficient
designer with broader experience can do this
for different groups (e.g., orienting new hires,
enabling career exploration, developing core
leadership competencies). An Expert does
this even better and faster, so that each
distinctively unique program produces
multiple outcomes (e.g., develops leadership
capability, while supporting a diversity
initiative and reducing turnover of high
potential participants). See Table 2.
To illustrate the complexity of planning and
implementing mentoring programs, Dr. Gray
will describe several different programs he
helped to develop for different groups and
purposes:
• increasing career awareness in youth,
• reducing the dropout rate of university
freshmen
• orienting new hires in education and
high tech
• aiding career development in the oil
industry
• developing leadership competencies
Dr. Gray will describe a 5-level model for
becoming a Mentoring Expert [based on:
Dreyfus, H. and Dreyfus, S. (2005). Expertise
in real world contexts, Organization Studies,
26 (5), 779-792] plus a 5-Stage Mentoring
Maturity Model so participants understand
why mentoring often fails when developed inhouse or by consultants with limited
Table 2. Two Models for Understanding Why Mentoring Programs Fail
Model for becoming
Mentoring Expert
Expert (top level)
Proficient
Competent
Advanced Beginner
Novice (bottom level)
a
Gray’s 5-Stage Mentoring Maturity Model
[also applicable to Skill Coaching and Knowledge Transfer/Sharing]
Stage 5. Mentoring Culture – seek out / provide anytime with anyone
Stage 4. Institutionalized Mentoring – mentoring throughout the organization
Stage 3. Competency-based Mentoring Program – based on business case
Stage 2. Mentoring Initiative – limited planning and results
Stage 1. Informal Mentoring – encouraged, but not formalized in any way
To further understand the complexity of
formalized mentoring programs, a comparison
– based on traditional definitions, designs and
implementation -- will clarify the differences
between:
• Informal mentoring – the kind that just
happens spontaneously
• Formalized mentoring – the kind that
is carefully planned and implemented
• Coaching – the kind that develops new
skills (not more recent Executive
Coaching)
• Knowledge transfer – the kind that
does not require a lot of time
Participant Application of
Collaborative Program Planning
using a Card Sort Process
Using what they’ve learned thus far,
participants (in small groups) will use a
proven Card Sort process to collaboratively
plan a formalized mentoring program. Each
group’s planned program will likely be
different, thus illustrating (a) the complexity
of this kind of program (formalized
mentoring) and (b) the need to collaboratively
define and design it so that the right program
is ultimately delivered (implemented).
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empower what proteges want to do and
become. Both equipping and empowering are
important: equipping ensures proteges get up
to speed, fit in, and become good workers;
empowering enables proteges to utilize their
creativity and diversity to make creative
contributions that add value and prevent
organizational stagnation.
Web-based Delivery System Aids
Knowledge Transfer, Skill Coaching
and Mentoring
After a PowerPoint overview of each type of
program, participants will see a Demo of a
web-based system (called Colaboro) whose
online Tools/Functions can be configured (set
up) in over 200 different ways to support
what different groups are doing. See Table 3.
During
initial
Collaborative
Program
Planning Process, the online Tools needed by
a particular group are determined. These
Tools produce success in multiple ways:
Achieving desired goals
Achieving desired goals by creating and
completing online Mentoring Action Plans
(schedules meetings and ensures participants
are prepared; enhances complex goal
attainment) and/or online Coaching Plans
(ensures mastery of essential skills).
Completed Plans provide evidence of what
was done and learned, and can be used to
award certification to the protege/learner and
recognition to the mentor or coach.
All of Colaboro’s online Tools/Functions are
based on proven paper products, on feedback
from over 30 clients, and on the mentoring
expertise gained since 1978 from developing
over 150 different programs, training over
40,000 participants and 300 coordinators, and
being mentoring coordinators for eight years.
The current multi-functional, modular
Colaboro system is the result of 6 upgrades
over 9 years. It’s online Tools and features
exist as options that can easily be enabled for
use by different groups doing different things.
When the full Colaboro® Mentoring
Management System® is configured and used
by program coordinators, this reduces overall
coordination time by up to 80%.
Precise matching
Precise matching of best-fit mentoring
partners using 1, 2 or 3 Matching Tools
(client-supplied
Demographics
and
Competencies to be developed or Topics for
discussion, plus Mentoring Compatibility
Indicator).
In longer-term mentoring
relationships, best-fit matching is especially
important because ill-matched mentor-protege
partners seldom meet and if they do, seldom
achieve very much.
Developing a good relationship
Developing a good relationship by using the
right Mentoring Styles and a proven 6-Step
Mentoring Process that ensures mentorprovided assistance will be well-received and
used. Two Mentoring Styles (Informational
and Guiding Styles) equip proteges with what
mentors know, such as: practical know-how,
tricks of the trade, wisdom, knowledge, skills,
competencies.
Two Mentoring Styles
(Collaborative and Confirming Styles)
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Table 3. Major Configurations of CMSI’s Colaboro® Web-based System for connecting people to engage in different activities
for different purposes
Colaboro® - KT
for Knowledge Transfer
Users who are Knowledge
Seekers
connect
with
Knowledge Providers (or vice
versa) to discuss important
Topics supplied by the client
Benefits:
Systematic
Knowledge Transfer to those
who need institutional or
professional knowledge
Log on and indicate your
Demographics
&
Demographics you prefer in
other users; check Topics you
want to discuss
Search database for users who
match your selected Topics &
preferred Demographics
May use online Action Plan to
schedule meetings/discussions
Answer online Survey
report benefits gained
to
Colaboro® - SC
for Skill Coaching
Users are Learners who need to
master essential skills and
connect with Coaches who have
corresponding expertise
Colaboro® - MCD
for Mentoring Competency Development
Users are Proteges/Mentees who need to
develop more complex competencies (not
simple behavioral skills) and connect with
Mentors who have corresponding expertise
Benefits: Ensures essential skills
are learned via systematic
coaching; online Coaching Plans
become templates for other
coaches to use as-is or modify
Demographics; rate your Needs
and/or Expertise (gaps/strengths)
on a list of skills
Benefits: Ensures that human talent and
complex competencies are actually
developed via mentoring. Mentoring also
reduces costly turnover and supports
diversity initiatives.
Log on and indicate your Demographics;
answer Mentoring Compatibility Indicator;
rate your Needs and/or Expertise
(gaps/strengths) on competencies
Find
your
own
coaching
partner(s) – or Coordinator can
match partners
Find your own mentoring partner(s) – or
Coordinator can match partners – using 1,
2 or 3 Matching Tools (Demographics;
Compatibility; Needs/Expertise)
Use online Mentoring Action Plan to be
prepared for meetings and to develop
competencies over several weeks/months
Create online Mentoring Agreement to
foster commitment & prevent problems
Answer Mentoring Style Indicator to build
good relationship; basis for Online Partner
Training
Use Virtual Library
Answer online Survey to report benefits
gained
Coordinator can monitor usage of online
tools to enhance outcomes.
Use online Coaching Plan to
learn specific skills & provide
evidence of what was done
May use Virtual Library
Answer online Survey to report
benefits gained
Requires
virtually
no
Coordinator time to monitor
users.
If desired, Coordinator can
monitor that skills are being
mastered.
( 10 )
Conclusion
These key points were addressed:
(1)
Programs for formalized mentoring, skill
coaching and knowledge transfer are based on
different definitions, design components and
deliverables, and produce different outcomes.
(2) A Collaborative Program Planning
Process is the best method for ensuring
multiple inputs and wider-spread support, and
is especially important for Formalized
Mentoring Programs. (3) When Novices or
Advanced Beginners do the planning, this
typically results in Informal Mentoring or
Mentoring Initiatives instead of a real
program. (4) A web-based delivery system
precisely matches best-fit partners and tracks
their progress, while reducing coordination
time. (5) Partner training develops good
mentoring relationships and enhances
outcomes. (6) Theories and research findings
cannot replace the practical know-how that is
needed to define, design and deliver
appropriate
programs
for
formalized
mentoring, skill coaching and knowledge
transfer.
( 11 )
References
26 (5), 779-792.
Gray, William A. (1989)
Situational
mentoring: custom designing planned
mentoring
programs.
Mentoring
International, 3 (1), 19-28.
( 12 )
Competency Development via E-Learning for Universities,
Faculties and Students
William A. Gray
Abstract
Research by large companies such as
Microsoft and Coca-Cola shows that manual
matching of mentor-protege partners to
develop competencies takes 3 to 5 hours per
pair. This process is highly subjective and
full of uncertainty, often requiring rematching.
Enter the algorithms of ementoring systems to reduce the time required
to do objective and precise partner matching
electronically, to enhance the quality of these
partnerships via online training, and to
measure goal attainment. A mentoring
program and an e-system can be no better
than the mentoring expertise they are based
on.
academia and the corporate world, the
essential components of each kind, the level
of Mentoring Expertise often involved in
designing and implementing each kind, and a
web-based Mentoring Management System®
that reduces coordination time and enables
more participants to develop needed
competencies through one-on-one and group
mentoring. My observations are based on 29
years of practical experience developing over
150
distinctively
different
mentoring
programs, training over 40,000 participants
and 300 coordinators, having been a
coordinator for eight years, and on research.
In sum, this presentation has a practical
emphasis: how to align definition, design and
delivery of different kinds of mentoring to
produce associated outcomes.
Introduction
This presentation focuses on conceptually
understanding different kinds of mentoring in
Mentoring has been the most time-proven
way to develop competencies and human
talent throughout history. In fact, it was the
only way until books, schooling and
workforce training became commonplace.
Many surveys have found that most
companies today implement some kind of
mentoring initiative or more formalized
program for one or more business reasons:
73% to reduce costly employee turnover;
71% to improve leadership competencies;
66% to develop new managers and leaders;
49% to put high potentials on the fast track;
48% to support diversity initiatives; 30% to
improve the technical knowledge of staff
(Modis Professional Services, 1999).
Why Do Organizations Provide
Mentoring?
Nearly all colleges and universities in the
USA provide mentoring for freshmen – to
enable them to succeed academically and not
drop out. I’ve helped over 20 campuses do
this. However, I have not been asked to plan
and implement mentoring programs for
faculty, even though I was a professor for 15
years at the University of British Columbia in
educational psychology and understand the
many challenges associated with earning
tenure and promotion, getting research grants,
getting published, and improving quality of
instruction to earn higher student evaluations.
( 13 )
In the late 1970s, various types of mentoring
initiatives and formally planned programs
were started when researchers found that most
women and minorities were omitted from
informal mentoring – the type that occurs
spontaneously when a mentor notices a
talented person (usually with characteristics
similar to the mentor) and begins to provide
assistance, usually without the protege
knowing this is happening. (Note: I use
“protege” because it has been used throughout
human history, instead of “mentee” which is
not yet in the dictionary because it is so
recent.)
program, according to a 1999 Emerging
Workforce Study: in an organization of 1,000
employees, 160 employees (16%) will leave
annually when mentoring is provided
regularly compared to 350 employees (35%)
when it is not; if it costs $50,000 to replace an
employee, losing 350 will cost $17.5 million
annually to replace them versus $8 million
annually to replace 160 employees. This
means that regularly-provided mentoring
saves $9.5 million annually in employee
replacement costs in an organization of 1,000
employees.
Mentoring
initiatives
and
formalized
programs began in the USA in the late 1970s
and have become widespread there, initially
to comply with the Equal Employment
Opportunity Act, then to satisfy Affirmative
Action goals, and currently to support
Diversity Initiatives. Since 1978, over 80%
of the 150 mentoring programs we have been
asked to develop were started because of one
of these three drivers, plus one or more of the
other reasons cited above.
Why is Formalized Mentoring so
Difficult to Implement?
For example, in academia, increasing the
admission rate for under-represented students
from minority backgrounds to meet EEO
quotas was not enough to ensure they
succeeded.
These students needed
Affirmative Action, such as provided by
formalized mentoring to help them make the
difficult transition from high school to
campus life (most were the first in their
family to do this), to do well academically on
a large and unfamiliar campus, and to return
the next year instead of dropping out. When
it became apparent that retention rates for all
freshmen could be increased via mentoring,
such programs spread across the USA.
Similarly, in the corporate world, regularlyprovided mentoring reduces employee
turnover more than enough to pay for the
The U.S. Dept. of Labor’s Dictionary of
Occupational Titles asserts that mentoring is
the most complex type of human interaction,
being more complex than teaching,
counseling, supervising or coaching.
If
mentoring one person is so complex, even
more complex is the planning and
implementation of formalized mentoring
programs for a targeted group so that each
individual protege develops his or her unique
talents.
In truly successful mentoring
programs, each protege and mentor benefits
as well as the sponsoring organization. To
produce such mutual benefits requires
thoughtful initial planning and coordinated
implementation of key tasks. This requires a
time commitment of at least 1-3 days for
Collaborative Program Planning with key
stakeholders (the amount of time needed
depends on the complexity of the program
and the number of different kinds of
mentoring being planned).
A time commitment is also required of the
mentoring coordinator(s) because successful
mentoring programs do not run themselves:
one or more trained coordinators must
oversee key aspects of the mentoring process
for each group of participants. Table 1 shows
the greater time required when a paper-based
( 14 )
approach is employed than when a web-based
system is used, according our 2004 survey of
34 coordinators of small paper-based
programs, enrolling 24-50 participants or 1225 pairs of matched partners (Miles Gray,
2000).
Table 1. Time Required for Key Coordinator Tasks using Paper- and Web-based Methods
Time Required using Conventional Paper- Time needed when using CMSI’s
Key Coordinator Tasks
Based Applications, Surveys, Reports
Mentoring Management System®
Enrolling/registering participants
1-2 people spent 3-5 hrs handling applications
Participants spend 30-60 minutes
online
Matching mentor-protege partners
3-6 people spent 10-13 hrs
1 Coord needs 1-3 hrs
Monitoring progress achieving 1-2 people spent 11-13 hrs
1 Coord needs 1-2 hr/month
goals
Evaluating protege benefits
Evaluating mentor benefits
Overall coordination time can be reduced by
80% -- and, more individuals can participate
and benefit from mentoring at less cost per
person -- when a web-based Mentoring
Management System® is used and accessed
via the internet. Users of this e-system
software
tool
register
online,
are
electronically matched on needs/expertise
associated with core competencies, file online
progress reports so the coordinator can
monitor individual and group progress
achieving protege goals, and answer online
surveys to evaluate outcomes and benefits.
literature, they proposed an often-cited 5-level
model [e.g., Dreyfus, H. and Dreyfus, S.
(2005). Expertise in real world contexts,
Organization Studies, 26(5), 779-792]. They
found that dedication to a focused field for at
least 10 years is required to reach the top level
of Expert, such as a master chess player or
expert problem-solver who use conceptual
models, pattern recognition to eliminate what
won’t work, guiding principles and heuristics
-- instead of slavishly trying one
move/procedure after another (after another,
after another) to find the right answer.
Why do mentoring programs fail to produce
mutual benefits for proteges, mentors and the
sponsoring organization? There are two main
reasons:
first, mentoring champions, who
advocate the program being started, are
seldom mentoring experts; hence, they
mistakenly think that “mentoring is mentoring
is mentoring” – which is not true – and
implement a program that cannot produce
desired mutual benefits. The rest of this paper
addresses these two shortcomings.
In Table 2 below, I’ve adapted the Dreyfus
Model to briefly indicate what’s required to
become a Mentoring Expert. Over half of the
contracts we’ve gotten since 1995 have been
to salvage a program that didn’t work or
produce desired results. These programs were
typically started by Novices or Advanced
Beginners, who mistakenly believed that they
could simply gather information, read a book,
attend a seminar or conference, or benchmark
another organization’s program – and then
implement their own mentoring program inhouse. Sometimes, a mentoring consultant
functioning at these same lower levels helped
create and implement a program that did not
work as expected.
How does One Become a Mentoring
Expert Who Knows What to Do?
Two of the leading researchers on becoming
an expert in any field are the Dreyfus
brothers, Henry and Stuart.
After doing
several meta-analyses of the research
Some clients have developed Competence in
planning and implementing a specific
( 15 )
program for a targeted group, such as for
freshmen retention, and want to start a much
different on-the-job mentoring program for
co-op students, or a program in which alumni
mentor students, or a program for mentoring
faculty to develop needed competencies.
Being Competent at implementing one kind
of program enables this mentoring champion
to realize the complexity and challenge of
doing something very different – so that they
welcome the wise counsel of a true Mentoring
Expert to plan and implement a completely
different program – because they want the
new program to be successful and they want
to become Proficient during the process.
Table 2. The Dreyfus Model for Becoming an Expert in a Dedicated, Focused Field
Level
Expert
Proficient
Competent
Advanced
Beginner
Novice
Main Characteristics of a Mentoring Expert (based on Dreyfus and Dreyfus, 2005)
Has at least 10 dedicated years focusing on a field (e.g., developing distinctive mentoring
programs that are appropriate for different situations/groups). Experience in field is broad and
deep. Aware of important variables in any new situation. Able to use different paradigms and
heuristics to solve problems quickly and creatively. Reflective practitioner who self-assesses
what works and doesn’t. Appropriately plans and implements in each new/different condition.
Engages in “forward” reasoning to solve a problem. Typically, this person “developed the rules –
including new rules” that serve as Guiding Principles to prevent problems and enhance success.
Has at least 5 years in field, with some varied experiences. Still “rule-bound” to other people’s
rules when solving problems. Becoming a reflective practitioner. Can plan and implement several
different types of mentoring programs, and is starting to understand Guiding Principles.
Has repeated experience doing the same thing. (e.g., can implement one type of simple Mentoring
program). Follows memorized “rules” -- but is unaware of Guiding Principles.
Knows “about” mentoring for specific circumstances. Engages in backward reasoning to solve
problems. Likely to implement simplistic “do-your-own-thing” mentoring initiative than a more
formal program with structured components that produce desired outcomes. Doesn’t feel
responsible for outcomes.
Little or no direct experience. May have read books or articles, but has no practical understanding
based on actual experience. Unaware of Guiding Principles.
The rest of this paper describes a 5-Stage
Mentoring Program Maturity Model™ for
understanding different kinds of mentoring.
Each Stage requires different kinds of
planning and implementation to foster
different levels of engagement and learning
that produce different outcomes. In other
words, if your organization wants Stage 4 or 5
results, you won’t produce this with Stage 2
or 3 planning and implementation.
Although the focus is on mentoring, there is
some discussion about skill coaching because
mentors often provide this when proteges
need to master specific skills to improve
performance.
Gray’s 5-Stage Mentoring Program
Maturity Model™
In my 5-Stage Model, there are 8 Essential
Components:
1. Program Planning – involves key
stakeholders conceptualizing and
planning the right type of mentoring
to implement so it aligns with other
existing initiatives.
2. Collaboration Roles – how mentors
and proteges will interact (reciprocal
or one-way; one-on-one or group
mentoring; skill coaching or longerterm mentoring).
3. Content
Management
–
the
skills/competencies to be developed
or topics for discussion.
( 16 )
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Partner Matching – precisely
matching needs/expertise in partners
so that needed competencies can be
developed and topics can be
discussed.
Partner Training – teaches matched
partners how to work together
productively and starts the mentoring
relationship and journey together.
Performance Management – using
Mentoring Action Plans to ensure
complex competencies are actually
developed and Coaching Plans to
ensure specific skill mastery.
Measurement – the metrics to be
obtained and the methods to be used,
such as completed Plans in #6 plus
online surveys.
Coordination – a trained coordinator
must oversee the entire process to
ensure success; this is the most
important person in a successful
program.
None of these Components is evident in Stage
1 Informal Mentoring, the kind of mentoring
that spontaneously happens around the water
cooler, on elevators, etc. Such informal
mentoring is not a program in any true sense
because whatever happens, just happens.
There is no way of knowing who is mentoring
whom, what is being taught and learned, or
when this happens. When leaders verbally
encourage such informal mentoring, without
ensuring that it is actually occurring on a
regular basis for all employees, turnover can
occur annually at a 35% rate, as mentioned
previously. In sum, an “informal mentoring
program” is an oxymoron. (See Table 4 for a
list of each Stage’s main characteristics.)
Stage 2 Mentoring Initiatives are the most
basic type of semi-formalized mentoring, and
are usually developed in-house by Novices or
Advanced Beginners who have been assigned
to this task without it being part of their main
job responsibilities. They do it mostly by
benchmarking what other organizations are
doing, and then transplanting this into their
own situation.
Unfortunately, these
transplants seldom work because each new
situation requires customized planning and
implementation that meets all the unique
requirements of the new situation. In these
Mentoring Initiatives, only three of the eight
Components are partially happening. There is
some Planning to decide who can participate,
which role (mentor or protege) they will
fulfill as partners when they get together to
Collaborate, and what Content they will focus
on (typically they discuss topics of mutual
interest; seldom do they actually develop
usable
competencies
that
improve
performance).
These Mentoring Initiatives can be provided
for a small, targeted group of participants (1050 proteges plus their mentors), for a similar
designated time period (3-12 months) as the
benchmarked program – with Partner
Matching being manually done using written
applications and resumes. Or, much larger
groups can be encouraged to use a web-based
e-system to find their own mentoring partners
in a database of participants, and then discuss
topics of mutual interest.
Seldom, are
competencies actually developed.
An
orientation or kick-off might be provided
instead of real Partner Training. There are
few, if any, expectations or guidelines to be
fulfilled, so participants tend to “do their own
thing,” thereby producing a wide variety of
outcomes that cannot be easily assessed.
There is much less Coordination and
monitoring of the mentoring process than
occurs in more mature Stages/Programs, and
Measurement of intended outcomes is seldom
planned so outcome metrics are seldom
obtained.
( 17 )
Table 3. Extent to which Eight Essential Components Occur in 5 Kinds of Mentoring
Eight Components for 5 Kinds of
Mentoring:
1. Informal Mentoring
2. Mentoring Initiative
3. Formalized Mentoring Program
4. Institutionalized
Mentoring
Programs
5. Mentoring Culture
C1. Program Planning
C2. Collaboration Roles
C3. Content Management
C4. Partner Matching
C5. Partner Training
C6. Performance Management
C7. Measurement
C8. Coordination (oversight)
Below are numbers representing the Kinds of Mentoring listed on
the left. The length of a row from left to right indicates to what
extent each Component typically occurs. No number appears for a
Kind of Mentoring when a Component does not occur (e.g. Informal
Mentoring). All Components occur for Institutionalized Mentoring
and a Mentoring Culture.
Not Occurring
Partially Occurring
Fully Occurring
2222222222222222222222222
33333333333333333333333333333333333333333333
4444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444
5555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555
2222222222222222222222222
3333333333333333333333333333333333333333333
4444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444
5555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555
2222222222222222222222222
3333333333333333333333333333333333333333333
4444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444
5555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555
33333333333333333333333333333333333333333
4444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444
5555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555
33333333333333333333333333333333333333333
4444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444
5555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555
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4444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444
5555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555
33333333333333333333333333333333333333333
4444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444
5555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555
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4444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444
5555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555
As mentioned previously, most of the
contracts we get are from organizations that
have tried a Stage 2 Mentoring Initiative and
want to enhance the mentoring process and
outcomes by more carefully planning and
implementing a Stage 3 Formalized
Mentoring Program.
Such Mentoring
Programs are thoughtfully Planed to identify
the Content (usually core competencies to be
developed) and the Collaboration Roles (e.g.,
skill coaching and/or mentoring) to be
employed by all targeted participants, in order
to meet important professional and
organizational goals. We recommend using a
Collaborative Program Planning Process
involving key stakeholders to solicit their
ideas and to ensure their support. At Pacific
Bell and Pillsbury, the managers of the
targeted proteges agreed to support the
Mentoring Program only if mentors did no
skill coaching, but instead referred proteges to
the managers because they had been trained to
provide this. At Exxon, supervisors indicated
how they assisted new hires in year one
sufficiently so that the Mentoring Program
began in year two with the second job rotation
where supervision was not as adequately
provided.
In Formalized Mentoring Programs, the other
Program Components are operating, but on a
smaller, limited basis -- just for the targeted
group
(usually
less
than
100-200
participants). Partners are often matched in
these smaller programs using a paper-based
approach (written applications, resumes), but
this is labor-intensive, as was shown in Table
1. Another alternative is to use an e-system to
match best-fit partners on core competencies,
for this ensures that protege needs match
( 18 )
mentor expertise. This more precise matching
of partners enhances actual competency
development, and is significantly faster than
paper-based matching, saving hundreds of
hours.
Stage 4 Institutionalized Mentoring Programs
occur when there is active executive support
and funding to enable wide-spread
participation in different kinds of programs
throughout the organization, and this is
facilitated by using an e-system, such as our
web-based Mentoring Management System®
[MMS], to precisely match mentoring
partners and monitor mentoring activity.
Only an e-system permits individuals to
connect and engage in different kinds of
longer-term mentoring to develop complex
competencies, or shorter-term coaching to
master essential skills, or even faster
knowledge transfer, as described in Table 4.
Table 4. Major Configurations of CMSI’s Web-based System (called Colaboro®)
Colaboro® - KT
for Knowledge Transfer
Users: Knowledge Providers
connect with
Knowledge
Seekers (or vice versa)
Benefits:
Systematic
Knowledge Transfer to those
who need institutional or
professional knowledge
Log
on;
indicate
your
Demographics
&
Demographics you prefer in
other users; check Topics you
want to discuss
Search database for users who
match your selected Topics &
preferred Demographics
May use online Action Plan to
schedule meetings/discussions
Answer online Survey
report benefits gained
to
Colaboro® - SC
for Skill Coaching
Users:
Users with expertise
connect with those needing to
master essential skills
Benefits: Ensures essential skills
are learned via systematic
coaching;
Coaching
Plans
become templates for other
coaches to use as-is or modify
Demographics; rate your Needs
and/or Expertise (gaps/strengths)
on a list of skills
Colaboro® - MCD
for Mentoring Competency Development
Users: Users with expertise connect with
those needing to develop more complex
competencies (not simple behavioral skills)
Benefits:
Ensures
that
complex
competencies are actually developed via
mentoring
Find
your
own
coaching
partner(s) – or Coordinator can
match partners
Use online Coaching Plan to
learn specific skills
Find your own mentoring partner(s) – or
Coordinator can match partners
May use Virtual Library
Answer online Survey to report
benefits gained
Coordinator has access to online tools
corresponding to all user functions, including
Reports.
Properly trained and highly committed
Coordinators market the various kinds of
Institutionalized Programs and assist large
numbers of participants throughout the
organization to use key tools and functions of
the online system. For example, Coca-Cola
Log on and indicate your Demographics;
answer Mentoring Compatibility Indicator;
rate your Needs and/or Expertise
(gaps/strengths) on competencies
Use online Mentoring Action Plan to be
prepared for meetings and to develop
competencies over several weeks/months
Create online Mentoring Agreement to
foster commitment & prevent problems
Answer Mentoring Style Indicator to build
good relationship; basis for Online Partner
Training
Use Virtual Library
Answer online Survey to report benefits
gained
spent 480 people-hours manually matching
100 mentoring partners (using resumes and
written applications) before deciding, in 2001,
to use our online Mentoring Management
System® to electronically match best-fit
partners faster and more objectively, and to
fulfill other essential Coordinator tasks such
as monitoring progress and evaluating
outcomes. Similarly, Ernst & Young (Boyle,
( 19 )
2005) used our online system for four years to
develop core competencies in its accountants
in a nation-wide Program, with these results:
the percentage of female partners increased
from 5 to 13%, and annual turnover of female
partners significantly decreased, saving the
firm $10 million annually in replacement
costs. As a follow-on to its successful
diversity initiative, the Air National Guard
implemented an Institutionalized Program at
35 of its 150 Wings/Units across the USA,
before abandoning its goal of progressing to a
Stage 5 Mentoring Culture when the
champion was redeployed.
All Components of the Mentoring Program
Maturity Model are fully happening at Stages
4 and 5 because mentoring is an executivebacked strategy that occurs throughout the
organization and because trained/committed
Coordinators
use
an
enterprise-level
Mentoring Management System® to manage
and monitor all aspects of the knowledge
transfer, coaching and mentoring process.
Such as: registering participants, matching
best-fit partners and monitoring individual
and group progress to enhance outcomes, and
evaluating results.
In other words,
Coordinators inspect what executives expect,
to ensure it is fully happening throughout the
organization. This is necessary whether the
Coordinator matches partners or ensures they
are matching themselves.
Table 5. Key Characteristics for the 5 Stages of Mentoring Program Maturity
Stage #1 – Informal Mentoring (non-program)
-verbally encouraged by leaders
-meet at water cooler, on elevators
-informal mentoring; not a planned program
-organization doesn’t know what’s occurring
Stage #2 – Basic Mentoring Initiative
-champion wants program for targeted group
-match partners; little monitoring of activity
-program announced with limited planning
-results seldom planned for or measured
Stage #3 – Competency-Based Formalized Mentoring Program
-has senior management support & funding
-users create online Coaching & Mentoring Plans
-careful planning to identify competencies/outcomes
-online system monitors progress, evaluates benefits
-business case for competency focus
-coordinator oversees entire process/activities
-online system matches targeted participants
Stage #4 – Institutionalized Mentoring Program
-active executive support, funding & participation
-many mentoring pools pursue different purposes
-mentoring is an organizational strategy
-some pools transfer institutional knowledge
-Enterprise Mentoring Management System used
-some pools discuss topics of mutual interest
-MMS enables both mentoring & skill coaching
-some pools develop competencies via action plans
-MMS permits Competency/Knowledge Management -online system matches & monitors all participants
-MMS linked to Performance Mgmt. & Devpt. -database-generated reports enhance results
System
-ROI measured to justify each mentoring program
-MMS linked to LMS to enhance training results
Stage #5 – Mentoring Culture in the Organization
-all of the above in #4 PLUS...
- all leaders mentor future leaders (multiplier effect)
-MMS accessible by everyone at any time
-mentoring is top-down & bottom-up in Org.
-MMS facilitates formal programs for targeted groups hierarchy
-MMS facilitates self-directed mentoring initiatives
-mentoring is reciprocal (people helping people)
-MMS facilitates just-in-time mentoring when needed -cross-functional mentoring breaks down silos
-everyone is a mentor and/or protege to someone
-mentoring complements blended learning initiatives
-all diversity initiatives fulfilled through mentoring
-result is optimized workforce & better performance
-coordinators manage/oversee entire process/activities
( 20 )
In a Stage 5 Mentoring Culture that exists
throughout the organization, all Components
of the Mentoring Program Maturity Model are
also fully happening. At Stage 5, everyone
throughout the diversified workforce feels
comfortable providing and seeking mentoring
(and coaching) that is cross-functional, crossgender, cross-cultural, cross-position, etc.
The entire diversified workforce from top to
bottom uses an enterprise-level Mentoring
Management System® to engage in a wide
variety
of
Self-Directed
Mentoring
Initiatives® where participants find their own
mentoring or coaching partners. Using the
web-based System enables anyone, anytime,
anywhere to find and match up with best-fit
partners, to develop behavioral skills or
complex competencies or discuss topics of
mutual interest. Trained Coordinators use the
MMS to oversee this to ensure that
individuals are getting the mentoring (and
coaching) they need.
Specially targeted
groups are also participating in different kinds
of Formally Coordinated Mentoring where
coordinators match and monitor partners for
specific organizational purposes, such as
developing core competencies in faculty to
increase overall instructional quality or to win
more research grants.
( 21 )
Conclusion
In closing, nine points are re-emphasized:
1. Organizations
start
formalized
mentoring programs for many reasons,
most notably to reduce turnover (or
increase retention) of personnel and
students, and to develop their talent.
2. Formalized mentoring programs are
the most difficult type of human
development program to define,
design and deliver because the
mentor-protege relationship is the
most complex type of relationship.
3. Paper-based mentoring programs
require significantly more time to
implement than programs facilitated
by
a
web-based
Mentoring
Management System®.
4. Mentoring programs that fail are
typically developed by Novices or
Advanced Beginners, who lack
necessary experience.
5. Gray’s 5-Stage Mentoring Program
Maturity Model can assist in planning
and implementing the type of
mentoring and associated outcomes
that are desired.
( 22 )
6. A Stage 5 Mentoring Culture cannot
happen unless organization-wide
Stage 4 Institutionalized Mentoring is
operating first; that is, different groups
are engaged in different kinds of
mentoring for different purposes.
7. Committed
Coordinators
must
continue to market, manage and
monitor what is happening, or the
Mentoring Culture will eventually
disappear because of pressures to do
other things (teaching, studying) rather
than mentoring or coaching or
knowledge transfer.
8. Stage 4 or 5 Mentoring is not possible
unless a web-based, enterprise-level,
multi-functional system is used to
reduce overall costs and coordination
time for the large numbers of
participants.
9. Only a true Mentoring Expert, with
significant depth and breadth of
experience over many years, has the
wisdom and practical know-how
needed to assist organizations so they
align definition, design, and delivery
to produce measurable outcomes.
References
Boyle, M. (August, 2005). Most mentoring
programs stink - but yours doesn't have to.
Training, 42 (8), 13-15. [Describes Ernst &
Young’s positive mentoring results for
females.]
26 (5), 779-792.
Gray, William A. and Gray, Marilynne M.
(1985) Synthesis of research on mentoring
beginning teachers. Educational Leadership,
43 (3), 37-43.
Gray, William A. (1989)
Situational
mentoring: custom designing planned
mentoring
programs.
International, 3 (1), 19-28.
Mentoring
Emerging Workforce Study. Business Week,
March, 1999.
Miles Gray, Marilynne.
MentorInk
Newsletter, Corporate Mentoring Solutions
Inc., 2000.
Modis Professional Services. Retention and
staffing report, Manchester INC, March 1999.
For more information, contact Dr. William A.
Gray: 1-(250) 652-0324 in Victoria, BC
Canada;
Email:
[email protected]
Visit our website:
www.mentoring-solutions.com
( 23 )
Towards Excellence in e-Mentoring and e-Coaching
Marilynne Miles Gray
Abstract
A mere 10 years ago, mentoring and coaching
e-systems were ideas on paper. The need was
and is compelling. Even now, only a handful
of actual online systems operate. The author
begins by examining key concepts – first the
paradigms of more traditional face-to-face
coaching and mentoring. The author outlines
the challenges of constructing each of these
relationships especially online to ensure
success of learning experiences. Throughout,
the author examines how these relationships
impact people / organizational development,
different methods for assessing the quality of
both e-mentoring and e-coaching and the
legacies that can be left behind. Finally, the
paper concludes with a review of some
lessons learned.
Introduction
The Interesting Paradigms
Traditional face-to-face mentoring and
coaching are enablers. For some twenty years
I understood this through direct experience
prior to our company taking these processes
online. I was convinced that technically one
day it would be possible and that people
would come to accept e-relationships as an
option. This was the early 1990s before we
fully understood some of the challenges and
some of the as yet undiscovered benefits of
online programs.
At the outset, let’s make it clear: coaching
isn’t the same as mentoring. While some
incorrectly interchange the words mentoring
and coaching, the two are decidedly different.
Coaching is “a sequenced process for specific
skill building and information-sharing.
Coaching is only one of many activities that a
mentor may or may not undertake depending
on the immediate goals of the learner. The
mentoring process is a collection of roles or
functions needed to transfer the knowledge,
insights and skills to the learner. Mentoring is
one of the most flexible of processes
imaginable – no wonder people become
confused over what it is! To add to the
complexity of the concept, it is both a process
and a relationship.
Both coaching and mentoring are, amongst
other things, meant to help the learner
transition from one state to another. Thus help
can be provided before, during and after the
transition. In the coaching role, mentors are
expected to teach (a) concepts, measurable
skills and attitudes the learner needs to make
this transition and then perform (b) creative
problem-solving strategies that experts
employ as well as how to reframe one’s way
of viewing events (paradigm-shifting) so
learner growth can turn in quite different
directions. But more of how this translates to
online practices later. Let us turn instead to
the story of why and how people even saw a
need to go online for that story reveals much
about excellence, success, and the many
challenges of human behaviour.
Why the Need for e-Mentoring and eCoaching?
Let us step back in time and imagine it is
early 1996 and you are my client. Though
neither you nor I know it yet, in one year my
company will take brave first steps to develop
an online mentoring and coaching system. In
the meantime, your organization will use our
( 24 )
paper and pencil tools to manually match
participants so knowledge transfer can occur.
To this point in time, we have a track record
from 1978 in program R&D so why would
we, or our clients, move from a very
successful approach to uncharted waters?
Obviously, since mentoring and coaching are
complex, there will be many tasks you (client)
and I (service provider) will have to jointly or
singly carry out manually over months in
order to ensure success. [As a side-note, later
I will point out how many organizations
erroneously think they will get both results
and success by leaving out most tasks and
opting for unorganized programs.]
Once I have helped you design and plan a
program that is appropriate and will meet the
goals and objectives, we have in front of us a
project to be managed. Jointly, we select a
date to launch the program so partners can
meet formally face to face for a training and
orientation session. Before this can happen,
one of the sub-tasks will be the challenge of
making good, unbiased matches -- for this lies
at the heart of good knowledge transfer.
To manually match people, a number of tasks
are carried out. For instance, I (a) mail three
or four different types of paper and pencil
tools to the Program Coordinator, who then
has the job of (b) relaying these to each
participant who then has to (c) fill each out by
hand, and (d) return them completed to the
Coordinator. The Coordinator hopes that all
tools will be completely filled out on time,
will not be lost or mislaid, and that they can
be read (in the event the participant has
changed answers). If any of these mishaps
happen, the Coordinator will have to phone
each person and “fix the problem” or it will
be virtually impossible to move on. Next, the
Coordinator (and any others on a Program
Task Force) will need on average some three
to five hours to manually match a single pair.
This is due to the fact several documents are
involved and a number of factors will be
considered – location of participants,
expertise available, protégé needs, and so
forth. Clearly, as my client, once you have
suffered through this manual process, you
should be able to understand the multiple
advantages to going online -- the ability to
improve tracking, do away with shuttling
documents back and forth, keep track of
where users are located, give users the ability
to change responses electronically, reduce
costs and reduce “busywork” for all.
What is being pointed out here, and this is
important, is even though there were no
online models to follow (so far as we knew)
we had a strong sense one could and should
be developed. We pondered technically how
to develop an online system to replicate much
of what we were doing manually.
Insights from Benchmarking
Despite a lack of any online system models in
1997, we proceeded with development of a
web-based mentoring software application
and by early 2000 we had early adopters.
However, we wanted to find out what others
around the world were doing (if anything). If
such systems existed, what shape did these
take? For example, were they mere e-mail
contacts between people who had been paired
up manually by an agency? Given our long
experience, we could not settle for such a
simplistic approach. It would be contrary to
everything we believed in.
My preliminary internet searches for a survey
still uncovered virtually nothing. To start, we
benchmarked
program
implementation
practices. Program Coordinators were asked:
What is a program “must-do task”? How
difficult is this task? How long does it take to
carry out? How satisfied are you with the
results?
Amongst other things, I reasoned that an
important but difficult-to-do task might not be
carried out to the degree necessary. Or, it
might be carried out but the results were
judged “unsatisfactory”. Certainly if evidence
could be gathered, it would allow us to point
( 25 )
out concretely to prospective clients how
much time, energy and money might be saved
via online mentoring and coaching. To this
point in time, all we had were guesstimates.
Further, we knew by experience that
programs required much time (as noted
previously) doing “busywork” instead of
deploying the time saved to vital tasks such
as: ensuring participants get their questions
answered, finding matches for challenging
situations, monitoring the status of the
pairings, and so forth.
Between September 2000 and early 2001, the
Benchmark study specifically probed 13
program practices such as: selection of
participants, matching, monitoring the
program, evaluating benefits, and determining
ROI. Responses came from 36 Coordinators
(of one or more programs) in Canada, the
USA, Japan, Mexico, Australia, and United
Kingdom. A wide range of organizations
responded, for instance: a government
treasury agency, teacher-training department,
insurance company, an environmental agency,
the military, a healthcare provider, a
manufacturer, a software firm, an energy
company.
What did we discover? Not surprisingly,
Coordinators claimed each of the 13 tasks was
“important or very important” eating up an
estimated 131 to 158 hours in total. That
represents something in the order of 21
workdays. If we go back to the challenge of
matching, this was rated 8.1 on a 9-point scale
as a “very important task”. Almost 30% of
Coordinators rated it “difficult to do”. Only
one program of the 36 claimed to be
“satisfied” with the results of the matches
made. Add to this, more than half the
programs called in 3-11 people to accomplish
this task. Given the responses, it was clear to
me e-mentoring could help reduce time, and
increase satisfaction on important items. What
sort of response would it get on my next
study?
By October, the second study, Mentoring
ScoreCard 2001, was underway. Results
poured in from programs in all those locations
mentioned previously plus China and New
Zealand. Not surprisingly, more than 70% of
the programs were very small (20 or fewer
people).
Respondents were given a list of nine
descriptors to select to describe any
mentoring program(s) they ran such as:
“formal program”, “distance program” and
“electronic”. Almost 43% said they ran
“informal” programs; the same number
selected “distance” and almost 29% of
respondents claimed the programs they
operated were “electronic”. Based on long
experience, I knew that any number of
organizations discovered enroute that
mentoring and coaching programs are more
challenging to organize than one would think
and by default reduced the elements to
“informal” status as shown in the following
chart. Given the high percentage of small
programs, it could be assumed then many
distance and electronic programs likely were
barebones and conducted via e-mails.
However, and this is important, it seemed
helpful to find out firsthand what “informal”
actually meant from the perspective of people
such as these Coordinators. The survey
offered eight descriptors from which to select
and the opportunity to supply additional
descriptors and comments:
( 26 )
An Informal Program
… has no Coordinator
… has no Information Session
… has no Guidelines
… permits self-matching (by participants)
… has no Training session
… has no monitoring
… has no follow-up activities
… has no evaluation
% choosing this
28.6
33.3
42.8
42.8
47.6
42.8
52.3
52.3
It needs to be noted that some of these
descriptors were the very items that
Coordinators (in the first study) had largely
said were “important” – matching by the
Coordinator, training, monitoring, evaluation.
Does this point to lack of quality in some
informal programs? Does lack of monitoring
point to the strong possibility some programs
are launched and never followed thereafter for
problems and success stories?
These same respondents were asked to select,
from a list, any limitations to their programs - all of which had been rated as “Good”.
Some of the same items were considered
limitations: no information session (23.8%),
lack of training (28.6%), lack of monitoring
(33%). Some named the form of mentoring
program they had chosen to set up -- distance
mentoring (28.6%). This tells us much about
the low drive for quality and excellence with
both being traded off for ease of operation.
Hearted by the fact 29% claimed their
programs were “electronic”, I decided this
constituted a trend. Thus the third study
developed to examine, in more detail, the
shape so-called electronic programs took.
Five Mentoring Trends
Based on further extensive research, I made a
trends presentation at the Mentoring
Connection Conference in Toronto, Canada in
January 2002. One trend I broadly labeled
“technical”. This covered the shift from a
mentoring or coaching program being created
exclusively by HR people to one shared by
HR and IT. It also covered the many different
and confusing terms associated with the trend.
This labeling problem is due to the fact that
there was, and still is, no standard
terminology. Here are some of the terms: “ementoring”,
“electronic
mentoring”,
“telementoring”, “online mentoring”, “virtual
mentoring”, “mentoring e-bulletin boards”,
and “mentoring e-document vaults”.
How these programs operated fell into one of
five patterns:
1. online text screens for program
enrollment; extensive text has to be
read by both applicant and
Coordinator/Task Force Committee
members; little or no interactivity; few
dropdowns, radio buttons or filters;
text material open to subjective
interpretation;
2. 24/7 call centres dedicated to
answering nothing other than technical
questions about technical courses;
often lacking user groups and chat
rooms so user has no sense of
belonging;
3. threaded discussions belonging to a
particular organization; if a question
(need) arises, users depend on whether
they are given answers (or not);
quality of answers vary; some users
are advocates for people unable to
participate in discussion so help is
third hand;
4. user posts (name and need/request) in
a web chat room; often no search
( 27 )
function so user must read through
many posts for information that may
or may not be posted;
5. document bins (often unmonitored)
filled with thousands or hundreds of
thousands of documents (from recipes
to first aid instructions to checklists of
“desirable mentor qualities”.
At the time, I noted: “Technology isn’t going
to go away. Nor are client expectations and
demands. But we should not be fooled into
assuming that simply because it has the letter
“e” or words such as “electronic” attached to
it, that it will save time. My assessment is that
unfortunately too many of the current
approaches don’t take advantage of all that
technology and research on user-technology
interface has to offer.”
Another mentoring trend was that of selfdirectedness, that is, people wishing to find a
mentoring and coaching partner, using online
means to do so. This trend is even stronger
today. Self-directed mentoring programs
typically operate, even today, using the two
most basic means of matching: demographics
(location, field of work, gender, etc.) and up
to a dozen broad topics for discussion. Often
such programs are open to anyone and
everyone in a company whether it is a
manager, new hire, someone in mid-career, or
company president. The same holds true with
some university programs. Here are at least
six issues to consider. Without careful design:
1. it is difficult to assess what and how
much knowledge has been transferred
2. it is difficult to ensure this knowledge
(if transferred) has been put into
practice
3. there may be an emphasis on
discussion and a downplaying of
competency development
4. there may be no assurance the expert
(mentor) is an expert in that area
5. there is no control over those areas of
need (skill gaps and competencies) the
learner must fill
6. with no other tools at hand, the
learning and working styles of each
partner are not taken into account.
This phenomenon of self-directedness
appeared to stem from staff (or students)
having an expectation they would engage in
lifelong learning with no clearly marked
career ladders or guidance or an everchanging work landscape. Or they were
expected to engage in lifelong learning. The
problem is such expectations take a toll on
people. In response, increasing numbers
lobbied for mentoring and coaching
programs. Coordinators found they could no
longer oversee such numbers. Organizations
either directly told me or posted on their
websites that they had opted different
responses to the demand: “we run very
exclusive programs for small numbers of
people at the top echelons” or “bigger is
better plus self-directed is popular”. Thus was
born the self-directed mentoring program.
Another causal factor for self-directed
programs was the apparent low cost and ease
of set-up: no/few guidelines, little or no
monitoring, no evaluation. Associated was the
notion technology can do it all. We had gone
in a few short years from ignorance about the
role technology could play to an expectation
that it could and would do everything and
anything with little planning, effort and
experience.
For some, it was a way to break down
departmental silos; for others, it was a way to
service far-flung global staff, or support
current HR development on a wide scale. For
us, it was not uncommon to be told stories of
urgent gaps in global organizations. One
petroleum association told us why they
wanted online mentoring: “We have engineers
( 28 )
all around the world who don’t have anyone
locally with the expertise. They may have a
supervisor but a boss isn’t supposed to be the
mentor. They can’t wait for help to magically
appear.”
As I noted at the time: “Using technology
requires a complete rethinking of people-topeople interactions, the labour-intensive
nature of mentoring and marry that condition
to the ways in which technology can and will
support programs.” I believe that still.
E-coaching: Some Background
To paraphrase Allison Rossett in her book
Beyond the Podium (2002), leaders appear to
arrive at e-learning from two different
directions. Some are pushed by rising
expectations for training and development
because of the magnitude of the challenges
they face, along with new products and
alliances, and global operations. Others
perceive new opportunities, ideas and
approaches. Compelled by the economic
benefits presented by web training, they are
also lured to the plentiful resources learning
portals promise, and are eager to capture and
nurture organizational smarts through
knowledge
repositories
and
online
conversations. Online coaching would seem
to be ideal for any of these and because it is
less complex than mentoring, easier to
measure, is more bound by the order of the
steps involved and is (as already noted) is but
one of the many roles a mentor may need to
take when working with a protégé. However,
there is a temptation to employ it mistakenly
thinking that it can replace mentoring. It can
but only if that is appropriate.
Conceptually, coaching is of quite recent
vintage. We ought to credit Joyce & Showers
as the teacher-trainers who carefully analyzed
and described the process in 1980 at about the
same time that formal mentoring programs
were first being tried and written about. They
defined coaching as: “modeling practice
under simulated conditions”. Prior to this, the
word “coaching” (used in connection with
sports from the late 1800s onward) was a task
done without much thought being given to
researching how and why it worked or how to
refine it. So it is Joyce and Showers who
usually get the credit for doing so and
handing on to us the notion of a step-by-step
sequence (see following chart). The order of
the steps should not alter – an important
differentiation between it and mentoring
whose varied roles, activities and sequence
are as individual as the partners working
together.
From education, coaching spread to other
settings – such as corporations – which
operate by a different paradigm. In the
educational setting, by and large it is not
uncommon to take the position that the
process has to be tested over time while the
business view is that the bottom line and
quick results are vital. No matter which view
of the world, traditional coaching requires
face-to-face interactions and the specific
sequence.
Coaching can take at least two forms. In the
sports arena, it is “short-term technical
instruction” to improve an observable skill for
a group of people who all have the same goal.
For example, three hours may be spent one
week in a swim team practice to start,
improve or refine several skills such as
increasing the power of the kick or breathing.
The next week, it may be one hour on those
same skills with two hours on other skills. In
corporations, this approach has been tailored
to accommodate what is called “group
coaching”.
In high-level training, coaching can be a oneto-one activity in which the person being
coached selects a specific skill to be observed
by the coach with the intention that, in several
short sessions, proficiency is improved. As
( 29 )
well, the learner chooses the method of
evaluation, the type of feedback, even the
location. The coach demonstrates before or
after the observation so there is a model for
comparison.
To understand how this matters once we
move from traditional settings to attempting
the same thing electronically, let’s review
coaching steps by which the teacher passes on
a specific skill to a novice. Descriptions of the
process break it down into five broader steps,
or from seven to nine smaller steps. What is
important to notice is not only the order in
which the steps occur but also the degree to
which the learner can be in control of the
learning. Of this learner-centeredness Ackoff
(1996) notes … understanding depends on
engagement in practice. We acquire
understanding from observation of, and
participation in, many different situations and
activities. The depth of this understanding
depends, in turn, on the depth of our
engagement. Understanding is different from
knowledge, which is how to make a system or
process work efficiently for an intended
outcome. In this sense, the coach’s role is to
promote not just knowledge but also
understanding, and out of that, engagement.
Chart 1: Coaching steps
Step 1.
Step 2.
Step 3.
Step 4.
Step 5.
Step 6.
Step 7.
Step 8.
Step 9.
Discovery: Check to see if Learner needs motivation. If so, how much and what type of motivation
is needed? This is the point to develop initial rapport.
Conference: Hold brief meeting prior to observation session. Partners jointly set appropriate
learning objectives based on Learner's goals and current skill level. Objectives should be very
specific and clear. Learner sets out what s/he ultimately wants to accomplish in the lessons. If
Coach wishes, s/he can offer suggestions or ask questions to clarify what is to be observed. Coach
and Learner can decide if and when to proceed to step three.
As necessary, Coach describes, lectures, and/or explains the skill to be observed.
Coach demonstrates, models, shows examples of the skill to be learned. Since this is
individualized, learning style should be taken into consideration.
Coach checks Learner's understanding of what has been demonstrated /taught with each session.
The aim is for Learner to gain incrementally with each demonstration if appropriate consideration
of learning style has been made.
Learner practices with feedback. Feedback can be done in a variety of ways - film, words,
diagrams, checklists, etc.
Learner applies skill through independent practice. Ideally this is done with third parties for
feedback and on own.
Evaluate performance. Different methods can be used. Partners should reflect on future
applications and current success level with a comparison being made to the desired level of
success.
Debrief. Jointly decide if there is a need to recycle through steps. If recycling is needed, what is to
be done, when, how, etc.
The shift to e-coaching
First and most obviously is the fact that once
online, “face-to-face” is a relative term. If the
coaching steps are examined, a number can
indeed be carried out online as suggested
following:
1. Motivation check – email, phone
conversation, online / web system
screens (e.g., drop down lists, text
fields, radio buttons)
( 30 )
2. Objectives conference: as in step one,
there are a number of means possible.
The challenge at this point is for the
learner to clearly articulate the end in
mind. The phone is perhaps most
satisfactory; email most fraught for
potential miscommunication; and text
boxes long and time-consuming to
read. Yet a paper trail is necessary
even in a so-called paperless world.
3. Explanation: webinars, blogs, video
clips, simulations can be employed
with the latter two being most
satisfactory in terms of consistency.
4. Demonstration: The valuable thing
about having a video clip of the coach
performing the skill or a simulation is
that it can be viewed over and over.
Cost has an up and downside for it
often costs nothing for the coach to do
the live demonstration but his/her time
is limited. The associated commentary
must be first class for there is nothing
more frustrating for viewers than poor
sound quality and sloppy sub-titles.
To our way of thinking, the thought
process behind video clips is
important. Disney production values
may be appropriate in some instances
but not in others and it’s important to
know the difference. In one video our
firm
created
about
the
mentoring/coaching
process,
the
colour was deliberately subdued –
sepias, blacks, beiges, grays and
whites and movement of the actors
very limited. When asked by several
viewers about this approach, the
response was: “The video is not meant
to entertain; it’s purpose is for you to
catch the subtle but important body
language and conversational cues in
the process portrayed. So as to not
distract you, everything is low key. If,
however, the aim later were to test
how much you had already learned
about the process, the video would be
significantly different. Then we might
distract you to see if you could
distinguish the important signs from
the less important.”
5. Check
for
understanding:
A
combination of approaches work
especially a video conference that
allows the coach to ask questions live
( 31 )
as one or more learners watch a video
clip.
6. Practice with feedback: One of the
more challenging steps to carry out
online. If face-to-face sessions were
not feasible, most participants would
likely choose either a live telecast
during which the learner would
demonstrate skill level, or real-time
coach-learner viewing of a video
showing the learner’s performance.
7. Independent practice: Our experience
is that (much of the time) this occurs
offline and utilizes friends, other staff
or students, family members. Online,
peer-to-peer technologies like blogs,
social networking, communities of
practice, and podcasting may help.
Even so, independent practice is an
activity that relies on filming -- for
subsequent repeated viewing by the
learner him or herself in a group or
lone setting. Simulations, where
possible, can be ideal for certain types
of repetition where there is a “right
way” and a “wrong way” – for
instance, if the learner is trying to
hone a specific medical skill such as
giving an injection, a good simulation
can record the angle of the needle, the
time take to complete the task, and so
on.
8. Evaluate performance: This is the one
time the mentors can take on this task.
Ordinarily, mentors are cautioned to
not evaluate because evaluation can
destroy the open trust necessary to the
relationship. Both partners (a) know in
advance step eight is part of the
coaching process; (b) know evaluation
is ideally objective rather than
subjective; (c) agree the learner can
determine the when and how of this
step and so has control of the
situation. As to the online activity, the
optimal
choice
would
be
a
teleconference session.
9. Debrief. As with step six, a web
conference will work.
Now let us consider some of the challenges
the mentoring paradigm poses online.
E-mentoring: Some Background
Mentoring as defined by the Dictionary of
Occupational Titles is “the most complex of
all human interactions”. It cannot be boiled
down to a series of ordered steps, as in
coaching. Early on, I underscored its dual
nature: both as a role and a process. To help
explain it, I often use different diagrams such
as steps, eggs, and pyramids to show
audiences how wonderfully varied it is. Over
time, as the needs of the protégé shift with
growing competence, roles are added, left
behind or recycled. A number of researchers
have counted the many possible roles mentors
play in the lives of their protégés, by some
accounts, above 20 roles. The following
EggRole© illustrates what the shift in roles
might look like over time with early on
represented on the left and several weeks or
months later on the right:
clarify
advocate
coach
tea
coach
2-way dialog
Role
paraphras
sugge
tea
prescrib
Sounding
Role
persuade
The shift to e-mentoring
Some aspects have remained the same. For
example, it still remains vital to plan the
program with the client prior to launch. Some
terminology has changed. We now use the
term “Mentoring Pool” to signify any virtual
community of practice (CoP) who will go
online and use a specific combination of tools
for a set length of time. How this happens will
vary. One government client had six different
Mentoring Pools running at the same time:
one just for social workers, another just for
attorneys, another just for forestry workers,
and so on. Yet another client, a military
agency, had Mentoring Pools -- all the same
size (100 participants) and with the same tools
-- duplicated to operate in 36 different
locations.
advise
praise
On or offline, our tools operate on a time
continuum; that is, the logic of the Mentoring
Process requires some tools be used before
others. A Mentoring Agreement (to work
together under certain conditions) cannot be
used unless partners are already matched.
Evaluation cannot take place until partners
have worked on an Action Plan and provide
something to evaluate. Online, to complement
this, there is a visual continuum on the Home
Page: a series of horizontally-linked buttons
guiding participants step by step from the start
of the program to the end. Once a tool/task is
completed, the current button changes colour.
This streamlining moves users in a process
that can utilize up to nine tools some of which
may be used concurrently.
If we refer back to the beginning of this paper
and the difficulties with some aspects of “the
old way”, clients accustomed to a paper and
( 32 )
pencil version of our Mentoring Style
Indicator, for example, could now have
participants log in, answer the tool, have the
system score results, print out results and
bring them to a face-to-face training session.
Total time? Roughly 20 minutes instead of
hours, days and weeks.
On and offline our goal is to keep reading and
text entry to an absolute minimum partly
because mentors are in-demand, busy experts.
Depending on the tool, responses are typically
given via colour coding, numeric scales, force
choice, or rank ordering drop downs.
Developing a system has forced us to ponder
if any content could be reduced, omitted or
reworked. We balanced this consideration
with the need to gather enough data to carry
out each program task, especially matching
partners. One matching tool, a 66-item
Mentoring Compatibility Indicator that has
three subscales was pared down to 44 items.
To reduce time spent filling in personal
information, we made it possible to pre-fill
fields when participants move from one Pool
to another or when people are repeat mentors.
Option
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
The increased flexibility of being online
opened new possibilities especially to meet
the huge challenge of finding mentors in
organizations. We know participants can be
both mentors and protégés at the same time –
skilled in one topic and knowing little about
another. We capitalized on this and used
double-ended, colour-coded scales so
participants could show their level of need or
expertise on any given item in the NeedsExpertise Inventory. However, now that a tool
such as this is electronic, some clients are
tempted to insert many items (e.g., 100+) and
it is one of our roles to ensure clients
understand why and how an optimal number
of items will actually give superior results.
A quality mentoring programs is not a onesize-fits-all approach. We decided it was
important to be able to match in a variety of
ways depending on the program objectives
and participant goals (see chart below). We
came up with eight options each with its own
pros and cons.
system tools used for matching
Demographics (only)
Demographics + Topics for Discussion
Topics for Discussion (only)
Demographics + Needs-Expertise Inventory (our standard set of competencies or set supplied by client)
Needs-Expertise Inventory (only)
Mentoring Compatibility Indicator (only)
Demographics + Mentoring Compatibility Indicator
Demographics + Needs-Expertise Inventory + Mentoring Compatibility Indicator
Out of a seemingly small change like this can
come valuable capacity. Using demographics
to match is an excellent example. Some
demographics are: gender, ethnicity, location,
years of experience in the field, etc. Some
clients use demographics to match and
internally track whether larger organizational
objectives are being met. For example, a
mentoring and coaching program designed to
promote diversity for hundreds of staff can
collect demographics such as gender and
ethnicity to track how many of African
American females (a) enroll, (b) complete
Action Plans (c) finish the mentoring program
itself (d) are later promoted (e) join another
Mentoring Pool the next year in a different
role and the like. These results can then be
compared to results for Asian males, Black
African males, Caucasian females and so on.
The Coca Cola North America mentoring
initiative falls into this category.
( 33 )
In the case of a regional Advanced
Technology Association, the Steering
Committee supposed compatibility would be
crucial in a small program whose prospective
participants were to learn the ins and outs of
how to export overseas. Each protégé
intended to export to a different nation – one
to China, another to Japan, a third to Brazil
and so on. These learners were focused on
practicalities and felt compatibility to be
relatively
unimportant.
Out
went
compatibility and in came the ability to match
by demographics of mentor experience in
exporting to a certain location plus specifics
of Needs-Expertise.
Assessing the impacts and the quality
Clearly, to understand the impact of ecoaching and e-mentoring requires some
means of subjectively and objectively
assessing the quality of the relationships and
the program. Over time, we tried out
interview protocols, surveys, checklists,
feedback forums and the like and finally
settled on evaluation formats and content that
will be outlined shortly.
When we sit down with a client (or even
before then when talking to interested parties
about
e-mentoring
and
e-coaching),
assessment questions are front and centre. In
our view, assessment ideally becomes
“realized value” -- clients and participants
understand its worth and so are willing to
spend the time on it. Here are some typical
questions we ask:
Q: At what level do you need to record
learner progress?
Q: How many learners do you need to track?
Q: Do you intend to carry out ROI analysis?
impact analysis?
At times, it is clear from what is said, there is
no intention of doing anything more than
matching people. Even though an online
system can make their initiative more robust
and supportive, the proposed program has all
of the marks of “an informal program” as
described early on— including no evaluation.
When this seems to be the case, we do our
level best to advocate on behalf of measuring,
evaluating, and tracking.
We are keenly aware of the difficulty of
getting participants to fill out evaluations in
an e-based context because, in mentoring and
coaching programs, participation is usually
voluntary. We do not supply “content
courses” as such so completion is not tied to
graduation (for instance) and no marks are
given for completion. Exceptions to this
practice are in organizations that require
candidates for certain positions – such as
would-be managers, would-be corporate
leaders -- to act as mentors to others for a
period of time and work their way through all
tools, action plans, and evaluations. In other
cases, organizations may take the position:
“you are not eligible for promotion unless you
act as a mentor” or “your internship will be
improved via mentoring and coaching so
rather than leaving you to figure it out on your
own, you must work with a mentor for X
period of time.”
Our first online evaluation, Progress Reports,
was an adaptation of what we were already
doing on paper. It divided into three parts:
• two sets of questions sent to each
protégé during and at the end of the
program in which activities could be
described (often Action Plans), roles
the mentor played along the way and
protégé
satisfaction
with
help
provided. Given the sensitive nature of
the content, only the Coordinator
would see responses.
• one set of questions sent to all
participants to evaluate the program
itself,
offer
suggestions
for
improvement and share with other
members of the Mentoring Pool.
( 34 )
More specifically, we used drop down menus
and radio buttons to assess such activities as:
mentor-protégé meeting ratings (rated from
“excellent” to “very poor”), progress on
meeting a specific Need (rated from 0% to
100%/ need now met) and number of Action
Plans completed.
More recently, we altered and added to our
original internal Email tool. Called Surveys,
this new version is our way of encouraging
clients to evaluate their programs. Client
Coordinators unwilling to use the more
formal and structured Progress Reports
(however good and proven) and internal
email, might be more willing to evaluate
using
several
sorts
of
templated
questionnaires the Coordinator can alter and
distribute as needed to program participants -mentors only, protégés only, both or specific
sub-groups. Surveys can be used for mundane
purposes. For example, if the Coordinator
wishes to prompt all those who have not
completed a task, a “survey” and responses
can be emailed out and back in.
The heart of Surveys is a template containing
different formats for survey questions, such
as: multiple choice, True False, rating,
ranking, yes no items. This is our way of
providing quality control while simplifying
the job for Coordinators many of whom have
no training in survey creation. For example,
the Coordinator might choose to send out a
series of yes-no items to help improve the
quality of the overall initiative: was the
program too long? not long enough? was the
location for the face-to-face training
convenient? was the pre-launch date
appropriate? The survey template provides the
shell for the one, two, three or however many
questions are needed. Once done, the system
calculates results and produces a Report.
It is too soon to know the impact of this
upgrade but our aim is to encourage clients to
pull in more evaluation results for programs.
As the saying goes: “If you don’t know where
you’ve been, you won’t know where you’re
going.”
The Legacies
Since it is not our role or intention to run a
program, we are hired to teach others
(Coordinators) to run the program in our
place. This we see as more than a paid job; it
is a legacy we can leave. The message must
be loud and clear: “It is your program, not
ours.” While we are experts in the field, some
of this expertise must be passed along to
others.
In the past, it was common to train on a faceto-face basis. We would work only with
accredited teachers or those with significant
training experience who could quickly and
skillfully focus on the mentoring and
coaching concepts and not be distracted by
the additional burden of learning how to teach
or train others. The shift to e-mentoring has
forced us to learn how to prepare
Coordinators who often are neither teachers
nor trainers. Their tasks online are to (a)
monitor the Mentoring Pool using system
screens (b) interpret reports generated by the
system (c) match participants using the
system. Unfortunately, it is common for the
participant training to be bypassed and, in our
view, this reduces the quality of the
experience and outcomes.
We use web conferences to provide just-intime Coordinator training so that the details
associated with each phase of system use are
covered several days prior to that event and
that person is provided with what we call a
Practice Pool so they can try out online what
they have been taught by us and see the
results on screen. We chunk training into:
Program Launch / User Registration,
Matching and Post-Matching sessions. Once
the program is launched, important tasks
(that, if done, will ensure success and quality
of outcomes) cannot be delayed or simply left
undone. Launch is the busiest and most
( 35 )
challenging part of the program as the
Coordinator needs to look at our system’s
internal reports and tallies of (a) how many
users are unmatched (b) how many users are
registering, (c) how many users are
completely registered (d) how many “I have a
question / help me” messages the Coordinator
has been sent, etc. We work continuously to
refine this process.
People often ask: “Do you do the mentoring?”
No, our legacy is to mentor the organization’s
staff and guide the health of the mentoring
/coaching initiative. The actual applied
competencies are what the mentors and
coaches supply – whether it is how to conduct
good staff meetings in a particular university
department, how to supervise technical staff
in a manufacturing facility, how to balance
work and home life when one is an aspiring
leader, and so forth. For the sake of quality, it
is our role to jointly develop specific lists of
appropriate competencies to be placed online.
Each Pool has its own unique set of
competencies. As noted previously, we help
to ensure clients insert an optimal number of
items in the system or we hone long and
complex multi-part items into something
appropriate.
Experience shows protégés need to do more
than simply check off competencies from a
list as “ones I wish to develop”. A long list of
unweighted items is not helpful especially if
the list is a long one. Our system allows each
protégé to rate, on a 6-point scale any given
item as “highly needed” all the way down to
“not needed” or “not applicable”. The
mentors give counterpart answers: “this is an
expertise I have to a high degree” down to
“low degree” or “not applicable”.
While we do not supply course content in the
usual sense, our role is to provide the process
by which the desired knowledge and skills are
passed on. We develop the materials and
activities to teach people when, why and how
to use processes to best effect and feel
comfortable quickly in working together and
sharing. Our research indicated excellence
comes only when all parties are involved in
this – both mentors and protégés taught the
same thing together at the same time. We do
not train each group separately. One of our
mottoes is: “The protégés of today are the
mentors of tomorrow.” Unless the next
generation of mentors (the protégés) are coequals in the process, the process is far
weaker and open to question. We do not
believe they should be shut out of the training
process. Thus the learners see legacies in the
making and sense how valuable it is to share.
The mentors, especially those in professions,
already know how generously their
predecessors and others in the community of
practice (CoP) have given and now it is the
turn of the mentors to “give back”. So the
mentoring cycle continues as it has for
millennia.
Until the 1990s, there was little research as to
the statistics of leaving a legacy. In 1990,
Georgiann McKenna, traced significant
correlations on some 20 forms legacy-leaving
takes whether it be
• gains by the protégé through tangible
knowledge transfer and information
sharing
• personal emotional satisfaction for the
mentor in giving to others
• professional contributions as part of
the ethos in the mentor’s community
of practice (CoP)
• maintenance of organizations.
It was this legacy-making that originally
prompted our own work in the field. Indeed,
leaving a legacy is front and centre to many
North American programs as hordes of aging
baby boomers leave the workplace. It is they
who have “written the books” in science,
corporations, and government. However
mentoring and coaching, as we all recognize,
are not limited to one continent and deserve to
( 36 )
be carried out with excellence no matter
where.
( 37 )
Conclusion
Some Lessons Learned
1. Although technically it is possible to
do many new things online, we
continually
ask
the
important
questions: “Programmatically, is it a
good idea? What will be the impact on
the participants?” It the answers are
“no” and “negative impact”, we do not
proceed. For this reason, it is
absolutely essential to have someone
with
real
life,
in-the-trenches
mentoring and coaching program
experience associated with the online
system development.
2. It is vital always to keep in mind the
goal of delivering what is appropriate
and what will work. To find out, we
ask: “Who will benefit most from the
help? Who wants help the most? Who
will most readily adopt this online
approach?
3. Creating a quality online system is far
more costly and time consuming than
can be imagined. The temptation for
some is to settle for lesser e-mail only
relationships or to opt for simplistic
approaches. Yet there is much greater
quality and higher rewards to be
gained through a richer, more complex
system.
Our e-Future
One of the biggest driving forces for those of
us in North America is the need to transfer
knowledge from the large numbers of older
workers to the small number of those who are
and will be the labour force. Coupled with
this is our need to bolster this dwindling
workforce with immigrants who either must
be certified, retrained or trained. Looking
beyond our continental borders, we also
recognize the need and desire in other parts of
the globe for staff and students to be trained.
Mentoring and coaching, as we know, are
ideal enablers especially as part of blended
learning.
E-learning moves the learning experience
from the traditional classroom environment
into the learner’s world and provides learning
without geography or time zone barriers. The
internet provides access to learning materials,
web-based portals and interaction with
experts and other learners. It has been noted
by a variety of authors that critical success
factors virtual Communities of Practice (CoP)
will include: usability of technology; trust in,
and
acceptance
of
information
communications technologies (ICTs); a sense
of belonging among members; paying
attention to cross-national and cross-cultural
dimensions of the Community; shared
understandings; a common sense of purpose;
use of netiquette and user-friendly language
and longevity. While space and time
unfortunately does not permit discussion of
all these factors, each is of importance in the
work we do.
Nowadays, technological advantages are
short-lived, and a networked world means
sheltered markets are open to and from all
corners of the world. As more organizations
and people have more equal access to
knowledge, and the pace of change has
accelerated, the primary source of an
organization’s value has shifted from tangible
to intangible assets: improved processes,
access to information, and, most importantly,
people. Herein lies our future.
( 38 )
References
Ackoff, R.S. (1996) On learning and the
systems that facilitate it, Cambridge, Mass.:
Centre for Quality Management.
Rossett, A. & Sheldon, K. (2002) Beyond the
Podium:
Delivering
Training
and
Performance to a Digital World. New York:
Wiley Books.
Miles Gray, M. (ed.) Mentoring Scorecard
2001, MentorInk Newsletter 14 (6 -9) 2001
and 15 (1-2), 2002.
Showers, B. & Joyce, B. Improving inservice
training: The message of research.
Educational leadership 37 (5) 379- 385, 1980.
McKenna, G. What’s in it for the mentor?
Mentoring International 4 (1) 1990.
Miles Gray, M. (ed.) Benchmark 2000,
MentorInk Newsletter 15 (1- 4) 2001.
( 39 )
Adoption of Learning Technologies to Alleviate the Impact of Social
and Cultural Limitations in Higher Education
Abdullah Tubaisahat
Zayed University, Abu Dhabi, UAE
Eyas El-Qawasmeh
JUST University, Jordan
Ariff Bhatti
GIFT University, Pakistan
Abstract
Students in higher education require a very
flexible environment to communicate and
collaborate with their peers to accomplish
tasks needed to succeed. In western countries
where higher education is common,
individuals regardless of their gender can
meet, communicate and collaborate at
anytime and at any place of their choice.
University campuses provide facilities and
resources that students can use any time. In
some countries and societies, it is not possible
due to the cultural and social reasons.
Adoption of Internet-based communication
and learning technologies could overcome the
limitations caused by the social and cultural
values of a society. Zayed University is a
female-only university in a modern Arab
country that holds dear its high appreciation
to cultural and social values. This research
explores the impact and effectiveness of the
outcome-based technology-mediated learning
environment for the Information Technology
students. This environment compliments the
class-room activities.
The paper concludes with some discussion on
findings from a case-study of a database
course. Results shows studying in this
environment helped students: (a) be more
confident in expressing their ideas, (b)
develop their communication skills, (c) be
independent learners, and (d) be more
confident to do their best work.
Keywords. Learning management systems, elearning, asynchronous learning.
Introduction
Zayed University (ZU) was established for
national female population of United Arab
Emirates. The university has five colleges and
most of the faculty members are western
educated to provide students learning
opportunities in American style of teaching
ensuring a very high quality of education. ZU
operations and policies reflect the impact of
social and cultural values on higher education.
Advances in networking technologies and the
Internet have a significant impact on teaching
and learning in higher education (Smith, et
al., 2004; Hodges, 2004; Muhlhauser, 2002).
ZU campuses are fully networked that allow
students to connect to the university network
and Internet from anywhere on campus. Each
student is required to purchase a very recent
laptop that she is supposed to carry with her
while she is on campus. Each faculty member
receives a laptop with a three-year
replacement schedule. Normal working hours
are 8 to 5 and students are allowed to be on
campus during this period. For cultural and
social reasons, students are not allowed to be
( 40 )
on-campus after normal working hours and on
weekends.
Social and cultural values of a society could
impose different rules based on the gender.
Females in a society are usually subject to
different set of rules as compared to their
male counterparts in the same society. These
rules could severely limit the learning
opportunities for females. In this paper, we
will present a case study using hybrid
teaching approach to answer how technology
could overcome these limitations without
violating and changing any established
society rules.
In
a
technology-mediated
learning
environment, students and teachers use a wide
range of Internet based tools to communicate,
collaborate and share resources; these tools
provide
anytime
anywhere
learning
opportunities.
In this case study, we have used the following
tools in our learning environment:
Blackboard,
a
web-based
Learning
Management Systems (LMS) that has
discussion
forum
functionality
and
assessment tools, email and conferencing
communication tools. We also used serverbased computational tools such as databases,
web-servers and compilers needed for CIT
courses.
This paper discusses how educational
technology could be used to enhance
traditional instructor-led teaching to alleviate
the impact of social and cultural values on
higher education to make the learning
environment a place to pass information and
knowledge from teacher to students, from
students to teacher, and from students to
students; and a place for creative thinking,
and learning.
The rest of the paper is organized as follows:
Section 2 discusses motivation and related
work. Section 3 explains teaching and
learning environment at ZU. Section 4
presents methodology and results of a case
study based on a database course to show that
technology-mediated
environment
can
overcome limitations and constraints imposed
by the social and cultural values. Conclusions
and future work is presented in Section 5.
Related Work
Distance education is used to accommodate
those students who could not attend regular
school to learn in a traditional learning
environment. Invention and adoption of
Internet has a significant impact on distance
education and traditional classroom based
teaching.
Web-based learning (WBL) has become a
major trend in teaching and learning. There
are two major classes of these systems:
synchronous and asynchronous (Kinshuk and
Young, 2003; Neubauer and Lobel 2003).
Synchronous WBL systems are used to create
virtual classroom environment where all
students in a class are accessing same
information.
Computer
supported
collaborative work (CSCW) systems are
synchronous in nature and designed to replace
physical classrooms with the virtual ones
(Marsic 2002; Litiu and Prakash, 2000). Most
commonly available WBL systems are
asynchronous in nature. In these systems, a
web server hosts course contents and other
teaching material. Learners have access to this
material at anytime from anywhere using
suitable web-clients (Linge, 2003; Blackboard
Academic Suite Instructor Manual, 2007).
Based on the mode of content delivery a
learning environment could be classified in
one the following three categories: (1)
distance education completely online using
web-based technologies, (2) traditional
learning completely on-campus without web-
( 41 )
based technologies and (3) hybrid approach
where on-campus teaching is complimented
with web-based teaching. Table 1 compares
traditional approach of course delivering with
hybrid approach. Our case study is based on
hybrid approach.
Table 1: Comparison of traditional instructor led teaching with hybrid approach
Traditional Instructor-led Teaching
LMS + Instructor-led Teaching
Students have limited sources to learn from,
including teachers and some basic tools
The learning process is controlled by the teacher
Students have multiple sources to learn from such
as teacher, LMS, and online collaboration tools
The learning process is controlled by the learner
and the teacher
Communication is done at anytime from anywhere
Communication can be enhanced by group
activities, seminar-style group discussions, etc.
Minimum or no interaction with online learning and
communication technologies
Tracing other participants in a class is difficult
specially with large number of students
Grading is mainly done offline
Learning by teaching
Limited availability of resources
In learning environments based on WBL
systems, learners’ self-motivation is a key
ingredient to learn. Research has shown that
self-efficiency is at the heart of selfmotivation. Appropriate feedback to learners
and good navigation experience are possible
reasons to motivate learners (Hodges, 2004).
First generation asynchronous LMS provide
facilities for user management and ability to
publish contents. Collaboration support in
these systems is limited to email and
discussion forums functionality. Compared to
the traditional classroom environments, elearning systems have the following
limitations: no opportunity for contextual
discussions, lack of teacher’s explanations
and visual expressions, lack of contextual
understanding (Kinshuk and Young, 2003).
Designing a good course requires the support
of different perspectives on material as well
as interaction features for self-directed
learning and context sensitive interaction, in
order to implement proper solution (Stary,
2002).
Almost all work is done using online learning and
communication technologies
Students and teacher can track other participants
easily
Save grading time with online facilities
Learning by doing
Resources are available at anytime from anywhere
WBL systems have some advantages over
traditional educational systems but there are
significant limitations. These limitations
could be alleviated using a hybrid
environment to make web-based learning
systems more attractive. Distance learning
students have the following frustrations: no
explanation and expression from teachers, no
contextual discussion, and no regular channel
to get help. A hybrid environment also
removes these frustrations (Smith and
Winking-Diaz,
2004;
Hodges,
2004;
Altenhofen and Schaper, 2002).
In e-learning systems, the following factors
contribute to effective online learning: using
relevant and challenging assignments, having
coordinated learning environment, adequate
and timely feedback from instructors,
developing rich environment for student to
student interaction, flexibility in teaching and
learning. In a good e-learning system,
students must be able to read, critically
reflect, discuss, argue, generate and present
( 42 )
new interpretations, share and exchange
information ideas.
Traditional as well as completely online
learning environments have their own
limitations. A hybrid approach that combines
traditional teaching with online learning could
provide best of both worlds. Many
universities
around
the
world
are
experimenting online course-building shells,
such as Blackboard and WebCT to help create
learning communities. Burge (Burge, 1995)
argues that in a technology-mediated learning
environment, instructors are asked to
articulate more clearly their goals and
methods to the development team members;
students are asked to take more responsibility
for their learning.
Principe et al. (Principe et al., 2004) identifies
two basic levels in the utilization of
computers in education: computer-based
presentation, and computer-based instruction.
They differ in the level of changes required in
the teaching methodology. Use of multimedia
presentations and web searching tools belong
to the first category since they just make
conventional classroom delivery more
efficient and appealing; and they leave the
teaching methodology largely unchanged. On
the other hand, computer-based instructions
imply a change in the traditional way of
thinking about the discipline. It exploits the
computer as added dimension to bridge the
gap between the professor’s knowledge and
the student’s ways of understanding attitude.
Our case study belongs to the later category.
We have experienced the following features
of developing a course in LMS:
Learning Environment at Zayed
University
As a young institution, ZU has had the
opportunity to build upon the best traditions
in higher education. University is established
to provide higher education to local female
students. Social and cultural values in this
part of the world do not allow free mixing and
interaction of members of opposite genders. A
strong influence of these values on students,
student teacher interaction and in university
policies is visible in day-to-day activities.
Table 2: LMS features
LMS Features for Instructors
More flexible use of technology time
Collaboration and communication with students
Online assessment tools and grade book
Student tracking
Authentic context for learning
LMS Features for Students
Online materials and immediate links to
instructional resources
Collaboration and exchange of ideas with others
for more productive work
University policy requires students to be oncampus during the normal operating hours
and students are not allowed to be on-campus
after these hours. An electronic check-in and
check-out system is used to ensure that
students remain on-campus once they are
there. Students are not allowed to leave
campus without their families’ permission.
( 43 )
An attendance is required during each
teaching session to ensure that students
participate in class activities. During offcampus educational activities, students must
be accompanied by chaperones.
ZU has a strong focus on the students’
learning outcomes to improve both
curriculum and learning practices.
The
Academic Program Model (APM) (The
Academic Program Model, 2007) developed
by faculty and staff, emphasizes on a
commitment to learner-based education and to
a shift in the paradigm from teaching to
learning.
This model focuses on what
students can actually do after they graduate.
More detail about this model can be found in
Internal Report on Self-Assessment of ZU
Based on Accreditation Standards of the
Middle States Commission on Higher
Education, 2007; and The Academic Program
Model, 2007.
Technology in Education
ZU has an excellent technology infrastructure,
and seeks to optimize the use of technology in
teaching and learning. Top administration is
committed to implement technology-mediated
programs to achieve the outcomes outlined in
the Academic Program Model.
Students have a wealth of technology
available to assist them in the learning
process. Actually, ZU is known as the laptop
university in this region. For CIT students
having their own laptop loaded with software
used in the courses help them to complete
their work independently without coming to
campus during after hours. IS college has an
independent network infrastructure for
teaching and research, in addition to the
university network. This infrastructure allows
students to log into Linux servers to use tools
needed for programming languages, databases
and web development related courses.
Students can also use Linux-based
communication tools to collaborate with each
other and with instructors.
Students can access their university email
accounts, and Blackboard, from anywhere at
anytime using a web client. Students have to
be on campus to access all other computing
and non-computing resources.
Each student is required to build an electronic
portfolio with details of her academic
accomplishments to fulfill the graduation
requirements laid out in the Academic
Program Model.
Blackboard is used to post course related
material. Discussion forum is used for
communication among students and teacher.
All course syllabi are posted online, and an
effort is underway to develop course content
in a multimedia format.
Outcome Based Model
The purpose of the outcome based model is to
provide students a focused and coherent
academic program. The program is based on
hybrid approach. It is outcome driven and
uses the traditional Grade Point Average
(GPA) system. The framework that
constitutes the academic model is composed
of three components (The Academic Program
Model, 2007):
• Readiness program to ensure that
students are competent in English
language
• General Education
• Degree Majors
ZU has the following graduation requirements
for all students regardless of their major (The
Academic Program Model, 2007):
• Information
Literacy
and
Communication: ZU graduates will be
able to recognize information needs,
access and evaluate appropriate
information to answer those needs,
( 44 )
•
•
•
•
•
and communicate effectively to a
variety of audiences in both English
and Arabic
Information
Technology:
ZU
graduates will be cortically aware of
the implications of information
technology on the individual and on
society, and be able to use IT to
communicate and solve problems in
an ethical way
Critical Thinking and Quantitative
Reasoning: ZU graduates will be able
to use information, reasoning, and
creative processes to achieve goals
and make responsible decisions
Global Awareness: ZU graduates will
be able to relate to communities
beyond the local, perceive and react to
differences from an informal and
reasoned point of view, and be
critically aware of the implications
and benefits of cultural interaction
Teamwork and leadership: ZU
graduates will be able to work
efficiently and effectively in a group.
ZU graduates will be able to assume
leadership roles and responsibilities in
a variety of life situations and accept
accountability for the results
Bilingual: ZU graduates will be able
to communicate effectively (orally and
in writing) in both English and Arabic
The CIT College has established five learning
outcomes that complement the learning
outcomes of the ZU APM. These major
learning outcomes form the basis for analysis
and assessment that play an essential role in
the continuous process of improvement. The
major learning outcomes of the CIT college
are as follows:
• Problem Identification and Analysis:
CIT graduates will be able to organize,
define, and classify problems
•
•
•
•
Problem Solving: CIT graduates will
derive solutions and evaluate their
success
Information Technology and their
Application and Managements: CIT
graduates
will
understand
the
capabilities, use, and application of
information technologies
Systems Principles and Practices: CIT
graduates
will
demonstrate
understanding of system types,
structure, standards, and metrics
Technical
Communication:
CIT
graduates will organize, develop,
present, and evaluate technical
material
Blackboard at ZU
Blackboard is viewed as a comprehensive and
flexible e-learning software platform. It is
used to enhance traditional instructor-led
teaching. Blackboard allow students to create
‘workspaces’ to enable them to share files,
messages, and URLs. Discussion forum is a
collaboration tool in Blackboard that allows
students and teachers to create new threads
for discussion and these threads could be
archived.
Blackboard allows instructors to create online
course materials, communicate with their
students, do online assessment, and generate
course statistics. By using blackboard tools,
teachers and students are involved in the
learning activities in co-operative and
collaborative environment.
Blackboard building blocks allow our
institution to integrate external applications,
tools content, and services into it (Blackboard
Academic
Suite
Instructor
Manual.
Blackboard
Inc.,
2007).
Blackboard
Academic Suite Release 6.1 is currently
deployed at ZU. The Computing Services
( 45 )
department provides a comprehensive training
and support for faculty who use Blackboard.
Course documents: Database systems learning
materials including PL/ SQL Oracle materials
are posted in this section.
Case Study
External links: Web links to external course
material including links to the online ZU
digital library.
To understand the impact of technology on
students’ learning, we conducted a survey.
The students were asked to give their opinion
on using technology-mediated learning
environment and how it may overcome the
social and cultural limitations.
Course Setup
The students were enrolled in an
undergraduate database systems course in Fall
semester of 2004/2005. All students were
female. The duration of the course was 20
weeks. The course was developed using
Blackboard. It is important when designing a
technology-mediated course to look at as
many issues as possible. Some of these issues
include:
student
engagement,
student
achievement, and learning technologies.
Our intention in developing this course was to
help students improve their technological
capabilities, communication skills, critical
thinking, and problem solving skills. We
included the following items in the
Blackboard for this course:
Announcements: Class announcements were
posted on daily basis for in-class activities,
out-of-class activities, and reminders for the
home works and project work due dates.
Assignments: Students can download files
related to their home works. Students may
also attach files to an assignment to submit to
their instructor.
Staff and Course information: Contains
contact information, course syllabus, course
objectives, and learning outcomes.
Communications: Blackboard discussion
board is used for collaborative learning
strategies including group projects, case-study
discussions, and sharing of solutions to
homework
assignments.
Students
are
encouraged and motivated to be engaged in
active learning using discussion board by
giving them credits for each post or response.
Students communicate with each other and
with the instructor though discussion board.
Assessment Tools: Several Blackboard tools
are available to instructor including
assessment tool that contains features for
quizzes and surveys. Students can view
grades online for immediate feedback.
Methodology
The course surveyed in this case study was
offered as a mix of traditional instructor-led
with extensive use of educational and
communication technologies. Tools used in
this class fall into the following four
categories:
• Content management tools that allow
instructor to present contents online.
These are announcements, course
information, and course documents.
• Communication and collaboration
tools that allow instructor/student, and
student/student communication via
discussion board, and email.
• Assessment tools that allow instructor
to do different kinds of online
assessments (exams, quizzes, and
assignments), and allow students to
view their grades using the online
grade book.
( 46 )
•
Unix and Oracle tools that enable
students to do their homeworks online
remotely from home.
Survey Results
The survey consisted of the following six
categories, including 26 questions and three
commentary questions:
• Technology in CIS courses
• Communication
• Online assessment
• Course related questions
• Social aspects
• Comments
The survey is class-specific, but there are
many questions that are relevant to other CIT
courses that use technology-mediated learning
environment.
Technology in CIT courses
According to the surveyed students, the best
benefit of using Blackboard is to access
online materials remotely. They felt they
became more independent. 64.2% of the
students indicated that taking online courses
is more convenient than traditional instructorled courses. Most of the students (85.6%) had
no problem accessing online material from
home. None of the students indicated that
they had problem accessing Oracle from
home. 64.2% felt that using online courses
allowed them to become more independent.
regularly check the discussion board until
they are asked to do so (78.5%).
Importance and potential of discussion forum
tool was recognized by most of the students
but did not use this tool effectively. The
reason for this behavior is that students have
opportunities to meet and discuss with each
other while they are on campus, so they do
not have motivation and need to actively
participate in class discussion.
Use of technology played an important role in
improving students’ communications skills
and confidence level. Female students are
usually shy and hesitant in asking questions
directly but they used email to communicate
with teachers while they are on-campus or
off-campus.
Online Assessment
The instructor used multiple online
assessments, such as exams, quizzes, and
assignments. On the other hand, students have
used online grade book to check their
performances in the course. All students
indicated that they regularly check their
online grade book. 71.4% indicated they had
no problem getting online assessments to and
from instructor. Students’ opinion on having
online exams, quizzes, class activities was
equally divided. 49.5% would like an online
approach while 51.5% would prefer a
traditional offline approach.
Course related questions
Communications
74.2% felt more comfortable in posting their
opinion on discussion board than to speak up
in class. The discussion board is always
available and accessible by students. All
students indicated they never had problems
accessing the discussion board. However,
most of the students were satisfied by the
feedback they got from the instructor
(85.6%), most of them said they do not
For CIT students, server-side technologies are
very important to learn databases, networks
and enterprise web applications development
and deployment. Remote access via a secure
Linux server allowed students to learn these
technologies and collaborate with each other.
All students felt that making Oracle
accessible to students from home was a strong
asset to the database course. It helped them do
( 47 )
more practice and understand course material
presented in class. Also using the online
learning environment (Blackboard, remote
access of Oracle, and computer-based lab)
made them not dependent on their teacher for
help (76.1%). Most of the students were
satisfied with the online classroom
environment of the database course (85.6%).
Social Aspects
Having an online learning class, most students
(71.2%) felt they became more confident in
expressing their ideas, and they were
motivated to do their best work (78.5%).
It was very interesting to learn that all
students felt that usage of online learning
environment removed the cultural and social
limitations imposed by restrictive learning
environment at ZU (opportunities to discuss
with friends and to access resources after
campus hours). Typical of these responses
and comments are the following:
“Some students can’t get together because
they are living far away from each other or
their families wouldn’t allow them to go out
by themselves. Using technology allow us to
access materials from anywhere anytime”
“When students use technology they will not
be limited by place (only campus) and time
(during 5 days a week) to learn or study for
this course. For example, on last Oracle exam
even though one of the questions was difficult
to answer but I used Unix to talk with other
student on class. Also I looked for the power
points on Blackboard, and searched on the
internet for similar exercise”
“Sometimes we do not have the time to sit
with friends after campus hours. Most of my
friends live far away from our house. Using
online communication overcomes this
problem because most of the students can
access the internet anytime”
“Some students‘ families do not allow their
daughters to go out evening even to go to a
general library. Online teaching environment
helps us overcome these limitations and to do
the work at home”
( 48 )
Conclusions
Social and cultural values have different
impact on female students’ ability to
participate in a learning process. Generally, in
UAE, female students are more protected and
their ability to go out and meet their peers
depends on their families’ permission. An
effective use of technology could overcome
these limitations to provide a learning
environment similar to the one where there
are very little or no limitations caused by the
social and cultural values. Some of the
important findings from the survey are: (a)
Use of technology improved students’
communication skills (78.6%). They became
more confident in expressing their ideas
(78.5%), (b) Using online learning
environment allow students to be more
independent (76.1%), (c) Almost all students
indicated in their comments that using online
learning environment helped them overcome
some of the cultural and social limitations
imposed by existing university rules, and (d)
All students felt that making Oracle
accessible to students from home was a strong
asset in their learning. This helped them work
independently.
To understand the impact of technology on
student learning in a different cultural and
social environment, we have initiated a
process of conducting the same survey in
another university that has co-education
learning environment.
( 49 )
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Incorporate in e-learning Experience. The
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Internal Report on Self-Assessment of Zayed
University Based on Accreditation Standards
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Ridiculous: Putting a Course Online with
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( 50 )
Evaluation of Online Education Quality via Frequent Pattern
Mining
Taysir Hassan A. Soliman
Assiut University, Egypt
Abstract
Quality of online education involves assessing
quality of course structure, e-tutor, student
support, and student assessment. In the
current work, a frequent pattern mining
approach is applied in order to evaluate the
quality of course structure, student and staff
assessment. Furthermore, a case study of 5
majors to assess course quality structure,
borrowed from MIT open courseware, is
applied. In addition, to study student and
staff performance, activities and student
participation of 50 registered students have
been assessed.
Keywords: Frequent pattern mining, data
mining, online education, quality assurance,
learning management systems.
Introduction
Data mining has been applied in a wide
variety
of
applications,
such
as
bioinformatics, health informatics, and
financial applications. This is due to its
different techniques, such as association rule
mining, clustering, and classification.
Association rule mining has gained its
popularity since its introduction in [1], where
frequent patterns are discovered. Discovering
frequent patterns is one of the fundamental
processes in data mining, where many
algorithms have been developed during the
last decade [2-7]. Data mining has recently
been applied in education. However, most of
the presented research has applied data
mining in measuring student performance not
in evaluating quality of submitted course
structure. For example, Superby et al [8]
utilize data mining in order to predict the
factors influencing the achievements of the
first year students. Pardos et al [9] employ
Bayes net in order to model user knowledge
and predict user responses. Tanimoto [10]
discusses how the prospects for successful
mining can be improved by imposing
constraints or biases on the activities and
instruments that generate the data. Hübscher
et al [11] extend the mining process with
domain specific representations and the
pattern detection expertise of qualified
process.
Online education has recently gained a lot of
popularity worldwide, where a new shift in
education has occurred all over the world with
the advent of communication tools. Online
education provides online instruction that can
be delivered anytime and anywhere through a
wide range of electronic learning solutions
such as web-based courseware, online
discussion groups, live virtual classes, video
and audio streaming, web chat, online
simulations, and virtual mentoring. It gave a
tremendous opportunity to software and
hardware vendors to produce new devices to
cope
with
new
teaching
methods.
Furthermore, academic staff, students, tutors,
developers, and university administration
have to get training to cope with this new
emerging technology. For academic staff,
they are required to get training in providing
course design and course contents, having a
roadmap to illustrate the course structure. For
e-tutors, they must learn how to deploy
learning managements, facilitating course
materials for students, interact with estudents, and assess students as required.
( 51 )
Developers play a major role in online
education, especially when demonstrating
educational materials for the students in a
wide variety of ways, with the agreement of
the academic staff, to motivate the student to
get online education. So, the student can get
preferences on the way he understands the
material. In addition, e-students are required
to learn Learning Management Systems
(LMS), such as ATutor [12], Moodle [13], or
Claroline [14] in order to get education online
or at least learn how to use internet-based
education.
Quality standards have been used in many
domains, in software production, food
products, and in education. Furthermore, in
online education, quality standards, both
generic and customized, have gained a lot of
attention for both practitioners and
researchers. First, generic quality standards,
such as EFQM [15] or ISO 900x:2000 [16]
have been used in online education. The
EFQM Excellence Model was introduced at
the beginning of 1992 as the framework for
assessing organisations for the European
Quality Award. It is now the most widely
used organisational framework in Europe and
it has become the basis for the majority of
national and regional Quality Awards. EFQM
is used for several objectives: as a tool for
self-assessment, a way to benchmark with
other organisations, a guide to identify areas
for improvement, a common vocabulary and
thinking, and a structure for the organisation's
management system.
Second, specific quality guidelines for
distance education or E-Learning, such as the
ASTD [17] criteria for E-Learning, BLA [18]
Quality Mark, and SRI [19], have been
developed and used. In fact, ISO/IEC 19796-1
[20] is the basic framework for quality
development in organizations in the field of
learning, education, and training (LET).
Pawlowski [21] suggested an adaptation of
the ISO/IEC 19796-1, as shown in Fig. 1,
basic framework in order to adapt to various
situations in E-learning, providing that four
main steps are very critical to implement a
quality
system
in
any
educational
organization:
context
setting,
model
adaptation, model implementation/adoption,
and quality development. Ehlers et al [22], as
members of the European Quality Observer
(EQO) project team, made a survey on people
using e-learning in Europe and to reach elearning experts as well as teachers in Europe.
In [23], seven benchmarks are categorized for
evaluating e-learning: institutional support,
course
development,
faculty
support,
evaluation and assessment, teaching/learning
process, course structure, and student support.
In the current work, a frequent pattern miner,
as a data mining technique, is applied in order
to evaluate the quality of an online education
system. This miner is relied on the adapted
ISO/IEC 19796-1 model, suggested in [21], as
well as taking the benchmarks, suggested in
[23], into consideration. The rest of the paper
is organized as follows: section 2 illustrates
frequent pattern mining, section 3 discusses
the proposed mining framework, section 4
illustrates a case study for the data mining
part, and section 5 clarifies conclusion and
future work.
Frequent Pattern Mining
Frequent pattern mining is a subset of
association rule mining technique used in data
mining in various domains. After the Apriori
algorithm has been introduced [1], many
modifications of this algorithm were proposed
to solve problems of Apriori, and years later,
Han [24] introduced FP-growth, which was a
major challenge in the Frequent pattern
mining process with no candidate generation
produced.
Problem Definition
( 52 )
Let I = {I1, I2, …, In} be a set of items,
where n is the number of items. Let T = {T1,
T2, …, Tm} be as set of transactions. A
transaction database D is a collection of T,
where each Ti ∈ T contains a set of items I’
and I’ ⊆ I. Both horizontal and vertical
transaction formats exist, depending on the
dataset used. The most common format is the
horizontal one, where the set of transactions
one has is of the form {TID: itemset} Note
that TID is a transaction-id and itemset is the
set of items bought in transaction TID. In the
vertical format, data is represented as follows:
{item: TID_set}, where item is an item name,
and TID_set is the set of transaction
identifiers containing the item. Eclat [25] is
one of the most important developed
algorithms using the vertical format.
Fig. 1: Phases of the Quality Adaptation Model [21]
Proposed Mining Approach
A frequent pattern mining approach is
proposed in order to evaluate the quality for
online education. This approach consists
mainly of two phases, as illustrated in Fig. 2,
where frequent pattern mining is used in both
phases but the goal of mining varies. The
first phase, called Course Quality Evaluator
(CQE), consists of evaluating quality of
course structure and course content. In CQE,
frequent pattern mining is used in order to
evaluate quality of course structure. The
second phase, called Staff and Student
Assessment (SSA) consists of staff launching
the course and student registering and getting
enrolled in the course, and evaluating the
staff. In this phase, frequent pattern mining is
used in order to assess student activities,
whether evaluating course logs, student
interactions, such as interactions with forums,
getting involved with chats, etc.
( 53 )
Phase I: CQE
Submit
Course
Student
Support
Quality
Evaluator
Data
Miner
Phase II: SSA
Launch
Course
Peer
Reviewer
Course
Accepted
Course
Structure
Participate
In Course
Course
Content
Data
Miner
Student
Assessment
Staff
Evaluation
Fig. 2: Frequent Pattern Mining Approach for Evaluation of Online Education
Course Quality Evaluator (CQE) Phase
CQE phase is very important for the
university administration since now everyone
submits his course online. However, how can
an institution approves whether this course is
accepted as an online course and launch it.
For example, suppose the institution wants to
announce an online course for introduction to
computer science, it should announce to
academic staff for submitting such course. So,
there will be a variety of courses submitted
and the institution accepts the one which
meets
its
requirements:
institution
requirements and curriculum requirements. In
the current approach, the institution evaluates
whether this course can be an online course or
not via frequent pattern mining. For example,
given 10 introduction to computer to science
course, Eclat algorithm is used to evaluate the
quality of course structure, as one of the
components described above.
Then, the
institution decides which course can fit for its
environment and launch the course with the
academic staff.
Staff and Student Assessment (SSA) Phase
SSA phase is responsible for two main
subphases: 1) Student Assessment and 2)
Academic staff/tutor evaluation. In the first
subphase, a student is assessed from his
variety of activities, such as forums,
discussion groups, and chatting for the
system. In the second subphase, evaluation of
academic staff/tutor is performed through
student
evaluation
and
university/administration evaluation as well.
Students complete a questionnaire for the
staff
evaluation.
From
the
university/administration
side,
staff
evaluation is not only judged by student
evaluation but also through assessing the
performance of staff/tutor log ins to the
student, number of emails he gets from the
( 54 )
student, and announcing online course events
for the student on the proper time.
Case Study
A case study has been performed in order to
prove that frequent pattern mining can be
used to evaluate course structure components.
Five main majors are used, which are
computer science and engineering, biology,
physics, civil and environmental engineering,
and computer science. In each major, a
variation of submitted courses is tested.
Table 1 illustrates a sample of courses tested
within each major, where some course
materials are taken from the MIT open
courseware [26].
Each course has been
submitted on Moodle by a developer to test its
course structure. Our choice of Moodle open
source, as a LMS, is due to its easiness of use
and employment of the following features:
forums, content managing, quizzes with
different kinds of questions, Blogs, database
activities, surveys, chat, glossaries, peer
assessment, and multi-lingual support.
Furthermore, more plugins can be added
within Moodle, such as activities, resource
types, graphical themes, authentication
methods, enrollment methods, and content
filters.
Table 1: Samples of Courses within each Major
Major
1. Computer Science and Engineering
Courses
Structure and interpretation of computer programs
Autonomous robot design computation
Automata, computability, and complexity
Artificial intelligence
Structure and functions of the nucleus
Introductory biology
Principle of human disease
DNA replication
Vibrates and waves
Modern astrophysics
Electricity and magnetism
Classical mechanics
Mechanics of material systems
Introduction to civil engineering design
Uncertainty in Engineering
Civil engineering materials laboratory
Network and computer security
Mathematics for computer science
Computer language engineering
Electrical engineering and computer science
2. Biology
3. Physics
4. Civil and Environmental Engineering
5. Computer Science
The case study is performed to evaluate both
proposed phases for QOE, the CQE and SSA
phases. First, CQE phase is tested for the
existence of the following five categories:
learning preferences, related links, interaction
activities, downloading preferences, and
roadmap for the course. Existing learning
preferences, such as text file, package,
HTML, PowerPoint presentation, or PDF file,
are tested since in online learning one should
have a variety of options for learning
preferences. The second category to be
evaluated in course structure is “Related
links”, where included update related courses
should exist in an online learning course. The
variation of interaction activities gives a
better chance to the student to have a better
performance in online learning, such as
( 55 )
having discussion groups, forums, handing in
assignment, as interaction activities should
exist.
For example, when evaluating
introductory biology course structure, some of
the submitted courses do not include
discussion groups, but they include forums,
and include survey. Another course that has
been tested is DNA replication for including
interaction activity in a course, where
classical mechanism includes discussion
group and forum but does not include survey.
The fourth evaluation issue was obtaining
downloading preferences: video and audio
preferences, where introductory biology
includes video and audio material, but
computer language Engineering does not
include video or audio material.
All above categories have been evaluated
using frequent pattern miner, on each level by
itself and on the interaction activity by itself.
For example, for an institution to accept an
online course, it evaluates the variety of
interactions within each course submitted.
The course that has the largest number of
activities is the accepted one by the
university. Frequent pattern mining is used
to evaluate if a number of submitted courses
has a particular activity that is frequent. For
example, for each course the following
activities are tested: assignment, exercise,
glossary, quiz, forums, survey, and workshop.
For example, 10 submitted introduction to
biology courses were submitted for
evaluation. First of all, course structure is
evaluated via Eclat miner algorithm, as
clarified in Fig. 3. Second, Eclat miner is also
applied to check for the number of
interactivity variations in each submitted
courses. As shown in Fig. 4, 3 courses have
just one interaction activity, which is chatting
and these courses are discarded since
interactivity is very low. Only Introduction to
computer science number 9 has 8 variations
of interactivities.
10
Learning Preferences
8
Related Links
6
Interaction Activities
4
Downloading Preferences
2
Course Roadmap
0
In
tro
10
In
tro
9
In
tro
8
In
tro
7
In
tro
6
In
tro
5
In
tro
4
In
tro
3
In
tro
2
In
tro
1
Numbers of Existing
Criteria
Course Strucute Evaluation
Submitted Courses
Fig. 3: Course Structure Evaluation
( 56 )
2.5
Chatting
2
Assignments
1.5
Exercises
1
Glossaries
0.5
Quizzes
0
In
tro
1
In
tro
2
In
tro
3
In
tro
4
In
tro
5
In
tro
6
In
tro
7
In
tro
8
Forums
In
tro
9
In
tro
10
Number of Activity
Variations
Evaluation of Number of Activity Variations in Each Course
Surveys
Workshops
Submitted Introduction to Computer Science Courses
Fig. 4: Evaluation of Number of Activity Variations in Each Course
Second, the performance of SSA phase is
assessed of both the student and the staff.
Student evaluation is achieved from his
involvement in provided course activities,
such as student logs into the course in general
and into specific activities, such as, discussion
groups, survey, lectures, and forums. First,
the number of logs in the course: in the course
“uncertainty in Engineering” is evaluated,
where the number of logs is 6 out of 50
registered students. For course “Introductory
Biology”, 20 students have logged in. For
computer science courses, students’ activities
have been evaluated, such as assignment,
quiz, and survey, resulting that some of the
students did not.
( 57 )
Conclusions
A frequent pattern miner is introduced in
order to evaluate the quality of online
education, focusing on course structure,
student assessment, and staff evaluation. Five
majors are tested, using MIT open courseware
submitted to Moodle and 50 student logs to
test their performance. Quality standards are
employed from the adopted ISO/IEC 19796-1
model. In future work, completing the
evaluation of online education quality will be
the main target, where each curriculum will
be tested by itself whether it is complete or
not as well as course specifications, course
reports,
and
program
specifications.
Furthermore, course contents will be tested as
well.
( 58 )
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accredited programs aimed at Education
within Business, Academia, Government and
the broader community. Courses, Programs
and levels of application from Trade to
Professional qualifications are critically
examined against expectations of attendees,
employers and reviewing / accrediting bodies.
Recent comments from programme users and
developers are included. The question of how
far we can “e-simulate” business and the
community is also reviewed. There are
significant gains in involving candidates in
developing the (Quality/Environment/Food
Safety/OH and S) of the current business
systems in which they work.
Some of the conclusions consider “pull and
push” scenarios as well as cost, effectiveness
of outcomes, Key performance Indicators and
return on investment compared to traditional
education and training methodologies.
Current and ongoing competence assessment
methodologies together with “Time factors”
are also measured against KPI’s and ROI
indicators to benchmark learning outcomes.
Recognition of prior learning and a blend of
evaluation processes are seen as key steps in
the acceptance of e-learning at any level. A
number of Case Studies were used to identify
some key issues in “on line” learning.
Introduction
In a large number of countries many
educational institutions have adopted a
Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) or CMS
(Course Management System) for use either
as an adjunct to their traditional courses (often
called a "blended" or "hybrid" course system),
or as a tool for their distance education
programmes.
The main providers of platforms were
WebCT and Blackboard until their merger in
2005. An open-source system "Moodle" has
been available for some seven years which is
not only free but also highly adaptable. There
are of course significant costs in time of staff
to develop an open source system and tailor it
to suit the specific institution needs. A
number of other NZ and international
providers offer Learning Platforms with
varying degrees of capability when it comes
time to roll out courses onto the platforms and
operate them. There are two extreme
viewpoints in terms of the Learning
Management System [LMS], those of the
Course developer and related moderation and
those of the user. The web based system “eQuip” developed by DLS in New Zealand at
Massey University demonstrates the key
features necessary to make “e-learning” a
sensible and cost effective alternate to
classroom systems.
( 61 )
This paper however is not intended to explore
the fine details of positive or negative features
in any of the available programmes/platforms
but rather to act as a practical summary of the
ways in which industry, educational
establishments,
government
and
the
accreditation processes must ensure that the
learning environment is enriched, using all the
benefits of “e-learning” coupled with the best
in classroom methodology.
Numerous papers have been presented in
recent years, and a number are mentioned in
the attached bibliography, covering the
comparisons between issues such as the
“architecture”, programming needs and other
academic areas, but little appears to have been
written about the practical needs of the learner
and even less on what industry sponsors
should be expecting in the progress of their
learners, or on the support industry should
provide. We have also taken some cognisance
of the needs of the Accrediting/Certification
bodies worldwide as they too struggle with
aspects of Current Competence and the ability
to keep accreditation costs of the training
providers at a level which does not
significantly increase compliance costs to
industry
or
the
candidates.
The
Accreditation/Certification bodies must also
be aware of their role in ensuring that the
LMS and course contents are able to be
reviewed at all stages by interested parties
while at the same time protecting the privacy
of the learner.
What is important in Digital
Learning?
The following definitions or statements are of
value; these are a very small sample of what
is available.
- - -“Best practices for learning in the new
economy, implying but not requiring benefits
of networking and computers such as
anywhere/anytime delivery, learning objects,
and personalization. - - - “Learning on
Internet time” - Jay Cross, 2007 Internet Time
Group
------“E-learning is mostly associated with
activities involving computers and interactive
networks simultaneously. The computer does
not need to be the central element of the
activity or provide learning content. However,
the computer and the network must hold a
significant involvement in the learning
activity.”— Tsai and Machado [2002]
- - - “The first step in learner-centric is to
understand how learning takes place. Much
modern research in cognitive science shows
that people learn by doing. So it is very
important that people learn not by reading a
book and not by listening to a lecture, but by
doing tasks that can engage the mind”- Don
Norman, “elearningpost” interview and
various articles 2005/6.
---- “I have long been struck by the power of
the computer game to mesmerize, to hold the
attention of otherwise restless children for
hours and even days. I have watched
otherwise unruly children focus, study,
collaborate, and problem-solve. They read
hint books, save checkpoints, the better to be
able to try “what-if” scenarios. They consult,
they create, they solve. They do all the
activities we wish them to do in pursuit of an
education. What a shame that what is being
learned is so trivial, so worthless. Now
imagine a time when we transform education.
When we can craft educational problems as
cleverly as the game creators create theirs,
allowing students to delve into the complexity
of topics as deeply and as thoroughly as they
delve into the games. Excite them to dive into
the task, voluntarily working hard to learn the
skills necessary to succeed. Only this time,
the skills learned will be the ones necessary to
be successful, well-educated citizens of
society: mathematics, history, writing,
science, art, and so on” ------. Don Norman
( 62 )
from “Learning from the success of computer
games”
---- “although I am very critical of most
current e-learning I do not think the designers
were necessarily incompetent. They were
simply imitating the commonly accepted
notion of what education looks like, which
does not involve the way people really learn.
People really learn by doing a task they care
about, failing and redoing it until they get it
right”.
- Roger Schank, 2002 Designing World Class
E-Learning
So it would seem that the “student” should
care about the tasks/topics, a factor which
appears to be closely linked to speed of
progress at most levels of education or
training. The student will need to see a level
of transparency and consistency in marking,
as will the Course or Person Accreditation
and Moderation process at the end of the
programme.
The types of examination methods to ensure
competencies are not best served by a
“guessing game” that allows progress to
continue without testing applications of new
found knowledge; so the concepts of Shank
2002 in requiring a ---“failing and redoing
process”----- has to be carefully monitored.
There is certainly a need in e-learning to
ensure that reading and exercises on and off
line are regularly linked to exercises which –
frequently – need access to a real “tutor”, both
for marking and face to face discussion; albeit
that the tutor and candidate may be separated
by significant distance and even time zones.
We are not convinced of the value of a
learning process which can be passed by a
series of readings and exercises that need no
tutor interaction either as part of the training
and feedback or in the competency tests
themselves.
There seems to be varied opinions on whether
the process of “doing” exercises on line is
best use of the learner’s time in tying up the
resource; the “test” or “gate-keeping” process
may well be most appropriate “on line”. Then
again the ability of the candidate to easily
upload graphs, written discussions or even
sketches within a fairly flexible template is
seen as an essential part of the development
of a well rounded “learner”. These may
require greater tutor intervention, both on and
offline as the marking is more complex; more
importantly however is the mechanism for
review and moderation being transparent and
occurring as defined.
Other aspects of concern also relate to the
need, in “distance” monitoring, to be able to
see the candidate perform certain tasks as if
the tutor were face to face. The use of the
camera on a laptop using VOIP such as Skype
in order to be able to see the candidate say
prepare specimens in a Laboratory or carry
out interviews; or even the group dynamics of
team members discussing a problem set by
the tutor or in an industry situation, are
excellent ways of reducing costs of
examination and at the same time seeing
performance first hand. Current streaming
technology such as “Shozu” using phone
cameras has recently become technologically
reliable to allow for remote monitoring of a
candidate in a relatively remote location.
Clearly not all tasks can be witnessed as
above; the related issue of teaching
tools/artefacts which are well worn – literally
– has been one valid reason why assembly
tasks in the motor industry for competence
testing need to be commercial real life
situations, especially where time is a key
element in the competence test. One might
argue that the “examination” is still possibly
best witnessed by an on-site assessor, and in
many trade skills this is frequently true;
nevertheless it is our view that speed and
scope of new technology such as cameras will
allow for a much greater assessment
capability on line for many situations. Certain
tasks could be competency tested .using the
camera phone held by the supervisor of the
person undergoing a competency test, the
( 63 )
evaluator may well be on another continent.
This allows a much better use of what are
skilled but scarce evaluators.
The simulation work in the surgical field by
GoVirtual Medical [2006] is a classic use of
high quality video coupled with interactive
graphics as a means of “calibrating”
appropriate surgical practice. The – usually –
cutting edge technology in an Aircraft
Simulator is an example of how far many
technologies have moved in order to test
competence in an ongoing and rigorous
manner. In the same way best training
outcomes for a wide range of industries will
mainly be due to the use of “smart”
technology such as “e-quip”. The e-quip
program has been developed by Digital
Learning Solutions at Massey University and
runs on the Sydney Hub. The e-quip system
demonstrates the key features necessary to
make e-learning a sensible, cost effective and
above all verifiable alternative to traditional
Classroom style systems.
For many “skill sets”, the use of simple video
clips coupled with a cascading set of
questions and exercises to test understanding
as a candidate say moves from one Unit
Standard to another on the NZ Framework
can be built up. For example the progression
through statistical units 8082 and 8089 can
constantly require the candidate to answer
previous steps or better use them in advanced
questions [e.g. Interpolation given that some
data points are missing] An interesting issue
arises with many of these statistical units in
that some Students will have done similar
units under the National Qualifications
Framework such as 5230, 5240, 7565 and
90193 in their High School in the last 5 -10
years. Of course many candidates will admit
that previous work looks a little familiar!
Subject to Tutor capability some Candidates
may have had some incentive to enter
Technological industries because of the
practical examples provided by their High
School Tutors.
Balancing the “e” with “Learning” When elearning occurs; there is a need to balance
better the “e” and the “Learn”. Too often,
there is only emphasis on the “e” – here are
some attributes of e-learning that includes the
“Learn” side.
( 64 )
The “e” Factor
Anytime, anywhere, although shipboard training is
still too expensive via the web.[This is about to change
through new satellite technology later in 2007]
The “Learning Factor”
On-going monitoring of progress through assessment
of written and verbal work. Written Tests may well be
combinations of yes /no, multi choice, semi simulation
using graphics and interactive tests.
Content is delivered via a network
Learning by doing with feedback. Needs planning by
the tutor to ensure consistency, with extensive
marking notes for moderation; the “tick” list is not
enough.
Enables accountability of learning
Repertoire of knowledge can be provided and linked
to Candidate requirements.
Representations in different environments such as
Food Safety, Industrial Safety, trade or professional
skills
Connects participants with each other
Repertoire of online activity structures such as
different examination techniques, perhaps through
teams or small webinars. The small project is an ideal
team process.
Archive of each learner’s work and interactions is
kept, theoretically forever.
Prompts, Hints, Guidance to be available virtually on a
24/7 basis. Availability of a “sketch/whiteboard” for
both tutors and candidates to access on line. We
expect to see significant retention of candidate work
for moderation purposes. We also see it a key point
that previous work can be upgraded as the need for
continual competency tests grows.
One on one, to one on many
Human intervention to be available, peer to peer and
tutor to small peer groups or individually. A key issue
perhaps is the fact that students may want 24/7 access,
a feature noted today Sunday when a student rang for
advice!
Tutorial sessions through “Webinars”
Incentives / motivation aligned with individual and
organization. A major value point would be employer
involvement.
Web based film / video clips
Ability to add high grade visuals as still or video link.
We have found this aspect of great value
Progression through several methods of Assessment
on line
Coupled with off line assessment techniques such as
written reports.
( 65 )
The Role of Accrediting Bodies in
Distance Learning
The following points initially relate to
international organisations such as RABQSA
Inc and IRCA who are the largest independent
providers of Personnel Certification Schemes
worldwide for Auditors. Much of the original
work by both bodies has led to Auditor
Registration in the fields of Quality
Assurance, Occupational Health and Safety,
Environment, and Food Safety. The base
standard for operating such schemes is ISO
17024. The immediate question in many
countries is related to other areas of
accreditation of Training Providers and their
registration together with the registration of
“graduates” from a professional or technical
point of view. Figure 1 highlights some of the
issues in terminology that surrounds the use
of such a Standard. In the presentation the
authors will provide a new model to augment
Fig 1.
We might assume that organisations such as
NZQA and DEST in Australasia provide a
similar approval process for programmes of
training and professional development to
those of Auditor Registration bodies such as
IRCA or RABQSA. In New Zealand the roles
of the Tertiary Education Commission [TEC]
and the University approaches to recognising
competence along the lines of ISO 17024 do
not necessarily equate well. A question we
must ask is that when accreditation is carried
out by a Government Agency using
Legislation as the driver in any country; has
that body considered the use of ISO 17024 as
a part of the Rules or Regulations of that
body? The relevant Ministry should have a
Management System that stands up to
independent scrutiny under ISO 17024.
( 66 )
Commercial
Apparent
Boundary
Legislation at
Federal / State
or Local
Government
Level
International
Accreditation
Forum IAF
JAS-ANZ
Government
UKAS
Government
Agencies/Departments
ISO 17024
RAB-QSA
e.g. NZQA / NZCEA / DEST
IRCA
Private Training
Providers
Auditors of, or
Consultants
for,
Management
Systems
Certification
Bodies
Universities /
Polytechnics
High Schools
BV, SGS, BSI,
Figure 1 – Some Linkages in Accreditation and Certification of Personnel
[Note: The relative positions of organisations indicated above are purely schematic]
The registration of personnel in reality is a
much wider challenge than the systems
currently in use would appear to recognise.
Our education systems in NZ via High
School, Polytechnics, through to University
effectively involve the NZ Qualifications
Authority [NZQA], Tertiary Education
Commission,
the
Vice
Chancellors
Committee and the NZ Universities Academic
Audit Unit [NZUAAU]. The question of
Management Systems being reviewed against
ISO 17024 has - we understand - not yet been
considered; yet for consistency of approach
both at trade and professional levels in
education and personal development there is a
need for a common system base. There is
nothing in ISO 17024 which would create a
“clone” concept of systems between
universities, polytechnics and other education
providers, nor would it impact on the
individuality of courses or providers.
Key issues for a Personnel Certifying Body,
[bearing in mind it could well be a tertiary
institution] that recognises Distance Learning
Profiles would involve the following:
( 67 )
•
Maintenance of a relatively structured
“template” system so that providers of
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
similar
courses/programmes
are
evaluated in a consistent manner.
An ability to be able to “moderate” the
programme or course on a 24/7 basis
without a need for extensive visits as
candidates can be sampled on line; as
can staff, management and all the
development issues involved in say a
new programme.
Being significant partners with say
[RABQSA] in the development of
appropriate examination and tuition
templates for current and emerging
programmes such as the Heavy
Vehicle Schemes in Australia and
New Zealand.
Speed of development on specific new
programmes that needs to be, where
possible, better than eight months
from concept to ready for use.
Industry is generally more receptive to
speedy response from organisations
prepared to assist in rapid response to
market forces. Of course programmes
will change, that is exactly what
Review means in ISO 9001. Some
training is better than none; two year
waits to launch programmes are not
sensible or appropriate; the change
from NZCE to Diploma occurred over
some seven years. One would hope
that with current “e-learn” technology,
such a lengthy delay in future will be
unnecessary as changes can be trialled
within 4 – 6 months at the outside.
Where programme changes occur, the
candidates above must have rapid
updating access so that the Current
Competency is maintained.
Having
significant
industry
“expertise” input available from
several sources.
Minimising jargon that is non industry
specific.
Having clear transparency over the
inputs from Course providers.
•
Ensure that the qualification is as
“portable” as possible both between
countries and Accreditation bodies.1
There is no reason why the certification
industry along with industry users should be
the main beneficiaries of the standard. As
considered above all education bodies, both
public and private, effectively endorse or
certify their student’s competence at some
point in time. That ongoing competence is
less well used has been for many
organisations a difficult task. The NZQA
certainly has the powers/systems to deal with
updating qualifications as have many trade
and professional bodies such as Non
Destructive Testing, Colleges of Physicians
and Surgeons, Airline Pilots through Civil
Aviation Authorities et al.
The IAF guidance paper [2005] and related
JAS-ANZ procedures provide significant
detail for the accreditation of Personnel
Certification schemes such as RABQSA. In
the context of this paper the key issues are
• Scope of Accreditation – Trade,
professional, competence standards
defined
• Certification Body issues such as
approval of Auditors
ANSI/ISO/IEC 17024 Personnel Certification
Accreditation
The International Organization of Standardization
(ISO) and the International Electro technical
Commission (IEC) have developed a global,
voluntary benchmark for organizations responsible
for certification of personnel. Fully enacted on April
1, 2003, this international standard (ANSI/ISO/IEC
17024) was designed to harmonize the personnel
certification process worldwide and create a more
cost-effective
global
standard
for
workers.
ANSI/ISO/IEC 17024, officially entitled General
Requirements for Bodies Operating Certification
Systems of Persons, is expected to play a prominent
role in facilitating global standardization of the
certification community, increasing mobility of
among countries, enhancing public safety 1
( 68 )
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Of some concern will be the possible
offering of training by a Certification
body in terms of conflict of interest.
Clear separation of the processes
required to approve personnel from
the processes used to evaluate and
approve training providers.
Where Certification bodies are part of
government, or are government
departments such as Civil Aviation,
NZQA, DEST or AQIS are deemed to
be legal entities, such bodies should
comply with the requirements of ISO /
IEC 17024.
Possible dominant provision of
financial resources.
Interaction mechanisms with key
stakeholders such as Advisory
Committees to be clearly defined.
Appeal
processes
to
be
transparent.[i.e. the candidate should
have a clear view of the process and
contestability process]
Use
of
external
bodies
as
Contractors/Sub-Contractors requires
significant disclosure and linkage to
the Certification body.
Guidance on the Education Criteria
must be totally free from linkage to
specific training providers
Complaints process to be totally
transparent [e.g. the user of an
“Accredited person” should be able to
challenge the capability/competence]
The need to ensure that the training
provider has met the range of
processes in the training and
development programme so that the
Certification body can approve the
candidates levels of competency.
Validation programmes of the
Providers management systems and
records.
Confidentiality in relation to access
and release of candidate information.
•
•
•
•
•
•
The e-learn process must be able to
track all interventions.
Security such as secure storage of the
examination bank, maintenance of
long term records
Back up security of data and it’s
continuity in the event of the demise
or takeover of a training provider or
accrediting agency
Requirements for examiners/tutors,
especially where other languages are
required
An ability to deal with special needs
of candidates, such as disabilities.
Ongoing monitoring of candidate
performance
such
as
ongoing
Competence Certification [e.g. Non
Destructive Testing – Approval to use
Ultrasonic or X Rays].
Re-certification at defined intervals
together with monitoring of non trivial
professional development.
Clearly there are a number of issues that are
similar to other certification bodies dealing
with say ISO 9001 or ISO 22000 on Food
Safety. In some sectors such as Health there
are still a number of areas in which the
boundaries between Accreditation and
Certification are somewhat blurred and the
management systems of the various parties
are not meeting ISO 17024.
In our view accrediting bodies need to be held
more
accountable.
Commonality
and
transparency of management systems must be
in place. There needs to be a greater role for
bodies such as national Productivity
organisations, the UN, APEC and ISO.
Education Providers/Developers of
Training Material Need to
( 69 )
•
Be aware that many households still
do not have access to a computer, and
if they do, children or other adults
•
•
may have first access compared to the
adult trainee. Night shift issues can be
a significant problem to candidates as
to when they can interact with the
tutor.
Realise that not all households have
access to Broadband, especially
outside main cities/towns. As far as
possible e-learn programmes should
still be able to be accessed via dial up
connections.
Remember that Adult IT Literacy is
still quite low, so there really needs to
be a transition programme that covers
more than just log in and log out and
navigation of the specific “e-learn”
programme. Word and basic Excel
skills would be very helpful together
with insistence on the use of Headers
•
and footers with full file name
including extensions. This aspect will
apply to all programmes not just in
technology based areas. Admittedly
this area of concern will have largely
disappeared within the next 5 -7 years
apart from older adult learners; here
their children may well provide the
basic incentives and motor skills
needed!
Ensure that the full pathway
requirements for each assignment that
has to be delivered are clear and that
as they are completed they are very
clearly identified as being complete.
Figure 2 below gives such a pathway
approach.
Figure 2 Typical Structures for Competency [DLS Ltd and ACI Global Pty Ltd]
•
•
Provide optional Work books plus on
line detail. There are still a number of
candidates who find extended screen
viewing tiring and find it easier to
work with hard copy.
Be aware that not all staff members
relate well to a blended learning
process; indeed some find the process
( 70 )
•
both difficult and will actively fight
against its introduction.
Provide additional training to tutors
and lecturers on the uses and strengths
of blended programmes. It is a
technique that requires the ability to
initially prepare material around how
one would present in a classroom and
then remember the various quick
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
sketches,
anecdotes,
diagram’s,
photographs that one would introduce
to assist the slower learners. Nothing
here has changed in terms of tutoring
skills!
Reviewed more frequently Moderation
trends over say three years to seven
years.
Remember that employers need to
know rapidly what is happening with
their candidates progress [e.g. a
weekly on line summary]
Provide for on line tutoring
availability and times that may
conflict with other academic/industry
duties. This issue will diminish with
time as candidates become more
aware of appropriate times of
engagement with a tutor, and as they
are involved in more topics involving
e-learning.
Use anti plagiarism software such as
“Turnitin”. The growth of e-learning
will virtually make it essential to use
such tools.
Have
candidate
photographs
immediately to hand during tutor
“live” interactions. This is even more
important when using video camera
sessions.
Be aware of potential terrorists
creating alibis using a range of
respected professional and trade
training routes. The ability to see and
know the student may assist in
reduction of such acts long term.
Consider the use of a “voice track” as
part of a reference record, especially
where video sessions are not easily
available due to poor Broadband
services. Fingerprint log-ins or “clockins” are also all currently available in
the commercial sector.
It is still common for many
organisations to provide a book and
say DVD, yet allow the candidate to
( 71 )
•
•
submit work which may not be their
own. Frequently there is no check to
determine if the candidate understood.
Determine techniques for ensuring
that the Recognition of Prior Learning
process is robust but of greater
importance is the ongoing testing of
Current Competence as well as
ongoing Currency of Competence.
There are many industries where
competence requires re-testing at 6 or
12 monthly intervals. The handling of
dangerous goods and constant updates
to legislation, codes of practice and
data sheets are one area where
retesting significantly reduces the risk
of error in identity, storage and
transport.
As with all newer technologies the
recognition that many students learn
through various games or simulation
[See also the Norman reference above]
is now attainable in the e-quip
programmes of DLS and ACI Global.
These are key aspects although
recognised in Japan as part of the
Sanno Institute [Tokyo] training for
Business and technology in the early
1970’s. See also the Distil site
[www.thedistilway.com]
which,
through a strong link with the
Canadian Standards Association, is
proving valuable in the development
of the investigative skills indicated by
Norman [2005]. It may be argued that
some of the multi choice questions are
relatively limited in options and that
there is no penalty in missing, but
there is still the learning capability
which, combined with relatively high
quality graphics, allows progress in
ways that are less destructive than
most modern computer games. Fig 3
below is an elementary sampler of the
quality of graphics available and
whilst not mobile like many arcade
games, there is no need as the virtual
tour takes the candidate around an
industrial scene.
Figure 3 Elementary examples of graphics [Distil Corporation]
Industry Sponsors Need to
•
•
•
Ensure that students can access a
computer at work for guaranteed
periods.
Understand the learning material and
ensure regular participation in
academic boards/industry advisory
panels with Industry Training
Organisations [ITO’s] and the training
providers.
Be less concerned about candidates
having different completion dates. In
other words the “cohort” concept may
be discarded or even inappropriate.
There is a down side in that the
candidate technically remains an
apprentice until s/he has completed
and remains on a lower wage. There
are different issues relating to adult
( 72 )
•
•
apprentices. We would like to think
that there would be no industry
pressures to prevent a Candidate
completing their programme as fast as
possible.
Clearly understand the Block course
content and version used for the
training material, especially where
changes may have only occurred in
some modules / unit standards. The
use of a robust learning platform will
allow each Candidate profile to be
monitored for updates as they arise.
This means all Candidates in theory
can be maintained at current practice /
competence for as long as they wish.
Consider using a training room in
which candidates can gather to access
the internet and see it as a Resource
Room.
•
•
Be prepared to support candidates
learning promptly with advice and
positive comments rather than
negative comments about course
material or worse, - - “we do not need
to do that in New Zealand” or “Our
clients do not understand, so why
bother about statistical techniques” - -.
Be prepared to be involved with the
candidates in face to face sessions
with the tutor over the internet.
•
•
Provide photographs, real industry
videos, data that can be used in the
development of “e-learning” material.
Be concerned about “drop out” rates,
for all types of learning. Often the
drop out is due to lack of internal
counselling/interest over progress. See
Fig 4 below.
Fig 4 Typical Progress Record [ACI Global and DLS Ltd]
•
•
Understand the makeup of the industry
workforce in terms of ethnicity and
see that the new generation is
becoming more IT Literate and can
rise to the challenge, if supported.
Be prepared to consider the complex
issues of students undertaking
programmes where English is not the
main language in the household and
often not in the workplace.
( 73 )
•
Be aware that the real costs of training
are often up to 50% cheaper when
using Distance Learning due to
minimal travel and hotel costs as well
as work disruption “costs”. That needs
to be balanced against the group
dynamics or networking that is to
some extent minimised by not being
there face to face; this problem can be
reduced
significantly
through
•
webinars
and
tutorials
where
candidates need to work together.
Relate better to Risk Concepts as in
the Healthcare industry and consider
how to best incorporate these into
training and education at different
levels in the organisation. The
Blended approach may here be
significant [Stephenson and Worth
2005]; of greater concern may be that
there appears to be no central
•
repository for ongoing competence,
other than the Nursing Council for
example.
Another aspect that is of importance to
industry as well as the accrediting
bodies is the question of the use of
validation devices such as those of
Savvy Technology Solutions, see
Figure 5 below. These will be brought
out in the presentation
Fig 5 Typical Validation Devices
•
What of the candidates?
Whilst Distance Learning has been with us for
well over 50 years in the traditional sense of
written material, related reference texts and
the submission of assignments at regular
intervals, the power of e-learning has only
begun to be realised in the past two to three
years as technology has become robust and
web based programmes a reality. For many
candidates there are still problems, both real
and perceived, that need to be addressed as
well as successes that need to breed new
programmes/tutors.
•
•
“It seems to take too long”
“Why are we the guinea pigs” in
response to a questionnaire.
( 74 )
•
•
•
•
“We cannot access a computer during
work time - - - - the employer has
made cost savings in terms of reduced
time away from the company”.
“I cannot even access a PC during
lunch”
“We have forgotten what we did at
Secondary School, so where do we
find transition material”
“Our employer will not let us use
Skype - - - - we do not have a
ScreenCam, how can we interact with
the tutor. Our employer is not happy
with toll calls to talk to the tutor”
We do not understand terms like
“uplift a document” into the Learning
Management System.
•
•
•
•
•
“I cannot contact the guys in my
tutorial group for a case study
discussion, thus I am unable to move
forward”
“We like the high quality graphics
drawn from the web plus PowerPoint
that we can download for reference,
but they are not as clear in Black and
White”!
“The small tutorial groups are great as
well as the tutor interactions on line,
just like being in class but fewer
people”
“I like the blend of Yes/No; Multi
choice and other question techniques,
plus I also have written comments on
my essay type work. Sometimes the
tutor gives us a summary for each
topic of what others found easy or
difficult”.
“Sometimes I find it easier to ring up
or email the tutor directly rather than
through the email system on the
learning management platform”. [Note
– This will create a document trail
issue when it comes to moderation and
evaluation of individual student
( 75 )
•
•
•
•
pathways who have been able to claim
various levels of exemption through
RPL and Current Competency]
“I like the fact that I can demonstrate
competency at any time and a
potential employer can follow through
and see how I have demonstrated
competency”. [Note- That raises the
issues of access to candidate records
and Privacy Laws that may apply in
different parts of the world]
“I like the idea of being able to contact
the tutor at set times and talk over
issues I am having”
“The idea of having on line
competency tested with a camera
presence plus moderation by someone
in the USA at the same time was a
unique feeling”
“The ability to provide multi lingual
help is a challenge, but we appreciate
it”.
Conclusion
There are a number of conclusions that can be
drawn from the above and related links if elearning is to be the professional development
panacea of the future:
Industry Sector Groups
There must be a much more pro-active
approach in assisting in the development of
training material through participation in
Course Development Committees. The ability
to see where other modules of learning [e.g.
Unit Standards], perhaps in other sectors, are
a valid learning experience. The need to think
about transitioning of qualifications as more
staff members have upwards of 4 – 5 career
moves.
Education Providers
The question of pro-activity needs greater
recognition and reward; to be able to turn the
wishes of industry into coherent training
within 8-12 months or less, especially with
the rapid deployment of new techniques,
should be seen as valuable. This can be seen
as the Pull-Push dilemma. In other words
should Tutors and Lecturers lead the way over
new tools and technology or should we wait
until industry demands that we introduce
topics. To some extent this is also an issue for
Academic Boards who will – generally ask
the question ---“Does industry want it, where
is the demand?” ----- This means being
proactive over such issues as close integration
with industry developers and – for example approving agencies such as BRANZ. Much of
the current “leaky home” crisis in NZ could
have been averted by the training providers of
carpenters and plumbers working closely with
the wall cladding manufacturers and building
system certifiers so that the trainees had full
exposure to the techniques required as part of
the updated syllabus within weeks. These
same techniques could have had a
competency base from the beginning. Whilst
it would not have totally solved the problems,
earlier understanding would have reduced
current problems. Likewise a closer link with
other trades such as plumbing would have
helped both groups of trades appreciate the
technical and even aesthetic needs to
minimise risks of poor construction.
Certification Bodies for Personnel
There are a number of these bodies worldwide
in many professions from Aviation, Health
through to Education, Food Safety and
Welding / NDT inspection. While ISO 17024
is an appropriate and robust base on which to
demonstrate competence of the applicants in
both current and ongoing programmes for
Quality, Occupational Health and Safety,
Environmental aspects, Food Safety to name a
few, there are many bodies who effectively
approve personnel without necessarily having
a robust management system?
Accreditation
There is some degree of ongoing international
confusion over the difference between
Accreditation and Certification in a wide
variety of academic and Industrial circles, no
doubt compounded by Certification bodies
worldwide in the areas of quality, health and
safety, Environmental practices et al. To a
great extent many of the issues are integral
between Accreditation and Certification
including appropriate management systems.
Educational providers have one view, health
care providers another; yet the processes of
approval - and maintenance of that approval –
for say an airline pilot, has much in common
with a nurse, dentist, doctor, non destructive
testing technician or telephone engineer.
The Candidate
She/he should expect to be provided with the
most appropriate and up to date training
possible. It should be interesting, challenging,
updated regularly, and he/she must be able to
access the necessary modules, as the
programme is updated, rather like ISO 9001:
( 76 )
1994 transitioned to the 2000 version. This
may well be the greatest weakness at the
moment for many programmes in that they do
not readily allow for candidate escalation to
updated modules. Programmes such as “equip” currently provide that ability.
Government Agencies at all Levels
The need to ensure that all management
programmes are robust from the viewpoint of
system integrity needs to begin at the
Government Department / Agency level with
an approved ISO 9001 or 17024 base line.
The
approving
bodies
for
certification/accreditation of a government
department’s management systems must be
able to stand back from politics and make
informed decisions on say non compliance of
process. Many critics of certification argue
that a documented management system is not
able to deal with rapid change, this is not so if
well defined as in the private sector;
government agencies are able to deliver
significant savings to at least one group of
stakeholders.
( 77 )
New Zealand Qualifications Authority. See
www.nzqa.govt.nz/qualifications/
References
“Black Board”
http://www.blackboard.com/us/index.Bb
Cross, Jay [2001 to present] “Learning on
internet time” Knowledge base topics such as
abu9.blogspot.com
“e-Quip” -Digital Learning Solutions [DLS]
http://www.dls.ac.nz/
International Accreditation Forum Guidance
Document Issue 1 [IAF GD 24:2004]
ISO / IEC 17024:2003 “Conformity
Assessment – General Requirements for
Bodies operating Certification of Persons”
Norman D [2000]
http://jnd.org/dn.mss/ComputerGames.html
Shank R [2001] “Designing World Class e
learning” McGraw Hill
Tsai S and P Machado [2002] “e learn”
magazine Issue 7 July p3
Stephenson A, Worth F, et al [2005] Qualcon
Conference Surfers Paradise “Confidence and
Safety – The Healthcare dilemma”
www.govirtualmedical.com [2007] Complete
with videos on line
“Moodle” - http://moodle.org/
( 78 )
Appendix I
Case Study:
Employers & Manufacturers Association (EMA) – New Zealand
e-Quip – Distance Learning Initiative for Member Education & Training
Summary
The Employers & Manufacturers Association
(EMA) is the largest business membership
organisation ithin New Zealand boasting a
nationwide membership of 20,000+. The EMA
promotes the success of business through
representation, knowledge and support and has
won national awards for the training it provides to
corporate clients.
Sector
Business Membership Organisation
Aims/Objectives
To provide Employers & employees access to an
existing and expanding suite of courses online as
a distance learning option.
To provide Employers with reporting and ROI
statistics from courses attended by employees.
To add e-Learning technology to their list of
national awards already won.
Scope of exercise
The EMA needed to extend its offerings to a
distance learning online environment. To do this
they required a system that they could seamlessly
transfer all of their existing course material onto
the new online platform without having to employ
a programmer or an outside company to complete
the exercise.
Results
e-Quip was selected as the e-learning platform of
choice over a number of competitors. With eQuips simple drag & drop formatting procedures
the EMA was able to quickly transfer the existing
course material from its native environment into
the new online offering for clients. e-Quip has also
enabled the EMA to provide its clients with a
custom suite of reports at a single click, this has
provided new levels of transparency for
Employers enrolling their Employees on these
online courses. With the reports, Employers can
also measure the ROI from these courses.
Company Information
www.ema.co.nz
( 79 )
Appendix II
Case Study:
Northshore City Council Auckland Newzealand
e-Quip – Staff Induction & Training Centre Solution
Summary
North Shore City Council is a large Local
Government body in New Zealand. They have a
staff of 1000+ employees ranging from field
workers to office staff, all of which are required to
undergo extensive induction & knowledge gap
training tailored to their employment roles.
Sector
Local Government
Aims/Objectives
Create a centralised training repository for all
training & development courses, both current and
in the future.
Dramatically accelerate the staff induction and
initial training process.
Become a training Centre for ICDL (International
Computer Drivers Licence) courses i.e. Microsoft
Office 2003
Significantly reduce the budget spent on
outsourcing training
To implement a centralised reporting centre by
which senior management could assess the
knowledge
of
employees
[i.e.
Current
competence]
Scope of exercise
The scope of this exercise was, firstly to improve
the Council induction processes at all levels.
Secondly, to demonstrate that the training of new
staff could be accelerated to increase productivity.
The existing training process meant that whether
you were the CEO or a parking warden you had to
partake in the same level of application training to
become an active user on the Council’s
proprietary systems. This process lead to obvious
time & productivity frustrations for senior level
staff. The third aspect of Scope was to enable
Council to have a single repository for all training
material and records whether system based, soft
skills or professional training. Also, the Council
was also about to become an accredited testing
centre for ICDL and to contract outside trainers to
take the courses was going to have a major
impact on their budget.
Results
e-Quip was selected as the training platform of
choice from a selection of 8 local & international
companies, with the closest competitor rating 55%
of what e-Quip has to offer. e-Quip has been
successfully rolled-out over a Citrix network. The
council is now using the system as the centralised
training platform for all staff induction. e-Quip has
enabled Council trainers to assess an employee’s
prior knowledge of a product or skill, and then
create a customised training course targeting their
knowledge gaps, thus increasing their speed to
productivity. DLS sourced excellent ICDL training
courses and loaded them into e-Quip for the large
organisation-wide training rollout. By delivering
the ICDL content over e-Quip instead of sending
staff to external training providers the Council has
reduced training expenses by up to 90%.
Company Information
www.northshorecity.govt.nz
( 80 )
Transformation Pedagogies for Effective e-Learning Integration
A. Senteni
UCILT, University of Mauritius
Abstract
Introduction
In the transition process towards economies
increasingly based on knowledge creation
and dissemination, higher educational
institutions are urged to change, pressed by a
sense of competitive urgency and the fear of
being left behind in the emerging knowledgebased economies. In this respect, pedagogical
agency must take advantage of the
possibilities offered by ICT to support
innovative conceptualizations of learning
facilitating the management of sustainable
transformations, whether individual, social or
institutional. This is why the core changes
brought by ICTs in education and society call
for research on specific new forms of learning
and epistemological issues regarding how
learning occurs and how knowledge emerges,
beyond the borders of traditional systems of
education. Transformative pedagogies draw
upon integrative models of learning,
innovation and work, sharing a vision of
societal, institutional
and individual
development that integrates learning and the
systemic reconstruction of social contexts in
which it operates. Transformative pedagogy
considers co-evolving social and technical
processes from a systemic viewpoint in an
evolutionary perspective of education and
culture, allowing to build meaning and
capacity through community development,
support and networking. Its object regards
innovative methodologies and conceptual
artifacts for crossing boundaries between
strategies of instruction on the one hand, and
management of sustainable transformations
at the three levels of the individual, the group
and the organization, on the other.
What is learning in a knowledge society? The
question was raised at the UNESCO round
table on ‘Education and Knowledge Societies’
during the first World Summit on the
Information Society in Geneva (WSIS 2003).
One conclusion that emerged was about the
core changes brought by ICTs in society and
in education, calling for research on specific
new forms of learning and epistemological
issues regarding how learning occurs and how
knowledge emerges, beyond the borders of
traditional systems of education. In the
defined research agenda, one finds
methodologies that would help opening
creative spaces where learning, innovation
and work can be integrated (Senteni, 2004;
Senteni & Taurisson, 2005, Hakkarainen et
al., 2004)(Brown & Diguid, 1991).
In the transition process towards economies
increasingly based on knowledge creation and
dissemination, postsecondary educational
institutions are urged to change, pressed by a
sense of competitive urgency and the fear of
being left behind in the emerging knowledgebased economies. The expected changes
involve long term commitment to sustainable
transformations the systems of activity of
these institutions, where learning, teaching
and pedagogy constitute the core. Nowadays,
pedagogy - the art or science of being a
teacher - cannot refer only to strategies and
styles of instruction. It needs to address as
well the facilitation and management of
sustainable
transformations,
whether
individual, social, structural or institutional.
Educators and stakeholders face an
ambiguous future where they need to ‘prepare
children and workers for what they
themselves cannot foresee’ (John-Steiner &
( 81 )
Moran, 2002). But, at the same time, teachers
continue to report to educational structures
that react to the ambient uncertainty in a way
which is often defensive, relying on more
rigorous procedures, more control and more
bureaucratic rigidity to tackle the problem. It
is difficult to ask educators to promote
innovative learning and participate actively in
knowledge advancement, while at the same
time expecting them to transmit pre-packaged
contents and increase the scores of students
on standardized tests of so-called basic skills
and memorized items of information. This
double-bind constraint is at the root of what
R.J. Parkes defines as a ‘crisis in pedagogy’:
I want to localize it as a crisis in my own
pedagogy. It is a crisis of both meaning and
practice [...] which I would suggest, reflects
some notion of the death of certainty. If
indeed the postmodern turn can be said to
have brought an uncertainty about the status
of our knowledges and disciplines, then
mainstream pedagogies that focus on the
efficient delivery of pre-packaged content are,
in societies (or for pedagogues) experiencing
postmodern instabilities, an anachronism.
(Parkes, 2000, p.1)
We agree with Parkes to consider that the
postmodern turn has led to an educational
state lacking a clear central hierarchy or
organizing principle and embodying extreme
complexity,
contradiction,
ambiguity,
diversity, as well as interconnectedness and
interreferentiality. Lecture-based instruction
by expert instructors rests on a belief that
there are universal truths that can be
transmitted to willing students. However,
postmodern times require an increased
capacity of adaptation, more autonomy and
more ownership of information and ideas by
students. A paradigm shift is needed in
postsecondary educational institutions to
change ‘Teaching & Learning’
into
‘Learning & Teaching’ calling for an
educational viewpoint closer to cognitive
constructivism: environments more and more
centered on the learner, fostering problemsolving and personal construction of
knowledge by the students while departing
from traditional rationalist and behaviourist
approaches.
This paper is part of our answer to this crisis.
We investigate the transformative dimensions
of pedagogy in order to clarify its units of
analysis, its objects and its methodologies and
to make it more meaningful in the context of
knowledge-driven societies. Our claim is that
transformative pedagogy must take advantage
of the possibilities offered by ICTs to support
innovative conceptualizations of learning in
emergent globalised economies, particularly
those of developing countries. ICTs hold a
central position in the innovative process as
the mediating artifact of emerging networked
educational systems. As advised by Bruno
Latour (2005, p. 340), it is about time to
anticipate on a social science that considers
seriously these ‘entities that make people act’.
The approach which is outlined stands at the
confluence of critical pedagogy and
knowledge management, drawing upon
integrative models of learning and knowledge
creation, such as Bruno Latour’s ActorNetwork Theory (1987), Yrjö Engeström's
theory of expansive learning (1987),
Nonaka’s and Takeuchi's model of knowledge
creation
(1995),
Etienne
Wenger’s
communities of practice (1998)(Wenger,
McDermott & Snyder, 2002) and Carl
Bereiter's theory of knowledge building
(2002).
All these models share a systemic vision of
societal,
institutional,
and
individual
development that integrates learning with the
reconstruction of societal contexts in which
learning occurs. Transformative pedagogy
considers co-evolving social and technical
processes from a systemic viewpoint in an
( 82 )
evolutionary perspective of education and
culture that allows to build meaning and
capacity through community development,
support and networking. In this new
paradigm, capacity emerges from a synergy
between
availability
of
resources,
commitment to meaningful projects and
human communities to bring these projects to
life. The objects of transformative pedagogies
take the form of innovative methodologies
used as conceptual artifacts for crossing
boundaries between strategies of instruction
on the one hand, and management of
sustainable transformations (at the three levels
of the individual, the team and the
organization on the other.
as a work in progress by the Education
Commission of the World Information
Technology Forum (WITFOR) in Botswana
(2005) and later on, in Ethiopia (e-Learning
Africa 2005, WITFOR 2007) with the
following objectives :
• to increase the responsibility of
educators, mentors and tutors to
transcend their traditional role and
expand the scope of their work
towards an active participation to
knowledge advancement, and
•
The Context of this Work
This research on transformative pedagogies
and technology-enhanced approaches was
initiated in Mauritius (2003 -) and continued
Figure 1 illustrates some successive attempts
to bridge the digital divide in the education
to investigate the role given to
information and communications
technologies (ICT) as mediating
artifacts of emerging networked
educational
systems,
supporting
collaboration and learners’ autonomy
and responsibility for learning.
sector. According to our preliminary
conclusions, infrastructure investment is
( 83 )
obviously needed, and
it constitute an
immediate cure to material limitations.
Though, the cure is not so clear about social
practices that would make this investment
cost-effective, particularly because these
practices are systematically neglected. This
finding is not new. Eight years ago, in the
year 2000, the report of the North American
Congress on Latin America (NACLA)
pointed out the failure of policies advocating
to ‘build the network and the users will
follow’. Instead, the NACLA report insisted
on the importance of human-centered
approaches, starting by support to early
adopters and pro-active practioners (Carty,
2000).
During the last decade, surveys showing the
shortcomings
of
technology-driven
approaches opened the door for a second
generation of content-driven ones advocating
knowledge-as-a-product solutions, e.g. MIT
OCW, first generation of the AVU, etc (Fig.
1). Though, this content-oriented second
generation does not care much about proactively addressing issues of situated
knowledge-building and meaning-making
processes at an appropriate level of
development
needing
process-oriented
support.
These considerations made us move towards a
third generation of blended situated
approaches :
• focusing on people and learning
process,
• considering knowledge as a dynamic
process rather than a product, and
• seeing learning as a process of
knowledge creation.
Operating most often in contexts where
computerization
is
shyly
emerging,
transformative pedagogies emphasize the
construction of new social schemes or the
appropriation and dissemination of preexisting social ones deemed relevant. They
also regard the appropriation, integration,
effective use and cultural (rather than
technical) contextualisation of artifacts. As
pointed out by such researchers in ComputerSupported Collaborative Learning (CSCL) as
Koschmann (2002) or Stahl (2002ab), a better
understanding of the functioning of artifacts,
whether digital or conceptual, helps
understand how to effectively foster and
convey collaborative meaning-making. A
quick look at the history of transformative
pedagogies (e.g. at the European New
Education movement) shows that these
artifacts evolve more rapidly than the
pedagogical goals and objectives they were
created to mediate.
Theoretical Foundations
The
theoretical
foundations
of
the
investigation of the transformative potential
of pedagogy are found in Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory of learning emphasising the
causal relation bewteen social interaction and
cognitive change. Vygotsky (1978) developed
the concept of Zone of Proximal Development
(ZPD) in reaction to a crisis in psychology
that had arisen, as radically different
psychologies competed for legitimization as
the way forward. Parkes (2000) argues that
there exists today another crisis to which a
textually resurrected Vygotsky might
respond: a crisis in pedagogy.
Learning, from the individual to the social
The Zone of Proximal Development
Vygotsky’s ZPD places social interactions at
the root of the individual development
process :
Participation in a collective activity lays the
foundation for the next step in individual
development. According to Vygotsky, it
creates the Zone of Proximal Development,
which is defined as ‘the distance between the
actual development level as determined by
( 84 )
independent problem solving and the level of
potential development as determined through
problem solving under adult guidance or in
collaboration with more capable peers’
(Vygotsky, 1978).
The ZPD opens a mediation space, helping to
bridge the gap between individual and social
phenomena by introducing a mechanism of
their mutual determination. Cole (1985)
explains how the ZPD opens a space for
subjectivity where ethics, values, beliefs and
attitudes can be questioned and eventually
bent through socially negotiated meaningmaking practices. Cole defines the ZPD as a
place ‘where culture and cognition create
each other’.
The analysis into units
Even before he introduced the concept of
ZPD, Vygotsky advocated the necessity of
conceiving of the object of investigation as a
unity of opposites whose very essence is the
inherent genesis of the relation :
In our opinion the right course to follow is to
use the other type of analysis, which may be
called analysis into units. By unit we mean a
product of analysis which, unlike elements,
retains all the basic properties of the whole
and which cannot be further divided without
losing them.
(Vygotsky, Thought and
Language, Chapter 1, 1934)
For many years, theories of collaborative
learning tended to focus on how individuals
function in a group. When the group itself is
taken as the unit of analysis, new tools are
required to develop a better understanding of
learning mechanisms within the ZPD. These
tools focus less on establishing parameters for
effective collaboration and more on trying to
understand the role which such variables play
in mediating interaction; they allow to shift to
a process-oriented account of social
interactions and collaboration, to analyse and
model these interactions and finally, to make
social interactions the unit of analysis
(Dillenbourg & Baker, 1996).
The dynamics of systems thinking
The analysis into units is closely related to
systems thinking, particularly to the work of
Gregory Bateson (1972). In his attempt to
extend the theoretical model of systems
theory and cybernetics into the social field
and to explain the formal dynamics of social
behaviors,
Bateson demonstrated the
presence of recursive processes or selfcorrective
systems
across
domains,
emphasizing the role of ‘closed loops’ or
circuits along which transforms of differences
travel, and ‘circular causality’: the system
uses the results of its own operations as the
basis of further operations. Bateson also
points out that events in the system are
energized from within the system rather than
impact from the triggering part: ‘when you
touch a snail it recoils through its own energy
rather than energy from your touch’. Bateson
deduces form this remark that the
transformation of a system of activity (e.g. an
educational one) needs to be undertaken from
the inside through ‘wired in’ (e.g.
pedagogical) approaches.
Bateson warns us against ‘the oversimplified
question’ in life and education: systems
thinking needs a fundamental shift in our
epistemologies which have been - and
continue to be - dominated by Cartesian
oppositions. Oversimplification says Bateson,
results in vulgarity and is sacrilegious; it is
‘against aesthetics, against consciousness and
against the sacred’ dimensions of life. We
take as a working hypothesis that complexity
is the substrate of ‘educational system
thinking’. It must be considered as an inherent
part of social interactions and therefore of
transformative pedagogical interventions. Our
first unit of analysis is the educational system.
It is holistic and cannot be reduced to its parts
without altering its pattern. It is self-
( 85 )
regulated, stabilizing itself through negative
feedback loops. It is as well self-organizing.
Steps to organizational learning
What is organizational learning about?
Among the first to propose a model
facilitating organizational learning, Argyris
and Schon (1996) built on Bateson's concepts
of first and second order learning, establishing
a distinction between single-loop and doubleloop learning. In single-loop learning,
individuals, groups or organizations modify
their actions according to the difference
between expected and obtained outcomes. In
double-loop learning, the entities (individuals,
groups or organization) question the values,
assumptions and policies that led to the
actions in the first place; if they are able to
view and modify those, then second-order or
double-loop learning has taken place: double
loop learning is learning about single-loop
learning (Fig. 2). Though, one should keep in
mind that questioning values, assumptions
and policies of one’s organization or
institution is heavily constrained by its culture
of control. As Peter Senge mentions (1999, p.
290) ‘in moving from the traditional
authoritarian, hierarchical organization to a
locally controlled one, the single greatest
issue is control’.
Another model of organizational learning is
proposed by Nonaka and Takeuchi (1995)
who developed a four stage spiral based on a
process of alternating between ‘tacit
knowledge’ and ‘explicit knowledge’, that is
public and private ones. Tacit knowledge is
personal,
context
specific,
subjective
knowledge, whereas explicit knowledge is
codified, systematic, formal, and easy to
communicate. The tacit knowledge of key
personnel within the organization can be
made explicit, codified in manuals, and
incorporated into new products and processes
by way of an ‘externalization’ process . The
reverse process (from explicit to implicit) is
called ‘internalization’ because it involves
employees internalizing an organization's
formal rules, procedures, and other forms of
explicit knowledge. Nonaka and Takeuchi
talk about ‘socialization’ to denote the
sharing of tacit knowledge, and the term
‘combination’ to denote the dissemination of
codified knowledge. According to their
model, knowledge creation and organizational
learning take a path of internalization,
socialization, externalization, combination,
etc. in an infinite spiral described in Fig. 3.
( 86 )
Boundary-crossing Activities
Though ICT opens a wide range of
possibilities for the enhancement and support
of learning, its effective impact is restricted
by narrow conceptualizations of learning,
based on three pervasive but problematic
dichotomies (Virkkunen, 2005):
• dichotomy between education and the
workplace (i.e. formal and informal
learning);
• dichotomy between individual and
collective learning;
• dichotomy between learning and the
development
of
organizational
practices (i.e. at the level of the
institution or even of the society).
The need to vercome these dichotomies
underlies
the
research
agenda
on
transformative pedagogies.
Boundaries between education and the
workplace
The central role of work-based learning
Boundaries between informal and formal
learning are often equated to boundaries
between education and the workplace:
informal methods of learning are most often
found in the work environment as a just-intime answer to quick and frequent changes.
Project-based and outcome-based learning,
usually mediated by technology, are seen as
techniques that a learner can take quick
advantage of, using work-related resources.
These methods are more student-driven and
job-relevant than any formal options; they are
also less time and money consuming than
formal ones for which advanced learners have
no time nor budget. Post-modern learners
want to be considered mature enough to be
responsible for their own learning, so that
they can drive it in a meaningful and selfdirected manner.
According to Engeström (2004), the
emergence of new types of work organization
requires a better understanding of special
learning modes (Fig. 4). Though these modes
of learning were specifically elaborated under
the heading of workplaces and mainly in
advanced, developed countries such as
Finland, we argue that the evolution of
society makes them more and more relevant
within educational settings of developing
countries where educational systems are most
often engaged in a combined process of
development and restructuration while
simultaneously operating according to
previously defined rules2.
2
Mauritius is a good example of such. From 2001 to
2006, its educational system faced at least two
major reforms, one contradicting the other in its
philosophy of education. The question whether
competition must be introduced at primary level
became a political issue underlied by heavy
community stakes. For this reason, the question
was never solved but instead, it was recurrently
addressed by the successive governments during
the last twenty years without ever reaching a
sustainable consensus.
( 87 )
Learning paradigms for work-based learning
The last century saw a succession of learning
paradigms: behavioral, cognitive, social, each
being usually associated to a mode of
instruction. While behaviorists described
learning as an observable change in behavior,
cognitive psychologists argue that learning
should be understood as a change in mental
state. For the cogniticians, learning occurs
whether or not there is an observable change
in the learner’s behavior. Cognitivism is often
associated to an acquisition-metaphor of
learning embedded in transmissive models of
pedagogy: an instructor can produce learning
by transferring information to learners. His
major role is to help them organize this
information in such a way that learners
become able to recall it later. But will learners
The emerging context of knowledge societies
requires more than a simple ability to apply
predefined knowledge to authentic situations.
It calls for creative spaces where learning,
innovation and work can be integrated. To
answer this need, Paavola and his colleagues
(2004) introduce the knowledge-creationmetaphor of learning based on the ideas
developed by Y. Engeström’s in his seminal
be able to apply this knowledge in real world
situations ? As a partial answer to this
question, Lave and Wenger (1991) introduced
situated learning, rejecting both behaviorism
and cognitivism for not taking the
environment into consideration. Situated
learning puts the emphasis on the relationship
between learning and the social situation in
which it occurs. Rather than asking what
kinds of cognitive processes and conceptual
structures are involved, it questions what kind
of social engagements provide the proper
context for learning to take place. This theory
is associated to the participation-metaphor
where learning occurs through activities in
authentic situations.
work on expansive learning paradigm (1987).
This metaphor intends to overcome the
separation between the cognitive and the
situative. Its focus is on the creative
dimension of learning that opens an avenue
for the expansion of ‘aknowledged
knowledge’
towards
‘newly
created
knowledge’. Beyond Wenger’s and Lave’s
‘flux of doing’ emphasizing situatedness of
( 88 )
action and participation in social interaction
through authentic situations, the knowledge
creation metaphor of learning insists on the
process of developing and creating new
knowledge.
In Figure 4, the vertical and horizontal
dimensions represent the different learning
modes associated to different learning
theories. On the vertical scale, the approach
goes from the exploitation of what is already
known to the exploration of newly created
knowledge. On the horizontal scale, it goes
from a pre-defined context of activity to a
collaboratively negotiated, emerging one.
Transformative pedagogies are mainly
associated to the contexts on the top part of
the figure, particularly to the context of
transformation located in the North-East
corner of this diagram representing learning
as a knowledge creation activity.
Boundaries between learning and the
development of organizational practices
There exists a large gap cutting across most
theoretical and methodological questions in
the social sciences today, a gap between the
micro and the macro level of analysis. This
gap can be filled by new methodologies
including an important dimension of
‘localism’:
The behavioral and social sciences have
cherished a division of labor that separates
the study of socioeconomic structures from
the study of individual behavior and human
agency. In this traditional framework, the
socioeconomic structures look stable, allpowerful, and self-sufficient. The individual
may be seen as an acting subject who learns
and develops, but somehow the actions of the
individual do not seem to have any impact on
the surrounding structures [...] More than
ever before, there is a need for an approach
that can dialectically link the individual and
the social structure. (Engeström, 1999b, p.19)
[...] This approach implies a radical localism.
The [...] fundamental societal relations and
contradictions [...] are present in each and
every local activity of that society. And
conversely, the mightiest, most impersonal
social structures can be seen as consisting of
local activities carried out by concrete human
beings with the help of mediating artifacts...
(Ibid. p. 36)
As we mentioned in section 2.2, when one
tries to explicit the dialectic link between the
individual and the social structure, one should
keep in mind that there exists another link
between learning and development on the one
hand, and the culture of control prevailing in
the organization, on the other. Learning and
development is certainly about competencies
and knowledge , but it is also about
subjectivities:
the mightiest and most
impersonal social structures are not
desincarnated but rather personified by
concrete human beings. Transformative
approaches cannot prevent from taking as a
working hypothesis that each individual
engaged in knowledge development is
implicitly committed to change. No single
actor has the sole authority, no single actor is
in a position of preventing the others to have
an impact on their surrounding structures.
Curriculum as a set of negotiated activities
Far from a curriculum based on the ‘mind-asa-container’ vision and strongly criticised by
many researchers (Wells,1995)(Bereiter,
2002)(Paavola,
2004)
transformative
pedagogies see the curriculum as an evolving
and socially constructed set of values and
beliefs reflecting competing visions of
professional
cultures
within
the
educational\training institution or the
organization.
The weight of the traditional vision of the
curriculum
conveying
whole-class
instructional methods, comes not only from
abstract educational structures, but often from
( 89 )
the teachers themselves. Amongst the
numerous reasons explaining their reluctance
to abandon traditional methods relying on
individual seat-work, one finds the increasing
pressure of accountability for delivering a
centrally determined curriculum and for
increasing the scores of their students on
standardized tests of so-called basic skills and
memorized items of information.
Participative, reflexive and critical pedagogies
engage instructional designers and tutors in
jointly conceiving and carrying out activities
of personal and social significance for the elearner:
Vygotskyan theory, or social constructivism
as we might call its application to education,
thus calls for an approach to learning and
teaching that is both exploratory and
collaborative. It also calls for a
reconceptualization of curriculum in terms of
the negotiated selection of activities that
challenge students to go beyond themselves
towards goals that have personal significance
for them (Vygotsky, 1978, chap.8).
These activities are organized in ways that
enable participants to draw on multiple
sources of assistance (e.g. through the
internet) in achieving their goals and in
mastering the means needed in the process.
The
immediate
consequence
is
a
reconceptualizing of the curriculum as a set of
negotiated activities of personal significance
for the students. A secondary effect is the
(re)-introduction in pedagogy of new forms of
subjectivity,
based
on
multi-voiced,
negotiated visions of knowledge. In this new
pedagogical perspective, knowledge is no
longer be considered as a neutral content of
pedagogy : transformative pedagogies support
knowledge creation at the periphery of
‘knowledge-as-a-product’ based curricula.
Developmental Work in the Field
Development regards innovation as a stepwise
construction of new forms of collaborative
practice or technoeconomic networks (Latour,
1987; 1993). Innovation and creative ability
has become crucial in the context of emerging
knowledge communities and societies where
value creation depends on one’s ability to
create wealth by fostering innovation,
creativity and entrepreneurship. Answers to
challenges for developing leadership,
communication, innovation and collaboration
are not found in the cartesian rational, logical,
and scientific. Vygotsky’s notions of
meaning-making, creativity development and
the complementary development of cultures
and individuals provide the foundations of
pedagogical methods dealing with these
growing issues :
Vygotsky’s dialectical and synthesizing
methods become viable models for
development and action. Creativity and
development are both objective and subjective
processes, involving not only shared, public
meanings and objects, but also personal
experiences and transformations.
(JohnSteiner & Moran, 2002)
The Developmental Work Research (DWR)
approach
The Developmental Work Research (DWR) is
one of these approaches developed at the
Centre for Historical Activity Theory of the
University of Helsinki (Finland) since the mid
1980s (Engeström, 1996). At the crossroad of
education, knowledge management and
knowledge creation, DWR provide learners
with tools to investigate the links between
individual \ social dimensions of learning on
the one hand, and knowledge creation on the
other:
‘Nearly all authors emphasized that the most
important aspect of human activity is its
creativity and its ability to exceed and
transcend given constraints and instructions
( 90 )
[...] There has been very little research on
creation of new artifacts, production of novel
social patterns, and expansive transformation
of activity contents. Vera John-Steiner (1985)
work on creativity and the Developmental
Work Research (DWR) approach originated
in Finland may be mentioned as openings in
this direction’. (Engeström, 1999b, p.26-27)
DWR was applied successfully in several
contexts requiring educational institutions to
operate in a different way based on concerted
and continuous teamwork, according to new
benchmarks of individual and collective
performance. DWR has been taken as the
basis of pedagogical approaches triggering
paradigmatic changes putting at stakes
learning in the knowledge society. The
method was applied succesfully in health care
services in Finland (Engeström, 1996,
1999a)(Engeström, Virkkunen et al., 1996) or
large
telecommunication
companies
(Virkkunen & Ahonen, 2004). It was also
used for the integration of ICT in finnish
schools (Engeström, Engeström & Suntio,
2002) and for teachers training in Mauritius,
and Botswana (Senteni, 2005b)(Senteni &
Taurisson, 2005), allowing to create (or at
least to incubate) the context of
transformation described in section 3 (Fig.4).
A project, linking professional development
of teachers for ICT integration and research
started in November 2005 with a residential
workshop in Botswana, involving a group of
sixty teachers, head-teachers, teachers-trainers
and policy-makers. The first workshop was
organised by the Education Commission of
the World Information Technology Forum
(WITFOR 2005), the project was then
continued in 2006 in Botswana with the
support of the Academy of Finland (20072008).
The purpose of the method is to help a work
team or the members of an organizational unit
to encounter the problems they face in their
daily work, systematically analyze the
systemic causes of these problems, design a
new form for the activity to overcome the root
cause of daily problems, implement and test.
Empowered practitioners and stakeholders are
engaged
in
reflective
cycles
of
deconstruction, reconstruction, trial and readjustement. Following the cycles of
expansive learning, the participatory approach
aims at revealing the needs and possibilities
for development in an activity, not in relation
to a given standard or objective, but by jointly
constructing
the
zone
of
proximal
development of this activity.
The cycles of expansive learning
The process usually comprises seven steps
(Fig. 5) that can be described as follows:
Steps 1 & 2: analysis of the current situation
•
•
•
to question one’s current activity by
jointly
analyzing
problematic
situations in it;
to analyze the systemic and historical
causes of the problems identified;
to
reveal
and
model
inner
contradictions of the systemic
structure of the activity causing the
problems
Steps 3 & 4: transforming the model
•
•
•
•
to represent the systemic structure of
the activity,
to find a new form for the activity that
would resolve in an expansive way the
inner incompatibilities between its
components;
to find a new interpretation of the
purpose of the activity (object) and a
new logic of organizing it,
to create a new activity model
At this stage, the definition of a plan of action
can use objectives-oriented project planning
approaches,
encouraging
participatory
planning engaging grass root practioners and
stakeholders together throughout the project
cycle. The technique requires to build team
( 91 )
commitment and capacity, to set priorities
and plan for implementation and monitoring.
The main output of this step is a project
planning matrix, which stakeholders and
practitioners built together
•
Steps 6 & 7 : reflecting on the new practice,
consolidating it, spreading it
•
•
Step 5 • implementing the new model
•
to initiate the transformation of
practice
by
designing
and
implementing new tools and solutions
to implement and test the new model
(e.g. what changes do we try next
month ? putting first steps into
practice, pushing the next steps)
to teach others what has been learned
to codify the new rules etc
The Change Laboratory (CL)
A
condensed
way
to
carry
out
Developemental
Work
Research
and
implement the cycles of expansive learning
was developed in the context of change labs
(Fig. 6).
The typical form of Change
Laboratory (CL) relies on the physical
attendance of the community to participate in
the reflexive activity described above in a
dedicated physical space.
It provides
practitioners with a wide variety of
instruments for analyzing disturbances and
bottlenecks in the prevailing work practices. It
allows for constructing new models and tools,
and for putting them on trial; it is also a forum
for the cooperation between expert
interventionists and local practitioners.
During the lab sessions, practitioners take
momentarily distance from their individual
tasks and routine. Their joint activity becomes
the object of their collaborative inquiry and
developmental experimentation. Participants
usually meet during work hours, once every
one/two weeks, or even every afternoon, in
the context of an intensive workshop. Based
on the ethnographic analysis of the current
practices (mirror) and the contradictions they
have to face, the CL focuses on producing a
new model of activity that defines a Zone of
( 92 )
Proximal Development for the group. This
ZPD is the distance between present actions
of the individuals and the new form of group
activity collectively generated as a solution to
contradictory
constraints
(double-bind)
potentially embedded in their everyday
actions. That ZPD becomes the conceptual
space where the group can expand the object
of its activity, to produce eventually a new
object. When put on trial, the new model is
evaluated by the group by means of reflective
tools (mirroring diagrams, video, diaries, etc),
so that it can be questioned, bent and
improved.
The CL framework is relatively easy to
transpose in the virtual world of e-learning.
Computer-mediated activity has the ability to
mirror itself and to support reflective practice,
quality assurance mechanism and selfevaluation process over a distributed network.
The Distributed Change Labs (DCL) is an
example of an educational portal supporting
online pedagogical scenarios to scaffold the
process of “writing for learning” and “writing
about one’s own learning, activity and
progress” in view of fostering the emergence
of social learning communities.
The DCL, online developmental
work with distributed communities
the fly a working memory of a project on
which participants can reflect and value-add
with additional solutions (Schneider &
Synteta, 2003). In a blended-mode approach
of learning and teaching mixing face-to-face
encounters to online groupwork and taking
full advantage of the possibilities of ICT
networks, the DCL implements the cyclic
process of expansive learning through a set of
reflexive communication tools, providing a
virtual space in which a community spread
The Distributed Change Laboratory (DCL) is
an internet portal that can be described as a
Community, Content and Collaboration
Management System (C3MS), offering a
modular environment for configuring the
interaction of a distributed community.
Moreover, the DCL provides reflexion
capture mechanisms that allow to create on
( 93 )
over a wide area can however maintain
informality and build trust across distance,
share ideas and projects across different
organizational
units,
honor
different
organizational cultures and build support
allowing local variations while linking to a
larger structure (Wenger, Mc Dermott &
Snyder, 2002). It offers a space for interaction
between learners and professionals, giving
learners the proactive role of bringing in
authentic problem situations, to be submitted
to collective reflexion and discussion for the
benefit of the whole group. The DCL
proposes an environment in which learners
are engaged in contextualised and situated
learning, peer-to-peer collaboration, and
learning by writing that includes reflexion and
introspective inquiry about one’s own
learning. Meanwhile, the DCL allows to
mutualise resources in contexts where experts
are usually scarce.
DCLs have been implemented in different
contexts by the VCILT to support online
learning communities3. In particular, DCL
tools are very useuful when pursuing changelaboratory
interventions
in
remote
communities without direct support from
more experienced interventionists. It facilitate
various aspects of change management as in
the
Knowledge-Practices
Laboratory4
(Hakkarainen et al., 2004) or in several
Distributed Change Lab projects (Senteni et
al., 2005a)
3 An example of DCL in social work entitled FAIRE (social
work) can be consulted on http://vcampus.uom.ac.mu/faire/,
another one is currently in use for teachers training in the
context of a SADC project.
4 The European Community’s Knowledge-Practices
Laboratory (KP-Lab) project is coordinated by
Hakkarainen’s research centre at the University of Helsinki.
It is a large integrated European project (11.2 million euro,
Information Society Technologies program, Technology
In conclusion, some reflexions on the
change process
Effective e-learning integration cannot rely
only on technology-driven investment, it also
Enhanced learning call) that involves 16 European countries
and 22 organizations (2006-2010). The project will produce
a modular, flexible and extensible system consisting of a
cluster of inter-operable applications (i.e., shared
collaborative spaces, semantic web knowledge services,
communication platforms, ubiquitous user agents, interinstitutional access) which organize participants’
collaborative activity around shared knowledge artefacts.
( 94 )
involves physical and virtual spaces for
expansion, (re-)negotiation and change of
obsolete unefficient process. Blended
approaches using physical and virtual change
labs can provide collegial support informal
mechanisms to plan and monitor the
implementation of new activities., foster
empowerment, progress and quality. This is
the purpose of transformative pedagogies to
address the effectiveness of changes: ICTs are
efficient artifacts for crossing boundaries
between strategies of instruction on the one
hand, and management of sustainable
transformations on the other, if and only if
their integration is pro-actively supported by
conceptual artifacts for crossing boundaries
between strategies of instruction on the one
hand, and management of sustainable
transformations on the other. This is what
innovation is about.
The concept of innovation is reserved to
structural long-lasting transformations of an
activity system whether in a complex
organization in a group or an individual
(Gather-Thurler, Perrenoud, 2003). Change
and innovation are ongoing long-term
processes rather than instantaneous events.
Change requires ongoing support and
resources and it takes time. Most changes in
education take three to five years to be
implemented at a high level. Failure to
address key aspects of the change process can
either add years to, or even prevent,
successful implementation. Change occurs in
individuals first, then in organizations. But
individual change is difficult if the
organization is not explicitly supportive of the
change.
An effective capacity building framework is a
combination of structural and individual
reflective practices, relying on pro-active
implementation of new change management
structures (e.g. change labs, DCL, etc) that
combine grass root level and stakeholders
activities. The challenge of global knowledge
communities is threefold, regarding abilities:
• to find new solutions to educational
problems within a global and
increasingly knowledge based context.
• to develop interpersonal relations
transcending
the
limits
of
institutionalised social fields.
to support the active formation of identities
that can reflect on pedagogical/institutional
discourses, from the individual to the
community, from the local to the global.
Such devoted spaces as the DCL are needed
to provide space and organizational structure
combining flexibility, cohesion and retaining
the ability of the organization to act as a
unified whole in pursuit of a single strategy.
( 95 )
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( 98 )
Innovations in Defining, Designing and Delivering Online Corporate
Trining Programs: A Case Study
Kanishka Bedi
Universitas 21 Global
Abstract
Online education has provided new avenues
for corporations to train their employees in
enhancing skills without losing out on
valuable productive time, hitherto a
prerequisite in the conventional face-to-face
training. However, unique contextual
requirements of corporate clients put
immense pressure upon training providers to
continually innovate in terms of defining,
designing and delivering such customized
programmes (Macpherson et al, 2004, 2005).
This case study details out how digital
storytelling,
programme-specific
Wiki,
Vodcasts and many more innovations resulted
in an authentic, engaging and constructivist
online training programme for a major
petrochemical corporation in India and how
the same model can be replicated in the
Middle East.
Introduction
More and more corporations world-wide are
recognizing the critical importance of training
and development (T&D) not only in
grooming their employees, but also in
retaining them. In the highly competitive
market sphere, where organizations do not
hesitate to ‘poach’ employees from their
competitors, T&D plays a major role in
underlining the value system of the
organization before the employees. Today’s
professionals do not look only at the pay
package, perks and other benefits offered by
an organization, but also at the long-term
professional
growth
offered
by
an
organization by way of continual T&D
through a well-planned strategy.
Under this unprecedented competitive
scenario, the role of T&D personnel is also
witnessing a radical change. In a crossnational study conducted by Yadapadithaya &
Stewart (2003), ‘delivering training’ was an
important function of T&D for about 37% of
the Indian and British companies surveyed,
highlighting the trend of training departments
acting as ‘strategic advisors’ or ‘internal
consultants’ to outside training partners rather
than themselves acting as ‘front-line
deliverers of training programmes’. Thus,
their role is shifting more towards performing
a training needs-analysis for various
categories of employees before having liaison
with training providers to mutually define and
design a customized training programme,
while closely matching the skill-development
requirements of employees. The burgeoning
online corporate training requirements of
corporations worldwide have resulted in them
creating numerous strategic alliances with
major universities and e-learning provider
companies, and in the creation of corporate
universities (Clarke & Hermens, 2001).
Corporations are also becoming more open to
experiment with and deploy contemporary
training delivery methods like online training,
in conjunction with the conventional face-toface training. A major factor in favor of
online training is the reduction of various
ancillary costs, particularly the travel costs.
Hambrecht & Co, (2000, pp. 3-4) found that
companies spend about two-thirds of the
training budget as employee travel expense to
( 99 )
distant traditional training centers. General
Electric Medicals now uses online training to
demonstrate the tools and usage of its X-Ray
and MRI machines to its worldwide
customers, thus saving on high business travel
cost of bringing such customers to specific
locations where these machines are physically
installed (Jenson, 2006). BAE Systems has
saved millions of pounds by using tutor-led
online learning to train its engineers with the
help of Cranfield University, University of
Southampton and University College London
(Pollitt, 2005). Singapore’s leading telecom
company, Singtel saved about one million
Singapore dollars in direct training costs by
converting 30 days of traditional classroom
training to its customer service officers into
150 hours of online learning while ensuring
minimal disruptions to their productive work.
Similarly, in Nokia’s Singapore office, its
Asia-Pacific regional manager drastically
reduced his travel costs to various countries to
train the account managers and channel
partners by leveraging e-learning and thus,
reducing two days of face-to-face training to a
single day (Igonor and Tang, 2003).
Another major advantage of online training
over conventional training methods is the ease
of creating online communities of practice
whereby people with the same interests come
together in groups on a regular basis (Wenger,
1998). Therefore, there is a great opportunity
to capture the tacit knowledge of
geographically dispersed employees sharing
similar interests. Hsiao, Kuo & Chu (2006)
suggest that technology mediated learning
(TML) design should begin with learning
context rather than technology, instructional
method or learner characteristics alone. They
demonstrate how situated-learning model
with communities of practice in TML resulted
in better learning outcomes for after-salesservice technicians of Sony Corporation
located in geographically dispersed locations
like Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan and
Australia. According to Barsamian (2005), the
employees forming the communities of
practice in online training programmes should
not be explicitly observed by corporations, to
allow them freedom of expression and
construction of new knowledge. Otherwise,
they may feel threatened and may not
contribute for fear of negative impact upon
their jobs.
There is considerable body of research on the
learning design aspect of online training
programmes for corporations. Newton, Hase
and Ellis (2002) identified six factors as
important in the effective implementation of
online learning in Queensland mining
industry: external influences, organizational
culture, organizational structures, training
environment, learner’s needs and the online
learning environment. Taran (2006) proposed
the use of rapid e-learning (Jimenez, 2005)
design in a large telecommunications
company for synchronous online training by
enabling subject matter experts to reduce
training development time and deliver
workshops
online
while
maintaining
acceptable quality of instruction. Barnes &
Blackwell
(2004)
present
useful
recommendations for online business courses
and online corporate training, particularly that
online classes should be predominantly if not
totally asynchronous in nature with the
instructor playing active role as a developer,
facilitator, tracker and coach. The training
design, however, varies from organization to
organization on the basis of the uniqueness of
their industry and other factors. IBM has
created an e-learning infrastructure by
deploying Lotus Notes and virtual spaces for
social networking to enable employees in
exchanging ideas online and to facilitate peerto-peer learning (Weinstein, 2007). Brewing
giant Heineken partnered with Thomson
NETg to use Cardeen University Quantum
course suites for instructor-led online learning
blended with face-to-face instruction at their
( 100 )
Amsterdam training center (Pollitt, 2004).
Comacchio & Scapolan (2004) performed an
exploratory study of Italian banking and
pharmaceutical industry regarding the
adoption of e-learning. They found that elearning is more diffused and advanced in the
banking sector due to more factors inducing
institutional and competitive pressures.
Pietrykowski (2001) notes that corporations
are least interested in extended study to
culminate in an academic degree for its
employees, but in providing “just-in-time”
skill development by using need-specific
modules through asynchronous learning,
detached from fixed time schedules followed
in regular degree programmes.
Typically, any change is often opposed by
employees and so is the case with online
training and development. However, the
scenario is changing fast as more and more
organizations are embracing online training
due to the immense benefits offered by it.
Berge (2002) reports the findings of a survey
conducted on business and corporate
respondents that the overall number and
intensity of barriers towards distance
education reduce as the organization matures
in terms of distance education competency as
a whole. Slotte and Herbert (2006) present a
case of Valio, a large dairy products company
based in Finland and report that participants
learning online gained similar or slightly
better learning outcomes, while earning the
certificate in lesser time than those who used
the print material. Businesses today are driven
by information technology and online T&D
gels well with this lifestyle of the employees.
It must be recognized that despite all the
strides made in creating leading-edge online
T&D programmes, there is scope for
innovations in making such programmes
much more authentic, engaging and
interesting. Unique contextual requirements
of corporate clients put immense pressure
upon training providers to continually
innovate in terms of defining, designing and
delivering such customized programmes
(Macpherson et al, 2004, 2005). New
technologies offer opportunities of knowledge
management within organizations, which
were hitherto grappling with fruitful
implementation of these concepts. In this case
study, innovations in defining, designing and
delivering online training programme in a
major petrochemical corporation in India are
highlighted. These innovations are not radical,
but are incremental in nature and are helpful
in refining the approaches of training
providers in online training design and
delivery.
Defining, Designing and Delivering
Online Training Programs
Indian Oil Corporation Limited is currently
India's largest company by sales with a
turnover of Rs. 220,779 crore (US $51
billion), the highest-ever for an Indian
company, and profits of Rs. 7499 crore (US
$1.73 billion) for fiscal 2006. IOCL is also
the highest ranked Indian company in the
prestigious Fortune 'Global 500' listing, at the
135th position based upon its performance in
2006. It is also the 20th largest
petrochemicals company in the world.
IOCL has been handling several mega
projects over the past decades. These projects
can be broadly categorized into refinery
projects, pipeline projects and marketing
projects. During early 2006, Universitas 21
Global (U21Global), the world’s premier
online business school and IndianOil Institute
of Petroleum Management (iIPM) started
exploring together the possibility of creating a
customized online programme for IOCL
executives. The IOCL executives are based at
various locations through out the country and
many of them are working on some mega
projects. Displacing them from these projects
( 101 )
conducted by the faculty at the iIPM
campus. This would provide the
opportunity to the participants to
clarify any doubts in the online course,
in addition to more inputs from the
faculty. In addition, a four-day faceto-face session was desired by them in
Singapore, to be conducted by
U21Global and NUS (National
University of Singapore) faculty. This,
according to them, was imperative to
provide a global perspective on project
management to the participants. A
course in which most (80% or more)
or all content is delivered online is
categorized as “Online”, while a
course with 79% or less content
delivered online (and the rest in
traditional face-to-face mode) is
termed as “Blended” (Allen et al.,
2007). It was ensured that the face-toface component in this training
programme was kept to a minimum
(less than 20%) to retain the “online”
flavor of the programme.
4. In order to provide insights to the
participants about the industry specific
project management issues, it was
suggested by IOCL that the existing
case studies in the online content be
replaced by cases with the context
specific to the oil, petrochemical and
gas industry.
to attend long-term conventional face-to-face
training programme can become detrimental
to the future of projects. Thus, IOCL
understood the importance of bringing these
executives on a common online platform to
share their best practices and experiences with
fellow peers under the guidance of a faculty
member. Some of the senior managers of
IOCL were apprehensive about the outcomes
of this “online” approach to training. Few
weeks were spent by the faculty of U21Global
and HR officials of iIPM to mutually define
the requirements of the training programme.
In this process, the standard course outline of
701 Project Management Methods of the
MBA programme of U21Global was provided
to IOCL. Several round of discussions
between IOCL and U21Global resulted into
the following changes desired by IOCL into
the 701 curriculum:
1. Keeping in view that the participants
of the programme would be
undergoing an online programme of
this sort for the first time ever, a twodays face-to-face orientation would be
required to be provided by the faculty
at the iIPM campus in Gurgaon. This
would be helpful for making the
participants aware of the online
pedagogy and features of the learning
management system (LMS) used in
the online class of U21Global.
2. Reviewers of the online content from
IOCL found that there was
requirement to add certain topics
relevant to their needs of IOCL in the
existing online content. These topics
were:
environmental
impact
assessment, project viability, field
engineering, project organogram and
managing outsourcing.
3. It was insisted upon by the IOCL HR
personnel that a two-day face-to-face
session be incorporated during the
mid-term of the programme to be
Till that time, U21Global had provided purely
online training programmes to its corporate
clients like Satyam Computer Services and
HPCL (another Indian PSU in the oil,
petrochemical and gas sector). For Satyam, it
had created a customized programme for
global business leadership. However, upon
understanding the unique requirements of
IOCL, it was agreed to incorporate the faceto-face sessions, industry specific case studies
and new topics as suggested by them. Out of
these new topics suggested, a module from
( 102 )
another course on “Outsourcing” in the MBA
programme of U21Global was utilized in the
701 courseware. The remaining topics were
authored by the U21Global faculty and were
supplemented with articles from the research
databases available in the U21Global elibrary.
The Innovations
Digital Storytelling
Dana Atchley brought the art of digital
storytelling to the limelight and to the domain
of the business world. His clients included
Coca-Cola, EDS, Adobe, Silicon Graphics
and many others. In the words of the Atchley
himself, ‘...digital storytelling combines the
best of two worlds: the ‘new world’ of
digitised video, photography and art, and the
‘old world’ of telling stories’ (Reynolds
2005).
During early 2006, digital storytelling was
experimented with at U21Global for creating
multimedia introduction of faculty members,
to be provided to students in the regular MBA
classes (Williams, Bedi & Goldberg, 2006).
Microsoft PowerPoint was used as the
medium for creation of digital story
introduction by professors. The core faculty
members of U21Global were given one-day
training through Elluminate about the digital
storytelling skills, which included adding
pictures/ photographs to the slides and
recording narration in the background. It was
found that such an introduction helped the
students in getting connected to the professor
in a better way. Early feedback from students
suggested that listening to and telling ‘true
stories’ was a compelling and emotionallyengaging
experience,
providing
an
opportunity for ‘transformative reflection’
(Lambert, 2000). Encouraged by this positive
result, students in the first batch (started
during mid-2006) of IOCL Hybrid
Programme in Project Management were
encouraged to submit their team assignments
in the digital storytelling format. It was found
that most student teams successfully
submitted their TA in this format, however
some faced problems in using the file
compression
software
(Impatica
for
PowerPoint) or such compressed files did not
open properly at the professor’s end or the
students could upload such files into the LMS
with great difficulty. The experiment was
repeated in a regular MBA section during
early 2007, but such problems seemed to
persist (Williams & Bedi, 2007).
The IT department at U21Global was made
aware of the problem and they developed a
large file upload system accessible through a
link on the organizer page of the LMS. This
upload system was made available to the
students of the IOCL batch 2 which started
during May, 2007. Thus, using this system the
students could directly upload the large digital
storytelling assignment files up to 50MB in
size into the LMS. The students of this batch
had both the options for uploading, that is,
could use the file compression software
(Impatica) before uploading the vastly
reduced file size normally as an attachment to
a discussion board posting or could directly
upload the uncompressed file using the large
file upload system.
It was observed that out of the ten teams in
this class, one team experienced difficulty in
uploading files through the large file upload
system. This was primarily because this team
failed to restrict the file size to the maximum
limit of 50 MB. On a positive note, all the
teams submitted the TA in the digital
storytelling format and some of the
submissions were indeed exemplary.
The experiment provided a means to the
students to express their views in a
multimedia format rather than the usual plain
text-based format. A survey was conducted to
know the various facets of the student’s
( 103 )
experiences of using digital storytelling as a
vehicle of assignment submission.
Program-specific Wiki
'Wiki' is the Hawaiian word for 'quick'. The
first Wiki was developed by Ward
Cunningham in 1995, as the Portland Pattern
Repository, to communicate specifications for
software design. A Wiki is a set of linked web
pages, created through the incremental
development by a group of collaborating
users (Leuf and Cunningham, 1999), and the
software used to manage the set of web pages.
Entire projects are being drafted, designed,
edited and coordinated by teams through the
use of a wiki, where the observable principle
allows visitors to view, contribute and
collaborate at much faster rates through
virtual real-time conversations (Dickerson,
2004).
The genesis of experimenting with Wiki in a
corporate class at U21Global can be traced to
the requests from many corporate clients
about case studies to be incorporated in the
online classes, very specific to their unique
requirements. The best of case study and
research databases could not yield such case
studies. Therefore, it was decided to
experiment with the Wiki to create such case
studies by using the participants in corporate
classes themselves. It was reckoned that many
of these participants in the corporate classes
are experts in their own right and had
accumulated tacit knowledge over the years,
which can be captured using the Wiki.
MediaWiki was used to create this
programme-specific Wiki for the IOCL batch
2. The students were given a demo on the use
and tools of Wiki by the professor during the
mid-term face-to-face sessions. In addition,
scaffolding was provided to the students by
providing them with a document having
screenshots explaining the use of various
tools of Wiki. The students were informed to
use the Wiki for their final project
assignment, which was team-based. The
students were allowed to form the teams
themselves according to the common projects
they might have worked upon at IOCL and
also, to choose the project themselves. Ten
teams were formed, with some of the teams
opting to work on more than one project
simultaneously. Figure 1 shows the
screenshot of the main page of the Wiki with
the list of various projects chosen by the final
project (FP) groups. About a month’s time
was provided to the groups to complete the
final project assignment using the Wiki. A
basic framework as under was provided to the
groups to develop their respective Wiki
pages:
• Background
• Major activities in the project
• The project plan
• Challenges
faced
during
the
implementation of the project
• Ways in which the above challenges
were overcome
• Key learning(s) taken by IOCL/ you
from this project for use in future
projects at IOCL
• Conclusions
( 104 )
Figure 1: Main page of the programme-specific Wiki with the list of projects
The final projects developed by the FP groups
on the Wiki provided great insights about the
past projects of IOCL, the challenges faced
and the learnings taken thereof. Figure 2
shows an overview of the content provided by
one of the FP groups on their Wiki project
page. A survey was conducted on the
participants to know about their experience of
using the Wiki for their final project.
Figure 2: Overview of the content provided by one of the FP groups on the Wiki
Vodcasting
( 105 )
Vodcasting is fast becoming a viable option
for providing a multi-media rich learning
experience to online learners. The easy
availability of broad-band internet in major
cities across the globe has made sharing of
video files feasible for learning purposes.
According to Arbaugh (2001), in the near
future the immediacy construct (between the
professor and online learners) may be
broadened to include nonverbal behaviours
for
web-based
courses
as
full
motion/streaming video becomes more
technologically feasible.
Vodcasting was used in the IOCL batch 2 by
the professor to make generic announcements
and for providing feedback to the students.
Figure 3 shows the screenshot of one such
announcement made by the professor. The
time duration of the vodcasts was kept
somewhere between 2 to 4 minutes to keep
the file sizes manageable. Initially, YouTube
was used to provide the vodcasts to the
students through a link in the LMS. However,
it was found that for such a link to work in the
LMS, the video has to be made accessible to
the public at large. Thus, the privacy of the
feedback to the students in the class was
hampered due to this public access. In
addition, due to the common threading of
other vodcasts of the professor (meant for
other classes), the students of one section
could see the vodcasts meant for other
sections. In order to tackle this issue, an
internal system was developed within the
large file upload system using HipCast, to
upload the videos on the servers of
U21Global to be accessible only to the
relevant classes.
Figure 3: Vodcast announcement made in the IOCL class
The initial vodcast announcements were
difficult to record as the professor had to do
the recording impromptu in one stretch. Later,
the quality and ease of recording of vodcasts
was increased by using the Windows Movie
Maker. Using this software, the recorded
vodcasts could be edited easily with the
provision for mixing a background score and
adding titles to the portions of the video.
( 106 )
The informal subjective feedback of the
students supported the value of such vodcast
announcements in the class.
Skype Communication
The WebCT LMS has an inbuilt chat tool to
allow real-time synchronous interaction
between the faculty and students. However,
this text-based interaction is possible only
between people who are logged on to the
LMS at a given point in time.
In the IOCL batch 2, the professor
experimented with the use of Skype as a
supplementary tool to communicate with the
students. The advantage Skype offers over the
WebCT chat tool is the facility of
teleconferencing
as
well
as
videoconferencing. Also, people appear
online in Skype as soon as they start their
computer machines. Thus, they become
available for interaction without logging into
the LMS. However, there is a big possibility
of the professor being swamped with Skype
calls from the students at any point in time. In
order to circumvent this problem in the IOCL
section, the professor laid some ground rules
for the use of Skype. It was emphasized to the
students not to initiate a Skype call as a
telecon or a video call, but as a text chat. This
way, the professor would have the
opportunity of interacting with more than one
student at the same time. The text-based
interaction ensures that the students would be
more precise in “keying-in” their issues
compared to a telecon or a video call. The
students were advised to use telecon and
video call facilities in Skype only during times
of great urgency.
It was found that the use of Skype under these
“controlled” conditions was manageable by
the professor and also, it resulted in great
satisfaction on part of students to be aware
that their professor is within their easy reach
most of the time. This resulted in giving a
message to the corporate clients that in online
training, the professor is much more easily
“accessible” for real-time interaction than the
conventional face-to-face settings. The
subjective informal feedback from the
students substantiated these results.
The Survey Findings
In order to gauge the effectiveness of the
innovations introduced in the IOCL sections,
a survey instrument was designed and
executed on the students. The survey
instrument focused upon the digital
storytelling and Wiki interventions. Out of the
50 students in the class, 24 students
responded to the survey. The findings of the
survey are shown in table 1.
( 107 )
S. No.
Statement
SD
D
1.
The introduction of the professor in digital story format helped me to get to
know him better compared to the usual text-based/ face-to-face introduction.
0
0
N
A
Percentages
12
44
2.
The download and viewing of the digital story introduction of the
professor was a straightforward process.
The introduction of the professor in digital story format has improved
the learning environment for me.
The opportunity to submit the Team Assignments in digital storytelling
format was a good idea.
Deciding what information to include in the digital story was a
straightforward process.
The submission of the Team Assignments in digital storytelling format
improved the learning outcomes from this subject.
The submission of the Team Assignments in digital storytelling format
improved this type of presentation skill, which is highly sought in the
business world today.
I was integrally involved in the creation of digital story for my Team
Assignments.
I would feel comfortable submitting my OBOW (Open Book Open
Web) exam in this format.
0
4
8
52
36
0
0
0
12
68
20
0
4
0
0
20
76
0
4.2
29.2
12.5
41.7
12.5
0
0
0
8
44
48
0
0
4
0
24
72
0
0
0
0
20
80
0
8
16
12
20
40
4
10.
Creating the MS PowerPoint slides for the digital story was a straightforward
process.
0
8.3
12.5
41.7
37.5
0
11.
Finding the relevant images from the web for the digital story was a
Recording the narration in the background for the digital story was a
The file size of the completed digital story meant uploading via the
´Student upload site´ and this was manageable.
Overall, the creation of the digital story for assignment submission was
a relatively straightforward process.
The “Creating Digital Stories: Principles and Practice” presentation was
helpful in creating the digital story team assignment.
The “Digital Story FAQs” presentation was helpful in creating the
digital story team assignment.
Digital storytelling should be a feature of all U21Global subjects for
introductions by professors and students.
Digital storytelling should be a feature of all U21Global subjects for at
least one assignment.
4.2
12.5
16.7
54.2
12.5
0
4.2
16.7
12.5
37.5
29.2
0
4.2
16.7
25
33.3
20.8
0
0
12.5
16.7
58.3
12.5
0
0
0
8.3
54.2
37.5
0
0
0
16.7
54.2
29.2
0
0
0
8.3
33.3
58.3
0
0
4.3
4.3
43.5
47.8
0
Digital Storytelling
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
SA
NA
44
0
Wiki
19.
Wiki is better compared to the online discussion board for creating
organization specific case studies.
0
8.3
20.8
37.5
33.3
0
20.
The instruction documents provided by the professor regarding the use of Wiki
were useful.
0
4.2
4.2
50
41.7
0
21.
22.
23.
24.
The editing tools in Wiki are simple to use.
It was easy to insert pictures/ images on the Wiki pages.
Wiki is an effective tool for group learning.
4.3
0
0
20.8
4.3
8.3
0
45.8
13
20.8
4.2
12.5
39.1
50
45.8
16.7
39.1
20.8
50
4.2
0
0
0
0
0
8.3
16.7
50
20.8
4.2
0
25
4.2
45.8
25
0
25.
26.
27.
It was difficult to coordinate with the team members for adding information to
the project on the Wiki.
I often used the “History tool” (to compare previous versions) in the Wiki to see
the latest changes incorporated by my team members.
My team members communicated with each other through emails/ phone/ chats
before adding any new information on the Wiki project.
The case studies of IOCL projects created on the Wiki would be useful 0
0
0
16.7 83.3 0
as knowledge objects to other IOCL executives.
Legend used: SD – Strongly Disagree; D – Disagree; N – Neutral; A – Agree; SA – Strongly Agree; NA – Not Applicable
( 108 )
The data relating to digital storytelling and
Wiki in table 1 provides some insights about
the issues related to these innovations in the
IOCL section. Firstly, we focus upon the
negative indicators with significant proportion
of responses as “Strongly disagree” and
“Disagree”.
It is evident that quite a large proportion of
students did not find deciding about the
information to be included, finding relevant
images from the web and recording the
narration in the background of the digital
story a straightforward process. A significant
proportion of students faced problems with
the large file sizes and the upload system.
Many of them shared that they would not feel
comfortable submitting the Open Book Open
Web (OBOW) final exam in this format.
There were some students who did not find
the editing tools of Wiki easy to use, while a
large majority found it difficult to coordinate
with the team members for adding
information to the project on the Wiki. It is
noteworthy that a large proportion did not
communicate with their team members
through email, phone or online chats before
adding any new information on the Wiki.
These issues require further investigation to
know if this lack of communication between
student team members through other tools
before sharing ideas on the Wiki is indicative
about self-efficacy of Wiki as a collaborative
tool. However, there seems to be some
contradiction on this due to the survey
findings about large majority of students
finding it difficult to coordinate with the team
members through Wiki.
Overall, the survey findings (see the data
highlighted with blue) support the utility of
both these innovations in improving the
learning environment, skill development and
knowledge construction.
Future Directions and Scope for
Replication of this Training Model in
the Middle East
In order to make the digital storytelling
process more user friendly, the author is
currently experimenting with Photo Story 3 as
a substitute for MS PowerPoint. This software
has been used by some researchers (Jenkins &
Lonsdale, 2007), who advocate its ease of use
and smaller file sizes compared to Microsoft
PowerPoint. Similarly, the MediaWiki used
for creating the IOCL Wiki was not
configured to have the “Undo” or “Reverse”
feature commonly found in applications like
the Wikipedia. This might have posed
challenges for the team members to reverse to
an earlier version of the content promptly and
might be the reason for difficulty in team
coordination. The innovations done in the
IOCL section are still to be tested for large
scale implementation in the other corporate
sections and regular MBA sections of
U21Global. Hence, future research would
focus upon this dimensions.
These innovations in online training model
appear to be easily replicable in the Middle
East. The key issues to be taken note of in this
regard are:
• Online training providers need to be
flexible in blending their online
training programmes with a suitable
proportion of face-to-face teaching in
order
to
make
the
students
comfortable with the online pedagogy
and the LMS, in addition to making
them feel more “connected” to the
“human”
professor.
However,
contemporary
software
like
Elluminate or Interwise may help in
avoiding the travel costs and other
expenses of physically bringing the
students and faculty at a particular
location. These online real-time
“webinars” can be a good substitute to
the face-to-face teaching. In the
( 109 )
•
Middle East, where the online training
is yet to catch up in a big way, this
blending of online training with some
face-to-face sessions is imperative to
dissuade any initial inhibitions of the
potential clients about “purely online”
learning.
The training providers must have a
qualified and experienced team of
faculty to understand and define the
unique training requirements of the
client and then, promptly “customize”
the online course content as per these
requirements.
The
level
of
customization should preferably be
confined to the choice of case studies
relevant to the client’s industry, while
keeping the online content more or
( 110 )
•
•
less unchanged to keep the
customization costs under check.
Programme-specific Wiki can be used
as a powerful medium for the
development of organization-specific
case studies, which may serve as
knowledge objects for whole of the
organization.
Innovations like digital storytelling,
vodcasts and Skype communication
help in making the online training
programmes much more engaging,
interesting and authentic in addition to
helping in knowledge construction
through the constructivist pedagogy
adaption.
Conclusions
In today’s networked world, the T&D
function of organizations is changing
radically to include a strategic focus.
Organizations are embracing contemporary
ways of defining, designing and delivering
training programmes. Online T&D is fast
becoming a favored mode of delivery.
However, it is critical to define, design and
deliver the online training programmes such
that the learning outcomes are closely linked
to the expectations and professional growth of
employees.
In this case study, incremental innovations in
the use of digital storytelling, programmespecific Wiki, vodcasting and Skype
communication are highlighted for creating an
authentic, engaging and constructivist training
programme for a large petrochemical
organization in India. The survey conducted
on the students of this online corporate class
revealed that digital storytelling and Wiki
received an overwhelming positive response,
while qualitative feedback on the use of
vodcasting and Skype communication also
reinforced the utility of these tools in modern
T&D programmes. The case study also
highlighted the challenges faced in
incorporating these innovations in the
customized online programme created for a
large petrochemical organization in India and
scope for further improvisations in refining
such innovations in the times to come.
There is great scope for replicating these
innovations in online T&D programmes in the
Middle East. However, the training providers
should offer enough flexibility in terms of
blending the online programmes with a
judicious mix of online with face-to-face
training and customization of the content
according to the unique requirements of the
organizations. The innovations highlighted in
this case study would be helpful in dissuading
any myths about online T&D and would pave
the way for making online T&D a preferred
mode of training in organizations operating in
the Middle East.
( 111 )
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( 113 )
Emerging Technologies for Powerful Learning: The Role of
Aesthetically Driven Instructional Design
Brent G. Wilson
University of Colorado Denver
Abstract
Objective: The objective is to present an
approach that addresses the learners’
immediate and constructed experience, and
report on projects consistent with that
approach – including use of a variety of
interactive-web tools in the teaching of
children and adults.
Issues: Instructional design traditionally
focuses on behavioral learning objectives and
research-based instructional strategies. We
advocate an alternative targeting of students’
learning experience, leading to new emphasis
on: dramatic pacing; richness of media
encounters; learning engagement; student
invitation to buy in and participate; and
authentic sharing and problem solving.
Examples use a variety of new-media
technologies, including wikis, weblogs, social
sites, and audio/video podcasts.
Introduction
The field of educational technology ascended
in the early and mid 20th century during an
era when behaviorism and positivism
dominated much educational thought –
particularly in the United States but also
extending to other areas of the world. Those
origins have led to a continuing close
connection with educational psychology,
which currently has turned toward
cognitivism. Thus two dominant disciplinary
influences for the practice of educational
technology are:
An efficiency model of objective curriculum
and assessment, with roots in behaviorism and
positivism
Psychology with an emphasis on whatever
mode of thinking is dominant at the time
Close ties to this objective model of humans
and their relations to technology leads to a
conflict as technology becomes more
completely diffused throughout our lives. As
we plainly witness increasingly imaginative
uses of technology for entertainment,
communication, and social spaces, the
ideological disconnect becomes stark. Put
simply, are we to think of technology in
education as an open invitation to imagination
and engagement – or as a means of delivering
pre-defined performance objectives in a
controlled curriculum?
Educational technologists are beginning to
wrestle with this question, but we are only at
beginning stages of the conversation. In this
paper we briefly outline an alternative view of
technology’s role in leading students toward
powerful learning experiences – achieving
something with the technology that transcends
common school learning – and in the process
helping students engage in a transformation of
how they see themselves as learners and
participants in the world.
The Ambition of Instructional
Design
Instructional design and technology has
conventionally thought about learning
outcomes in terms of:
( 114 )
•
•
•
Effectiveness – Did students learn and
master the established objectives of
the course?
Efficiency – Was the learning achieved
with reasonable expenditure of
resources, particularly time and
money?
Appeal – Did students find the
instruction attractive and satisfying?
By contrast, an imaginative use of technology
would acknowledged these technical needs,
but would look for an expanded set of
learning outcomes, including:
• Engagement
–
Were
students
meaningfully engaged and challenged
by instruction?
• Social Ties – Were students connected
with others in a way that opened up
further learning opportunities? Did
they collaborate constructively to
build their understandings and
accomplish something useful?
• Immersion – Did they become
immersed in relevant and purposeful
activity as they responded to the
challenge?
• Reflection – Did instruction prompt
reflective thinking about the learner’s
role and awareness?
• Transformation – Did the experience
leave the learner with a heightened
sense of self, of developing roles or
interests or ambitions?
Seen this way, the added value of technology
comes in its capacity to spark imagination,
immerse learners in a constructive experience,
and help them change how they see
themselves as problem solvers and designers
of projects. Moreover, imaginative uses of
technology need not be exceptional, highly
innovative projects from externally funded or
unusually gifted educators. We believer every
teacher can adopt more activities that deeply
engage learners and eventually help learners
come to think of themselves in new ways.
Wilson,
Switzer,
Parrish,
and
Balasubramanian (2006) examining the
construct
of
transformative
learning
experiences, and differentiated two senses of
learner experience:
• Immediate experience – How the
learner apprehends in real time the
encounter with the world, with texts,
and with other people
• Constructed experience – How the
learner comes to interpret that
immediate experience and, in some
cases, develops a story that accounts
for that experience and relates to self
and one’s place in the world
An early step toward transformative learning
is for learners to appreciate the importance of
an experience and develop a narrative or story
following a generic form:
Where I Started -> What I Did -> Where I
Ended Up and
How It Changed Me
Or
I Encountered ->
I Responded… ->
I
Gained ->
And Changed
This Challenge
This Prize
in This
Way
In this way the immediate learning experience
– which all students have – becomes a more
completely constructed experience. The
constructed experience helps students explain
themselves or understand themselves and
their place in the world. Examining the
narrative structures above shows they are
variants on the conversion experience.
Granted, the changes recounted by the
structures need not be life changing, but they
could be. Life change could be a worthy goal
of certain instructional programs such as:
( 115 )
•
•
•
Induction into a profession, the
military, or a career
Substance or trauma recovery
Competitive sports, business, or arts
Powerful learning experiences are not fully
under the control of the instructor – learners
may not be ready for a transforming
experience in their lives, for example. But we
believe every teacher or designers of
instruction can think about these issues and
look for invitations to this deeper level of
impact.
Wilson et al. (2006) suggest three dimensions
of design in preparing instruction for
transformative levels of engagement:
• Cognitive design – Determine
performance
and
cognitive-load
requirements; apply learning theories
and instructional models; use systems
design models such as ADDIE to
guide the development process
• Aesthetic design – Attend to the
learners’ collective and individual
experience and construction of
meaning; prepare materials with high
production values; develop instruction
that draws on narrative for meaningful
schema development and dramatic
structure for pacing and heightened
engagement; enact instruction with
full participation and inclusion of
learner perspectives
• Mythic design – Draw on the herojourney metaphor for heightened
meaning and engagement; develop
symbols, signs, and rites to encourage
a transformation in identity and
community
We encourage the reader to consult Wilson et
al. (2006) and Wilson, Parrish, & Velatsianos
(in press) for more background on these ideas
– as well as David Wong’s web resources on
Deweyan
aesthetics
and
education
(http://www.msu.edu/~dwong/ - see in
particular Wong, in press; and Wong &
Jennriksen, no date).
While not conducting discrete and separate
designs for cognitive, aesthetic, and mythic
dimensions in the work reported below, we
have tried to keep these ideas in mind in
approaching our work – all in an effort to use
technology more imaginatively. Rather than
control students, we wanted to invite them to
take risks and possibly engage in experiences
that would change how they saw themselves.
Interactive Tools for Community
Sharing
Brent and Nedal have each worked to
integrate Web 2.0 tools into their university
classes, leading to more powerful learning
experiences for students. Because semesterlength courses afford time for learner
interaction, conversation, and sharing,
opportunities open up for authentic
collaboration. A few of these initiatives are
reported in this section.
Master’s Portfolios
The World-Wide Web has afforded new
avenues of communication and sharing.
Online communities based on interest, work,
or pre-existing relationships have proliferated.
For the past ten years, students graduating
with master’s degrees in Information and
Learning Technologies (ILT) at the
University of Colorado have submitted
professional portfolios in fulfillment of a
comprehensive exam requirement. These
portfolios are simultaneously published online
(see the links in the Appendix for our most
recent graduates) and are intended to
showcase
student
accomplishments,
particularly to prospective employers. By
maintaining portfolios, many students are able
to keep in touch with each other after
graduation. Thus the portfolio requirement
combines a number of practical and academic
( 116 )
objectives into a single authentic project,
including:
• Summative assessment of academic
accomplishments (comps exam)
• Reflection for self-directed learning as
students complete the program and
contemplate post-schooling careers
• Continuing social outreach to faculty
and peers in the program
• Showcasing by sample projects of
professional
competencies
to
prospective
employers
and
collaborators
• Presentation of student values,
personality, and style
This last point warrants emphasis. Students
put their own stamp on the sites through
choices of interface, graphics, and navigation
– as well as content. Taken together, the
chosen projects tell a story of development
and skill progression. A reflection piece, often
in the form of a letter, offers further occasion
for self-disclosure. A quick review of the
links in the appendix shows how differently
students can present themselves and their
work.
Student Weblogs
In the class teaching trends in instructional
technology, Brent’s students created and
maintained weblogs or blogs. For links to
student blogs, see Brent’s blog at:
http://idtrends.blogspot.com/.
Students
presented themselves and shared their
observations on trends and issues. For most of
the class student blogs took the place of
threaded discussions of assigned readings.
The move to blogs as an assignment was
motivated by several factors:
• Brent was tired of the weekly format
of assigned readings followed by
threaded discussion – and he felt that
students may be tired of it too.
•
•
•
Brent wanted to introduce students to
open learning tools presently available
for learning
Students submit a professional
portfolio
for
their
master’s
comprehensive exam – a weblog can
be converted into a portfolio with
project links and downloads
Blogging and self-presentation skills
are becoming important for leaders in
educational technology – direct
experience could strengthen these
skills
George Siemens (2007) commented on this
last point in a recent blog posting.
Traditionally, experts make their money by
selling products – books, magazines,
newspaper articles, etc. The Internet is
changing that:
The value point is not found in the product
itself. Instead, it's found in reputation and
access. Most authors don't make significant
revenue from books. Instead, value is found in
the increased reputation, speaking or
consulting opportunities, or improved
employment options.
It seems that future technology leaders in
education will use weblogs and related outlets
to distribute their content – partly as a means
of getting their names and reputations out in
the public sphere. Based on that available
content, they will be noticed and appreciated
– and then enter into networking relationships
where they can bill for services – consulting,
advising, publishing, etc.
We would like to report the use of student
blogs as a resounding success. Unfortunately
Brent’s initial trial met with mixed success,
due to several reasons:
• Successful blogs are usually selfdirected and sustained – not required
as a class assignment
• Blogs depend on strong passions,
convictions, and opinions, but
beginning master’s students are
( 117 )
•
sometimes at investigating stages
where their interests are just beginning
to develop
Many people are unwilling to put the
energy into maintaining a fresh blog
presence – in spite of their best
intentions
Of the 37 students in Brent’s class, about 2025 achieved a high-quality blog sustained
over the entire semester. That may be
interpreted as good news, but it’s a clear
failure to meet the learning needs of every
student.
Web-based Learning Community
In a teacher-centered class where all eyes fall
to the front, waiting for the teacher to present
material or ask a question. By contrast, a
focus on the learner’s experience leads to a
more student- or community-centered
pedagogy. The idea of learning communities
derived from the need to support authentic
constructing and disseminating of knowledge.
To achieve this goal in the College of
Education in the UAE University, pre-service
teachers in two undergraduate courses (Ed
Technology and Capstone) were provided
with a tool to develop a web-based learning
community. The learners were engaged in
various online activities to enhance social
relationships and intellectual interaction.
Emphasis on this aspect of the course sent a
message to everyone – including the
instructor – that student opinions mattered,
and that peer learning was encouraged and
expected.
The activities were designed to support an
emerging sense of community across three
defined stages: Forming Community,
Experiencing Community, and Functioning
Effectively. Participants at the Forming stage
introduced themselves and made on-line
acquaintances and friends with those of
shared interests. At the Experiencing
Community stage, students engaged in
weekly online discussions that helped
establish a shared language as students
worked on small-group projects. Each group
used an online discussion forum to discuss
progress on the project. Groups then shared
work, difficulties, stories, and lessons learned
– culminating in a ritual celebration of
successful projects. In a variety of ways the
whole class – as well as the smaller groups –
used language, symbols, and rituals to
strengthen their sense of cohesion and
community connection. Through this elearning initiative, learners were excited to
discuss openly their achievements and
challenges not always specific to the course,
but critical to their future professional roles.
The discussions during the initial and the final
stages seemed more self-reflective in nature,
as students examined their personal and
learning
capabilities
and
discovered
connections with others. In the Capstone
course for example, learners presented
themselves through projects and works they
were proud to complete during their studies.
These projects showcased their technology
skills and personal experiences they had
gained, including personal websites for some
students. In the Ed Technology course,
learners were invited to present their projects
online through recording their voices to
accompany written slides and documents.
Learners were excited to present their projects
in nontraditional way without feeling the
stress of walking in front of the class.
Additionally, they were able to ask questions
and get feedback without being affected with
the time constraint of the class.
As the participation in the online discussion
was not required for grades in the courses,
some students were not highly motivated to
participate actively in the online learning
community. Many, on the other hand, were
highly interested and encouraged others to
( 118 )
participate. We are reluctant to formalize
participation into a class requirement, for fear
of altering the community dynamic. This
problem – similar to that in Brent’s blogging
experiment – is a continuing issue: How to
encourage full participation by every student
in community activities, while maintaining a
sense of authenticity and student ownership
over the activity (see Reeves, 2006).
Podcasting and Video Tutorials
Presentations are growing in power and
sophistication, and people are hungry for
high-quality tutorials, demonstrations, and job
aids – both at school as well as at work. This
was borne out to Brent recently as he
observed the reaction of faculty colleagues to
a simple five-minute video created in
Camtasia, walking people through a new
assessment tool required of all students in the
School of Education. Fellow professors were
wowed by the video capture accompanied by
audio narration!
ILT students have repeated opportunities in
classes to develop podcasts, videocasts, web
presentations, and video tutorials. The
advantage
of
these
self-contained
presentations is that they can be individually
selected and viewed as part of a self-paced
learning activity. Examples include:
• Bill Bradley’s ProfCast job aids
<http://ouray.cudenver.edu/~wabradle/
6515%20Job%20Aids/>
•
•
Bill’s C-SNAP video tutorials
CSNAP/>
Matt
Orrin’s
math
tutorials
MathAssistance/>.
Other examples abound. First-semester
students in Brent’s Trends class complete
multimedia presentations as a final project,
with teams addressing a trend or issue through
a narrated presentation. Many students
develop podcasts in completing routine course
assignments. A recent alumna, Ellie Faust,
studied the impact of podcasts on high-school
student learning and found an overall positive
effect (Faust, 2007).
Appropriately integrated into curriculum,
podcasts can also be valuable at younger
grades. The Boulder Valley School District is
presently conducting a field trial for targeted
kindergarteners at risk of falling behind in
pre-reading skills. These five-year old
children are given iPod shuffles to take home,
along with podcast activities personally
narrated by their teachers. Preliminary results
are very promising that 10-20 minutes a day
of extra help can dramatically increase prereading skills, and that those skills are
maintained in later grades. Brent is currently
working with school district officials to
evaluate this field trail and expand the
program next year.
The uses of podcasts and multimedia
presentations – particularly when students are
the creators and producers – can ignite a
passion and interest in students, many of
whom may not be that excited by traditional
classroom experiences. They offer students a
way to develop and express creative ties to
subject matter, and define themselves as
productive actors in that relationship. While
in one sense, podcasts can be seen as
mechanisms for further teacher control, in
many situations they open up possibilities and
encourage independent exploration and
commitment.
Digital Stories for Self Expression
and Engagement
Digital stories are a particular form of
multimedia presentation, with these additional
attributes:
• Personal story narrated by the author
• Usually told in first-person voice
( 119 )
•
Iraq; their relationship is also reported
in an audio story on public radio
<http://kcfr.org/cgibin/comatters/comatters_play.m3u?pla
y=3436&type=comatters.m3u>
Story’s meaning conveyed through
reflection, for example, by reporting a
critical event or relationship
Here are some sample stories created by
Colorado colleagues:
• Joni Dunlap, a faculty colleague of
Brent’s at the University of Colorado
<http://www.augustcouncil.com/~jdun
lap/movie>. Joni’s story tells how her
passions for instructional design were
ignored by a college teacher, and how
she now balances family and work
commitments.
• Lisa, a doctoral student at the
University
of
Colorado
<http://youtube.com/watch?v=VNjSE
bd08l8>. Lisa’s husband Pete is a
soldier completing a tour of duty in
Many digital stories are not about school
subjects, but Snead and Christopher (2007)
propose greater use within traditional subjects
such as Math and Language Arts. Students
completing digital-story projects can identify
interests and connections to subject matter,
and become more invested and interested in
the material. The ILT master’s program is
currently teaching an online course, IT 5340
Digital Storytelling in the Curriculum, for
teachers integrating stories into their
classrooms.
( 120 )
•
Conclusion
Each of the examples above could be seen as
an application of an instructional strategy or
use of a learning theory – but that’s not quite
how the instructors viewed them. We were
trying to shape the learners’ experience – at
both individual and community levels. John
Dewey’s notion of aesthetics placed focus on
people’s heightened but everyday experience
(Parrish, in press). The quality of the learning
experience is heightened by providing:
• Powerful tools for communicating,
sharing, and presenting
• Invitations but not strict requirements
to participate
• Room for expression of individual
interest, style, and values
Elements of adventure and surprise
As
technology
becomes
increasingly
integrated into education at all levels, we
hope the mystery and sense of adventure will
not be buried by the acknowledge need to
maintain putative bureaucratic control over
students. Schooling experience needs to
compete with outside experiences of students
– which increasingly are enriched by social
media and powerful messages. Instructors and
instructional designers need to think in fresh
ways about how to respond to diverse student
needs – and be willing to take risks of our
own in that response.
( 121 )
References
Faust, E. (2007, April). Poddy training 8th
graders: Using podcasts to increase student
achievement.
Online:
http://web.mac.com/ellie.foust/Site/Projects/P
rojects.html
Orech, J. (2007, December 1). Digital
storytelling: It’s more than just software.
TechLEARNING.
Online:
http://techlearning.com/story/showArticle.php
?articleID=196604858
Parrish, P. (in press). Aesthetic principles for
instructional design. Educational Technology
Research and Development.
Reeves, T. C. (2006, November). What
undergraduate students really need to learn:
Technology and the conative domain.
Keynote address to the CIC Learning
Technology Group Conference, Minneapolis
MN.
Online:
http://www1.umn.edu/ciclt/keynote/CIC_Keynote_Reeves_Nov06.ppt
Siemens, G. (2007, December 7). Future of
print publishing and paid content. Elearning
space
[weblog].
Online:
http://www.elearnspace.org/blog/
Snead, R., & Christopher, L. (2007, April).
Digital storytelling: An instructional strategy.
Unpublished paper available on request by
contacting Brent Wilson.
Wong, E. D. (in press). Beyond control and
rationality: Undergoing, aesthetics, and
educative experiences. Teachers College
Record. Retrieved on December 13, 2007
from
http://www.msu.edu/~dwong/publications/Wo
ng-TCRBeyondControl.pdf
Wong, D., & Jenriksen, D. (no date). Popular
culture and educational constructs: Buffy the
Vampire Slayer and the idea of learning as
redemption [draft]. Retrieved October 17,
2007,
from:
http://www.msu.edu/~dwong/publications/Bu
ffy.doc
Wilson, B. G., Parrish, P., & Velatsianos, G.
(in press). Raising the bar for instructional
outcomes: Toward transformative learning
experiences. Educational Technology, 48.
Online:
http://carbon.cudenver.edu/~bwilson/Raisingt
heBar.doc
Wilson, B. G., Switzer, S. H., Parrish, P., &
the IDEAL Research Lab. (2006).
Transformative learning experiences: How do
we get students deeply engaged for lasting
change? In M. Simonson (Ed.), Proceedings
of selected research and development
presentations. Washington D. C.: Association
for Educational Communications and
Technology.
Online:
http://thunder1.cudenver.edu/ideal/docs/AEC
T06ProceedingsRevised.doc
( 122 )
Appendix
Master’s Portfolios from Colorado Students
Requirements and examples of student portfolios are available at the ILT program website:
http://thunder1.cudenver.edu/ilt/k12/index.htm
The following students graduated Fall 2007, reflecting the most recent group of student portfolios:
Michelle Assaad:
Jonaca Blaize:
Bill Bradley:
Kimberly
(Lorenz)
Laura (Larsen) Busch:
Ellie Foust:
Jim Hammond:
Ilima Kane:
James Olsen:
Matt Orrin:
Gilberto Palomino:
Kristin Rivedal:
Kelly Roberts:
Thomas Rode:
http://web.mac.com/massaad/Portfolio/Home.html
http://ouray.cudenver.edu/~jlblaize/newport/index.htm
http://ouray.cudenver.edu/~wabradle/portfolio/
Bury:
http://ouray.cudenver.edu/~kclorenz/portfolio_website/index.html
http://web.mac.com/llbusch/ILT-Portfolio/Home.html
http://web.mac.com/ellie.foust/Site/Home.html
http://ouray.cudenver.edu/~jjhammon/portfolio/index.html
http://www.ilimakane.com/
<http://www.ilimakane.com/>
http://web.mac.com/jamesmarlinolsen/Portfolio/Home.html
http://ouray.cudenver.edu/~morrin/portfolio/
http://ouray.cudenver.edu/~gjpalomi/portfolio/index.html
http://homepage.mac.com/k_rivedal/portfolio/homePage.html
http://web.mac.com/mskellyteach/Portfolio/Home.html
http://ouray.cudenver.edu/~tmrode/portfolio/index.html
( 123 )
The Value of e-Learning in the Palestinian Medical School
Hani Abdeen
Malik Zaben
Anan Shtaya
AlQuds Medical School
Colin Green
Northwick Park Institute for Medical Research, University College of London and
Ukraine Academy of Science
Abstract
Introduction
The Palestinian Medical School was
established in 1994 on the Abu Dies campus
of Al Quds University. In the first four years
access to the campus and associated teaching
hospitals was relatively easy. The first cohort
of doctors graduated in 2001 and since then
about 220 have qualified from the Al Quds
Faculty of Medicine. Now however, physical
barriers such as the Apartheid Wall have
made movement of students, patients and
teaching faculty to the different learning
stations almost impossible in the West Bank
and absolutely impossible to and from Gaza.
To overcome those geographical barriers, we
now have three university campuses (Abu
Dies, Nablus, and Gaza) and many hospitals
(Khan Younis, Gaza City, Hebron, Ramallah,
Nablus,
Bethlehem
and
Jerusalem)
interconnected by video conferencing
facilities and e-learning conduits. We have
adopted a blended learning approach
whereby face-to-face bedside experience is
supplemented by video conferences, tele
medicine and self-learning resources
available by internet or webcast vehicles such
as MOODLE. There are difficulties yet to be
overcome but we believe that e-learning is
valuable not just for training doctors at
undergraduate and postgraduate levels but
too for nurses and all other healthcare
workers.
Electronic Learning as a Modality in
Medical Education
Access to knowledge and information through
the Internet has spawned a world of electronic
learning (e-learning); stimulating a new
passion for lifelong learning in academia,
professional environments, the workplace,
and at home. Indeed, e-learning has provided
new ways of thinking about how people learn
with technology and also how new learning
opportunities are offered by new technology.
These perspectives highlight the importance
of developing connections between a wide
variety of learning resources, containing both
codified and tacit knowledge. In medical
education, e-learning is expanding to include
not only educational computer programs to
create and simulate virtual patients with a
wide variety of medical conditions in
different clinical settings, but also distance
learning in developed and developing
countries to globalise medical education
providing equal opportunities for health
professionals all over the world (Beux and
Fieschi, 2007).
With regard to health professionals, elearning has been viewed as a well-accepted
and practical learning method in healthcare
(Autti et al., 2007). Moreover, medical
education has recently witnessed an
accelerated and worldwide trend of change,
( 124 )
especially as far as curricula are concerned. In
fact, in the last two decades, there has been a
great deal of interest in educational strategies
including the development of concepts such
as "problem-based learning", "student-centred
learning", and "integrated teaching" (Al
Shehri, 2003). These developments have
resulted in a change in approach from the
assumption that any good medical practitioner
has the ability to teach to the realisation that
professional training of teachers is required.
This has also been accompanied by the
emergence of e-learning courses as an
appropriate tool to improve knowledge of
health professionals, including physicians and
medical students in a wide range of topics
such as surgery (Ridgway et al., 2007),
radiology (Sparacia et al., 2007), geriatric
medicine (Ruiz et al., 2007), emergency
medicine (Smolle et al., 2007), rheumatology
(Wilson et al., 2006), and genetics of epilepsy
(Wehrs et al., 2007).
The Palestinian Medical School and the
Rationael Behind the e-learning Project
Healthcare in Palestine has been served
historically by dependence on the British
system during the Mandate and the medical
education systems largely based on the British
model in Jordan, Egypt and Iraq. Upon this
matrix
was
superimposed
additional
education in the Soviet-bloc and the return of
young doctors to Palestine often but not
always trained to low standards. Since the
collapse of the Soviet Union and the first
intifadah, it has become evident that Palestine
should develop its own structures based on
and dedicated to its own special needs.
The opening of nurses training colleges,
dental schools and public health centres, as
well as in 1994 the first Palestinian Medical
School in Al Quds University, has resulted in
far less dependence on outside agencies.
However, if we take the Medical School as
one outcome and analyse its successes and
failures, there is much needing to be done.
The original aims and objectives of the
School were clearly stated as being to: (1)
produce competent doctors committed to the
service of the Palestinian community; (2)
improve quality of healthcare throughout that
community;
(3)
provide
and
lead
opportunities in continuing medical education
(CME) and encourage research.
( 125 )
Figure 1.1: The Medical Education Centre Home Page. You can visit on the following web address:
http://www.med.alquds.edu/palmec/index.html
The fact that seven cohorts of high quality
doctors have graduated since 2001 pays
ample tribute to the first objective being
attained. However, many analysts suggest
that the School has been less successful in the
other three objectives. After a decade in
existence, the School has had minimal
influence or impact on the community, in
lifting the quality of health care, in
postgraduate medical education or in the
development of CME. Research is at a
standstill.
The experience of students in the Medical
School is typical of those in other colleges.
For the first 6 years, it was relatively easy for
students to travel to the Abu Dies campus,
although students from Gaza had to leave
home for the length of the course and not see
their families for lengthy periods. The first
group of doctors graduated in 2001 having
started out in 1994 from homes from all over
the West Bank and Gaza.
Pre-clinical
teaching was concentrated on the Abu Dies
campus and students circulated through
various hospitals for their clinical training,
most
particularly
Jerusalem,
Hebron,
Ramallah and Nablus. Access to patients was
reasonable and the students were exposed to a
reasonable spectrum of disease conditions.
However, from 2000 when the second
intifadah started, Israeli restrictions have
completely altered the learning experience.
Indeed, the construction of the Apartheid
Wall is affecting the educational process by
adding a lot of obstacles; not only has the
Medical School lost precious teaching Faculty
but huge time delays and blockades restrict
access to learning at both pre-clinical and
clinical levels. Neither teachers nor students
can move easily, travel is unpredictable and
costly, and clinical teaching is severely
hampered by lack of patients, particularly in
the Jerusalem hospitals. Gaza has become
totally inaccessible to external visitors.
Nablus is frequently besieged by Israeli
Occupation Forces and the Apartheid Wall
has effectively shut down access into Abu
Dies by Jerusalem based staff or students.
Predictably, this has resulted in separate
campuses evolving from 2002 to 2007 in
Gaza (Al Azhar University) and in Nablus
(An Najaah University).
It is to address all these concerns and issues,
that we have set up the Medical Education
Centre in the Al Quds Faculty of Medicine.
Project aims and objectives
The overall mission of the Medical Education
Centre is to provide high level professional
education services to support and enhance the
learning capacity of all involved in health
science education and service delivery. In
doing so, it will undertake research and
development to pioneer and exploit all
modalities of the IT revolution including
video-conferencing, telemedicine, website
learning and internet connections and vehicles
such as MOODLE, aspiring to establish an
international reputation as a centre of
excellence, eventually to have a major impact
on patient care in Palestine. In addition, we
aim to promote communication, both at the
national and international levels, of
prehospital
and
clinical
education
collaboratively between students and teachers
from the three campuses and from all over the
word. In this regard, this project will require
students and teachers to engage in a series of
face to face lectures, which have been
reinforced through distance education
strategies, such as online learning.
Methods
Establishment
conferencing
( 126 )
of
6
centres for
video
In the light of the desparate need for a
modality of medical education that maintains
communication between teachers from the
three main Medical Faculty campuses with
their students, six videoconferencing centres
have been established, collectively under the
umbrella of the first Palestinian Medical
Education Centre (PMEC). While the main
centre is on the central campus in the School
of Medicine at Al Quds University (Abu
Dies), the others are established in Gaza
(Gaza City, Khan Younis) Nablus, Ramallah
and Hebron. While each centre is run locally
by experts, they are coordinated by the main
office of the PMEC at Abu Dies.
In short we have focused mostly on: (1)
providing
learning,
educational
and
continuous training resources which transcend
factional
interests
and
physical
or
geographical barriers to access; (2) creating
new learning tools for undergraduates,
postgraduates and for continuous medical
education for all healthcare professions; and
(3) pioneering new methods and learning
resources in a cost effective and readily
accessible way (eg. website, Moodle, Internet
2) so that they are of particular value to
economically deprived students.
We are also keen to develop this facility in
such a way that it brings together education of
all concerned in health provision in a
multidisciplinary learning programme and
raises awareness at an international level of
health, population growth and potential future
epidemic issues which will make medical
education in Palestine a community based
system.
Use of e-learning in the delivery of some
courses
E-learning has been in use as a modality of
medical education at the School of Medicine
in Abu Dies-Jerusalem over the last three
years. The main objectives over this short
period of time have been: (a) self learning on
multi-media resources; (b) meetings with
teachers for questions-answers sessions; and
(c) tutorials animated by older students. These
objectives were met in the teaching of at least
three independent courses; neurology,
pathology and medical ethics. Our initial
feedback from participants involved in the
three courses revealed that teaching using this
modality satisfies both the students, as well as
the teachers.
In the pathology course, practical training
classes are extremely important to gain
knowledge and become competent in the use
of the microscope at looking at slides. In the
present laboratories, however, tutors have less
time for teaching their juniors because of
increased student numbers and insufficient
teaching materials. To supplement practical
training of students, we therefore decided to
employ clinical simulation teaching materials
using a computer assisted education system.
First, a series of e-learning course-wares on
systemic pathology were created.
The pictures were arranged with questions,
answers and commentaries, uploaded to the
server in our university, and offered to the
students. This system has been received with
a high rate of student satisfaction.
We have used distant learning to successfully
deliver a complete course of medical
embryology over the last two years. This
course was given by a visiting professor from
the University of Oxford to a group of 30
second-year-medical students in Gaza and 40
students in Nablus concurrently.. Although
this course was not meant to be a substitution
to in-person lectures, it has been viewed by
the participants to be of great help as
supplementary material and to chart a guiding
track for the students in the two sites for
further study thus compensating for the lack
of personal lectures and surmounting the
problematic accessibility issue.
( 127 )
Similarly, and due to the lack of neurology
specialists in Palestine, a group of
neurologists from the University of
Southampton and Kings College University
has been visiting the Medical School over the
past 4 years. This group of consultants were
visiting for a short period of time and again
had no accessibility to Gaza; distant learning
was the only method to deliver the core
lectures in neurology for 4th year medical
students there. Not only the theoretical part of
the course, but also the practical part was
covered in which
tutors
successfully
managed to deliver some in-class clinical
demonstrations on real patients.
Staff members have been using e-learning to
interact with each other and to maintain
communication at the international leve.
The success of any e-learning project in
medical education depends partly on the
educational skills of its teaching staff and on
student commitment. As most of them will
have received no formal training in this role, a
well conceived and acceptable educational
staff development programme will be a vital
part of the Centre’s role. In this regard, the Al
Quds School of Medicine has organised
training courses on e- and distant learning in
situ as well as in London for members of
staff.
From this perspective, and as part of the
training on the use of IT, distant learning has
been used as a modality through which
members of staff from the three main
campuses maintained some level of
communication. Taking in consideration the
difficulty in travelling from one place to the
other in Palestine and the short period of time
that clinical tutors can usually devote to
meetings, this system has been successful in
formulating staff interactions and contributing
to their academic experience as well as in
curriculum innovation.
In addition, this system has been of great help
in interviewing candidates selected for
postgraduate training in various specialties.
For instance, we needed to interview the short
listed candidates for a training course in
neurology. However, with all the restrictions
on movement/transportation and the different
sorts of closures we have in Palestine, it was
extremely difficult to arrange for the
interview panel to meet at one site and it was
impossible to interview candidates from
remote areas under complete siege, such as
Gaza.
Using
the
videoconferencing
technology, we managed to maintain a good
level of communication between the
interviewers themselves and candidates being
interviewd. This was enjoyed by all
participants and was described as a costeffective modality.
Distant Education: medical students’
interactions with other students at the
international level
Another feature of e-learning liked by the
students is the interaction and the
communication with students from other
medical schools in the United Kingdom and
Canada. This holds particularly in medical
education, where the development of
attitudes, interpersonal skills, and skills at
solving common world health problems, are
important goals for the education of health
professionals. In this regard, the School of
Medicine and the student body worked
together to arrange videoconferencing
meetings and lectures with experts in the
medical fields from UK and Canada. For the
future, the British Council in East Jerusalem
has offered to facilitate 12 international one
day seminars in the next 12 months to cover
specialist topics such as medical ethics.
Discussion
Value of this modality of teaching
( 128 )
As e-learning is proving to be an effective and
enjoyable strategy in achieving standard
learning outcomes, it is desirable to establish
a Medical Education Centre that organizes the
different ongoing activities, collects reviewed
high quality e-learning materials and
maintains nationwide as well as international
educators’ communication. This system, if
used judiciously, will help the Palestinian
Medical School to strengthen its academic
resources and student development.
In the literature, there has been a considerable
debate about whether e-learning is better than
classical methods of teaching (Grigg and
Stephens, 1998; Schittek et al., 2001). While
it has been shown that computer-aided
learning (CAL) is just as successful as
traditional methods of teaching, e-learning
has more recently been revealed to offer
advantages over classical methods of teaching
in medical education, as it allows students to
work in their own time and space and at their
own pace (Gupta et al., 2004). In agreement,
it has further been shown that students
performed better with CAL compared to
classical lectures (Williams et al., 2001).
However, the present consensus is that CAL
can be used in medical education only as a
supplement rather than a replacement to
traditional lectures. This is mainly because elearning may not suit all the students (Schittek
et al., 2001).
In the unique case of Palestine, with the lack
of human resources in many different medical
specialties, the restrictions on movement from
place to place, and the inaccessibility to the
majority of the students to their allocated
clinical sites (particularly in Jerusalem), the
use of e-learning in medical education has
become a necessity. In fact, although this
modality has been recently introduced to the
medical teaching system, it has been
demonstrated as a very useful tool to
overcome the different difficulties that usually
limit success in the delivery of high standard
medical education and clinical training.
Indeed,
using
e-learning
and
videoconferencing technology, we have
managed to deliver courses both in basic
medical sciences and clinical training for
those students who have been banned from it
by the closure. This has ensured that the
students at the three main campuses have
received the core lectures indicated by the
School curriculum, so providing more or less
equal opportunities for all the students at the
three sites.
However, e-learning introduces new demands
that impel reviewers to consider aspects that
are unique to educational technology,
including pedagogy, format, usability,
navigation, interactivity, delivery, ease of
updating, distribution, and access. In
Palestine, the lack of proper connectivity by
local telecom companies, and technical
expertise to deal with mishaps as they arise
are issues of major importance. As a result of
all these difficulties, scheduling efforts are not
always perfect. For example ISDN lines
provide excellent images and sound for
videoconferencing if 6-8 are connected but
are poor in the 2-4 range.
Internet
connections are often slow compared with
Israel and the developed world.
( 129 )
Conclusions
We are absolutely convinced that e-learning
and distant learning are essential tools for
medical education in Palestine. Young people
here are computer literate and enjoy
networking both within the Occupied
Territories and the outside world. Our first
two years developing IT tools have faced
technical difficulties which we hope are
soluble but even so user satisfaction has been
excellent.
( 130 )
References
Al Shehri MY (2003) Current issues in
medical education. West Afr J Med 22:329333
Autti T, Autti H, Vehmas T, Laitalainen V,
Kivisaari L (2007) E-learning is a wellaccepted tool in supplementary training
among medical doctors: an experience of
obligatory radiation protection training in
healthcare. Acta Radiol 48:508-513.
Beux PL, Fieschi M (2007) Virtual
biomedical universities and e-learning. Int J
Med Inform 76:331-335.
Grigg P, Stephens CD (1998) Computerassisted learning in dentistry. A view from the
UK. J Dent 26:387-395
Gupta B, White DA, Walmsley AD (2004)
The attitudes of undergraduate students and
staff to the use of electronic learning. Br Dent
J 196:487-492.
Ridgway PF, Sheikh A, Sweeney KJ, Evoy D,
McDermott E, Felle P, Hill AD, O'Higgins NJ
(2007) Surgical e-learning: validation of
multimedia web-based lectures. Med Educ
41:168-172.
Ruiz JG, Teasdale TA, Hajjar I, Shaughnessy
M, Mintzer MJ (2007) The Consortium of ELearning in Geriatrics Instruction. J Am
Geriatr Soc 55:458-463.
Schittek M, Mattheos N, Lyon HC, Attstrom
R (2001) Computer assisted learning. A
review. Eur J Dent Educ 5:93-100.
Smolle J, Prause G, Smolle-Juttner FM
(2007) Emergency treatment of chest trauma-an e-learning simulation model for
undergraduate medical students. Eur J
Cardiothorac Surg 32:644-647.
Sparacia G, Cannizzaro F, D'Alessandro DM,
D'Alessandro MP, Caruso G, Lagalla R
(2007) Initial experiences in radiology elearning. Radiographics 27:573-581.
Wehrs VH, Pfafflin M, May TW (2007) Elearning courses in epilepsy--concept,
evaluation, and experience with the e-learning
course "genetics of epilepsies". Epilepsia
48:872-879.
Williams C, Aubin S, Harkin P, Cottrell D
(2001) A randomized, controlled, single-blind
trial of teaching provided by a computerbased multimedia package versus lecture.
Med Educ 35:847-854.
Wilson AS, Goodall JE, Ambrosini G,
Carruthers DM, Chan H, Ong SG, Gordon C,
Young SP (2006) Development of an
interactive learning tool for teaching
rheumatology--a simulated clinical case
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( 131 )
e-Learning Information Portal Design Using PHP/MySQL
Muntasser Khater
e-TQM College, Dubai, UAE
Abstract
Nowadays, the Internet is definitely the
largest information resource in the history
and the use of computers and related
telecommunication technologies for education
purposes has increased exponentially. Most
educational institutes are utilizing the web for
e-learning. The aim of this paper is to design
an e-learning information portal. A
framework for an e-learning and web-based
teaching system is proposed via web
technology and database system using
PHP/MySQL. This e-learning system has
been developed to provide e-learning
solutions over the Internet-based networks
(Internet, intranets, and extranets) and
represents the new technology of education,
significantly improving the learning process
especially for universities. The proposed elearning system design consists of: a
framework for the system, an el-earning
enterprise model, UML diagrams (use-case
diagrams for: e-student, e-tutor, eadministrator, e-technician, and e-visitor;
activity diagrams; class diagrams, database
diagram; and architectural design). In the
proposed system we used the following tools
and technologies: HTML, Macromedia Flash,
MS Photoshop, UML, PHP, and MySQL.
Keywords:
e-Learning,
e-Learning
Framework, e-Learning Enterprise Model,
Information Portal, PHP, MySQL, UML.
Introduction
E-learning is the effective learning process
created by combining digitally delivered
content with learning support and services. It
may refer to learning activities that involve
computers and networks. The Internet and
intranets are considered networks; means that
computers and networks must be involved. Elearning has the power to transform the way
we learn, and to bring high quality, accessible
learning to everyone, so that every learner can
achieve his or her full potential.
Do we need this move? Why?
The current traditional educational systems do
not suit the organization's size and situation
any more. It has many problems such as: high
cost; it has a slower progress up to 50% than
the e-learning, according to Jennifer Salopek
in "Training and Development Magazine"; it
can't work from any location and any time; it
can't be updated easily, can't lead to increased
retention and a stronger grasp on the subject,
and also it can't be easily managed for large
groups of students.
These problems are really critical since they
cause dissatisfaction for the users and
students. Hence, from here raised the fact of
the need of an on-line learning system that
solves those issues. It can provide learning at
a lower cost with greater flexibility.
A Framework for e-Learning System
and e-Learning Enterprise Model
A Framework for e-Learning System
A framework for e-learning should be
defined. It could help us to understand all
aspects of e-learning environment such as
(Khan): institutional dimension; pedagogical
dimension; technological dimension; interface
design;
evaluation
for
e-learning;
( 132 )
management of e-learning; resource support
dimension; and ethical dimension.
Since e-learning application involves many
activities,
organizational
units,
and
technologies, a framework that describes its
content is needed and useful. Taking into
consideration the EC-framework proposed by,
we developed the following framework for elearning system illustrated in fig. 1.
This framework supported by infrastructure
and five support areas: People (e-students, etutors, e-visitor, e-technicians); Public Policy
(e-learning accreditation standards and
guidelines); Marketing and Advertising
(market research, promotion and web
content); Support Services (e-security
systems); and Business Partnerships (affiliate
programs, e-marketplaces, and integrated
degrees). The infrastructure support describes:
common business services infrastructure (web
security, authentication, directories and
catalogs); messaging and information
distribution infrastructure (email, chat rooms,
hypertext transfer protocols, discussion
groups); multimedia content and network
publishing infrastructure (HTML, Java, XML,
VB.net, PHP, MySQL); and interfacing
infrastructure ( databases: MySQL, business
partner applications). The framework will
provide guidance in creating virtual education
system or e-learning plan.
E-Learning Enterprise Model
E-learning application is the online delivery
of information for purposes of education,
training and knowledge management. There
are a variety of applications that enable
communication,
KM,
testing
and
authentication that are used. Taking into an
account various applications, we develop the
following e-learning enterprise model. All of
the e-learning functional units (Academia,
Admin and Finance, admission and
Registration, Continuing Education, Research
and Development, Educational Technologies,
and Media and Marketing) are integrated with
Customer Relationship Management and
Supply Change Management applications via
the Enterprise Resource Planning.
( 133 )
Electronic Commerce Application:
E-Learning Application
People:
E-Student,
E-Visitors,
Public Policy:
E-Learning
Accreditation
Standards &
Marketing and
Advertisement:
Market
Research,
Promotions, and
web Content
Support
Services:
E-Security
System
Business
Partnerships:
Affiliate
Programs,
Support Services
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5)
Common
business
services
infrastructure
Messaging and
information
distribution
infrastructure
Multimedia
content and
network
publishing
infrastructure
Network
infrastructure
Interfacing
infrastructure
(Wireless,
Internet)
(With
databases:
Infrastructure
Fig. 1: A framework for e-learning application
( 134 )
MOHE
E-Student
E-Visitor
Supplier 1
Easy Learning
E-Learning
System
Supplier 2
Microsoft
Supplier 3
Macromedia
B2Band
Supply
Chain
Managem
ent (SCM)
The E-Learning
Enterprise: Academia
R & D, Continuing
Education, IS,
Admission and
Registration, Admin
and Finance, Media
Marketing,
Customer 1
New Horizon
Customer 2
Computer
Learning Center
B2C Sales
Marketing
and CRM
Customer n
Online
learning center
Supplier n
Adobe
Enterprise Recourse
Planning (ERP)"The
Backbone"
Other
SMS
Company
Universities
Fig. 2: e-Learning Enterprise Model
5; Microsoft Visio; Microsoft Word;
Microsoft Power Point; and Visual Studio.net.
Requirements Engineering
System Requirements
Determining
requirements
for
the
requirements definition include the used
software requirements, a business task, an IT
task, and the user requirements.
Software Requirements
MySQL;
PHP;
Adobe
Photoshop;
Macromedia Dream weaver; Hyper Snap-DX
Functional Requirements
The major functions that the system must do
are:
• Enroll
• Activate Online Materials
• Take Exam and Assignment
• Evaluate Exam and Assignment
• Upload and Update Online Materials
( 135 )
A Deployment diagram was developed.
Non-Functional Requirements
Non-Functional Requirements for the system
are
defined
such
as:
Operational
Requirements; Performance Requirements;
and Security Requirements.
User Requirements
The main users of the system are the estudents and the e-tutors. They both interact
directly
with
the
online
materials,
descriptions, exams and assignments. The
web site provides four online degrees, manyup-to date online full-courses, globally and
locally search engine, many useful links to
other related sites, and advertisements'
placement. Our web site provides more useful
meanings of e-learning than any previous
ones because our web site introduces the idea
of e-learning by an information portal
perspective.
After determining the requirements and
having an idea about what exists and what is
needed, a work plan has been made to
organize the work to be done. Project
schedule and activity network diagram were
developed.
Modeling Using UML
Use-Case Diagrams
An important part of the Unified Modeling
Language (UML) is the facilities for drawing
use case diagrams. Use cases are used during
the analysis phase of a project to identify and
partition system functionality. They separate
the system into actors and use cases.
Actors represent roles that can are played by
users of the system. Those users can be
humans, other computers, pieces of hardware,
or even other software systems. The only
criterion is that they must be external to the
part of the system being partitioned into use
cases. They must supply stimuli to that part of
the system, and the must receive outputs from
it.
Use cases describe the behavior of the system
when one of these actors sends one particular
stimulus. This behavior is described textually.
Use Cases
According to major activities mentioned
earlier, there are five scenarios and use cases.
In this paper only one use case is shown, that
is use case 2: Activate Online Material., Table
1.1.
Deployment Diagram
( 136 )
Scenario Name: Activate Online Material
ID Number: 2
Short Description: This describes how e-student and e-visitor can search and navigate through the
interested in online materials and descriptions.
Trigger: e-student and e-visitor request for online courses, materials, and descriptions.
Type: External.
Major Inputs:
Major Outputs:
Description
Source
User name & password
E-Student
Interested in
description
materials
&
Description
Online
materials
descriptions
Destination
&
E-Student
E-Visitor
Student result
E-Student
Descriptions
db
Descriptions
E-Visitor
lab(s), course(s)
On-line
material db
On-line
materials
descriptions
Student’s result
Results db
Program (s), lab(s), course(s),&
descriptions
&
E-Student
Use Case 2
System Context Diagram
The system context diagram using the 5template area, fig. 3, shows the whole system
linked to the main external entities. The most
important entities are: E-Student; E-Tutor; EUniversity Administration; E-Visitor; ETechnician.
( 137 )
User
Interface
Processing
Operator
Request
Queries
E-Student
result
Enrolled
E-Student
Student
Information
result
Online
Material,
Exams,
Assignments
&
Student
result
E-learning
Environment
E-Tutor
E-Visitor
Online
Material,
Exams,
Assignm
ent,
University
Administration
Input processing
Online
Material &
Description
Descriptions
&available
programs
& courses
Entered
Material on
Database
List of available
enrolled student
E-Technician
E-University
Administration
Output processing
Fig. 3 The System Context Diagram using 5-Template Area
Data Flow Diagrams and Activity Diagram
ERD Diagram
They are developed.
The Entity Relationship Diagram (ERD) is
the most useful common technique for
( 138 )
drawing the data model. It is a formal way to
represent the data that are used and created by
any business system in general and in our
system in particular. The ERD has three basic
elements in the data modeling language each
of which is represented by a different graphic
symbol. These three elements are entity,
attribute, and the relationship. Fig. 1.7.
Fig.4 Entity Relationship Diagram
System Design
The first step of designing the process is to
map the essential model of user requirements
into configuration of processes. Then within
each process, we will decide how to allocate
processes and data to different tasks. Physical
ERD Diagram is developed as well as all of
the needed Tables.
Relations are the basic unit of data storage, it
hold the entire date of our web site. Our
relations are done using PHP connectivity.
The following Tables are designed: e-Student
Table; e-Tutors Table; e-Technician Table;
Course Table; Admission Table; Registration
Table; Material Table; Exam Table;
Assignment Table; Result Table; and others.
In this paper only the e-Student Table is
illustrated in fig.5.
( 139 )
Field Name
Data Type
Stu_ID
Stu_F_Name
Stu_L_Name
Birth_Date
Gender
Nationality
Country
City
Address
Tel
Fax
Mobile
E_Mail
int<9>
varchar<15>
varchar<15>
date
Char<1>
varchar<10>
varchar<15>
varchar<15>
varchar<40>
varchar<13>
varchar<13>
varchar<13>
varchar<40>
Fig.5 e-Student Table
The detailed Database Schema Diagram is
developed as well.
User Interface Design
The Layout
Our web site should be designed for the etutors, e-students, and e-visitors who may
become e-students later on. So the web must
have clear background colors and front
ground colors (white is the better color for
background) that eyes could respond easily
and without hurting, few or no pictures and
flashes, and so. Also we choose white for the
background because it is formal and the text
can appear better. The user does not need to
make a long search through the page to find
what he/she is looking for. It is a simple one,
in which everything is clear and easy to find
and use. This is done to make it faster and
easier for the user whose aim is to accomplish
functions and he/she does not care about
fancy or extra beautiful shape.
Content Awareness
The web site is designed particularly for estudents, so because of that, the web has to
include the ideas and functions that are
needed and are of importance to them.
Consistency
During the designing of the website,
consistency has been taken into consideration.
So, same formats have been used all through
the pages. There have been the same headers,
footers, and same design of the menu. In
general a style has been developed and used
for this purpose.
Minimize User Efforts
Some important rules have been followed to
help minimizing user efforts. First of all, we
apply the simple design and easy to use
functions. Second, clear text that is distributed
in the best places that can be sawn. Third,
nice colors and effects were used in writing
text and designing the web pages. Finally, few
pictures, no flashes, small pages to be
downloaded quickly...etc
What a portal does?
Key features of portals: Security; Access
different data; Transactions; Search; Publish
Content; Personal Content.
A portal is nothing less than just one
personalizable, browser based user interface
to all the components mentioned above.
Our web site is a Vertical-Information Portal
web site which may contain some
functionalities and features such as: Enables
universal login; Handles both structured and
( 140 )
unstructured data; Facilitates multi-channel
consistency; Facilitates messaging and
notification; Automated tuning: pervasive
content
can
be
tuned
based
on
personalization, location, browser, etc;
Integration to other systems.
developed containing the major functions:
Search and navigation; Personalization;
Notification;
Task
management
and
workflow; Collaboration and groupware;
Integration of application; Infrastructure
functionality.
How to develop a web site?
According to the purpose of our web site
(Information Portal), our web site will be
The Architectural Design
Fig.6 Architecture of Dynamic, Interactive and Data Driven Website
( 141 )
Fig.7 Architecture of Web-related Server for e-Learning System
e-Learning Implementation
The beauty of the Web is that, with a little
effort, anyone can harness its power to create
sophisticated Web sites. Here, we propose
one important Internet topic- Information
Portal Design. Actually, PHP is a
programming language used to extend the
capabilities of HTML documents and create
dynamic Web applications.
PHP and the Web
Multiple platform; and Language support for
databases.
Accessing PHP-Enhanced HTML
Documents
When you access a file with embedded PHP
commands, several steps occur that are fairly
invisible to the end user. Fig.8 shows the
sequence of steps when a Web browser
requests such a file over the Internet. These
steps include the following:
Using PHP to enhance Web pages has several
advantages: Easy to use; Open source:
( 142 )
Your PC
WebServer
(Internet connected)
(Internet connected)
1. Web Browser
Please Enter
A
Phone
Number
2 . Se
nd R
e
ques
t
for PH
P file
Web Server
Software
3. Receive
request, find
file and read it.
Submit Erase
4. Execute
PHP
statements
7. Web Browser
5. Send
results
back.
Web Browser
Phone Query
Results:
That is
John Doe's
Phone
Number
ults
Res
n
r
etu
6. R
•
You can begin developing PHP scripts
without extensive software tools or expensive
software licenses. To start developing PHP
scripts you need the following:
• A Web server with built-in PHP
•
A client machine with a basic text
editor and Internet connection
FTP or Telnet software (in case of
using a web server external to your
machine)
Fig.9 Embedding PHP Statements within HTML Documents
A common way to use PHP is to embed PHP
scripts within HTML tags in an HTML
document. When PHP statements are
embedded in an HTML document, any output
from PHP is used as part of the HTML
document. For example, consider the
following script:
1. <html> <head>
( 143 )
2. <title> Generating HTML From
PHP</title></head>
3. <body> <h1> Generating HTML
From PHP</h1>
4. <?php
5. print ("Using PHP has <i>some
advantages:</i>");
6. print ("<ul><li>Speed</li><li>Ease of
use</li>
i. <li>Functionality</li><
/ul>");
7. print ("</body></html>");
8. ?>
PHP
Script
Choosing a Database System
PHP allows you to select from a wide variety
of database systems, including Oracle,
Access, Sybase, SQL Server, Postgresql, and
MySQL. We will concentrate on using the
MySQL database since it is the most popular
database system used with PHP scripts. Fig.
10 shows the interaction between a PHP script
and a MySQL database. The figure illustrates
that access to the data within the database
requires sending SQL commands and
receiving results back.
Send
SQL Query
Query
Results
Fig.11 Interaction between a PHP Script and a MySQL Database
( 144 )
MySQL
Database
template; activity diagram; class diagram;
ERD;
database schema diagram; and
architectural diagram design. PHP and
MySQL are proposed for coding the system
and building the website as well as other
software such as Macromedia Dreamweaver
and flash, photoshop, and others.
We would like to recommend the use of
PHP/MySQL for coding this system in the
future.
Conclusions
The paper proposed an e-learning system
design. A new framework for e-learning
system was presented as well as an elearning enterprise model. Modeling using
UML language and techniques was
developed. Majority of UML diagrams were
designed such as deployment diagram, usecase diagrams (for: e-student, e-tutor, eadministrator, e-technician, and e-visitor);
system context diagram using five area
( 145 )
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Virtaul Reality Technology in Education: Simulating Real-Life
Experiences in an e-Learning Environment
Ros Yahya
MARA University of Technology, Malaysia
Abstract
Simulated learning has been practiced for
decades at all levels of education. Now, with
the advent of technology, real-life simulated
environment has been argued to have positive
impact on learning. Previous research has
focused on the integration of elearning and
web-based learning into the classroom.
However, little attempt has been made to
investigate
the
blend
of
simulated
environment provided through Virtual Reality
(VR) technology within the elearning
environment. VR technology simulates the
real world and, embedded as part of an
elearning environment, has the potential to
create authentic learning experience.
This paper reports on a research study that
blends VR environment with online delivery
mode. Participants learnt about decision
making in complex business contexts
throughout the semester which culminates
with VR exposure. The study found that
students could better construct knowledge
about marketing decision making than in a
non-VR environment. The paper concludes
with a look at future trend in blending VR
technology and elearning environment.
Introduction
Learning in an environment rich with real-life
experiences allows learners to explore,
discover and discuss ideas to come up with
meaningful information. Such learning
environments promote the acquisition and
application of skills based on real-life
situations, problems and tasks. Authentic
learning environments enable learners to have
some control over what and how they learn.
When a sense of personal control is
established, learners should be able to pursue
their own independent learning endeavors.
One way to establish an effective learning
environment is the incorporation of Virtual
Reality (VR) technology as part of the
learning process.
VR technology has the capacity to provide
real-life learning environments. Previous
research in integration of VR into the
classroom support the argument that the
simulation provided through this technology
can improve learning. However, confining
teaching and learning to the technology alone
does not enhance learning; instead, combining
it with other modes of delivery has proven to
be effective. This paper will explore three
issues namely authentic learning environment,
VR in education, and blended learning. These
issues provide the framework for the
implementation of an immersive VRenhanced learning environment in business
decision-making subject.
Authentic Learning Environment
Authentic learning experiences, those that
allow the acquisition and application of skills
based on real-life situations, problems and
tasks are thought to breach the gap between
the classroom and the real life and allow for
learning that lasts (Herrington & Herrington,
2006). Case studies and scenarios have been
used to provide authentic learning by
inserting scenes of realism into the problem or
( 148 )
task at hand (Bennett, Harper, & Hedberg,
2001; Stewart 2003). The continuum of
authentic learning environment begs the
question of how one determines what
characteristics underlie authentic activities.
Herrington and Oliver & Herrington (2003)
characterize authentic activities as:
• Having real world relevance
• Being ill-defined, requiring students to
define tasks and sub-tasks to complete
the activity
• Comprising complex tasks to be
investigated over a sustained period of
time
• Providing the opportunity for students
to examine the tasks from different
perspectives
• Providing
the
opportunity
to
collaborate and reflect
• Able to be integrated and applied
across different subject areas
• Seamlessly integrated with assessment
• Creating polished products valuable in
their own right
• Allowing competing solutions and
diversity of outcome
Furthermore, they promote the notion that
suspension of disbelief is needed in order for
students to fully engage themselves in
scenarios based on authentic tasks. Placed
within a learning situation the suspension of
disbelief is not as easily accepted and students
face many problems arising mainly from the
difficulty of adjusting from traditionally
derived practices and habits, Hence the role of
VR in providing the suspension of disbelief in
a technology enabled classroom.
VR in Education
VR is no longer an expensive, state-of-the art
technology, but rather an innovation that
supports different kinds of day to day problem
solving (Grady, 2003). When applied to the
field of education, VR has been found to
support the learning process effectively
(Dede, Salzman, Loftin & Ash, 1999). A VR
environment generates direct experience of a
computational environment, which can be
manipulated for the maximum benefit of
education.
One example is enhanced
students’ abilities to conceptualize and
integrate complex and abstract scientific ideas
(Dede et al., 1999). VR learning environments
have been utilized in the field of education
because of the non-availability of such
activities to students for the following reasons
(Byrne, 1993; Dede et al., 1999):
• Access to situations that would
otherwise be dangerous;
• Situations where observation of
internal
workings/structure
is
important to aid understanding;
• Situations where interaction is
important to aid understanding;
• Applications which are so complex
that conventional teaching methods
are inadequate;
• Difficulties with certain real-world
experiences (e.g., time–based or
economically-based); and
• Situations that cannot be experienced
in real life at all (e.g., nuclear fission).
The adoption of VR learning environment as
replacements for the real physical world may
enhance
some
learning
experiences.
Computer simulation of the real world has
shown to be equally as effective as real life
through enhancement of the learning
achievement levels of students (Bowman,
Hodges, Allison, & Wineman, 1999) and
enhancement of the problem solving skills of
students
(Gokhale,
1996).
Positive
educational impact resulting from VR
learning environment would be invaluable in
the training of students from many areas.
Given situations or circumstances where
exploration of real environments is
impractical, dangerous or inaccessible, VR
technology
provides
an
alternative
experience. VR technology has the potential
( 149 )
to provide real world simulations with real
world complexity and limitations that are
present in real life (Herrington & Oliver,
2000).
This study investigated the effectiveness of
blending VR technology with online learning
environment.
Research Design and Methodology
Blending Online Learning and VR
simulation
Participants
Blended learning is a relatively new concept
of learning where instruction is delivered
through a blend of online learning and other
modes of delivery to provide enhanced access
to learning (Thorne, 2003). This delivery
mode can be adjusted to the level of comfort
in accessing and using of technology among
students (Throha, 2003). However, there are
several limitations to blended learning which
are effective pedagogy, inappropriate content
and information overload.
First, the failure to take into consideration
effective pedagogical principles when
implementing online learning has resulted in
the potential of technology-supported learning
not maximized (Oliver & Herrington, 2003).
Second, according to Clark and Mayer
(2002), designers often fail to base online
learning on the specific learning outcomes
required in a particular context. Finally, high
attrition rates have been attributed to the
limited capacity of the human brain to
assimilate the overload of information, and as
a result of frustration among online students
(Clark & Mayer, 2002). One of the ways to
overcome these pitfalls is by blending online
learning with other modes of delivery, in this
case VR simulated environment.
The different approaches in blended learning
can accommodate different learning styles of
different individuals (Salmon, 2003). Through
blended learning, the learners have the
opportunity to learn at their own pace can
absorb new information without finding the
learning experience onerous.
Participants in this study were:
• The students – 2nd and 3rd year
business students at a large
technology-based
university
in
Australia. All 18 students were
selected based on their enrolment in
this subject.
• The teacher - a part-time teacher for
the course;
• The facilitator - a recently-retired
lecturer who previously taught the
same subject and was involved in the
development of the course; and
• The software developer - who helped
navigate the VR simulation was a staff
member of the University. He was the
key player in developing and running
the VR simulation.
Students as the major participants in this
study had studied for a Bachelor of Business
degree for the past three or four semesters
before the research was conducted. All
students enrolled in this subject must pass the
basic Marketing subject taught in semester 1.
Therefore, all of them possessed knowledge
about basic Marketing. Third year students,
on the other hand, had advanced knowledge
of Marketing; however, the faculty did not
offer decision-making in Marketing subjects
prior to this subject. In short, this was the first
time for all students in this study to learn
Marketing Decision-Making.
Figure 1.1 is the website dedicated to the
subject. The website contained various
information such as student information,
( 150 )
lecturer information, links to the desktop
version of the VR simulated environment.
Figure 1.1. The website for the subject
The VR software
The VR prototype was developed using
VRML (virtual reality mediated language)
and was called Virtual Golden Foods
Corporation, comprising a food canning
factory, in this case jam canning, and
managers’ offices. These two environments
were selected as the environments where the
crisis scenarios were to take place. The crisis
scenarios formed part of the case study
(Yahaya, Euler, & Godat, 2004).
The food canning factory in the software
provided a number of scenarios and triggers
of events that could take place in a food
production line. The first event was the jamprocessing machine breakdown.
The
breakdown led to several other problems
including a factory fire. Students were
introduced to the scenario during tutorials in
Week 8, via links available from the website.
(see Figure 1.2). They were also exposed to
the same text-based case study on the first day
of lecture. The purpose was to familiarize
them with the situation surrounding the event.
The Simulated Environment
( 151 )
Figure 1.2. The desktop VR simulation
In the VR theatre, students were briefed on
what to expect. Students were seated on
swivel chairs facing a large curved screen
which occupied the width of the room. No
head-mounted displays were used since the
theatre provided group immersive VR. The
facilitator stood slightly to the left of the
group and was facing the screen. When the
session started the image was projected onto
the screen and provided the students with a
sense of 3D depth. They were shown the VR
simulation for about 20 minutes. Scenarios
and events were based on the tasks that
students were required to complete. Audio
and visual feedback made up the clues to the
crisis as the user navigates through the factory
with the help of the software developer who
sat at a console on an elevated platform
behind the theatre. The facilitator guided the
session by interacting with the students and
providing instructions to the console operator.
The students were required to discuss among
themselves what decisions could be made
after the entire crisis scenarios were
presented. They were given about 20 minutes
for the discussion. A set of quantitative
decision-making models were provided on a
side screen where students could request the
facilitator to key in estimated financial data
before coming up with decisions. A list of
responses from different management levels
pertaining to the incidents was built-in within
the VR simulation. Students have access to
these responses at anytime during the
discussion. They made decisions based on
these tools, the quantitative model, and the
responses provided.
.
Data Analysis
Gathering data from multiple sources is an
effective method to ensure the authenticity of
the research. As opposed to use of isolated
sources of data that often can only provide a
single perspective to the issue being
investigated, the utilisation of multiple
sources of data will ensure triangulation of
data that provides credibility in analysing and
theorising about the issue being investigated
(Marshall & Rossman, 1999).
( 152 )
Data were collected through the following
processes:
• Formal and informal interviews of
students and other participants before
and after the VR session;
• Focus group sessions conducted after
the VR environment and at the end of
the semester;
• Regular observations of classroom to
document teaching intervention and
student interactions (to validate
intervention); and
• Artefacts taken from students such as
the case being studied, answers
provided and other students’ work.
The analysis of data was conducted at two
levels: macro- and micro-levels. At the
macro-level, the analysis of data was
informed by activity theory (Engestrom,
2001). This approach identified a number of
sub-steps for each of the above steps in the
analysis of the learning environment.
At the micro-level, this study has adopted
Strauss and Corbin’s (1990) techniques to
code the data as follows:
• Concepts: Conceptual labels placed on
discrete happenings, events, and other
instances of phenomena;
• Categories: A classification of
concepts. This classification is
discovered when concepts are
compared one against another and
appear to pertain to a similar
phenomenon. Thus the concepts are
grouped together under a higher order,
more abstract concept called a
category;
• Coding: a process of analysing data;
• Code Notes: the products of coding in
the form of memos;
• Open Coding: The process of breaking
down,
examining,
comparing,
conceptualising, and categorising data;
•
•
•
Properties:
Attributes
or
characteristics
pertaining
to
a
category; and
Dimensions: Location of properties
along a continuum. In this study a
continuum is sometimes referred to as
a “trajectory”.
Dimensionalising: The process of
breaking a property down into its
dimensions. (p. 61)
Data analysis at the micro-level thus consisted
of making a detailed description of the case
and its context. Interviews were recorded and
transcribed
immediately
and
studied,
compared, and categorized. Interview
transcriptions were transcribed verbatim and
where necessary, the utterances were edited
and proofread to clarify meaning. They were
read and reread to find specific themes. The
coding was repeated to look for patterns and
transcripts were examined individually and in
relation to others to gauge common themes
across the class.
Videotapes were analysed and transcribed,
and in-class observation notes were taken.
Artefacts were examined extensively.
Emerging issues were reported and grouped
into categories. Difficulties were identified
and reported.
Findings and Discussions
The analysis revealed several major issues
that impinged on student learning: (1) student
engagement, (2) cognitive challenge, (3)
stimulation of prior knowledge, (4) the role of
the facilitator, and (5) the immersive VR
learning environment. First, the VR learning
environment provided high level of
engagement among students. Second during
the discussions in the environment, students
were cognitively challenged to solve the
problem and make critical decisions. Third,
the transfer of knowledge from previous
learning experience was evident in the
( 153 )
immersive VR learning environment.
Students were seen applying the principles of
decision-making when solving the case study
problem. Fourth, the facilitator played an
important role in promoting the interactivity
in the immersive VR learning environment
and fifth, the VR simulation was effective as a
tool. Students interviewed agreed that the
simulation helped them understand the
problem situation clearer.
On the other hand, some limitations of the VR
simulation were noted by students during the
focus interviews and the post VR session
questionnaire. The technical quality of the VR
simulation was not comparable to commercial
games standard. Most commercial games
include technologies such as advanced 3D
qualities, maneuverability of the object on the
screen, and high quality graphics. This level
of reality was not incorporated into the VR
simulation used in this research. Furthermore,
in this VR simulation, there was lack of
factory worker images and the audio
telephone conversation could not be
integrated into the VR screen. Instead, they
were added as text and were beamed onto the
wall next to the VR screen.
However, we can also look to games theory
and contemporary computer gaming strategies
to acknowledge that the visual quality is only
part of the power of simulations. Van Eck
(2006) claimed that VR scenarios that
incorporate simulations such as games
succeed in engaging students in informal
learning because they employ sound
pedagogical approaches such as situated
cognition, cognitive disequilibrium, and
scaffolding to teach what is needed to succeed
in the game. In reviewing the literature on the
effectiveness of games there is little research
that explores the quality of the visuals. What
seems to be significant in games is that they
employ play theory, involve cycles of
learning, are problem-based, embody situated
cognition and encourage questioning and
what-if scenarios. Research by Black (2007)
also suggested that students (particularly more
capable students) were frequently able to
construct imaginary worlds based on minimal
visual input.
In future, the design of the VR simulation,
should carefully consider the quality of the
VR software and the level of interactivity
enabled by the software. This is important to
inform future design so educators can cater to
the needs of the Y generation.
Future Trend of VR and eLearning
With the advent of cost-effective, more
efficient new technologies such as VR and
augmented reality, the expectation of
elearning as an effective medium of delivery
has sharply decline (Bang, Dalsgaard, Kjaer,
2006). An alternative to such situation is the
idea of combining elearning with technology
that simulates real-life environments to
provide authentic learning experiences such
as VR. Many higher learning institutions are
now looking at adopting VR technology as
part of their elearning delivery system to
provide real-life simulations to ensure
learning that lasts.
In keeping with the demands of the delivery
of elearning to remote students, the need for
equal access to every student is important.
The introduction of distributed VR in
elearning is fast catching attention.
Distributed VR is a VR-based simulation run
over a networked technology with 3D
graphics techniques. Rapid advancement in
technology has made it possible for
distributed VR to run on a normal personal
computer with moderate hardware demands.
This form of VR technology not only allows
immersive experience, but also the inclusion
of interactivity within the environment that
enhances learning (Roehl, 1995). Remote
( 154 )
students who are not able to be physically
present to experience the simulation can now
have easy access to the VR technology via
desktop computer at home.
( 155 )
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An Investigation of Education Management Information Systems in
the Kingdom of Bahrain
Maggie McPherson
University of Leeds, UK
Ahmed Al Koofi
Ministry of Education, Kingdom of Bahrain
Abstract
Effective management is achieved through the
use of timely and accurate information.
Education Management Information Systems
(EMIS) collects; processes; integrates;
analyses; and reports data for system
monitoring and educational policy-making.
This study, based on a survey carried out in
the Kingdom of Bahrain, explored the
accuracy of current systems and investigated
how the Ministry of Education (MOE) could
implement an effective EMIS. The findings
revealed that to be more successful, the MOE
needs to share and distribute relevant
integrated information to stakeholders at all
levels; primary, intermediate and secondary,
so that it can be used to achieve change in
practice.
Introduction
As the 21st Century heralds an era of
widespread
use
of
information
communication technology across the globe,
public sector professionals are beginning to
realize the real value of efficient information
management for achieving continued social
and economic development. Yet, Wako,
(2003) asserts that unless staff have access to
accurate
information
for
monitoring
educational activities, decision making may
be hampered and may result in unexpected
problems for educational development.
Furthermore, the success of organising
educational environments requires the
effective use and implementation of
Education Management Information System
(EMIS) (Wako, 2003).
In Kingdom of Bahrain (KoB), the Ministry
of Education (MoE) routinely collects data
from public schools as well as external
providers on an annual basis as part of its
regular operations. However, despite the fact
that the MoE (2004) distributes a range of
forms to collect data from public schools (e.g.
location of schools, condition of school
facilities, number of grades offered, numbers
of students by sex and age, numbers of
repeaters, number of teachers by sex,
qualification, etc.) and has developed
software to facilitate this task, there is, as yet,
still no programme to both collect and analyse
the educational data in a comprehensive
fashion. To find the best possible solution to
address this problem, a number of areas had
to be investigated, such as: the procedure of
collecting data, the cooperation among the
directorates in the MoE with regard to data
collection and information exchange, the data
analyses, and the method of data collection.
Background of EMIS in the
Kingdom of Bahrain
The MoE has long realised the importance of
statistics, and in 1967 it established an
administrative unit within it under the name
of Superintendence of Educational Planning
(SEP). SEP includes several sections, of
( 158 )
which the Statistics Section (SS) is just one.
The SS has taken over the responsibility of
collecting basic data regarding the number of
students and the number of teaches and their
nationalities from all schools.
•
•
The SEP became a directorate according to
the ministry's administrative re-organisation
structure of 1972. This was a significant
changing point for the SS's role in the task of
collecting and preparing all the educational
statistical data required by the educational
plans or any other study in education in KOB.
As a result, a great deal more attention was
focused on the SS to provide accurate and
efficient statistical data to study the
educational status aiming at developing it and
supporting the urgent planning needs. In
1975, the MOE again re-organised its
organisational structure and established a new
centre called the Educational Information
Documentation Centre (EIDC), which
includes three sections, namely the
Educational Statistics Section (ESS), the
Educational Documentation Section and the
Computer Section.
•
•
•
•
The scope of the ESS was broadened to cover
the delivery of statistics and the provision of
factual information about education status in
KOB in order to help predict future
requirements. The main duties of ESS were
defined as follows:
•
•
•
Preparing and designing the statistical
forms according to the basic needs of
the statistical data in order to collect
educational data from various sources
in KoB.
Disclosing, clarifying and tabulating
the statistical data which have been
collected.
Preparing the annual educational
statistical report including a detailed
account of the annual expansion of the
•
different units, schools and institutes
of the MoE.
Publishing
the
periodical
and
summary statistical statements.
Completing the questionnaires of
national,
regional,
Arab
and
international sources with educational
statistics.
Analysing statistical data to serve the
needs of studies and research
concerned with the development of
education in KoB.
Conducting statistical and comparative
research to find out the standard of
education in KoB and the direction of
its growth at various levels of
education in order to compare it with
the growth in other countries.
Linking population statistics with
education and finding out the ratios
and indicators related to the process of
education.
Providing scholars, researchers, and
other bodies inside or outside the
MoE, as well as official national and
international bodies with the available
statistical data.
Following up publications from
various sources (research centres, etc.)
and auditing data and information,
mentioned about education in KoB
(MoE, 2004).
Research Aims and Objectives
The emphasis on improved data for decisionmaking arose from the explosive growth in
the size of the education system in the KoB.
Due to pressures from society for greater
accountability, and linked to the increased
intricacy of education systems, the MoE has
undertaken more complex programs and
pursued multiple objectives (Chapman,
1991a).
( 159 )
The literature review, carried out in
preparation for this study, revealed was felt
that an effective EMIS would enlighten
decision makers and school administrators,
thus enabling them to make appropriate
decisions. It is said that information acts as a
monitoring and evaluation mechanism that
enables planners and policy makers to assess
how well an Education Strategic Plan (ESP) is
achieving its stated goals (McHugh, 2007).
However, given the lack of a comprehensive
and co-ordinated programme in the MoE in
the KoB to collect and analyse the educational
data, it seemed that the EMIS currently
employed to support education was not as
useful as it might be.
As a consequence of identifying this issue as
a problem, it was agreed that the primary
research question for this investigation should
be; “Why have EMIS efforts in the MoE in
KoB not been more successful?” Thus, the
main aim of this investigation was to ascertain
the accuracy and reliability of the existing
EMIS, i.e. to find out how data are collected,
who collects data, why data are collected and
do decision-makers benefited from these data.
In addition, to follow up the answer to this
question, there were a further sub-set of
objectives to be addressed:
1. How can more successful initiatives in
the MOE in KOB be assured in the
future?
2. What is the most effective and
efficient way to collect data?
3. What strategies should be used to
disseminate data and information?
Research Methodology
Although there are many similarities between
qualitative and quantitative research methods,
some procedures, analysis, samples, and
populations are very different (Boulton &
Fitzpatrick, 1997; Jones, 2007; Malterud,
2001; Thompson & Panacek, 1998). The
reason for this is the very different nature and
assumptions of the data and of the questions
to be answered (Malterud, 2001).
If it is possible to specify hypotheses in
advance, a quantitative approach may be more
appropriate (Boulton & Fitzpatrick, 1997;
Dreachslin, Zernott, Mendenhall, and
Nieuwenjusen, 1993). However, when there
is little or no knowledge of the variables that
exist or how these may be related, adopting a
qualitative research methodology may be
more appropriate.
Since qualitative
approaches examine events or experiences in
context from the perspective of the
individuals experiencing the phenomenon, it
allows for the exploration of the depth and
complexity of a phenomenon, identification
and description its components and their
relationships, and the development of a
picture of the whole that can enhance and
guide practice and future research (Kneale &
Santy, 1999; Thompson & Panacek, 1998;
Thompson & Walker, 1998).
In qualitative research, the sample size is
purposeful and comparatively small in
contrast to the samples used for a quantitative
study. This is because the participants are
often chosen because of their ability to
describe their experience, because of their
unique position of involvement in the
phenomenon, or because they have direct
experience with the phenomenon of interest
as expressed in the research question.
Therefore, issues of the study can be
investigated “in depth” and detailed data are
collected (Boulton & Fitzpatrick, 1997;
Byrne, 2001; Kelley, Clark, Brown, & Sitzia,
2003; Kneale & Santy, 1999; Nastasi &
Schensul, 2005; Pickler, 2007; Thompson &
Walker, 1998).
Since this study was set up to explore new
topics, with a great number of variables, about
which little was already known, i.e. the scope
( 160 )
of application of information systems
currently in place in supporting critical
educational management decisions in the
MoE in KoB, a quantitative research approach
was chosen for this particular study.
Furthermore, whilst surveys, like all research
methods, have both strengths and weaknesses,
it was deemed suitable for this study because
as explained by Inoue (2003) and Nastasi and
Schensul (2005), it is a highly structured
system for collecting specific information to
describe, compare, or explain knowledge.
The benefits of opting for survey as a
methodology include the opportunity to
examine large-scale patterns in education
reform (Desimone & Le Floch, 2004), the
chance to produce data based on real-world
observations and the possibility to produce
large amounts of data in a short time for a
fairly low cost (Desimone & Le Floch, 2004;
Inoue, 2003; Kelley et al., 2003).
On the other hand, the drawbacks were that it
lacked the depth of understanding that
interview and observational techniques could
have provided (Desimone and Le Floch,
2004) and that, as pointed out by Kelley et al.,
2003) securing a high response rate to a
survey was indeed difficult to control. Whilst
designing this research, it was recognised that
surveys that include sensitive data are indeed
affected by respondents' willingness to
participate (Singer, Hippler and Schwarz,
1992). Despite this, it was considered that the
use of surveys in this study would provide
sufficient critical information about education
systems, school conditions and the
effectiveness of reforms to guide evaluation
and policy analysis. Finally, it was felt that if
the surveys were designed and correctly used,
it would provide meaningful and informative
data that could provide a greater
understanding of how EMIS could be
improved to benefit educational processes.
The research instrument chosen for this
survey was a questionnaire, and was intended
to elicit the information required to answer
the research question. As Brace (2004) and
Lindstrom (2000) indicate, a questionnaire
only represents one part of the survey process,
nevertheless it was an essential tool in this
particular investigation because by offering
specific questions to be answered, it made the
participants' task of responding easier.
Questionnaire Design
Initial Issues for Consideration
Although the preparation for the investigation
and the final study was conducted in the
English language, it has to be noted that this
was not the respondents’ first language. This
was problematic because words in one
language do not necessarily have exact
meanings in another, and a word in one
language can have range of meanings that do
not cover the spread of meanings in another,
and additionally, words that can be used
figuratively in one language cannot be used
figuratively in another (Griffee, 2001). This
meant that that when questionnaire items
were translated from English into Arabic, it
could not be assumed that these were valid
because the syntax of the first language
sometimes had no equivalent in the other.
While the process of interpretation had
potential for misrepresentation of either
questions or answers, it was deemed that on
balance, it would more beneficial for
participants to be interviewed in his/her native
tongue.
According to Carrasco (2003),
questions in multiple languages are said to be
functionally equivalent if they are measuring
the same construct, though a certain degree of
linguistic interferences (e.g., cultural,
semantic,
lexical,
or
phonological
interference) should also be expected. Thus,
two questionnaires were designed; in English
and then translated them into Arabic.
( 161 )
Process of Design
The first was aimed at school headmasters
and headmistresses and was intended to find
out views about the use and value of EMIS,
and the second focused on the views of
specialists who handle the data in the MoE in
KoB. These were shown to colleagues for
comments and feedback after which
suggested alterations were made.
In order to pilot test the questionnaire, one of
the KoB school headmasters was, while
engaged in the "thinking aloud" process,
interviewed via Hotmail Messenger. Thus the
process of revising problematic questionnaire
items, as suggested by Desimone and Le
Floch (2004), consisted of a careful procedure
of reviewing, re-testing, and final revision.
The final versions were sent to a personal
acquaintance
with
appropriate
work
connections to schools in the KoB, and he
was asked to distribute the first questionnaire
described above in person to headmasters and
headmistresses within government schools
and the second to colleagues within the MoE
and to ask for their participation.
Research Limitations
Survey Sample
As this was a small-scale study, being carried
out at a distance through the help of an
intermediary, sample size was an obvious
limitation. Nevertheless, there appears to be
no general agreement in the literature
regarding sample size in qualitative studies.
Burnard, (2004) suggests that some describe
single-person studies while others indicate
sample sizes ranging from six to thirty.
In the final event, eleven headmasters and
headmistresses agreed to participate in this
study.
This sample represented all the
different school stages: i.e. primary,
intermediate and secondary schools. It was
decided that these participants would be able
to supply a sufficiently detailed and varied
account for the purpose of addressing the
research question in this investigation. This
population provides the raw data and might be
the end users of the EMIS, but are not in any
way responsible for designing or developing
an appropriate system. Therefore, the focus
of this questionnaire was on the processes of
collecting data and what is being done to the
data, rather than on building a coherent and
cohesive EMIS.
The second questionnaire was intended for
educational specialists who work in collecting
and analysing the data in the MoE.
Regrettably, although a number of
educational specialists in the MoE were
willing to answer the questionnaire, they were
prevented from completing this activity by
their manager. The explanation given for this
intervention was that an embargo had been
put in place regarding any publication about
this subject. This was despite the fact that the
questionnaire was merely seeking their
personal opinion and views, and therefore did
not represent the views of the MoE as such.
Consequently, one person was willing to
answer the questionnaire and to return it for
analysis. Clearly, this is not representative,
but it may nevertheless provide an indication
of some areas that still need further research
attention in the future.
Generalisability
Qualitative research is often accused of being
subjective (Kneale and Santy, 1999) and it is
clear that the responses to this survey are both
personal and situation-specific. Moreover,
one cannot make generalisations about how
people will act in all circumstances from what
they write in any particular context; especially
one whose features are rather untypical, such
as answering a questionnaire (Nastasi and
Schensul, 2005; Walsh and Downe, 2006;
Jones, 2007; and Hammersley, 1981).
( 162 )
For these reasons, the results of this research
cannot claim to be generalisable to a larger
population. Furthermore, it is accepted the
responses to this study are participants’
personal views and understandings, and
because the research analyst too is positioned
culturally, historically and theoretically
(Freeman et al., 2007), it is acknowledged
that the findings cannot be described as being
entirely neutral.
Research Findings
Since there were insufficient responses from
specialists who handle the data in the MoE to
the second questionnaire, this section of the
paper will concentrate on the findings aimed
at the school headmasters and headmistresses
in KoB public schools. Noting again that this
is a small-scale study, over half of the
respondents were unaware of the fact that
there is a department or a unit in the Ministry
of Education (MoE) responsible for collecting
and analysing data, even though it was
established in 1967.
Asking these respondents whether the
formation of such a department in the MoE
was necessary, a number of interesting points
were made:
• The information will be centralized in
one place.
• To collect data faster and easier.
• Not to submit the same data in
different forms to different directions.
• To use the data when it is needed in a
faster and easier method.
• To easily measure the annual changes.
• To ease the connection between
schools and the MoE in data
collection.
• To
compare
between
schools'
achievements.
• To help in writing the future plans of
the MoE.
• To know the strengths and weaknesses
of the students
Some respondents who were aware of the
MoE data collection unit expressed regret that
this department had a limited and ineffective
role; although it was recognised that a recent
initiative had begun implementation for
dealing with primary schools regards students'
grade, information and statistics.
Regarding to current processes of data
collection via postage, email, and faxes, the
view was expressed that information could be
collected from a department or a unit that it
was expressly established to collect and store
the data. Furthermore, respondents felt that
the best way to implement technology would
be by making use of a database or to have a
network to connect all schools with the MoE.
The majority of respondents agreed that when
the MoE collected data from schools about a
specific topic, it did not explain why this data
was being collected and neither were the
findings shared with the contributors. This is
very likely to affect the quality of the data
collected because if the schools do not know
why these data are important. Furthermore,
were the findings to be given the schools, they
may use them in their strategic planning.
Thus, they concurred that the process of data
exchange between schools and the MOE from
another side was not entirely satisfactory as it
stood at the present time.
With regard to data storage, all respondents
were in agreement with the fact that it would
be helpful for information to be held in one
location. They suggested that this would
facilitate both schools and the MoE with their
basic information needs. It was felt that it
would improve transference of students'
information and enable exchange shareable
activities. Once gathered in one location, it
would be easier to analyse the data and to
supply schools and the directorates of the
MoE with the information they need. As a
( 163 )
result, a great deal of time, energy and money
could be saved.
A n EM IS M od el
A c c e s s & D is s e m in a t i o n
M in is te r O f E d u c a tio n
E d u c a tio n a l R e s o u rc e s & T e c h n iq u e s D i re c to r a t e
A s s . S e c r e ta ry G e n e r a l A c c r e d it a tio n a n d E v a l u a t io n
O rg a n is a t io n & C o m m it te e s A f fa i rs D i re c t o r a t e
U / S E C fo r E d u c a tio n a l A f fa i rs & C u r ric u lu m
P la n n in g & E d u c a tio n a l p ro j e c ts D ir e c to ra t e
S e c re ta ry G e n e r a l, H ig h e r E d u c a tio n C o u n c il
G o v e rn m e n t ( p u b lic ) E d u c a tio n
A U S , C u rri c u lu m & E d u c a tio n a l S u p e rv is io n
P u b lic R e l a tio n s & M e d ia D ir e c to ra te
A U S , E d u c a tio n a l S e rv . & S t u d e n t A c ti v itie s
S c ie n tific re s e a rc h D i re c to r a te
A U S , C e n t ra l & T e c h n i c a l D ir e c to ra t e
A c c re d it a tio n & lic e n s in g D ir e c to r a te
A U S , P ri v a t e & C o n tin u o u s E d u c a tio n
E v a lu a tio n & F o llo w -u p D ir e c to ra t e
A U S , F i n a n c ia l R e s o u rc e s & S e rv ic e s
E d u c a tio n S u p e rv is io n D ir e c to ra t e
U / S E C fo r R e s o u rc e s & S e rv i c e s
S e rv ic e D i re c t o r a t e
DEM AND
A U S , P la n n in g & In fo r m a t io n
P u b lic L ib r a rie s D i re c to r a t e
S tu d e n t S e r v ic e D i re c to r a te
AU S, H u m a n R eso urces
IN FO R M A T IO N S Y S T E M S D I R E C T O R A T E
EMIS
Data Collection
IN FORMATION SYSTEMS DIRECTORATE
General Statistics
G overnm ent (Public) Education
M ateria ls & Supplies Directorate
SUPPLY
Private Education (N on – Governm ent)
Financial Resou rces Directorate
Hum an Resources D irectorate
Special Education
Curriculum Directorate
N on Form al Education
Ex am ination Directorate
Special Education Directorate
Continuous Education
K indergarten Directorate
Higher Education and Post-Secondary
Private Education Directorate
Continuous education Directorate
Training & Caree r Developm ent Directorate
Physical Education, Scouts & Guide Directorate
Prim ary Education Directorate
Interm ediate Education Directorate
Secondary Education Directorate
Technical & Vocational Education Directorate
Figure 1: EMIS is about feedback cycles
Discussion of the Findings
Although in this study, most respondents
thought that an EMIS was a necessity,
implementation of this alone is unlikely be
sufficient to improve the efficiency of the
KoB educational system as this is just one
( 164 )
component that could be implemented in
order to produce efficiency improvements.
Messec (1990) argues in favour of an EMIS,
stating that the development of such a system
must be the foundation for any long-term
restructuring of policy. Conversely, it could
be asserted that the use of the EMIS has not
increased productivity at all, insofar as it
could be claimed that in some circumstances,
an EMIS could actually reduce the
effectiveness of decision-making because it
places a focus on the measure and what is
measurable, rather than what is critical. In
addition, it is not entirely clear whether
information actually leads to better
management and, if it does, whether it will
affect the quality and quantity of education
services provided to the population (Crouch,
1997).
( 165 )
Conclusions
Although this study might not be able answer
any of the research questions conclusively
(Burnard, 2004), it does provide some hints of
a way forward for the education sector in the
KoB. The MoE obviously believes that all
the data collected is important and that the
accuracy depends on the directorate that
collects the data. However, accuracy is
problematic because more than one
directorate collects the data from schools, and
private school data is not checked when
collected. Thus the data collected from public
schools is deemed to have a high level of
accuracy, whilst data collected from the
private sector is deemed to be less reliable.
Furthermore, the importance of the data
quality is understood in the MoE, yet the
statistical yearbook (which is a primary
source of information for decision-makers)
lacks an analysis section. Therefore, the
yearbook does not provide the necessary
information for head teachers to make
considered choices for their schools.
Nevertheless, the findings do offer some
indications of a way forward, and these
recommendations are presented in the
following section.
Recommendations
The research set out to discover the nature of
the EMIS in the MOE, to offer guidelines for
effective implementation of an EMIS in the
MOE, to suggest guidelines for the quality of
data collection in the MOE and propose some
interesting lines of inquiry for researchers to
consider in future.
What is the nature of the EMIS in the MoE
in the Kingdom of Bahrain?
Educational management in the MoE adopts a
pyramid model, that is to say that strategy is
formulated by the MoE. The MoE includes
many directorates, each of which needs
customized information for planning and
operational purposes.
Typically, the
directorates largely duplicate the structure of
the MoE, and are responsible for ensuring that
MoE polices are communicated and
implemented in schools (Chapman, 1998).
This is a massive task and requires detailed
analysis of the function's organisation and
goals.
Adding a further level of complexity, the
information must be comparable by
directorates for corporate overview and
planning purposes.
Thus, the corporate
function
complicates
the
information
requirements of each directorate function,
because each requires information, but it all
needs it to be structured differently.
Moreover, difficulties would arise if each
directorate in the MoE identified its
information needs without considering other
directorates, and the overall corporate
information systems could be incompatible
and of little value at a corporate level. Each
directorate needs the same database
configured differently in order to respond to
its own educational needs.
However, it is clear that the use of data and
information in the education sector in KoB, as
is the case elsewhere in the world, are varied
and complex. It is suggested that before
collecting yet more data, educational
specialists should determine whether the data
already available can be used to meet an
emerging information need (Christal et al.
1999). Collecting unnecessary additional data
has the potential to create information
overload, hampering educational specialists’
efforts to analyse, interpret, and report
information needed by head teachers to bring
about strategic changes. It is possible that
decision-makers may misunderstand the
problem, thinking that a lack of useful
information suggests a need to collect yet
more data, which, when collected, seems to
achieve nothing.
Chapman (1998) and
( 166 )
Christal et al., (1999) suggest that the solution
is a wiser use of data which has already been
collected.
In conjunction with this, a
carefully devised procedure should identify
where and how data will be provided and
validated, where and how long it will be
stored, how and when it will be manipulated,
and to whom and in what format it will be
reported (Yuen and Duo, 1989).
In many ways, information is a vital
educational resource, but many directorates
refer generally to their information needs and
not specifically to the use of information as a
resource. Directorates must see corporate
information and technology systems as
necessary components of decision making,
along with good educational judgement and
sufficient
resources
(Beaumont
and
Beaumont, 1988, Christal et al., (1999). In
fact, not only is cooperation and collaboration
necessary, but decision-makers need a
significant understanding of systems and data
structures in order to use such systems
effectively. It is entirely possible that many
people who are concerned with educational
strategy have not attained expertise in this
specialised area, so the system may go unused
or may only be used by educational
specialists. This decreases much of the value
which may be gained by the direct use of a
system, particularly if the system is
interactive and designed to be used on a
question-and-answer basis (King and
Rodriguez, 1980).
On the other hand, the MoE has developed
many systems based on programmers' skills
and abilities. These systems have been
developed on different platforms with
different standards. A decision has been
made to transfer many of these applications
into Oracle Developer to provide a more
integrated approach. Most of these systems
are under the control of the EIDC, but some
of them have developed from the
requirements and needs of the directorates. It
is stated that multiple employee databases
exist across the MoE without any integration;
this results in duplication and data integrity
issues. In addition, there are some directorates
which use more than one application for the
same information without any integration and
that results in duplicated issues, waste of
resource efforts and a lack of adherence to
any
development
standards
and
implementation practices that may exist
(MoE, 2006).
( 167 )
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( 169 )
FactorsLeading to Students’ Withdrawal from Courses in eLearning Environment: An Empirical Study
Mohammad H. Haj-Ahmed
e-TQM College, Dubai
Abstract
Introduction
This paper focuses on factors that lead to
students’
withdrawal
from
academic
programs
delivered
in
e-learning
environment. Students’ retention, drop-out
from courses, and attrition rates have been
extensively discussed by researchers with
reference
to
conventional
academic
institutions. However, with the expansion of
e-learning concepts and the emerging
paradigms of pedagogy which range between
blended approaches and Knowles’s theory of
‘Andragogy’, the same problems of low
retention and high drop-out rates seem to be
prevalent and persisting in e-learning
environments as they were before in the
conventional academic settings.
The landscape of higher education in almost
all parts of the world has experienced
profound changes and persistent challenges
during the past two decades. There are
numerous factors that contributed to existence
and prevalence of such a situation. Major
among these factors are the unprecedented
advancement in IT and communication
facilities. Aside from the technological
dimensions, governmental pressures on
institutions of higher education to improve
their effectiveness, control their budgets, and
align their strategic plans with the national
policies of their respective countries, had
added to the pressures on institutions of
higher education. In the mid of this turbulent
environment the concept of e-learning
emerged and advanced itself strongly in
academic circles and institutions of higher
education.
Many
academicians
and
researchers (Roberts, 1996; Voss, 1993;
Berge & Huang, 2004; Terry & Macy, 2001)
believe that e-learning approaches and
methods are going to replace the conventional
ways of teaching and delivery that dominated
academic scene for centuries. On the other
hand, there is another group of researchers
(Becker, 1990; Leslie & Brinkman, 1987; Fry,
2000; Alexander, 2001) who believe that the
factors led to demise of conventional models
of academic delivery are also inherent in the
e-learning models.
Although it is not within the scope of this
paper to debate further the arguments and
viewpoints of the two groups of researchers, it
remains evident that e-learning will play an
essential role in educating and upgrading
Based on a triangulated research method and
a sample of 34 learners, this paper
investigates the factors that lead to learners’
withdrawal from academic programs. For the
purpose of hypotheses testing, these factors
were grouped into three categories. The
hypotheses were tested at a 0.05 level of
significance (i.e., α = 0.05), using χ2 as a test
statistic. The factors leading to withdrawal
from academic programs were ranked
according to their importance to individual
learners. The ranking was based on the
difference between the calculated value of χ2
for each set of factors and the critical values.
The results show that student-related factors
are more important than other set of factors
in terms of a learner’s decision to withdraw
from a course.
( 170 )
skills of millions of people around the globe.
Increasingly organizations are shifting to
these modes of delivery to enhance skills of
their employees (Griffith, 2002). Whether the
new approaches of e-learning are going to
replace the conventional modes of delivery in
institutions of higher education is left for time
to determine. However, the debate on
proliferation of e-learning in most parts of the
world had brought to surface a set of
pedagogical and administrative issues
(Packham et al., 2004). For example
experience had shown that the majority of
learners who enroll in e-learning courses and
programs are adult learners whose average
age is 24 years (Bean & Metzner, 1985;
Chaves, 2006). This category of learners is
characterized by a unique set of
characteristics. Rovai (2003) identified the
attributes of these learners as family
commitment, lack of previous experience in
higher education institutions, lack of formal
A-level qualifications. On the same line of
argument, Chaves (op. cit.) indicated that
adult learners are not adequately prepared for
college-level education; both academically
and socially. Although Chaves is referring
here to adult learners in community colleges,
his statement is applicable to e-learning
settings as well. Similarly, Griffith (2002)
indicated that this ‘unpreparedness’ for
college-level education is the single
demotivating factor for learners to continue
their studies in e-learning environments.
Navarro, Iglesias, and Torres (2005)
confirmed that the current student populations
are changing and many different categories of
students are emerging. According to them,
“The traditional classification of a student –
youths of around 20 years of age who, after
finalizing their studies that provide access to
the university, enroll in higher education
studies and who are engaged full time in
studying for a university degree – has
changed, and among these students a much
more varied classification has emerged”
(Navarro et al., p. 506). These researchers
added that, “this new group of students has
very different needs and motivations from the
needs of traditional students who went to
universities in order to enroll in higher
education studies. Thus, considerable segment
of university customers is currently
demanding a kind of education that is
different from the traditional kind” (ibid). In
order to cater for the specific needs of this
category of learners in particular and the
needs of e-learners in general, academic
institutions are required to design and deliver
special services for learners (Ryan, 2003).
The inability of these institutions to provide
such services is one of the major reason for
students dissatisfaction and hence withdrawal
from their programs of study.
Retention Theories: Historical and
Current Trends in Literature
There seems to be plethora of studies on
student satisfaction and retention rates.
Within the context of changing environments
of institutions of higher education, retaining
viable number of students is crucial for
survival of these institutions. However, most
of the research in this area focused on
traditional educational institutions rather than
e-learning environments. For example, De
Shields, Kara, and Kaynak (2005) indicated
that institutions of higher education are
“increasingly recognizing” the importance of
the services they provide for students. These
researchers emphasized that the whole higher
education is becoming a service sector (ibid).
They identified a direct relationship between
satisfaction and retention rates.
Many theories were developed to give
insights into the various factors that
contribute or lead to student retention. The
following
discussion
highlights
the
conceptual foundations of some of those
theories. Perhaps the works of Sanford (1966)
is considered a classical theory in terms of
creating
a
general
framework
for
( 171 )
understanding why students withdraw from
their programs of study. Sanford had
introduced the three fundamental concepts of
readiness, challenge, and support as pillars for
involving a learner in his/her academic
environment. The term environment is used
here by Sanford to refer to all possible forms
of interaction among the learner, institution,
faculty, and peers. Sanford concluded that if
institutions of higher education were able to
design challenging programs, provide the
support necessary for those programs, then
student readiness to succeed will be enhanced.
In 1975 Tinto introduced and laid down
foundations of his “Interactionalist Theory”
and enhanced it later through a series of
studies (Tinto, 1987; 1993; 1997). The focus
of Tinto’s theory and research was the level
of students’ commitment and their desire to
interact through the social and educational
communities. Thus, according to Tinto,
students’ interaction with the various levels of
communities within the academic institutions
is a major contributing factor to persistence
and retention rates. Astin (1984) had built on
Tinto’s theory to develop a student
involvement model. Astin (ibid) emphasized
the psychological dimension as a drive for
student involvement. He identified five
different
categories
of
involvement:
Involvement with peers, work, faculty,
academics, and involvement elsewhere in the
campus. According to him, learning is a
function of involvement or commitment.
However, there is a group of researchers
(Rendon, 1994, Schlossberg, 1989; Belenky
et al., 1986; Chickering, 1969) who explained
the reasons behind students’ satisfaction and
attrition
from
different
perspectives.
Together, these researchers introduced new
concepts that added insights into the very
basic nature of retention and engagement in
academic settings. For example, Rendon
(ibid) introduced the “Theory of Validation”
as an explanation for students’ involvement in
academic and social life. According to her,
validation refers to the ‘supportive’ and
‘enabling’ processes inside and outside the
classrooms
that
are
geared toward
development of learners’ personalities.
Rendon believes that through the process of
validation students will develop the self
confidence necessary for them to succeed
academically. Like Rendon, Schlossberg
(1989) emphasized the importance of
supportive environments that institutions of
higher education are suppose to avail for
learners in order to enable them to make
maximum out of their potential. Schlossberg
introduced the concepts of “Marginality’ and
“Mattering”. According to this researcher,
marginality means “a sense of not fitting in”
(op. cit., p. 15). This feeling of marginality
manifests itself in depression, dissatisfaction,
and hence withdrawal. On the other hand,
Schlossberg defined mattering as “our belief,
right or wrong that we matter to someone
else” (p. 5). She identified four exclusively
related dimensions of mattering as follows:
(1) attention; which refers to a student’s
feeling of getting noticed; (2) Importance;
which refers to student’s feeling of his/her
importance through a sense of caring; (3) ego
extension; which exists when a student
develops a sense of respect and
accomplishment; (4) dependence; when a
student develops a feeling of being needed by
others. Thus according to Schlossberg,
institutions ought to give students a sense of
psychological intimacy and acceptance in
order to ensure their involvement in campus
life.
The feminist researchers Belenky et al. (1986)
postulated that female students generate and
consume knowledge differently than males.
They attributed this to what they called
“subjective knowledge”. According to these
researchers, women usually rely on their
professional and personal experiences as
sources of knowledge. They believe that in
this process of generating knowledge women
show patience and empathy and they
( 172 )
exchange information in caring ways. Having
into consideration the fact that the majority of
students in most universities and colleges
today are females, is another challenge to
these institutions as they are suppose to cater
for the special needs of this category of
learners (White, 2001). In this regards,
Chaves (op. cit.) asserted that “we must also
take into accounts theories about women’s
ways of knowing if we are to serve adult
students effectively.”
Chickering (1969) is another theorist who
tried to reveal importance of identity
development in shaping overall commitment
of students to their academic endeavors.
Although most of the concepts introduced by
Chickering were originally coined by the
eminent Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget, the
refinement made by Chickering to the theory
of identity development is considerable. She
identified seven elements (or vectors as she
called them) of identity development. These
elements are: managing emotions, developing
competence, transition from autonomy to
interdependence, development of mature
interpersonal
relationships,
developing
purpose,
developing
integrity,
and
establishing identity. Therefore, Chickering’s
theory of identity development is considered
to be, to a large extent, a psychological
development theory that gives explanation for
how learners try to cope with academic and
social life on campus through a series of
psychological adjustments.
Knowles’s theory of andragogy is of
particular importance to adults’ ways of
learning in general and e-learners in
particular. Knowles based his theory on five
different assumptions: the need to know,
learner self concept, learner’s experience,
readiness to learn, and orientation to learning.
At its theoretical level, Knowles’s theory of
andragogy is the anti-thesis of pedagogy.
Knowles himself explained andragogy as
follows:
“Andragogy assumes that the point at
which an individual achieves a self- concept
or essential self-direction is the point at which
he psychologically became adult. A very
critical thing happens when this occurs: the
individual develops a deep
psychological
need to be perceived by others as being selfdirecting. … any
experience that they
[adult learners] perceive as putting them in
the position of being treated as children is
bound to interface [sic] with their learning.”
(Knowles,
1978, 56)
Knowles noted that there are differences
between the theoretical underpinnings of
pedagogy and andragogy. According to him,
adult learners are intrinsically motivated
rather than extrinsically. He explained this
difference as follows: “Andragogy is the art
and science of helping adults learn, in contrast
to pedagogy which is the art and science of
teaching children” (op. cit, p. 43). If Knowles’
theory is validated through other research,
then it may play an important role in elearning environments and specifically in
areas of curriculum design.
The Experiential Learning Theory (ELT)
developed by Kolb (1984) is another useful
addition to the theories on adult learning. In
this theory Kolb emphasized importance of
the relationship between previous experiences
of learners and the process of creating
knowledge. The basic idea behind
experiential learning is that students will learn
better when they apply their own experiences,
beliefs, and ideas to specific topic or situation.
Therefore, according to Kolb learning is a
process that involves feeling, thinking,
perceiving, and behaving.
As it can be seen from the previous
discussion, most of the research on adult
satisfaction and retention focused on
traditional academic settings. The scattered
attempts to study retention in the e-learning
environments are characterized by their
narrow focus of concentrating on specific or
( 173 )
single phenomenon rather than trying to
develop a comprehensive framework or
theory (Bennet, 2003; Mason & Weller, 2002;
2001; Katz, 2002). For example, Diaz (2002)
focused on the technological dimensions of elearning environments. He grouped these
dimensions into three categories as
situational, student, and educational system
factors. Following the same narrow scope,
Kvam (2000) studied the effect of active
learning methods on student retention in
engineering statistics classes. He concluded
that “active learning can help to increase the
retention rate for average or below average
scores” (Kvam, p. 136). These findings were
in line with the conclusions of Lawarence
(1996) and Owusu (2006). A third example of
a single dimension approach to the study of
retention is the work of Vamosi, Pierce, and
Slotkin (2004). Although these researchers
did not focus on e-learning per se, they
attempted to measure student satisfaction with
the alternative modes of delivery. These
researchers stated “We conclude that issues
related to time management, interaction, and
technology may also contribute to the
significant difference in satisfaction in the
comparison of distance learning and
traditional – learning delivery modes of
instructions.” (p. 366). Although this
conclusion is plausible, it contradicts some
other established research findings. In fact,
there are varied reasons for the differences in
satisfaction levels. Weaver (2006) for
example, attributed such differences to the
inability of institutions of higher education to
incorporate the best practices as part of their
strategic plans.
To sum up, the previous literature review had
attempted to trace the main theoretical
frameworks in the area of students’
satisfaction and retention. The review had
shown that there are many different concepts
and theories developed to give insights into
the very basic nature of factors that contribute
positively or negatively to retention rates. The
review had also revealed that institutions of
higher education are challenged today with
different categories of learners who have
different needs and expectations. In order to
survive, these institutions must develop
specific strategies that cater for the needs of
the newly emerging categories of learners.
Method and Research Setting
One of the cardinal rules in academic research
circles is that a research problem dictates the
method of investigation. This rule is not an
exception here. The issues of retention and
withdrawal from academic programs of study
are so complex that neither a qualitative nor
quantitative approach will adequately
encompass this complexity (Rendon et al.
2000; Kuh & Love, 2000; Creswell, 2003).
Specifically, Creswell (p. 208) indicated that
triangulation – which is hybrid method that
combines the quantitative and qualitative
approaches of research – are increasingly
being used. Therefore, the current research
capitalizes on the benefits of the mixed
(triangulation) approach as a general
methodological framework for collecting and
analyzing data.
The present study uses a sample of 34
students from a population of 96 who
withdrew from their programs of study within
a period of three consecutive semesters (Fall,
Spring, and Fall) in an institution of higher
education in UAE. The institution currently
offers two academic programs: One at the
undergraduate level leading to the Bachelor
Degree in Business and Quality Management
and the other is a Master program leading to
M. Sc. in Organizational Excellence. Both
programs are delivered using the blended
approach model of e-learning. The students
withdrew from their respective programs at
different points of time during the semester in
which withdrawal took place. Table 1 shows
the withdrawal points of time and the number
of withdrawing students. The large majority
( 174 )
of the students withdrew were of Arab origin
who either obtained a higher secondary
school certificate - in case of undergraduate
students - or a bachelor degree in case of
graduate students.
Table 1: Number of withdrawing learners and time of withdrawal
Semester
Before start of
semester
Fall 06
4
Spring 07
2
Fall 07
5
Total
11
Total Sample = 34 students
Between
1st
th
and 4 week
1
1
2
4
Between 5th and
9th week
2
1
2
5
Between 10th and
15th week
2
2
4
8
After end of
semester
2
1
3
6
Sampling Design
The data presented in table 2 and table 3 are
compiled using two main sources: (1)
Admission and Registration Records of the
institution under study; and (2) the semistructured exist interview that was conducted
with withdrawing students.
Although the records of the institution show
that 96 students withdrew from their
programs of study, 34 students were selected
as a sample for the purposes of current study.
The attributes of this sample are given in the
following table:
Table 2: Attributes of withdrawing learners
Program
Undergraduate
Graduate
Total
Gender
Male
Female
9
11
20
6
8
14
Origin
Arab NonArab
15
--17
2
32
2
Academic Qualification
Secondary
Higher
School Cert. Dip./ BA
12
3
--17*
12
---
Employment Status
Employed Not
employed
11
4
16
3
27
7
Note: Two of the graduate students were admitted without having a Bachelor degree but as per the admission policy of the
institution.
The semi-structured questionnaire used in the
exit interview contained 20 questions grouped
into three categories. The first category is
labeled as learner-related factors (LRFs) and
it contained 7 Lickert-scale type of questions.
The second category is labeled as programrelated factors (PRFs) and it also contained 7
questions. The third category is labeled as
institution-related factors (IRFs) and it
contained 6 questions. Face-to-face or
telephone interviews were conducted with the
34 learners who withdrew from the
institution. Out of these 34 students, 19
students withdrew from the Master program
and remaining 15 from the BA program. The
exit questionnaire was designed to answer one
fundamental question of ‘Why did you decide
to withdraw from your program of study?’
This question was asked to all withdrawing
learners within the sample and they are given
three options to prioritize as follows:
1. Because of personal factors;
2. Because of some institution-related
factors; and
3. Because of program-related factors.
After prompted to these options, learners were
asked to rank the specific reasons within each
option. The ranking was based on a Likert
scale that ranges from 1 – 5; with 5 being the
most driving factor for withdrawal and 1 the
least driving factor. The three options and
( 175 )
various factors associated with each one of
them are presented in table 3.
Table 3: Question elements used in the semi-structured exit interview
“Why did you decide to withdraw from your program of study?”
Options
Associated Factors
Learner-Related
Factors (LRFs)
LRF (1): Academically unprepared to enroll and continue
in the program.
LRF (2): Lack of time (Family or work commitments)
LRF (3): Unable to pay cost of the program.
LRF (4): My perception about e-learning was changed.
LRF (5): Lack of IT related skills.
LRF (6): Attitudes of teaching staff are inappropriate.
LRF (7): Lack of social interaction.
PRF (1): Program administration poor.
PRF (2): Academic advising is ineffective.
PRF (3): Contents and quality of study materials are poor.
PRF (4): Timing and class scheduling were not suitable
for me.
PRF (5): Teaching approaches and quality of teaching are
poor.
PRF (6): Program is demanding and too rigorous.
PRF (7): Assessment policy and criteria are rigid.
IRF (1): Infrastructure of the institution is inadequate.
IRF (2): Institution lacks reputation and international
recognition.
IRF (3): Extra curricular activities are not supported by
the institution.
IRF (4): Academic regulations of the institution are very
tough.
IRF (5): Supporting services (transportation, medical
services, career counseling, … etc.) are not available.
IRF (6): Financial aid is not available.
Program-Related
Factors (PRFs)
Institution-Related
Factors (IRFs)
Ranking
1 2 3
4
5
Method and Research Instrument
As mentioned earlier, a sample of 34 learners
was taken from a total of 96 learners who
withdrew from the two programs of the
institution under study. The study aims at
answering the question of ‘what are the
factors that drive learners to withdraw from
their programs of study in the particular
institution?’ In order to scientifically find an
answer to this question, three different
hypotheses were advanced as follows:
1. H0: The personal factors are not among
the factors that drive learners to
( 176 )
withdraw from their programs of
study.
H1: The personal factors are among the
factors that drive learners to
study.
2. H0: Institution-related factors are not
among the factors that drive learners
to withdraw from their programs of
study.
H1:
Institution-related
factors
are
among the factors that drive learners
to withdraw from their programs of
study.
3. H0: Program-related factors are not
among the factors that drive
learners to withdraw from their
programs
of
study.
the factors that drive learners to
study.
These hypotheses were statistically tested
using the χ2 test statistic at a significant level
of α = .05 and n = 34
H1: Program-related factors are among
Results
The analysis of the data presented in table 2
reveals that 20 out of the 34 students who
withdrew from their programs of study are
male students. This accounted to 58% of the
total sample size. The majority of the sample
(73.5%) are working adults. Table 1 also
shows that the high withdrawal rates usually
occurs either before the start of the semester
(accounted to 32.4%) or between the 10th and
15th week of the semester (accounted to
23.5%).
The data collected through the exit interviews
were presented in the following table:
Table 4: Respondents to exit interview: LRFs
Factors associated with option 1: (withdrawal because of LRFs)
Factor
No. of respondents
LRF (1)
5
LRF (2)
9
LRF (3)
3
LRF (4)
10
LRF (5)
3
LRF (6)
2
LRF (7)
2
Total No. of respondents
34
The data presented in table 4 were used for
testing hypothesis 1 stated in the previous
section (Method and Research Setting
section). The data resulted in a computed χ2
value of 13.647 for the LRFs. With a level of
significance at 0.05 and df = 6, the critical
region is determined to be 12.592. At this α
level, the value of χ2 falls in the rejection
region beyond the critical value. The decision,
therefore, is to reject the H0 and accept the H1.
We conclude that the learner-related factors
are among the factors that drive learners to
withdraw from their programs of study.
Similarly, the data presented in table 5 are
used for testing hypothesis 2. The data
resulted in a computed χ2 value of 9.811. At
the significance level of 0.05 and df = 6, the
critical region is 12.592. Evidently, the value
of χ2 is < the critical region value. This
indicates that we can’t reject the H0 at the
stated level of significance. We conclude that
program-related factors are not among the
factors that drive learners to withdraw from
their programs of study.
( 177 )
Table 5: Respondents to exit interview: PRFs
Factors associated with option 2: (withdrawal because of PRFs)
Factor
No. of respondents
PRF (1)
3
PRF (2)
4
PRF (3)
4
PRF (4)
3
PRF (5)
8
PRF (6)
9
PRF (7)
3
34
The third hypothesis was tested using that
data in table 6. This data resulted in a
computed χ2 of 6.902. At the significance
level of 0.05 and df = 5, the critical region
value is 11.070. This means that the computed
value of χ2 is < the critical region value.
Therefore, the H0 can’t be rejected at this
level of significance. We conclude that the
institution-related factors (IRFs) are not
among the factors that drive learners to
withdraw from their programs of study.
Table 6: Respondents to exit interview: IRFs
Factors associated with option 3: (withdrawal because of IRFs)
Factor
No. of respondents
IRF (1)
5
IRF (2)
11
IRF (3)
5
IRF (4)
4
IRF (5)
6
IRF (6)
3
34
Using the difference between the computed
value of χ2 and the critical region values as a
measure for the importance of each set of
factors in influencing a learner’s decision to
withdraw from a particular program of study,
we can arrange these values as follows:
Table 7: Determining importance of the set of factors in influencing the withdrawal decision
Sets of Factors
Value of χ2
Critical Region
Difference
1st Set of Factors: LRFs
2nd Set of Factors: PRFs
3rd Set of Factors: IRFs
13.647
9.811
6.902
12.592
12.592
11.070
1.055
-2.781
-4.168
Therefore, as it can be seen from the table
above, the first set of factors (LRFs) are the
most important factors in terms of a learner’s
decision to withdraw from a program. The
PRFs come in the second place and IRFs in
the third place. The implications of these
findings to the institutions of higher education
Importance
Ranking
1st
2nd
3rd
in general and the institution under study in
particular, are discussed in the following
section.
Discussion
( 178 )
Issues surrounding students’ withdrawal from
programs of study are apparently complex.
However, this study has expounded some
important findings. The study demonstrated
that personal factors play vital and critical
role in learners’ decision to withdraw from a
particular program. Contrary to what is
commonly perceived, institution-related and
program-related factors come in the second
and third places; respectively, in terms of the
factors that influence students’ decision to
withdraw from programs of study. These
findings are important, as well, for decision
makers within institutions of higher education
because these institutions are required to
direct their resources and efforts to those
areas that contribute most to students’
retention. Berge and Huang (2004) observed
that, “The problem involving retention of
students is not due to an isolated factor that
can be ‘fixed’, but rather imagination and care
must be used to carefully select interventions
that are needed at various points throughout
the organization.” (p. 5). This means support
services must be directed toward satisfying
learners related needs. Learners in e-learning
environments have different attributes than
those in traditional academic institutions and
therefore these attributes necessitate special
type of institutional support. As IT is
increasingly becoming an integral part of the
educational processes in most of the academic
institutions and the number of courses offered
through e-learning platforms are also
increasing, there is an urgency for the
institutions of higher education to develop
new strategies for satisfying and retaining
their
students.
Notwithstanding,
the
technological developments that led to
convergence of conventional modes of
delivery in the academic institutions are
expected
to
proliferate
in
future.
Consequently, institutions of higher education
must continually assess the type and quality
of services provided to their students in order
to ensure their satisfaction and hence maintain
high levels of retention.
Finally, it is hoped that this paper will
stimulate researchers to further investigate the
factors leading to students’ withdrawal from
courses in e-learning environments. It is
imperative that the challenges facing learners
in the e-learning environments be clearly
identified and adequately dealt with. This will
not only help in improving retention rates, but
it will also guide curriculum designers to
develop better courses for e-learning
environments.
( 179 )
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A Paradigm Shift in Management Education: Perceived Relevance
of Online MBA Programs in GCC Countries
Syed Aziz Anwar
Abstract
There is a growing tide of interest in the
online MBA programs, mainly because of
students’ needs for flexibility and the rapid
proliferation of Internet-based delivery
systems. This empirical study makes an
attempt to find out the perceived relevance of
online MBA programs in the GCC countries.
An over-arching objective of this study is to
enhance decision makers’ capacity to design
and market online MBA programs in response
to the changing market needs in the GCC
countries characterized by economic growth
and change. It is apparent from the survey
findings presented in this study that the MBA
programs ought to reflect flexibility and
sophisticated dimensions of quality in the
curricula and program delivery systems.
Keywords: GCC countries, Online MBA
program, curriculum development.
Introduction
Recent years have witnessed a rapid
proliferation of Master of Business
Administration (MBA) programs that offer
online sessions either partially (Web enabled)
or totally (Web exclusive). This kind of
proliferation may be attributed mainly to the
emergence of extremely useful e-learning
technologies and changes in learners’ needs
for flexible MBA programs. Although the
population of MBA students enrolled in
traditional classroom sessions in various parts
of the world continues to outweigh its
counterpart population in electronic MBA
programs, the surge in the Internet-based
MBA programs has been quite remarkable
(McClenahen 1997; Cornuel 2006).The
institutions of higher learning offering MBA
programs have come to use a wide array of
synchronous as well as asynchronous
communication tools and formats including
bulletin boards, e-mails, Web-casting tools,
voice over Internet protocols, chat rooms,
blogs, and social softwares to interact with
geographically dispersed learners at a time
convenient to them.
The growth in online MBA programs has
paved the way for interesting and somewhat
controversial discussion in the literature
focusing on management education. The
discussion is based on the perception that
online MBA programs cannot be a substitute
for a real world education (Tweney1999).
Against the backdrop this perception, an overarching objective of this paper is to find out
the relevance and importance of online MBA
programs in the GCC countries. This kind of
empirical exercise, it is hoped, would be of
interest to academic institutions, decision
makers and all other stakeholders in
management education in the GCC countries.
Literature Review and the
Landscape
A review of literature suggests that the MBA
programs available in various parts of the
world represent a fascinating landscape in
terms of course mix, size, organization,
delivery formats, academic standards and
cultural diversity. The MBA programs fall
into a number of different classifications. The
( 183 )
first segment includes full-time, on-campus
MBA programs. International students and
fresh graduates coming from a wide range of
academic and professional disciplines typify
enrolment in such programs in the West. A
second category includes the executive MBA
programs targeted at senior managers whose
employers quite often pay the costs associated
with these programs. In fact, these programs
turn out to be management development
programs, with weekend residencies, for the
participants. A third segment includes parttime MBA programs. Participants in such
programs are in-career personnel, who
register for a few courses per semester.
Students in these programs may be sponsored
by their employers. A fourth category
includes the MBA programs organized with
the help of a distance education format. The
programs in this category are also called the
online or Internet MBA programs. Finally,
there are what have come to be called ‘ hybrid
MBA’ programs with all sorts of
combinations and formats (for instance, incompany MBA, tailored MBA, consortium
MBA, and modular MBA programs ) to meet
the specific needs of the participating students
and organizations.
The use of the Internet in the MBA program
delivery system has been gaining ground
(McClenahen 1997; Chang 1999; Smith and
Duus 2001). It is believed that institutions of
higher learning cannot afford to neglect
distance-learning formats in order to grow
and stay profitable in the current decade (
Dun and Bradstreet 1996; Philips 1998 ).It is
estimated that U.S. business and government
organizations spend $40 billion per annum to
train their personnel mainly through distance
learning formats ( Dun and Bradstreet, ibid ).
A review of literature and evidence available
on the Web suggest that distance-learning
MBA programs are currently organized by the
AACSB-accredited business schools as well
as by those not accredited by the AACSB.
The
well-known
AACSB-accredited
universities offering online courses include
Duke University, Colorado State University,
University of Baltimore, New York
University, University of Florida, University
of Maryland, the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, Ohio University, Penn State
University, Stanford university, University of
Wisconsin, and the University of Tennessee (
Online Universities 1999 ).The oft-quoted
non-AACSB-accredited universities offering
online MBA courses include Capella
University, U21 Global, Nova Southeastern
University, and the University of Phoenix (
Eastman
and
Swift
2000).
The
Commonwealth of Learning, Canada has also
supported MBA programs organized by open
universities
in
India,
Pakistan
and
Bangladesh.
Recently, several consortia have been
developed involving University of Texas
System’s Telecampus, R. Ledu, the Electronic
Campus, and the Western Governor’s
University to offer online programs of study (
Eastman and Swift ibid ).The programs
include all arrangements for providing
instruction and transmitting educational
materials through print or electronic
telecommunication media to geographically
dispersed students in a place or time suitable
to the clientele. This is in line with
conventional wisdom pertaining to distance
education (Moore 1990).
The oil-rich Gulf Co-operation Council
(GCC) countries including Saudi Arabia,
United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman
and Bahrain have also witnessed a rapid
proliferation of different formats of the MBA
program in recent years (Ahmed 2004).
The factors paving the way for the MBA
programs in the GCC countries include the
increase in intra-GCC business activities as a
consequence
of
regional
economic
integration, technological developments,
emergence of capital markets, entry of a very
large number of multinational firms in the
( 184 )
region and of course growing integration of
the GCC economies into the world economy.
In the emerging scenario, there appears to be
a more complex business dynamics in the
GCC region that requires business
organizations to be managed professionally in
order to survive, grow and compete
internationally.
The
business
schools
operating in the GCC countries ,therefore, are
obliged to respond to the emerging business
scenario by designing and offering MBA
programs that meet the needs of various
segments and
organizations. In fact,
promising steps have been taken to link
management education in the GCC countries
to the new educational paradigm that has
already emerged in several developed
countries.
In the new educational paradigm, online
MBA program delivery format compared to
traditional learning approaches provides a
new learning approach that is learner-centered
and involves discussions, participation and
shared responsibility for learning. A
formidable body of research exists
documenting that real business education is
about active restructuring on the part of the
learner. Restructuring occurs through
engagement in problem posing as well as
problem solving, inference making and
investigation, resolving of contradictions, and
reflecting. These processes surely call for
more active learners as well as a different
model of education. Students and learners
need to be empowered to think and learn for
themselves (Johnson et al 1991).
In recent years, American educators, in
particular, have argued that students learn
from experience. People become engaged
with ideas that interest them and that they
learn through that process of engagement
(Graham, 1992). The new educational
paradigm, which is based on research about
how learning takes place, requires a shift in
focus from the traditional approach. A
comparison of traditional and new educational
paradigms is presented in table 1.
Table 1. A Comparison of Traditional and New Educational Paradigms
Knowledge
Students/Learners
Faculty Role
Relationships
Activity Type
Assumptions
Traditional Paradigm
Transferred from faculty to
students
Passive containers to be filled
with faculty’s knowledge
Classify and sort students
Impersonal relationships among
students and between faculty and
students
Competitive and individualistic
learning activities
Any expert can teach
New Paradigm
Jointly constructed by students
and faculty
Active constructors, discoverers,
transformers of own knowledge
Develop students’ competencies
and talents
Personal interactions among
students and between faculty and
students
Mixture of individual and
cooperative learning activities
Teaching is complex and requires
considerable training
Source: Johnson, Johnson and Smith (1991)
The new paradigm of management education
has great implications for the faculty. It
requires faculty members to understand the
promising ideas behind active learning so that
they can incorporate them into their curricula
and delivery systems. Active learning must be
supported in the following way.
• Faculty members as coaches and
facilitators
must
create
an
environment within which learners
( 185 )
•
•
can discover, construct and transform
knowledge by processing it through
existing cognitive structures and then
retaining it in long-term memory
where it is available for further
processing and reconstruction.
Learners must be allowed to actively
construct their own knowledge.
Education should take place through
interpersonal interaction between
students/learners and faculty. They
must cooperate and communicate to
construct shared understandings and
knowledge.
Objective
In view of the new educational paradigm, the
objective of this empirical research study is
two-fold: first, to investigate the relevance of
the MBA program in the context of a crosssection of organizations operating in the
GCC countries and second, to ascertain what
kind of an online MBA program would be
perceived to be suitable for these
organizations. Admittedly, prior research on
this important subject is scant (Ahmed, ibid).
While management education in developing
countries has been discussed with emphasis in
contemporary literature (Anderson1987,
Byrt1989, Kedia, Harveston, and Bhagat
2001, Kwok and Arpan 2002, Towl and
Linfors1968), there is limited published
information about management education
trends in the GCC countries due to nonavailability of empirical data. This study
seeks to make a modest contribution to the
existing literature related to management
education.
Research Method
Based on a review of literature related
graduate management education trends
various parts of the world, it was decided
develop a list of questions that appeared
to
in
to
to
influence the design of an MBA program.
During an initial phase of the study, five
senior managers were invited to form a focus
group. The managers placed at eminent
business organizations in Saudi Arabia,
Bahrain and Kuwait came to a hotel in
Bahrain, where a discussion took place. They
were briefed about the purpose of the
meeting. The guidelines developed by
Morgan (1988) were used during the process
of the focus group discussion. A rather
exhaustive list of constructs on management
education based on a review of literature was
revealed to the participants. The anchor
questions mainly pertained to the design of
the MBA program unanimously mentioned by
the focus group as of critical importance. The
findings from focus group research were used
to refine the survey instrument design. During
the second phase of the research exercise, a
survey instrument was developed. The focus
group acted as a basis for the development of
the questionnaire.
Sample Selection and Administration of
Survey
The target population for the study included
all senior managers who participated directly
or indirectly in the recruitment and selection
exercises of their organizations. To ensure a
fairly representative sample, respondents were
selected from the directories published by
trade associations and telephone companies in
Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain and UAE . For
the purpose of this study, however, a sample
of 150 senior managers was randomly
selected
representing
well-known
organizations in Saudi Arabia, UAE, Kuwait
and Bahrain. The data were collected by
students and faculty members of Arab Open
University campuses in GCC countries and
Ajman
University
of
Science
and
Technology. 129 questionnaires were found
to be usable. The main reason for selecting
senior managers as the unit of analysis is that
it is the managers who quite often participate
( 186 )
directly or indirectly in recruitment and
selection exercises.
An overview of survey results is presented in
Figure 1 and Table 1.
Survey Results
Figure 1. Perceived Importance of MBA Programs in GCC Organizations
Managers were asked to respond to the
questions in section 1 of the questionnaire in
order to assess the importance of an MBA
program in the context of GCC organizations.
There was an agreement generally amongst
the respondents on the relative extent to
which these statements served as drivers for
management education in their organizations.
( 187 )
Table 1: Practitioners’ Views about an Effective MBA Program in GCC Countries
Generic full-time MBA program
Part-time MBA program
MBA program including a mix of
online courses
MBA program that recognizes
managerial experience
MBA research project develops the
ability to analyze busienss problems
Elective courses are meant for
specific career development
MBA
courses
must
be
operationalized by the resource
faculty
MBA
program should
meet
standards of AACSB
Sharper focus on entrepreneurship
development
Opportunity to specialize in any
functional area
Need for TOEFL and GMAT
MBA modules anchored in the
Arabian value system
MBA degree holders must be able to
take strategic decisions
Inter-disciplinary MBA program is
desirable
Consult eminent US business
schools before designing an MBA
program
Overall
Mean
(n=129)
2.55
2.59
S.D.
1.34
1.47
Saudi
(n=21)
2.71
2.71
Bahrain
(n=7)
2.14
1.71
Kuwait
(n=6)
1
2.00
UAE
(n=95)
2.64
2.66
F values
3.28**
1.275
2.67
1.257
2.67
2.14
1.83
2.77
1.507
2.57
1.210
2.67
2.14
1.83
2.63
1.162
2.43
1.391
2.38
1.57
1.33
2.58
2.596***
2.52
1.335
2.48
1.71
1.67
2.64
1.984
2.46
1.386
2.67
1.86
1.50
2.52
1.631
2.71
1.728
3.05
1.71
1.17
2.81
2.862**
2.55
1.386
2.48
2.29
1.83
2.63
0.745
2.38
1.480
2.38
1.57
2.50
2.43
0.744
2.63
1.392
2.76
2.00
2.17
2.67
0.789
2.80
1.604
2.29
2.00
2.17
3.01
0.421
2.36
1.452
2.24
1.57
1.33
2.52
2.158*
2.43
1.545
2.29
1.57
1.33
2.60
2.234*
2.20
1.293
2.45
1.00
1.00
2.26
1.658
F values are the result of one-way ANOVA
test where *, **, *** represent statistical
significance at 0.010, 0.005 and 0.001
respectively.
The practicing managers were asked to
respond to the fifteen items placed in section
2 of the questionnaire to ascertain what kind
of MBA program (including the one with
online courses) would effectively meet the
needs of their organization. The mean scores
of responses categorized into different
nationalities of respondents are provided in
Table 1. The small standard deviation scores
indicate that there is an agreement amongst
the respondents with the statements .The
mean scores for each of the categories were
compared using ANOVA procedures.
Interestingly, post-hoc comparisons using the
Duncan test further showed that respondents
from Bahrain again demonstrated a stronger
degree of agreement with the items in section
2 of the questionnaire.
Quality
Some respondents in their comments
suggested that the MBA program must focus
sharply on quality issues in all the functional
areas of business administration. The
institution offering the MBA program must,
therefore, highlight quality issues in all the
relevant courses.
A major impetus to improve quality of the
MBA curriculum has come from the
internationally-renowned accrediting bodies
( 188 )
such as the American Assembly of Collegiate
Schools of Business (AACSB, 2006) and the
Association of Collegiate Business Schools
and Programs (ACBSP). In the accreditation
standards, these two bodies have explicitly
called for a logical progression of courses to
facilitate the learning process.
The focus group suggested that the online
MBA program should offer both knowledge
about
various
aspects
of
business
administration and help develop a range of
practical skills that will prove useful to
students/learners in whatever careers they
pursue. The communication, negotiation,
problem-solving and teamwork skills should
be integrated through the program of study.
After completing an online MBA program
successfully, the graduates should be able to
perform effectively both directly in business
roles and also in other occupations that
require a degree of innovation, creativity and
teamwork.
•
•
In the digital age, the most important concept
that will be in focus to enhance and ensure
academic quality in the online MBA program
will be the use of technology, simulation and
the synthesis of expert knowledge that is
applicable to the real business organizations.
Pedagogy
During discussions with the focus group and
some respondents, it emerged that any
institution seeking to offer online MBA
programs in the GCC countries should take
the program from instructor-centered passive
student model to an independent learning,
student-centered empowering model. In view
of
advances
in
information
and
communication technologies, the following
components of pedagogical approach were
considered to be feasible.
•
Teamwork: The subject matter expert
(SME) should design the overall
( 189 )
•
•
course
and
maintain
course
responsibility, delegating smaller
course delivery tasks to one or more
faculty members.
Course Outline: It is the responsibility
of the SME to design a course outline
in consultation with members of the
support team and maintain a course
file. The course outline must be
approved by the program director,
Dean of the Faculty and the Academic
Council.
Thematic Building Blocks in Lieu of
Lectures: The institution offering an
online MBA program must avoid
simple computerized delivery, in the
form of downloadable Powerpoint
overhead presentations. Its faculty
should be able to divide courses into
thematic components or blocks
according to logical structure derived
from the course outline. A course
typically should contain one primary
textbook and several supplementary
books and journal articles. For each
block, the SME and his team of
faculty members should prepare a text
of 5 to 10 pages to guide the
students/learners through all the
aspects of the curriculum. This
material prepared by the team should
introduce supplementary literature and
practical applications in the business
context. Students/learners may seek
clarifications and get answers in any
distance learning format.
Case Studies: The use of case studies
in the online MBA program must be
encouraged to enhance learning.
Students/learners must be encouraged
to generate their own knowledge and
bring useful case leads from practical
situations.
Dynamic Referencing: References to
extra-curricular literature, Internet
links,
diagrams,
statistical
•
information, and professional papers
should be provided to students during
the program to facilitate the learning
process.
Faculty as Dialogue facilitators: The
Virtual Learning Environment (VLE)
platforms should be supervised by a
team consisting of a faculty member
acting as dialogue coach and an
assistant drawn from the IT support
division. Practitioners from the
business sector should be invited on a
regular basis during the program to
help students/learners test theories and
concepts in practical contexts.
Managerial Implications
The findings of this research study have some
important implications for business schools
seeking to design and market their MBA
programs in the GCC countries. One
important implication is for those business
schools that might have started their MBA
programs in the GCC countries without neatly
analyzing the needs for various courses in
those programs. Our survey exercise has
revealed that the success of an MBA program
is going to depend, to a great extent, on its
ability to focus sharply on the GCC business
dynamics. The business schools in the GCC
countries could, of course, import useful
business and management ideas from eminent
business schools operating successfully
elsewhere in the world.
The findings of this survey, viewed in
conjunction with the available literature
focusing on management education suggest
that AACSB-driven international quality
standards are perceived by the practicing
managers as invaluable and they must be
upheld by the institutions offering the MBA
programs. These standards are likely to
contribute positively to the credibility of
online MBA programs.
The need for entrepreneurship development
and of course professional skill development
appears to be quite pressing in the GCC
countries. However, the actual development
of these skills is quite challenging. The
linguistic, academic and cultural backgrounds
with which students/learners enter business
schools in the GCC countries make it
necessary for the resource faculty to adapt to
the situation. Surely, operationalization of
western management course materials in the
GCC context is likely to prove quite effective
in facilitating the learning process. A stylized
model to deliver an online MBA program in
GCC countries is presented in Figure 2.
( 190 )
Figure 2. A Stylized Model of Online MBA Program Delivery
The model can be used by institutions of
higher learning offering online MBA
programs with a view to (a) developing an
understanding of contemporary business
world mainly with help of case studies
facilitated by the resource faculty, (b)
developing robust qualities of leadership and
decision
making,
(c)
developing
entrepreneurial thinking, and (d) developing
creative and critical thinking about complex
business issues and different strategies to
manage them successfully.
The model is based on practitioners’ views
about the pedagogy in the online MBA
program. Given the practical nature the MBA
programs as well as the need to provide
adequate coverage to various topics of
strategic relevance to the various sectors of
the economy, business schools may require
the faculty to invite practicing managers to
address the students/learners on a regular
basis through the VLE system to enrich the
discussion of real-life business issues.
Future Research Agenda
Finally, it may be suggested that future
research focusing on any kind of MBA
program should integrate perspectives from
(a) producers of knowledge including
academics and (b) customers including
students and business organizations. The
integrated perspectives from all the
stakeholders in MBA programs would
certainly enrich knowledge related to the new
paradigm of management education.
( 191 )
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( 193 )
‘Edutainment’ as an Emerging Trend in Teaching Professional
Development
Fotni Paraskeva
Sofia Mysirlaki
Ioannna Talani
University of Piraeus, Department of Technology Education and Digital Systems
Abstract
The educational use of games is drawing a lot
of attention in scientific community,
especially from the emerging trends of the
new learning environment (‘education’ and
‘entertainment’). These current trends focus
on
teacher
quality,
indicating
the
effectiveness on everyday educational
practice. This study examines the potential of
using online multiplayer games (OMG) in a
complex learning system (cognitive, affective
and socio-cultural), emerging from the new
roles of teachers as users of educational
games. This paper suggests that via OMGs
based on situated learning models and
techniques,
teachers
could
create
communities of practices and cognitive
apprenticeships. This combination of learning
and fun affects personal and social factors
contributing
to
teachers’
effective
Professional Development.
Introduction
In recent years, the increasing growth in the
use
of
information
communication
technologies is changing the ways in which
teachers are accomplishing their teaching
practices and their learning activities.
Teachers of the 21st century are striving to
incorporate innovative practices of teaching
and learning in order to be more effective in
their profession.
Change for teachers comes through the
process of professional development.
Recently, the implication of the teacher as
reflective practitioner has begun to appear as
a “must” in any professional development
programme of teachers (UNESCO, 2003).
Traditional professional development is based
on behaviourist models but the recent efforts
for effective professional development are
based on social constructivist approaches.
Hence, teachers have additional needs to
integrate these significant approaches into
educational practice, following the new
perspectives of the complexity of the learning
process (new concepts, critical and reflective
thinking, authentic problem solving).
Thus, Professional Development is the critical
factor which will assist and guide teachers
through the complexity of learning process
and therefore, teachers should attend training
programs that lead to their growth.
This paper proposes that Online Multilayer
Games
(OMGs)
based
on
social
constructivism approach and cognitive
apprenticeship model are an innovative tool
for teachers’ training. We argue that OMGs is
an appropriate vehicle which will lead to
teachers’ Professional Development through
problem solving, collaboration and engaging
learning activities.
Teachers’ Professional Development
Recently, there has been a significant increase
in the level of interest and support that
teachers throughout the world are receiving in
their professional development. Professional
development, as a general concept, refers to
( 194 )
the development of a person in his or her
professional role. Concerning Teacher
Development, it refers to the professional
growth a teacher achieves as a result of
gaining increased experience and examining
his or her teaching systematically (Glatthorn,
1995).
Professional
Development
is
frequently viewed as being an additional
practice that teachers are required to perform.
Through professional development, aim at
developing, implementing and sharing
teaching practices, experiences, knowledge
and values which help them to be effective in
their
profession.
Thus,
professional
development constitutes a collaborative effort,
in which teachers interact with peer networks
and experts. According to Villegas-Reimers
(UNESCO, 2003), promoting teachers’
professional development involves enhancing
teaching effectiveness and supporting
professional growth.
Professional development could be either
formal (such as attending workshops and
professional meetings, mentoring, etc.) or
informal (such as reading professional
publications, etc.) (Ganser, 2000). Today the
widespread need for incorporating technology
in school settings plays a significant role in
professional development and teachers are
pressed to integrate technology into teaching
and learning.
Although the role of information technology
(IT) in modern education has increased
significantly, the resistance to technology by
teachers worldwide remains considerably
high. There are many suggestions as to why
such a large number of teachers are either
laggards, who seek to delay the adoption of
computers in schools, or neo-Luddites who
fear technology will replace them or
fundamentally dehumanize the educational
process (Surry & Farquhar, 1997).
McKenzie (1999) argues that teachers resist
technology because they are not given
sufficient time, support, opportunities or
equipment to be successful in their
professional development. According to
Nowlan (2001), the resistance to computer
adoption has an impact on the comfort level
for computers for personal use, as well as a
tool for learning. In some professional
development models, this resistance has been
considered; in most it has not.
The educational technology professional
development literature focuses primarily on
technology integration into the curriculum
(King, 2002). According to the same author,
most of the related publications are essential
in promoting the personal professional
development of classroom teachers; however,
they do not all address the issues of how to
best conduct professional development in
educational technology. Hence, it is essential
that professional development have to direct
teachers’ needs to learn and use technology in
their practices.
Means (1998), states that teachers play a
critical role in the ultimate success of a
professional development program. Teachers'
beliefs are a critical feature of program
planning and should be carefully considered
by professional development providers.
Professional Development as
Training Programs
Traditionally,
teacher
Professional
Development involved teachers in attending
one-off conferences, which included experts
who informed them about university research
findings regarding emerging trends for
improving educational outcomes (Hargreaves,
1997; Kenway et al, 1999). Studies of
professional
development
programs,
developed and implemented by outside
providers and informal teacher networks,
have consistently found that professional
development programs are disconnected from
practice, fragmented, and without cohesion.
(McLaughlin & Mitra, 2001; Smylie et al.,
2001; Corcoran et al., 1998; Garet et al.,
( 195 )
2001). Also, these approaches were
essentially unconnected to broad school
directions and, after the conference, there was
little opportunity for support and follow up at
the local level (Spillane 2002).
According to Bredeson and Scribner (2000),
teachers have traditionally left such
conferences with a sense of enthusiasm, but
with little real understanding or time to
consider applicability of the new ideas to their
own practices. These training approaches
were based on the behaviourist model, which
simply focuses on input and transmission of
teachers’ knowledge.
In the area of adoption of technology,
traditional professional development has been
approached
through
workshops
on
applications and on project examples. This
approach lacks relevancy to teachers'
immediate practice and it can be passive
rather than active (Albaugh & Knight, 1996).
Moreover, many programs lack key
pedagogical,
content,
and
structural
characteristics of effective professional
development that are needed by the teachers.
Thus, these approaches do not support
continuity across stages of the professional
development and cannot accommodate
teachers’ needs successfully.
We recognize the fact that teacher
professional development is more than a
series of training workshops, institutes,
meetings, and in-service days. With
technology rapidly changing, teachers need to
focus on the following (Bybee and LoucksHorsley, 2000):
• Learning about and developing skills
related to technology, and deepening
their content knowledge
• Creating opportunities to learn how to
teach technology
• Acquiring tools that will allow them to
continue their own learning
• Being provided with long-term
process-oriented opportunities, so that
teachers are at ease using technology
and are able to use it effectively.
Therefore, it is essential to move from
traditional teacher professional development
to more innovative and effective ways for
teachers
training
and
professional
development.
Innovative Professional Development
Programs based on Cognitive
Apprenticeship Model
Innovative teacher professional development
programs can be based on social
constructivism approaches and cognitive
apprenticeship model. These approaches
emphasise learning as being connected to the
situation, with individual cognition and
meaning being socially and culturally
constructed.
This
involves
working
collaboratively, addressing contextualised
authentic problems and negotiating meaning
through practice (Barab & Duffy, 2000).
According to Gance (2002) the main
pedagogical
components
commonly
associated with these models are:
• Cognitively engaged learners who
actively seek to explore their
environment for new information.
• A pedagogy that often includes a
hands-on, dialogic interaction with the
• A pedagogy that often requires a
learning context that creates a
problem-solving situation that is
realistic.
• An environment that typically
includes a social component often
interpreted as interaction with other
learners and mentors in the context of
learning.
Joyce, Weil and Showers (Joyce et. al., 1992)
reported that the most effective teacher
professional development activities are those
( 196 )
that combine theory, modelling, practice,
feedback and coaching for application,
particularly peer coaching.
A number of conceptual frameworks have
been proposed to guide the design and use of
learning environments. One of these models,
which can be the theoretical base of teachers’
professional development programmes, is the
cognitive apprenticeship model proposed by
Collins and colleagues (Collins et. al., 1989 &
1991). The cognitive apprenticeship model
emerged from the theories of sociocultural
cognition, zone of proximal development, and
elements of traditional apprenticeship and
situativity theory (Aziz, 2003).
The goal of cognitive apprenticeship is to
address the problem of inert knowledge and to
make the thinking processes of a learning
activity visible to both the students and the
teacher.
As we have already mentioned above,
cognitive apprenticeship can be a strong
theoretical basis for designing and developing
effective learning environments.
According to Aziz (2003), cognitive
apprenticeship
has
the
following
characteristics:
• It is situated within the social
constructivist paradigm
• It is a representative of
the
Vygotskian “zone of proximal
development”, in which learner tasks
are slightly more difficult than
learners can manage independently,
requiring the aid of their peers and
instructor to accomplish
• It reflects situated cognition theory
• It
draws its inspiration from
traditional apprenticeship and creates
a meaningful social context in which
learners are given many opportunities
to observe and learn expert practices
• It enculturates learners into authentic
practices through activities and social
interaction, enabling them to develop
the cognitive skills of practitioners
The cognitive apprenticeship approach, as
formulated by Collins et al. (1989 & 1991),
consists of six teaching methods:
a) Modeling: an expert performs a task
so that learners can observe his actions
and build a conceptual model of the
processes
required
for
task
accomplishment.
b) Coaching: the cognitive master
provides assistance to learners. In
other words, the learners practice the
methods, while the experts advise and
correct. In this method, learners are
engaged in major activities that
require them to appropriately apply
and actively integrate skills and
conceptual knowledge.
c) Scaffolding: the cognitive master
assists students to manage a more
complex
task
performance.
If
necessary, experts may help the
learners accomplish a task according
to their progress.
d) Articulation: the learners are given
opportunities to articulate and clarify
their own way of thinking. They make
their knowledge explicit. This method
requires learners to participate in
generating knowledge and evaluating
the outcomes of knowledge building
activities as part of collaborative
learning activities.
e) Reflection: the learners are able to
compare what they know with what
others know. They compare their own
thoughts with those of experts and
peers.
f) Exploration: the learners manipulate
and explore the learned skills or
knowledge to promote their true
understanding. Exploration can also
help learners gain confidence in their
ability to learn on their own.
( 197 )
Concerning
technology-based
learning
environments,
cognitive
apprenticeship
approach can serve as solid foundation for the
instructional design of computer-based
environments whether it is a multimedia,
hypermedia, web-based, or any means of
technological delivery systems (Casey, 1996).
In this context, OMGs, as computer-based
environments, can be designed and developed
on a cognitive apprenticeship basis for
teachers’ professional development.
Online Multiplayer Games (OMGs)
as an educational tool
Lately, serious attention has been directed to
the potential of using video games for
learning and many terms have been used to
explain this new educational tool, such as
“edutainment” and “educational videogame”.
According to Denis and Jouvelot (2005), the
main
characteristic
that
differentiates
edutainment and video games is interactivity,
because, the former being grounded on
didactical and linear progressions, no place is
left to wandering and alternatives.
Educational video games require strategizing,
hypothesis testing, or problem-solving,
usually with higher order thinking rather than
rote memorization or simple comprehension
(Dondlinger, 2007). Edutainment, as an
amalgamation
of
“education”
and
“entertainment”, is a broad term covering the
combination of educational and entertainment
use on a variety of media platforms, including
video games (Egenfeldt-Nielsen, 2006). For
the purpose of this paper we regard
videogames as edutainment tools.
Over the years, videogames are becoming
more complex, often social environments,
sometimes involving large distributed
communities. In many ways, games have
become complex learning systems (Prensky,
2006). Additionally, with the appearance of
the online multiplayer games (OMGs), these
environments have been expanded and the
numerous interactions among the players have
increased the complexity of these social
systems.
Online Multiplayer games (OMGs) have
come to dominate the digital entertainment
industry and have increasingly become the
dominant form of entertainment, particularly
for children and adolescents (Magnussen &
Misfeldt, 2004). It seems that multiplayer
games have obvious learning potentials, and
studies have focused on which types of
learning these games support (Steinkuehler,
2004; Herz, 2001). A central element in
multiplayer games is that the interaction
enables players to communicate and
collaborate in the game sessions (Manninen,
2003).
Prensky (2001) defines the key characteristics
of games as: rules, goals and objectives,
outcomes and feedback, conflict (and/or
competition,
challenge,
opposition),
interaction, and representation of story.
Furthermore, Gee (2003) claims that games
can promote problem-solving ability, goalrelated behavior, engagement and motivation,
and virtual social networks, by situating
players in immersive digital worlds where
they can freely move.
It seems that these game characteristics create
a virtual world where authentic problems
need to be solved; engagement leads to
learning while collaboration creates social
networks that share common ideas, goals and
perspectives.
Authentic Problem Solving
Since their very beginning, games have put
the player in the role of finding solutions;
from solving a puzzle to finding solutions to
real world problems, games are all about
problem-solving.
Mitchel and Savill-Smith (2004) believe that
complex games have been useful in
encouraging attitude change, in supporting the
development of critical thinking, in
( 198 )
developing problem solving ability and
decision-making skills.
VanDeventer and White (2002), on the other
hand, link outstanding gaming expertise to
‘expert’ behaviours, such as self-monitoring,
pattern recognition, problem recognition and
problem solving at a deep level, principled
decision-making, qualitative thinking and
superior short-term and long-term memory.
When it comes to educational games, Squire
(2003) argues that in good educational games
narrative events situate the activity, defining
goals, constraining actions, provoking
thought, and sparking emotional responses as
students struggle to resolve complex,
authentic problems.
Moreover, Kusunoki (2000) argues that
effectiveness is enhanced where learners are
afforded opportunities to contribute to content
design in dealing with actual, real-world
problems.
In general, it is thought that increased
learning occurs by problem solving in a
complex
interactive
multidisciplinary
environment and by ‘seeing’ causal
relationships between individual actions and
whole systems (Betz, 1995).
Gee (2003) thinks that as players experience
the subject domain or situation in new ways,
they form new affiliations and thereby
prepare for future learning and problem
solving in the domain or transfer of learning
to related domains.
With regards to training programs,
researchers believe that skills learned in
game-based training environments are
transferred to real-life situations (Gopher,
Weil, & Bareket, 1994). Thus, we argue that
gaming in a computer-aided environment that
fosters problem solving could be used to
project real life problems in a teachers’
training program.
Collaboration
A multiplayer game gives the player the
opportunity to work with others, and as
Shaffer (2005) believes, games bring players
together, competitively and cooperatively,
into the virtual world of the game and the
social community of game players.
This gaming community is two-fold: it is
about the social network, where group mates
interact verbally, and about the technological
network that transparently supports the social
network activities, by coordinating and
synchronizing activity states, and mediating
the activities and the social interaction of the
peers (Zurita & Nussbaum, 2004).
Shaffer et al (2005) argue that the virtual
worlds of games are powerful because
playing games means developing a set of
effective social practices. Moreover, Prensky
(2001) claims that games have interaction and
that gives us social groups. Barab et al.
(2005) and Squire (2004) argue that
multiplayer games are an environment where
gamers communicate with each other,
apprentice themselves to relative experts,
accomplish shared goals, and take on
increasingly central roles of participation in
order to solve complex problems.
In online multiplayer games the difference is
traced not only in the shared experience and
the collaboration that occurs in an activity,
but also in the reward of being socialized into
a community of gamers (Jakobson & Taylor,
2003).
By collaborating in online multiplayer games,
it is claimed that learning occurs since social
interaction is a crucial component of situated
learning. The theory of communities of
practices, addressed by Lave, argues that
learning is happening when someone becomes
part of a community of practice (Lave &
Wenger, 1991).
In multiplayer games, people learn by doing a
certain activity as part of a larger community
of people who share common goals and ways
of achieving those goals (Shaffer et al., 2005).
We believe that by using online multiplayer
games to teach, the players would learn by
acting, thinking and solving problems in
( 199 )
collaboration and therefore develop social
abilities in a social network of communities.
Engagement
Egenfeldt-Nielsen (2006) claims that the most
important point in understanding how games
engage players in educational environments
may be that good games engage players in
multiple ways and the interplay of different
forms creates dynamic learning opportunities.
A key feature of engagement is Motivation,
which is defined as the direction, strength,
and persistence of volitional behavior
(Campbell & Kuncel, 2001). It is claimed that
games are motivating for individuals to play
(Prensky, 2001) and that without a
commitment to an extended engagement no
deep learning of a complex domain can
happen (diSessa, 2000).
Moreover, Prensky (2001) argues that games
have goals; and that gives us motivation. He
also claims that complex games are engaging
for players because, unlike many other game
environments, complex computer games
provide a complete, interactive virtual playing
environment.
Additionally, Bisson and Luckner (1996)
believe that games motivate via fun, which is
a part of the natural learning process in
human development. Factual interactivity
may enhance the user’s involvement
(Rockwell & Bryant, 1999) and hence his or
her deeper processing of content.
Malone (1981) argues that if students are
intrinsically motivated to learn something,
they may spend more time and effort learning,
feel better about what they learn, and use it
more in the future. Malone introduced three
factors of intrinsic motivation derived from
video game play: challenge, fantasy, and
curiosity.
Learning Benefits
It is currently suggested that games can be
valuable educational tools and that they can
encourage learners who lack interest or
confidence (Klawe, 1994) and enhance their
self-esteem (Ritchie and Dodge 1992;
Dempsey et al. 1994).
Self esteem is considered an important
psychological factor that affects learning.
Funk and Buchman (1996) found that for
girls, more time playing video or computer
games is associated with lower Harter scores
on six subscales, including self-esteem.
Based on a previous study (Mysirlaki &
Paraskeva, 2006), we mention that the time
spent playing digital games correlated
significantly with one of the factors of a
questionnaire based on the Harter scale
(Harter, 1985). More specifically, the factor “I
deserve as much as the other people”
correlated significantly with the time spent
digital games, meaning that the more
adolescents play videogames, the more they
tend to feel that they do not deserve as much
as the others. All the other factors correlated
negatively but not significantly, suggesting a
partial cohesion between high frequency of
digital game use and low Self-Esteem. We
conclude that the relation between self esteem
and frequent game use is still to be clearly
defined.
Stemming from that, Bandura (1977)
addressed the issue of Self-efficacy, which is
described as the judgment of one’s capability
to successfully perform a specific task.
According to that, Computer self-efficacy is a
judgment of one’s capability to use a
computer to successfully perform a computerbased task (Compeau & Higgins, 1995).
Regarding Computer Self Efficacy as an
affected factor by the frequent use of
videogames, Pillay (2002) found that playing
recreational computer games may influence
children’s performance on subsequent
computer-based educational tasks.
With regard to that, the frequency of use
analysis revealed a partial correlation between
high frequency of digital game use and high
Computer Self Efficacy (Mysirlaki &
Paraskeva, 2006), as the factors “I feel
( 200 )
confident logging onto the Internet”, “I feel
confident accessing information on the
Internet” (Internet Skills) and “I feel
confident describing the function of computer
hardware”
(Advanced
Skills),
were
significantly positively correlated with the
time spent playing digital games. All the other
factors of the questionnaire, based on the
Computer Self Efficacy form (Murphy et al.,
1989), were positively but not significantly
correlated, meaning that the more participants
play digital games the more they tend to
develop Computer Self Efficacy. However,
since not all the factors were significantly
correlated, there is a partial cohesion between
high frequency of digital game use and high
Computer Self Efficacy.
Concerning the psychosocial factors that
influence learning, Michell and Savill-Smith
(2004) support that complex games have the
potential to support cognitive processing and
the development of strategic skills.
It is claimed that in videogames, knowledge
or skills learned and practiced are more likely
to transfer than when practiced on a single
kind of problem. Once mastered, the
knowledge and skills are practiced further to
provide overlearning. This helps the
knowledge and skills become automatized
and consolidated in memory, so that the
learner can begin to focus consciously on
comprehending or applying new information
(Gentile & Gentile, 2005).
In addition, videogames seem to put the
learner in the role of decision-maker, pushing
players through ever harder challenges, and
learning is accomplished through trial and
error (Gee, 2003). Kirriemuir (2002) supports
that games have a significant advantage in
that pupils receive immediate feedback on
their actions and decisions, inviting
exploration and experimentation.
Moreover, videogames are believed to be
well-sequenced in levels of increasing
difficulty, complexity or pace, with success at
subsequent
levels
contingent
upon
competencies mastered at previous levels and
that they can be used as an educational tool
because they have clear objectives, often set
at multiple difficulty levels to adapt to the
prior knowledge and skills of each learner
(Gentile & Gentile, 2005). In addition, the
pace of the activities can be adjusted for faster
or slower learners, novices or experts, to truly
deliver differentiated instruction and this is
the embodiment of the spiral curriculum.
Significant learning benefits of computer
games include use of metacognition and
mental models, improved strategic thinking
and insight, better psychomotor skills, and
development of analytical and spatial skills,
iconic skills, visual selective attention,
computer skills etc (Pillay et al. 1999;
Kirriemuir 2002). Moreover, Oyen and Bebko
(1996) successfully applied video games for
the development of memory-enhancing
strategies.
Online Multiplayer Games (OMGs)
as an Innovative Social
Constructivism Tool
In situated learning theory, Lave and Wenger
(1991) argue that learning, thinking and
knowing emerge from a world that is socially
constructed. Online multiplayer games
(OMGs) are considered to be complex
learning systems with a full range of social
and material practices (Steinkuehler, 2004).
Just as in a real world community, when
newcomers enter the game, they are gradually
introduced to a complex social framework
through the tutelage of other community
member (Delwiche, 2006). They learn to
make sense of new areas, especially by
engaging with others, discussing, reflecting,
and sharing. Speaking from a socio-cultural
perspective Gee (2003) sees as a key area in
games the role of critical thinking, which the
social practice around the video game
constantly calls for.
( 201 )
Moreover, Dede (2004) suggests that virtual
environments and ubiquitous computing can
draw on the power of situated learning by
creating immersive, extended experiences
with problems and contexts similar to the real
world.
In addition, Squire (Squire et al., 2003, page
18) argues that “in good educational games,
narrative events situate the activity defining
goals, constraining actions, provoking
thought, and sparking emotional responses as
students struggle to resolve complex,
authentic problems … From a situated
learning
perspective,
these
narrative
constraints and possibilities shape action, and
become part of students’ understanding of a
domain in fundamental ways”.
It seems that OMGs could be a serious
technical solution for creating communities
where information sharing and collaboration
contribute in authentic practices and social
interaction, in a situated learning environment
including
cognitive
apprenticeship
approaches.
Considering videogames as good educational
tools, we argue that there is a twofold
meaning in introducing teachers to games
culture: First, via games teachers would
understand modern technologies and be less
reluctant to use them in their classroom, and
second they would collaborate with other
teachers, creating communities, and be
personally affected in a way that they would
be professionally developed.
It is claimed that despite games’ educational
aspects, while the majority of students play
video games, the majority of teachers do not
(Shaffer et al., 2004). It is suggested that
teachers do not either fully actualize or even
understand their roles with respect to video
game integration (Zheng et al., 2004).
By providing teachers with the opportunity to
engage in educational gaming, we argue that
they will not only discover games’
educational use, but they will also develop
what
Gee
(2005)
calls
"authentic
professionalism". According to Gee, authentic
professionals have special knowledge and
distinct values tied to specific skills gained
through a good deal of effort and experience.
Moreover, authentic professionals welcome
challenges at the cutting edge of their
expertise (Bereiter & Scardamalia, 1993).
Gee (2005) claims that a good instructional
game, like many good commercial games,
should
be
built
around
"authentic
professionalism." In such games, skills,
knowledge, and values are distributed
between the virtual characters and the realworld player in a way that allows the player to
experience first-hand how members of that
profession think, behave, and solve problems.
We argue that OMGs will lead teachers
towards authentic professionalism by getting
them involved in collaboration and problemsolving situations describing best practices in
teaching.
Proposed Training Online
Multiplayer Game (OMG) based on
Cognitive Apprenticeship Model
In retrospect, the concept of this paper is to
map the emerging technological tool of
Online Multiplayer Games (OMGs), which
seems to have not only entertaining but also
educational benefits, with a situated learning
theory model of cognitive apprenticeships, in
order to lead teachers to Professional
Development via innovating training.
The rationale of this paper is to introduce a
new way of embodying technology in the
training programs aiming at developing
Teachers’ Professional Development. We
believe that the complex learning Process
(new concepts, critical and reflective thinking,
authentic
problem
solving)
requires
Innovative Training Programs that will
integrate Technology, based on modern
theoretical approaches like the Social
Constructivism theory.
( 202 )
We argue that the Instructional Model of
Cognitive Apprenticeship combined with the
Technology embodying Online Multiplayer
Games (OMGs) would lead to an OMG
contributing to Professional Development.
These suggestions form the proposed
framework
for
teachers’
Professional
Development based on Online Multiplayer
Games (OMGs) (Figure 1).
Figure 1. Proposed Framework for Teachers’ Professional Development based on Online Multiplayer Games (OMGs)
Based on the basic goals of Professional
Development mentioned in this paper, we
conclude that innovative training should aim
at major professional development issues
including:
• Activities of working collaboratively,
addressing contextualised authentic
problems and negotiating meaning
through practice.
• Cognitively engaged learners who
actively seek to explore the
environment for new information.
• Pedagogy that often includes a handson, dialogic interaction with the
• Pedagogy that often requires a
learning context that creates a
problem-solving situation that is
realistic.
•
•
•
Interaction with other learners and
with mentors in the context of
learning.
Theory, modelling, practice, feedback
and
coaching
for
application,
particularly peer coaching.
Reflection and discussion.
We believe that the educational capabilities of
Online Multiplayer Games, as reported in this
paper, could enhance Teachers’ Professional
Development as they address the above
professional development goals.
The following table (Table 1) indicates this
mapping of educational capabilities of games
with Professional Development goals, in the
context of a proposed Online Multiplayer
Game based on the basic principles of
Cognitive Apprenticeship Model.
( 203 )
More specifically, Table 1 is used to sort out
the key issues of the proposed OMG by the
steps of the Cognitive Apprenticeship Method
(Modeling,
Coaching,
Scaffolding,
Articulation, Reflection and Exploration). In
particular, the key issues of the proposed
OMG are:
• The
Cognitive
Apprenticeship
activities that will have to be
embodied in the proposed OMG
• The Basic Features of the proposed
OMG stemming from the Cognitive
Apprenticeship activities
( 204 )
•
The proposed OMG’s contribution to
(PD) as a combination of:
o The educational capabilities of
the OMG
o The major goals of Teachers’
Professional
Development
(PD), emerging from the
literature and as reported in
this paper.
Method of the
Cognitive
Apprenticeship
Model
Modelling
Activities
of
the
Cognitive Apprenticeship
Model
Expert provides learners
with basic cognitive steps
and procedures associated
with a cognitive task via
thinking out-loud and
commenting techniques
Expert
externalizes
internal
cognitive
processes explaining the
rationale for the processes
Coaching
Scaffolding
Learners observe the
processes
and
learn
different ways to cope
with difficulties
Learners apply conceptual
knowledge described in
the modeling phase in
problem solving activities
Expert coaches learners
by:
helping learners select
their tasks
providing learners with
hints
evaluating learners
diagnosing problems
offering
verbal
and
nonverbal encouragement
working with learners to
overcome weaknesses
providing learners with
feedback
Expert supports learner by
giving less assistance and
gradual removes of the
supporting role
Learners “grow out” of
dependence on the expert
Learners engage in a more
complex task performance
Features of the
Proposed OMG
Roles:
Agent(Expert)
Player (Teacher)
Animated
characters
Animated
activities
Voice Narration
Chat Rooms
Agent
models
behavior
Players
learns
basic cognitive
steps
Player
applies
modeled
behavior
Animated
Problem Solving
Situations
Agent Coaches
Players
via
Forums,
Chat
Rooms
Players
Collaborate
Agent gradually
reduces coaching
Players are given
new
complex
concepts
Players
joins
different
components of
an
authentic
problem to solve
it
Articulation
Proposed OMG’s
Contribution
OMG’s Educational
PD goals
Capabilities
Teachers would be
engaged in a process
of modeling the best
practices (knowledge
and skills) for their
tasks, motivated via
fun
The game could
enhance
memory
strategies
The game could
enhance Self-esteem
The game could give
immediate feedback
for teachers’ actions
and decisions
The game would be
well-sequenced
in
levels of increasing
difficulty, complexity
or pace, with success
at subsequent levels
contingent
upon
competencies
mastered at previous
levels
The
( 205 )
game
would
to
Modelling
Practice
Feedback
Coaching
Hands-on,
dialogic
interaction
with
the
learning
environment.
Negotiating
meaning through
practice
Practice
Hands-on,
dialogic
interaction
with
the
learning
environment
Negotiating
meaning through
practice
Problem-solving
situation that is
realistic
Activities
of
Method of the
Cognitive
Apprenticeship
Model
Activities
of
the
Cognitive Apprenticeship
Model
Expert
encourages
learners to interact with
others
Learners collaborate by
discussing and explaining
their knowledge and
strategies
in
a
collaborative environment
Features of the
Proposed OMG
Players
Collaborate via
Forums,
Chat
Rooms
Agent
encourages
players
to
collaborate
Reflection
Expert
encourages
learners to collaborate in
order to analyze their
performance
Learners compare their
performance with others
Learners evaluate their
performance and come to
conclusions about their
possible incorrect actions
Agent
encourages
players
collaborate
to
Players Compare
their Scores
Players Evaluate
their Scores and
come
to
conclusions
about what went
wrong
Exploration
Expert
encourages
learners to pose new
problems that represent
real-life situations
Learners
poses
problems
to
community and
solution to others
new
the
give
Learner
recognizes
personal goals
Agent
encourages
players to form
their
own
problems
Players
form
their problems
by collaborating
Players set the
new goals that
have
to
be
achieved
( 206 )
Proposed OMG’s
Contribution to
OMG’s Educational
PD goals
Capabilities
bring
players working
together,
collaboratively
competitively
and Interaction with
cooperatively,
into other learners and
the virtual world of with mentors in
the game and the the context of
social community of learning
game
players,
developing a set of
effective
social
practices
Reflection
and
The game could discussion
Peer coaching
foster
Activities
of
communication,
apprenticing teachers working
to
experts, collaboratively
accomplishing shared Interaction with
goals, and taking on other learners and
increasingly central with mentors in
roles of participation the context of
in order to solve learning
complex problems
The game could
enhance development
of critical thinking,
problem solving and
decision-making
skills
Teachers would have
opportunities
to
contribute to content
design in dealing
with actual, realworld problems and
transfer them to reallife situations
The game could
enhance
metacognition
and
mental
models,
improved
strategic
thinking and insight
Exploring
the
environment for
new information
Addressing
contextualised
authentic
problems
Conclusions
This paper proposes that OMGs, based on
cognitive apprenticeship model, could be an
effective and innovative tool for teacher
professional development. We argue that
OMGs’ features combined with cognitive
apprenticeship principles could shape a
learning environment that could have a
positive impact on teachers’ professional
development.
In this context OMGs could be used not only
to train teachers to integrate technology in
their classrooms, but also to teach them in a
fun and engaging way via collaborative
activities.
We believe that by training teachers with such
a tool, teachers would be engaged in a process
of modeling, the best practices would be
brought
together
competitively
and
cooperatively, developing a set of effective
social practices in order to solve complex
authentic real-world problems and develop
critical thinking and metacognition.
For future studies we stress the need for
creation of online multiplayer educational
games based on social constructivism
instructional design principles and cognitive
apprenticeship model. We also stress the need
for further research investigating the sociocultural context of online multiplayer games,
in order to gain a better understanding of the
complexity of those games and exploit them
in educational practices, such as teachers’
professional development.
( 207 )
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( 212 )
Creating e-Learning Board Games for School Settings Using the
ELG Environment
1
Symeon Retalis,
Loannis Arapoglou,
1
Michalis Boloudakis,
1
Petros Georgiakakia,
1
Georgia Lazakidou,
2
Charalambos Vrassidas
1
University of Piraeus, Department of Technology Education and Digital Systems
2
Centre for the Advancment of Research and Development in Educational
Technology Ltd. (CARDET)
1
Abstract
The use of games in education is well
documented in literature. They have been
used in preschool, K-12, the university.
Adding board games to the educational
process can lead to an interactive stimulating
learning experience. With a board game,
players often learn from one another while at
the same time having fun in a competitive
environment. In this paper we propose the
“ELG” game, an e-learning board game that
adopts the basic elements of a racing board
game but fosters students’ creativity,
problem-solving skills, and imagination as
students are trying to reach the end by better
performing to different learning activities.
The innovative feature of the ELG is that it
offers an adaptive authoring tool that enables
teacher to customize the game according to
the needs, interests and motives of students.
Teacher enters hierarchically categorized
learning activities according to the learning
goals of a course, sets the rules and assesses
the learning progress easily and simply.
Students participate in a discovery or
exploration trying to reach the goals. After
attaining them their level of activities is
upgraded and they are challenged to reach
the next learning goal. The dice in ELG is not
randomized but controlled by the teachers in
order that they can customize adaptive
learning rules. The educational benefits of
exploiting ELG in the learning process is that
the teacher can define the levels of difficulty
according to the students’ needs and interests,
facilitate and monitor the learning rate of
each student, combine a variety of evaluation
techniques, and timely address potential
learning problems. ELG can be exploited in
primary, secondary education and adult
education.
Board Games in the Educational
Process
The use of games in education is well
documented in the literature (Prensky, 2001;
Prensky, 2006). They have been used in
preschool, K-12, as well as universities
(Tanner and Lindquist, 1998; Bailey, Hsu,
and DiCarlo, 1999; Games-to-Teach Team,
2003; Kiili, 2004; Gee, 2005; Burgos et al.,
2007). One particular category of games is the
“board games”. According to Wikipedia “a
board game is a game played with counters or
pieces that are placed on, removed from, or
( 213 )
moved across a "board" (a premarked surface,
usually
specific
to
that
game)”
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Educational_ga
me]. Adding board games to the educational
process can lead to an interactive learning
experience (Helliar et al., 2000). With a board
game, players often learn from one another
while at the same time have fun in a
competitive environment. It is also believed
that students have a unique and fun
opportunity to evaluate their own level of
learning by identifying concepts not yet
mastered while playing (Massey, Brown and
Johnston, 2005; Hoffjan 2005).
The added value of games has been very
accurately stated by Marc Prensky (2006):
• Games are a form of fun. That gives
us enjoyment and pleasure.
• Games are form of play. That gives us
intense and passionate involvement.
• Games have rules. That gives us
structure.
• Games have goals. That gives us
motivation.
• Games are interactive. That gives us
doing.
• Games have outcomes and feedback.
That gives us learning.
• Games are adaptive. That gives us
flow.
• Games have win states. That gives us
ego gratification.
• Games
have
conflict/competition/challenge/opposit
ion. That gives us adrenaline.
• Games have problem solving. That
sparks our creativity.
• Games have interaction. That gives us
social groups.
• Games have representation and story.
That gives us emotion
The current challenge for designers of
educational games is to find ways to fuse
educational content with the gameplay, so that
students can solve authentic problems, engage
in meaningful scientific, mathematic, or
engineering practices, think creatively within
these domains, and communicate their ideas
expressively (Salen and Zimmerman, 2003).
Thus the scope of this paper is to present the
ELG, an authoring environment for creating
and instantiating e-learning board games.
Thus ELG is both a design and a runtime
environment for learning board games.
The innovative feature of the ELG is that it
offers an adaptive authoring tool that enables
teacher to customize the game according to
the needs, interests and motives of students.
The teacher enters hierarchically categorized
learning activities according to the learning
goals of a course, sets the rules and assesses
the learning progress easily and simply.
Students participate in a discovery or
exploration trying to reach the goals. After
attaining them their level of activities is
upgraded and they are challenged to reach the
next learning goal. The dice in ELG is not
randomized but controlled by the teacher in
order that they can customize adaptive
learning rules. The educational benefits of
exploiting ELG in the learning process is that
teachers can define the levels of difficulty
according to students’ needs and interests,
facilitate and monitor the learning progress of
each student, combine a variety of assessment
techniques, and timely address potential
learning problems. The structure of the paper
is the following: in the next section we will
present the main features of the ELG
authoring environment that enables teachers
to design an e-learning board game. Then we
will present the ELG’s architectural design in
order to better illustrate how students learn
while playing in an adaptive environment.
Finally, we will present the main findings
from a brief evaluation study that we
performed with teachers who tried to design
e-learning board games using ELG. The paper
will end with a brief discussion about the
main future research and development plans.
( 214 )
Designing Games with ELG
Eric Zimmerman (2006) rightly pointed out
that “Everyone – both developers and
educators
– forgets this one: making games is really
hard.”
[http://www.ericzimmerman.com/texts/learni
ngtoplay.htm]. It is even harder for teachers
who have basic computer skills and prefer
spending their valuable time on creating
learning material rather than writing scripts in
programming language for creating a board
game.
Although there are plenty of ready-made
educational board games, up to our
knowledge there is no authoring environment
for creating them in an easy and user friendly
way. The ELG comes to fill this gap. ELG
offers a user friendly authoring environment
which allows a teacher to easily and quickly
create an adaptive e-learning board game reusing learning objects, such as images,
questions, self-assessment or inquiry-based
learning activities. ELG is also designed to
offer a run time environment that allows
multiple users (i.e. learners) to play an elearning board game and collaborate while
trying to solve a give learning problem. It also
allows the teacher to monitor the learning
process and gives feedback or advices to
learners when necessary. A screen shot of an
e-learning board game which runs within the
ELG run-time environment is shown in
Figure 1. It is an adaptation of the well known
board game “Snakes & Ladders”.
Figure 1. A screen shot of the ELG run-time environment
( 215 )
Today's board games should consist of
eccentric and colourful playing spaces rather
than a classic grid of squares. Thus, it is
important to allow a teacher-creator to
customise the board according to his/her
preferences, i.e. specifying the number of
cells and adding any image that he/she likes
on each cell or the background image that
seems appropriate. ELG allows a teacher to
do all these.
Moreover, an e-learning board game requires
players to answer questions, some times
arranged in a hierarchy ranging from most
difficult
questions
to
questions
of
intermediate difficulty, and then to questions
of least difficulty. The players take turns by
rolling the dice in their attempts to correctly
answer the questions written on the question
cards. The particular question card selected by
each player as a result of his or her playing
piece landing on a respective playing space
corresponds to the question category for that
question card set. It is the intent of each of the
participants (i.e. the learners) in the game to
be the first player to reach a specific end
space located within the playing course and to
correctly answer the question or questions on
a question card selected from a predetermined
question category.
Figure 2 shows a screen shot of the ELG
authoring environment where the teacher adds
meta-data for the game, i.e. title, course
subject, educational level, etc. With the ELG
authoring environment, the teacher can
specify the main elements of a board game
are: i) the “board”, i.e. the playing space; ii)
the learning activities that will be presented to
learners through the question cards, iii) the
dice and iv) the rules that make a game
adaptive.
Figure 2. Screen shot of the first step for creating an e-learning board game in ELG
Creating and Re-using Learning
Activities
Students perform learning activities utilizing
their knowledge and skills while a teacher is a
facilitator of the learning process who
intervenes when appropriate. A learning
activity can be a close-type self-assessment
item in the form of a multiple choice question,
true-false, etc. It can also be an open-type
assessment item where the student has to
write a brief paragraph or create and submit a
concept map, etc. The open assessment items
are being assessed by the teacher while the
close-type ones are automatically being
assessed by the ELG runtime engine. A
screen shot of the ELG authoring
environment which allows a teacher to create
new or search for existing questions is shown
( 216 )
in Figure 3. Each question can be rated by the
teacher as easy, intermediate or demanding
according to its difficulty level. It can also be
annotated according to a predefined set of
questions types, e.g. sports, literature and
geography. The rating and annotation features
allow the teacher to create a board game
which could be adapted to the knowledge
level and interests of the students.
Another innovation of the ELG is that each
assessment item is codified using the IMS
QTI specification (IMS QTI, 2006) thus
enabling ELG to interoperate with other IMS
QTI compatible quiz tools. Thus a teacher
could search at a repository with question
items for adopting ready made questions to
the game under development.
Figure 3. Creating Learning Activities via the ELG
Adding Adaptivity
As already mentioned, the ELG allows
teachers to add adaptivity into a game.
Adaptivity can occur both when players are
ahead (i.e. finding the game easy) and when
they are behind (i.e. finding the game hard.)
For example, when a player-student is behind
the ELG could make navigation easier by
giving the player more “power-ups,” i.e.
offering the player easier questions. When a
player is doing well, and the game is
becoming too easy, the ELG could
automatically increase the difficulty and offer
the student more challenging learning tasks.
The dice could also become a mechanism for
adding customised adaptive learning rules.
Apart from the usual randomised roll of the
dice, the teacher could add the following rules
(e.g. see Figure 4):
• If a student has performed very well to
a given activity (or set of activities),
the dice could be “fixed” so that a
player can roll high numbers. Thus,
the teacher rewards the excellent
performance.
• On the contrary, if a student fails to
solve a challenging activity or her
learning scores are not very high, the
dice could be “fixed” so that the
student will roll low numbers.
( 217 )
Figure 4. Adding Rules to an e-learning board game via the ELG
ELG architectural design details
The architectural decisions, which have been
made when designing the ELG, allow
students to play an e-learning board game
almost anywhere and at any time. Learners
and teachers may interact with each other
through desktop-laptop PC’s or PDA’s and
access the server side through Wifi or
Ethernet protocols, while they are connected
to LAN or WAN network. As shown in
Figure 5, the main components of the ELG
are: a Web server and an SQL server where
data of the learning process (answers, scores,
adaptive rules, students profile, etc.) are
stored. During the execution of the game
participants can exchange information -such
as activity results or ideas about the problem
solution- through a Mail and/or Media Server.
Figure 5. High level architectural deployment diagram of the ELG environment
ELG relies on the latest web technology
structures, offering a user friendly authoring
environment combined with a powerful
runtime engine implemented in Visual Basic
.NET programming paradigm. It also takes
advantage of the IIS mail server and
( 218 )
Microsoft’s media server in order to facilitate
the communication between learners and
teachers. For the graphical user interface Ajax
technology has been exploited.
Evaluation of the ELG
We performed a short term evaluation study
with school teachers. The main focus was on
examining the ELG’s added value from the
teachers’ point of view. At first, the ELG
authoring capabilities and features were
explained and exhibited to three (3)
experienced and motivated teachers (two from
primary and one from secondary education)
who have basic computer skills. Then we
asked them to create independently a board
game on a subject matter of their choice. Our
main intention was to observe how usable
teachers
found
the
ELG
authoring
environment and how easy was to create
learning games.
It was extremely interesting and highly
encouraging to find out that the three teachers
developed different e-learning board games
which had been comprised of various
questions. One teacher proposed a game for
students of 7-9 years old. Her course
concerned Mathematics in primary school and
more specifically addition and subtraction
with numbers from 1.000 to 10.000. Thus a
game with learning activities about nutrients
and calories in Mediterranean food was
created. Another teacher tried to create an
online version of the well known game about
the European Union (original title: “L' Europe
sur un plateau”) scripted by Madeleine Deny.
The third teacher created a game that can be
played at the new archaeological museum of
Acropolis in Greece with the use of PDAs. As
shown in Figure 6, she used the architectural
blueprint of the museum as the background
image of the playing space. She also designed
learning activities which were related to each
room of the museum. The students could give
answers to either close-type questions or to
open-type questions which required from the
students to identify an object that holds
specific characteristics (e.g. belongs to a
specific period) and send its picture via an
MMS.
Figure 6. Example of a learning activity of a game which can be played outdoors, e.g. at the Acropolis archeological museum,
with the use of PDAs
Moreover, we performed focus group
interviews with the three teachers. This short
evaluation revealed that the ELG authoring
environment is quite useful because it grants
teachers with freedom to apply their own
creativity and teaching philosophy. All of
them found that the ELG was very user
friendly, the navigation through the screens
was straightforward and that the explanations
of the tasks that had to do at each step were
clear. They considered as very important the
fact that they could customize and combine
adaptive rules. Reusability of assessments
was considered a very important feature of
ELG although they did not re-use any ready-
( 219 )
made question. Summarising it was stated that
the ELG can:
• make the learning process enjoyable
• increase the motivation and interest in
learning
• help learners perform activities
through exploration and discovery
• aid
learners
at
finding
out
misunderstandings of the subject
matter
and
receiving
valuable
feedback
•
allow learners become aware of their
own learning progress
Of course, more exhaustive evaluation
experiments
in
authentic
classroom
environments are needed to measure the
quality of the ELG run time environment and
to identify design and development
weaknesses.
( 220 )
Conclusions
Learning games, if used correctly, have the
potential to add value to the traditional
classroom-based
instructional
practices
(Rotter, 2004; Van Eck, 2006). That is why it
is so important that teachers have usable
authoring tools to develop and deploy games.
In this paper we presented the ELG which
allows the teacher to easily create an elearning board game. The simplicity and
adaptivity that characterizes the ELG
authoring environment renders it a valuable
and an innovative tool that can support the
personalization of the learning process. The
authoring environment of the ELG is at a beta
version which allowed us to evaluate its
usability. The runtime environment is still in
its infancy although its main design has been
completed. We hope soon to validate the ELG
runtime environment in authentic classroom
settings. We intend to further investigate what
the students’ experience will be, and how the
interaction methods and metaphors of the
games created with the use of the ELG
authoring environment can best present
content and motivate students to acquire
knowledge and skills.
( 221 )
Acknowledgements
This work has been partially funded by
through the EU IST FP7 project Grid4All
(http://grid4all.elibel.tm.fr/).
( 222 )
References
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Rotter, K. (2004). Modifying “Jeopardy!”
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( 223 )
ePortfolio: A Tool for Quality Assurance for Learning, eLearning
and ePortfolios
Kathryn Chang Barker
&
FuturEd Consulting Education Futuristis Inc.
Abstract
An e-Portfolio is generally understood in the
context of education and training as a means
of demonstrating and assessing the quality of
learning. Beyond that, it may be a tool for
assessing organizational learning and
demonstrating product quality. This approach
is used in the assessment of eLearning quality
by the eQcheck Group, and it can even be
used in the assessment of ePortfolio quality.
The ePortfolio approach to quality assurance
has the advantages of being iterative,
inclusive, and transparent. Wherever
standards of quality excellence exist –
learning
objectives,
product
quality,
occupational skill standards – an ePortfolio
can show compliance with the standards,
supported by digital evidence.
Connecting ePortfolio and Quality
Assurance: A Concept Paper
In the education and training community, an
ePortfolio is understood to be an electronic
portfolio or record of learning acquired from
all learning environments – a digitally created
and managed archive of acquired skills and
knowledge.
How, you may ask, is an
ePortfolio used for Quality Assurance?
A clue to the answer lies in the more formal
definition of ePortfolio - “a collection of
authentic and diverse evidence, drawn from a
larger archive representing what a person or
organization has learned over time on which
the person or organization has reflected, and
designed for presentation to one or more
audiences for a particular rhetorical
purpose”1.
In the context of Quality
Assurance (QA), the purpose is to examine
the quality of learning; for example, teachers
will assess the quality of student learning
using an ePortfolio. If the purpose is to
examine the quality of a product or service
(P/S), it is the organization behind that P/S
that undertakes a process of examining, and
learning about, the quality of the P/S.
Typically, this examination is called
evaluation. It is in this sense, then, that an
ePortfolio can be used for QA.
In this paper, we begin by taking a general
look at how the ePortfolio is currently
understood and used. Then we examine how
an ePortfolio is used specifically for QA of
learning, eLearning, even at the process of
ensuring quality of an ePortfolio.
ePortfolio Overview
The label “ePortfolio” is a shorthand term for
both a process and a product. ePortfolio tools
help creators through the process of
identifying and reflecting on the outcomes of
learning experiences, then creating digital
evidence of that learning. The product, as
stated earlier, is a purpose-driven presentation
taken from that body of digital evidence. The
As defined by the National Learning Infrastructure
Initiative (2003).
1
( 224 )
term “learning” is used as shorthand for “a
body of acquired skills, knowledge and
abilities (SKA) resident in either an individual
or a community.” Learning implies change,
i.e., an increase in skill levels and knowledge.
The term “digital” is used to imply the use of
a computer, particular software or electronic
tools, and, often, the Internet.
There are three basic types of ePortfolios –
standards-based, showcase, and social
networking – with a lot of variations based on
purpose.
In the education environment,
students generate and use ePortfolios for all
three purposes – to demonstrate achievement
against intended learning outcomes for
assessment by teachers, to showcase best
work such as papers and artwork, and to share
ideas and work with peers, parents and others
in their social network.
For example, in
British Columbia, ePortfolios are used by
secondary school students to demonstrate and
showcase competencies outside the academic
curriculum, including the competencies
required for active citizenship.2 At the Simon
Fraser University, students submit their work
in a subject-specific ePortfolio to professors
for assessment of the quality of their
achievements. Around the world, students of
all ages create a digital identity on the Internet
and create virtual communities. ePortfolio
tools help creators to identify and reflect on
the outcomes of learning experiences, to
produce archives and presentations, made
particularly appealing through use of multimedia, e.g., audio files to demonstrate
language or musical competence, video files
to demonstrate skills such as welding, social
networking and blogging to establish
references. At it’s most simple, an ePortfolio
may resemble a personal homepage or an
electronic resume, and at its most complex, it
may become a person’s digital identity.
Looking at the history of the ePortfolio, as
sweeping generalizations, it has been used in:
• primary and secondary education as a
tool for demonstration of learning;
• in
higher
and
post-secondary
education for the assessment of
learning;
• lifelong learning to enable continuous
“reflective” learning and to inventory
all types of learning;
• the workplace for the recognition of
work experience and workplace
training, for recruitment and targeted
training, and for career advancement;
and
• organizational and/ or economic
development through asset mapping
and quality assurance.
An ePortfolio can be created and used by
individuals, communities and/or organizations
to (1) archive and share learning and culture
acquired from informal, non-formal and
formal learning environments; (2) provide
evidence or verification of learning in a
dynamic, multimedia fashion; (3) manage
personal and collective learning to maximize
usage and to plan; and (4) showcase or
promote particular assets as required.
FuturEd has studied and promoted the
ePortfolio since 1996.3 FuturEd research
demonstrates that the ePortfolio is linked
closely with:
• human resources development and
Human Capital Management4 – as the
means of identifying and managing
what a person and a group of persons
knows and can do;
3
2
For more information on this initiative, please see
http://www.bced.gov.bc.ca/graduation/portfolio/welco
me.htm.
Digital Learning Record (ePortfolio) Background
Paper (Barker, 1996).
4
The ePortfolio and Human Capital Accounting
FuturEd White Paper(Barker, 2003)
( 225 )
•
•
•
•
•
lifelong learning5 – as the method of
tracking and recognizing ongoing
learning, as an incentive to the lifelong
learning requirement;
Prior Learning Assessment6 – as the
outcome of the PLA process of
exploring
and
determining
an
individual’s non-formal and informal
learning;
education and training at all levels7
(K-12, PSE and workplace) - as a
teaching tool (reflection as a basis for
learning), as a learning management
tool (e.g., project-based learning); as
an alternative form of learning
assessment; and as a tool for
transparency and trust between
institutions and nations;8
eLearning – as a type of Knowledge
Management, a part of a Student
Information System and a potential
form of “Usable Learned Object”9
repository;
learning organizations10 – as a means
of tracking and developing human and
capital assets; assisting professional
development of employees within
organizations across sectors; assessing
and
demonstrating
continuous
improvement and quality;
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
From all this study and advocacy, from
research,18 an international project to create
quality standards,19 and tools created,20
11
5
The ePortfolio and HRD Policy Goals FuturEd
While Paper (Barker, 2003)
6
The Electronic Learning Record: Assessment of
Skills and Knowledge (Barker, 1999)
7
ePortfolio for the Assessment of Learning FuturEd
White Paper (Barker, 2005)
8
ePortfolio and eLearning Quality Standards: Tools
for Trust, Transparency and Transportability at
VUSCC (Barker presentation to the Commonwealth of
Learning, 2006)
9
Building on the concept or Reusable Learning
Object, this shifts the focus to the learner, i.e. the
impact of learning.
10
Introducing the ePortfolio: The New Management
of Learning (Barker presentation, 2004)
community economic development11 –
as an inventory of collective
community human capital assets;
future learning systems12 that rely less
on credentials and more on
competencies;
cultural archiving, through digital
storytelling, of traditional and
indigenous wisdom, particularly for
First Nations and Aboriginal youth,
elders and communities;13 and
organizational accountability14 – as a
transparent tools for setting out
achievements against standards for
excellence for quality assurance;
social networking and social capital
development
15through
the
development
and
use
virtual
communities;
return on investment in eLearning16 –
examining the tangible and intangible
ePortfolio costs and benefits, the
intended and unintended outcomes;
digital identity and the creation of
secure, private digital archives for all
citizens.17
Community ePortfolio for Community Economic
Development (Barker, 2003)
12
The Future of the ePortfolio, the Future With the
ePortfolio (Barker presentation, 2005)
13
The Canadian eParfleche Project: ePortfolio for
Aboriginal Communities (Barker presentation, 2004)
14
ePortfolio for eLearning Quality Assurance
(Barker presentation, 2005)
15
Environmental Scan: ePortfolio in General and in
the Workplace Specifically (Barker, 2006)
16
Return on Investment in eLearning: Discussion and
ROI Tool (Barker, 2005)
17
ePortfolio in 2006: A Call to Action (Barker, 2006)
18
Assessment and Management of Learning:
ePortfolio Research Report (Barker, 2000)
19
ePortfolio Quality Standards Discussion Paper
(Barker 2003) and ePortfolio Quality Standards
(FuturEd, 2004)
( 226 )
FuturEd has concluded that the term
“ePortfolio” is used to encompass (1) tools,
products and systems that can be used by (2)
individuals, educators, employers and entire
nations for the purposes of (3) describing,
assessing, recognizing and using knowledge
and skills acquired (4) through all forms of
learning – informal, formal, non-formal,
accidental and incidental (5) with evidence
that is digitally created, stored and managed
through (6) practices that meet standards
assure transportability, usability, and security.
ePortfolio tools have been developed from
very different perspectives and applications,
for example:
• digital storytelling tools to record
changes, achievements and cultural
artifacts by children, families and
communities;
• learning
assessment
tools
to
demonstrate
expected
learning
outcomes by students of all ages;
• digital inventory tools to assemble and
display capabilities, with supporting
evidence,
by
artists,
athletes,
businesses, agencies or communities;
• reflective learning tools to promote
and support individualized learning
through the thoughtful examination of
experience;
• electronic
tools
for
authentic
assessment of learning in nonacademic areas, workplace experience
or informal training;
• management
tools for student
information systems and knowledge
management systems;
• cultural
archiving
and
media
exploration
by
Aboriginal
communities;
• quality assurance tools for comparison
of product quality to standards of
excellence or professional standards of
accreditation.
Until recently, ePortfolio tools focused
largely on the presentation of information,
with an archive of digital data that derived
from the associated purpose of the
presentation, i.e., the archive was created with
the purpose in mind.
However, new
ePortfolio tools include digital environments
for assembling and managing documents and
all forms of media in a digital archive, and/or
software applications for assembling and
sorting portions of that archive for a particular
purpose, e.g., applying for a job or seeking
course credit. In the future, the archives will
come first, with ePortfolios created when and
as needed.
Teachers, trainers and HR specialists have
been using both portfolios and eLearning for
some time. Quite naturally, the electronic
portfolio – ePortfolio- is a combination of the
two, but it introduces unique advantages.
First, the “e” provides an opportunity for
mediated evidence of competencies in the
archive – digital audio, video, artifacts and
hyperlinks. It is a living document that
individuals can add to or modify on a regular
and immediate basis, in creative and highly
sensory ways. A second advantage is the
incorporation of reflective learning.
An
ePortfolio embodies both the process of
reflecting on learning experiences and the
product of verifying claimed learning
outcomes. The ePortfolio tool is a semistructured framework for reflective learning
in that it goes well beyond filling in blanks in
a database like the conventional resume form.
A third advantage is that the same tool can be
used by individuals, businesses, organization
and/or communities – real or virtual. Each
will use the same processes of collection,
selection,
reflection,
projection
and
20
Consumers Guide to ePortfolio Tools and Services
(FuturEd, 2004)
( 227 )
presentation;21 and their purposes may be
relatively the same: the self-examination and
communication of knowledge and learning
assets. The fourth advantage is the focus on
learning – actual competencies, rather than
credentials that serve as a questionable proxy
for competencies.
Although we typically think of ePortfolio
creators as individuals, ePortfolios can be
created and utilized to advantage by groups of
people. For example, ePortfolios can be used
by:
• businesses and agencies, as a means of
tracking and developing collective
human
capital
and
assisting
professional
development
of
employees within organizations across
sectors;
• communities, either virtual or real, as
an inventory of collective community
human capital assets for, e.g.,
community
economic
/
social
development;
• cultural groups, as digital storytelling
for cultural archiving of traditional
and indigenous wisdom;
• enterprises, as a means of assessing
and demonstrating quality of products
and services in a standards-based and
transparent fashion.
Both individuals and communities of all type
can use an ePortfolio to archive learning
acquired from all forms of learning in an
inclusive, objective manner; provide evidence
or verification of learning in a dynamic,
multimedia fashion; manage human and
social capital assets for and by themselves to
maximize usage of acquired learning and
perhaps conduct gap analysis to target
required assets; and showcase or promote
particular assets as required. One of the
21
For more information, see
http://www.helenbarrett.com/ALI/intro.pdf
many, many uses of ePortfolio, then, is for
quality assurance.
Quality Assurance Overview
There are as many views of Quality
Assurance as there are uses for ePortfolios.
Quality is defined in countless ways, but a
simple definition is “satisfaction that the
product or service is effective and efficient for
intended purpose and audience.”
Both
producers and consumers want quality, but
each may define it differently.
From the field of evaluation, a number of
traditional approaches to quality assurance are
used. Some approaches, such as the ISO
quality system, focus on the assessment of
process.
Others, such as the Good
Housekeeping Seal of Approval or the
eQcheck eLearning quality mark, focus on
product. As well there is variety in the
methods used: internal assessment, selfassessment, external review, peer review,
expert judgment. Assessment or evaluation
can be for formative or summative purposes,
with timing that reflects the opportunity to
make changes or improvements.
And
evaluation can take a variety of forms:
Return on Investment or Cost/Benefit
analysis, impact analysis, standards-based
assessment. The latter is the process of
judging
against
internal
objectives,
comparable products or services, and/or
standards of excellence. Both producers and
consumers want to know the outcomes of a
formal evaluation or quality assurance
assessment; however, the outcomes are not
always shared.
New views of quality assurance reflect some
changes in thinking about timing, perspective,
purpose of evaluation or quality assessment.
For example, while in the traditional view of
quality assurance, the conclusions were what
was important, in the new view, the process
( 228 )
of evaluation is as important, perhaps more
important. In the emerging view of quality
assurance, the needs of the consumer not only
take precedence, but the consumer is involved
in the assessment process, in a fashion that
Alvin
and
Heidi
Toffler22
call
“prosumption.” Customers are involved in
the process of decision-making about the
development of the product/service and in
continuous improvement, helping to ensure
quality in an iterative, engaged fashion. The
new purposes of Quality Assurance, then, are
related less to formative or summative
judgement, and more to organizational
learning. Learning means changing, adapting,
acquiring new survival skills and knowledge;
and as KBE organizations need to be
continuously learning, they require new forms
of QA, such as TQM, to contribute to that.
Inside the organization, they need to manage
human capital assets and to ensure return on
assets, human and/or capital. New forms of
QA aim to study and assure these
organizational goals.
The ePortfolio fits well into the emerging
views of Quality Assurance. The ePortfolio
processes include (1) creating an inventory or
description of the product or service under
review, (2) reflection on aspects of change,
improvement and quality, and (3) providing
evidence to support quality assertions. The
strengths of the ePortfolio processes are that
they are:
• a form of organizational learning
through
self-assessment
and
reflection;
• collaborative, inviting peer review and
prosumption;
• iterative
and
encouraging
of
continuous improvement;
• collaborative
thereby
combining
internal and external assessment;
22
Toffler, A and H. Toffler. (2006) Revolutionary
Wealth. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
•
transparent in that quality claims are
supported with digital evidence;
The ePortfolio product – a purpose-driven
electronic document – supports both internal
QA and external evidence of quality and
quality assurance. It is user friendly and
appealing, of great and immediate utility,
endlessly scalable, an elegant use of inelegant
technologies. As a process, it is standardsbased, iterative, transparent, and constructive.
Digital tools reduce volumes of time and
paper, are easily shared and modified.
Most importantly, an ePortfolio helps to solve
the quality paradox that “providers of goods
and services must assure quality but they
can’t provide quality assurance.” Quality
assurance must be objective, professional,
credible, recognized, iterative and continuous.
These are the attributes of the ePortfolio. It
takes a team to provide quality assurance –
both producer and consumer perspectives;
expertise in evaluation, learning and
technology. The ePortfolio engages team
members in setting quality standards as an
ePortfolio framework; assessing a product or
service against those quality standards
through reflection and presumption; and
providing evidence to support assertions of
quality.
ePortfolio for Quality Assurance
Although there different types of ePortfolio,
for quality assurance purposes, the standardsbased ePortfolio makes most sense. For an
ePortfolio to be used for quality assurance in
an effective and efficient fashion, an
ePortfolio “system” may be required. An
ePortfolio without someone to receive,
process and/or utilize it is like one hand
clapping.
The components of the FuturEd ePortfolio
System are producers, consumers and ICT
(Information
and
Communication
( 229 )
Technologies). In a small number of cases,
the producer and consumer may be the same
person but the functions remain the same. In
all cases, a computer is used for creating and
using the ePortfolio in the critical “matching”
process; often this involves using the Internet
as well.
ePortfolio
Producer
ePortfolio
Consume
ICT for creating
and using the
In the context of Quality Assurance, the
ePortfolio consumers set the standards which
become the framework for the ePortfolio.
The consumers may be certifying bodies,
credentialing bodies, purchasers and decisionmakers who have established expectations of
quality. The ePortfolio producers are the
individuals or groups who create or generate
the ePortfolios by assessing their product or
service against the stated quality expectations
or standards, and providing digital evidence in
support of quality assertions.
In the
ePortfolio consumption process, a person or
agency exams the quality claims and actual
evidence against the expected standards for a
positive match.
• Educators
examine
student
achievements against stated learning
outcomes.
• Accrediting bodies examine applicants
for
requisite
professional
competencies.
• Employers examine applicants for job
fit and suitability.
• Certifying bodies examine products
and services for acceptability and
excellence.
In this case, computers can do what they do
best – digitally matching stated requirements
with stated achievements.
The entire
development and utilization of the ePortfolio
is made effective, efficient, and electronic
through the use of ICT: computer-based and
web-based ePortfolio creation tools for
producers; web-based sets of quality
standards for both producers and consumers;
and computer-based or web-based ePortfolio
processor tools for consumers to receive and
process individual ePortfolios. This approach
can be applied wherever standards of
excellence exist; however, to date, no such 3part tools actually exist. People, rather than
computers, undertake the assessment for
suitability, i.e., the matching process.
Learning Quality
In formal education and training, at all levels,
the ePortfolio is now used for the assessment
of learning, i.e., to judge the quality of
learning against intended learning outcomes
or learning standards.
Has the student
achieved the intended learning outcomes?
What is the evidence?
Portfolio
assessment
combines
many
innovations in the appropriate assessment of
learning, i.e., alternative assessment, authentic
( 230 )
assessment, competency-based assessment,
flexible assessment, and standards-based
assessment.
• Alternative assessment refers to
alternative means of enhancing
educational assessment through, e.g.,
confidence measurement, analysis of
self-awareness, and performance
evaluation.1
• Authentic
assessment
involves
examining students’ basic skills,
control of information, high level of
understanding,
personal
characteristics, and habits of mind;2
and allows students to participate
actively in their own learning.3
• Competency-based assessment is the
assessment of competence against
standards set for knowledge and skills
in a particular area, typically used in
vocational education and professional
certification processes.
• Flexible assessment
can include
checklists, portfolios, performance
tasks, product assessments, projects
and simulations; observation of the
learner, questioning, oral or written
tests and essays, projects undertaken
in groups or individually, role playing,
work
samples,
computer-based
assessment; and flexible assessment is
intended to suit the learner’s pace and
style of learning and assess the
individual when s/he is ready.
1
Improving Educational Assessment by Incorporating
Confidence Measurement, Analysis of Self-Awareness,
and Performance Evaluation: The Computer-based
Alternative Assessment Project (Paul, 1998) at
http://www.jodypaul.com/ASSESS/
2
Portfolio Assessment and the New Paradigm: New
Instruments and New Places (Engel, 1994) on the
ERIC website at
http://www.indiana.edu/~eric_rec/ieo/bibs/portfoli.html
3
Becoming Reflective Students and Teachers with
Portfolios and Authentic Assessment (Paris and Ayres,
1994) on the ERIC web site at
http://www.indiana.edu/~eric_rec/ieo/bibs/portfoli.html
•
Standards-based
assessment
is
intended to measure achievements
against stated learning outcomes or
objectives.
Combining elements of all these, portfolio
assessment involves using the products in a
portfolio as the evidence of learning for
assessment purposes.4 This is the most
common use of the ePortfolio in formal
education.
ePortfolio assessment of learning is different
from traditional assessment methods, not only
because it includes innovations in learning
assessment, but because it allows for different
people to be engaged in the process, i.e., for
self-assessment and peer assessment in
addition to teacher assessment. Quality may
be judged differently by each; however, the
intended learning outcomes remain the quality
standards.
Organizational Quality
Entire businesses can create an ePortfolio of
products and services for quality assurance,
strategic planning and/or marketing. Their
ePortfolio can demonstrate to clients that they
are learning, continuously improving and
responsive to customers needs. Portfolios
have been used for years – artists create
portfolios of their work, professors create
portfolios for tenure, investors create
portfolios for asset management. In this
sense, the “e” simply removes a mammoth
amount of paper and allows for continuous
updating of the portfolio through digital
technology. When customers or assessors
examine the ePortfolio, they may have
standards of suitability in their heads. It is
made much cleaner when standards are set out
in advance so that the ePortfolio can clearly
address each quality criteria with digital
evidence. More that a catalogue of products
4
For more information, please see ePortfolio for the
Assessment of Learning, a FuturEd White Paper.
( 231 )
or services, it is a digital tool for matching
P/S qualities against explicit requirements.
ePortfolio Quality
As a practical example, quality standards have
been developed for ePortfolios, so it is now
possible to create an ePortfolio ePortfolio – an
assessment of how well an ePortfolio tool or
service meets with international standards for
ePortfolio quality. The following consumerbased quality standards are based on a
diagnosis of quality issues and challenge,5 and
created by an international committee of
ePortfolio experts.6
5
ePortfolio Quality Standards: An International
Development Project (Barker, 2003)
6
Participating
Organization
AAHE
(American
Association for Higher
Education)
AMTEC (Association of
Media and Technical
Education in Canada)
CACE
(Canadian
Association
for
Community Education)
CADE
(Canadian
Association for Distance
Education)
Campus
Canada
(Industry Canada)
CanLearn
(Human
Resources Development
Canada)
CAPLA
(Canadian
Association for Prior
Learning Assessment)
CEA
(Canadian
Education Association)
COL (Commonwealth of
Learning)
CSBA (Canadian School
Board Association)
EIfEL
(European
Institute for E-Learning)
Licef –TeleUniversite
CERI
/
OECD
(“watching brief”)
Representative
Darren Cambridge
Genevieve Gallant
Barb Case
Bill Muirhead
Jane Kralik
Karin Fuller
Sandra Aarts /
Bonnie Kennedy
1. A digital archive and an ePortfolio are
developed and owned by the
individual or organization creating
them. The use of both or either, and
any changes to them, are under the
control of the individual. Both are
confidential and access is controlled
by the individual.
2. The ePortfolio system has the capacity
to maintain a complete inventory of
skills and knowledge acquired by the
individual through formal, non-formal,
informal, accidental and incidental
learning. The ePortfolio development
process includes thoughtfulness about
learning represented.
3. The ePortfolio system lists and
describes skills and knowledge in a
way that is recognized and respected
by educators, employers, professional
bodies, and others who receive and
process ePortfolios. Where possible,
the ePortfolio system links to
established competency standards but
also allows flexibility to accommodate
unique or non-specific competencies.
4. The content of the ePortfolio is
current, accurate, and verifiable.
Methods of validating learning are
flexible, appropriate, and credible.
5. To develop the ePortfolio, there are
explicit instructions with examples, a
universally-recognized glossary of
terms, and professional assistance if
required. The ePortfolio is easy to
access, use, and modify by the owner.
Penny Milton
Angela Kwan
Paul West
/
Lionel Sandner
Additional ePortfolio /
eLearning Experts
Maureen Layte
Karen Lundgren
Kurt Larsen
( 232 )
Helen Barrett
Barbara
Cambridge
Marquis Bureau
•
6. The ePortfolio and archive have the
capacity to incorporate a variety of
media.
7. The ePortfolio is portable and
interoperable in a technical sense.
8. The ePortfolio service is multipurpose, customisable and adaptable
to various uses, e.g., assessment by
teachers, learning through personal
reflection, planning, individual or
community asset mapping.
9. An ePortfolio system is seamless,
allowing the individual to create many
versions of his/her ePortfolio and use
this process throughout life, from
primary school through higher
education and career training to the
workplace and lifelong learning
environments.
10. An ePortfolio system provides secure
long-term storage, privacy, access and
ongoing support.
When these quality standards are inserted into
an ePortfolio framework, producers of
ePortfolio tools can demonstrate if and how
well they meet the quality standards by
providing digital evidence to support quality
assertions.
eLearning Quality
In the same fashion that ePortfolio quality can
be assured, eLearning quality can be assured.
A set of eLearning quality standards has been
created:
the Open eQuality Learning
Standards.7 They cover all the elements of
eLearning outcomes, processes and practices,
and inputs/resources.
1. Quality of Outcomes and Outputs
• overall academic achievement
• change in content knowledge and
learning skills
7
The Open eQuality Learning Standards are in the
Creative Commons and jointly managed by LIfIA and
EIfEL.
•
•
•
overall social achievement and
change in citizenship-related KSA
increase in individual selfconfidence and personal strengths
preparation for work in the future
system
effectiveness
and
efficiency (ROI)
2. Satisfaction with Processes
Practices
• student management
• learning management
• use of technologies
• communications
• leadership / administration
and
3. Adequacy of Inputs and Resources
• intended learning outcomes
• learning materials
• appropriate technologies
• appropriate
and
necessary
personnel
• the learning environment, e.g.,
safety, resources, access to library
• funding and plans
One private enterprise, QualitE-Learning
Assurance Inc.8, is licenses to certify
eLearning quality, awarding the eQcheck
quality mark to those eLearning products and
services that meet the quality standards. The
eQcheck process is an ePortfolio process – the
standards are set within an ePortfolio
framework and eLearning providers attach
digital evidence of how well they meet each
standard. Through this form of eLearning
QA, producers of eLearning earn the eQcheck
with product ePortfolios that they can use for
organizational
learning,
continuous
improvement, product showcasing and
marketing. The eQcheck quality mark and
the product ePortfolio provide both consumer
8
QualitE-Learning Assurance Inc, the eQcheck group
of companies, is founding member of the European
Foundation for E-learning Quality.
( 233 )
confidence
eLearning.
and
consumer
protection
in
In conclusion, much of what is presented here
is theoretical. To date there is very little
evidence that eLearning meets international
quality standards, and there is no evidence
that ePortfolio tools and services meet
ePortfolio quality standards.
In some
respects, Quality Assurance is new to the
education
and
training
community,
accustomed to internal and peer evaluations,
external accreditation. The concept of a
consumer-focus is particularly new to
education and training agencies. Therefore,
there is a great deal of room to explore
ePortfolio in the context of Quality Assurance
for learning, eLearning and ePortfolios
themselves.
( 234 )
eLearning Unit
Kathryn Chang Barker
&
FuturEd Consulting Education Futuristis Inc.
Introduction
This case study is based on the critical nature
of eFaculty competencies – critical to the
process of faculty selection and certification
in the online and/or blended education
environment, critical for ongoing faculty
training and development, critical for
modeling and managing good eLearning.
Indeed, eFaculty competencies are a critical
component in Total Quality Management
(TQM) in the education and training industry,
both public and private sector.
eTQM College is an institution of higher
education using a blended approach, offering
courses both onsite and online. Faculty need
to be able to “teach” in both environments,
and this requires
1. basic skills associated with teaching,
assessment and management of
learning, in addition to other faculty
roles such as research; and
2. special
skills
and
knowledge
associated with Information and
Communication Technologies (ICT)
In higher education, faculty often come from
specialty or content areas and may have little
or no teacher training or faculty experience.
Even for those experienced instructors, using
ICT fundamentally changes the role of faculty
from instructor to facilitator of learning, and a
relatively limited number of faculty in higher
education have experience and competencies
to facilitate learning in the online
environment. Competent faculty is one of the
many elements of quality eLearning, but a
critical and a challenging one.
How are colleges, like eTQM College, to find
and retain quality eFaculty? How do we
effectively and efficiently undertake initial
screening of applicants, provide basic
orientation to teaching, fundamental training
in eLearning and Continuing Professional
Development (CPD)?
Can quality
certification provide us with “due diligence”
on behalf of our clients and learning
customers? How do we enable eFaculty to be
dedicated lifelong learners? It is vital that we
do these things in order to both offer quality
eLearning and model TQM for eLearning.
Therefore, it is hypothesized that the answer
to this challenge lies at the intersection of:
• Competence-based
training
and
learning outcomes
• Skills and competence standards for
online and blended “teaching”
• ePortfolio tools for showcasing
competencies and managing lifelong
learning
• ICT and digital skills for the modern
workplace
• eLearning for acquisition of both skills
and knowledge
• Total Quality Management of
eLearning
( 235 )
This paper describes a case study in the
implementation of a competence-based
ePortfolio approach to eFaculty training and
certification at eTQM College, including a
discussion of the relevant terminology, the
rationale behind the project, an environmental
scan for best practices and competence
profiles, and implementation strategies.
•
Terminology
At the outset, it is necessary to operationally
define key terms that are being used. For
clarity, the following definitions are used for
purposes of this paper and for eTQM College
in the context of the eLearning Unit.
Competency means:
• A
complex
combination
of
knowledge, attitudes, skills, and
values displayed in the context of task
performance
(Smith,
2005).
Competencies define not only what a
person must know and do, but also
how a person does it.
• Key characteristics of a competence
are (1) the unique features of the
context in which is applied, (2) the
individual’s degree of acquired ability,
from none to excellence, and (3)
standards, including the required
competencies for a particular context
and the required degree of ability.
ICT – Information and Communications
Technologies – is a term for:
• The tools for the electronic processing
of information and communications
(OECD, 1998)
• a diverse set of technological tools and
resources used to communicate, and to
create, disseminate, store, and manage
information (UNESCO, 2002)
eLearning means:
• In a pure sense, learning via a
computer and the internet; in an
expanded sense, the tools and
techniques used to provide teaching
and learning in an electronic
environment.
Key characteristics of eLearning are
(1) learner purpose / context (formal,
informal or non-formal education and
training) and (2) system elements
(learning objectives and outcomes,
processes for teaching and learning,
and hardware and software tools).
eFaculty are:
• content area specialists contracted by
higher education institutions to
facilitate learning for students in the
online and blended education and
training environment; and
• only different from eTrainers,
eTeachers and other eEducators in the
sense that there are unique faculty
roles and responsibilities in addition to
the teaching function.
Quality means:
• The degree to which something – a
product or service – is both effective
and efficient from both the producer’s
and the user’s point of view.
ePortfolio is:
• At its simplest, an electronic portfolio
of “learning” – achievements and
capabilities.
• Academically defined as “a collection
of authentic and diverse evidence,
drawn from a larger archive
representing what a person or
organization has learned over time on
which the person or organization has
reflected,
and
designed
for
presentation to one or more audiences
for a particular rhetorical purpose”
(National Learning Infrastructure
Initiative, 2003); hence both a digital
archive
and
a
purpose-driven
( 236 )
•
presentation; and both a product and a
process
A term used to encompass (1) tools,
products and systems that can be used
by
(2)
individuals,
educators,
employers and entire nations for the
purposes of (3) describing, assessing,
recognizing and using knowledge and
skills acquired through all forms of
learning (4) with evidence that is
digitally created, stored and managed
through (5) practices that meet quality
standards to assure transportability,
usability, and security.
Rationale
This project addresses the following
objectives of the eLearning Unit of eTQM
College:
• To assure the quality of eLearning
offered the College
• To provide initial and ongoing training
for eFaculty at the College
• To explore and implement learning
innovations
• To provide eLearning leadership and
services in the Middle East and North
Africa
This does not imply that these objectives are
fully met simply through this project.
eLearning Quality and Quality Assurance
Quality is a key concept for eTQM College
from two perspectives. First, we provide
direct instruction in the principles of Total
Quality Management and must be seen to
model TQM in provision of services to
learning clients. Second, we must provide the
highest possible quality of eLearning, from
Reusable Learning Objects (RLO) to entire
programs. The College has a number of
Quality Assurance (QA) mechanisms in place
and the eLearning Unit will be implementing
a rigorous QA specific to eLearning.
Among the quality standards for eLearning1 is
the requirement to engage instructors /
teachers / professors with:
• recognized qualifications in the
subject area;
• teaching experience at the relevant
level (e.g., secondary or higher
education);
• relevant work experience and/or
current knowledge in the field; and
• appropriate skills to teach online.
The College must endeavor to recruit and
select faculty that meet these quality
requirements, and, at a minimum, provide
orientation to the specific use of ICT at the
College. In addition, some new faculty may
need training in the fundamentals of teaching
and assessment of learning. The management
of faculty is made more complex by the
preponderance of part-time adjunct faculty
who may be located literally anywhere in the
world.
eFaculty certification and CPD
As stated earlier, not all content area experts
have experience as teachers and few have
experience as online educators. Additionally,
eLearning tools and approaches change very
rapidly as innovations emerge. Therefore, it
is necessary to provide CPD to faculty to
address skills gaps and improve service to
learning clients. The College, through Centre
for eLearning Excellence (CeLEx) is
developing an eFaculty certification process
incorporating training in the basics of
eLearning and instructional design. In future,
all eFaculty should have the eFaculty
certificate, ideally before they begin to work
at the College. That certificate should reflect
a deliberate choice of competencies for online
teaching in the cultural, educational and
technological context of the Arab World.
1
Open eQuality Learning Standards available online at
www.eife-l.org/publications/quality/oeqls/intro
( 237 )
Learning innovations
At one time eLearning was an innovation, and
to many, it still is. However, as it evolves, it
incorporates ideas and approaches from
research in, for example, ICT, learning,
assessment of learning, lifelong learning.
Among the innovations under study at eTQM
is the ePortfolio – a tool for
• assessing student learning through
self-assessment, peer and instructor
assessment;
• demonstrating
or
showcasing
competencies of learners, i.e.,
students, faculty, and training clients;
• quality assurance in both individual
learning and eLearning products;
• communications and community
building
On one hand, a standards-based ePortfolio is a
digital tool for eFaculty to demonstrate
acquired competencies and target required
competencies, first for basic teaching and
second to facilitate online learning. The QA
process inherent in the ePortfolio process is
to:
1. reflect on learning experiences – both
formal and informal – to identify the
skills and knowledge acquired
2. assess oneself against a stated set of
standards; e.g., required competencies
for online teaching;
3. provide the digital evidence to support
claims of competence; and
4. generate a showcase of acquired skills
and a gap analysis for targeted CPD.
On the other hand, competencies become the
stated learning objectives of eFaculty training.
This project directly relates, then, to the study
of ePortfolio implementation at eTQM
College (Appendix A).
eLearning leadership and services
Finally, this project is intended to demonstrate
a credible, professional and integrated
approach to eFaculty recruitment and
selection,
orientation
and
training,
certification and professional development.
This is not just for eTQM College, but for the
Middle East and North African (MENA)
region where eLearning is relatively new and
extremely important as a means of increasing
access to education, improving quality of life
for large undereducated populations, and
contributing
to
regional
economic
development. Developing a system and a
service for assuring the quality of eFaculty
stands alone and simultaneously contributes,
with projected systems and services for
assuring the quality of instructional design
and other key elements of eLearning, to an
overall system and a service for eLearning
Quality Assurance for MENA, promoted
through the Middle East Council for
eLearning Quality (MECeLQ). The rationale
for this project, then, is the achievement of
the goals of the eLearning Unit.
Starting point
At eTQM College, two documents guide this
case study.
In the first, The Faculty
Handbook, generally speaking,2 faculty are
expected to:
1) Attend all unit, department and
college meetings, commencements
and convocations.
2) Serve on unit, department and College
committees and councils.
3) Assist in carrying out the programs of
the unit they are associated to.
4) Cooperate
fully
with
College
academic administrative in promoting
all the interests of the e-TQM College.
5) Contribute to curriculum design,
development and review.
6) Participate in the design and
development of online courses.
7) Be involved in teaching/ tutoring
courses appropriate to their expertise.
8) Participate in research activities.
2
( 238 )
eTQM College Faculty Handbook, page 43.
9) Be involved in community services
within and outside the College.
10) Maintain the highest standards of
conduct.
11) Participate in learner academic
advising
More specifically, in the course, Basics of
Instruction Online developed by
eTQM
College, the specific roles of eFaculty are
listed as:
1. facilitator for content, learning and
process
2. advisor/counselor
3. assessor (formative and summative)
4. technologist
5. resource provider
6. manager/administrator
7. designer
8. co-learner
9. researcher
This project is intended to (1) isolate the
specific online function from the general
faculty roles and, at the same time, (2)
enhance all of the specific eFaculty roles at
eTQM College
Environmental scan – competencies
and best practices
The first step in this project was to scan the
online environment for established sets of
competencies for faculty working with
learners online. The following search terms
and synonyms were used.
• electronic (e) learning - online, virtual,
distance, distributed, flexible, blended
• learning - teaching, instructing,
training
• faculty - teacher, instructor, professor,
trainer
• the context the College:
higher
education, university, college, postsecondary education and training
•
competencies - skills, skill standards,
standards
The search resulted in some recent research in
the field, a number of sets of competencies,
and a number of approaches to QA for faculty
in general, adjunct faculty and eFaculty in
particular. It is important to note that every
effort was made to be inclusive and thorough;
however, we make no claim to be fully
inclusive of all that exists about eFaculty
competencies.
The second step was an environmental scan of
the development of 'competence lists' for
teaching
and/or
hiring
online
faculty/mentors/coaches/instructors/teachers
in Canada - specifically skills and knowledge
(from entry level to advanced) required to be
an
effective
elearning
facilitator.
Representatives
from
elearning
institutions/initiatives in Canada were asked if
they had developed specific guidelines/lists in
this area. In BC this included the University
of British Columbia, Simon Fraser University,
Thompson Rivers University, Royal Roads
University, Knowplace and BC Campus.
Other institutions with elearning programs
across Canada were also contacted: the
University of Calgary, the University of
Western Ontario, the University of Toronto,
Acadia University, St. Francis Xavier
University,
Cape
Breton/Memorial
University, the University of New Brunswick
and Mount St. Vincent University. The result
was that none of the respondents had
developed specific guidelines.
In conclusion, eTQM College is not the first
to realize that, in addition to the general roles
of faculty, there are specific roles, and
associated competencies, for faculty teaching
online, i.e., for eFaculty (Lee and Hirumi,
2004; Luck and McQuiggan, 2006; Smith,
2005). We are not the first to implement the
use of ePortfolios for focusing faculty
( 239 )
development and demonstrating competence
(Barker, 2003, 2005,2006; Barrett, ; many
schools of education require that student
teachers create teaching portfolios, and many
universities require faculty to produce
achievement portfolios for advancement. We
are not the first to believe that eFaculty,
especially part-time or adjunct faculty, should
be well-trained and certified for quality
assurance purposes (Collom, Dallas, Jong and
Obexer, 2002; Adams and Dority, 2005; SixlDaniell, Williams and Wong, 2006).
However, we may be the first to combine
these three issues into one project. In doing
so, we are building on the best practices in
each area.
Best practices in eFaculty development
From our scan and review of the resultant
literature, we have identified some of the best
practices in eFaculty training and professional
development for application at eTQM
College. In this, we were assisted by those
who studied the issue of eFaculty
competencies before us.
In 2004, Lee and Hirumi conducted an
extensive literature review to analyze
essential skills and knowledge for teaching
online. They concluded that there were six
essential skills and sixteen outputs for
performing these skills.
Perhaps more
important are the “factors that may affect the
essential skills of successful online distance
educators in higher education” –
1. The supporting system of the
institution, i.e., the better the
supporting system, the less essential
skills those online educators need.
2. Delivery methods of the online
courses, i.e., essential skills differ for
completely online versus blended
courses.
3. Learning
outcomes
of
online
instruction, i.e., courses with higher
thinking skills will be different from
those with fundamental operation
skills.
4. Instructional
approach
and
epistemological beliefs, i.e., different
approaches and beliefs affect the skills
required
From this we conclude that an eFaculty
member (1) comes to the online environment
with pre-conceived beliefs and approaches,
and (2) is not the only component in the
quality of online learning.
As well, Lee and Hirumi (2004) addressed the
ways in which to determine the suitability of
eFaculty.
First, they examined selfassessment tools and guidelines for using
them.3
Secondly, they examined alternative ways to
determine suitability by:
1. professional teacher organizations,
e.g., National Board for Professional
Teaching Standards, which results in a
“relatively
credible”
assessment
coming from an independent source
but which takes considerable time and
effort and may not be practicable for
larger organizations;
2. assessment centres, using employment
assessment materials rather than
teacher materials, with the same
strengths
and
weaknesses
as
professional organizations;
3. checklists,
best
practices
and
benchmarks
from
creditable
organizations which may provide
useful
guidelines
for
general
assessment purposes;
4. a good mentor in the same field
3
Lee and Hirumi (2004), p. 537, accessed online,
August 2007 at
http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/custom/portlet
s/recordDetails/detailmini.jsp?_nfpb=true&_&ERICEx
tSearch_SearchValue_0=ED485021&ERICExtSearch_
SearchType_0=eric_accno&accno=ED485021
( 240 )
From this we conclude that eFaculty may
arrive with relevant professional certification;
however, in the absence of that, and for
comparability, we will utilize the checklist,
best practices and benchmarks, not only as
guidelines, but as the basis for standards.
From a different perspective, Luck and
McQuiggan (2006) researched the question of
what aspects of online teaching did faculty
feel they needed assistance with. Faculty
asked, in order of importance, for training
and/or assistance with:
• regarding
course
design
and
development:
o choosing
appropriate
technologies to enhance their
online course
o converting course materials for
online use
o creating video clips
o determining ways to assess
student progress in an online
course
o adapting traditional lecture
material
to
an
online
environment
o creating audio clips
o designing and developing
attractive Websites
• regarding course delivery:
o facilitating online discussion
forums
o building
and
enhancing
professor/student relationships
in the online classroom
o facilitation Web conferencing
sessions
o increasing interactions in an
online course
o managing their online teaching
workload
• regarding administrative issues
o making their online courses
available to students at other
campus locations.
From this we conclude that there is a mix
of skills gaps identified by eFaculty
themselves.
General competencies for faculty
The online environmental scan revealed sets
of general Faculty competencies, within
which there were teaching and technologyspecific competencies, presented here in no
particular order.
Instructor Competencies4 (2003)
• produced by the International Board of
Standards for Training, Performance
and Instruction (IBSTPI) in North
America;
• intended for professional instructors
and trainers;
• comprised of 17 competencies in five
categories – professional foundations,
planning and preparation, instructional
methods and strategies, assessment
and evaluation, management
Skills Checklist: Criteria related to Teaching,
Research, and Service to the University
Community and Professional Discipline,
Leadership and Administration 5 (undated),
produced by UNSW in Australia as a part of a
skills checklist for all staff at the university,
and intended for continuing professional
development purposes, with four selfassessment competency levels to choose
from: (1) like using and am good at; (2) like
using but need to develop; (3) dislike using
but am good at; and (4) dislike using and have
little or no skill. These may be a useful way
for eFaculty to conduct self-assessment in the
ePortfolio environment.
4
IBSTPE (2003), accessed online, August 2007, at
http://www.ibstpi.org/Competencies/instructor_compet
encies.htm
5
Accessed online, August 2007, at
www.hr.unsw.edu.au/osds/pdfdocs/skills%20checklist.
pdf
( 241 )
9. Computer
Network
Knowledge
Applicable to your School System
10. File Management & Windows
Explorer Skills
11. Downloading Software From the Web
(Knowledge including eBooks)
12. Installing Computer Software onto a
Computer System
13. WebCT or Blackboard Teaching
Skills
14. Videoconferencing skills
15. Computer-Related Storage Devices
(Knowledge: disks, CDs, USB drives,
zip disks, DVDs, etc.)
16. Scanner Knowledge
17. Knowledge of PDAs
18. Deep Web Knowledge
19. Educational Copyright Knowledge
20. Computer Security Knowledge
Technical competencies for faculty
Our environmental scan revealed two types of
competencies associated with technologies,
i.e.,
1. standards
for
teachers
using
technology in general, and
2. basic technology skills for teachers
ISTE National Education Technology
Standards
(NETS)
and
Performance
Indicators for Teachers (2000)
• produced by the International Society
for Technology in Education in North
America;
• intended for classroom teachers, but
with applicability in other teaching
environments;
• focused
on
using
technology
appropriately in teaching and in all
areas of professional practice;
• comprised of six standards with
associated performance indicators
(Appendix B) in the areas of
technology operations and concepts;
planning and designing learning
environments
and
experiences;
teaching, learning and curriculum;
assessment
and
evaluation;
productivity and professional practice;
and social, ethical, legal and human
issues
According to Turner (2005), all educators
should have the following 20 basic
technology skills:6
1. Word Processing Skills
2. Spreadsheets Skills
3. Database Skills
4. Electronic Presentation Skills
5. Web Navigation Skills
6. Web Site Design Skills
7. E-Mail Management Skills
8. Digital Cameras
These are competencies for which it is
relatively easy to create evidence of
competence.
Skills and competencies for eFaculty
The online environmental scan revealed
several
“sets”
of
eFaculty-related
competencies, presented here in no particular
order.
Standards for Quality Online Teaching7
(August 2006)
• produced in the United States of
America (USA) by the Educational
Technology Cooperative of the
Southern Regional Education Board
(SREB) in Atlanta;
• intended for teachers in primary and
secondary
education
but
with
applicability to higher education;
• focused on traditional school-based
students;
7
6
Accessed online, August 2007, at
http://thejournal.com/the/printarticle/?id=17325
SREB (2006), accessed online, August 2007, at
http://www.sreb.org/programs/EdTech/pubs/PDF/Stan
dardsQualityOnlineTeaching.asp
( 242 )
•
8
e-Learning Competencies (2001)
• produced in the USA by the American
Society for Training and Development
(ASTD) for the training industry;
• intended for Human Resource
Development (HRD) professionals
who plan for, select, produce and
undertake eTraining;
• focused on adult and workplace
training and Continuing Professional
Development (CPD);
• comprised of 31 competencies in four
categories – General Competencies,
Management
Competencies,
Distribution Method Competencies;
and
Presentation
Method
Competencies
The Teacher/Trainer eLearning Competency
Framework Skillscheck9 (2006)
•
•
•
8
•
comprised of 11 standards with
indicators in three categories –
Academic
Preparation;
Content
Knowledge, Skills and Temperament
for Instructional Technology; and
Online Teaching and Learning
Methodology,
Management,
Knowledge, Skills and Delivery
produced in the European Union by
the European Institute for eLearning
(EIfEL);
intended for teachers, trainers,
mentors who are not considered to be
professional educators but who are
involved in helping others to learn on
an occasional or part-time basis;
focused on learners in non-formal
environments such as the workplace;
ASTD (2001), accessed online, August 2007, at
http://www.learningcircuits.org/2001/mar2001/compet
encies.html
9
EIfEL (2006), accessed online, August 2007, at
http://www.eifel.org/publications/competencies/ttskillscheck/view
comprised of 47 competencies with
related sub-competencies in six key
areas – Preparing the Learning Event,
Running a Learning Event, Supporting
Learners, Assessing Learner Progress,
Promoting Accessibility for Learners,
and Evaluating Learning Programs
Essential skills of a successful online distance
educator in higher education,10
• resulting from a review and synthesis
of the literature in the field by Lee and
Hirumi (2004);
• comprised of six essential skills
(interaction,
management,
organization / instructional design,
technology,
content
knowledge,
teamwork skills) and sixteen outputs
for performing those skills (Appendix
C).
Competencies for online teaching, resulting
from a review and synthesis of the literature
in the field by Spector and de la Teja (2001):
• focused on the moderating function of
online teaching
• comprised of seven competencies
divided between the synchronous and
asynchronous activities of the online
moderator
Core competencies for the distance education
professional, produced by Dooley and
Lindner (2001):
• intended for adult educators in the
agricultural industry;
• comprised of six core competencies
(adult learning theory, technological
knowledge,
instructional
design,
communication skills, graphic design,
10
Lee and Hirumi (2004), accessed online, August
2007 at
http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/custom/portlet
s/recordDetails/detailmini.jsp?_nfpb=true&_&ERICEx
tSearch_SearchValue_0=ED485021&ERICExtSearch_
SearchType_0=eric_accno&accno=ED485021
( 243 )
•
and administrative issues) with
associated
“competency-based
behavioural anchors” (Appendix D)
which serve as guide in the creation of
digital evidence
Fifty-One
Competencies
for
Online
Instruction (Smith, 2005);
• compiled for Western International
University, based on the benchmarks
for excellence recommended by the
Institute for Higher Education Policy
in the US, and drawn from only 5 or 6
sources;
• intended for online instructors as a
checklist;
• comprised of 51 competencies
presented in no particular order but
noting whether the competency would
be of primary importance before,
during and/or after the course.
Adapt
(Academic
Development
and
Professional Training) framework for
teaching online:
• developed at Griffiths University in
Australia in 2002
• focused on university faculty;
• intended to assist with selection,
recruitment and CPD for faculty;
• comprised of four areas (content items
and creation; communication and
collaboration;
assessment;
and
administration) and self-assessed as
being in one of three development
levels: surviving, consolidating and
enhancing practice, and exploring and
experimenting
Competencies for Online Instructors (Shank,
2005):
• compiled for Learning Peaks, in
recognition of the fact that instructors’
role in learner retention and
achievement;
•
intended for online instructors at all
levels of education;
comprised of five competency areas
(administrative, design, facilitation,
evaluation and technical) with
associated indicators (Appendix E)
At U21 Global (Sixl-Danielle, Wong and
Williams; 2005), all adjunct faculty are
required to complete an online training
program covering online teaching in general
and online skills in particular, including how
to:
• teach and communicate effectively
online
• navigate
the
U21G
Learning
Management System
• work effectively in a multicultural
learning environment
• establish teams and team threaded
discussions
• use the problem-based learning
methodology effectively
• participate with other adjuncts and
with full time faculty members in an
online community of practices
addressing issues related to online
teaching
The training program leads to certification
required by and recognized by U21 Global, a
consortium of 21 leading universities
worldwide.
The Online Teacher: Summary of Skills and
Attributes (2001), 11
• produced for the Department of
Education and Training in New South
Wales Australia by Kemshall-Bell as a
result of research with online teachers;
• comprised of key skills in 5
competency areas (relating to the
learner in an online environment;
managing
the
online
learning
11
Available online
http://cyberteacher.onestop.net/final%20report.pdf
( 244 )
environment;
communicating
effectively online; using online
learning tools; and using effective
online teaching methods) with
associated skills and indicators
5.
Two sets of competence standards that are
alluded to but which are not available online
are (1) those used by U21Global in the
certification of faculty for that university
consortium and (2) those developed by
IBSTPI which are sold in book format.
6.
7.
eFaculty Competencies for eTQM
College
8.
Rather than arbitrarily choose one set of
eFaculty competencies and/or develop a new
one, the process followed was to generate and
utilize a set of selection criteria. On the basis
of those criteria, then, a set of eFaculty
competencies was identified as suitable for
potential application at eTQM College.
Selection criteria
The process of implementing a set of eFaculty
competencies could be to either (1) adopt an
existing set or (2) adapt one or more sets. To
make a choice, the following criteria were
taken into account.
1. Higher education context – the
competencies do not have to be
specific to HE but must be applicable
to HE.
2. Cultural context – the competencies
must take into account the values and
attributes of the Arab world, and the
use of English in the MENA region.
3. Educational
context
–
the
competencies must account for the
historical development and current
status of education and training in the
Arab World.
4. Technological
context
–
the
competencies must take into account
current and emerging ICT tools and
9.
innovations while recognizing the
limitations associated with the goal of
universal access.
Credibility – the competencies must
have been developed in a transparent
and professional fashion, with the
authors identified.
Currency – the competencies must be
recent, reflecting innovations and
emerging best practices.
Completeness – including all elements
of the eFaculty function – outputs,
processes and practices, inputs and a
feedback loop (systems-based).
Customer-focus (TQM) – developed
and presented with a focus on the
learner, the learning customer or
client.
Expediency – easily accessible,
immediately-applicable, and copyright
free
Selected competence standards
On the basis of these criteria, one existing set
of standards with competencies and indicators
appears to be suitable for use at eTQM
College.
Standards for Quality Online
Teaching have been produced by the Southern
Regional
Education
Board
(SREB),
Educational Technology Cooperative, in
Atlanta, Georgia in 2006. According to
SREB, “the standards for quality online
teaching in this report were developed by
knowledgeable, experienced resource persons
from K-12 and postsecondary education,
drawn
from
national
and
regional
organizations, SREB state departments of
education, and colleges and universities.
Through extensive collaboration and sharing
with SREB staff over many months, their
work culminated in specific standards that
SREB states can use to define and implement
quality online teaching. Through broad
acceptance of these standards, SREB states
will be able to provide more students with the
courses they need, regardless of where
( 245 )
students and teachers reside. These standards
have been supported by practice over time, as
well as substantiated by research. In fact,
research at both the K-12 and postsecondary
levels is creating a growing body of evidence
that quality online teaching is not only as
good as traditional teaching — in many ways
it can be superior.” The complete set of
standards is found in Appendix F.
Proposed eFaculty Competencies for eTQM
College
learners learn in specific
subject areas; and
1.1.5. continues to update academic
knowledge and skills
2. Content
Knowledge,
Skills
and
Temperament
for
Instructional
Technology
2.1. Standard: An eFaculty member has
the prerequisite technology skills to
teach online
Indicators: An eFaculty member:
The
following
proposed
eFaculty
competencies are commended for adoption at
eTQM College having been adapted from the
SREB standards by (1) substituting “an
eFaculty member” for “the teacher”, (2)
substituting “learner” for “student”, and (3)
using a numbering scheme to facilitate
discussion. The competencies are presented
here for discussion, potential modification
and affirmation by the faculty and
administration at eTQM College in 2007.
Readers are asked to (1) apply the selection
criteria and (2) consider what should be
added, removed or modified.
1. Academic Preparation
necessary
and
appropriate
professional
certification
1.1.1. has academic credentials in the
field in which he or she is
teaching
1.1.2. provides evidence that he or
she has credentials in the field of
study to be taught
1.1.3. knows the content of the
subject to be taught and
understands how to teach the
content to learners
1.1.4. facilitates the construction of
knowledge
through
an
understanding
of
how
( 246 )
2.1.1. demonstrates the ability to
effectively use word-processing,
spreadsheet
and
presentation software
2.1.2. demonstrates effective use of
Internet
browsers,
e-mail
applications
and
appropriate online etiquette
modify and add content and
assessment,
using
an
online Learning Management
System (LMS)
2.1.4. incorporates multimedia and
visual resources into an online
module
2.1.5. utilizes
synchronous
and
asynchronous
tools
(e.g.,
discussion boards, chat tools,
electronic
whiteboards)
effectively
2.1.6. troubleshoots typical software
and hardware problems
effectively use and incorporate
subject-specific
and
developmentally appropriate
software in an online learning
module; and
2.1.8. demonstrates
growth
in
technology knowledge and skills
in order to stay current
with emerging technologies
3. Online
Teaching
and
Learning
Methodology, Management,, Knowledge,
Sills and Delivery
3.1. Standard: an eFaculty member has
necessary
and
appropriate
professional certification
3.1.1. demonstrates
effective
strategies and techniques that
actively engage learners in
the learning process (e.g.,
team problem-solving, in-class
writing,
analysis,
synthesis and evaluation
instead of passive lectures)
3.1.2. facilitates
and
monitors
appropriate interaction among
learners
3.1.3. builds and maintains a
community of learners by
creating a relationship of trust,
demonstrating
effective
facilitation skills, establishing
consistent
and
reliable
expectations, and supporting
and encouraging independence
and creativity
3.1.4. promotes learning through
group interaction
3.1.5. leads online instruction groups
that are goal-oriented, focused,
project-based
and
inquiry-oriented
3.1.6. demonstrates knowledge and
responds appropriately to the
cultural
background
and learning needs of nonnative English speakers
3.1.7. differentiates instruction based
on learners’ learning styles and
needs
and
assists
learners
in
assimilating
information
to
gain
( 247 )
understanding and knowledge;
and
3.1.8. demonstrates
growth
in
teaching strategies in order to
benefit
from
current
research and practice
3.2. Standard: An eFaculty member
provides online leadership in a
manner
that
promotes
learner success through regular
feedback, prompt response and clear
expectations
3.2.1. consistently models effective
communication
skills
and
maintains
records
of
applicable
communications
with learners
3.2.2. encourages interaction and
cooperation among learners,
encourages
active
learning, provides prompt
feedback, communicates high
expectations,
and
respects diverse talents and
learning styles
3.2.3. persists, in a consistent and
reasonable manner, until learners
are successful
3.2.4. establishes and maintains
ongoing and frequent teacherlearner
interaction,
learner-learner interaction and
teacher-parent interaction
3.2.5. provides an online syllabus
that details the terms of class
interaction
for
both
teacher and learners, defines
clear expectations for both
teacher
and
learners,
defines the grading criteria,
establishes
inappropriate
behavior criteria for both
teacher and learners, and
explains the course organization
to learners
3.2.6. provides a syllabus with
objectives, concepts and learning
outcomes
in
a
clearly
written, concise format
3.2.7. uses learner data to inform
instruction, guides and monitors
learners’
management
of their time, monitors learner
progress with available tools and
develops
an
intervention
plan
for
unsuccessful learners
3.2.8. provides timely, constructive
feedback to learners about
assignments
and
questions; and
3.2.9. gives
learners
clear
expectations
about
teacher
response time
3.3. Standard:
An eFaculty member
models, guides and encourages legal,
ethical,
safe
and
healthy
behavior
related
to
technology use
3.3.1. facilitates
learner
investigations of the legal and
ethical
issues
related
to
technology and society
3.3.2. establishes
standards
for
learner
behavior
that
are
designed to ensure academic
integrity and appropriate uses
of the Internet and written
communication
3.3.3. identifies the risks of academic
dishonesty for learners
3.3.4. demonstrates an awareness of
how the use of technology may
impact
learner
testing performance
( 248 )
3.3.5. uses course content that
complies
with
intellectual
property rights policies and fair
use standards
3.3.6. provides learners with an
understanding of the importance
of
Acceptable
Use
Policies (AUP)
3.3.7. demonstrates knowledge of
resources and techniques for
dealing
with
issues
arising from inappropriate use
of electronically accessed data or
information; and
3.3.8. informs learners of their right
to privacy and the conditions
under
which
their
names or online submissions
may be shared with others
experienced online learning from the
perspective
of a learner
3.4.1. applies experiences as an
online learner to develop and
implement
successful
strategies for online teaching;
anticipate
challenges
and
problems
in
the
online
classroom; and
3.4.3. demonstrates an understanding
of the perspective of the online
learner
through
appropriate responsiveness and
a supportive attitude toward
learners
understands and is responsive to
learners
with
special
needs in the online classroom.
3.5.1. understands that learners have
varied talents and skills and uses
appropriate
strategies designed to include
all learners
3.5.2. provides activities, modified as
necessary, that are relevant to the
needs
of
all
learners
3.5.3. adapts and adjusts instruction
to create multiple paths to
learning objectives
3.5.4. encourages collaboration and
interaction among all learners
3.5.5. exhibits the ability to assess
learner
knowledge
and
instruction in a variety of
ways; and
3.5.6. provides
learner-centered
lessons and activities that are
based
on
concepts
of
active learning and that are
connected
to
real-world
applications
demonstrates
competencies
in
creating
and
implementing
assessments in online learning
environments in ways that assure
validity and reliability of instruments
and procedures.
3.6.1. creates or selects fair, adequate
and
appropriate
assessment
instruments
to
measure online learning that
reflect sufficient content validity
(i.e.,
that
adequately cover the content
they are designed to measure),
reliability
and
consistency over time; and
3.6.2. implements online assessment
measures and materials in ways
( 249 )
that
instrument
reliability
ensure
validity
and
develops and delivers assessments,
projects
and
assignments that meet standardsbased learning goals and assesses
learning
progress
by
measuring learner achievement of
learning goals.
3.7.1. continually
reviews
all
materials and Web resources for
their
alignment
with
course objectives and state and
local standards and for their
appropriateness
3.7.2. creates assignments, projects
and assessments that are aligned
with
learners’
different visual, auditory and
hands-on ways of learning
3.7.3. includes authentic assessment
(i.e.,
the
opportunity
to
demonstrate
understanding
of acquired knowledge and
skills as opposed to testing
isolated skills or retained
facts) as part of the evaluation
process
3.7.4. provides continuous evaluation
of learners to include pre- and
post-testing
and
learner input throughout the
course; and
3.7.5. demonstrates an understanding
of the relationships between and
among
the
assignments, assessments and
standards-based learning goals
demonstrates competencies in using
data and findings from assessments
and other data sources to modify
instructional methods and content and
to guide learner learning.
3.8.1. assesses
each
learner’s
background
and
content
knowledge and uses these data to
plan instruction
3.8.2. reviews learner responses to
test items to identify issues
related to test validity or
instructional effectiveness
3.8.3. uses observational data (e.g.,
tracking data in electronic
courses,
Web
logs,
email) to monitor course
progress and effectiveness; and
3.8.4. creates opportunities for selfreflection or assessment of
teaching
effectiveness
within the online environment
(e.g., classroom assessment
techniques,
teacher
evaluations,
teacher
peer
reviews)
demonstrates frequent and effective
strategies that enable both teacher and
learners to complete self- and preassessments.
3.9.1. employs ways to assess learner
readiness for course content and
method
of
delivery
3.9.2. employs ways for learners to
effectively evaluate and assess
their
own
readiness
for course content and method
of delivery
3.9.3. understands
that
learner
success (e.g., grade, level of
participation,
mastery
of
content,
completion
percentage) is an important
measure of teaching and course
success; and
3.9.4. provides opportunities for
learner self-assessment within
courses
These standards and indictors may or may not
imply a full set of eFaculty competencies.
Implementation Strategy
The rationale behind this project is that the
identification of relevant and important
eFaculty competencies has utility in:
• Recruiting and selecting faculty to
teach in the online or blended
environment;
• Assisting eFaculty to showcase their
strengths and accomplishments;
• Identifying eFaculty strengths and
conduct skills gap analysis for
efficient training and CPD;
• Forming the intended learning
outcomes for eFaculty training
courses;
• Setting standards for eFaculty
certification
Therefore, the eFaculty competencies
identified through this project will be used, as
per the ePortfolio implementation strategy in
Appendix A, to:
1. guide the development of intended
learning outcomes for the existing and
emerging eFaculty training courses;
2. assess the quality of eLearning
directed at eFaculty CPD, i.e., the
degree to which eFaculty can
reasonably be expected to acquire the
required competencies;
3. populate the ePortfolio tool as the
competence standards eFaculty will be
assessed against in the training and
certification process
What remains, then, is to:
( 250 )
•
•
•
•
work with faculty and administration
at eTQM College to affirm the
eFaculty competencies;
establish indicators of competence
from “none”, through “developing”, to
“expert”;
develop and pilot the self-assessment
ePortfolio tool;
establish what would constitute digital
evidence, and make it possible to
create appropriate digital evidence
to meet established international eLearning
quality standards.
Finally, in the process of training and
certifying eFaculty for the College and for
external clients through CeLEx, these
competencies may form the basis for either
our own certificate and/or form part of the
criteria in identifying and selecting
appropriate partners for a shared certificate,
i.e., we can seek to find partners that share
our view of eFaculty competencies.
When this process is complete, eTQM
College and the faculty themselves will be
able to showcase competencies for eTeaching
( 251 )
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( 254 )
Appendix A
ePortfolio Strategy for eTQM College
Dr. Kathryn Chang Barker
e-Portfolio: a digital tool used by both individuals
and organizations to demonstrate competencies –
acquired learning – with supporting digital
evidence. Development and use of an e-Portfolio
involves:
Tools to create both a digital archive and a
purpose driven presentation;
Multi-purpose tools within a Virtual Learning
Environments
Both processes (learning) and product;
Meeting international quality standards.
There are basically three types of e-Portfolios,
with many subsets:
standards-based e-Portfolios
demonstration e-Portfolios
social networking e-Portfolios
Ideally, we should find a tool or e-Portfolio service
that allows for all three. All the following uses of
e-Portfolio are inter-related in some fashion. It is
my professional opinion that the e-Portfolio is, in
fact, e-Learning at it’s finest.
Three uses of Standards-based e-Portfolios
Standard-based for assessment of learning
At eTQM, we would use a standards-based ePortfolio for assessment of learning (academic
and continuing education courses) for students,
faculty as learners, and other learning clients.
The associated strategy involves:
describing all learning objects, modules, courses
and programs in terms of intended learning
outcomes, i.e., competencies that are observable
and demonstrable;
developing e-Portfolio standards frameworks and
marking rubrics for each and all courses, i.e.,
embedding the intended learning outcomes as
learning requirements or standards in the ePortfolio tool, with associated marking rubrics;
providing a personal e-Portfolio – an online, digital
repository – to all students which belongs to them
and can form the basis of a lifelong learning
portfolio;
training learners (and faculty as learners) to
demonstrate their competencies by attaching
digital artifacts (papers, hyperlinks to projects,
video and audio demonstrations) for each and all
learning standards;
training instructors (and learners, for selfassessment) to assess the digital evidence
against the learning standards using marking
rubrics;
assisting incoming students to create e-Portfolios
of acquired competencies for, if desired,
advanced
placement
and/or
continuing
professional development;
ensuring that students (and faculty as trainees)
transfer the course competencies to their personal
e-Portfolios
In summary, the associated purposes are:
increasing use of learning technologies
appropriate and reflective learning processes
authentic and self-assessment of learning
learning and practicing of important ICT skills
adding to one’s personal e-Portfolio of acquired
competencies
This is a form of quality assurance for teaching
and learning at eTQM. The learning acquired by
students from each learning object, module,
course and/or program should be migrated to the
individual’s personal e-Portfolio of acquired
competences. This can then be used by them for
skills gap analysis. The cumulative learning of all
students in a course can be used to assess the
quality of the module or course; and the
cumulative quality of the courses can be used to
demonstrate, in part, the quality of the College.
This same e-Portfolio approach can be used to
assess incoming students for advanced
placement/standing. Prior learning credit can be
( 255 )
awarded to students who can demonstrate, via an
e-Portfolio, the competencies they have acquired
from previous study or work experience.
Standard-based e-Portfolio for QA of eLearning at
eTQM
In a second and related way, the standards-based
e-Portfolio can be used for quality assurance for
learning objects, courses, programs and services.
Quality standards form the requirements side of
the e-Portfolio; digital evidence is provided by
products and services under review to
demonstrate the degree to which they meet each
and all relevant standards.
The associated
strategy involves:
developing comprehensive, consensus-based
quality standards for each and all e-Learning
products and services developed and/or
purchased by eTQM
populating an e-Portfolio tool with the standards,
as requirements
using the e-Portfolio tool as a design rubric for
new products and services
using the e-Portfolio tool as an evaluation tool for
potential purchases (to be completed by vendors)
using the e-Portfolio tool as a quality assessment
tool for existing e-Learning products and services
using the e-Portfolio tool for marketing eTQM eLearning products and services
continuously monitoring usage, measuring impact
and making improvements.
This use of the e-Portfolio provides simple,
transparent, transparent and total quality
management for eTQM e-Learning products and
services.
This same process will be used in the selection of:
papers for presentation at the annual forum
submissions for publication in the e-Journal
In addition, this process will subsequently be used
by the Centre of Excellence in, e.g.,.
demonstrating and managing Centre products and
services
assessing e-Learning products and services for
the quality mark
assessing e-Learning products and services for
the quality award
Ultimately, the standards-based e-Portfolio will be
used by the e-Learning Unit to manage and
demonstrate KPIs in an iterative and transparent
fashion.
Standard-based e-Portfolio for Human Capital
Management
In a third manner, associated with personal rather
than organizational e-Portfolios, the standardsbased e-Portfolio can be used by employers for
human capital management. Instead of intended
learning outcomes, employers will develop
intended or required competencies with
associated skill levels. The potential employees
(e.g., College graduates) can demonstrate what
they know and can do, with digital evidence.
Thus, at eTQM, all students should graduate with
their
personal
e-Portfolio
of
acquired
competences, to be used for employment, career
development and lifelong learning.
As well, all faculty and staff should also have an
e-Portfolio to manage continuing professional
development. As a long-term goal, the HCM
approach could be adopted by eTQM, and we
would be a total e-Portfolio / e-Learning college.
The standards-based ePortfolio is the most
common, and many tools are available. An
important related issue is to provide secure,
private, ongoing ePortfolio storage – i.e., digital
storage space.
Demonstration e-Portfolio
Demonstration portfolios are commonly used,
e.g., by artists and others who market products
and services. Digitizing the portfolio makes it into
an e-Portfolio of goods on offer, with associated
samples, examples and quality criteria.
At eTQM, the e-Learning Unit would use a use
such an e-Portfolio tool to:
Manage and share e-Learning research and
resources;
Manage and promote eTQM e-Learning
competencies;
Research management and reporting
Similarly, the e-Learning Centre of Excellence
would use the Demonstration e-Portfolio to
manage and promote:
( 256 )
e-Learning Continuing Education (LLL) services;
client continuing professional development;
project management and reporting;
the e-Learning e-Journal and e-Newsletters
Indeed, a very viable business for the Centre of
Excellence in e-Learning will be training and
ePortfolio development services.
Selecting and installing an e-Portfolio tool that
includes both a digital archive function and a
purpose-driven presentation function;
Creating a digital archive (database) of e-Learning
research and resources, e.g., case studies, best
practices, events
Creating a digital archive of e-TQM e-Learning
competencies, i.e., e-Faculty, courses and
services
Creating a digital archive of
Generating purpose-driven presentations for
newsletters, clients, and special events;
Continuous updating and active, assigned
participation by College personnel;
Monitoring usage, measuring impact and making
improvements.
In addition to artist e-Portfolios, other examples of
demonstration e-Portfolio are personal home
pages, digital storytelling and scrap booking, and
lifelong learning e-Portfolios.
Social networking e-Portfolio
Communicating is the basis of social networking;
communicating
to
develop
partnerships,
collaborate on research, seek advice from
colleagues, initiate teams and groups, and
develop virtual communities.
The social
networking e-Portfolio performs these functions
digitally. At eTQM, the e-Learning Unit would use
such an e-Portfolio tool to:
Form the framework for an e-Learning portal;
Develop an e-Faculty community at eTQM;
Manage such boards as the e-Learning Advisory
Board and editorial boards;
Building organizations such as the Middle East eLearning Quality Association (hypothetical name)
Organize forums and special events
Selecting and installing a social-networking ePortfolio tool that meets College security and
privacy requirements;
Populating the tool with opportunities to
communicate – student to student, student to
faculty, faculty to faculty, admin to students and
faculty, board members with the College and each
other, potential students and clients to the college
and the Centre of e-Learning Excellence;
Monitoring the usage, measuring impact and
making improvements
Examples of social networking software include
MySpace, ELGG, and blogging tools.
Implementing the e-Portfolio Strategy
Implementation for Impact
Overall, this proposed e-Portfolio strategy should
be framed and undertaken as a research project
to measure impact on, e.g.,
Student and faculty learning – both subject matter
expertise and ICT skills
Virtual community building and College reach
Quality assurance of products and services
e-Learning Unit Management effectiveness and
efficiency
Return on Investment
And others to be discussed/determined
Required Resources
First and foremost, we need to select an ePortfolio
tool or service that meets our three purposes, if
possible.
Secondly, we need expertise to:
Install and continuously trouble-shoot an
ePortfolio tool, and to provide ongoing technical
support
Train and mentor students and faculty with both
assessment e-Portfolios and lifelong learning ePortfolios
Provide e-Portfolio training workshops to outside
clients
Actively develop and manage the e-Portal –
creating archives, presentations and communities
( 257 )
Finally, we need adequate digital storage that is
secure and enduring. This can become a fee for
service later on.
( 258 )
Appendix B
National Education Technology Standards and Performance
Indicators for Teachers (ISTE, 2000)
All classroom teachers should be prepared to
meet
the
following
standards
and
performance indicators
I.
TECHNOLOGY
OPERATIONS
AND
CONCEPTS
Teachers demonstrate a sound understanding of
technology operations and concepts. Teachers:
demonstrate introductory knowledge, skills, and
understanding of concepts related to technology
(as described in the ISTE National Educational
Technology Standards for Students).
demonstrate continual growth in technology
knowledge and skills to stay abreast of current
and emerging technologies.
II. PLANNING AND DESIGNING LEARNING
ENVIRONMENTS AND EXPERIENCES
Teachers plan and design effective learning
environments and experiences supported by
technology. Teachers:
design developmentally appropriate learning
opportunities that apply technology-enhanced
instructional strategies to support the diverse
needs of learners.
apply current research on teaching and learning
with technology when planning learning
environments and experiences.
identify and locate technology resources and
evaluate them for accuracy and suitability.
plan for the management of technology resources
within the context of learning activities.
plan strategies to manage student learning in a
technology-enhanced environment
III.
TEACHING,
LEARNING,
AND
THE
CURRICULUM
Teachers implement curriculum plans that include
methods and strategies for applying technology to
maximize student learning. Teachers:
facilitate technology-enhanced experiences that
address
content
standards
and
student
technology standards.
use technology to support learner-centered
strategies that address the diverse needs of
students.
apply technology to develop students’ higher
order skills and creativity.
manage student learning activities in a
technology-enhanced environment.
IV. ASSESSMENT AND EVALUATION
Teachers apply technology to facilitate a variety of
effective assessment and evaluation strategies.
Teachers:
apply technology in assessing student learning of
subject matter using a variety of assessment
techniques.
use technology resources to collect and analyze
data, interpret results, and communicate findings
to improve instructional practice and maximize
student learning.
apply multiple methods of evaluation to determine
students’ appropriate use of technology resources
for learning, communication, and productivity.
V. PRODUCTIVITY AND PROFESSIONAL
PRACTICE
Teachers use technology to enhance their
productivity and professional practice. Teachers:
use technology resources to engage in ongoing
professional development and lifelong learning.
continually evaluate and reflect on professional
practice to make informed decisions regarding the
use of technology in support of student learning.
apply technology to increase productivity.
use technology to communicate and collaborate
with peers, parents, and the larger community in
order to nurture student learning.
VI. SOCIAL, ETHICAL, LEGAL, AND HUMAN
ISSUES
( 259 )
Teachers understand the social, ethical, legal, and
human issues surrounding the use of technology
in PK–12 schools and apply that understanding in
practice. Teachers:
model and teach legal and ethical practice related
to technology use.
apply technology resources to enable and
empower learners with diverse backgrounds,
characteristics, and abilities.
identify and use technology resources that affirm
diversity.
promote safe and healthy use of technology
resources.
facilitate equitable access to technology resources
for all students.
( 260 )
Appendix C
Six Essential Skills of a Successful Online Distance Educator in Higher
Education in order of Importance (Lee and Hirumi, 2004)
3.2 organize materials and activities clearly and
well
3.3 identify students’ learning styles/needs
3.4 conduct instructional design effort
3.5 present materials and activities
3.6 provide a variety of learning activities
1. Interaction
1.1 guide and maintain interactive discussion
1.2 provide timely feedback
1.3 encourage peer learning
1.4 advise and counsel students
2. Management
2.1 monitor and evaluate student
performance
2.2 facilitate presentation
2.3 introduce support services to students
3. Organization / instructional design
3.1 provide clear learning outcomes, objectives,
and expectations
4. Technology
4.1 utilize technology in a competent manner
5. Content management
5.1 master in content area
6. Teamwork skills
6.1 collaborate with technical/support skills
( 261 )
Appendix D
Core Competency Level Competency-Based Behavioral Anchors
(Dooley and Linder, 2001)
Adult Learning Theory
Show someone how to do a literature review on
student-centered learning
Present a short workshop on the theory of
andragogy
Develop and deliver a student-centered training
program
that
incorporates
adult
learner
characteristics and student learning styles
Technological Knowledge
Show someone how to log onto a computer and
search the Internet
Show someone how to access and use Web
course tools
Show someone how to design and execute a
Web-delivered course using Web course tools
Instructional Design
Use an ice-breaker or opening to gain attention
Prepare a lesson plan
Write measurable instructional objectives for a
curricula that provides for student-centered
learning
Communication Skills
Facilitate a videoconference
Create virtual teams for discussion threads
Design
appropriate
synchronous
and
asynchronous communications methods for
delivering course materials at a distance
Graphic Design
Rely on technical experts to develop multimedia
Show someone how to develop a PowerPoint
presentation with graphics
Show someone how to use animation, video
streaming, and text to effectively deliver content
Administrative Issues
Rely on technical experts for scheduling and
copyright clearance
Identify and use available support services to plan
and organize a course
Determine fiscal, human, and technical needs to
plan and implement a curricula entirely at a
distance
( 262 )
Appendix E
Competencies for Online Instructors (Shank, 2005)
Administrative
The primary goal is to assure smooth course
operations and reduce instructor and learner
overload.
Provides an unambiguous roadmap through the
instruction.
Provides clear objectives, expectations, and
policies.
Posts course materials (syllabus, assignments,
discussion topics, etc.) in advance so learners can
plan.
Conveys changes and updates.
Assures that all learners are ‘on board' at the
beginning of a course.
Returns learner calls/emails quickly to allow
learners to progress.
Refers problems to appropriate sources and
follows up to assure resolution
Design
The primary goal is to assure adequate learning
outcomes and satisfaction.
Plans activities that allow learners to attach
personal meaning to content.
Provides opportunities for hands-on practice and
application.
Balances design to help learners manage load.
Helps learners assess their learning and attain
personal learning goals.
Incorporates
social
aspects
to
improve
satisfaction, provide a realistic environment,
present multiple viewpoints, and overcome
anonymity.
Assures materials are easy to use
Facilitation
The primary goal is to provide social benefits and
enhance learning.
Sets or facilitates setting of communication rules
and group decision-making norms.
Provides compelling opportunities for online
discussion, negotiation, debate.
Moderates discussion, contributes advanced
content knowledge and insights, models desired
methods of communication.
Fosters sharing of knowledge, questions, and
expertise.
Contributes outside resources (online, printbased, others) and encourages learners to do as
well.
Responds to discussion postings adequately
without ‘taking over.’
Provides
acknowledgment
of
learner
contributions.
Moderates disagreements and group problems
Evaluation
The primary goal is to assure that learners know
how they will be evaluated and help learners meet
course objectives.
Provides learners with clear grading criteria. Uses
rubrics, grading criteria, or examples to help
learners recognize expectations.
Assists learners who are having problems
completing the assignments.
Allows learners to track assignment completion
and impact on final grade.
Quickly acknowledges receipt of assignments.
Provides feedback and help with remediation, as
needed.
Contacts learners who have not completed
assignments and helps them plan to complete
assignments
Technical
The primary goal is to assure overcome barriers
due to technical components.
Becomes proficient with all technical systems
used in the course.
Helps learners troubleshoot technical systems.
Refers problems to appropriate sources and
follows up to assure resolution
( 263 )
( 264 )
Appendix F
Standartds for Quality Online Teaching (SREB, 2006)
Academic Preparation
Standard: The teacher meets the professional
teaching standards established by a state
licensing agency or the teacher has academic
credentials in the field in which he or she
is teaching.
Indicators: The teacher:
meets the state’s professional teaching standards
or has academic credentials in the field in which
he or she is teaching;
provides evidence that he or she has credentials
in the field of study to be taught;
knows the content of the subject to be taught and
understands how to teach the content to students;
facilitates the construction of knowledge through
an understanding of how students learn in specific
subject areas; and
continues to update academic knowledge and
skills
Content Knowledge, Skills and Temperament
for Instructional Technology
Standard: The teacher has the prerequisite
technology skills to teach online.
demonstrates the ability to effectively use wordprocessing,
spreadsheet
and
presentation
software;
demonstrates effective use of Internet browsers,
e-mail applications and appropriate online
etiquette;
demonstrates the ability to modify and add
content and assessment, using an online Learning
Management System (LMS);
incorporates multimedia and visual resources into
an online module;
utilizes synchronous and asynchronous tools
(e.g., discussion boards, chat tools, electronic
whiteboards) effectively;
troubleshoots typical software and hardware
problems;
demonstrates the ability to effectively use and
incorporate subject-specific and developmentally
appropriate software in an online learning module;
and
demonstrates growth in technology knowledge
and skills in order to stay current with emerging
technologies
Online Teaching and Learning Methodology,
Management, Knowledge, Skills and Delivery
Standard: The teacher plans, designs and
incorporates strategies to encourage active
learning,
interaction,
participation
and
collaboration in the online environment.
demonstrates effective strategies and techniques
that actively engage students in the learning
process (e.g., team problem-solving, in-class
writing, analysis, synthesis and evaluation instead
of passive lectures);
facilitates and monitors appropriate interaction
among students;
builds and maintains a community of learners by
creating a relationship of trust, demonstrating
effective facilitation skills, establishing consistent
and reliable expectations, and supporting and
encouraging independence and creativity;
promotes learning through group interaction;
leads online instruction groups that are goaloriented, focused, project-based and inquiryoriented;
demonstrates
knowledge
and
responds
appropriately to the cultural background and
learning needs of non-native English speakers;
differentiates instruction based on students’
learning styles and needs and assists students in
assimilating information to gain understanding and
knowledge; and
demonstrates growth in teaching strategies in
order to benefit from current research and practice
Standard: The teacher provides online leadership
in a manner that promotes student success
( 265 )
through regular feedback, prompt response and
clear expectations.
consistently models effective communication skills
and
maintains
records
of
applicable
communications with students;
encourages interaction and cooperation among
students, encourages active learning, provides
prompt
feedback,
communicates
high
expectations, and respects diverse talents and
learning styles;
persists, in a consistent and reasonable manner,
until students are successful;
establishes and maintains ongoing and frequent
teacher-student
interaction,
student-student
interaction and teacher-parent interaction;
provides an online syllabus that details the terms
of class interaction for both teacher and students,
defines clear expectations for both teacher and
students, defines the grading criteria, establishes
inappropriate behavior criteria for both teacher
and students, and explains the course
organization to students;
provides a syllabus with objectives, concepts and
learning outcomes in a clearly written, concise
format;
uses student data to inform instruction, guides
and monitors students’ management of their time,
monitors learner progress with available tools and
develops an intervention plan for unsuccessful
learners;
provides timely, constructive feedback to students
about assignments and questions; and
gives students clear expectations about teacher
response time
Standard: The teacher models, guides and
encourages legal, ethical, safe and healthy
behavior related to technology use.
facilitates student investigations of the legal and
ethical issues related to technology and society;
establishes standards for student behavior that
are designed to ensure academic integrity and
appropriate uses of the Internet and written
communication;
identifies the risks of academic dishonesty for
students;
demonstrates an awareness of how the use of
technology
may
impact
student
testing
performance;
uses course content that complies with intellectual
property rights policies and fair use standards;
provides students with an understanding of the
importance of Acceptable Use Policies (AUP);
demonstrates knowledge of resources and
techniques for dealing with issues arising from
inappropriate use of electronically accessed data
or information; and
informs students of their right to privacy and the
conditions under which their names or online
submissions may be shared with others
Standard: The teacher has experienced online
learning from the perspective of a student.
applies experiences as an online student to
develop and implement successful strategies for
online teaching;
demonstrates the ability to anticipate challenges
and problems in the online classroom; and
demonstrates an understanding of the perspective
of the online student through appropriate
responsiveness and a supportive attitude toward
students
Standard: The teacher understands and is
responsive to students with special needs in the
online classroom.
understands that students have varied talents and
skills and uses appropriate strategies designed to
include all students;
provides activities, modified as necessary, that
are relevant to the needs of all students;
adapts and adjusts instruction to create multiple
paths to learning objectives;
encourages collaboration and interaction among
all students;
exhibits the ability to assess student knowledge
and instruction in a variety of ways; and
provides student-centered lessons and activities
that are based on concepts of active learning and
that are connected to real-world applications
Standard:
The
teacher
demonstrates
competencies in creating and implementing
assessments
( 266 )
in online learning environments in ways that
assure validity and reliability of instruments and
procedures.
creates or selects fair, adequate and appropriate
assessment instruments to measure online
learning that reflect sufficient content validity (i.e.,
that adequately cover the content they are
designed to measure), reliability and consistency
over time; and
implements online assessment measures and
materials in ways that ensure instrument validity
and reliability
Standard: The teacher develops and delivers
assessments, projects and assignments that
meet standards-based learning goals and
assesses learning progress by measuring student
achievement of learning goals.
continually reviews all materials and Web
resources for their alignment with course
objectives and state and local standards and for
their appropriateness;
creates assignments, projects and assessments
that are aligned with students’ different visual,
auditory and hands-on ways of learning;
includes authentic assessment (i.e., the
opportunity to demonstrate understanding of
acquired knowledge and skills as opposed to
testing isolated skills or retained facts) as part of
the evaluation process;
provides continuous evaluation of students to
include pre- and post-testing and student input
throughout the course; and
demonstrates
an
understanding
of
the
relationships
between
and
among
the
assignments, assessments and standards-based
learning goals
Standard:
The
teacher
demonstrates
competencies in using data and findings from
assessments
and other data sources to modify instructional
methods and content and to guide student
learning.
assesses each student’s background and content
knowledge and uses these data to plan
instruction;
reviews student responses to test items to identify
issues related to test validity or instructional
effectiveness;
uses observational data (e.g., tracking data in
electronic courses, Web logs, e-mail) to monitor
course progress and effectiveness; and
creates opportunities for self-reflection or
assessment of teaching effectiveness within the
online environment (e.g., classroom assessment
techniques, teacher evaluations, teacher peer
reviews)
Standard: The teacher demonstrates frequent and
effective strategies that enable both teacher and
students to complete self- and pre-assessments.
employs ways to assess student readiness for
course content and method of delivery;
employs ways for students to effectively evaluate
and assess their own readiness for course content
and method of delivery;
understands that student success (e.g., grade,
level of participation, mastery of content,
completion percentage) is an important measure
of teaching and course success; and
provides opportunities for student self-assessment
within courses
( 267 )
Emirates’ eLearning Route Map:
eLearning Policies and Implementation Strategy
Leena Farook
Emirates Airline
Introduction
The Emirates Group in 2002 was at the start
of a dynamic and challenging expansion plan
designed to maintain and enhance its position
as one of the most successful players in the
global aviation industry. Based in Dubai,
United Arab Emirates, the Emirates Group
consists of several organizations involved in
various aspects of the travel industry, most
notably, Emirates Airline and DNATA
ground handling and travel agencies. The
current number of employees stands at 29,000
with plans to grow to 50,000 by 2010. The
workforce is multinational, with over 100
nationalities employed at a current 99 cities in
62 countries worldwide.
The Emirates Group has recently made
aviation history by investing $34.5 billion in
new aircraft, underlining its commitment to
the future. Emirates' aircraft fleet now stands
at 112 with 245 planes on order. The airline is
the largest Airbus A380 customer with 58 to
be delivered. Concurrently with an Emirates
fleet enlargement, there is a building
programme being carried out at the Dubai
International Airport with a new concourse
and terminal, for the exclusive use of
Emirates' passengers, to be completed by
2008.
Forward planning and investment for the
future is critical to our continued success. In
the words of the Chairman, His Highness
Sheikh Ahmed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, “...it
is the very nature of the aviation industry that
we must always look ahead to the long-term
future when purchasing new aircraft. And
that future is buoyant. We have to plan years
in advance for new routes, new destinations,
the development of Human Resources,
Engineering, Commercial, IT, Finance, the
marketing infrastructure and all other
functions which are involved in supporting
the fleet”.
Competing successfully requires teams of
inspired employees who are mentally
equipped to make sound decisions and
execute good ideas quickly, and are proactive
when it comes to taking initiatives and
bringing innovation. The overall goal: an
environment where people learn faster and
better than the competition, and where
intellectual capital can be captured and shared
within the organisation. Fundamental to
future competitiveness is the ability to
maximise employee productivity, shorten
time to market, and lower operational costs.
In this article, we share our experiences of
setting up an eLearning Unit from the initial
stage of creating the business case to
developing and deploying eLearning courses,
and will touch on the challenges which still
lie ahead.
Rationale for eLearning in Emirates
eLearning can be a cost-effective element of a
flexible training strategy, but it also can be a
wasted investment in terms of resources, time
and money if not implemented effectively.
Some of the challenges faced by our HR
Development and Training units included:
( 268 )
•
How to develop and deliver a wide
range of training and developmental
interventions to a geographically
dispersed, mobile workforce, with
reduced training cycles?
The aviation and travel industries
demand that our professionals keep
skills at the latest and highest level
possible, often in licensed and
regulated areas, yet at the same time
place
increasing
demands
on
utilisation, which leaves less time for
training. How do we balance these
objectives?
What could we do to mitigate the
situation when highly skilled workers
leave?
Where had that training
investment gone? How could we
capture all the experience of the
company?
Learning Zone (MLZ), to act as a one stop
access point for our key learning and
development opportunities. We had gradually
introduced flexible elements such as on the
job training, coaching, on-line learning,
Learning Resource Centres (LRC’s), and
other forms of self-study, but these still
formed a relatively small part of our portfolio.
However, efforts were disjointed, badly
funded, and suffered from a lack of strategic
focus, support and management. Examples
were:
Our live classroom approach continued to
place strains on our operational business units
and on our cost base. For example:
• In 2002, our purpose built Emirates
Training
College
offered
approximately 80 courses per month,
averaging 12 delegates per course.
• Of
those
trained
in
Dubai,
approximately 30 per week were from
outstations, giving an estimated 1560
employees per year travelling into
Dubai for training and development
with associated per diems, travel cost
and time
This approach undoubtedly gave us some
tangible benefits and helped to prove the need
for eLearning as part of the overall learning
and development environment in the
company. It also cost us in terms of wasted
investments,
lack
of
visibility
and
measurement of ROI, misuse of resources,
failure to capture economies of scale,
uncoordinated and therefore confused efforts,
and often, poor product quality.
•
•
Apart from direct cost factors, operational
down time, with outstation staff travelling,
accounted for at least two “lost” days around
a training event.
Since 1998, we had offered a number of thirdparty MS Office courses online. This had
been extended to include technical courses
and, eventually, soft skills titles in 2000. In
2001 we introduced a learning portal, My
•
•
organic growth of LRCs with no
overall central planning for content or
administration;
rental of content from external
suppliers, resulting in three contracts
with one supplier allocated to different
cost centre holders
In 2002, we were also not tying the online
courses to our performance related and
business strategies as we did for classroom
courses.
The case for investing in the strategically
defined and managed development of flexible
learning, with eLearning as a critical
component, was evidenced by the successes
Emirates
had
realised,
despite
the
inefficiencies in the approach taken to date.
These included:
( 269 )
•
•
•
•
My Learning Zone – Emirates Group
learning portal, launched in September
2001 with an average 150 users/day;
Learning Resource Centres – 7 LRCs
were operational and another 5
planned. In the last quarter almost
2,000 staff completed modules on line
and this number was increasing. With
live classroom sessions averaging 4
days duration, at an average total cost
of 4,025 AED per person, the cost of
this study in a classroom would have
been over 8m AED. This form of
training had also been proved to
increase performance (see attached
document – Case Study of an Online
Learner in Emirates Group).
On-line courseware - over 1000
employees had requested at least one
on-line training module via MLZ in 6
months, giving a total of 2750
registered learners.
Learner demand – we had demand for
more titles, particularly in the
traditional “soft skills” areas, and for
more accessibility (hence the LRC
growth).
Managers were also
requesting tracking of on-line
completion and access to statistics on
usage
We anticipated increasing numbers of courses
required to meet business needs, a growing
and mobile workforce, reduced cycle times,
market competition and increased workloads.
These
factors,
together
with
the
uncoordinated and unplanned eLearning
investments, made us ask not whether we
should invest in strategically defined and
managed development of an eLearning
platform, but whether we could afford not to
do so.
Implementation - The Emirates
eLearning Route Map
The journey has been fast and eventful with
the key points to date being:• Creating the Business Case for
eLearning, outlining plans from 2002
to 2007, including ROI expectations
• Establishing a new eLearning Unit
• The first in-house course – designing,
building, testing, delivering - and
evaluating!
• Building a course development tool
• Establishing processes and Standards
for course development
• Identifying vendors to partner with for
course development
• Marketing online solutions to embed
eLearning in the organisation
• Establishing account management to
understand
internal
elearning
requirements
• Replacing the basic LMS with a
robust, scaleable LMS – Plateau
• Defining a process for developing
rapid online learning
While planning our Emirates eLearning route
map, we set ourselves several destinations for
the journey:
1. A strategy paper was necessary to
summarise the requirement and gain
initial
agreement
from
senior
management – i.e. we recognised that
we needed senior management buy-in;
2. A formal business case was required
which would detail our rationale,
benefits – both tangible and
intangible, key deliverables over a
given timeframe, assumptions behind
our plan, method of approach and of
course the investment required and
ROI estimation.
3. Once completed and verified by all the
necessary organisational units, the
business case would need to be
( 270 )
presented visually to our Directors for
approval to proceed
In order to take this forward, a team of two
was set up within the HR Development
section. The initial remit was to complete the
above three deliverables, with a view to
continuing the initiative on behalf of the
Group if the go ahead from senior
management was forthcoming. The two
individuals selected had been working in
training and development for many years, and
had both organisational and developmental
experience, as well as a good understanding
of eLearning and the current status with
regard to the range of training and
development opportunities available. They
had also both worked with the delivery of
online courseware and had been instrumental
in the establishment of LRCs, and the build of
the learning portal. In addition, both had for
some months been carrying out informal
research and benchmarking on the state of the
eLearning industry worldwide and had a good
understanding of the possibilities and the
challenges ahead.
The Strategy Paper
The Strategy Paper took a week to complete
and set out a strategic plan for the
development of eLearning within Emirates. It
reviewed strengths, weaknesses, threats and
opportunities; presented a series of statements
relating to vision, corporate values and
objectives; and set out its proposed strategies
and goals.
interactivity, performance support and
structured learning activities. In other words,
eLearning in Emirates does not replace
traditional forms of training, but forms part of
an integrated approach to learner-led training
and development and knowledge sharing – a
flexible learning strategy. The e-learning
model for Emirates blends online learning for
information transfer and procedural skill
training, classroom learning for role plays and
face-to-face discussions, and on-the-job
learning,
integrated
with
knowledge
management and competency evaluation.
The key points outlined from available
research were that eLearning could support
the bottom line cost management by:
• reducing the total cost of training
when compared with instructor-led
training
• requiring less time for training
compared with instructor-led training,
whilst still resulting in an equal or
higher quality of learning over
traditional instruction. (The amount of
reduction ranged from 20% to 80%,
with 40% to 60% as the most
common)
However, a key business advantage of
eLearning comes from increasing the top line,
i.e. enabling organizations to do things they
couldn't do with traditional training. For
example:
•
Step 1
After outlining the business challenges and
current scenario as given in the background
section of this best practices document, the
next element was a description of what we
meant by the term eLearning. Examples were
given from research conducted by leading
eLearning gurus such as Brandon Hall and
Elliot Masie.
Finally we agreed that
eLearning is about a new blend of resources,
( 271 )
•
Increased quality and value of learning
achieved through greater learner
access and combination of appropriate
supporting
content,
learner
collaboration and interaction, and online support.
Increased reach and flexibility
enabling learners to engage in the
learning process anytime, anyplace
and on a just-in-time and just-for-me
basis
•
Decreased time away from the job.
Increased flexibility and ability to
respond
to
evolving
business
requirements with rapid roll-out of
new
and
organisational-specific
learning to a distributed audience
GROUP
OUTSTATIONS
SHIFT WORKERS
CABIN CREW
TECHNICAL STAFF
DIRECT SALES STAFF
In Emirates, these benefits would be felt most
strongly in areas such as flight crew,
outstation staff, shift workers, technical staff
and those in direct sales roles. We related the
theoretical
application
to
our
own
organisation by providing examples to which
our senior management could relate:
EXAMPLES OF POSSIBLE eLEARNING CONTRIBUTIONS
On-line training content the same as Dubai based staff, delivered at their
locations and in their own languages if necessary;
Rapid deployment of information on products and systems, e.g. updates to
Skywards (Emirates FFP) rules and regulations;
Future virtual classroom ability with instructor leading a class from Dubai and
delegates dispersed geographically;
Corporate Induction to Emirates on-line.
Ability to cover course materials at a time and place to suit the demands of
flexible working hours.
Ability to access training when overseas and mobile;
Access to courseware on line to enable preparation for future roles in other parts
of the organisation;
Flexible training times to suit personal timetables.
Up to date delivery on technical subjects;
Rapid deployment of information on new products and systems.
Rapid deployment of information on products and systems, e.g. updates to
holiday packages, special offers, etc.
corporate
branding.
Step 2
We then recommended that, in order to
achieve the above benefits, it would be
necessary to create a platform for eLearning
from a technical, learning and cultural
perspective. We defined the need for a formal
eLearning Unit so as to facilitate all three
elements.
The principle behind the creation of the unit
was described as follows:
• to bring together, into one central unit,
any initiatives related to the delivery
of
eLearning
training
and
development. The centralising of this
function would enable the Group as a
whole to leverage the benefits to be
gained from the use of this delivery
medium, and ensure compliance with
standards
and
Group
The unit would be responsible for the
following key activities:
• managing the creation and on-going
development of a technical platform
for the delivery of on-line learning, the
key features of which would be
distributed authoring, a learning portal
interface for learners; global delivery
of services and integration with
corporate ORACLE HRMS systems;
• defining strategies for eLearning
within the Group;
• extending the reach of learning and
development opportunities to a
broader
range
of
employees,
particularly
those
who
were
geographically dispersed or mobile;
( 272 )
•
•
•
designing and developing a range of
Emirates specific on-line courses, (to
include intranet, internet and CD
ROM), to meet business needs via the
establishment of a yearly work
programme;
providing consultancy in developing
the knowledge of development and
training professionals in the effective
deployment of new technology;
leveraging economies of scale in
facilitating use of this medium for a
number of key stakeholders within
training and development areas
(notably Cabin Crew and Flight Ops)
The unit would also facilitate the move from
instructor-centred learning to learner-centred
learning, where the traditional classroom
would still be part of the overall mix. The
end result would be a flexible learning
platform providing the foundation necessary
to meet business demands and pressures,
learner styles and needs and, ultimately, the
corporate goals.
Step 3
The next section of the strategy summarised
strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and
threats of taking this approach which were
both generic and specific to our organisation.
Step 4
A vision statement on the impact of eLearning
over a 4 year period was provided so that the
senior managers could visualise the effect of
the implementation of the strategy.
In
addition, we created a simple mind map of the
direction we suggested that eLearning
deployment should move over the period to
give a sense of how a stepped approach would
gradually build our capability to deliver the
flexible learning platform we had envisaged.
This map also proved useful later as a guide
for the IT department. The map is attached as
Appendix A in this submission.
Step 5
We then linked eLearning to our corporate
values of Service excellence, Innovation,
People, Safety, and Financial Strength,
suggesting how eLearning could contribute to
each. This linking helped us retain the big
picture impact whilst we were also looking at
specific business and operational impacts.
Step 6
We linked eLearning to overall business
goals, the eLearning goals being:
• To support the Emirates Group in its
dynamic and challenging expansion
plan designed to maintain and enhance
its position as one of the most
successful players in the global
aviation industry;
• To provide a vehicle for anytime,
anywhere learning for Emirates Group
employees;
• Over the longer term, to generate
revenue through the sale of eLearning
solutions to the aviation industry
Step 7
Finally we outlined our key first year
strategies and action plan:
Key Strategies:
1. Develop an eLearning environment
for the Group;
2. Obtain leverage from the existing
Oracle HRMS environment and
features;
3. Develop the existing Learning Portal
features and facilities;
4. Be
proactive
in
identifying
opportunities to use eLearning to
support the business.
Action Plan
1. Establish full staffing for the
eLearning unit by end of May 2002
2. Instigate project with the IT
Department
to
identify
an
LMS/LCMS
as
foundation
architecture for the eLearning
( 273 )
3.
4.
5.
6.
environment, with implementation in
the 2003 financial year
Define and purchase the software
necessary to establish a development
environment for on-line courseware
by end of April 2002.
Produce at least 5 on-line courses to
meet business needs over the first
financial year. Thereafter to define
and implement a yearly development
work programme to meet business
needs.
Develop My Learning Zone to
interface with the Oracle HRMS
system by July 2002.
Identify a key external partner for
outsourcing development of on-line
courses where necessary by the end of
July 2002
This strategy paper was presented to the Chief
Director of Group Services, who gave
approval to move to the next stage. This
involved development of the strategy into a
comprehensive business case, including
benefits and risk determination and
calculation of anticipated investment and
return on investment, for all years between
2002 and 2007.
The Business Case
The business case took one very intensive
month to complete, and involved input from
all training and development units, IT,
Finance,
Procurement,
Corporate
Communications, HR and business units.
The end result of this exercise was a solid
business case with an ROI model which
summarised expected ROI each year to the
year 2007. In addition, the ROI base model is
re-usable for re-calculation of actual ROI on a
yearly basis. We also used it as the base for
another tool we later created to enable
training and development units to simply
make their business cases for our eLearning
course development projects. It formed the
basis for the investments in hardware,
software, and manpower, and is used as a
reference point for the annual budgeting
exercise.
Putting together the business case involved
several key steps, each of which we have
outlined below, together with our rationale for
our decisions to include this type of
information. In summary our steps were:
1. Identify key stakeholders;
2. Identify and gather required data and
information;
3. Determine timescales for eLearning
implementation;
4. Develop detailed ROI Model;
5. Identify risks and management of risk
strategies;
6. Prioritise required investments;
7. List alternative strategies considered;
8. Summarise cost benefits;
9. Describe tangible and intangible
benefits;
10. Provide sources of reference;
11. Make final recommendations
Step 1
The first stage of the business case was to
identify the key stakeholders who would need
to be involved, and to categorise them
according to their level and type of
involvement. We had three broad categories:
• those who would support the delivery
of the environment, such as our IT,
Finance, Procurement and Corporate
Communications departments;
• those who were existing training and
development professionals and who
would assist with compiling the
information necessary for the business
case, and also long term in the
implementation of eLearning within
Emirates;
( 274 )
•
senior business area managers who
needed to be consulted on key
strategic assumptions or directions
Step 2
Once we had identified internal sources of
information, we then identified what
information we would need to gather, both
from these internal sources and any external
sources for statistics etc. External sources
included
Brandon-Hall,
the
Masie
Consortium, TechLearn Conference, ASTD,
and various eLearning and general training
and development websites. These external
sources gave us our benchmarks to ensure that
we were aiming realistically in our plans. For
example, we used the research presented to
come to an agreement on the ratio of
eLearning development hours to final learning
hours, and on the expected ROI we should be
able to attain based on the experience of other
organisations.
Step 3
We determined that we would take a stepped
approach to moving the organisation from
what we listed as 100% classroom, to a %
eLearning, % blended and % classroom mix,
gradually increasing in each of the years to
2007. This decision was based on the
recognised need to manage the culture
change, not only for learners, but also for our
training and development professionals who
needed time to adapt to these new ways of
facilitating learning. The gradual introduction
also enables us to manage the central
eLearning unit work programme and
manpower needs, to spread the risks and
investment over the period more effectively.
Below is detailed the percentage mix of
classroom, blended and eLearning used in
each year to project the ROI.
Percentage of Training Moved to the Class, Blended and eLearning Each Year
Classroom%
2002-2003
100
2003-2004
80
2004-2005
60
2005-2006
40
2006-2007
25
Blended %
0
10
15
20
25
eLearning %
0
10
25
40
50
Step 4
We developed a robust model for calculating
ROI for our organisation based on our costs
for development and delivery of live training,
and costs of development and delivery of
eLearning. In this model, we used averages
in terms of the grade of employee we chose
for cost calculation, the number of attendees
we would expect in class from outstations
(1/12), and the ratio of eLearning
development hours to final product (200:1),
amongst other things.
The data for the model was requested from
each training and development unit in the
company and also from key sources such as
our Finance and HR departments. This meant
that we were able to get the buy in of the
individual training managers early in the
process, as they were able to supply their own
data and see the impact on the business of
applying eLearning to their current portfolios.
We also double checked the data from the
various sources to ensure consistency.
The data was presented against each training
and development unit individually for each
( 275 )
year to 2007, before being summarised for the
business case conclusions. This gave us a
base to communicate with each training and
development unit and to measure against the
original forecasts for each area on a yearly
basis. The ROI calculations were also used
to determine the staffing level required for the
central eLearning Unit for each year.
Key assumptions were made for the business
case ROI as follows:
• Figures used in projecting costs are
based on current and detailed 4 year
projections received from HR
Development and Training managers,
covering average numbers of courses,
participants, delivery frequency, and
plans for conversion to blended or
eLearning delivery over the same
period.
• There is no yearly allowance in the
business case calculation for growth in
number of courses or frequency of
programmes, although we know that
both will increase. This was decided
as we wanted to make the model as
accurate as possible without guesses
as to future numbers, and we knew
that increases in either would only
strengthen the business case ROI and
so could be ignored as long as the base
business case was already strong. (We
have allowed for this in our yearly
ROI calculation model which we
compare back to the original business
case).
• The cost of administration and course
follow up is not included as these exist
in both models and would tend to
cancel each other out.
• It is assumed that the company
supports a learner-centric model for
training and development where the
role of HR Development and Training
is to facilitate learning.
( 276 )
•
•
•
•
The assumption is made that we
deliver eLearning on the corporate
platform, adjusting content and
deployment methods to match the
infrastructure available. The attached
mind map gives an impression of the
anticipated focus across the next few
years. Ideas for future deployments
are given, but the assumption remains
that the development of corporate
infrastructure should be the driver for
the possible delivery options, and this
map will therefore evolve over time.
A strategic decision was made to take
approximately 1/3 of the online
programmes from 3rd party off the
shelf providers, 1/3 to be outsourced
development, and the remaining 1/3 to
be built in-house to meet specific
needs.
The IT Department would need to
complete a full review of requirements
to give more detailed cost forecasts for
the future infrastructure and support
elements.
Costs included in this
business case are estimates based on
one year’s budgeted requirement, and
allowing for growth in eLearning
development and manpower in the
period covered.
There is also
allowance added for items such as
user licences for an LMS/LCMS,
which may or may not be required
depending on the product selected. As
the approach taken is to develop
courseware to match the infrastructure
available, additional infrastructure
costs are likely to be in the areas of
system integration and storage
facilities and support, rather than any
major software development.
The LMS/LCMS would not be
purchased until the 2004-2005 year to
enable due diligence in research of the
market and to give more time for the
•
•
•
•
market to settle, as the LCMS is a
relatively new product.
Costs are conservative. For example,
in the Commercial Training area, 76
courses considered formed only 40%
of the total offering for this area. The
remaining 60% of courses are offered
to 3rd party customers. Also, the
number of courses to be made
available increases annually, whilst
this business case considers current
course numbers as outlined earlier. If
we extended the model to include this
activity, the case for eLearning, and
thus the ROI, becomes even stronger.
An allowance was made in the
manpower figures for the possibility
that Corporate Communications might
need to increase manpower by one to
support the eLearning Unit over the
period. This approach reflects the fact
that the eLearning Unit aims to use
existing expertise within the company
as far as possible to avoid duplication
and contain costs. For example, it
would be anticipated that Corporate
Communications would provide video
or audio support and would manage
branding requirements for the
eLearning environment.
Ratios for development and design are
benchmark industry norms, and have
been independently verified as
accurate by internal research with HR
Development and Training sections.
The cost calculations have been based
on training averages and have allowed
for 1/12 of trainees on each course to
be from an outstation. In addition,
replacement of an employee who is
training has been calculated for 50%
of cases only, assuming that not all
employees undertaking training are
replaced with additional costs such as
overtime
Step 5
At the next stage of building the business case
we identified risks to success and determined
how these risks could be addressed or
reduced.
Step 6
In step 6 we prioritised the investments
necessary to make the initiative successful.
This was provided to enable senior
management to take a stepped approach to
investment if they felt this to be appropriate.
Step 7
Any alternatives considered were detailed so
that it was clear that we had considered
options other than that being proposed.
Step 8
Having made the case from the perspective of
the rationale for the proposal being made, the
detailed cost benefits were then summarised.
A graph was produced with a four-year
projection of training cost, eLearning
investment, and resulting ROI for each year.
In summary, the calculations showed the total
cumulative investment and ROI at the end of
2006-2007 as follows:
Cumulative eLearning investment:
Cumulative Reduction in training expenditure:
Cumulative ROI:
( 277 )
35,095,556 AED
92,288,600 AED
57,193,044 AED
Benefit & Cost Analysis
ROI - Training Cost vs. eLearning Investment
Current
2003-2004
2004-2005
9,308,487
6,393,772
2005-2006
2006-2007
50,000,000
5,853,887
6,769,705
6,769,705
In AED
0
-50,000,000
11,672,053
16,709,070
14,105,095
20,560,714
-100,000,000
-81,475,150
- 5,853,887
-102,349,950
-125,828,725
-150,000,000
-143,894,550
-200,000,000
-173,763,750
eLearning Investment
The graph above gives a four-year projection
of training cost, eLearning investment, and
resulting ROI for each year.
Training Costs
Having considered the pure cost factors, a
comprehensive table of both tangible and
intangible benefits was presented as follows:
Step 9
( 278 )
Category
Effectiveness
Intangible
Matched to learning speed
Matched to learner profile needs
Improved training effectiveness.
For
example, Corporate Induction could be redesigned so that new employees cover basic
company information as eLearning. This
leaves the class induction day to cover such
issues as “what challenges the company
faces over the coming years”.
Ability to use profiles to target training
content, using Oracle HRMS.
Ability to capture tacit, as well as explicit,
knowledge in the content repository.
Ability of trainers to develop more
challenging roles as facilitators and
mentors.
Anytime, anywhere and just right delivery
Repeatable learning opportunities
Global delivery
Empowerment of learners.
Tangible
Efficiency
Reusable content, suitable for classroom as
well as eLearning use
Shorter, more focussed classroom sessions
Simple training administration with the
LCMS linked to ORCALE HRMS
Reduced development costs long
term, as course contents are easily reusable in other training scenarios
Quality
Consistency of content for quality of
instruction and adherence to corporate
styles and branding (increasingly important
as we grow larger and more dispersed)
Improved speed of update and delivery
Flexibility
Costs
Low cost, high - impact content creation
Providing competitive advantage when
unplanned events occur, such as the
September 11th impact on business.
eLearning enables us to continue to deliver
quality training at low cost, even when
employees may not be able to travel, or
need to focus efforts on sales and customer
support.
Ability to reach a much larger audience at
low cost – particularly relevant for cabin
crew and outstations
( 279 )
Reduced operational downtime
Reduced class repeat costs
Reduced travel per diem
Less pressure on support services
such
as
Staff
Travel
and
Administrative support
Reduced costs for course material
printing and photocopy
Significant reduction in overall
training costs as evidenced in this
business case.
Reduction in per diems and travel
costs with associated reduction in
impact on support groups such as
Staff Travel and Training College
Support Services.
Releasing seats occupied by Trainer
/Trainees for commercial passengers.
Lower need for investment in the
training manpower and infrastructure
(buildings and equipment)
Reduction in loss of operational time
and
costs
associated
with
replacement.
In addition to above, AED 50 million
Category
Intangible
Tangible
ROI on investment
It is possible that eLearning created
may form a source of revenue with
no or minimal additional work.
In addition to the benefits being listed in this
way, we provided a real example of a roll out
of a new IT system which everyone had
experienced. We compared what had actually
happened with what might have happened had
we approached this with eLearning as part of
the roll out strategy. This was a powerful
message as it highlighted the benefits in
action and related to a case with which all
levels of management were familiar. The
example is attached at Appendix B in this
submission.
Step 10
We provided a list of web sites so that senior
managers could eLearning investigate further
if interested.
These sites covered the
definitions of LMS and LCMS, (although we
had given them a simple explanation in the
business case), and also gave the source data
we had used in some of our analysis. This
enabled any who may have doubted the basis
for some of our statements to take a look for
themselves. It was also an early way of
educating our senior managers on eLearning
and blended learning concepts.
Step 11
We finally summarised our recommendations
as follows:
Establish a central eLearning Unit
The recommendation is that an eLearning
Unit be established to centralise research,
development and delivery of an eLearning
platform, including technical infrastructure
and associated standards and processes for the
Emirates Group.
This unit should also be responsible for longterm planning, day-to-day management, and
development of this platform, as technology
and requirements develop. They should also
undertake content development of eLearning
solutions on behalf of business units,
including Training and Development. In
addition, the Unit should be the focus point
for eLearning, and fulfil the role of facilitator
to the training and development community in
terms of developing associated skill bases.
The Unit would work in close co-ordination
with the IT department and Corporate
Communications to leverage their expertise,
and would also manage eLearning contracts
with external suppliers.
It is recommended that the Unit be established
with a core team of a manager (G10), two
project controllers (G8), an instructional
designer (G7), and instructional developer
(G7). It is realistic to assume steady growth
in numbers per year to reach approximately
13 employees by 2006-2007 as business
demand for eLearning solutions grows. This
compares favourably with other organisations
of comparable size and complexity at the
same stage of eLearning development.
Learning Content
Recommendations
Management
System
It is recommended that Emirates Group
research and implements a Learning Content
Management System as a foundation for the
eLearning platform. An LCMS is a multiuser environment where learning authors
create, store, reuse, manage, and deliver small
segments (objects) of learning content from a
central repository. In other words, content is
( 280 )
created and stored once, but can be delivered
many times, often simultaneously to different
users. The database stores content separately
from presentation, which enables publishing
of the exact same content in different formats.
The same learning content can be re-used for
eLearning, printed self-study and classroom
courses as appropriate.
Content Development Recommendations
It is recommended that the eLearning Unit
define and procure a specific hardware and
software set for the design and development
of on-line courseware. The selection would be
made with the guidance and support of the IT
department.
The eLearning Unit should focus on
development of Emirates specific courseware
where subject matter knowledge, commercial
confidence or other considerations would
require an internal focus on production. This
gives benefits with a large volume of learners,
as there are no costs for licences, as is the
case in off-the-shelf courseware.
This
approach also gives the opportunity for future
sales revenue if titles developed are of
relevance to other organisations and
customers.
Third Party Courseware Recommendations
Approximately 1/3 of courseware is
recommended to be purchased or rented from
third party suppliers as “off the shelf”. This
approach would cover generic courses for
which there would be no added value in
designing and building in-house. Examples
are technical course such as MS Office or
Oracle, and competency support courses such
as Team Leading or Business Writing. This
gives a high ROI on investment, as the
courses are developed once, and costs of
rental and purchase are low per student based
on the global sales profile of the courseware.
It is also recommended that we make
provision for the custom building of
courseware by third party vendors. This
would cover requirements for sophisticated
technologies or instances where particular
equipment or skill base was needed to achieve
the required result.
My Learning Zone Recommendations
It is recommended that My Learning Zone
should have a budget allocation for
development to include the following:
•
•
Integration with ORACLE HRMS as
appropriate;
Enhancement of current features to
meet business requirements in the
coming year.
It is also recommended that My Learning
Zone continue to be managed by the
eLearning Unit, with feature and content
contribution
from
all
training
and
development areas and employees as
appropriate.
The business case was thoroughly checked by
training and development representatives and
the Finance team to ensure that all numerical
models were accurate and applicable to the
scenarios being proposed.
The Director's Presentation
The next element of the Emirates eLearning
Route Map was the presentation of the
business case to the Group Directors for
approval to proceed. A PowerPoint summary
was prepared which covered the key points
from the business case and also gave some
examples of learner feedback on existing
online delivery.
Settingup the eLearnig Unit
The Emirates eLearning Unit was formally
established in April 2002 as part of the
Learning & Development section of the
( 281 )
Emirates Group. With a current team of ten,
it aims to provide the organisation with an
eLearning platform and on-line products and
services to meet business needs, and to form
part of the overall flexible learning delivery
strategy of the Group.
Our concept of learning is based on a modular
approach, giving us the flexibility to combine
and re-use various elements to form new
courses for specific audiences. In many
cases, this can reduce the need for courses to
stretch on over several consecutive days.
The Unit works closely with all other
Learning and Development areas, Emirates
Group IT (the IT services provider for the
Emirates Group), Corporate Communications
and individual business units. This approach
recognizes the fact that eLearning is not a
product in itself, but is part of a larger training
framework which must be aligned to the
needs of the business. To be effective, this
requires strong senior management support
and the active involvement of a large number
of people throughout the organization
working together as a team.
We also benefit by being able to deliver
consistent quality learning across our
network, ensuring speed of delivery of the
latest product and service updates. We can
improve our ROI on classroom training by
covering basic information and facts on-line,
and developing more challenging and
practical live learning events. We still believe
strongly in the community aspects of learning,
and in the need for our overseas employees to
experience Dubai, but we can reduce costs
and enhance quality by the addition of
eLearning.
The rationale behind creating the unit was
simple. The organisation is growing in terms
of geographical locations covered, and in
terms of fleet size and numbers of employees.
Emirates prides itself on recognizing its
employees as it’s most important assets, and
the need to develop our workforce effectively
whilst maintaining our customer focus and
business competitiveness, means that
eLearning is a perfect addition to our existing
investments in training and development.
One of our most important concepts is that
whatever we do should be centred on the
learner and enabling learning. This approach
puts the learner at the centre of any course
design, development and delivery, and maps
well to our competency based approach for
performance appraisal and development.
For us eLearning encompasses any use of IT
to deliver a learning experience.
For
example, we have a learning portal, “My
Learning Zone” where we aim to share
knowledge amongst our employees. The site
contains articles, news, quotes, featured
guests, access to courseware online and
classroom schedules, library information and
a range of other learning materials. Each of
these materials has their own place in forming
comprehensive tailored learning for an
individual.
Summary – The Evidance of Success
The efforts put into these planning stages
have proved invaluable.
Amongst other
benefits, we have been able to gain the
following key advantages from taking this
approach to creating and communicating the
business case:
Impact on Support from Key Stakeholders
( 282 )
•
•
Immediate and strong buy in and
approval from our senior management
team;
Training and development units have
been able to retain management of
their own portfolios. The business
case calculation tool, based on the
•
ROI Model, gives them independent
visibility of costs and investment and
enables them to choose how they wish
to mix their courses to best effect from
the financial perspective as well as the
educational. This has meant that the
traditional problem of traditional
training and development units being
wary of eLearning and the impact on
their jobs and manpower has been
minimised;
All key support groups were given the
business case, and can therefore
understand the impact of the role they
play in integrating and deploying
eLearning and blended solutions. In
addition, we can all speak the same
language when referring to eLearning
investments or ROI as there is a
common base of reference and
understanding
•
Impact on Benchmarking and Measurement
The business case ROI Model created has
given us a sound quantitative basis for
benchmarking and measurement:
• The same calculations are used in our
eLearning Unit key productivity
indicators. For example, the long term
target ratio of 200:1 development to
eLearning delivery is a benchmark
which is also used to determine the
manpower we require to meet our
yearly work programme;
• The percentage mix of eLearning,
blended and classroom is applied
across the training and development
units when calculating our work
programme to ensure that we remain
on target. For example, we take a
particular unit and calculate how many
courses they are offering in a year and
what percentage are eLearning,
blended and classroom.
• The business case ROI calculations
have been used to build another
( 283 )
•
•
•
•
Course ROI model which our Training
and Development units use to request
the build of the eLearning courses for
their portfolio. This model has been
based on the joint publication by
ASTD and Ford Motor Company’s
Education, Training and Development
Group, “The ASTD Media Selection
Tool for Workplace Learning”. This
model was adapted to suit our
organisational needs and combined
with our business case ROI model.
The same business case base figures
of development ratios and costs are
used to help the unit easily determine
the best approach for a particular
training need and the financial impact
of selecting a classroom, eLearning or
blended approach.
The same Course ROI calculation base
with only minor amendment is now
used to evaluate cost benefits of
purchased courseware, which means
that it is simple to create an immediate
business case for any purchase or
rental by supplying a few key figures
for the calculation.
Each training and development unit
has visibility of their contribution
towards the ROI for a particular year.
When compiling the yearly budget for
the eLearning Unit, the business case
and original projections are used to
check that we are still within the
investment
and
ROI
margins
specified.
The business case and strategy paper
are used as the basis for a quarterly
and annual update to Directors on the
impact of eLearning on the business as
part of our overall flexible learning
delivery approach.
Finance and Procurement departments
can clearly see the impact on the
bottom line and are therefore
comfortable to support requests for
•
purchase or technical support with
reference to the document. This has
prevented the need for us to raise a
business case for every major
eLearning investment, as the base
business case covers all major
investments until 2007.
The business case is not an end in
itself, but it does give us a robust
model which allows us to make
considered and calculated changes of
direction along the way as necessary
as the implementation of the plans has
progressed.
Recruitment and management of manpower
requirements has been made simpler as the
business case gives clear rationale for the
roles required and the timeframe for
recruitment to meet the planned development.
Key Productivity Indicators were simple to
construct as we already had the basis within
our ROI calculations which were based on
solid industry research and benchmarks.
Impact on Learning Delivery
In terms of overall success of the strategy and
business case to date, we can refer to some
key examples of the impact on the learning
community. We have increased the number
of online learners by 150% in the past year.
We have been able to increase the number of
courses available online and many third party
and in-house developed courses are now
being formally blended with existing
classroom delivery.
A further unintended benefit, driven by the
implementation of the eLearning strategy, is
that we have been able to reach employees
who would not normally have been included
in the induction process – our outstation and
lower grade staff. These two categories of
staff would previously have received only a
line manager’s introduction to the company.
Now they receive the same 1 day induction as
everyone else, and those based overseas get to
know more about the culture of Dubai, as well
as that of the company. This awareness
makes them better able to service customers
in their own locations, who are flying into
Dubai, from the very early days of their
employment with us.
Impact on the eLearning Unit
The eLearning Unit has been able to use the
business case data to justify decision making
In addition, the eLearning team has a very
clear vision and direction, which enables
individuals in the team to be more
independent and confident in their decision
making and daily work.
Communication with support units and
individual training and development units has
been facilitated, and we have managed to
minimise any feeling that a centralised
eLearning Unit would take away roles and
responsibilities from traditional trainers and
training management. The openness and
comprehensiveness of the business case has
meant that the eLearning Unit is seen very
much as part of the overall training and
development team striving to meet the
business needs of the company.
The End Result
We have 75 third party courses online and
have built 100+ customised courses in-house.
We have a robust LMS which tracks usage,
can provide competency mapping to jobs and
to learning delivery, has the ability to define
learning paths for domains or groups of users
based on a range of data such as location,
department, job title, grade, projects, new
initiatives, and automated and dynamic
delivery of defined learning and can be
accessed by externals.
( 284 )
We have a fully functioning eLearning Unit
busy developing courses against our defined
work programme (50 courses requested this
year). The Course ROI model used to justify
the development, purchase or rental of
courseware, and which we based on our
business case model, gives us a calculated
ROI of more 94 million AED by 2006.
In addition, we have our own authoring tool –
eMerge which enables us to develop content
rapidly, delivers very optimised courses
enabling us to deploy online learning even to
offices worldwide which are connected with
very low bandwidths.
However, translating the “feel good” and
obvious overall benefits of eLearning, which
we all read about daily, into something which
could be measured as bottom line ROI, was a
major challenge. There had been no previous
consolidation of the costs of training and
development in the Group, and much of the
data had to be sourced and double-checked
across several business areas until we were
comfortable with the accuracy. We also
wanted to create a base for future growth and
measurement from our business case model,
and this was a daunting task. If we had to
single out the key factors which have made
this approach successful, we would
summarise them as having been:
We have defined processes and standards for
our development resulting in consistent online
solutions as well as continuous improvement
of our processes. We are now able to
effectively develop rapid online courses to
support the business requirements units within
three weeks.
•
•
•
We are well on our eLearning journey, and
have successfully reached the destinations
defined in our Business case and are looking
forward to defining new destinations to our
eLearning Route Map.
•
However, along the way we’ve no doubt that,
out will come the business plan as our
guidebook, and with a few revisions to take
into account the new destinations, we’ll
continue successfully on our way!
•
•
Final Comments
The strategy was relatively easy to determine
and to put on paper. The Emirates Group has
a strong tradition of support for training and
development of our workforce, and formal
eLearning implementation was a natural
extension of where we found ourselves at that
point in time.
Awareness of the key stakeholders;
Careful definition of what eLearning
meant to our own organisation, not
simply taking someone else’s model
and applying it blindly;
A stepped approach to developing the
business case, as well as to
implementing eLearning in the
organisation;
Using on our own knowledge and
experiences of our company and
culture to ensure that what we
proposed was likely to work;
A strong conviction that eLearning is
only part of an overall flexible
learning delivery strategy and not a
panacea for all needs;
A focus on understanding and meeting
the business needs of the organisation
as the core of the rationale for not only
eLearning, but for all training and
development interventions.
What were our Learning Points along the
way?
Think big, start small and scale fast
( 285 )
•
Keep an eye on the future and develop
templates and processes as you
•
•
Think knowledge and performance
•
•
•
• Communicate! Make sure that you
progress so as to have a base for the
next project;
Do what you can do, don’t worry
about what you can’t. Keep things
simple and learner-focused;
Do something. Don’t get caught in
the planning loop where you are
looking for a perfect solution for every
requirement
Focus on what you are building and
why. This will keep you on the right
track to complete the project and meet
your objectives. Don’t get sidetracked
by the technology;
Always make decisions based on the
learner and strive for a quality
learning experience for them;
Remember that you are also learning –
look for feedback and help and be
open about your progress;
keep everyone necessary involved and
aware of progress.
Draw up a
stakeholder map at the beginning of
the project and decide who needs to
know what and when. Review this
plan as the project progresses as it
may change!
Contact Details
We hope that you have found our presentation
and the information given in these notes
useful. If you’d like to contact us to discuss
anything in more detail, our contact details
are
[email protected]
or
[email protected]
( 286 )
Appendix A
eLearning Development Vision Mind Map
( 287 )
Appendix B
Case Study of IT Training Pathfinder Rollout
In 1998, the Pathfinder platform was rolled out to
approximately 4,500 PC users in Dubai to a fixed
Scenario
4500 staff to train on
new platform
Training had to schedule
during the week before
rollover of a department
to ensure that the new
knowledge was fresh
and departments would
remain operational
Trainers
conducting
classes
and
“handholding”
departments
for at least two days on
rollover
Administration for all
attendees on classes
required
Training times had to be
flexible
for
shift
operated departments
Different groups of
people required more
attention
The Pathfinder build
was being refined and
amended during rollout
Classrooms
were
required
to
deliver
quantity of training
Emirates Group IT (EGIT) timetable and project
cost.
What Actually Happened
4500 staff given 2 hours live workshop
Average 100 per week were trained over a 40
week period.
3 additional consultants were employed to
rollout classes whilst experienced trainers also
conducted hand-holding.
Cost was 34,500 AED/month for approx. 10
months = 345,000 AED
Consultants had no organisational knowledge
and lower skill base than in-house trainers
Coordinators established in all departments to
liaise with one trainer who administered the
courses full time.
As departments were kept operational, many
changes were made to class schedules
Tracking completions in each department was
a heavy administrative overload
Classes were run over weekend and at nights,
often back to back by the same trainer, leading
to de-motivated and tired training staff
Managers and secretaries needed different
focus to other staff due to the way that many
operated with secretaries arranging diaries and
booking travel for example.
Course materials had to be amended every
time a change in build was made.
There was no simple way to communicate the
change to those trained, leading to different
training content
Trainers made mistakes as they were learning
the new build while delivering
4 classrooms at ETC were dedicated to
Pathfinder and blocked from use for all other
classes as platform was different.
PCs in training rooms had to be upgraded
( 288 )
The eLearning Approach
1
hour
e-Learning
module
developed by e-Learning Unit
No limit on numbers trained online
Time of training independent from
rollout as learning could be repeated
as often as necessary
No additional staff needed.
Experienced trainers free to spend
time hand-holding.
No impact on learning experience
based on trainer skill
One time allocation of module to all
learners.
All learning tracked by LMS.
Training can be taken any time and
at any place to suit individual and
operational requirements
Content developed in objects and
composed using LCMS into several
courses with differing emphasis for
delivery to specific individuals
based on their HR profile.
Materials updated as build changes
occur
Learners notified of change and able
to refresh only that element which
had changed on-line
Standard training content delivery
No impact on rooms or equipment
as e-Learning module would be
platform independent and available
at LRCs and at the desktop via the
Scenario
Course materials were
required for support
Rollout was sometimes
delayed for technical
reasons
EGIT
Help
Desk
handled system queries
as well as issues related
to technical problems on
rollout which impacted
the business
The same course with
only a few amendments
was required for the
Global Connect rollout
What Actually Happened
every time the Pathfinder build changed.
ETC support staff had to take extra workload
to maintain re-prints of new materials.
Changes to system meant new materials and
old versions printed were destroyed.
Learners were trained and sometimes their
departments were not rolled live for up to 2
weeks, leading to loss of knowledge
Delay was sometimes so prolonged that
training courses had to be repeated
EGIT support staff handled approx. 7000 calls
per week at rollouts, substantially adding to
their workload
Training received by support staff suffered the
same problems in terms of trying to keep up
with build changes
Trainers travelled to each outstation office
across a 3 year period to deliver training
Approximately 5 days required per office with
travel time and batching
Dates for rollouts changed even on the day of
proposed travel resulting in cancellations of
booked seats and hotels, visa charges, trainer
frustration and more administration.
Course materials needed to be shipped to each
site or carried by trainer.
Amendments to course materials meant
creating another document and formatting.
If we apply this case study to the very similar
scenario of deployment of Windows XP to a larger
user base during 2003-2004, the impact of an eLearning approach is evident. Without the need
to quantify every cost, it is obvious that costs
would be vastly reduced. In addition, many of the
serious issues that had to be handled in terms of
The eLearning Approach
intranet.
No course materials required for
printing as all are available on line.
Amendments to content can be
made quickly
Delays in rollout have little impact
as training can be repeated as and
when required or used simply as a
refresher.
Help Desk employees have access
to the module to refer to when a call
is received, if necessary.
Callers can be referred to the on-line
module for refresher if lack of
knowledge led to the call
Support staff concentrate on real
system errors decreasing operational
downtime for the business and
customers
No travel by trainer
Support provided on-line via mail
and collaborative software
1 hour required for completion of
the module and approx. support time
of 1 hour/office for queries
Changes in rollout plans have no
impact on the training as the module
can be completed anytime and
repeated at no additional cost other
than 1 hr. employee time
Course materials amended once, no
printing or shipping charges.
accuracy and quality of training would disappear.
The added benefit of the learning being
repeatable would also reduce the impact on other
support services such as the EGIT Helpdesk,
again realising tangible cost saving and improving
performance of both learners and support areas.
( 289 )
eMentoring: The Future of Online Learner Support
Jane Harris
Nord Anglia eLearning
Abstract
eMentoring, in the form of live, human online
mentoring, is extending opportunities for
educational practioners to support learners.
eMentors work with online students to
introduce
orientation
activities,
offer
guidance, advice, coaching, facilitation of
online socialising and technical or
navigational help. These activities are
valuable in creating a safe, engaging and well
managed
learning environments for all
learners to follow their own learning paths.
eMentors can support:
•
‘fast-track’ learners;
•
disaffected learners;
•
Special Needs learners;
•
‘quiet’ learners.
eMentors guide learners through academic
and pastoral issues adding value to the
learning space, in terms of both investment
and pedagogy.
Introduction
entrusted with the guardianship of Odysseus’s
son, Telemachus, during the time of the
Trojan War. Many centuries later, the first use
of the term ‘mentor’ can be attributed to a
French work ‘Les Aventures de Telemaque’,
by Francois Fenelon, 1699 which cast the
mythological character of Mentor as a leading
figure in the action of this popular story, and
recognition of the term ‘ mentor’ to mean
someone acting as a trusted advisor may be
traced back to this point.
Online mentoring, or ‘eMentoring’, has much
more recent origins, and should be seen as a
still-developing
blend
of
coaching,
moderating, tutoring, guiding, advising,
supporting,
signposting,
safeguarding,
facilitating and assisting in the virtual
environment. The principles of traditional
mentoring apply to this modern scenario, i.e.,
that the mentor is a wise and trusted person,
dispensing reliable information and advice
based upon experience and knowledge, to
younger and less experienced learners, or
‘mentees’. But, the eMentor operates within a
fluid
and
dynamic
environment;
consequently, is much more accessible to the
needy learner.
Background
Towards a definition of eMentoring
eMentoring, in the form of live, human online
mentoring is extending opportunities for
educational practitioners to support learners.
But what is it exactly?
Mentoring in the real world harks back to
Greek mythology and French literature:
Mentor was a friend of Odysseus who was
eMentoring on Demand
Learners in a Virtual Learning Environment
(VLE) access their learning day and night, all
year round – for them this is a simple
expectation. Where a VLE provides an
eMentoring service, this expectation is carried
through, and learners will want to be able to
send their queries to an eMentor at any time
( 290 )
and expect a response within close time
limits. It is this requirement which influences
the way in which a good, well-managed
eMentor service can operate; a combination
of live (synchronous) and time-lagged
(asynchronous) response mechanisms is
necessary, and the coverage of live
eMentoring needs to be carefully structured if
it is to be of benefit to the learners. In the
Virtual-Workspace, a PFI project designed
and built by Nord Anglia eLearning for two
UK Local Authorities, learners are able to
contact live eMentors at any time from 8am to
8pm, for an individual live one-to-one
session, and they are able to leave an
asynchronous request for help at any time and
can expect a response within a few hours.
Adding value to online learning
The VLE allows learners to access their
learning via one of two main routes –
informal learning, actioned on an ad hoc
basis, often whilst ‘surfing’, or on a formal,
tightly structured footing where the learning
route is pre-determined by a tutor and/or
courseware, and the learner follows this route
(most likely) in sequence and with
expectations of monitoring and feedback at
set milestones in the journey. The eMentor
may have a role in supporting both types of
learning, but it is more likely that any access
to the eMentoring service will be ‘informal’
on behalf of the learner, as the timing of the
need for extra help with learning of whatever
type cannot be predicted accurately and
therefore does not fit easily into ‘formal’
schedules. Atwell recently described an 85%
to 15% ratio of informal to formal learning. It
is this aspect of eMentoring which brings
potential value at an institutional level – why
pay a real world learning mentor to sit in an
office waiting for a student to have a problem,
when an online mentor (operating a drop-in
service) can be usefully fielding the needs of
a much larger cohort of mentees - when and
as those individual students find they have a
need for such a service? To give some idea of
scale of the ‘value for money’ issue here, the
Virtual-Workspace currently employs a team
of 10 online mentors; they service the needs
of 12,000 active learners. The advantage to
the learner is that help is available when they
need it, not at the time which suits someone
else’s appointment diary.
Ensuring continuous service – another
aspect of ‘value-added’
eMentors provide a protective context for any
VLE to operate safely and benevolently. By
being the ‘eyes and ears’ of the learning
platform, a team of eMentors can ensure that
the service is always welcoming, not
encumbered by the vocal frustrations and
aggressions of dissatisfied students – who, if
allowed to go unchecked, can create a
negative and distressing atmosphere for other
learners, potentially turning them away from
learning.
Online behaviour between peers needs to be
supportive and inclusive - skilful eMentors
recognise any deterioration in peer
relationships between learners and act
appropriately to mend the situation. Welltrained, alert eMentors have a range of
options to follow, and assess each case on its
merits before offering a solution. This
actively helps to keep learners, regardless of
their previous history of learning, engaged in
the process and pathways of learning.
eMentors are active in all aspects of a well
organised, robust VLE, where they are the
'friendly-face' of the learning environment openly
encouraging
tolerance
and
responsibility to others, welcoming new
learners to the communities and synchronous
chat rooms, monitoring and guiding online
behaviour for the common good of the
learning community at large. They 'listen'
over time, and begin to ‘hear’ the distinctive
voices of shy, reluctant, disaffected or special
( 291 )
needs learners as they develop their own
confidence and trust in the system - they
register and record the growing development
of these students as successsful learners, and
subsequently empower the learners further
with encouragement, praise and recognition.
eMentoring in a changing technological
landscape
The advent of 3D, or ‘virtual worlds’,
learning makes an even greater demand on
learners’ navigational and familiarization
skills (at least initially) and, as an
environment, is perfectly aligned to the
offerings of a well managed team of
eMentors. In virtual world spaces such as
Second Life and Amazing Worlds, the
concept of business mentor is already in place
in some of the corporate islands. I predict that
eMentors in 3D educational spaces will soon
become an accepted part of the scenery;
firstly as 3D guides but ultimately for more
traditional mentoring activities associated
with learner support.
eMentoring to Support Disaffected
Learners
Reaching out and offering support to learners
who have become disaffected with the
educational system is a great strength of a
skilled eMentor. By providing timely, often
one-to-one assistance – tailor-made to suit the
needs of that individual at that time - an
eMentor opens up learning opportunities of
disaffected learners where more traditional
methods may have created apparently
insurmountable barriers.
Many disaffected students are known to be
'non-attenders' at traditional intitutions, but
through a VLE with eMentor support, these
school/college-averse learners are guided
carefully back into the world of learning. The
fast response time of eMentors to student
messages and requests is a significant factor
here - speedy feedback can help to hold the
attention of a student who might normally
struggle to concentrate, or who lacks the
maturity to wait lengthy periods for an
response.
Versatility is an important quality in an
effective eMentor - they are able to range
through a variety of academic subjects of
course, but are also amenable to talk about the
hobbies and interests of their students, and
will support academic or personal progress in
a more general fashion where appropriate. In
this way they actively gain the trust and
confidence of the learner. This is particularly
significant for disaffected students, where the
eMentor usually works to find some noncontroversial 'common-ground' to open a line
of communication with the student to start to
build the necessary working relationship
before beginning to encourage the student's
learning progress.
e-Mentors are adept at seeing the potential in
their students, whatever the background, and
they also envisage and enable the potential
power of the features and functions of the
VLE in bringing the best out of these learners.
eMentoring is an exciting new dynamic in this
growing world of online education. Trained,
professional eMentors can bring together and
support collaborative groups of learners from
a whole range of disparate backgrounds,
creating a truly inclusive educational
community. Simultaneously, at the other end
of their scale of duties, eMentors offer
individual, personalised learning help,
guidance and support when and as necessary,
to even the most challenging of students.
Such generous flexibility of educational
response is not normally available to these
students
through
the
physical/time
constrained
traditional
school/college
frameworks. In fact, it is these constraints
which often work, unwittingly, to exclude the
students whose educational needs don’t fit the
( 292 )
‘norm’. Thus, the eMentor offers a range of
real online advantages to learners who find
themselves on the 'fringes' of traditional
learning.
person in term of discussing ideas in class’,
179 boys compared to 412 girls rated
themsleves so, out of a total of 1605
responses included in the overall study.)
eMentoring to Support Special
Educational Needs (SEN) Learners
Fast Track Learners
Students with special educational needs
benefit from the help of an eMentor. An
eMentor offers the time, patience and nonjudgemental advice and support that many of
these students cannot access readily in
tradtional modes of learning. An eMentor
monitoring an asynchronous community
board for example can actively encourage and
support, say, a physically disabled learner the board will 'wait' for their contibutions and
the eMentor will pass no judgement on
whether the typed post takes 5 minutes to be
completed or half an hour (or even longer). In
a traditional classroom - the conversation
might have passed by without this learner's
specific contribution - the learner excluded,
not included.
eMentoring to Support ‘Shy’ or
‘Quiet’ Learners
Learners often present a new image of
themselves to the online community if they
feel this is appropriate - eMentors will support
them as they try out new online voices whilst
they formulate their own learning paths.
Planning, creating and activating appropriate
online activites for students is part of the
eMentor's brief, this is often be done with
particular students in mind, and the activity is
geared to encourage and support those
particular individuals. These activities range
from simple chat room sessions, to special
community boards or specific 'peer mentor'
responsibilities. 67% of self-reported ‘shy’
boys and 58% of ‘shy’ girls said that they had
‘been helped with their school work’ by the
Virtual-Workspace. (Interestingly, more girls
than boys considered themselves to be ‘a shy
Fast track learners can benefit from the
advantages of being able to access support
services from a well trained eMentor team in
many ways:
• eMentors spot and encourage potential
in individuals who might not even be
aware that they could fall into the fast
track category
• eMentors facilitate the focused
pursuance of specific learning goals in
such a way that the learning goals
become ‘stretched goals’ where
appropriate, allowing the student to
develop the necessary confidence to
reach further
• eMentors will network across learners
in a VLE, so are in a good position to
make effective introductions which
may seed useful collaborative working
• eMentors are adept at sophisticated
search techniques and are skilled at
discriminatory appraisal of web-based
learning materials, therefore, fast track
learners benefit from having access to
the right materials quickly and
efficiently, rather than having to waste
time ploughing through largely
irrelevant learning content (this is
eMentor in the role of eCurator)
• eMentors maintain an encouraging,
welcoming and friendly atmosphere in
a VLE; fast track learners are often
treated as ‘swots’ in school and may
protect themsleves by retreating to
mediocity at best or complete lack of
commitment to learning (at school) at
worst; eMentors create a ‘safe’ place
for fast track learners to flourish
( 293 )
•
without fear of jeering, or even
threats, from less keen learners.
eMentors
have
the
necessary
professional judgement and patience
for students to air complex arguments
and for elements of knowledge
construction to fall properly into
place; they can support the learner on
demand, even as difficult and
challenging learning stratagems unfold
•
•
For All Learners
•
A significant characteristic of eMentoring is
the offer of a non-judgemental approach to all
learners. In a US study it was noted that,
amongst a range of benefits, eMentoring
importantly provided ‘…impartiality and
links across institutions, (and) influences of
coaching and training’ Clearly, eMentoring
provides genuine support for learners which is
in itself impartial and inclusive, but which is
also engaging for learners who quickly realize
in their interactions with an eMentor they
have the calm and focused attention of a nonjudgmental professional to assist them in their
need, what ever that student’s history or
background as a learner.
•
Disadvantages or Risks in the System
of eMentoring
So far this paper has presented the advantages
that eMentoring offers to learners. But, there
are some weaknesses and risks in the
methodology of eMentoring which must be
mentioned:
• some students may receive a
confusing set of mixed-messages
where by, ‘School bans chat’ style
headlines, conflict with their own
positive experiences of ‘chatting’
online with an eMentor or a helpful
peer mentor
• eMentoring is currently not widely
available in educational institutions, so
•
only a relatively limited number of
students have access
many teachers/tutors (not all) distrust
other ‘unseen’ groups of education
professionals whom they see as
somehow likely to interfere with, or
jeopardize in some way, the academic
progress of their students
a small number of students become
overly dependent on their eMentors
(however, this happens rarely, and in a
well-managed team can be identified
and resolved)
eMentors can be targeted by student
‘stalkers’ (again this is a rare
occurrence, but with sensible preplanning for such an eventuality it can
be identified and managed)
eMentors must be flexible employees
who are willing to be life-long
learners themselves, not least because:
o eMentors are obliged to keep
up to date with fast changing
technology
up to date with legal
requirements regarding data
handling and data protection
abreast of changes in the
handling of safeguarding and
child protection issues – this is
an area where eMentors are
potentially exposed to greatest
risk
eMentors’ responses to students need
to be rigorously checked and
monitored to ensure both the quality
of the content, and the integrity of any
online actions – this raises questions
about ‘Who watches the gatekeeper?’
Guardianship of eMentoring services is
challenging but manageable. However, if
poorly managed, could expose a VLE /
( 294 )
institution to risk, although in reality this is
probably no more and no less significant than
the risk of classroom teaching staff exploiting
an online relationship for untoward or even
criminal intent.
( 295 )
Conclusion
As project manager for the VirtualWorkspace, I have worked closely with an
excellent team of eMentors for the last three
and a half years. Together, we have had the
privelege of helping many thousands of
teenage students; we have had great joys and
great sadness along the way. We have dealt
with tragic student deaths, suicide threats,
student grief and shared all the vagaries of
teenage disappointment with life, the universe
and everything. On the other hand, we have
shared the astonishing joys of fantastic
academic results, unexpected successes, small
steps to progress and giant leaps of learning
faith. We have been inspired by the diligent
and selfless work of our large team of online
Peer Mentors whom we have trained, and we
have been touched by the matter of fact
attitude of some severely ill and disabled
students, who inspite of every possible
disadvantage have stuck to their online
studies regardless.
From my standpoint, the advantages clearly
outweigh the disadvantages. The important
thing is, that the eMentors are there when
students need them. When everything is well
with the world, and the student can work quite
happily without extra assistance, that’s fine –
we don’t chase the student (we’re too busy
with other students for that!) But, when the
student’s work is just not going right and is all
just a little too much to bear alone, the student
can turn to us to help straighten it out – and
we’re right there at the click of a mouse.
( 296 )
References
Books, Journals and Presentations:
Atwell G. 2007 ‘No life in Second Life?’
presentation given at Online Educa Berlin
Harris, J. 2007, ‘Bullying Online: Managing
online Behaviour in Schools and Colleges’,
Lifetime Publishing.
Keen A, (2007) presentation given at Online
Educa Berlin
Keen A, (2007) ‘The Cult of the Amateur:
How Today's Internet Is Killing Our Culture
and Assaulting Our Economy’, Nicholas
Brealey Publishing
Palloff, R.M. and Pratt, K. (2003) ‘The
Virtual Student’, Jossey-Bass
Passey, D. (2007) ‘Virtual-Workspace: An
Independent Review’, Lancaster University
Department of Educational Research
Salmon, G. (2002) ‘E-Tivities: The Key to
Active Online Learning’, Kogan Page
Single,P.B. and Single, R. ‘e-Mentoring for
social equity’, Mentoring and Tutoring, vol
13.
Online:
http://www.online-educa.com/
www.virtual-workspace.com
( 297 )
An Evaluation of ICT Intefration in Education for Selected Abu
Dhabi Schools
Jihad Qadan
Samir Idris Ali
Introduction
Beginning May 2006, Intel Education and
Abu Dhabi Education Zone (ADEZ) have
signed accord to train 6000 teachers on Intel
Teach to the Future Curriculum (TTF) in 3
years period. The accord has unleashed the
first senior training of 16 qualified teachers.
Original plan for the 16 trainers to train 300
Master Trainers (MT) each will train their
colleague teachers in schools. The Intel (TTF)
main objective is to train teachers on utilizing
technology inside the classrooms and
collaborate with teachers together with
students to utilize technology in the learning
process.
After one year, more than 2200 teachers
trained and most have participated to apply
Intel (TTF) inside the classroom. Abu Dhabi
Education Zone was requested by Intel to
evaluate the project outcome which is this
study is about. Based on this evaluation study
and its conclusion, this study will conclude on
available facilities that teachers and students
can access trying to eliminate the challenges
each have experienced during the project.
In the awake of availability of web solutions,
this study will provide a proposal to most
suitable global solution that will help teachers
and students world wide benefit from content,
collaboration technology & tools to develop
the education process.
Background on ADEZ:
Abu Dhabi Education Zone is a local emirate
authority that manages Abu Dhabi city
schools of 136 working under the authority of
the federal Ministry of Education in the UAE
and governed by its polices. Total number of
teachers & administration staff in ADEZ is
5600. More than 50,000 students study in
ADEZ schools. ADEZ gets its fund from
MOE as well as from the local government of
Abu Dhabi.
ADEZ ICT Status before Intel Teach:
Overall the total number of schools ready to
undertake the Intel Teach program were70
schools. The indirect effect of different
training programs and projects that took
place, since 2003, have resulted a spread of
ICT competency among teachers. It was noted
that many teachers who did not participate in
ICT courses have taken the initiative to learn
different technologies to utilize it in their
teaching tasks.
Background on Intel Teach to the
Future training program
Intel Teach to the Future was designed to
provide
a
professional
development
experience that would prepare teachers to use
technology with their students.
The curriculum used in the Intel Teach to the
Future trainings was developed in 2000 by the
Institute for Computer Technology (ICT;
www.ict.org) and Intel Corporation. It focuses
on the use of widely available software in the
context of inquiry-oriented and project-based
teaching and learning, and stresses the
alignment of curricula with standards. The 40hour training sequence is delivered through a
train-the-trainer model, with senior trainers
from the Institute training Master Teachers
from different schools, who are then expected
( 298 )
to train Participant Teachers in their
educational zones. The training uses
Microsoft productivity software, focusing
primarily on how to use Windows-based
versions of PowerPoint and Publisher to
support students in creating presentations,
web pages, brochures and newsletters. The
training also discusses pedagogical and
classroom management challenges associated
with using technology with students, as well
as conducting research on the Internet, and
intellectual property issues.
The central activity of the curriculum is the
creation of a unit plan, including model
student work samples, support materials, and
an implementation plan. Teachers are
encouraged at the beginning of the training to
select a unit that they already use in their
teaching that might be enhanced with an
infusion of technology. This structure is
intended to allow teachers to expand their
technical skills in the context of a curriculum
development process. By designating a large
amount of time in the workshops for the
creation of immediately relevant materials,
the curriculum puts the teachers’ interests and
concerns at the center of the training
experience and enables them to walk away
from the training with a usable product.
•
•
•
Master Trainer’s group trained and
their PT’s.
EOT Survey: Each trainer and trainee
the End of Training (EOT) survey
posted on LMS website
Intel® Teach to the Future Impact
Survey: Given to 72 male and female
teachers in seven schools inside and
outside the city of Abu Dhabi
including
model
schools
and
government schools
Clustering: School principals were
given the instructions to manage the
courses within schools as a
requirement for their teachers
development plan. Senior Trainers
were also given the role of supervising
their MT’s. Based on this observations
and visits in this year of research,
evaluators visiting centers and schools
of training, attended trainings by
school
principals,
observed
participating teachers, and interviewed
the program evaluation team, school
principals, senior trainers, master
trainers and participants while
trainings were in session. Added to
that the training coordinators records
of indicators.
Methodology of Intel TTF in ADEZ
schools Evaluation:
Evaluation Results:
The evaluation was divided to 2 phases:
Training
phase
and
Classroom
implementation phase. The 2 phases
measurement were taken different methods
based on the project implementation
elements:
• Quality measures: Each Master
Trainer’s course was visited at least
once and evaluated unit plans by the
evaluation team.
• Registration: Each Senior Trainer
enters the registration information of
Results of evaluation of 1st phase, Training
Phase:
The success of this 1st phase which is the
training process phase is connected to the 2nd
phase
success
which
is
classroom
implementation which is the overall program
impact.
The results are based on End of Training
(EOT) evaluation forms filled by trainees and
Supporting Observations from the clustering
element.
1. Highlights of EOT results:
( 299 )
Objective of this section to
summarize the highest scored
questions
and
explain
indication of this result.
* The overall average results from the EOT filled forms of 2219 entries
70
63
60
No Answer
50
40
Lowest Rank
31
30
Low rank
20
High rank
10
Highest rank
6
1
0
0
Results
* Indicators that scored above 65% in the top rating rank are Questions 2.D, 4A, 4B & 5 (D,E,F,G)
Question 2. d) Provided opportunities to collaborate with other educators
80.00%
70.00%
60.00%
50.00%
40.00%
30.00%
20.00%
10.00%
0.00%
74.34%
None
Sm all Extent
Moderate Extent
20.66%
Great Extent
1.50%
3.50%
Results
Question 4. a) How successful was he/she at leading participants through the process of creating
unit plans?
90.00%
80.00%
70.00%
60.00%
50.00%
40.00%
30.00%
20.00%
10.00%
0.00%
82.06%
Not at All
Somewhat
Adequately
16.37%
0.37%
1.22%
Results
( 300 )
Very
As seen on this chart related to the Master
Trainer performance in assisting teachers
creating unit plan, it marked the highest of all
EOT indicators. This should stand as a solid
proof that trainers have made a good effort in
helping their fellow teachers. Specially that
low ranked rating is very negligible %1.22 &
%0.37 in this question.
Question 4. b) How successful was he/she at engaging the group in discussions of pedagogical
and classroom management issues?
90.00%
80.00%
70.00%
60.00%
50.00%
40.00%
30.00%
20.00%
10.00%
0.00%
78.77%
Not at All
Som ew hat
Adequately
19.37%
0.29%
Very
1.57%
Results
Again this is another solid proof that Master
Trainers preformed very well in delivering the
course objectives and were provided with
enough tools and support from ADEZ and
their Senior Trainer. This indicator is the 2nd
highest of all EOT survey results.
Question 5) Remaining highest indicators have all fallen in the questions related of how
readiness the trainees to integrate technology in teaching represented by the questions: (how
useful the components in learning how to integrate technology in teaching)
5. d)
5. e)
5. f)
5. g)
Creating student multimedia presentations.
Creating student publications.
Creating teacher support materials.
Creating student web sites.
Very Useful
5. g)
Moderte Useful
Somewhat
useful
Not useful
5. f)
5. e)
5. d)
0.00%
20.00%
40.00%
( 301 )
60.00%
80.00%
The low ratio of negative ranks shown in this
chart for this question indicates high training
standards of courses delivered by Master
Trainers.
2. Supporting Observation
• Many courses were done after
working hours without compensations
to the trainees or trainers and
continued to be acceptable and
positively agreed arrangement to most
Master
Trainers
till
courses
commencement.
• Some
Master
Trainers
have
voluntarily
conducted
additional
courses after their first compulsory
course
• The unit plans that the teachers have
developed during the training and
modified later on, have shown that
most of them have mastered the
essential tools they need to create such
products. They made use of the old
works of their colleagues, developed,
and added more brilliant ideas. There
was a spirit of challenge and many of
them tried to prove they were up to it,
capable of doing something new.
• General perception based on several
informal
interviewed
teachers,
principals and school administrators is
mostly positive unlike previous
programs such as T3 in which it was
criticized for its irrelevance to teachers
expectation. Keeping in mind that the
T3 project was managed by Zayed
University with some logistical
support from ADEZ.
• The program has echoed its reputation
outside the government frame that
private schools shown interest to
participate as well as some private
centers were keen to provide their
services.
• Intel Teach course is the 2nd highest
number of course registration among
other ICT courses presented in the
annual training catalog of ADEZ
training dept
Results of evaluation of 2ndt phase, after
training Phase (Program Impact):
The evaluation of Intel Teach to the Future
has identified specific findings from surveys,
classroom and training observations, and
interviews.
• Teachers feel prepared to integrate
technology
after
this
training.
Teachers valued the opportunity the
workshops gave them to think about
supporting their pedagogy with
technology
and
create
usable
materials. Teachers not only rated the
training positively, but they reported
feeling more prepared to integrate
technology into their teaching after
program participation.
• Teachers feel they can do something
new when they return to their
classrooms. Large numbers of teachers
can use their unit plans with their
students after the training.
• Teachers’ involvement in projectbased technology integration needs to
be more focused and sustained over
time.
Teachers reported that they need more time to
modify and use the materials they developed
during the training and to engage in additional
technology-rich activities. Many teachers
reported that they were aware of the specific
pedagogical messages embedded in the
training curriculum although they felt that
some pedagogical ideas presented in the
training were irrelevant to their teaching
atmosphere and background.
The implementation model for the program,
depended on identifying 16 teachers to
become Senior Trainers, and was able to meet
their professional development needs by
training many Master Teachers. This strategy
( 302 )
helped to establish cohorts of trained teachers
in individual schools who were then able to
support each other in their work.
In order for any professional development
program to have an impact on the teachers it
reaches, it must first offer a training
experience that excites and motivates them.
Intel Teach to the Future gives teachers the
opportunity to invest a significant amount of
time in developing curricular materials for
their own use. During visits made to program
trainings in the first year of the evaluation,
both Master Teachers and Participant
Teachers
appreciated
this
hands-on
experience and having enough time during the
training to think about and create a
technology-enhanced unit plan
that would address the curricular standards
they are required to meet, although many
teachers stressed the importance of taking
more time unit plan development.
Teachers who are inexperienced technology
users stated that leaving the training with a
complete unit plan in hand, ready to use with
their students, had made it possible for them
to take that crucial step of implementing a
technology-rich project with their students for
the first time.
The survey of impact conducted in the seven
schools (mentioned above) has shown the
following:
• 70 participants and three master
trainers responded to the survey
• Using Intel Manual and CD ROM
since completing Intel® Teach to the
Future training:
MANUAL and CD ROM use
Did not receive
Not at all
Intel® Teach to the Future CDROM
1-3 times
Intel® Teach to the Future
manual
4-10 times
More than10 times
0
5
10
15
20
This chart shows how many times the
teachers used the manual and the CD ROM,
and we can notice that 20.5 % of the teachers
did not receive their own copies of the
manual, and 6.8 of them did not receive the
CD ROM which in turn affects the other parts
of the chart.
( 303 )
25
•
30
Visiting
Intel®
Innovation
in
Education website since completing
Intel® training:
The survey results show that 53.5 %
of the teachers visited that website at least
once.
•
Intel® Teach to the Future training:
Implementing some or the entire unit
plan the teachers developed in their
Implementation of the unit plan
25
20
15
10
5
0
Yes, more than once
Yes, once
Not yet
This chart shows that 53.4 % of the teachers
made use of the unit plans they developed
during the Intel® Teach to the Future training
and 10.9 of the teachers expressed their
intention to use them but they didn’t have the
chance to do so for different reasons.
•
No, never
How often the teachers have had their
students engage in technologyintegrated lessons since completing
their Intel® Teach to the Future
training:
Engaging Students in Technology
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
Daily
Weekly
Monthly
Several times a year
( 304 )
Once a year
Never
The most relevant or important goal for a
lesson the teachers have implemented using a
particular technology-integrated lesson or
activity
Most Important Goals for Technology-integrated Lesson
18
16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
1.Students learn curriculum content
2. Students work on basic skills (such as math and reading)
3. Students express their ideas/opinions by creating multimedia products
4. Students conduct research
5. Students gain preparation to succeed in the workforce
6. Students present information to an audience
7. Students improve their computer skills
8. Students learn to work in groups
9. Students learn to work independently
( 305 )
8
9
•
Impact of this technology-integrated lesson on students (4 diagrams)
c) Technology-integrated
lessons addressed
students’ different
learning styles.
0
Strongly Disagree
5
Strongly Disagree
10
Disagree
15
No Opinion
20
Agree
25
30
Strongly Agree
a) Students were
motivated and actively
involved in the lesson.
0
Strongly Disagree 1
10
Disagree 2
20
30
No Opinion 3
( 306 )
40
Agree 4
50
Strongly Agree 5
60
d) Student work showed
more in-depth
understanding of content
than in previous,
comparable
assignments.
0
Strongly Disagree
5
10
Strongly Disagree
15
Disagree
20
No Opinion
25
Agree
30
35
Strongly Agree
e) Students were able to
communicate their ideas
and opinions with
greater confidence than
in previous, comparable
assignments.
0
Strongly Disagree
5
10
Strongly Disagree
15
20
Disagree
( 307 )
25
30
No Opinion
35
Agree
40
45
Strongly Agree
50
•
Challenges of implementing technology-integrated lesson or activity:
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
Strongly Disagree
Disagree
No Opinion
Agree
Strongly Agree
a) It was difficult to manage your students on the computers.
25
20
15
10
5
0
Strongly Disagree
Disagree
No Opinion
Agree
b) Not enough computers were available.
( 308 )
Strongly Agree
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
Strongly Disagree
Disagree
No Opinion
Agree
Strongly Agree
c) You did not have adequate access to the Internet.
45
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
Strongly Disagree
Disagree
No Opinion
Agree
Strongly Agree
d) The class time or lab time that was available was too short.
( 309 )
45
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
Strongly Disagree
Disagree
No Opinion
Agree
Strongly Agree
e) You did not have strong enough computer skills.
•
Strategies suggested by Intel Training that participants might use to incorporate project
based lessons into their teaching:
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
1
2
3
Not True at all
Somewhat true
Very True
a) The teaching strategies were new to me.
b) The teaching strategies were relevant to my teaching goals.
( 310 )
•
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Change that has happened after completing the Intel training:
f) Use rubrics
e) Present
d) Use a
c) Access the
b) Use
a) Use a
Internet to aid computer for information to to evaluate
Essential
textbook as a
primary guide Questions to in developing administrative students using student work.
computer
work (for
lessons or
structure
for
technology.
example,
activities.
lessons.
instruction.
grading,
attendance,
creating
handouts).
Do This less
•
No change
g) Have
students
review and
revise their
own work.
k) Have
j) Have
i) Have
h) Have
students
students work
students
students
choose their
on group
engage in
present their
own topics
projects.
independent
work to the
for research
research using
class.
projects.
the Internet.
Do This more
Not Applicable
some or all of the computers in the labs/media centers have access to the Internet:
Computer labs /media centers' computers connected to the internet
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
 Yes
 No
( 311 )
•
How often the teachers work with their students in the computer lab or media center:
20
18
16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
 Daily
 Weekly
 Monthly
Local Challenges of ADEZ Teachers
are Global
Teachers’ positive experiences with this
program were important because they made
the first major step toward integration of
technology into meaningful, content-rich
student work very easy.
However, teachers involved in the evaluation
were experimenting with new technology
tools and with new teaching practices.
Teachers, who implanted the unit plans they
developed during the training, often used only
part of their unit plans (for example, the
PowerPoint presentation but not the webpage
design) because they viewed these activities
as equivalent to one another, rather than
seeing them as distinct work products
associated with distinct learning goals.
Teachers who have been through Intel Teach
to the Future Essentials need two key forms
of further support in order to help them move
toward integrating technology in ways that
will have an impact on student learning. First,
teachers need more opportunities to review
their assessment strategies for technology-rich
student work. Teachers need much more time
to think critically about exactly what they
 Less than once
per month
 Never
expect technology tools to add to their
students’ learning.
Second, these teachers also need further
training that is focused on improving
teachers’ understanding of how students learn
and how lessons and units can be designed to
scaffold that learning process.
The Essentials course was designed to build
on what teachers already do in their
classrooms, follow-up trainings could build
on teachers’ initial experiences integrating
project-based technology lessons by having
teachers reflect on the opportunities and
challenges they encountered. Teachers would
then be asked to revise existing lessons or
create new ones to better address their own
and their students’ needs.
Teachers need deeper ideas about when and
how to use technology to enhance their
instruction and deepen their students’
learning.
The Essentials course was very successful in
its ability to reach teachers of all grade levels
and content areas. Many elementary teachers
find these tools difficult to use with young
students. This challenge is probably predicted
and common in many different countries.
( 312 )
Challenges raised by teachers during the
evaluation such as internet connection, time,
computer availability are common challenges
other teachers experience in different
countries.
Who is the true innovator?
Technology holds a great promise for
preparing students with skills needed for their
future. We can’t predict the future of students
but we can provide the technologies that will
help them shape it for themselves.
e-learning is no doubt a great facility to
occupy inside the classroom to advance the
learning process. Students are more interested
when the learning process is projected into
other medias beside the traditional teachers
instructions. Teachers as well enjoy using
technology to engage their students in
learning better and faster as it becomes very
helpful to simulate invisible facts and
theories. The main concern for a teacher to
use others content or objects is always been
its suitability for the student he or she teaches.
Many of teachers selected to participate in
Intel TTF training, were not happy to be
nominated as courses conducted after working
hours of school time. As the end of training
courses approached its end, it was observed
that most have engaged well and shown
enthusiasm to the training contrary to the
expectation they had in the beginning.
The question whether teachers are capable to
provide more innovation to elearning than elearning produces is outside the scope of this
study, but they are innovators because they
understand what is best for their students. Not
only Intel TTF provided the tools & methods
to create lessons, it also provided rubrics to
evaluate content and lesson plans.
Teachers are very capable to create lessons
and to integrate other’s in their teaching plan,
however they usually hesitant to provide that
added value because of their weak ICT skills
and lack of understanding in the integration
process. The other obstacle is lack of time and
lack of recognized reward to their extra effort.
From different samples of work made by
students of Intel TTF participated teachers, it
is noticed the powerful aspect of allowing
teachers and students engage together with
the ICT available solutions in order to
enhance their understanding of a particular
lesson. For the first time, students were
allowed to put their innovation inside their
classrooms. In the future this will create a
great impact on their personality as well their
skills to engage in the learning process not
only as learners but also as contributors.
e-learning is more innovative with the
engagement of teachers and students. Tools &
technology is helpful but looses its objective
when it doesn’t meet their expectations.
Available innovative solutions:
Skoool
Smart Technologies, learning market place
MERTLOT. ORG
The websites mentioned are serious examples
of available solutions teachers can access to
utilize in the classroom. Again, accessing
these websites has its limitation to many
teachers as access requires financial support
or the language is not proper or the content
level is not suitable.
Global Accessed Learning Solution
Marketplace (GALSM):
Internet or the world-wide-web impact on
many people’s lives is phenomenal because of
availability of information and simplicity of
communication. Content portals have seen
great development in the last few years that
resulted in many acquisitions from giant
corporate.
Teachers spend longer time searching for
suitable content from various websites using
search engines. A Global Accessed Learning
( 313 )
Solution Marketplace (GALSM) should avail
all learning resources for various levels,
content in different languages and categorized
to subject then to sub-subjects then to topic.
As an example, a physics teacher will be able
to find the content for the category Physics
subject, Motion sub-subject and Projectile
Motion as topic. Various types of content is
available like simulation, presentation,
analysis sheets or executable file etc. The
(GALSM) have all the features and options of
the examples mentioned in the previous
websites mentioned in addition to other
features that makes it unique and attractive to
educators and learners.
their tools inside the portal for teachers and
students to use.
Distribution of income:
Income generated by student access that is
arranged by government districts or schools
or parents are then distributed to contributors:
Teachers, Content Producers and Software
Providers according to the amount of usage
which is monitored by voting system and
times of particular software has been used.
Teachers will enjoy this feature the most and
will feel awarded when they decide to
innovate and contribute to the students
globally.
Technology:
The Basic Model:
Members:
The basic model of GALSM consists of 4
members related to each other inside the
marketplace portal:
• Teachers or Educators
• Students
• Content
Producers
(e-learning
providers)
• Software Solution Providers
The portal can accommodate teachers to
upload and download content available,
students download or view content, content
producers upload their material they want to
sell and finally software providers implant
This portal should be equipped with state of
the art tools that make it simple for students
from all levels and backgrounds to use:
• Search capability for different content
indicating variables of each with
previewing medium.
• Monitoring arrangement to avoid nonsuitable content upload for learners
• Optimized portal structure that makes
it possible to sophisticated designing
software to function properly.
• Collaboration point to allow users to
add and edit content with copyright
protection.
( 314 )
Fishman, B., Marx, R., Best, S., & Tal, R.
(2003). Linking teacher and student learning
to improve professional development in
systemic reform. Teaching and Teacher
Education, 19(6), 643-658.
U.S. Department of Education (2000). Does
professional development change teaching
practice?
Results from a three-year study. Washington,
DC: Author. Available at
http://www.ed.gove/offices.OUR/PES/esed/1
01300exec_summary.pdf.
National Foundation for the Improvement of
Education. (1996). Teachers take charge of
their learning: Transforming professional
development for student success. Washington,
DC.
Wiggins, G.,
Understanding
Prentice-Hall.
References
( 315 )
& McTighe, J. (2000).
by design. New York:
Using Artificial Intelligence for eLearning: Intelligence Web Agent
‘Sharing the Knowledge Resources’
Bassel Daoudi
Abstract
This research is introducing a new idea and
technology to improve the e-learning system
performance using the concept of Intelligence
Web Agent.
Intelligence Web Agent refers to any
application runs on the web server in order to
perform intelligence operations - regular
programmed applications can not do it using the Artificial intelligence technologies.
AI (Artificial Intelligence) technique which
used in this research is the DataMining which
works with data sets and extracts important
information
using
clustering
and
classification on the data in side the data sets.
Here we are using the DataMining to classify
a set of students for an e-Learning system in
order to present to each class of students after
classification the important and useful eResource and tutorials depends on the
students interest inside each class.
To achieve this classification we used the
SOM (Self Organizing Map) which is a type
of artificial neural network that is trained
using unsupervised learning to produce a
low-dimensional representation of the input
space of the training samples, called a map.
The classification process performed one two
steps :
•
•
First : classification for the students
set according to the students
education and knowledge levels.
Second: classification for the classes
from the previous step according to
the students interest inside the classes.
Performing the previous classifications we
can obtain sets (groups) of students and those
groups are classified according to the
students’ interests, where we assure for the
students to share all the useful e-Recourses
and Tutorials for them according to their
levels.
Introduction
In order to understand what dose “Knowledge
Sharing” mean let’s go through a simple
example from the regular university.
Suppose the situation of the physical
university as an example for the research’s
main idea, in this university we have a group
of students study the same courses, each
student of this group has his education
background and own knowledge which he got
it from the previous courses and previous
reading, so for every group inside any
university we have many levels of knowledge
in the same group.
Students always try to share their knowledge
in order to improve their own and always try
to discus the helpful tutorials and articles for
their courses outside the classes; in this case
for one group of student we can say that those
students are sharing the knowledge resources
and this process is important or maybe the
most important process in any education
operation.
e-learning concept has the same of the
physical learning concept with a different in
implementation, in physical learning system
we have the building of the institute or
university , teachers or professors , classes ,
( 316 )
advantage
of
knowledge
sharing without adding any
knowledge to the group.
e-Resources
&
Tutorials
classification: for all classes
(groups) from the previous
classification we will apply
another
classification
to
classify those groups according
to the students interests inside
each group
students and so on , they are communication
together to complete the education process as
in the e-learning system but in a virtual
environment .
In order to obtain a successful e-learning
system we should use all the experiences in
the regular learning and trying to apply it to
the e-Learning system, and that what we are
try to do in this research .
Applying the knowledge sharing between the
students in the e-Learning system is the main
purpose of this research; in additional to the
main purpose we can use this research for
system contents development and for
marketing purposes.
Concept of intelligence web agent is not a
new concept but using this concept in eLearning in the new concept, although there
are a lot of intelligence web agents serve the
e-Learning like using decision making and
expert system for e-learning development, but
this research contains a new idea for the eLearning.
Research Overview
In this research we are using two main
procedures and many assistant procedures
• Main procedures: which are the core
of our system and using the Artificial
Intelligence technologies, there are:
1. Students classifications: we’ll
classify the students of the eLearning system to a sets of
students according to the
students education levels, this
classification is very important
for the students where only the
students with the same
education level can share the
knowledge together, cause if
the class has multilevel of
students then only the low
level
students
use
the
( 317 )
From the main procedures we can
notice the dynamic environment we
have , always new classes appear and
other classes disappear ,depend on the
students education progress and the
same thing for
e-Resources and
Tutorials ,always the new classes of eResources and Tutorials will appear
while the students still reading.
•
Assistant procedures: The assistant
procedures responsibilities are to
assure the collecting of data from the
data sets, preparing the main
procedures’ input, we will not go
through those procedures in our
explanation cause we can implement
them in difference ways depends on
the web developers’ techniques
1. Connecting to Data Set: This
procedure responsible to connect
the Data Set in two ways reading
from and writing into Data set.
2. Connecting to SOM: This
procedure responsible to convert
the data which we will use it in the
training process to feature vectors
to accommodate the SOM
structure.
3. Creating the class’s Map: This
procedure responsible to create the
students Map after the first
classification and the e-Resources
and tutorials Map after the second
classification
Why DataMining?
We used in our research DataMining due to
the advantage which it has, cause we want to
assure the balance in performance and cost ,
the cost here is both time and money.
We can use the expert system which is a
branch of AI and can perform the same
classifications.
But in this way the cost will be high due to
the time we need it to collect the data and
extract the important information to send it to
the expert ,then he will analyze it and send
back the results to us.
We can notice the cost of time in this case and
of course there is a money cost for this
process cause we used people to collect and
extract, and people to analyze, also the
performance will be low cause in the future
when the data set change cause of new
students and new courses so we need to repeat
the previous operations once again.
Using DataMining will reduce the cost in both
money and time , and increase the
performance ,if any new data entered the
system only what we should do is to turn on
the automatic training .
Clearly we can notice the difference in
performance and cost between DataMining
and others.
dimensionality of vectors, is essentially a data
compression technique known as vector
quantization. In addition, the Kohonen
technique creates a network that stores
information in such a way that any
topological relationships within the training
set
are
maintained.
One of the most interesting aspects of SOMs
is that they learn to classify data without
supervision
For the purposes of this research we'll be
discussing a two dimensional SOM. The
network is created from a 2D lattice of
'nodes', each of which is fully connected to
the input layer.
Fig1: 2D SOM
Each node has a specific topological position
(an x, y coordinate in the lattice) and contains
a vector of weights of the same dimension as
the input vectors. That is to say, if the training
data consists of vectors, V, of n dimensions:
V1, V2, V3...Vn
Then each node will contain a corresponding
weight vector W, of n dimensions:
W1, W2, W3...Wn
What is SOM ?
Self Organizing Feature Maps, they were
invented by a man named Teuvo Kohonen, a
professor of the Academy of Finland, and
they provide a way of representing
multidimensional data in much lower
dimensional spaces - usually one or two
dimensions. This process, of reducing the
Learning Algorithm Overview
A SOM does not need a target output to be
specified unlike many other types of network.
Instead, where the node weights match the
input vector, that area of the lattice is
selectively optimized to more closely
( 318 )
resemble the data for the class the input
vector is a member of. From an initial
distribution of random weights, and over
much iteration, the SOM eventually settles
into a map of stable zones. Each zone is
effectively a feature classifier, so you can
think of the graphical output as a type of
feature map of the input space.
Training occurs in several steps and over
many iterations:
1. Each node's weights are initialized.
2. A vector is chosen at random from the
set of training data and presented to
the lattice.
3. Every node is examined to calculate
which one's weights are most like the
input vector. The winning node is
commonly known as the Best
Matching Unit (BMU).
4. The radius of the neighborhood of the
BMU is now calculated. This is a
value that starts large, typically set to
the 'radius' of the lattice, but
diminishes each time-step. Any nodes
found within this radius are deemed to
be inside the BMU's neighborhood.
5. Each neighboring node's (the nodes
found in step 4) weights are adjusted
to make them more like the input
vector. The closer a node is to the
BMU, the more its weights get altered.
6. Repeat step 2 for N iterations
Determining the Best Matching Unit's Local
Neighborhood
Each iteration, after the BMU has been
determined, the next step is to calculate which
of the other nodes are within the BMU's
neighborhood. All these nodes will have their
weight vectors altered in the next step. So
how do we do that? It’s not too difficult... first
you calculate what the radius of the
neighborhood should be and then to
determine if each node is within the radial
distance or not
Fig2: BMU Local Neighborhood
The Methods
Our research is trying to apply the knowledge
sharing between the students in any eLearning system, so we are dealing with web
systems and of course we are talking about
the dynamic system not the static one.
In every web system we have many parts:
• The website Designed Pages: which
are some templates we load the data to
those templates to create the website
• The website Database: which is a
collection of tables contain the content
of the website.
• The Front End website: which is the
website the users can browse and
interact with.
• The Administrator website: which is
the place where the administrators can
modify and change the content of the
front end website; nobody can browse
this website except the administrators
Our research will run under both the
Administrator and Front End website, we will
create the SOM network and do the training
from the Administrator website then we will
display the results and the classes in the Front
End website according to the visitors which
we can recognize them depending to their
usernames and passwords.
We can use any strategies to create our
dynamic website and then we can create our
components and install it into the website; we
can create our components using any OOP
( 319 )
(Object Oriented Programming) languages,
PHP5 or ASP.
Students’ classification using SOM
In any e-Learning system we have in the
Database one table for students , what’s
important for us from this table is the student
ID.
We have also another table which is the
courses and the course ID is the important
from this table.
Finally we have a join table which contains
both the student ID and the course ID which
the student is attending, in other word we
have a list of students ID and each student ID
is refer to a course ID.
Fig3: Simple Tables structure for the Students and Courses Database
Table1: Students – Courses simple example
Student ID
432
246
432
432
135
246
432
135
246
And in our case the simplest way is to use the
student ID which will refer to the student and
all the courses this student is attending.
Course ID
105
105
106
221
221
312
312
81
194
Vector1= (student1 ID, course1 ID, course2
ID, course3 ID,…….., coursen ID)
.
.
.
In the last example we can notice the student
with ID: 432 and the courses which he
attending which are (105,106,221,312) , all
the IDs in any table is a unique number which
means that we can not find two students with
the same ID or two courses with the same ID.
According to our previous explanation about
SOM we need to create feature vectors to be
an input to our network.
.
.
.
Vectorn= (studentn ID, course1 ID, course2
ID, course3 ID,…….., coursem ID)
We can easily extract the previous vector
using Database query, in this way anytime we
need to train our network after the joining of
( 320 )
new students or if the students apply for
another courses.
Please notice in the previous vectors it is not
necessary for all vectors to be with the same
length, some students registers for 4 courses
and others registers for more than 4 courses .
After we have a collection of vectors for each
student in our system, the training process
will take place and those vectors will be the
training samples which the network will use
to perform the classification as we explained
in “What is SOM” section.
As results from this process we will have
classes of the students and the students inside
any class will have approximately the same
education level, due to the fact that the
classification was using the courses.
Now we should save our results into the
system Database for the future use, any
student sign in the system the system checks
for the student ID and find the class which
this ID is belong.
e-Resources and Tutorials Classification
using SOM
First we did a classification of the students
according to the education level, now we are
going to perform another classification for the
groups according to the students’ interest
inside the group.
The students will share the knowledge due to
this classification, where we will classify the
previous classes according to the important eRecourses and Tutorials.
In our e-learning system we have also in the
system Database on table listing all the eResources and Tutorials, we will refer to it as
an articles which the students read to improve
their knowledge.
What is important for us from this table is the
article ID and then when any student is
reading any article we will add it to another
join table with the student ID.
Fig4: Simple Tables structure for the Students and Articles Database
( 321 )
Table2: Students – Articles simple example
Student ID
432
246
432
432
135
246
432
135
246
Article ID
1
1
6
13
13
32
32
8
14
In the last example we can notice the student
with ID: 432 and the articles which he read
are (1, 6, 13, 32), in this way we can have a
list of the students and all the important
articles they read before.
Now back to our first classification, we have
groups of students and those groups are
classified according to the students’ education
level. What we need now is to get the interest
of each group in order to classify it according
to the students’ interest inside the group.
After the first classification we should take
for each class a list of students ID and obtain
from the previous table the articles which they
read and this operation is easy only what we
need to do is to run one query which get the
articles ID for a list of students ID, as a results
from this operation we can have the same list
of classes from the first classification and we
add to each class the interest vectors which
present the students interest inside the group:
Vector1= (class1 ID, article1 ID, article2 ID,
article3 ID,…….., articlen ID)
.
.
In this classification we categorize the
students groups from the first classification
according to the articles which the students
read.
In this case we can know exactly what the
interest for each class is and then we will
display for the class’s members the links of
those articles in order to make all the students
inside this class to share the same e-Resources
and Tutorials together.
When any student inside any class read a new
article, the system will add this article to the
Database and all the class members can view
this article.
Implementation
In our system we have two stages, Training
the SOMs and Using the SOMs.
1. Training the SOMs: first get the data
from our Database and start the
training process for the both SOMs as
we explained before.
2. Using the SOMs: when the student
sign in the system we can obtain his
class from his ID and then load the
class
features.
Then dynamically we will display the
most important articles for this student
according to the interest of the class
which
he
belong
to.
And each time any student read any
new article, this article will be add it
directly to the class interest, so other
students can have a chance to read it
when they sing in next time
Vectorn= (classn ID, article1 ID, article2 ID,
article3 ID,…….., articlem ID)
( 322 )
Fig5: System structure
Form our system structure we can see the
dynamic structure where:
• When any new student joins our eLearning system it is very easy to
obtain his class according to his
courses and then he can immediately
share the knowledge with his class
member.
• Always our classes in both
classifications are changing due to the
fact that always the students will
register for new courses and the
system administrator always add new
articles to the system
Research Domains
The main use of this research is to make the
students share the e-Resources and Tutorials
as we explained before.
In any e-Learning system after installing the
same application we will be able to display all
the important and useful e-Resources and
Tutorials for our students and suggest eResources and Tutorials the students may
need it in the future.
But also we can use this research in other
domains, we can us it in:
1. System Development processes: We
can use the classes which we had and
study the students behaviors –
Behavior means here the way the
students are browsing the system and
the priority of the e-Resources and
Tutorials they used – this study will be
( 323 )
very useful for the education system
developer in develop the e-Resources
and Tutorials which exist and help the
developer in creating new e-Resources
and Tutorials.
2. Marketing Purpose: The groups’
interests will be very useful in
developing the marketing plans for the
( 324 )
e-Learning system and also we can
use this research in order to display for
the
users
advertising
banners
according to their interest, in this case
we can direct our advertising banners
on the website to accommodate the
user interests.
Fig6: Classifications
( 325 )
•
•
•
•
•
•
Previous Research
This research built according to previous
research created in Damascus University,
Faculty of Information Technology, Artificial
Intelligence department, Damascus – Syria.
The research was in 2005 By Bassel Daoudi,
Nidal Hariri and Souleiman Ahmad Damascus University, Faculty of Information
Technology,
Artificial
Intelligence
department, Damascus – Syria.
The main idea was to create an Intelligence
Web Agent to classify the visitor of an
educational website interested in IT Tutorials.
Previous Research steps:
1. We created an Intelligence Web Agent
on our own Domain.
2. Before training the SOM we collected
data for 2377 users with their interests
according to the links which they
visited before.
3. Our categories were:
•
4. Training the SOM and saving the
results
5. According to the data which we
collected before and after the training
we got 17 classes for our users
according to the interest
6. Any user visited our website we got
his class according to the previous
classification and then displayed for
him the most important tutorials which
can help him according to his class
and suggested for him new tutorials he
will need to read it in the future
Fig7: Classes after classification
( 326 )
Neurocomputing Tutorials.
Networking Tutorials.
XML Tutorials.
Flash Tutorials.
Dreamweaver Tutorials.
Cross-Production Integration
Tutorials.
Web Design Tutorials
Conclusion
Web intelligent agents are useful when we
need to find a compromise between distracted
search results and manual browsing, and it’s a
powerful tool that performs the analysis that
might cost lots of time and money when it is
performed.
Extracting information from the data, is useful
for any company or organization and that
what we tried in our research.
Classifications which we introduced in our
research can be helpful for any e-Learning
system in order to increase the performance of
the system and facilitate the development
processes for the system.
The next step in our research is to create the
web intelligence agent as an application and
be able to install it on any online system,
where we can use it for the e-Learning system
and in the same time we can use it for other
systems (e-Commercial, e-Press, e-serves,
etc.)
( 327 )
References
1. Neural Network Principles by Robert
L. Harvey
2. Data Mining in E-learning (Advances
in Management Information).
( 328 )
3. eLearning Technology by Tony Karrer
- Los Angeles – California - United
States
4. http://www.level09.com/
5. http://generation5.org/
Th Feasiblity of Using Distance Collaborative Learning Tool for
Postgraduate Medical Students: A Radiology Study in Iraq as the
Case Study
Sama Yousif AL-Eshaiker
ACET Centre, University of Reading, UK
Abstract
E-learning is becoming one the prominent
and preferred teaching and learning methods
in education. We carried a survey studying in
Iraq for postgraduate medical students and
academics; we found that 91% of the
participants are using Internet as learning
resource while only 14% are using it as
collaborative tool. A Web-based learning
system is proposed here, as a tool to create a
network of peers that enable them to
exchange knowledge and skills remotely. In
this paper, we have proposed a new
methodology of using the e-learning
technologies to support distance learning and
benefit the postgraduate medical students in
the developing countries.
Keywords: Web based learning, e-learning
technologies, developing countries.
Introduction
Currently, the Iraqi educational system uses
the traditional ways of teaching and learning
methods such as classroom-based and
instructor-centred concepts similar to the
methods and techniques that are being used in
other developing countries (Iahad 2004).
These basic methods and techniques cost
time, money and resources to be managed and
used effectively and it is not always done
successfully. In such methods learners rely
heavily on the instructors to convey the
information.
Today, due to the unstable situation in Iraq,
professionals such as lecturers, instructors and
academic staff are forced to flee the country
or move to a more stable city. Statistics from
September 2007 shows that 40% of
professionals have left Iraq since 2003 (White
2007). This leads to distribute the lecturers
and instructors inside and outside the country.
Therefore, the resources are limited and
infrastructure is weak which generate various
issues in the educational system, hence
leading to an inefficient functioning of the
teaching and learning system.
Therefore, the current learning and teaching
systems need to be improved to fit the
unstable situation and the lack of instructors
in spite of the above mentioned problems.
The Information Communication Technology
(ICT) has potential effects in improving the
educational system for the developing
counties especially when the instructors and
learners are distributed geographically
(Chetly 2006). Sarojni Choy
believes
investment in learning technologies designed
to improve the quality and flexibility of
learning services (Choy 2007).
Nowadays, there are various e-learning
applications which are being used for
educational purposes such as Blackboard
(Black Board 2007) which is a property
course management system and Moodle
(Moodle 2007) is an open source course
management system. Most of these
applications have been implemented for the
developed countries due to the availability of
essential infrastructure such as high speed
internet connection (Kern 2006). Lack of such
( 329 )
necessary resources which are crucial for
successful implementation and realization of
such application therefore these tools can not
be implemented or used for the developing
countries.
Implementing a collaborative technology for
the developing countries is not enough to
improve the education system; having a
mutual understanding, identifying goals and
communication are other aspects need to
consider having a successful collaborative
educational situation (Souers 2007).
Learning in the Developing
Countries
This paper attempts to study the feasibility of
using distance learning tool for postgraduate
medical students in Iraq. The current
resources used for the purpose of
postgraduate medical studies are limited by
the institution or provided by the instructors,
and the rest of the external resources are
provided by the learners which are not
officially distributed between all the students.
Similarly to the collaboration, nowadays in
Iraq instructors and learners are limited and
slightly isolated in their collaboration with
other peers broadly, most of their ongoing
collaborations are locally.
The teaching system now runs physically in
one place (classroom-based) which needs all
the students to attend physically to the lecture
room to catch up with the lecture, and the
only way of announcing information and
communication is verbally or through the
notice board in the institutions.
Various methods have been used for
exchanging information such as photocopying
or scanning from the original resources
textbooks or copying CDs or forwarding
emails and distribute them between the
students. All these methods are informal as it
does not ensure that all the learners receives
the information and resources
eLearning Survey and Case Study
A survey has been carried out in Iraq to the
instructors in the universities and teaching
hospitals which include the lecturers,
professional as well as the postgraduate
medicine students. The survey targets the
postgraduate medical studies involving the
current methodologies used for the teaching
and learning and how ICT can be used to
improve the current system to provide an
improved and effective pedagogy with less
demand on recourses and infrastructure.
The results were collected using an online
surveying tool (web based surveying tool),
but these online results were not enough to
base our proposed system on, as it only
targeted the students and professional staff
who are using the Internet. Hence, a paper
offline based survey was performed.
According to the results 91% of the
instructors and learners are using the ICT
inspite of unstable infrastructure and less
resources, for example internet is used as an
external resource for their studies but faces
the drawback of having insufficient
bandwidth limits the users from downloading
large documents and retrieving data quickly
and in particular large size medical images.
The major use of ICT was for the purpose of
gathering and organising information for
example preparing slides for the lectures and
using the internet for updating their
knowledge about specific subjects, references
and searching for particular resources for their
studies.
On the other hand, less that 14% of instructors
and learners use the internet as collaboration
or communication tool between different
institutions, universities and remote peers for
their study purposes.
Apart from Internet technologies other
technologies for collaboration included,
mobile technology was one of interesting
technology area that instructors and learners
like to use it collaboratively it in their studies
while it is quite limited at the mean time. Few
( 330 )
users find the use of mobile technology for
educational purposes quite useful, the main
usage was:
• Dictionary
• Camera for taking pictures for special
cases when the digital camera is not
available
• Reference for special cases when the
doctor on call, they use e-books in the
mobile phone as referece for the cases
such as Drug or emergency eye
management references
• Phone calls between the colleagues for
learning and medical purposes.
According to a survey, the current methods
for pedagogy and collaboration suffer through
following drawbacks:
• Electricity: it is not available all the
time
• Connectivity: it is not widly
distributed due to the expensive
internet access and it is not available
everywhere such as universities,
hospital and rural areas in addition to
that it is not fst services to be relied o
it.
• Hardware:
Inadequate
hardware
equipments in the universities which
used to enhance teaching and learning
system using modern technologies
• Lack
of
suitable
Educational
Management Information System and
a proper training plan
• Futhermore, the current system lacks
of standard instructional resources for
instructors and learners and standards
for measuring and tracking learners
performance
Key Benefits of e-Learning for the
Developing Countries
eLearning has significant advantages over the
traditional learning methods such as the
classroom-based concept. E-learning is a
more flexible way of teaching rather than
being instructed. The most significant elearning advantages for the developing
countries are:
• Cost saving since the learner and
instructors do not need travelling or
spend time travelling to the
classrooms.
• Reduce learning time as previous
studies show that e-learning reduce the
learning time by 40-60 percent (Hall
1997).
• The progress with e-learning is 50
percent faster than the traditional
classes (Salopek 1999).
• Learner can choose when to learn,
where to learn, how to learn and what
to learn. As the learners can access the
material on their schedule with out the
need of physical attendance, and there
are no time or place limitations,
learners can study while they are
working full time.
• Learners can be update with the
course material and any relevant
information through a mixture of
online media, including e-mail,
internet conferences and other services
over the internet
• It increases the collaboration and
communication between the learners
and instructors using the technology
and online environment. These group
collaborations create opportunity to
the group members to work together
and shared electronic conversation.
• Asynchronous interaction between the
learners such as e-mail or discussion
board does not need immediate
respond unlike face to face
conversation, so the discussion can be
more concise and the conversation can
stay on track and retrieve it again
( 331 )
In spite of the above significant advantages,
there are some drawbacks for the instructors
and learner such as:
• Some of the learners’ lack of
knowledge of technology to be used
which creates digital divide therefore
they are unable to cope with the
required technologies.
• Resistance to using e-learning tools
due to some of the learners find
problems
while
communicate
electronically with other peers, as they
are used to one to one communication,
this can be as culture acceptance issue
Suggested Strategies for eLearning
in the Developing Countries
The data that has been collected from the
survey involving postgraduate medical
students, lecturers and professional staff such
as doctors and specialists in different
universities and teaching hospitals in Iraq
provides us a baseline for the suggested
strategy for improving the current teaching
and learning system.
The survey illustrates how the teaching
system is isolated from other collaboration
between various institutions such as
universities and teaching hospitals. Currently,
the only way of collaboration between
institutions is done physically meeting at a
common place, in some cases, over the
telephone
for
discussion,
exchanging
resources and documents while it is not
always possible or practical therefore it needs
to have tools that helps the instructors and
learners to communicate even if they are
distributed geographically and with out the
needs to travel.
In the survey, most participants mentioned
that low bandwidth was a current major
problem they were facing whilst using
Internet for learning. Internet coverage is not
fully available in all locations and often
provides only low bandwidth as a result; users
find it frustrating when working with large
datasets online. An additional issue is
electricity, as it is not always available and a
power outage could happen any time which
limits the usage of internet by the users
(McKimm 2003).
The medicine postgraduate students are in a
real need for external resources such as
textbooks, papers, accessing variety of
databases and cases during their studies.
These external resources need to be
distributed and accessed by all the learners
formally.
All these problems and other factors need to
be considered while proposing the new
system.
The main idea behind supporting e-learning
for the developing countries is aiming to
move from Instructor-centred concept to the
Learner-centred concept where instructor act
as moderator that responsible for facilitating
the teaching and learning for the learners
since the resources for the instructors are
limited (Iahad 2004Error! Bookmark not
defined.).
Using the results from the survey, we
proposed a “web based learning system” that
provides a broad set of standard digital
instructional resources for instructors and
external resources for the learners, but due to
the current limitations imposed by the
available resources as hardware, internet
connection and electricity, we are limited in
our implementation and which tools to be
used.
There are different web-based collaborative
tools that have been implemented and used
for educational purposes. However, most of
the current e-learning tools were designed to
be used in the developed countries which the
basic infrastructure resources already exist.
The web based learning system requires
computers, softwares and internet equipments
to enhance the teaching and learning system
using modern technologies while the
( 332 )
instructors need to be trained to use these
certain technologies.
Due to the basic nature of the communication
infrastructure now available in Iraq, the
project has been based on low bandwidth
technology for the time being to fit the
existing Internet connection. The web-based
collaborative system proposes to work using a
store-and-forward
telecommunication
technique rather than a real time technique.
The Internet connection is not always
available and there is a long delay in
transmission data. Therefore, using a store
and forward technique will be a more reliable
for the system as the specialist and students
could interact.
So generally, the web-based collaborative
application for learning purposes will include
the teaching material such as handouts,
articles and notes, a discussion board,
assessments for the cases that had been
discussed, some links to useful websites and
journals databases and it will helps the
medicine students to review different cases
from different places without the needs of
travelling.
The initial implementation will be using an
open source learning web application tool
since it’s a cost effective solution and it
covers the users’ requirements for the time
being, it will be used to find out how the
instructors and learner use the system
effectively to improve the current teaching
and learning systems.
( 333 )
Conclusion
This paper reviews a case study related to the
learning system in Iraq and in particular the
postgraduate medical studies.
The situation in Iraq now is unstable,
instructors and learners are distributed inside
and outside the country, and therefore the
learning and teaching system is not very
efficient.
According to the survey, implementing elearning system for the developing countries
has significant advantages such as cost
saving, reducing learning time and the
flexibility for the learners to choose when,
where, how and what to learn, but in spite of
these advantages, there are some drawbacks
for the learner and instructors such as the
digital divide and culture acceptance issue.
The use of web based collaborative
application is able to cover some of the
educational problems in universities and
teaching hospitals; it satisfies the needs of
instructors and learners through extending
their knowledge while having the ability to
study, discuss, examine and collaborate on
various cases remotely. Web based
collaborative application can be a less time
consuming and more cost effective solution
for all users using a collaborative web-based
application.
( 334 )
References
N. Iahad et al. (2004) “e-Learning in
Developing
countries:
Suggesting
a
Methodology for Enabling Computer-Aided
Assessment” IEEE International Conference
on
Advanced
Learning
Technologies
(ICALT’04) 0-7695-2182-9/04
D. White, Iraq War Results & Statistics as of
Sept
23,
2007.
Available:
http://usliberals.about.com/od/homelandsecuri
t1/a/IraqNumbers.htm
[accessed 15th
October 2007], last updated 8th November
2007
A. Chetly et al., (2006) “Connecting people,
improving health: the role of ICTs in the
heath sector of developing countries”,
infoDev, 31 May 2006
Choy S (2007) “Benefits of e-Learning
Benchmarks: Australian Case Studies” The
Electronic Journal of e-leaning Volume 5
Issue 1, pp 11-20, available online at
www.ejel.org
Black Board. Home Page, (2007) [online].
Available
from:
http://blackboard.com/us/index.Bb [Accessed:
1st December 2007]
Moodle. Home Page, (2007) [online].
Available
from:
http://moodle.org/
[Acessed:1st December 2007]
J. Kern (2006) “Evaluation of teleconsultation
systems”, International Journal of Medical
Informatics, vol 75, pp. 330-334, 2006
Souers, C et al., (2007) Collaborative
learning: A focused partnership, Nurse Educ.
Pract., doi:10.1016/j.nepr.2006.11.010
B. Hall, Web-based Training Cookbook,
Brandon Hall, p.108, 1997
J. Salopek, "Survey Says: Work-Life Benefits
on the Rise," Training and Development
Magazine, October 1999, Available from:
http://www.oxfordprinceton.com/newsletter/0
206.html , [Acessed:1st December 2007]
J. McKimm et al., “ABC of learning and
teaching (web based learning)”, BMJ,
326:870-873. April 2003
( 335 )
Designing and Evaluating eLearning Courses Based on Students’
Learning Preferences and Styles
Fawzi Baroud
Notre Dame University, Lebanon
Abstract
This paper considers the implications of
students’ learning styles and preferences for
the design and evaluation of e-learning
courses. The study involves the examinations
of students’ learning styles and preferences
currently taking courses via the Virtual
Learning Environment (VLE). First, the study
employs
the
most
commonly
used
classifications of learning styles as identified
by Kolb (1976) and developed by Soloman
and Felder (1999). Second, analyses of
students’ discussion board postings in their
respective courses were analyzed and
categorized thematically in order to examine
their compatibility with students’ learning
preferences and styles. The study documented
students’ learning styles and preferences
which were comparable to students in
different educational contexts. In addition,
content analyses of students’ posting
corresponded to their learning styles and
preferences. The study concluded with
recommendations on how to deliver courses
via the Virtual Learning Environment (VLE)
that potentially helps achieve desirable
learning performance among university
students.
Introduction
Over the last two decades, systematic
educational research has documented
different learning styles and preferences
among students (Renzulli & Dai, 2001) and
formulated a conception of learning styles
(e.g., William, 2000) for the categorization of
how students prefer to learn. These
dimensions have been classified along four
dimensions: abstract versus concrete (Kolb,
1971), sensory versus modality (Renzulli,
1978), visual versus auditory learning
preferences (Barbe & Swassing, 1979), and
physical versus social characteristics of the
learning environment (Dunn, Dunn, & Price,
1984). The use of these dimensions has
gained momentum in the fields of education
and cognitive psychology (Hunt, 1975).
Understanding students’ learning preferences
and styles help instructors design e-learning
courses that would potentially enhance their
learning and achievement since students are
likely to have different learning-style
preferences as well as other characteristic
differences that teachers need to assess in
order to design and implement instruction
accordingly (Grasha, 2000).
More recently, attention has been paid to new
pedagogies and non-traditional learning
paradigms built on notions of constructivism
and learning by doing (e.g., Dunn et al.,
1989). This new focus has prompted a shift in
classroom pedagogy from one that is centered
on providing instruction, to one that focuses
on active, collaborative, and cooperative tasks
which seek to engage students in their own
education (Barr & Tagg, 1995). If e-learning
seeks to respond to students’ learning needs
as many have argued (e.g., Worthington &
Higgs, 2004), then systematic research into
students’ learning preferences and styles in elearning contexts is warranted. In addition, elearning research in Western countries (e.g.,
Braio, 2000) has started to realize the
importance of understanding students’
( 336 )
learning preferences and styles. Such an
interest is currently limited in Arab higher
educational contexts that started gradually to
implement e-learning. The key question
concerns the extent to which students’
learning preferences and styles are met in
both the design and delivery of their elearning courses.
Since students’ academic performance in
relation to harmonizing their preferred
learning styles with content and techniques of
pedagogy is not yet well developed, the
literature is still debatable. One of the most
widely-known theories assessed by Coffield
(2004; 2005) was the learning styles model of
Dunn, Dunn and Price (1984) which argued
that students would perform better if course
materials presented to them were matched
with their learning preferences and styles.
This model has been widely employed in
schools in the US, particularly in traditional
classrooms. Coffield et al. (2005) concluded
that despite evolving research on the
relationship between learning styles and
students’ performance, theoretical limitations
and lack of independent research, claims of
better learning through matching students’
learning styles and preferences with content
and design of pedagogy are questionable.
Furthermore, the concept of learning styles is
not universally accepted and further research
is needed (Dunn, Dunn, and Price, 1984).
Additionally, criticism has been lodged
against the validity and reliability of learning
style inventories, although ILS has been
validated by dozens of studies conducted in
many educational contexts. As far as elearning is concerned, research on the
connections of technology to teaching and
learning- style preferences is not well
developed (Grasha, 2000).
In contrast, Abrams (2005) provided evidence
confirming the validity of Dunn and Dunn's
model of learning style, concluding that
“matching” students’ learning styles and
preferences with complementary instruction
improved students’ academic achievement
and attitudes towards learning. The
application of learning preferences and styles
has direct relevance for education and training
in that it can assist in developing different
teaching and learning techniques which may
enhance learning performance among
students (Burke & Sadler, 2005). A better
understanding of students’ learning styles and
preferences would potentially enhance the
design and delivery of learning in educational
contexts and also might help to accelerate the
acquisition of expertise among novice
practitioners (Renzull & Dai, 2001).
Moreover, using styles as a means of selfreflection and inquiry for teachers and
students is an avenue worthy of exploration
(Ibid.).
As part of the ongoing assessment of the
development of e-learning in a private higher
educational context in Lebanon, the present
study seeks to provide information concerning
students’ learning styles and preferences in
relation to e-learning content and styles of
pedagogy used. This question reflects the
objectives of study which looks into: (i) the
learning-style preferences of a sample of
students taking courses delivered in a blended
way at a higher educational context in
Lebanon; (ii) the extent to which the content
and method of delivery of these courses
match students’ learning-style preferences as
measured by the Index of Learning Styles
(ILS) (Soloman & Felder, 1999); and (iii)
ways for the future design and delivery of elearning courses.
The objectives of the present are rooted in the
followings:
(i) educational research has
focused on the efficacy of matching learning
styles with instruction in order to assure better
learning among students (Schmeck, 1988);
( 337 )
(ii) studies have shown that greater learning,
as measured by students’ achievement, may
occur when teaching styles match students’
learning styles and preferences than when
they are mismatched (Pittenger, 1993;
Wallace & Oxford, 1992).
Conceptual framework of learning
preferences and styles
Learning styles are general tendencies to
prefer to process information in different
ways (Kolb, 1984; Johnson et al., 1991).
Concrete experience, reflective observation,
abstract
conceptualization
and
active
experimentation are learning characteristics
that form the nexus of learning-style
preferences (Chong Toh & Wan Ismail,
2005). The learning style model proposed by
Richard Felder and Linda Silverman in 1988
captures and integrates many of the different
views and dimensions of learning style
currently in the literature. Felder and
Silverman (1988) classify students as having
preferences for one category or the other
along four dimensions (Felder & Spurlin,
2005). The four dimensions being: (1)
sensing/intuitive, (2) visual/verbal, (3)
active/reflective, and (4) sequential/global
(See table 1).
learners prefer to work alone and are
introspective learners. The second dimension
of learning style is a personality trait measure
and is measured by a Myers-Briggs Type
Indicator (Myers, 1978), where the Sensory
learners prefer to use external queues as
sounds and physical sensations and the
Intuitive are those who try to discover
possibilities, hunches, and relationships. The
third dimension is based on Paivio’s (1971)
dual coding theory which suggests that Visual
and Verbal information are processed by
different cognitive subsystems. The visuals
prefer to learning through pictures, diagrams,
graphs, and flowcharts; while, the verbal are
more attuned for auditory sounds and words.
The fourth dimension is based on work on
individual differences (Dyk and Witkin, 1965;
Witkin, Dyk, Faterson, Goodenough, & Karp,
1962) specifically driven by cognitivelybased styles. This fourth dimension defines
whether one is Global or Analytical. The
analytical accommodates and perceives
material in small connected chunks, while the
global tends to grasp information in
seemingly unconnected chunks. Other subdimensions of these four major dimensions
also play important roles in determining how
a student receives and processes information
(Felder & Spurlin, 2005).
Active learners are those who prefer group
work and physical activity, whereas Reflective
( 338 )
Table 1: Dimensions of Learning Styles
Type of Learners
Active Learners
Reflectors
Sensing
Intuitive
Visual
Verbal
Sequential
Global
Characteristics
Like to be involved in new experiences;
Open minded and enthusiastic about new ideas;
Enjoy doing things and tend to act first and consider the implications
afterwards;
Like to work with others.
Like to collect data and think about it carefully before coming to any
conclusions;
Enjoy observing others and will listen to their views before offering their
own.
Practical;
Oriented towards facts and procedures;
Favor information arriving around their senses.
Conceptual;
Innovative;
Favor information that arrives from memory.
Prefer pictures and diagrams, flow charts and experiential explanations.
1. Prefer written or spoken explanations and formulae.
Linear;
Orderly learn in sequence and step-by-step process.
Holistic;
Learn in leap steps;
Seek information from variety of resources.
Method
Sample
A total of 79 undergraduate students were
purposively selected for the study. Eighteen
students were taking Advanced Software
Packages; 5 students were taking Introduction
to Education and another 56 were enrolled in
Introduction to Astro Physics. About forty
percent of students were in their Junior level,
37% were seniors 20% Sophomore and 2
were enrolled in a Teaching Diploma
program. In terms of gender, 56(71%) were
males and 23(29%) females.
Inventory
There are numerous instruments for assessing
learning styles, e.g., Learning Style Inventory
(Kolb, 1984), and Soloman and Felder, Index
of Learning Styles. Index of Learning Styles
by Soloman & Felder (1999) is well known,
and
used
within
education
theory
(Montgomery, 1995). Despite the controversy
surrounding learning styles alluded to earlier,
Index of Learning Style (ILS), (Soloman &
Felder, 1999) is well known, and accepted
within education theory (Montgomery, 1995).
Therefore, this study employed Soloman’s
and
Fedler
(1999)
inventory.
The
identification of any learning style associated
with e-learning mode of delivery and content
of pedagogy will serve as a formal screening
tool for understanding students’ learning
preferences prior to on-line course design.
The Inventory consisted of 44 bi-polar (a,b)
statements to identify students’ learning-style
preferences as follows: Active/Reflective;
Sensing/Intuitive; Visual/ Verbal and
Sequential/ Global (See Inventory in
Appendix I). This inventory is a 44 bi-polar
item questionnaire designed to assess learning
style preferences along four dimensions
(Felder & Spurlin, 2005). Each learning
dimension has 11 items. Each item has a
forced response choice (a or b), each defines a
( 339 )
specific attribute of the learner in that
dimension.
For
instance,
on
the
active/reflective dimension responses, each
attribute (active/reflective) can have a score
from 0 to 11. Thus, the a response on the
scale represents the active learner preferences
and b responses connote reflective
preferences. Since preferences can be thought
of as degrees, a respondent who makes 6 or
more a responses, he/she is above average of
the active-reflective level. If the respondent
makes 8 to 10-a responses then the respondent
is a highly active learner. For each dimension,
one of the two attributes is inversely related to
the other. Thus, the higher the active learning
style, the lower the reflective learning style
for the respondent.
Scoring
The scoring sheet had four dimensions, each
consisting of 11-items. An arithmetic mean
score of each dimension was obtained by
adding the number of items on that particular
dimension and dividing them by 11: a) was
coded as (1) and (b) as (2). The mean score
ranged from 1-3 (1 + 2 = 3)/2 = 1.5. The
mean for each item was 1.5. In the
Active/reflective dimension, for example,
≤1.55 is considered active and ≥1.56 is
reflective.
Reliability
Spearman Brown Split-half reliability was
used to ensure the internal consistency of the
questionnaire. Spearman Brown was .82,
indicating a very good level of internal
consistency. In addition, Cronbach alpha was
.69. This result is comparable with Kuri &
Truzzi’s (2002) validating ILS study which
yielded Cronbach .65. Overall, the reliability
of ILS in this study is comparable with many
studies conducted in different cultures.
Procedure
The questionnaire was administered to
students in four classes after making
appropriate arrangements with respective
instructors. Students were informed about the
content of the questionnaire and its
importance in assessing their learning
preferences. The response rate of this study
was comparable to Felder’s and Spurin (2005)
study which yielded 98% return rates of their
respondents involved in the study.
Content analyses
In addition to ILS, content analyses of
threaded discussion fora were conducted. The
aim was to explore possible matches between
students’ ILS and their postings in the
discussion board. The main question posted to
students was: “To what extent does
Blackboard the way it is used in this course
match the way you prefer to learn? Discuss”.
Discussion threads were coded thematically in
light of the ILS four categories.
Findings and Discussion
Prima facie evidence from descriptive
statistics characterizes the learning style
preferences of Notre Dame University
students involved in the present study (See
Appendix 2). Most individuals have preferred
styles of learning that relate to how they
receive, process, and integrate information.
Some individuals mentioned that they learn
better through listening, some through reading
or watching, and still others by doing.
Although NDU sample shared ILS
characteristics with students from other
countries, they appeared to be highly visual
compared to other samples and were less
active than samples from other countries (See
table 2), probably due to the prevalence of
accumulated teacher-centered approaches in
Lebanese educational system (Al-Ameen,
2005). Additionally, these results indicate that
the Inventory of Learning Styles (ILS) was
reliable and comparable to international
results as shown in table 2.
( 340 )
Table 2. Comparison between NDU students and other Samples
Higher Educational Context
State
N
Active
Sensing
Visual
Sequential
Iowa State University
USA
129
63%
67%
85%
58%
Ryerson University
Canada
87
53%
66%
86%
72%
Tulane University
USA
245
62%
60%
88%
48%
Sao Paulo University
Brazil
214
65%
81%
79%
67%
University of Technology
Jamaica
858
55%
60%
70%
55%
Notre Dame University
Lebanon
79
52%
68%
91%
49%
The chart below exemplifies students’
postings and their link with their learning
styles and preferences.
Content Analysis results
Learning styles
Active
Reflector
Visual
let's try to
communicate
Visual
memory
helps us
understand
better
Work on my
homeworks
on my own
Learn
concepts and
then get to
practice
Sequential
the course
allowed
visual
postings
( 341 )
Innovative
It is better
than
explaining it
on piece of
paper
I liked this
new method
Content analysis of on-line material was
conducted. Analyses looked into students’
postings that reflected their learning
preferences and styles such as preferring to
have the content material posted by the
instructor in an interactive way such as having
links to resources and documents or viewing
charts and exhibitions. This preference has
been posted by students identified as visuals.
In addition, “sensing” were interested in
practical work in the VLE such as analyzing
topics through collecting data on the topic
rather than reflecting on it theoretically.
Students who identified themselves as
“sensing” were interested in case studies
rather than answering direct questions posted
by their instructor in the discussion forum. In
addition, it was observed that students who
were "globals” reported the need to have links
as well as well documented procedure for data
collection in their assignments. Students’
postings went beyond documenting their
learning styles to the documentation of the
benefits of e-learning and content material
and instructional design of courses spurred up
discussions on how students prefer to learn.
In a related vein, recent studies in the field
have shown that understanding and attending
to differences in learning styles among
students are important to their educational
improvement (Renzull & Dai, 2001).
Mismatches between learning styles and
adoption of pedagogical content and styles in
e-learning could have several serious
consequences on academic performance.
Studies (e.g., Godleski, 1984) have shown
that students who experience mismatches may
feel as though they are vulnerable and in an
unfamiliar domain which in turn may have
negative effects on their academic progress
and achievements..
In reviewing the educational Bibliography of
Pedagogical Studies assembled designed by
the Lebanese Association for Educational
Studies (LAES) by the author of the present
study, this inquiry is unique because it is an
“a priori” study done in a higher educational
context in Lebanon where measures of
learning styles were taken in relation to elearning courses. The pedagogical approaches
that facilitate learning can do much to foster
students’ positive attitude in learning and the
quality of outcomes. The biological
development of students’ auditory, visual,
tactual, and kinesthetic senses is a key factor
in their way of acquiring information. Many
students develop one of the senses before the
others, and consequently it becomes their
preferred modality (Dunn, Beaudry & Klavas,
1989). A positive relationship between
attitude and e-learning has been found in prior
research (Johnson, 1996). Thus, the need to
assimilate learning styles within studentcentered pedagogical approaches as a basis
for good teaching in on-line courses is a goal
worth considering in the development process
of pedagogies in higher educational contexts.
In addition, diagnostic assessment of
students’ learning preferences is worth
considering before starting an on-line course
in order to design the course and its delivery
in a way that it corresponds to a certain
degree with students’ learning preferences
and styles.
Finally, this study was not without
limitations. In fact, the ILS was robust in that
it had categorical data (a,b) rather than
continuous data that may allow for the
greatest variance in the data. In addition,
categorical data limited correlations and
explanation of variance. Furthermore, the
sample was relatively small, and skewed since
it included more males than females. Despite
these design limitations, the study results have
important implications for the future study of
learning style preferences in relation to styles
and content of pedagogy in on-line courses.
( 342 )
Future research should focus on matching
learning styles with e-learning course content
and instructional designs. Understanding the
relationships between learning preferences
and e-learning is worth considering for
exploring avenues that potentially enhance
students’ learning and success.
( 343 )
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( 345 )
Appendix I
Inventory
The questions on this form aim to understand your learning preference. By identifying your learning
preference, your course instructor may better design the course in such a way that it fits into the
mold of your learning preference and style. For each of the 44 questions below select either "a" or
"b" to indicate your answer. Please choose only one answer for each question. If both "a" and "b"
seem to apply to you, choose the one that applies more frequently.
Thank you for your participation in the study.
I – Background Information
Gender
Male
Class
Sophomore
Female
Junior
Senior
Name of Course
_____________________________________________________________
Your Name and ID # _____________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
II – Learning Preference Index
Please select either "a" or "b" to indicate your answer.
1. I understand something better after I
a. try it out
b. think it through
2. I would rather be considered
a. Realistic
b. Innovative
3. When I think about what I did yesterday, I am most likely to get
a. a picture
b. words
4. I tend to
a. understand details of a subject but may be fuzzy about its overall structure
b. understand the overall structure but may be fuzzy about details
5. When I am learning something new, it helps me to
a. talk about it
b. think about it
6. If I were a teacher, I would rather teach a course
( 346 )
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
a. that deals with facts and real life situations
b. that deals with ideas and theories
I prefer to get new information in
a. pictures, diagrams, graphs, or maps
b. written directions or verbal information
Once I understand
a. all the parts, I understand the whole thing
b. the whole thing, I see how the parts fit
In a study group working on difficult material, I am more likely to
a. jump in and contribute ideas
b. sit back and listen
I find it easier
a. to learn facts
b. to learn concepts
In a book with lots of pictures and charts, I am likely to
a. look over the pictures and charts carefully
b. focus on the written text
When I solve math problems
a. I usually work my way to the solutions one step at a time
b. I often just see the solutions but then have to struggle to figure out the steps to get to
them
In classes I have taken
a. I have usually gotten to know many of the students
b. I have rarely gotten to know many of the students
In reading nonfiction, I prefer
a. something that teaches me new facts or tells me how to do something
b. something that gives me new ideas to think about
I like teachers
a. who put a lot of diagrams on the board
b. who spend a lot of time explaining
When I'm analyzing a story or a novel
a. I think of the incidents and try to put them together to figure out the themes
b. I just know what the themes are when I finish reading and then I have to go back and find
the incidents that demonstrate them
When I start a homework problem, I am more likely to
a. start working on the solution immediately
b. try to fully understand the problem first
I prefer the idea of
a. certainty
b. theory
I remember best
a. what I see
b. what I hear
It is more important to me that an instructor
a. lay out the material in clear sequential steps
( 347 )
b. give me an overall picture and relate the material to other subjects
21. I prefer to study
a. in a study group
b. alone
22. I am more likely to be considered
a. careful about the details of my work
b. creative about how to do my work
23. When I get directions to a new place, I prefer
a. a map
b. written instructions
24. I learn
a. at a fairly regular pace. If I study hard, I'll "get it."
b. in fits and starts. I'll be totally confused and then suddenly it all "clicks."
25. I would rather first
a. try things out
b. think about how I'm going to do it
26. When I am reading for enjoyment, I like writers to
a. clearly say what they mean
b. say things in creative, interesting ways
27. When I see a diagram or sketch in class, I am most likely to remember
a. the picture
b. what the instructor said about it
28. When considering a body of information, I am more likely to
a. focus on details and miss the big picture
b. try to understand the big picture before getting into the details
29. I more easily remember
a. something I have done
b. something I have thought a lot about
30. When I have to perform a task, I prefer to
a. master one way of doing it
b. come up with new ways of doing it
31. When someone is showing me data, I prefer
a. charts or graphs
b. text summarizing the results
32. When writing a paper, I am more likely to
a. work on (think about or write) the beginning of the paper and progress forward
b. work on (think about or write) different parts of the paper and then order them
33. When I have to work on a group project, I first want to
a. have "group brainstorming" where everyone contributes ideas
b. brainstorm individually and then come together as a group to compare ideas
34. I consider it higher praise to call someone
a. Sensible
b. imaginative
35. When I meet people at a party, I am more likely to remember
( 348 )
36.
37.
38.
39.
40.
41.
42.
43.
44.
a. what they looked like
b. what they said about themselves
When I am learning a new subject, I prefer to
a. stay focused on that subject, learning as much about it as I can
b. try to make connections between that subject and related subjects
I am more likely to be considered
a. outgoing
b. reserved
I prefer courses that emphasize
a. concrete material (facts, data)
b. abstract material (concepts, theories)
For entertainment, I would rather
a. watch television
b. read a book
Some teachers start their lectures with an outline of what they will cover. Such outlines are
a. somewhat helpful to me
b. very helpful to me
The idea of doing homework in groups, with one grade for the entire group,
a. appeals to me
b. does not appeal to me
When I am doing long calculations,
a. I tend to repeat all my steps and check my work carefully
b. I find checking my work tiresome and have to force myself to do it
I tend to picture places I have been
a. easily and fairly accurately
b. with difficulty and without much detail
When solving problems in a group, I would be more likely to
a. think of the steps in the solution process
b. think of possible consequences or applications of the solution in a wide range of areas
( 349 )
Appendix II
Results
Actrive/Reflective
active
reflective
Total
Missing
Total
Frequency
36
33
69
10
79
Percent
52.2
47.8
100.0
Sensing/Intiuitive
sensing
intuitive
Total
Missing
Total
Frequency
50
23
73
6
79
Percent
68.5
31.5
100.0
Visual/Verbal
visual
verbal
Total
Missing
Total
Frequency
64
6
70
9
79
Percent
91.4
8.6
100.0
Sequential/Global
global
sequential
Total
Missing
Total
Frequency
35
34
69
10
79
( 350 )
Percent
50.7
49.3
100.0
The Global English Pedagogical Approach: The Evaluation of
Technology and Value of Online English Language Learning
David Nunan
GlobalEnglish Corporation
Introduction
The purpose of this paper is to spell out the
benefits of Internet-based course delivery
over more conventional classroom-based
instruction.
The paper will begin with a brief overview of
the business climate that has driven the
necessity for English language training. It will
then present a description of the benefits of
online delivery that have been made possible
by the evolution of technology. Having
demonstrated a business need and the benefits
of online delivery, this paper will then offer
an explanation of the approach that has
revolutionized corporate English education by
making it more accessible and effective than
traditional approaches.
The Growing Need for English
find that, more and more, their employees
need to work together across geographic
regions. This has increased the importance of
English as the practical common business
language. In addition, technology has
dramatically increased opportunities for
communication, thereby driving the speed and
frequency (and expectation for speed and
frequency) with which employees at all levels
of the organization communicate.
In fact, with the rapid pace of globalization,
there has been a sharp rise in the importance
of English for many employees of global
companies. In a recent survey of more than
25,000 employees of global corporations, the
percentage of respondents who said that
English was either "critical" or "important" to
be successful in their current positions
increased each quarter over an 18-month
period.
As businesses look to expand into new
markets and integrate global operations, they
% who report English is critical for their jobs
% who use English daily in their jobs
100%
100%
90%
90%
80%
80%
70%
70%
60%
60%
50%
50%
40%
40%
30%
30%
20%
20%
10%
10%
0%
Q3'03
Q4'03
Q1'04
Q2'04
0%
Q3'04
Q3'03
( 351 )
Q4'04
Q1'04
Q2'04
Q3'04
The vast majority of those same respondents,
however, also reported that their English
language proficiency was insufficient to be
successful in their current jobs. In sum, 91
percent of respondents said that English was
either "critical" or "important" but only 9
percent said their English language
proficiency was sufficient to do their current
jobs. The need for English language training
has never been greater for corporations
around the world, but classroom instruction
for the necessary volume of employees is
impractical. Online training offers a solution.
The Value of E-Learning
As discussed earlier, technology has now
evolved and penetrated the workplace to such
an extent that a global e-learning solution is
not only possible, but also highly desirable.
The nature of work has changed dramatically
in the last twenty years. Employees are more
mobile, technology is now the backbone of
business, and truly global corporations serve
every corner of the planet. With this, the
evolution of training has become necessary,
and online training offers corporate learners a
number benefits over classroom instruction,
including:
• Individualized study plans
• Anywhere/anytime instruction
• Patient tutoring
• A private space to “goof”
• Immediate, individualized feedback
• Detailed records of achievement
Individualized Study Plans
While there is room for some degree of
flexibility in face-to-face classrooms, most
are dominated by a “one size fits all”
approach. E-learning offers the opportunity
for the development of individualized study
plans. The GlobalEnglish Corporate Learning
Service™, for example, establishes an
individualized study plan that creates a
learning program tailored to the goals that
each learner identifies.
In the GlobalEnglish service, students list
their learning goals and set up a study plan
that will help them reach those goals. A wide
range of resources—including an online
dictionary, translation on demand, and an
extensive skills center—supports learners in
meeting their specific study needs.
Anywhere/Anytime Instruction
Unlike conventional classrooms, where the
time and place of instruction are established
in advance, e-learning allows students to
engage in learning at the time and place of
their choosing. This is possibly the most
obvious benefit of e-learning. In the
GlobalEnglish service, learners receive more
than just anywhere, anytime access to their
courses. They also have access to “just in
time” support for real-world English-language
tasks. This support is available 24 hours a
day, 7 days a week, and includes the ability to
ask a teacher a question in the Talk with a
Teacher online classroom and access to the
GlobalEnglish Productivity Toolbar™, with
its Universal Translator™.
Patient Tutoring
Because it is a skill to be acquired rather than
a body of knowledge to be mastered,
language requires time and extensive
repetition. It is rarely feasible for such
repetition to be provided in conventional
classrooms. A natural tendency in a classroom
with more than one student is for the teacher
to move on, leaving the slower learner behind.
The technology-driven classroom, however,
has infinite patience. The computer does not
get red in the face or shout at the student who
takes what might be thought to be an
excessive amount of time to master a
particular learning objective. The learner can
work through an instructional program as
( 352 )
slowly or quickly as he or she desires. This is
important since there is considerable research
showing that effective learning—and,
consequently, motivation—are adversely
affected if the pace of learning is either too
fast or too slow.
matter how large the program—so that they
can see the impact that the program is having
on individual performance.
A Private Space to “Goof”
The benefits of online learning are clear.
However, the products offered and results
achieved have often been disappointing.
GlobalEnglish Corporation has considered the
challenges and built an online English
learning service that has overcome the
problems that have plagued other online
English language training programs1. The
service is predicated on a pedagogical
approach called Communicative Language
Teaching (CLT). While there are numerous
ways of defining CLT, it is best for the
learners’ purposes to focus on its most
relevant feature: encouraging learners to
communicate meaningfully in their new
language.
E-learning environments allow learners to
make mistakes in private. They need not be
subjected to the embarrassment and even
personal humiliation of making mistakes in
front of classmates. This is particularly
important for Asian learners, for whom
making mistakes in front of others is a major
deterrent to language learning.
Immediate, Individualized Feedback
Because the computer can capture every
keystroke made by the learner, it can quickly
assemble and give detailed, individualized
feedback to each and every learner, regardless
of how many there are taking part in the
program. It can indicate those areas where the
learner is doing well and those areas where
more work is needed. This is clearly
impossible in a conventional classroom.
In the GlobalEnglish Corporate Learning
Service, learners receive detailed reports with
feedback on their performance after the
Placement Test, after each assignment, and
after Course Progress Tests.
Detailed Records of Achievement
Allied to the preceding point is the fact that elearning programs can assemble and provide
detailed records of achievement on individual
learners. This is especially helpful in a
corporate setting where an administrator may
be tracking thousands of learners.
The GlobalEnglish service maintains a
particularly sophisticated set of reports on
learners. Corporate administrators can track
the progress and status for every user—no
The GlobalEnglish Approach:
Communicative Language Teaching
To achieve the goal of meaningful
communication, the Corporate Learning
Service uses a "4 Ps" approach to teach
English: Present, Practice, Produce, and
Perform. First, the new language is presented
to learners in a clear context. Learners then
practice this language in a supportive
environment. Next, learners are asked to
produce the language in a meaningful way.
Finally, learners receive the support they need
to use the language and perform on the job.
Using this approach, the GlobalEnglish
curriculum provides an effective means for
building language skills.
1
This fact has been substantiated by the University of Leipzig in
Germany. In a comprehensive seven-month study of 74 providers by
the University of Leipzig, the GlobalEnglish Corporate Learning
Service was ranked as the best online provider of business English
training. The GlobalEnglish service was selected as the superior
solution for its rich content, user interactivity, motivational
strategies, and localized, enterprise-wide customer service and
support.
( 353 )
In addition to exposing learners to authentic
language that is relevant to their needs—a
fundamental principle for facilitating effective
language
learning—the
GlobalEnglish
curriculum also addresses a learner’s need to
apply the course material to real-world
contexts. Each assignment in a course covers
a meaningful topic around which learners can
develop competencies that are directly
applicable to their daily lives. This design
helps students recognize that they are able to
apply what they have learned to real-life
situations more effectively than they could
before.
The GlobalEnglish Corporate Learning
Service teaches students to focus not only on
the language they are learning, but also on the
learning process itself. Activities present
language and the skills and strategies
necessary for engaging in real-world
communication. For example, there is a
significant emphasis on teaching students how
to ask for clarification when they don’t
understand something.
Service also addresses the need for cultural
awareness and sensitivity in today’s world.
Assignments contain characters from a variety
of cultures and often focus on cross-cultural
issues to address how customs, values, and
behaviors vary from country to country. In
addition, the Corporate Learning Service
includes an extensive reference section
providing Business Culture Notes on a wide
variety of topics relevant to businesspeople
involved in international business. Indeed,
cultural issues are covered throughout the
GlobalEnglish curriculum because of their
recognized importance in the fields of ESL
and EFL. It is not unusual to hear an ESL
( 354 )
teacher say that he or she teaches crosscultural awareness through language. The
integration of language and culture is part of
the design of the GlobalEnglish curriculum.
Seven Principles of Sound
Instructional Design
Each step of the CLT method is predicated on
seven principles of good instructional design.
These principles, which are set out below, are
robust. In practice, they have stood the test of
time. Empirically, they rest on a solid basis of
research that has been conducted into secondand foreign-language acquisition over the last
twenty to thirty years. The bulk of this paper
will be devoted to describing and illustrating
each of the principles.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Scaffolding
Interactivity
Task-Based Learning
Multisensory Learning
Pacing
Repetition
Inductive/Deductive Learning
One of the outstanding features of the
GlobalEnglish service is the overall quality of
the instructional design. This is true at the
syllabus level and also in the methodology.
Syllabus design is the selecting, sequencing,
and integrating of content. Methodology is the
selecting, sequencing, and integrating of
learning procedures—that is, tasks and
activities that learners engage with during the
process of learning.
In the GlobalEnglish curriculum, the syllabus
is an integrated one. While a key organizing
principle for the syllabus is an inventory of
communicative tasks in international business
contexts, the syllabus also contains a carefully
sequenced and integrated focus on the three
subsystems of language: pronunciation,
grammar, and vocabulary. The methodology
is a balanced mix of contemporary
approaches and more conventional exercise
types.
Scaffolding
Fundamental to each of these principles is a
particular view on the nature of language and
learning. The traditional view of language is
that it is a body of content to be memorized—
much like other subjects in a school
curriculum such as mathematics, science, and
geography. The GlobalEnglish view is that
language is a tool for communication rather
than a body of content to be mastered.
This view has implications for pedagogy—
that is, how instruction is approached. In the
GlobalEnglish approach, learning is seen as
an active, constructive process, and the
learner is at the center of that process. The
technical term for this approach to learning is
experientialism. The point of departure in this
approach is the learners’ experiences.
Scaffolding is a metaphor taken from the
building industry. Physical scaffolds are
supporting frameworks designed to prevent a
building from collapsing during construction.
In instructional programs, scaffolding
provides a supporting framework for the
learner. It does this in various ways: by
reminding learners of what they already know
in relation to the learning to come; by
simplifying the learning load and learning
content; by breaking the learning down into a
sequence of achievable steps; by providing
models of desired behavior for learners to
follow; and so on.
In the GlobalEnglish curriculum, scaffolding
is provided in many different ways. Here are
just four examples:
• The overall design of individual
assignments provides a supporting
framework. New content is introduced
in a step-by-step process in which the
( 355 )
•
•
difficulty level of the content is slowly
increased.
"Just in time" support is readily
available. For example, students have
access to live teachers in the Talk with
the Teacher online classroom. They
can also use the translation dictionary
in the GlobalEnglish Productivity
Toolbar to support their learning.
Immediate performance feedback lets
learners know how they are doing as
•
they progress step-by-step through the
material.
Learners are given models, in the form
of listening and reading texts, of the
kinds of language that they will be
expected to produce.
Help button is
available to learners
on every page
“Just-in-time”
performance
support is
readily
available.
Step-by-step instructions
explain how to complete
the activity.
Recordings can be
repeated, paused,
and slowed,
depending on the
needs of the learners.
Support controls
Learners are
provided with a
clear model. They
have the option of
different levels of
support.
In short, the scaffolding in the GlobalEnglish
service:
• creates and maintains interest
• simplifies tasks to match the current
capabilities of the learners
• reduces frustration
•
provides models
versions of tasks
Interactivity
( 356 )
or
“idealized”
As a general principle, learners learn most
effectively when they are interactively
engaged with the environment. In fact, in its
broadest sense, learning may be defined as an
active interaction between an organism and its
environment. This is true, regardless of the
subject matter being taught. Research shows
that learners learn best when they’re actively
engaged in rich, comprehensible, interactive
learning opportunities. In the case of second
or foreign language learning, acquisition takes
place when, through interaction, learners are
forced to “try out” their new language.
Throughout the GlobalEnglish service,
learners are able to interact with the new
language in a variety of ways. The hands-on
nature of the materials and the philosophy of
learning through doing (rather than learning
through memorizing lists of vocabulary and
grammar rules) make the learning experience
a highly interactive one. Activities include the
Quiz Show, a fast-paced review of material,
and polls in which learners give their opinions
on topics related to the assignments and then
see what other learners think. In addition, the
Sharing Your Ideas activity, the final activity
in all assignments, allows learners to express
their opinions on topics related to the theme
of the assignment and post what they have
written on a course bulletin board. Other
learners read the postings and can respond.
For more direct interaction, learners may
communicate in real time with a teacher and
other learners in the Talk with the Teacher
online classroom.
Virtual and live”
interaction with students
and teachers provide
rich input.
Stimulating topics are
relevant and engaging.
Simulated interactions create
realistic and motivating
opportunities to practice.
Visually engaging
activities make learning
interesting
( 357 )
Task-Based Learning
Task-based language teaching (TBLT) is
rapidly becoming the new orthodoxy in
language teaching. Ministerial guidelines in
countries as far apart as China and Spain set
down TBLT as one of the key guiding
principles for language curricula.
The basic principle behind TBLT is relatively
straightforward.
Whereas
traditional
approaches to language pedagogy begin with
lists of pronunciation features, grammar
items, and vocabulary, TBLT begins with lists
of things that people do with language.
Potentially, the number of tasks that fit this
definition is limitless. Think for a moment of
the things that corporate employees do with
language. Here is one possible list for a
typical day:
• ordering lunch in a restaurant
• scheduling an appointment with a
customer by phone
• conducting a meeting online
• chatting with colleagues about
business over a drink
• responding to an email request for
information
• reconfirming the action items from a
project meeting
The advantage of the TBLT approach lies in
its practicality. If you are in a restaurant, the
task of getting food delivered to your table is
more important to you than whether or not
your verbs are perfectly formed.
Language is taught in a
clear context.
Learners must
complete a task.
TBLT is fundamental to the GlobalEnglish
approach. Rather than learning about
language, students are directly involved in
mastering language by using it. This
functional approach, derived from the notion
that languages are best acquired through use,
entails a different approach to curriculum
development. Rather than starting out with
lists of grammar items, pronunciation
features, and sets of vocabulary, the
curriculum developer begins with inventories
of the kinds of things that people do with
( 358 )
language. From the list above, it can be seen
that at its most basic, language is used to
acquire goods and services (transactional
tasks) and to socialize (interpersonal tasks).
Situations containing these two kinds of tasks
can be found throughout the GlobalEnglish
courses.
Multisensory Learning
Extensive research into learning styles and
strategies shows that learners need to engage
with language through multiple senses. It
seems that the more that we can utilize a
range of senses, the more effectively we will
learn. Traditional pedagogy is heavily biased
toward aural and visual processing. In
computer-mediated learning, these can be
supplemented with the deployment of the
tactile sense.
Learning activities employ
a combination of aural,
visual, and tactile
interactions that appeal
to a broad range of
learning styles.
In the GlobalEnglish courses, there are many
activities that require aural and visual
processing—for example, reading and
listening passages. However, these are
supplemented with activities using the tactile
sense. Activity types such as matching and
drag and drop are perfectly suited to this type
of processing. In addition, most activities
involve the utilization of more than one sense.
Learners can access transcripts in listening
activities in order to combine visual and aural
processing. They can also listen to reading
passages.
( 359 )
The curriculum
design includes all
skills, engaging the
multiple senses used
in language.
Pacing
Pacing is a key to successful learning.
Learners suffer from overload if material is
introduced too quickly. By the same token,
they become bored if material introduced too
slowly. Motivation suffers if the pacing is
either too fast or too slow. Appropriate pacing
optimizes both motivation and learning.
Learning is further enhanced when learners
can self-pace.
Learners set their
learning goals and
choose their own
pace
Learners receive
immediate
feedback.
Unfortunately, in traditional face-to-face
instruction, the teacher has to pace materials
for the average students in the class, meaning
that instruction will be too quick for some and
too slow for others. One of the great
advantages of Internet-based instruction is
that learners can work through the materials at
a pace that suits them.
In the GlobalEnglish service, learners are able
to work through the materials at their own
pace. They can move quickly through
material that is familiar or easy and take as
much time as they like with less familiar or
more difficult material.
( 360 )
Target dates and
suggestions for
study time per
assignment enable
students to pace
their learning.
Repetition
Second-language acquisition is gradual and
incremental. Learners don’t learn one thing
perfectly one at a time. Learners learn
numerous things imperfectly all at once.
Acquisition is not a linear process. It is a
recursive process which demands recycling
and repetition. For this reason, learners need
multiple exposures to new material for
assimilation
The GlobalEnglish materials maximize
opportunities for repetition. Recycling of
important language and concepts is built into
the syllabus. In addition, the task-based
approach and use of naturalistic listening and
reading texts provides a great deal of
recycling. In addition, learners are learning
online, which means that they can repeat
assignments or parts of assignments as often
as they like.
( 361 )
Inductive and Deductive Learning
In deductive learning, learners are presented
with a rule or generalization, and they are
required to apply the rule to samples of
language data. In inductive learning, they
work with samples of language and acquire
the rules and generalizations through a guided
discovery process. The catch phrase for
inductive learning is learning by analogy
rather than analysis.
There is evidence that, depending on their
preferred learning styles, some learners learn
more effectively through deductive learning
while others learn more effectively through
inductive learning. Because any learning
program will have learners with a range of
learning styles, it is important that both
inductive
and
deductive
learning
opportunities be provided.
The GlobalEnglish courses include both types
of learning. In some activities, learners are
given a generalization—for example, a
grammar rule—and must then use the rule to
complete an exercise. In other activities,
learners are presented with new language in
the context of a reading or listening passage
and then are guided to an understanding of the
new language.
( 362 )
Conclusion
According to the results of research recently
published by GlobalEnglish Corporation
(“The Globalization of English: Trends in
Business
Communication
and
the
Implications for Global Companies”1), the
need for English language communication
skills
is
growing
every
quarter.
Unfortunately, the increased need far exceeds
the resources available in corporations to
provide sufficient traditional classroom
training, which is costly and time-consuming.
Technology, however, can provide a solution
to this growing problem. In recent years, there
have been dramatic improvements in the
technology, and online English education is
now a more practical and effective solution
than it was even a few years ago.
Advancements in interactivity and VoiceOver IP (VoIP), lighter bandwidth
requirements, and fewer plug-ins have
significantly increased its value for more
students.
internationally recognized authorities in the
field of English as a second or foreign
language. The educational content is
comprehensive, covering all proficiency
levels and all of the skills which learners must
master in order to use English effectively. The
service is built around a set of pedagogical
principles whose effectiveness has been
demonstrated as effective in both face-to-face
and Internet-mediated language learning. This
is what has made GlobalEnglish the leading
online provider for English language training.
In an e-learning environment, learners are in
control of the learning process. This means
that an online learning service is able to offer
additional
pedagogical
benefits
that
traditional classrooms cannot provide. Elearning provides individualized feedback,
instant access at any hour or day, and a safe
place to learn and make mistakes. It is not
enough, however, to believe in e-learning.
Corporations must find a high-quality
provider that can meet the needs of a variety
of students whose individual needs span a
wide spectrum of abilities, English levels, and
learning styles.
Service provides a cost-effective solution to
the global need for international business
English. It was developed with the help of
1
April 2005. Copies available by request.
[email protected]
Write to
( 363 )
About GlobalEnglish Corporation
GlobalEnglish Corporation is the leading
online English learning and support service
provider for business communication. The
company is helping global organizations
improve
efficiency
and
operational
integration by addressing the language skills
gap. In a recent survey of more than 30,000
corporate employees, 91 percent said that
English is “required” or “important” for their
jobs; however, only 9 percent indicated that
their current level of English was sufficient
for their jobs in a global organization. And the
GlobalEnglish service delivers measurable
improvements to learners and corporations;
92 percent of active users reported that they
were able to apply what they learned to the
job, and 71 percent saved an hour or more
each week.
GlobalEnglish is the preferred choice of many
of the world’s largest companies, including
ArcelorMittal, Banco Bradesco, BNP Paribas,
Deloitte,
Deutsche
Telekom,
Dubai
Municipality, Emirates NBD, HewlettPackard, Hilton International, IBM Japan,
Mitsubishi Corporation, Procter & Gamble,
Reuters, Schneider Electric, Unilever, and
Wyeth. GlobalEnglish also offers programs
for individuals, schools, and children. For
more information about how GlobalEnglish
can
help
your
company
improve
communication around the world, go to
www.globalenglish.com or email us at
[email protected].
The GlobalEnglish Academic Advisory
Board
Service has been created by experts in English
as a Foreign Language (EFL). GlobalEnglish
instructional designers and writers have many
years in the ESL/EFL (English as a
Second/Foreign Language) field, and several
are published authors within this field.
GlobalEnglish has also built an Academic
Advisory Board that provides further
guidance and oversight of educational
direction
and
development
of
the
GlobalEnglish products. In addition to Dr.
Nunan, this board has included some of the
most respected names in the field of English
language teaching, including Dr. Kathleen
Bailey, former president of TESOL (Teachers
of English to Speakers of Other Languages),
the most important professional association
for English language instruction. Also
instrumental in the educational design of the
product was Dr. Martin Rice, a founder of
GlobalEnglish Corporation. Prior to his
involvement in GlobalEnglish Corporation,
Dr. Rice led the product development teams
of The Learning Company (1995 to 1997) and
Hyperglot (1985 to 1993).
Academic Advisors
Dr. David Nunan is director and chair of
applied linguistics at the University of Hong
Kong. He was the 1999-2000 president of
International TESOL. Dr. Nunan has
published over 100 books and articles in the
areas
of
curriculum
and
materials
development, classroom-based research, and
discourse analysis. His recent publications
include The Self-Directed Teacher and Voices
from the Language Classroom (Cambridge
University Press), as well as the Atlas, Listen
In, and Go for it! series of textbooks (Heinle
& Heinle). Dr. Nunan earned his Ph.D. in
applied linguistics from Flinders University in
Australia.
Dr. Kathleen Bailey is a professor of applied
linguistics at the Monterey Institute of
International Studies in Monterey, California.
Director of the TESOL M.A. program there
for six years, she was also the Director of the
Intensive English as a Second Language
Program for three years. Dr. Bailey was the
1998-1999 president of TESOL. She has
worked with language teachers in many
countries and is the author or coauthor of
numerous scholarly articles and books. Her
( 364 )
two most recent books are Learning About
Language Assessment: Dilemmas, Decisions
and Directions (Heinle & Heinle, 1997) and
Pursuing Professional Development: The Self
as Source (co-authored with Andy Curtis and
David Nunan, Heinle & Heinle, 2001). Dr.
Bailey earned her Ph.D. in applied linguistics
from the University of California, Los
Angeles.
The following individuals have made
significant contributions to the creation of the
GlobalEnglish family of services. The
GlobalEnglish development teams continue to
rely on these and other accomplished
practitioners to provide cutting-edge advice
and resources for the benefit of GlobalEnglish
learners.
•
Dr. Linda Blanton, professor of
English and director of the university
honors program at the University of
New Orleans
•
Dr. Mary Ann Christison, professor of
linguistics at the University of Utah
and former president of International
TESOL
•
Dr. Fernando Fleurquin, academic
director Alianza Cultural Uruguay
Estados Unidos, Montevideo, Uruguay
•
Barbara Foley, associate professor of
English at Union County College,
New Jersey
•
Helen
Kalkstein
Fragiadakis,
chairperson of the department of
English for international students at
Contra Costa College, California
•
Linda Grant, writer, consultant, and
teacher
trainer,
Georgia
State
University
•
Daphne Mackey, director of special
programs in English as a second
language at the University of
Washington Extension
•
Joseph A. McVeigh, associate director
for programs in ESL (English as a
Second Language) and TESOL at the
Center for Educational Technology at
Middlebury College, Vermont
•
Dr. Joy Reid, professor of English at
the University of Wyoming
GlobalEnglish Case Study: Emirates
Bank, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Emirates Bank, an Emirates NBD company,
the banking group resulting from the merger
of Emirates Bank and National Bank of
Dubai, was recently awarded the prestigious
Banker Magazine award for 'Best Bank of the
Year in the UAE for the year 2007'.
With the UAE government aiming to make
Dubai the “financial capital of the Middle
East” it initiated a strategy known as
“Emiratisation,” which aims to fully
incorporate the UAE people into the
economic process and to transfer skills and
knowledge from expatriates to UAE
nationals. As part of this strategy, the UAE
Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs set a
series of goals, which included a 25%
“Emiratisation” rate for all banks in the UAE.
In order for Emirates Bank to meet this goal,
however, they needed to improve the English
communication skills of employees. UAE
students were not learning enough English in
schools, so it fell to Emirates Bank to help
their employees improve. “It is important for
the UAE people to be leaders, but they can’t
do that if they can’t speak to the world,” said
Heyam Farrington, Business Communication
Manager, Emirates Bank. “The financial
industry is very competitive and if we wish to
( 365 )
have international clients, our employees
must be able to speak the language of
business—English.
“Our English skills weren’t what they needed
to be,” continued Farrington. “I would visit
our retail division and watch our tellers
interact with English-speaking customers, and
it didn’t go well. They might know the
words, but they weren’t able to produce the
language
quickly
enough
or
reply
immediately to a question. Although they had
excellent skills in their jobs, they lacked
confidence with their English and because of
this; the customers did not have confidence in
them. With increasing use of the internet
within the UAE, today’s ‘Internet Generation’
of employees are increasingly comfortable
with using the internet and are attracted to
using new technology for learning”
Rehab Al Hosani
Rehab Al Hosani joined Emirates Bank in
April 2006 and immediately began studying
English in the GlobalEnglish blended learning
program. One year later, Rehab graduated
from the program with top honors. In
September 2007, Rehab was externally
assessed by Trinity College London and
became a fully TESOL teacher.
Favourite feature of GlobalEnglish service
“I really liked Talk with the Teacher*, which
gave me an opportunity to talk to English
teachers and other students online around the
world. At first I was panicked, but after time
it gave me the confidence to speak in front of
my class and the other people at the bank. It
was
amazing.”
[*Note: Talk with the Teacher is a web based
online classroom that enables students to
practice their speaking and listening skills in
a live classroom with a real English teacher.]
First job with Emirates Bank
Retail Banking Manager; working with
customers to secure loans and credit cards.
After the GlobalEnglish blended learning program
Promoted to English Trainer; teaching
elementary English, including reporting and
testing. Became first UAE national to earn an
English teaching position with Emirates
Bank.
Career aspiration
“I would like to share my experience and help
the UAE government do a better job teaching
English in the schools, using the technology
we now have. The GlobalEnglish program is
very good and I want everyone to try it.”
Rehab’s tip for continued learning
Read. “I read materials published in English,
such as the GlobalEnglish Magazine, to learn
new words, which I then use in conversation.”
A ‘Blended’ Solution
While the UAE is becoming a global
economic player, the country has retained
many of its cultural traditions. Classroom
training is still the preferred method of many
UAE nationals. However, Emirates Bank
needed an online solution to lower costs and
reduce the amount of time employees spent
away from their jobs. For these reasons,
Emirates Bank chose an approach that reflects
the UAE’s blend of old and new methods:
classroom instruction combined with online
technology.
Selecting a Vendor
“I was looking for two key things when
choosing our online provider. One, I needed
something that would teach business English,
not just general English. I needed a service
that was more relevant to work nowadays, not
like the literature course books or audio
courses. And two, I wanted something
modern that used new technologies to be
more interactive. GlobalEnglish gave me all
of this. I was particularly impressed with the
GlobalEnglish Talk with the Teacher online
classrooms. I knew immediately that this
( 366 )
exciting feature and the entire service would
help our students,” said Farrington.
The Student Experience
Emirates Bank was so impressed with the
GlobalEnglish Corporate Learning Service™
that Ms. Farrington and her team based the
entire English program on the GlobalEnglish
curriculum. Students are placed into one of
three levels (beginner, intermediate, or
advanced) using the GlobalEnglish Placement
Test and then must complete one online
GlobalEnglish course each month for three
months. To complement the online study,
students spend two hours a week in the
classroom. This is a significant factor in the
students’ motivation to continue with their
studies. In addition, the classroom sessions
give students the opportunity to discuss the
online activities, do role-plays, and focus on
tasks for their jobs that require English, like
preparing presentations, business plans, and
proposals.
Results
EAQUALS Accreditation
Emirates Bank has exceeded their own
expectations with the online English program.
Among their many accomplishments,
Emirates Bank was the first organization in
the Middle East to earn EAQUALS
accreditation. To receive this designation,
Emirates Bank had to pass an inspection that
included 162 specific points related to
teaching, curriculum, standards, legal
requirements, truthfulness, and quality
control.
Increased Impact
Emirates Bank was able to increase the
number of employees trained each year by
over 300% with no increase in cost. With the
classroom English training program, Emirates
Bank could only train 90 employees a year
because the curriculum required nine hours of
classroom time each week and four months to
complete. Expanding the program was not an
option because of a lack of instructors and
classroom space.
With the lessened
dependence on the classroom, Emirates Bank
can now train 400 employees a year for the
same amount it was spending on the
classroom training.
High Satisfaction and Improved Completion Rates
Eighty-five percent of the students
successfully complete the program, an
improvement of 50 percent over the
classroom program. Farrington attributes this
success to higher satisfaction. “Part of the
reason we have been able to increase our
graduation rates is because people like the
curriculum better and like the flexibility of
studying at home so they study more,” she
said. “Also, more people are joining the
program because it requires less classroom
time and they are seeing the improvements of
their fellow employees.”
Improved Performance
After practicing business English in realistic
business situations for three months with the
blended GlobalEnglish program, students
significantly improved word selection,
sentence construction, and their confidence
when communicating in English on the job.
“The improved English communication skills
are helping improve our customer service
because our tellers are now more confident
when talking to customers,” said Farrington.
“They are speaking more accurately and more
fluently.
They are comfortable now
discussing the details of an account in English
and are resolving problems for the customers
more quickly. Most importantly, this has
improved customer confidence in Emirates
Bank.”
Nitsa Helaiel, an administrative assistant with
the bank, agrees: “During the past three
months, I feel that my skills in English have
improved in many ways and that helps me in
attending to customers. In the beginning I
( 367 )
was embarrassed to talk with the customer,
but now I am feeling that I am very confident
and I have the ability to deliver proper
information.”
“I was pleased to study English with
GlobalEnglish.
Business
English
communication skills are extremely useful [so
that I can] interface and communicate with
senior management.
It also helped me
represent a highly professional standard of the
bank to external contacts.” -- Mahmood Al
Saffar, IT Manager, Emirates Bank.
( 368 )
References
Wall street Journal: Plain English Gets
Harder in Global Era (5th November 2005)
See
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB11942268800
9682064.html
Or
http://webreprints.djreprints.com/1822301220
702.html
Deloitte names GlobalEnglish Corporation as
One the Fastest Growing Technology
Companies in Silicon Valley. November
2007. See Press Release at
http://www.globalenglish.com/templates/bin/t
emplate.asp?lang=EN&ClassId=204&ObjectI
d=228271
See what GlobalEnglish clients say in a 2
minute video –
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbF6nellf
Uw
See a 20 minute new user orientation
(available in 13 languages) of the
GlobalEnglish Corporate Learning Service
see http://corp.globalenglish.com/bnewuser
For a free 30 day access to the GlobalEnglish
Corporate
Learning
Service
email
[email protected]
( 369 )
Let’s Bring the Fun Back into Learning: Deploy Serious Games
That Can Deliver Learning Outcomes
Janaki Ram .V
C&K Management, India
B. Ravi Ramakrishnan
KWHYS LLC, Dubai
C&K Management, India
Abstract
Serious games are increasingly becoming a
popular component of e-learning offerings to
overcome learner apathy. One way to get
quick learner acceptance of such games is to
base these upon popular, traditional, offline
games. A host of such games have been reengineered to suit the online environment for
learner engagement and more importantly,
enable complex learning processes. After a
brief review of deploying serious games
within e-learning, the authors focus on two
distinct application areas – employee
induction and customer education, using live
case studies. The paper details the business
case for gaming, modification of offline
games to the online environment and
implementation of such learning packages.
Keywords. Serious game, e-learning gaming,
learner engagement, e-induction, onboarding, customer education, case study,
Digital Game Based Learning.
Introduction
People typically associate games with play or
fun and learning with hard work or boredom.
But serious learners actually associate
learning with both fun and hard work.
Games have very much been a part of
everyone’s growing up, though they haven’t
always been encouraged. Saint Augustine
(AD 354 - 430) had this to say in his
Confessions - Book I: 10. “… but we enjoyed
playing games and were punished for them by
men who played games themselves. However,
grown-up games are known as 'business' and
even though boys' games are much the same,
they are punished for them by their elders. No
one pities either the boys or the men, though
surely we deserve pity, for I cannot believe
that a good judge would approve of the
beatings I received as a boy on the ground
that my games delayed my progress in
studying subjects which would enable me to
play a less creditable game later in life.”
Games continue to be very much a part of
daily life and have evolved along with human
civilisation. Parker Brothers,1 a game
manufacturing company, discovered in the
late 19th and early 20th century that games
have the power to influence society, though
they had to fit within societal norms2. With
digital revolution that took off in the 1990s,
we are witness to a huge cultural change with
increasing use of technology in development
and use of games. The early adaptors of
technology for games have seen a huge
1
Parker Brothers is a 115-year-old brand and
game manufacturer with over 1,800 games.
2
Game Impact Theory, From Wikipedia, the free
encyclopedia, Serious game link
http://en.wikipedia.org:80/wiki/Serious_game
( 370 )
opportunity for business in this segment and
games have come a long way since then.
Online gaming alone is projected to generate
$ 8 billion by 20083.
Games and Serious Games
The Merriam-Webster’s Online Dictionary
defines “Game” as “an activity engaged in for
diversion or amusement”. It goes on to state
that its etymology is from old English word
“gamen”, akin to old High German word
“gaman” or amusement. But not everyone
may agree with this as game means different
things to different people.
In his book4, David Michael states in his
summary that “…games are a voluntary
activity, obviously separate from real life,
creating an imaginary world that may or may
not have any relation to real life and that
absorbs the player’s full attention. Games are
played out within a specific time and place,
are played according to established rules, and
create social groups out of their players”.
If we accept this as a working definition of a
game and combine it with the “diversion or
amusement” dictionary connotation, is serious
game an oxymoron? Not quite. Casually
played games are typically presented as
entertainment. Serious games, on the other
hand, are those that follow the definition
presented by David Michael, but carry a wellthought-out objective that is typically
structured around some learning. Such games
may have a fun element or even entertain, but
learning is the underpinning element.
3 Online gaming to generate $ 8 bln by 2008.
Posted on Sep 07, 04
http://www.itfacts.biz/index.php?id=P1482
4 Michael, David R. Serious Games: Games That
Educate, Train, and Inform.
Boston, MA, USA: Course Technology, Incorporated,
2005. p 19.
Games can be good for learning
Excelling at any game calls for learning the
rules, identifying strategies and tactics to win,
and then executing them to perfection. Be it a
simple board game, a digital one or an
outdoor sport.
Raph Koster discusses the concept of games
as learning activities in his book. "A lot of the
premises of the book are based upon the latest
material out there in cognitive science,
specifically how humans learn and how the
brain works," says Koster. "One of the
conclusions I reached really quickly was that
there are a lot of kinds of brains out there.
Expecting one game to hit everybody at the
sweet spot is unrealistic. We intuitively know
this when we look at market segmentation."5
All this is very familiar to instructional
designers of e-learning interventions.
Further, the idea of psychological risk/reward
systems that underlies many games can easily
be related to learning. In any game, players
undertake a risk activity knowing well that
they will land a reward if they win. Koster
claims undertaking risk activities is a natural
way to learn. When players encounter a new
activity, they first try and understand it. Next,
they find a solution and then work on it long
and hard enough to be able to do it by a rote
pattern. If the pattern is very difficult to
internalise, the learning is dismissed. If it is
too simple, it is immediately understood and
filed away as a solved problem.
Another wonderful aspect of any game is that
it teaches the players how to learn from their
losses and failures far better than when they
win.
Michael “Air” Jordan, one of the finest
basketball players of recent times who
dominated the NBA tournament in USA for
5
( 371 )
Theory of Fun for Game Design.
over a decade, has this to offer: “I've missed
more than 9,000 shots in my career. I've lost
almost 300 games. 26 times, I've been trusted
to take the game winning shot and missed.
I've failed over and over and over again in my
life. And that is why I succeed”. Little wonder
then why he was a five-time Most Valuable
Player of the year, six-time Champion and
rated one of the best 50 players of basketball
ever.
However a big drawback with the game
format is that any game palls on a player once
the player learns to master the game. The
other negative aspect of using games is that
often they are competitive in nature against
another opponent. “It is impossible to win
gracefully at chess. No man has yet said
"Mate!" in a voice that failed to sound to his
opponent bitter, boastful and malicious6”,
says Milne.
Hence, while deploying serious games to
attain learning outcomes, it is imperative to
ensure that the challenge remains and learners
are allowed to fail or lose gracefully. Which is
why modern-day game designers factor in
consumer behaviour extensively.
Consumer Behaviour
Game developers realise that a real
enticement is the insatiable appetite of the
mind of consumer.
“I know what is good
But I am not inclined to do it;
I know also what is bad,
But I do not refrain from doing it;
I just do as I am prompted to do
By some unknown force within me”
- Mahabharata (an Indian epic)
The game developers of online, offline and
console-based ones understand consumer
6
A.A. Milne, Not That It Matters, 1919.
behaviour well. They present the player with
a solid collection of compelling choices. As
long as the choices remain compelling, the
games have a chance of being fun and/or
challenging.
For example, we have convincing choices
with typical games like poker and chess. For a
child, tic-tac-toe may seem convincing with
the choices it offers, and the game can even
be fun. But as they grow, the choices become
tiresome and apparent, and the game slowly
starts losing its appeal.
Skill-based games like golf or Quake involve
compelling tactical and training choices. In
some other games, you may also have
resources, which add new choices. For
example, adding a currency will bring in new
choices to a Business Game: How will you
generate income and how much? How will
you spend your income? How will you
balance?
Gamer designers also realise that gamers are
possessive, violent by nature and are
dreamers. They exploit these traits to the hilt
by enticing the gamer with compelling
choices in racing and other games that involve
violence and fantasy.
It is estimated that kids in the age group 8-10
years in the US play video-based computer
games for about one hour every day7. By the
time a student graduates from college, he or
she will have played over 10,000 hours of
computer games8. This is an amazing amount
7
Digital divisions. Report by the Pew /Internet: Pew
Internet & American Life. US Department of
Commerce. From
www.karlkapp.com/materials/presentationgaming%20s
lides.pdf
8
Kitchen, P. (2005) Members of video-game
generation transfer skills to workplace -Knight Ridder
Tribune Business News. From
www.karlkapp.com/materials/presentationgaming%20s
lides.pdf
( 372 )
of interaction with video games. Raph Koster
gave this list of things that video games teach:
• Motor skills: hand-eye coordination
• Spatial relationships: 3D and 2D
• Shapes: again, both 3D and 2D
• Curiosity: players learn to test
everything, to seek out new
information in unexpected places
trained on video games. Boeing found that
their better pilots were the ones who had had
both cockpit and simulation training, rather
than just cockpit training. Other tests have
shown that pilots who have played
Microsoft’s Flight Simulator, especially the
latest versions, do far better on an actual
Airplane Simulator!
Today’s “Net Generation” is slowly but
surely getting alienated from traditional
instruction methods. This young generation
processes multiple streams of information,
favours inductive reasoning, wants numerous
quick interactions with content, and has
excellent
visual
literacy
skills
—
characteristics that are all matched well with
Digital Game-Based Learning (DGBL).
Most educators are neither game players nor
game developers and so tend to be sceptical
and think that games are “play” and thus the
opposite of “work”. Others, who are among
its proponents, are constrained predominantly
by budget constraints and not enough
instances of successful implementations.
While we maybe able to retain their attention
in a classroom for a bare 15–20 minutes, we
may find it easy to engage them for hours
together by presenting the same learning
using a serious online game.
In the present times with technology invading
every sphere of life including games, people
around the world increasingly find games to
be engaging and believe that they can be
effective in promoting learning.
Digital Games-Based Learning
DGBLs have defined learning outcomes.
Generally, they are designed to balance the
subject matter with the game play and the
ability of the player to retain and apply the
said subject matter to the real world9.
Military trainers claim that the shooting
ability of kids trained on video games is on
average higher than people who have not
9
The book 'Digital Game-Based Learning' by
Marc Prensky was the first major publication to
define the term.
Academic researchers in the recent past have
started to study gaming as part of the presentday society in terms of consumer behaviour.
They have largely concentrated on providing
statistics on efficacy of games rather than on
why and how they are effective for learning,
where to use them and ways to implement
them.
Globally, some of the best-known universities
are researching into the usage of serious
games in learning. Purdue University ran a
competition among faculty in the first half of
2007 to award a project to “design an
interactive, electronic game to replace an
existing Purdue course in any discipline”.
MIT runs the “The New Media Literacies”
project (NML), which is working “to integrate
new media materials into compelling
activities for K-12 students for use in or out of
school”. University of California, Berkeley,
does work on Digital Youth Research that
explores how kids use digital media in their
everyday lives, with a focus on relationships,
games, digital divide and creativity. The
Birmingham Serious Games Team at
University of Birmingham has focused on
health care sector and developed game-based
( 373 )
Trauma Trainer and Aberrant Anatomy,
among others.
With game-based learning, there are many
wonderful opportunities. But all games are
not equal and are not going to solve all the
learning problems. We need to understand
why DGBL is engaging and effective, and
need research data on practical guidance for
how games can be integrated into the learning
process to maximise their potential in
education. Let us see some of the factors that
affect consumer behaviour.
Motivation
Motivation is a key concept in many of the
instructional design theories. For learning to
occur, the learner must be motivated to learn.
Malone and Lepper (1987) present a
theoretical framework of intrinsic motivation
in which they hypothesise that a good game,
irrespective of its educational qualities, will
have some of the following factors -challenge, fantasy, curiosity and control and
these interpersonal factors - cooperation,
competition and recognition, which actually
lead to motivation.
For example, flight simulation training is
very, very authentic with very high physical
fidelity. Whereas, an online course on
problem-solving skills with low physical
fidelity is still perceived as authentic because
people relate to it when they contend in
situations and get realistic output that relates
to their own life situations. Authenticity is
defined as “to conform to an idealised
representation of reality.” 10
Then there are other games, which are fun,
engaging and competitive, and have features
to track, and measure. For example, Hearts
and other games that are installed by default
with Windows OS. They are very playful but
not at all authentic. This we call playfulness.
Fidelity, Authenticity and Playfulness
In Prensky’s influential 2001 work Digital
Game-Based Learning, there is mention of
fidelity. It refers to the question of how trueto-life a simulated environment has to be to
engage the learner and evoke an emotional
response. Prensky says it only has to be
psychologically convincing, and that in fact
the wealth of incidental detail found in hifidelity simulations distracts from and can
actually impede learning.
In Digital Game-Based Learning, authenticity
is about the equivalent material that users
recognise and draw parallels with their real
life situations. How similar is the content to
their work? Does it relate to their concerns?
10
Grazian, D. Blue Chicago. (Chicago: University of
Chicago Press, 2003) 10-11.
( 374 )
Games and Simulations – Playfulness and Authenticity
10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
Authenticity
Playfullness
???
Games
Simulations
Games versus Simulations
Let us consider the differences between
simulations and games. A simulation is a
serious effort to precisely represent a real
experience in another, more flexible form. A
game is a creatively simplified depiction of an
experience. The basic difference between the
two lies in their purposes. The purpose of
creating a simulation is for evaluating or
computing; the purpose of a game is derived
from its educational or entertainment value.
And then there is a middle-of-the-path
variation where training simulations get
combined
with
educational
games.
Simulations are detailed and focus on
accuracy. Games are stylised and focus on
clarity.
Interaction
Interactivity is not a new term, it is simply
new to the electronic media. In computers,
interactivity is the dialog that occurs between
a human being and a computer program. New
media have different capabilities to engage
our senses in a way unexplored before.
Games are usually thought of as fostering a
great amount of interactivity. No electronic
Combination
of Game and
Simulation
media could include all of reality without
being reality itself. Thus, a game or
simulation, as the name suggests, have to be
largely a subset of reality.
But the most fascinating thing about
interactivity is not that the dialog occurs, or
even that it gets a response, but how a
response changes. It is a complex maze of
cause and effect by which all experiences are
tied together. In a game, the only way to
properly characterise these experiences is to
allow the audience to explore it by letting
them create causes and observe effects. The
interactive element in a game is a crucial
factor in its appeal.
In this paper, we will see an example of
induction training, which explores the use of a
computer game with interactive visualisation.
In addition, there is another example of a
combination of simulation and game to
educate investors of investment options and
asset management, taking into consideration
some of the aspects discussed above in terms
of consumer behaviour.
Example 1: Game-based learning for
Corporate on-boarding
( 375 )
The training problem
For the opening example of induction training
or on-boarding, let us first look at the
traditional way of classroom training, which
was the option before deploying the online
game.
• The new inductees had to wait for
their induction until a sizable number
of people could be gathered for
training, often a wait of two to three
months after joining the organisation
• All training had a similar pattern
delivered monotonously
o Welcome everyone to the
company
o Explain what a wonderful firm
the company was
o What a fabulous decision it
was of the employee to join
them
o The department heads tell
everyone what they do
o And what they expect the
employees to do in return
o Finally, if anyone was still
awake and listening, was
allowed to leave
Waiting for the induction to take place, the
inductee must have been on his own
searching, experimenting and finding out how
the company works and where he/she fits in.
And, when the induction training happens, it
is probably disconnected with reality on the
ground and does not get the intended results.
A significant amount of information, much of
which is actually rather important, must be
imparted with the HR manager becoming ‘the
wise one on stage’ and the inductees’ passive
listeners.
The question:
How do we make the on-boarding process
training formal, but at the same time
interesting and fun for the new hires?
The business requirement posed:
• A business group has over 20
companies spanning across seven
business sectors. New hires need to
have a sense of belonging and feel that
they are part of a larger organisation
and that they are important
• Convey the culture of the organisation
• On successful completion of the einduction, the group expects the new
joiners to be integrated in to the
organisation very quickly
• After the upfront e-learning session to
start things off, a mentor is assigned at
the unit level for individual job role
specific requirements for the first 30
days
Target Group: New joiners at all levels
The solution:
Play is a primary socialisation and learning
mechanism common to all human cultures.
The younger generation has grown up in a
technologically sophisticated environment of
home computers, the World Wide Web,
movies, mobile phones and gaming. It was
recommended that we examine and exploit
those aspects of technologies and computer
games the modern learner has been exposed
to.
As discussed earlier, motivation is the key
concept here for any game. The game itself
had to be simple with low fidelity and low
game authenticity, but playful with authentic
details. The games in the induction program
are based on discovery and disruption models
of learning.
Here are some screenshots of the milestones
in the business group’s more than 100 years
of history
( 376 )
A simple animated program of a highway
with a user-controlled car that takes the
inductee though the history of the evolution of
the group. The car leads to a stadium with a
crescendo of all the group companies showing
up under the group. Later, video of the
chairman of the group addresses and
welcomes the newly joined member. To bring
in a sense of reality, car models were changed
over the years, speeds increased and the
scenarios passing by changed to modern ones.
The business sectors
The business sectors of the group are
designed as an investigative game, patterned
after many of the games offered to children.
The newly joined member is made to take on
a character in the game searching for clues to
nab a culprit and in the process discovers the
group’s business sectors and their details.
( 377 )
The Result:
The Requirement:
The learners are adequately motivated and get
hands on information, which is important for
their job in informal settings. The on-boarding
process is fun while expediting the process of
getting the new hires to speed up and become
productive.
Over a million target audience spread across
India.
Consistency required to address a target that
was not homogeneous.
Need to engage with high levels of
interactivity.
Example 2: A combination of simulation
and game to educate retail investors about
investment options and asset management.
Target Audience
The Training Problem:
The Solution:
Urban/Rural; Educated/Not-so educated
Already Investing in MF/No experience
A world-renowned asset management
company wanted a highly interactive course
to educate investors on investment options
and show why professional asset management
services can yield better, consistent results.
The Question:
How do we make the learner go through all
the financial options that are available to them
and how to allow them to choose from these?
The game had to be authentic so that users
recognise and draw parallels with their real
life situations. As a game it had to be fun,
engaging and competitive, have features to
track and measure. The modules were
designed by combining game and simulations
to bring in consistency and authenticity. This
while motivating the learners by interactively
simulating real-time experiences by letting
them compete and keep track of their scores.
( 378 )
A full year’s stock market data of select scrips
and news items spanning many industries for
a year formed the basis of simulation. Players
got to play the stock market systematically in
a competitive format against others and the
computer.
Here are some of the screen shots of the
game, which take the learner though the
investment options as they play and learn by
doing.
Screen shot of a built in pre-test to allow
advanced learners to skip some modules.
Screen shots of Stocks or Mutual Funds
game.
( 379 )
The end result of combining a simulation
along with a game environment for this
project was that it was considered immersive
by the players, required them to make
frequent, important decisions, had clear goals,
and was adaptable for each player
individually. As stocks or mutual funds game
is a multi-player game, it involved social
networking in a challenging environment.
In
both
the
game-based
learning
environments, the player had to recall prior
learning, decide what new information was
needed, and had to apply them to the new
situations. Secondly, problem-solving skills
and techniques were involved in both the
games, for the player had to apply them to
succeed. The players were able to make the
connection with the unique situation and
transfer the existing learning.
( 380 )
Conclusion
Serious games are in an early stage of
evolution. Although most games may educate,
their primary goal or design feature has never
been that till now. Moving forward, educators
will be able to further exploit the potential of
game-based learning when they are able to
understand and harness the technology
combined with consumer behaviour and
learning theory. While doing this, educators
may do well to adapt from the many timetested games that most of us are familiar with
and design learning processes that allow
learners to relate to these easily and take up
the learning outcomes with more interest.
( 381 )
Learning Object Metadata: Opportunities and Challenges for the
Middle East and North Africa
1
Jehad Najjar,
Stefaan Ternier,
1
Erik Duval,
2
Mohamed Amine Chatii
1
Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium
2
RWTH Aachen University, Informatik 5. Ahornstr, Aachen, Germany
1
Abstract
This paper briefly analyses the requirements
for “share and reuse” of learning objects in
Middle East and North Africa. We propose a
framework that can be used to connect
Learning Object Repositories of the Middle
East and North Africa with networks of
repositories worldwide; through the services
of
the
ARIADNE
Foundation
(http://www.ariadne-eu.org/) and the GLOBE
consortium (http://globe-info.org).
Introduction
“Share and Reuse” of learning objects enables
more effective and efficient creation of
learning material [Wiley, 2000; Rehak and
Mason, 2003]. Authors, teachers and learners
can use Learning Object Repositories (LORs)
to share their materials. By integrating LORs
with applications like Learning Management
Systems (LMSs), authoring environments
(like MS Office and others) and query tools,
barriers to share and reuse are removed
[Verbert et al., 2005].
However, creating instructional material from
learning objects on a large scale requires
access to large collections of learning objects.
Metadata are used to describe learning objects
in order to enable finding relevant content,
using metadata schemas (like the IEEE
Learning Object Metadata standard – LOM
[IEEE, 2002]). Metadata schemas also enable
the exchange of learning object metadata
between repositories. Repositories that
conform to the same common metadata
schema can exchange metadata instances
between them. In this way, it becomes
possible to create a course on, for example,
‘Global Warming’ by combining objects (e.g.,
images, narrative texts, slides and audio and
video clips) from more than one repository.
Currently, within the GLOBE consortium,
several networks of LORs are interconnected. This enables ARIADNE users to
access learning objects in repositories
anywhere within the GLOBE network; so that
resources
from
MERLOT
(http://www.merlot.org/)
(USA),
NIME
(http://www.nime.ac.jp/en/) (Japan), KERIS
(http://www.keris.or.kr/) (Korea), LACLO
(http://www.laclo.espol.edu.ec/)
(LatinAmerica), LORnet (http://www.lornet.org/)
(Canada),
COSL
(http://cosl.usu.edu/
including the MIT OCW consortium material)
(USA) or of EdNa (http://www.edna.edu.au/)
(Australia) are all available in a seamless
way.
To our knowledge, non of the LORs in the
Middle East and North Africa are interconnected with other LORs worldwide. In this
paper, we briefly discuss the requirements for
creating interoperable LORs. This includes
(1) creating learning object metadata
application profiles (section 2), (2) connecting
learning object repositories using federated
search or harvesting (section 3). Another
( 382 )
relevant issue that is discussed in the paper is
facilitating the provision of metadata through
automatic metadata generation (section 3), to
reach a critical mass of learning object
metadata.
Metadata Application Profiles
When developing a learning object repository,
the first step to be taken is defining a
metadata application profile. Metadata
designers typically create an application
profile by customizing a base schema to fit
the needs of local users [Heery and Patel,
2000]. The designers need to select the
metadata elements that will be included in the
profile and that will be used to describe
learning objects in their repository. This
selection is based on the needs and context of
the served environment. In addition, the valid
values and the obligation status (optional,
mandatory, etc.,) of every selected metadata
elements need to be defined.
Building an Application Profile
In this section, we first (in subsection 2.1.1)
discuss how metadata elements of application
profiles are selected from base schemas. Then
(in subsection 2.1.2), we explain how values
of those elements are also selected from
values of a base schema. Afterwards, we
discuss how designers, in application profiles,
assign the obligation status (mandatory,
optional, etc.) and multiplicity (one or
multiple value entries) for the elements of
their application profiles; in subsections 2.1.3
and 2.1.4 respectively.
Data Elements
The first task in building an application
profile is the selection of data elements, based
on the needs, requirements and policies of the
community of practice. For instance, consider
a profile P that represents a cultural heritage
learning object repository in the United Arab
Emirates, where decision makers are
concerned about the historical period each
particular object relates to. A representative
profile of this domain should include, within
its element set, an element that captures
information about the historical period
coverage. Another example, a repository that
collects learning material of schools should
include within its element set a metadata
element that captures the age group of
students that a learning object is intended to
be learned by.
Application profiles may include all the
elements (complete set) of the base schema,
include only a subset of the base schema or
include elements from more than one base
schema.
In this subsection, we have discussed the
selection of application profile elements from
elements of a base schema(s); the values of
those elements have not been selected yet.
The next section focuses on assigning values
for data elements of application profile;
values may also be selected from one or more
base schemas.
Value Domains
In the previous subsection, the selection of the
metadata elements is discussed. Here, the goal
is to select a range of possible values that
every selected metadata element in the profile
may have. As an example: we may restrict the
metadata element Coverage to accept only
‘Umayyad 7th Century’, ‘Abbasid 8th
Century’ and ‘Fatimid 10th Century’ as valid
values.
Value domains may be of different forms.
First, an enumerated value domain is a list of
vocabulary values that a data element may
have. In an application profile, it is possible
to mix values of a base schema with new
values created by application profile designers
that do not belong to the base schema. The
second form of value domain is descriptive
values, this value domain is defined as a
pattern to which values must conform
[Loshin, 2003]. For instance, values of an
element that captures a telephone number of
( 383 )
an author of a book may be restricted, for
example, to one of the patterns ‘(DDD) DDDDDDD’ or ‘DDD-DDD-DDDD’, where D
represents a digit from 0-9.
Obligation Status
Another issue to be defined is the obligation
status of the element in the application
profile,
which
can
be
mandatory,
recommended, conditional or optional. Some
profiles may keep the obligation status as in
the base schema while others may decide to
make it more strict. As an example: in the
cultural heritage application profile, suppose
that decision makers of the application have a
policy that prevents any learning object to be
indexed into the system unless information
related to the coverage period is provided.
This implies that the obligation status of the
element coverage in profile needs to be
mandatory, even if the element is optional in
the base schema.
As another example: in the education context,
a university in the United Kingdom may
choose to make the language element optional
in their application profile, because all
learning material in their systems is English.
On the other hand, a university in the United
Arab Emirates may decide to make the
language element mandatory, because the
university teaches courses in more than one
language (e.g. Arabic, English) and teachers
in the undergraduate courses want their
students to only access, for example, Arabic
material.
Application profiles need to satisfy the rules
of their base schemas [Duval, et al., 2006]. As
an example, an element that has a mandatory
status in the base schema is not allowed to be
changed to optional in the application profile.
That is to maintain high interoperability level
with the other repositories that conform to the
same base schema. Table Error! No text of
specified style in document..1 presents the
modifications that may be made on the
obligation status of a base schema data
element in the application profile. As can be
seen in the table, application profiles may
impose higher restrictions on an element, but
are not allowed to relax its status.
Table Error! No text of specified style in document..1: Possible modifications on obligation status of data elements
Multiplicity
Designers of an application profile need to
define the number of values allowed for every
metadata element. One of the following
multiplicity levels (M) may be assigned to a
data element:
( 384 )
•
•
•
Zero Multiplicity: in this case, an
element of a base schema is excluded
from the application profile.
N Multiplicity: the number of data
element value entries that can appear
in a metadata instance is limited to n.
∞ Multiplicity: in this context M = ∞,
which means that an element can have
any number of value entries.
•
At the technical level, the binding defines
how metadata instances are syntactically
represented in, for instance, XML, RDF or
SQL tables. Namespaces are used to identify
the origin of elements and values in
application profiles, and also, to uniquely
identify every element and value [Heery,
2002]. In this way, metadata designers avoid
duplication of elements and values when
creating an application profile.
Nevertheless, applying the above steps does
not ensure semantic interoperability between
systems, which concerns the meaning of the
information represented in application profile
instances. The interoperability level between
repositories may decline in situations were
different
communities
have
different
meanings and interpretations for the data
elements and their associate values. However,
this issue is beyond the scope of this paper.
In this section, we discussed the creation of
metadata application profiles, which enable
producing interoperable learning object
metadata instances. In the next section, we
discuss the requirements for creating
application profiles for the Middle East and
North Africa context.
•
Middle East and North Africa Community
As mentioned earlier, each community has its
requirements that need to be taken into
consideration when building an application
profile. The three most relevant requirements
for the Middle East and North Africa
community are, in our opinion:
( 385 )
•
Multilingual: several languages (e.g.,
Arabic, English, French, etc.) of
learning are used in this region.
Therefore, the application profiles
should support describing learning
objects in different languages. In
addition, an application profile needs
to include a metadata element (like 1.3
Language
LOM)
that
enables
retrieving
learning
objects
by
language. For example, consider
customizing an application profile of
IEEE LOM for an educational
repository in the Middle East and
North Africa. IEEE LOM supports
different languages but does not
impose the use of its elements; all
elements of LOM are optional. For an
institution that wants to classify and
retrieve learning objects by their
language, there is a need to make the
1.3
Language
LOM
element
recommended or mandatory in its
application profile. This is similar to
what the ARIADNE Foundation has
done in the (also multi-cultural)
European context.
Multicultural: the Middle East and
North Africa region has a diverse
cultural context. An application profile
of an institution in this region should
enable representing the cultural
perspectives of the described learning
object when relevant. For example, it
would be required in such context to
include in the application profile an
element (like 1.6 Coverage in IEEE
LOM) that represents the culture,
geography or region to which the
object applies.
Customization: In addition to the
above two main requirements,
countries of this region have different
curricula
and
use
different
categorizations of education levels and
scientific topics. This leads to a
requirement to enable customizing, for
example, the LOM value domain of
relevant elements (such as 5.6 Context
which takes the values “school”,
“higher
education”,
“training”,
“other”) to accept new values that
represent the educational system in the
served community.
There can be other requirements to be taken
into consideration in this region. Further
detailed analysis is needed to identify the
specific
requirements
for
specific
communities. The above requirements can
guide the building and customization of
learning object application profiles.
The next section introduces approaches that
may be used to access metadata instances
available in different repositories.
Connecting Learning Object
Repositories
Enabling large scale reuse requires the
availability of a vast amount of learning
objects. In this section, we present work that
underpins our developments in GLOBE, a
worldwide consortium that provides access to
many learning object repositories. In GLOBE,
we have connected a large network of
learning object repositories through standards
such as SQI [Simon et al., 2005] and OAIPMH [Lagoze and Van de Sompel, 2001].
• The Simple Query Interface (SQI) is a
CEN ISSS standard that enables
transporting queries to a repository.
This standard was designed so that it
can deal with different query
•
languages and metadata application
profiles.
The Open Archives Protocol for
Metadata Harvesting (OAI-PMH)
enables harvesting metadata records.
Through extracting these records from
a repository, a local search index can
be set up.
All repositories that participate in GLOBE
have implemented the GLOBE metadata
application profile. This profile gives a
mandatory status to the following LOM
elements:
• Lom.general.title. Most partners in
GLOBE provide a search interface.
After a search has been issued, all
results are displayed with their title.
• Lom.general.description. Besides a
title, a (brief) description of the
learning object gives the user an
impression of the search result.
• Lom.technical.location. The values of
this field have been restricted to URLs
that enable retrieving the learning
object. When access to the learning
object is restricted, the URL resolves
to a splash page that indicates how the
learning object can be accessed.
• Last_modification_date.
For
repositories
that
implement
a
harvesting interface, this field enables
harvesters to select only those LOM
instances that were modified.
• Lom.general.identifier
uniquely
identifies results and sometimes
enables the deletion of doubles.
( 386 )
Figure 3.1: The GLOBE network
Figure 3.1 depicts the GLOBE network at the
time of writing. At the bottom of the picture,
repositories provide access to their LOM
metadata either through a search interface that
is represented by a triangle or through a
square, which is a harvest interface.
When repositories provide a harvest interface,
a search index is required for federated
search. For example in the MACE network
(http://www.mace-project.eu/), all metadata
are checked for modifications daily through
the OAI-PMH protocol. For every LOM
instance that was added or modified, a
corresponding instance in the MACE index is
altered. This search index offers search
functionality to the GLOBE network through
an SQI target.
Many LORs in GLOBE provide an SQI
interface and can thus be searched directly.
ARIADNE has implemented a federated
search engine [Ternier et al., 2005] that can
accept queries from search tools such as the
ARIADNE finder [Neven et al., 2003] and is
able to forward these queries into the GLOBE
network. The federated search engine
aggregates all results it receives from the
different repositories and returns this
aggregate results list to the search client. As
all GLOBE repositories support the GLOBE
metadata application profile, a GLOBE search
client can rely on the existence of at least
these mandatory metadata fields.
Note
that
networks
like
MACE
(http://www.mace-project.eu/),
ARIADNE
(http://www.ariadne-eu.org/),
CGIAR
(http://www.cgiar.org/)
and
MELT
(http://melt-project.eu/) have implemented
different metadata application profiles that are
much richer then the GLOBE profile. In
MACE, a network of learning objects for
education in architecture, a LOM application
profile has been defined that adds non-LOM
metadata fields such as the GPS coordinate of
a building or that, for example, restricts LOM
vocabularies to certain thesauri (e.g. the getty
( 387 )
thesaurus [Getty, 2008]) that are relevant in
architecture. As a result, we support various
degrees of interoperability. MACE users build
on the MACE metadata application profile to
issue queries using query features that are
relevant for expressing architectural needs.
However, these MACE specific queries can
not be sent to GLOBE repositories in general
as these do not offer support for all metadata
fields in the MACE application profile. On
the other hand, GLOBE clients can
interoperate with MACE repositories as the
MACE application profile offers support for
all mandatory fields in the GLOBE
application profile.
When building a metadata application profile
for the Middle East and North Africa world,
we suggest creating the application profile so
that it conforms to the GLOBE metadata
application profile. If such a Middle East and
North Africa repository offers search access
through a standard such as SQI, its content
will be accessible in GLOBE. Such
connections are relevant for the Middle East
and North Africa world, as its learning objects
(for instance, its cultural heritage) become
accessible at a global level; and the users of
these repositories will be able to benefit from
all the learning objects that are already
available in GLOBE.
So far, we discussed the creation of
application profiles and the inter-connection
of learning object repositories. However,
generating the metadata of learning objects in
learning object repositories by humans is time
consuming and error prone [Duval and
Hodgins, 2003]. In the next section, we
present approaches that can be used to
automatically generate metadata instances of
learning objects.
Automatic Generation of Metadata
Most authors agree on the fact that dealing
with metadata cannot be a human task [Duval
and Hodgins, 2004]. There are several reasons
why users often do not create metadata for
their learning resources. First, expert metadata
creators are considered too expensive to be
employed in most educational institutions.
Second, the current tools available for
metadata creation are not user friendly. Most
tools directly relate to some standard (such as
IEEE LOM) and present that standard to the
users. The user has to fill in a substantial
number of electronic forms [Najjar et al.,
2003; Duval and Hodgins, 2003]. A possible
solution to this problem is the automatic
creation of learning object metadata.
Automatic metadata generation extracts
relevant information from learning objects
and the context they are stored or used in
[Cardinaels et al., 2005]. Automatic metadata
generation is broken down into four aspects:
content analysis, context analysis, usage
analysis and structure analysis. While in
content analysis, information is extracted
from the learning object itself (e.g. keyword,
language), context analysis involves the
environment the object is used in (e.g., a
course on Human Computer Interaction in ETQM College in UAE). A learning object
context provides extra information about the
learning object that can be used to generate
the metadata. A usage analysis for example
evaluates the time spent reading a document
or solving exercises [Najjar, et al., 2006].
Consequenly, conclusions regarding specific
metadata elements can be drawn. A structure
analysis involves relationship amongst
objects. For example, one slide in a slide
show often gives relevant context about the
content of the next slide [Cardinaels et al.,
2002; Cardinaels and Duval, 2003; Cardinaels
et al., 2005].
In the following sections, we focus on two
frameworks
for
automatic
metadata
generation, namely AMG; the automatic
metadata generation framework developed at
the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium
and ALOA; the web services driven
framework for automatic learning object
( 388 )
annotation developed at RWTH Aachen
University, Germany, with active support
from the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven
(K.U.Leuven), Belgium in the framework of
the
PROLEARN
project
(http://www.prolearn-project.org/).
The AMG Framework
[Cardinaels et al., 2005] and [Ocha et al.,
2005] describe a framework to set up an
automatic metadata generation system as a
web service called AMG. The overall
structure of this framework is depicted in
Figure 4.1. The framework consists of two
major groups of software classes that generate
the metadata, namely Object-based indexers
and Context-based indexers. The object-based
indexers generate metadata based on the
learning object itself, isolated from any other
learning object or learning management
system. The second class of indexers uses a
context to generate metadata. The framework
also has some Extractors that for example
extract the text and properties from a
PowerPoint-file, and a MetadataMerger that
can solve conflicts between indexers and the
combine the results of the different indexers
into one resulting metadata record for the
learning object.
Figure 4.1: Overall Structure of AMG
`The ALOA Framework
Rather than interoperability and cooperation
between metadata generation systems, the
primary focus of the ALOA system has been
on the flexibility and extensibility of the
framework, such that new metadata
generation services/modules can easily be
plugged into the basic system. The ALOA
system already implements different modules
and is capable of generating a substantial part
of the IEEE LTSC LOM metadata from
different types of learning objects (e.g.
HTML, PDF, PPT, Word). The goal of
flexibility was achieved by providing a public
Web Services API that can be used by third
party applications. A Service Oriented
Architecture (SOA) makes it possible to
extend the framework with new components.
Figure 4.2 depicts an abstract view of the
ALOA system. The main components of
ALOA are Extractors and Generators. An
extractor is responsible for extracting text
information from a learning object along with
more properties about the learning object.
ALOA implements different extractors for
different learning object types (e.g. html, pdf,
ppt, word). Only one extractor can be defined
for each learning object type. A generator is
responsible for the actual metadata
generation. It uses the output of an extractor
( 389 )
and applies data mining techniques to
generate one or parts of the metadata. ALOA
implements several generators such as the
“Topicalizer” (http://www.topicalizer.com/)
generator for keywords, summary, language
and difficulty level, the “LingPipe”
(http://www.alias-i.com/lingpipe/) generator
for
person
names,
and
“Tagthe”
(http://www.tagthe.net) generator
for
keywords. ALOA has a flexible architecture
that enables everyone to easily create a new
extractor/generator and plug it into ALOA via
the configuration management interface.
Figure 4.2: Abstract View of ALOA
The ALOA system is able to generate
metadata in different languages. Currently,
ALOA supports six languages namely
English, German, Arabic, French, Spanish,
and Korean. Figure 4.3 shows the result of the
generation of the LOM “summary” metadata
from the MIT course “Database Systems” in
these languages. ALOA is using Google
Translate
(http://books.google.com/translate_t) for its
translation service.
( 390 )
Figure 4.3: ALOA Language Support
The ALOA framework adopts a slightly
modified version of the Web Service
Definition Language (WSDL) developed at
K.U.Leuven in order to standardize the
communication between a federated AMG
engine and different matadata generation
systems (called SAmgI installations [Meire, et
al., 2007]). Consequently, ALOA and AMG
can complement each other in two different
ways. On the one hand, ALOA can be viewed
as a new SAmgI installation that can be used
by the federated AMG engine. On the other
hand, AMG can be implemented as a new
component of ALOA (i.e. extractor or
generator).
( 391 )
Conclusions
In this paper, we presented the steps involved
in building application profiles of learning
object repositories. The requirements for
creating application profiles for the Middle
East and North Africa were briefly discussed.
We also presented an approach to connect
heterogeneous learning object repositories, in
order to access large amounts of learning
objects distributed worldwide. As far as the
indexing of learning objects is concerned, we
presented two frameworks for creating the
metadata of learning objects automatically.
The goal of this paper is to briefly present the
opportunities for building interoperable
learning object repositories for the Middle
East and North Africa. Furthermore, we
discussed approaches that may be used to
connect those repositories with networks of
repositories worldwide through the services of
the
ARIADNE
Foundation
(http://www.ariadne-eu.org/) and the GLOBE
consortium (http://globe-info.org).
As future work, we believe that there is a
need for building a community of interest
around learning objects in the Middle East
and North Africa region. This community can
further analyse the requirements for
developing learning object repositories that
serve the need of the local community while
maintaining the interoperability with the
external networks of repositories. Such work
will enable repositories in the Middle East
and North Africa to access large number of
learning objects distributes worldwide, and
vice versa.
( 392 )
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( 394 )
eLearning and Best Practices: Reflections on Technology, Delivery,
Training and Support
Hassan Bayanouni
eTQM College, Dubai
Abstract
The objective of the paper is to highlight the
best practices in e-learning area from
different perspectives. This paper contains
mainly three sections. The first section
provides comprehensive guidelines for
technology selection to be used for e-learning
and build Virtual Learning Environment. The
second section looks at the faculty side and
highlights e-learning delivery best practices.
The last section focuses on the effective
training and support that will be delivered
and provided for faculty members and
learners.
Introduction
For each educational organization, the
mission and vision relate to using latest
teaching technologies, building community,
and improving learning. In order to meet that
mission and vision you need the find the
strategy driver. E-learning is the tool that can
be used to drive an educational organization’s
mission and vision.
E-learning is an
amazing concept that has been used by many
educational organizations for teaching and
learning by utilizing ICT (Information and
Communication Technology) to facilitate
teaching and learning.
When it comes to implementation; the elearning implementer should take the
following points into inconsideration:
• Technology Selection
• Faculty Members
• Training and Support
These points will be discussed through this
paper as best practices for building effective
e-learning environment.
Technology Selection
The first and most important point is the right
selection of the ICT (Information and
Communication Technology) because elearning system selection has many important
criteria which should be taken into
consideration during the selection. Those
criteria give the implementer full picture
about e-learning system components and
features should be included providing an
effective e-learning environment or Virtual
Learning Environment.
Virtual Learning Environment (VLE)
contains two main components: Learning
Management System (LMS) and Virtual Class
Room (VC), and each one of those has many
criteria that should be considered during the
selection process. Those points will be
discussed form best practice point of view in
this section.
Learning Management System
Learning Management System (LMS) or
Course Management System (CMS) is a core
application of e-learning system. LMS is the
main application on which other VLE
components will be built. From best practice
point of view, the following criteria should be
considered during the selection and
implementation stages for LMS:
Platform Supports
( 395 )
LMS system should support multi-platforms
(Windows, Mac, Linux), where users can
access the LMS without any compatibility
issue. End users should be able to navigate
and use LMS components like curriculum,
discussion board, chat room ….etc from
different platforms with same performance
and design.
Connection Speed
LMS system should work with low
connection speed without compromising the
LMS performance. This feature is allowing
LMS users to be able to use the system
without considering the Internet line speed as
an issue. This feature has direct relation with
the design of the LMS and technology used.
LMS Structure and Customization
LMS system should have logical structure and
be easy to navigate. LMS administrator
should look after the LMS sitemap and how it
is structured. The structure can vary across
organizations depending on the organization
structure and what they are delivering (e.g
certificate, program .etc)
Also LMS should be able to customize to fit
organization needs. Customization should be
done at different levels.
System Integration
System integration is a main element the LMS
administrator shall look after, because the
LMS is the core application and other VLE
elements like Virtual Class Room and
Plagrizim Tool integrated with or added later
to the LMS. Also the LMS administrator
should look for LMS integration with Users
Directory (Active Directory), Email system,
and Student Information System (SIS).
who accesses what? LMS administrator shall
be able to assign the users privileges for each
element of the LMS.
Multi-languages Support
Multi-languages support is an added feature
for LMS, especially for international
originations or training centers. The
conversion from language to others can be
done automatically by pick-up user computer
settings.
Compatible with Standers
LMS should be compatable with international
standards like SCORM, AICC and IMS,. and
when new version of the standards is released,
the LMS should be updateable to accomodate
new release of the standards.
Courses Management
Courses Management is an important feature .
It should considered during the selection of
the LMS; the LMS administrators should be
able to offer same courses for more than one
section, disable courses, enroll learners, and
disable learners from accessing course.
Offline Courses
LMS user does not need to be connected to
the Internet all the time to access the course
curriculum. The user should be able to
download course curriculum on the computer
and access it offline.
Tracking and Reporting
LMS administrator should be able to generate
reports from the system about courses, users
and the system. Also, LMS administrator
should be able to generate security reports to
track changes and users access.
Offer Certificate and Programs
Security
Security is an important requirement of LMS,
user’s information, user’s records, system
logs, and user’s credentials have to be secured
and only authorized user should have access
to it. The other security element in LMS is
Offering certificate is different from offering
programs.
The program contain several
courses but the certificate can be one course
only; this feature will help the organization
from the educational point of view.
Availability and Scalability
( 396 )
LMS is considered as a critical application for
the organization. LMS administrator should
consider the high availability and scalability
during the selection and implementation
stages.
Communication and collaboration Tools
LMS should have different communication
tools rather than Virtual Class Room (VC);
the communication tools should be
synchronies and asynchronies. Synchronous
tools include Chat Room and Asynchronous
tools include discussion board. The user
should find all communication tools required
to be able to communicate with other users
within one integrated system to provide VLE.
Also, LMS system should have different
elements like, course calendar, different
announcement levels, and documents library.
Virtual Class Room
Virtual Class Room (VC) is the main
communication tool between users. VC is a
synchronous communication tool and built-on
the LMS system to provide an alternative for
the physical class where instructor
communicates with learners face to face; VC
is providing Audio/Video communication tool
with other features. From best practice point
of view the following criteria should be
considered during the selection and
implementation stages for VC:
Recording Features
The users should be able to review the online
sessions, so the VC system should have
recording feature controlled by the moderator.
The recorded session should be streamed for
users to avoid the download and time
consuming problem.
Poll and Quiz Features
VC should have the poll and Quiz features to
increase the interaction and communication
between the moderator and the users. The
results of the poll or Quiz should be stored on
the VC the moderator can display the results
during the class or later.
Audio/Video and Text Chat Communication
VC
system
should
support
audio
communication using the latest technology
voice over IP (VoIP) to provide crystal sound,
also the system should provide video
communication between the users as well as.
The VC moderator should be able can adjust
the video quality to save the system
bandwidth. The VC system should provide
users with text chat during the class, the text
chat can be private to public.
Connection Speed
VC system should work with low connection
speed
without
compromising
VC
performance. This feature is allowing VC
users to attend online sessions without
consider the internet line speed as an issue.
Breakout Rooms
VC moderator should be able to divide the
online learners into different groups as
physical classes, so the VC system should
have breakout room within the main room.
The breakout room should have same feature
as the main room but learners have been
divided into logical rooms (Breakout rooms)
to communicate and discuss ideas and
projects and moderator should be able to
move between those rooms.
Presentation
VC moderator should be able to present
different types of files (PowerPoint, PDF,
..etc) for learners, the VC system converts the
file content and demonstrates to the learners.
Whiteboard
VC system should have whiteboard feature
which allows the moderator to provide
interactivity to the virtual class room. The
moderator can allow learner to participate
during the class room.
( 397 )
VC system should allow the moderator to
share application/desktop with online learners
and provide access if required to them to
maximize the learning outcome. Website
browsing is a useful feature that allows the
moderator to push and share websites with
learners.
Moderator Control
Moderator should be able to control the VC
features like disable/enable text chat, audio,
video, control presentation, poll and
recording.
learning faculty member is to fill the gap that
has been created by e-learning concept which
is the human interaction between the faculty
member and the learner, the face to face
teaching, and the face to face communication.
Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) has
many tools which can be used to fill this gap
and provide effective communication and
collaboration. E-learning faculty member
should utilize those tools to be able to fill this
gap as following:
•
Announcement
Allow faculty member to post the
important dates, deadlines, news
related to the subject. Announcement
tool shall keep all learners up-to-date
and aware about the latest news and
important dates.
•
Calendar
Faculty member can fill the course
calendar with the semester activities.
Also leaner can know the faculty
member’s office hours and exams
dates.
•
Shared Documents
Shared Documents is a library where
the faculty member upload course
materials, assignments, papers, ..etc.
Shared documents allow learners to
have access to course materials during
the course.
•
Discussion Board
Discussion board is a communication
tool;
it
is
“asynchronous”
communication tool, where the faculty
member can post material and learners
can post their own reply and thought
about it. This tool keeps learners
exchanging
their
thoughts,
communicating and participating.
•
Virtual Class
Availability and Scalability
VC is considered as a critical application
where learners are attending online session
(synchronous). Organization should consider
the high availability and scalability during the
selection and implementation stages of the
VC.
The selection of right technical infrastructure
to build e-learning environment is very
important to make this project a successful
project, but technical infrastructure is one
element to make this project successful.
Technology is just a tool, as Bill Gates has
observed; faculty member is one of the key
elements to make this project a successful
project. The next section will highlight the
role of the faculty member by looking at the
most effective way for using the VLE tools
and from course delivery point of view.
Faculty Section
The faculty member is one of the most
important elements in the e-learning
environment from different perspectives. The
section is highlighting the faculty member’s
effective delivery for e-learning course.
The main ideas in this section are, “when to
use what?”. When the faculty member needs
to use this or that tool? and which tool to use
in the situation?. The faculty member should
be aware of the VLE elements and purpose of
those elements. The core role of the e( 398 )
Virtual Class is communication tool; it
is “Synchronous” communication tool,
where the faculty member can meet
learners’ online using Audio/Video
communication. Faculty member can
use presentation in VC, ask learners
questions, keep them engaged with the
class, use polls and quizzes, sharing
application and using breakout
session.
•
Email
Email is a communication tool that
can be used to exchange emails
between faculty member and learners
and learner can also use e-mails
among themselves.
Those tools are equipping the faculty member
with set communication and collaboration
tools. The other important point is providing
training and supports for VLE users. The next
section will highlight the role importance if
the training and support for faculty member
and learners.
Training and Support Section
In any new application or system, end users
need training and support. VLE faculty
members and learners need comprehensive
training before they get used to the VLE.
Faculty members and learners should have
complete picture about the nature of elearning, the difficulties and technology
solution for that. The effective training should
be done during one week by introducing the
technology of Virtual Learning Environment
and tools in face to face training if possible.
The training should cover the LMS and VC
components. The training should be hands-on
training by allowing the participants to
practice among each other by testing all
components. After this week of training,
faculty member and learners should test VLE
system from their home/work. The idea is to
be comfortable with the online environment.
The second important element in this section
is the support. Since the system is online
environment to provide e-learning, IT Support
team should be able to solve issues remotely.
For that reason,an important element should
be added to the VLE system which is Remote
Support feature, where VLE support team will
be able to log in remotely to user computer
and solve the problem. Also, the user should
be able to communicate and log the errors
using online system. Incident Management
System and VLE support team can provide
the user with solutions. E-learning users
should be able to communicate by phone and
emails by VLE support team. E-learning users
should be provided with 24/7 support.
e-TQM College Case study
eTQM college is an e-learning college
providing MSc. in Organization Excellence
and BA in Business and Quality Management.
The college has built the VLE using “IBM”
LMS as Learning Management System and
“Wimba” as Virtual Class Room. The VLE
system has been supported by helpdesk
system “Remedy” and Remote Support
System “Bomgar”. Also the support team is
providing 24/7 support.
The faculty member and learners should take
the training before the course starts for one
week to be familiar with the system. After
that they should be asked to access the system
for two weeks before the actual classes start.
Faculty members training explains the
difference between the VLE components and
what is the best way of using those
components.
After the first semester, a survey has been
conducted by Academic Office, where five
MSc. Learners responded to this survey. The
survey was intended to get information from
three different categories of the technical
( 399 )
orientation items. These categories are as
follows:
3. Open-ended questions for
evaluation and feedback.
1. VLE Training.
2. Knowledge on Blended Learning.
The survey used a scaling scheme that ranges
between 1 and 5 as listed below.
1
2
3
4
5
Poor
Marginal
Adequate
Good
Excellent
Analysis of Responses
Table 1.Analysis of VLE Training
No. Learners
Question
1
Analysis of VLE Training
The VLE training was relevant to me as a learner at
3.5
this stage
3
The training session
was well structured, clear and
2.5
organized
2
3
Q2
Q3
Q4
Q5
Q6
I will be able now to attend a class online and
browse
Questions
my course content.
The hardware and software requirements to run the
VLE has been clearly communicated to me
The distributed training manual contained useful
information
I know where to find additional help if required.
Overall, the workshop met my expectation
( 400 )
5
3
2
3
Marginal
The information1.5 on how to browse the VLE was
helpful
1
The information0.5
about how to attend the Virtual Class
0
was helpful
4
Poor
2
Q1
further
2
Adequate
1
Good
2
2
Excellent
3
Q7
Q8
1
Q9
3
2
1
3
1
2
2
1
2
1
3
2
2
Table 2. Analysis of Knowledge on Blended Learning
Question
I have a clear understanding of what blended learning is
all about
I understand what is expected from me to be successful
using this new delivery strategy.
1
2
3
4
5
1
1
3
1
3
1
I feel that I have acquired the necessary technical skills
to start my learning journey
1
2
2
I am fully aware of what level of technical support and
services are available to me
1
3
1
Know ledge of Blending Learning
No. of Learners
3.5
3
Poor
2.5
Marginal
2
Adequate
1.5
Good
1
Excellent
0.5
0
Q1
Q2
Q3
Q4
Questions
1. Analysis of Other Questions
I. What training was most
useful to you?
Area Evaluated
Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) Training
Helpdesk Training
II. What (if anything) would
you change about the
technical
orientation
program?
• To operate the
system
for
learners then let
them practice.
• Writing
a
manual which
contains
everything and
( 401 )
No. of Responses
4
2
•
give it to the
learners.
The
VLE
training could
be done in a
shorter time
III. Please
add
any
comments/ suggestions
you may have to improve
future training sessions
•
•
Add more value
to it in the sense
of
more
interaction with
the learners.
At least two
assistants
should
be
available during
the training so
they can have a
perfect
help
rather
than
continuing the
class without a
doubt
mind
on
the
The survey findings suggest that the training
sessions allow the learners to understand the
e-learning concept and where some of the
learners need more training. Also hands-on
training is very important to make sure that
the learners are aware about the concept and
have know-how to use the VLE. Also from
the survey, some learners were not confident
about their skills. If they want to have
enough training which is normal, VLE needs
24/7 support.
( 402 )
Conclusions
E-learning organization need to put in a lot of
efforts to make e-learning projects a
successful. The organization needs to start
from early planning stages, to be able to
evaluate available technologies from IT
perspective and pedagogical perspective as
well. The evaluation team should involve
technical people, learners, and academic staff
to evaluate the technology from all
perspectives. Also selection should be done
after extensive testing for at least 6 months.
The selection for right technology is very
important because the initial investment to
build the e-learning environment is extremely
high.
Course delivery is an important element in elearning. Faculty members have an important
role; they have the communication and
collaboration tools to fill the gap of face to
face communication and human interaction
and they need to utilize those tools to fill this
gap.
The other important element in e-learning
environment is the sufficient training and
support. The e-learning concept should be
well communicated to faculty members and
learners. They should understand VLE
components --when and how to use them.
Here the value of sufficient training can be
realized. Also, sufficient support is required;
e-learning users should have 24/7 support,
since they are virtual and there is no fixed
schedule to access the VLE. E-learning user
should not feel that he/she is isolated and is
facing the new technological challenge alone.
( 403 )
References
1.Arnold, E.D (2003), “Chief Learning
Officers Share e-Learning Best Practices”,
The e-learning Developers’ Journals.
2.Dennis, Anne (2007), “It's hard to show a
direct correlation between the use of
technology in colleges and student outcomes,
but there is evidence that e-learning helps
produce autonomous learners”, Adults
Learning.
3.Edmonds,
Rob
(2004),
“Executive
Summary: Best Practices in eLearning”
http://www.sric-bi.com/.
4.Hunter, Denial (2007), “ The Impossible
Barriers”, e-learning Age
5.Richardson, Tony (2007), “As new
technologies become the norm in children's
lives, teachers must find manageable ways of
harnessing them for learning”, Adults
Learning.
6.Sloman, Martyn (2007), “The Changing
face
of
learning”;
e-learning
Age,
July/August.
7.Williams, Peter (2007), “E-learning as a
source of competitive advantage”, e-learning
Age.
( 404 )
Innovation in eLearning Design: A Case Study of the Indian
Chartered Accountants
1
Geeta M. K.
B. Ravi Ramakrishnan
1
BFSI, C&K Management Ltd., India
2
KWHYS LLC, Dubai & C&K Management Ltd.,India
2
Abstract
Learner motivation is a key consideration
while designing non-mandated e-learning
programs for professionally qualified
learners with 5+ years of experience.
Establishing the “What’s In It For Me”
(WIIFMe) with such learners is difficult as
they come with a strong attitude of “been
there and done it, so you can’t teach me
anything new”. One way to hook such
learners and ensure learner retention / course
completion is to use the power of challenging
the learners and serving learning pieces justin-time, as soon as the learner gets something
wrong. The authors have worked extensively
with professionally qualified Chartered
Accountants in India who are enrolled for a
course on Information Systems Audit and
would like to present the findings of a live
case study with over 10,000 learners.
Keywords: e-learning innovation, learner
motivation, “challenge as a motivator”,
professionally-qualified, learner retention
Theories and Concepts Used in the
Design
The authors acknowledge the path breaking
work of some of the early thinkers in the
space of learning. Some of these principles
and ideas have been extensively drawn upon
and modified to suit the learning requirements
and learner characteristics.
Two of the key areas from where the authors
have drawn inspiration in the learning design,
includes Adult Learning and Conditions
essential for learning. These two are reviewed
briefly in this section, and linkages to the case
study established.
Adult Learning
Since the case study pertains to adult learners
who are mature, it would be worthwhile to
consider adult learning theories from some of
the gurus to understand the basis for actions
taken during learning design.
Malcolm Knowles1 first used the term
"andragogy" to describe adult learning in the
mid-60s, in contrast to pedagogy that was
used to describe the "the science of teaching
children". Andragogy, according to him was
the, "Art and science of helping adults learn".
He was the first to theorise how adults learn
and describe adult learning as a process of
self directed inquiry.
He laid out some generic principles that till
date form the basis of adult learning theory.
Adults need to know why they should learn
something.
• Adults have to find it important to
acquire the new skill, knowledge or
attitude.
1
Knowles, Malcolm Shepherd (1970). The
Modern Practise of Adult Education: Andragogy
Versus pedagogy. New York Association Press.
( 405 )
•
•
•
•
Adults will be self-directing and hence
decide for themselves what they want
to learn.
Adults
have
significant
past
experiences which they can connect to
while learning; this can make the
learning experience more meaningful
for them and make it easy to acquire
new knowledge.
Adults become ready to learn when
they face a situation where they need
to know.
Adults have a task-centred orientation
to learning.
Principle of Andragogy
Adults are Autonomous and
self-directed
Adults link learning to Life
experiences
and
prior
knowledge
Adults are goal-oriented
Principle of Andragogy
Adults are relevancy-oriented
Adults are practical
Adults are motivated to learn by both
extrinsic and intrinsic motivation.
Traditionally, the members of the accounting
community learn by reading up on latest
developments or attending continuous
professional education sessions. This is an
extension of the professional accounting
course, which is a combination of self study
and on the job training. Let us map the
Chartered Accountants against some of the
principles of Andragogy and see how they
measure up.
As professionally qualified with stringent norms of the regulatory
authority, the chartered accountants are capable of directing themselves
towards their goals. They go through a 3-years self-study period along
with practical exposure to qualify.
The tough course curriculum, clubbed with the 3-year Internship
experience in diverse industry verticals, ensure that the Chartered
Accountants carry rich experiences and knowledge. They connect all
new learning to this experience.
Most of the work of an accountant involves verification and certification
and they are always goal oriented, with a strong drive to close activities
on time.
The changing business scenario compels the current day Chartered
Accountants to equip themselves with the relevant skill sets to do their
rolls effectively. They invest in themselves by attending Continuous
Professional Education sessions on themes that they find relevant.
The chartered accountants have the advantage of immediately
translating their learning into practice as their day-to-day schedule
requires them to apply what they have learned.
In his book, "Freedom to Learn" another
educational pioneer, Rogers1 postulated that
the adult learning process is facilitated by
three conditions. First, the learning process
should allow the learner to participate fully
and take control over the nature and direction
of the process. Second, the process should
involve a direct confrontation with practical,
social, personal or research problems. Finally,
1
•
Rogers, C.R. (1969). Freedom to Learn.
Columbus, OH: Merrill.
self-evaluation should be the principal method
of assessing success.
Rogers identified many factors that could
bring about successful adult learning, some of
which are relevant to the case-study and are
produced below:
• The subject matter should be relevant
to the adult learner,
• The threat to the self is low, and
• Self-initiated learning lasts the most as
learning is internalized well.
( 406 )
•
•
•
•
C & K arrived at a solution that:
Did not intimidate; was very simple
as anyone who knew how to browse
and point and click could work on the
learning module
Raised the expectation on the quality
of material, some of which the
learners were familiar with and others
challenged them
Gave a realization that there are
certain things which are new and
worth learning, thereby making the
learner own up the learning agenda
The most important motivator was found to
be personal advancement to achieve higher
status in the job, professional advancement,
and staying abreast of competitors.
Necessary conditions for Learning to take
place
A huge amount of research has gone into
what are the necessary conditions for learning
to take place amongst adult learners. While
Gagne’s theory of nine events is very popular
and has inspired many subsequent theories,
the authors have drawn from Kytle’s
conditions for learning to take place and these
are detailed in this section.
Gagne’s theory, a favourite with e-learning
Instructional Designers, outlines nine
instructional events and corresponding
cognitive processes:
1. Gaining attention (Reception)
2. Informing learners of the objective
(Expectancy)
3. Stimulating recall of prior learning
(Retrieval)
4. Presenting the stimulus (Selective
perception)
5. Providing
learning
guidance
(Semantic encoding)
6. Eliciting performance (Responding)
7. Providing feedback (Reinforcement)
8. Assessing performance (Retrieval)
9. Enhancing retention
(Generalization).
and
transfer
Gagne et al stated that these events should
satisfy or provide the necessary conditions for
learning and serve as the basis for designing
instruction and selecting appropriate media2.
E-Learning instructional designers favour
Gagne’s model as it gives a ready-made
structure to design courses, which capture a
gamut of cognitive processes.
Jackson Kytle, on the other hand offered a
range of practical ideas for learner motivation
in the book - To Want to Learn: Insights and
Provocations for Engaged Learning. These
were organized as ten considerations for
better learning3:
1. Learning needs purposes
2. Learning needs individualization
3. Learning needs predicaments
4. Learning needs mentors
5. Learning needs small spaces, human
places
6. Learning needs process before
academic content
7. Learning needs reflective experience
outside class
8. Learning needs reflective experience
in class
9. Learning needs feedback
10. Learning needs theory
While detailing curricular ideas that will help
achieve learner motivation, Kytle has
predominantly
considered
progressive
education, founded by John Dewey in the
1930s. Kytle’s list is not meant to be a oneshoe-that-fits-all learning situations; however
2
Gagne, R. (1985). The Conditions of Learning (4th
ed.). New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston; Gagne,
R., Briggs, L. & Wager, W. (1992). Principles
of Instructional Design (4th Ed.). Fort Worth, TX: HBJ
College Publishers.
3
Kytle, Jackson. To Want to Learn : Insights and
Provocations for Engaged Learning, Gordonsville, VA,
USA: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004
( 407 )
it does form a starting framework to adapt for
the online learners. Especially so, for mature
learners who come with many years of work
experience, carrying valuable insights coupled
with the baggage of “I have been there and
done this and you cannot teach me anything
new.” Our approach has been to look at
learning design for such a target audience that
addresses the challenges of motivating such
learners. This list may well change for other
mature audiences and so also some of the
practical aspects suggested by Kytle and
further detailed in the case study.
Considerations 1, 2, 3, 4, and 6 have been
found to be critical by the authors for the
design of e-learning interventions for mature
learners. The rationale for this is recounted
below and actual design considerations are
listed for the case study being discussed in
this paper.
Consideration 1: Learning Needs Purposes
In an offline training program, participants are
most often nominated to attend courses by
their boss or the HR department. In an
academic environment students have signed
up for a program and have to choose from a
list of courses available, depending on the
credit load they need to take. E-learning
courses, on the other hand, especially nonmandated ones suffer from a distinct
drawback. The learner has to be motivated to
sign-up first and further more, e-learning
being learner-centric the learners need to
continuously see a benefit to carry on with the
learning.
Mature learners, especially those who pay for
the learning from their own pockets, need a
clear purpose to sign on to any e-learning
course. They need to see a distinct personal
value in undertaking the course and this value
need to be reiterated and sustained throughout
the course. Failing which, the risk of drop-out
rates can increase dramatically. The “What’s
In It For Me” or the WIIFMe factor needs to
be clearly highlighted.
Discussion with a number of learners prior to
design and post course-completion showed
that the WIIFMe factors were well elucidated
in the ISA course. This purpose was seen as a
combination of - knowledge accretion to
become current in combination with the threat
of being unable to practice in the future in an
important business segment of banking as the
government was considering a mandated
certification for practice. This combination of
a simultaneous carrot and a stick worked
wonders in signing up over 10% of the target
audience, numbering over 10,000, within one
year of launch of the course. The course also
had over 90% course completion rates with
most of learners going in for the final
certification exam which was conducted
offline. The certification was definitely a key
driver, as now they could continue to
undertake branch audits of banks, even
assuming the government mandated the
precondition of certification some time in the
future. With time, once learners realized that
the
government
mandate
was
not
forthcoming, sign ups came down. But even
today, 4 years into the program, a small
number of learners sign up every month and
some learners return back for a refresher.
Consideration 2: Learning Needs Individualization
Kytle states that “it is a mistake to envision a
curriculum, as something done to the
students, or to oneself, as if human beings
were objects, not individual beings. On the
contrary, we teachers work with patternseeking, whole, individual human beings, not
static vessels to be filled or water spigots to
be turned on and off.”
Much has been written about not treating all
students as the same and a requirement for
focusing on individual needs. This is a big
challenge in e-learning as it becomes
impossible to cater to individual needs of tens
( 408 )
of thousands of learners. Typically a
predominant learning style is identified from
among the universe of potential learners and
an aggregate of their learning needs is used
for the design. Techniques such as adaptive
learning have been used to customize for
individual learners based on sequential pretests between modules. The authors’ own
experience with this for a course on Customer
Orientation for software professionals
provided mixed results. Some learners tended
to rebel against extensive testing even if it
meant a reduction in the learning load. Most
learners seemed to prefer to go sequential,
module by module, and rarely branch off to a
different learning path. This could be a carry
over from the traditional schooling patterns
that are ingrained from childhood days of B
following A, C following B and so on.
theory-based content and prefer practical
aspects that can be implemented right away.
In the ISA course, an attempt was made to
bring in an element of individualization by
designing a learning format that was based on
testing every time the learner wanted to learn.
Learners were allowed to undergo the tests as
many times as they wanted, allowed to abort
midway through a test or ask for a new test, if
they did not like a test or found it too simple
or difficult for their current levels of learning.
The Test as the format for learning will be
discussed more in detail in Consideration 3
and the context of individualization will
become clear there.
After considering many instructional models,
the authors decided to focus upon the aspect
of providing predicaments in learning, as
recommended by Kytle, to motivate the
learners to reach out to the learning outcomes.
The authors decided to set up a custom-built
test engine which threw up a 30-questions test
to be solved in 30-minutes in a multiplechoice format. The learning process was kept
simple. Every time the learner wanted to
learn, he or she got a test to solve. A battery
of over 2100 questions cutting across 11
modules coupled with a robust randomizing
program ensured that questions rarely got
repeated and varying degrees of difficulty in
questions coupled with time pressure ensured
a challenge to all learners, irrespective of how
knowledgeable they were. The authors
predicted that when such a mature learner gets
an answer wrong, their immediate reaction
would be one of “my answer cannot be
wrong”. Learners had an immediate avenue to
look up a learning object that was linked to
each question that detailed the concept or
practice and why this answer was the right
one. This format ensured that learners were
Consideration 3: Learning Needs Predicaments
Roger Schank and Chip Cleary stated that we
learn by doing and that we learn best from
failures4. When it comes to mature learners,
they rarely have patience for theory and prefer
to learn on the job. They tend to be
uncomfortable with e-learning as a format in
areas where they cannot check out if it works
in real life immediately. They tend to chaff at
4
Roger Schank and Chip Cleary, Engines for
Education (1995)
While profiling potential learners for the ISA
course, it was quickly realized that the
learners were keen on the certification since
they saw a commercial value in getting
certified. However, skepticism was high
amongst the target audience that they would
learn from a course in such a technically
niche area as information systems audit and
that they would be able to use this learning on
the job. Most had the impression that they
already knew whatever was required and they
would need to sign up for the course only to
become eligible for writing the certification
exam. This attitude amongst the learners
would have diluted the take-away on purpose
behind the learning intervention.
( 409 )
continuously challenged as rarely did any one
get 30 out of 30 questions right. As a format
this methodology of learning was extremely
successful as over 10,000 learners have been
certified as Information Systems Auditors.
The learning that was triggered by this
process of getting an answer wrong,
challenging it and getting to read in detail
about the right answer seems to have been
internalized well by the learners.
An interesting episode is worth recounting
here. A 50-year old practicing Chartered
Accountant from Baroda, a city in Western
India tasked his interns to take the tests
hundreds of times to identify a huge set of
questions from the database and recorded the
answers provided. He contested a number of
answers and the content authors had to
provide original sources of content to back up
the answers and convince him about the
validity of the answers. This is a risk inherent
in such a learning process and one needs to
ensure that content sources are seen to be
authoritative.
Consideration 4: Learning Needs Mentors
Mentors are acknowledged as a necessary
condition for learning to take place. However,
e-learning is mechanistic and learners do miss
out on this important element of learning.
This is made up for partly by providing ementors and e-tutors; but with the “any time
any where learning” features of e-learning it
is not always possible for mentoring to be
made available on a 24 x 7 basis.
In the case of this course, most learners were
practicing Chartered Accountants who tended
to log into the Learning System late evenings,
nights and during weekends. Real-time
mentoring was therefore not always available.
However, an e-mail based support system was
set up to handle queries, remind learners
about course completion, and send additional
reading material. The learner support team
was also reachable over phone and outbound
calls made in select cases where interventions
were required. Further, a community of the
ISA professionals were formed amongst the
learners.
This shortcoming can now be easily met with
a lot of Web 2.0 technologies such as blogs,
forums, facebooks, free-video shares. Such
technologies were not available or popular
then and the lack of good infrastructure at the
learner’s end anyways did not encourage
experimentation then.
Consideration 5: Learning Needs Process before
Content
Much has been written about the process of
learning being more important than the
content to ensure learning outcomes are met.
Progressive educational philosophy gives
utmost importance to personal experience in
learning. Any learning process that
encourages the learner to learn more about a
subject, or diversify to newer areas of
understanding is important for learning to
take place. To Dewey, it is progressive
because personal experience is progressively
incorporated in human development.
In the e-learning world, learners are distant
from the teacher and often operating in
asynchronous environments. It is easy to get
distracted and de-motivated. Learning
theorists have thought up models to keep the
learner engaged and Instructional Designers
use the principles behind such models to
create interactivities to motivate the learner. If
anything, e-learning instructional designers
tend to sway the balance in favour of process
more than content to compensate for the risk
of losing a learner online.
Ideally any course should have the best
learning process along with the best content.
In reality, one needs to make compromises as
budget and time constraints coupled with
other factors such as lack of SME inputs,
differing pre-course awareness levels of
( 410 )
learners, learner preferences and styles make
it impossible to produce the best content and
deliver it with the best learning process.
In the case of the ISA course, the authors
have tended to favour learning process much
more than content. The process has been
streamlined as Test yourself Æ Get some
answers wrong Æ Pull the linked learning
objects. Each learning object had rich content,
but not always rich media. There were two
reasons for doing this – learners came from
across India and with different internet
infrastructure. More importantly, budget
constraints drove a compromise. While the
content per se was not compromised upon,
interactive elements and rich media were
avoided in the delivery of the content.
Case Study: ISA Course
The authors present below the successful
implementation of the Information Systems
Audit course that is based on the concepts and
principles discussed above.
Business Agenda – Serious Concerns on
Information Security
The dramatic growth of IT and IS impacting
upon several industries, have also aided
unscrupulous persons to indulge in large scale
fraud, malpractice, and manipulations that
saw the end
of even 100 year old
corporations. Cyber crime, identity theft,
phishing have became common affairs.
According to the survey conducted by
Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in
2002, information security breaches were
becoming increasingly common in India and
nearly 80% of the industries surveyed
indicated some threats. Of these, 47% of the
industries operated without any formal
security policy. When security was breached,
the company could not ensure confidentiality,
availability and integrity of any information.
Many break-ins or insider misuses of
information occur due to poor security
programs. Hackers exploit well-known
weaknesses and security defects in operating
systems that have not been appropriately
addressed by the organisation. Inadequate
maintenance and improper system design may
also allow hackers to exploit a security
system. New security risks arise from
evolving attack methods or newly detected
holes and bugs in existing software and
hardware. Also, new risks may be introduced
as systems are altered or upgraded, or through
the improper setup of available securityrelated tools. All organisations need to stay
abreast of new security threats and
vulnerabilities. It is equally important to keep
up to date on the latest security patches and
version upgrades that are available to fix
security flaws and bugs.
Systems can be vulnerable to a variety of
threats, including the misuse or theft of
passwords. Hackers may use password
cracking programs to figure out poorly
selected passwords. The passwords may then
be used to access other parts of the system.
By monitoring network traffic, unauthorized
users can easily steal unencrypted passwords.
Employees or hackers may also attempt to
compromise system administrator access (root
access), tamper with critical files, read
confidential e-mail, or initiate unauthorized emails or transactions. Different kinds of
security breaches that need to be addressed
with the help of due diligence include,
Internet And Network Attack, Unauthorized
Access, Software Theft, Information Theft
and Wireless Security.
Every fraud has the following three
dimensions:
• The human dimension - There is
always an element of human mind
behind every fraud. For example,
employees could use their access for
corporate espionage.
( 411 )
•
•
The technology dimension - New
technologies have allowed unethical
practices like hacking, phishing etc.
On the one hand, information
technology can be effectively used to
check frauds, on the other it allows
unscrupulous people to plan and
execute frauds.
The legal dimension – This concerns
the legal framework and the
institutional system regarding the
frauds. It also includes organizational
practices and policies regarding frauds
World over, concerns for security of
information, integrity, confidentiality and
availability of information have grown
multifold.
Business Solution: To address the concerns
Overwhelmed with the growing nature and
volume of threats and vulnerabilities, World
Forums, Central Authorities, Regulators and
Professional bodies have started addressing
the issues seriously. Guidelines on required
securities, standards for hardware, software &
communication security and various rules,
regulations, processes have started evolving.
These include layers of security, physical
securities, environment securities, system
securities and application securities. In most
of the applications, a feature called “Audit
trails’ was implemented.
Audit Trails provide tracking, tracing, and
reporting of accountability. With Audit Trails,
the organizations can capture and archive
changes to all electronic data and documents
required
for
maintaining
regulatory
compliance through features such as “before
and after transaction information, User ID,
and time & date stamps.”
Regulatory drivers towards IS security:
With the widespread use of IT systems, from
mainframe to client-server environments, any
system of internal controls must include
Information Technology controls.
Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX)
promulgated in the US mandates that the
executive management of publicly held
companies must evaluate and report on the
effectiveness of their internal controls over
financial reporting, and have independent
auditors substantiate the effectiveness of these
controls. These controls also include the IT
operational processes and application
software that support a company’s business.
Four sections of the SOX hold particular
relevance for compliance managers concerned
with the impact of the act on enterprise
applications. They are:
• Section 302—Certification of Internal
Controls
• Section
906—Certification
of
Financial Statement Accuracy
• Section
404—Management
Assessment of Internal Controls
• Section
409—“Real-Time”
Disclosures of Material Events
Information security and the use of security
standards play an important role in
compliance.
Many
regulations
have
guidelines and practices for security that can
be dealt with, if a company is compliant with
security certification standards like BS 7799
(the Indian standards) and ISO 17799
(international standards). While it is not
mandatory to comply with certification
standards, if the guidelines are followed, they
show that a company has done its best to take
necessary steps to minimise security risks.
The revised version of Part 2 of BS 7799-2
published in 2002 incorporates the ISO 9000
quality assurance standard and the ISO 14000
environmental control standard. These
standards bring continuity and change
management systems to BS 7799, commonly
known as the Plan, Do, Check, Act (PDCA)
cycle. Once certification is achieved, it has to
be maintained. This entails periodic reviews
and site visits by a BS 7799 assessor and recertification every three years.
( 412 )
The BS 7799-2 covers 10 control areas with
36 control objectives, which in turn break
down to 127 Control Points (CPs).
As early as 1967, professional bodies like
EDP auditors association ( presently
Information Systems Audit and Control
Association (ISACA) in the US) was formed
by a group of people, to address the aspects
related to audit of controls in computerized
environment. In 1976, the association formed
an education foundation to undertake largescale research efforts to expand the
knowledge and value of IT governance and
control.
of professionals who understand legal and
compliance requirements and ensure that their
organizations are in line with the mandated
legal system. At this juncture, the role of
professional accountants and auditors
expanded. With the changing economic
scenario
and
globalization,
several
opportunities opened up for Indian Chartered
Accountants (CAs). This placed a demand on
the CAs to rapidly change their role from an
Accountant to a Tech Savvy Advisor and
partner of the client.
Primary concerns of an auditor operating in
a technology environment
The need of the hour
Be it a bank, a manufacturing concern, a
pharmaceutical company or a service
provider, all must comply with the guidelines
that the government, corporate governance,
internal company policy and third party
standards organisations have laid out.
Compliance also implies proof in the form of
reports, logs, and audit trails that have to be as
transparent as possible.
Most regulations state that information must
be saved, retrieved, stored and delivered in an
appropriate format. It must be kept secure
over time. IT has the tools and processes that
can streamline an organisation's efforts in reengineering to meet such mandates.
Considering the above aspects it has become
necessary for each organisation to define,
document, communicate, implement and audit
information systems (IS) security with the
help of professionally competent IS auditors.
Organisations are looking for professionals
with proven experience and knowledge to
identify, evaluate and recommend solutions to
mitigate system threats and vulnerabilities.
Role of Auditors vis-s-vis
Information Security
With increasing demand for controls and
securities, organisations require the right type
•
•
•
•
Security: Ensuring that the systems are
protected against unauthorised access
i.e. physical and logical security
Availability: The data, information
and systems are available as planned
for operations
Confidentiality:
The
critical
information of the organisation is
confidential
and
appropriately
protected
Integrity: Ascertain that information,
data and process are accurate,
complete, timely and authorized
CAs practice and specialise in these areas to
address the above mentioned concerns.
• System Development Life Cycle
• Information Security
• Performance
measurements
and
monitoring
• Emerging standards
• e-Governance
Initiatives by ICAI – An Overview
A statutory body, established under the
Chartered Accountants Act 1949, The
Institute of Chartered Accountants of India
(ICAI) has been set up for the regulation of
the profession of Chartered Accountants in
India. During its more than five decades of
( 413 )
existence, ICAI has achieved global
recognition apart from its national stature, as
a premier accounting body that contributes
extensively to the fields of education and
professional development. ICAI now has been
accredited as the second largest accounting
body in the whole world.
ICAI is
headquartered at New Delhi and has regional
offices and 114 branches spread all over the
country. On the global front, there are 18
chapters outside India and an office in Dubai.
The number of students pursuing the course is
over 350,000 at present.
The total
membership of ICAI is close to 140,000, out
of which about 55% are in practice and the
rest are employed with different industry
verticals. A considerable number of CAs
occupy positions of high esteem such as
Chairmen of regulatory bodies, Chairpersons
of banks and insurance companies,
Chairpersons & Managing Directors of
reputed enterprises, Executive Directors of
innumerable enterprises/organisations. The
members of ICAI are also recognized as
highly competent globally and it is amply
proved by their occupying key position in all
major cities of the world, numbering to 12000
members approximately.
The DISA course
With an objective to provide specialized
knowledge and skills in the field of
Information Systems Audit (ISA), the ICAI
set up an IT Committee towards introducing a
course covering networking and cutting-edge
technology. The ISA course aimed at
comprehensive development of professional
skills with the help of a well-devised
curriculum and training methodology. It is to
be noted that the course not only had to
empower the Chartered Accountants to drive
information development and system design,
but simultaneously impart knowledge towards
understanding the finer nuances of system
control and evaluation.
Since the members of the Institute were
spread across the length and breadth of India
and the course catered to working
professionals, a full time class room mode
would not be suitable. A blended model was
decided upon with instructor-led classroom
sessions imparting Practical Training, and
standard text books and supplementary
materials to add on to the learning. The
Institute partnered with C&K Management
ltd. (www.cnkonline.com) to operate the elearning part of the blend on a Build, Own
and Operate model.
Requirements Mapping
C&K Management (C&K) had to offer the
following:
• Standardized content and delivery
• An option for selective reading
• Test the prior knowledge in the field
• Just-in-time delivery
• An opportunity to discus with experts
in the field
With its substantial experience in the field of
E Learning and based upon various concepts
and principles discussed in Part 1, C&K
created an innovative e-learning platform.
The solution offered by C&K
C & K developed an exclusive portal for this
purpose, called ISACOM (A community of IS
auditors), to build and nurture a community of
Information System Auditors. The IT
committee of The Institute of Chartered
Accountants of India promoted this site for
the benefits of DISAs and students of the ISA
course.
The core idea of ISA – COM was to build a
knowledge community of DISAs by
networking and through contemporary
knowledge dissemination
( 414 )
No community forms on its own. It needs
people behind the screen to ignite the
activities, nurture the community, and bring
the members together. Somebody needs to
constantly work back stage to feed the
community with relevant knowledge and
facilitate sharing of the same with others.
Members of the community need mentoring somebody to listen to, and clarify their
doubts. C&K specialists did this job and
continue to do so for the community.
Knowledge Dissemination
a. Deployed the Online practice test for
ISA students as a Challenge to
motivate them to learn, based on the
principles discussed earlier and the
format mentioned earlier.
b. Researched Online Study Material
(ROSM) for students and DISAs to
provide just-in-time learning on such
topics where the learners got the
answers wrong.
A unique feature of the content was the
special emphasis given, wherever possible, to
the following aspects
• Concept – Gave a thorough
understanding of the concept
• Security – Delved into various aspects
of security
• Control – Provided check lists for
implementing appropriate controls
• Audit – Provided the approach and
framework for auditing information
systems
The other interesting feature was mapping of
each page of content to a relevant question. If
the learners marked a wrong answer, the
related content was popped up to help them
understand the concept immediately. Learner
interest in getting the right answer was
highest at the instance of getting an answer
wrong. This was presumably due to a feeling
of rejection of the idea that they got
something wrong and would read the content
to figure out a way of contending the right
answer and prove themselves right with the
wrong answer. Most learners seem to have
retained the right answer and understood the
underlying concept or procedure as large
numbers have been certified. To ensure
engagement, content had both components the “know what” and the “know why”.
Networking
a. Brought experts to meet the
community online through chat rooms
b. Started bulletin threads on topics of
interest to the community
c. Provided a platform for members to
meet others on their own using the
chat rooms
Mentoring
a. Provided an e-helpdesk for posting
queries to experts and routing back
answers
b. Undertook research on queries, and
provided learners with customised
answers
c. Created FAQs and posted regularly
A Snapshot of the ISACOM Portal
( 415 )
( 416 )
Conclusion
It is extremely challenging to hook mature,
professionally qualified learners to a
structured learning program. They are
strongly self-motivated to learn on their own
and may even invest time and money on
professional enhancements in terms of
knowledge, skills and attitudes. They however
tend to be skeptical of any learning agenda
and come in with a strong belief that they
know most of the answers and very few
people, if any, can teach them anything.
However, once the WIIFMe factors are
clearly elucidated and they buy in to it, they
can become extremely committed and
enthusiastic learners. One needs to identify
the right buttons to push to hook such
learners. Challenges in the form of testing
their present knowledge and giving them
selective content in areas where they are weak
seem to be an excellent way of engaging such
learners. They accept such challenges and
tend to learn wherever they go wrong with
strong emotions, evidenced by a number of
return challenges they pose to the content
team on questions where they went wrong.
However, to mitigate any risks on credibility
of the whole course, high quality SME inputs
may be required and any content published
should be of high veracity.
One does not need very sophisticated
infrastructure or high-end electronic tools to
cater to such motivated learners, once they are
motivated, as the case has shown. A simple
web portal with access control and tracking of
usage was sufficient. The innovation to
motivate such learners and ensure success of
the program lay not in technology, but in
understanding key psychological drivers and
building a delivery mechanism that is aligned
to such drivers, such as the customized test
engine in the case study along with wellresearched content delivered just-in-time and
the formation of an electronic learning
community.
( 417 )

eLearning Excellence In The Middle East 2008 (Forum Proceedings

Transcription

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