Increasing Interactivity in eLearning Through Web 2.0
- Introduction: eLearning and Interactivity
by Evie Laurito
An old Chinese proverb says: Tell me, I'll forget, Show me, I'll remember, Involve me and I'll understand. Involvement means engagement and engagement in learning takes place when there is interactivity with the learning content, with the instructor, and with other learners.
Interactivity is important in eLearning because of the limitation of face to face contact with the tutor and other learners that can slow down the learning process especially if there is no learner motivation.
If there are online activities that involve the learner, it will grab the learner’s attention, retain his interest, grasp the knowledge being taught, reflect and apply the new knowledge, increase retention and overall lead to more effective learning.
Examples of interactivity in eLearning are student interactivity with the course materials through drills, tests, simulation, blogs and games. The learner gains and constructs knowledge by working with the subject matter. Learner to instructor interactivity involves direct communication between the learner and the instructor through discussion forums, chats and emails. In this process the instructor assists students to understand the course content. Learner to Learner interactivity depends on communication and sharing between two or more participants through discussion forums, chat, wikis and group/team work where learners support one another in the learning process. - Web 2.0 and Interactivity
Web 2.0 is a raging trend in the use of the internet, not only as a source of information, but also as a venue for creating and sharing information, collaborating with communities and using open source and online applications.
It was first coined in 1999 by Darci DiNucci who said that “The Web will be understood not as screenfuls of text and graphics but as a transport mechanism, the ether through which interactivity happens”(Web 2.0, Wikipedia). In 2005, Tim O’Reilly described the seven principles of Web 2.0: The Web as platform, Harnessing collective intelligence, Data is the next 'Intel inside', End of the software release cycle, Lightweight programming models, Software above the level of single device, and Rich user experiences (Anderson, 2007).
If you have created or commented to a blog or wiki, participated in an online game or questionnaire, tagged online resources, watched online videos or downloaded music, uploaded pictures and articles for sharing with your friends or registered in a website to access online applications, then you have used Web 2.0.
Web 2.0 have 3 basic characteristics that enhance interactivity: Open collaboration, Content-sharing and online Tools-application. These are characteristics that can build our learners capacity to communicate, to be creative and innovative, and be critical thinkers and experts of technology. These are the skills that can enhance the learning process. - Web 2.0 and eLearning
by Ephrem Santos
The early practice of e-learning was focused on using the internet to replicate the instructor-led experience. This conventional method used instructional packets that were delivered to students using Internet technologies. The role of the student consisted in learning from the readings and preparing assignments. Assignments were then evaluated by the teacher. Here, the teacher controls a majority of the processes.
However, this evolved into designed activities that lead a learner through the content, providing a wide and ever-increasing set of interactions, experiences, assessments, and simulations –whether they are done on real time (synchronous) or over a period of time (asynchronous). eLearning is is not just for information/content based learning but also for performance based learning, including the interaction with others.
And now with Web 2.0 - the evolving e-learning may put increased emphasis on social learning and use of social software such as blogs, wikis, podcasts and virtual worlds (like Second Life). The Web 2.0 tools have fostered collaboration, thereby making our concept of learning as one that takes place through conversations about content and substantial interaction about problems and actions. In a way, Web 2.0 promotes ‘social learning’ based on the notion that one of the best ways to learn something is to share and teach it to others.
The tremendous influence of these increasing number of Web 2.0 tools upon eLearning is such that they have recently coined a new term: eLearning 2.0.
Here follows a short description of some Web 2.0 tools that can be used in eLearning:
a. Blogs
by Tsetseg Yadamsuren
A Blog (short for web log) is often used as a personal journal that can be updated frequently and is intended for general public consumption. Blogs can be easily maintained and updated through a standard web browser. They are often free of charge to establish. Blogs have become a very powerful communication medium and are likely to grow exponentially. Visitors to a blog can often contribute their thoughts and help build the content. Blogs can also draw upon content from other blogs (referred to as syndication from an RSS “feed”). For this reason, blogs have become a powerful medium for establishing web communities and special interest groups.Blogs promote the Interactivity in eLearning:
As a tool for learners to establish their own journals, portfolios and personal reflections for presentation to their teachers and peers;
A course/subject journal compiled over the period of delivery with course related reflections;
To showcase personal works and achievements;
As a class portal where learners can access supplemental materials, curriculum, links, videos, podcasts, homework, assessment task and other peer/trainer feedback;
As an ongoing content where materials and resources can be archived online for easy locating in the future;
As the basis of an assessment. Various types of blogs can be used to promote eLearning including Text blogs (Ex: Blogger http://www.blogger.com, Wordpress http://www.wordpress.com, edublogs http://edublogs.org), Photo blogs (Ex: http://www0.fotolog.com/), Moblogs (Ex: http://moblog.co.uk/), and Vidblogs (Ex: http://www.vidblogs.com/). A photo blog is based on uploaded photos or images while moblogs accepts photos from a mobile phone. Vidblogs use video rather than text or audio.
b. Wikis
by Sidaroth Kong
To put it in a simple way, Wiki is a website that can be used to create and to edit content with collaborative contribution from different writers. A Wiki website can be operated by Wiki software.Wiki is very useful concept and tool for collaborative work which can range from knowledge building, book publishing, article creation, event recording, report development, research and writing leisure. Wiki is mostly used for documentation purpose in which knowledge can be continuously updated and shared among each other.
If you are an ordinary web visitor, you can visit a Wiki page that is open for public. But if you want to add your comments into a Wiki page, you will need to register for an account with an allowed rule given by the Wiki page owner. Writing into a Wiki page will require some basic knowledge of Wiki tags, some of which are similar to HTML or if you know HTML it will be easier to learn the Wiki tags.
For e-learning, Wiki is an important tool for team building exercise aiming at participatory approach. Tutor can start collecting different ideas from learners on a specific subject using Wiki pages. Learners, then, visit the pages and keep feeding in comments. At the end, everyone has something to say and collectively builds their learning outputs.Below are a couple of websites that use Wiki:
The free and large encyclopedia in English: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiki
The documentation page of Moodle: http://docs.moodle.org/en/Main_Page
c. Social Networking Sites
by Mel Tan
Online social networking is the “in” thing.
People have made it a habit to check their social networking accounts regularly for messages, status updates, comments, and uploads – from the mundane to the fabulous. Through networking sites, interest groups share information and experiences about their hobbies, activities, and causes; showbiz personalities update their fans; politicians reach out to their voting publics. Barack Obama, the current US President, tapped into social networks to promote transparency, advocate his political agenda, raise funds, and organize local groups. Even the Pope has joined the bandwagon through http://pope2you.net .
Social networking sites afford people venues to join or build online communities with friends, relatives, professional associates, co-hobbyists, or interest groups. Users maintain their personal accounts by updating their status through comments, shout-outs, photos, video/audio uploads, and blogs. They can search for as well as interact, stay in touch, and share information with their “friends” from all over the globe. The availability of applications, games, and other gadgets/widgets have made these sites all the more enjoyable – and at the same time, exasperating.
The more popular of these sites include Facebook, Friendster, MySpace, Multiply, LinkedIn, Xing, Bebo, Hi5, Orkut, Yahoo 360!, among others. For the Asian market, there are Cyworld, Mixi, and QQ.com. More recently, micro-blogging sites such as Twitter and Plurk have enjoyed heightened popularity – allowing users to quickly and routinely update their followers about what they are doing via 140-character messages – followers gained increases tweet and/or karma points. Mobile versions of these applications have further fanned the flames for this addicting diversion.
The Nielsen Report of December 2007-December 2008 states that “two-thirds of the world’s Internet population belongs to a social network”, with Brazilian users spending “one in every four minutes online... on a social networking site”. Further, the Ofcom Report, published in August 2007, showed that 16% of social networkers are in the 17-and-below age range, 11% are in the 18-to-24 age range, 43% are in the 25-to-49-year-old bracket, and the rest (24%) are in the 50-and-above age range. It was also learned that at least 50% of social networking users access their profiles at least every other day.
d. Online Games / Simulation
by Chammika Gunathilake
Games and learning are not mutually exclusive. In fact, with the right design and tools, they can be mutually supportive. Games are hard and the skills needed to complete games include; IT skills, literacy, numeracy, hand-eye co-ordination, strategy skills, cognitive skills and lots more. This should be enough to satisfy even the most skeptical of educationalists.Here are ten things that games have to offer learners?
1. Motivation
2. Learner-centricity
3. Personalization
4. Incremental learning
5. Contextualization
6. Rich media mix
7. Safe failure
8. Immediate feedback
9. Lots of practice and reinforcement
10. Lots of collaboration
Many advantages can be cited with respect to the use of computer simulation programs in education. While working with a computer simulation program the student is experimenting, so he or she is playing an active rather than a passive role. This active engagement contrasts with the situation students often experience during 'face-to-face' teaching when they listen passively. Simulation creates, according to foster, an interactive educational setting which offers the possibility to effect changes in relation to the learning experience in a more efficient way than is normally possible with other didactic methods.Working with a computer simulation program can increase the interest of a student about a subject. This can express itself in the fact that students will often study relevant literature concerning the subject after using a simulation more than they would have done with the traditional approaches to learning.Eg: Physical flight simulators (Show in Picture) were used in military and civil airline training with the FAA certifying different types of simulators on which pilots can rack-up training hours. Computer games such as Microsoft’s Flight simulator, Pilot wings, Flight Gear and Flight Unlimited proved to be incredibly popular consumer games. - Pedagogical and Social Issues of Web 2.0
by Evie Laurito
Pedagogical and social issues arising from incorporating Web 2.0 into eLearning are:
a. Teacher readiness – Many teachers still look at the WWW as a source of information where teachers create content and students read or download these content. They search the internet for websites that will be suitable as links for assignments they give. For interactivity, they use discussion forums that is usually a feature of a Learning Management System (Moodle, Blackboard, WebCT etc.) and thus limits the activity only for members of the class. There is a need therefore to train teachers on the availability and usefulness of Web 2.0 websites and provide them ideas on how to create real world interactivity and community engagement. They should be trained to provide students the skills to locate quality internet sources and assess them for objectivity, reliability and up-datedness.
b. Learner readiness – Though many of young learners are familiar and have used Web 2.0 especially social networking sites, an issue that can arise from learner created content will be the validity and reliability of these content. Instructors need to work collaboratively with learners to review, edit, and apply quality assurance mechanisms to student work.
c. Institution readiness – There are institutions that ban the access of social networking sites like YouTube, Facebook, MySpace and the like because they still see these sites as not fit for the education process. With the advent of similar sites geared for the academe such as YouTube Edu and partnerships with LMS such as Backboard and Facebook, these will open many institutions to relevant features of these websites.
d. Using Web 2.0 means opening our learners to everyone, all communities, the “crowd” and its powers and may challenge the vulnerability especially of our young learners. Online identity and privacy are issues that one will have to tackle.
e. "Students want to be able to take content from other people. They want to mix it, in new creative ways—to produce it, to publish it, and to distribute it" (Hilton, 2006). Such practices raise questions about originality and intellectual property rights - Interaction in the Online Environment: Creating a Community of Inquiry
by Butch Carbonell
Randy Garrison and Terri Anderson developed an instructional design model for e-learning – the Community of Inquiry Model. It views the learning community as consisting of teachers and learners interacting through facilitation, construction, validation of understanding and capacity building for further learning. Such a community relies on cognitive independence and social interdependence simultaneously.The model defines three major elements that overlap each other to form the educational experience of the learner – cognitive presence, social presence and teaching presence. All these elements require interaction by the learner with the course content, with the other learners and with the online facilitator. As White, Roberts and Brannan (2003) puts it: “unless the course is reconceptualized using an interactive learning pedagogy, the results are nothing more than a correspondence course via e-mail and that simply transferring a traditional classroom-based course to an online format is doomed to failure”.
Thus, the challenge to online educators is how can the learning experience be enhanced in this environment. What must be done by the online educator to select the content appropriate for online learning, support effective discourse and establish a strong teacher-learner relationship in this virtual community? The answer to these concerns will identify who are not only effective online facilitators but the exemplary online educators.
In a study conducted by Beth Perry and Margaret Edwards, they have come up with three major roles that exemplary online educators assume – challengers, affirmers and influencers.Online educators “challenge the student to think critically, provide additional examples from practice, and improve the quality of their assignments. These strategies might all be considered to enhance the cognitive presence in the online environment.”
As affirmer, the online instructor “let their students know that they were succeeding in their studies and to encourage them in their learning. Specifically exemplary educators affirm students by recognizing their potential, treating learners with respect and recognizing potential problems and taking actions to assist with this.” This manifests the teaching and social presence in the Community of Inquiry Model. Thus, “the affirmation of the learner by the online educator assists in creating a positive, supportive learning climate. When interactions between learner and instructor are one-on-one in a private online venue, the climate may be student specific. Likewise affirming student-teacher interactions in public fora would have the possibility of enhancing the virtual classroom climate. In either case the educator by acknowledging student success, interacting in a respectful manner and being astute to arising problems and taking appropriate action all serve to enhance the virtual classroom climate setting a positive tone that facilitates learning.”
The influencer has shown his expertise in a particular subject area and his strong online presence affects the students’ participation in the course. These are ways by which the teaching presence in the Model can be fortified. - Conclusion
Interactivity is most vital in eLearning. A popular trend in eLearning called Web 2.0 is opening learners to a community of internet users that communicate, interact, share, create, process and use information. Web 2.0 applications such as wikis, blogs, simulation, games and social networking all involve interactivities that our learners can engage in to enhance the learning process. Caution however is necessary in the application of Web 2.0 in eLearning through proper faculty intervention so that our students will be properly guided.Interactivity in elearning is not just the use of technology and multimedia to enhance learning. It is an entirely new way of learning and teaching that is likely here to stay. It involves a community of learners and teachers enthusiastically exchanging ideas and experiences in a very positive learning climate. This can only be achieved if the online educator is able to promote a true community of inquiry. As was noted in Perry’s and Edwards’ study, “having a good educator can be likened to the experience of having a fine wine. Your senses are stirred but not assaulted leaving you wanting more and recalling the experience with pleasure.” - References
Anderson, Paul. "What is Web 2.0? Ideas, technologies and implications for education". JISC Technology and Standards Watch, Feb. 2007. Available Online : http://www.scribd.com/doc/1380393/What-is-web-2-0-Ideas-technologies-and-implications-for-educationAustralian Flexible Learning Framework, " Designing and Implementing eLearning", http://designing.flexiblelearning.net.au/gallery/activities/blogs.htm
Hilton, J. 2006. "The future for higher education: Sunrise or perfect storm?" Educause Review 41 (2): 58-71. Available Online: http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/erm0623.pdf
Enfesta, Shellaine. "Knowing The Top Asian Social Network". Ezine@articles, 27 Oct 2008. Available Online: http://ezinearticles.com/?Knowing-The-Top-Asian-Social-Network&id=1621449 Accessed: 07 June 2009."Global Faces and Networked Places: A Nielsen report on Social Networking’s New Global Footprint". Nielsen Online, March 2009. Available online: http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/nielsen_globalfaces_mar09.pdf Accessed: 06 June 2009.
Stern, Allen. "2008 Social Networking Survey - 41% of Young Children Have a Public Profile". Center Networks, 04 April 2008. Available Online: http://www.centernetworks.com/social-networking-surveyAccessed: 06 June 2009
Garrison, D. R., Anderson, T., & Archer, W. (2000). Critical inquiry in a text-based environment: Computer conferencing in higher education. The Internet and Higher Education, 2(2-3), 87-105
