Introduction:
To understand the impact of new media in online learning, this literature review will focus on three ideas relative to understanding prior and future research in this field. These include adult learning and andragogy, new media and online education and social presence and learning with new media. In an era when technology is continually changing and our global society is becoming more interconnected, people must become lifelong learners if they wish to continue being competitive. Although the expansion of technology has been a contributing factor in this change, it may also provide the solution to empower people to acquire what they need to learn. To maximize the effectiveness of these new learning tools, it is important to consider and understand the needs of adult learner, and how new media accommodates these different needs. By considering these three areas of research, a clearer picture will emerge as to what has been done, and what yet remains to be understood.
Adult Learning and Andragogy:
The term Andragogy was originally used by Alexander Kapp (a German educator) in 1833, and was developed into a theory of adult education by an American educator, Malcolm Knowles during the later 20th century. Knowles theories can be summarized with four postulates:
1. Adults need to be involved in the planning and evaluation of their instruction (Self-concept
and Motivation to learn).
2. Experience (including mistakes) provides the basis for learning activities (Experience).
3. Adults are most interested in learning subjects that have immediate relevance to their job or
personal life (Readiness to learn).
4. Adult learning is problem-centered rather than content-oriented (Orientation to learning).
(Knowles, 1984)
These principles were designed to clarify the difference of andragogy teaching standards from pedagogy - the learning needs of pre-adult learners. These will be important principles to consider when reviewing the different features of new media in online learning.
Fozdar (2007) researched the relationship between mobile learning and student retention. Given the lack of internet access in India, cell phones were the tool of choice to give feedback and discuss student work. Though the use of surveys, it was determined that although students appreciated the use of cell phones to provide student with flexibility, text messaging provided limited means for communicating information. This limitation led students to have misgivings about the quality of education provided in this forum. Additionally, the information provided in the study did not specifically address how the andragogy needs of students were addressed.
Glogoff (2007) conducted research on the use of blogging for hybrid classes and exclusively online classes. The advantage of communicating online for the students was that being able to give honest feedback based on anonymity was helpful for students to improve their knowledge of the information being learned in class, which assisted in enhancing their learning. During the research, it was discovered that the hybrid classes provided more feedback to each other than online only classes. Consequently, students who did not blog felt excluded from their classmates and limited in their learning. This led to the course requirement that students would be required to post at least three times a week to encourage the blogging process and the classroom community. This requirement improved the community, and demonstrated the necessity and value of the research conducted.
The activity and its research highlight the importance of student being involved in their collective learning and the opportunity of experiencing feedback from other students to learn from their mistakes and improve upon their learning activities. These features are critical to the principles for successful andragogy.
Research conducted by Witte (2007) also highlights the need to compare the difference between pedagogy and andragogy. Witte (2007) attempted to have middle school students use blogging as a forum to "provide opportunities for students and future educators to develop their digital fluency while also strengthening their traditional literacy skills" (Witte 92). Students actively used the blog, but student achievement was not discussed in her research.
Witte (2007) believed that since students liked to communicate in this forum, it could be utilized in a middle school setting for pedagogical purposes. Since an improvement in traditional literary skills was not highlighted, one cannot conclude whether this tool was effective in this forum. However, it may be the case that because of the difference of learning needs between middle schoolers and adults, blogging may be a tool better suited to the needs of adult learners.
New Media in Online Education:
As new media technology becomes available, the opportunities to use it for online educational purposes is considered. With such considerations, it is important to know what research has been done, both to anticipate the potential limitations of the new media, as well as to foresee how the new media may strengthen online education.
Luanne and Martin (2007) report on several myths held strongly by many teachers against the use of podcasting. These myths focus on the perception that students will use podcasts as a substitute for in class learning. Luanne and Martin (2007) dispute these claims saying that students can gain information from the podcasts that they may not have understood the first time, and can enhance the students' overall learning experience. Additionally, the use of podcasts has the ability of improving the classroom experience, because students can come to class with a better grasp of the material.
The misconceptions mentioned in the article seem rooted in fundamental beliefs about how education should work, as well as a lack of understanding of what role new media can play in improving online education, as well as what occurs in the classroom. To effectively utilize these technologies, educational institutions will be required to invest time to train their instructors in research-based uses that optimize the learning experience for their students. So long as these beliefs continued to be held, they will pose as a limitation to the promising role of new media in online learning.
Lam and McNaught (2006) a qualitative study was conducted to consider how effective three types of new media in online learning were for students. The first involved explaining complex concepts and ideas with a series of sequential diagrams or texts. The second involved on increasing students' motivation by utilizing multimedia materials for vivid representations in lessons. The third focused on students using multimedia for projects generated by students.
Whereas the students had difficulties in Case one, Cases two and three found great benefits; Case two found the material helpful for learning and application; Case 3 found that the multimedia tools were great for extending creative thinking and analytical skills. The results of this research were used to refine the course offerings and improve it overall (Lam and McNaught 2006) This research highlights the importance of determining not only effective uses of new media in online learning, but qualifying the type of learning that may be gained with different types and applications of the new media.
Another study comparing different new media was performed by Pegler and Mason (2005). In their research, students incorporated four different forms of communication in an online course about Learning in the Connected Economy. These forms of communication included blogging, audio technology, instant messaging and the Harvard Rotisserie system.
The research concluded that although students liked all forum (for the most part) they most strongly favored audio technology and instant messaging (Pegler and Mason 2005). The college students involved in the study chose the two systems that offered instant communication and response to each other. In this study for this class, this may prove effective. Whereas the previous study considered impact that new media had on the entire format of a class, this study only focuses on one facet of the online class. Both studies offer interesting models for the types of research that this field requires.
Social Presence and learning with New Media:
Within the educational field, conflicting opinion and conclusions from research have been obtained about the social presence (or lack thereof) in using new media. Some studies cite strong advantages offered by blogging that enhance student learning; others cite criticism in which students report feeling isolated from each other .
Research by Dickey (2004) concluded that students felt isolated and alienated from each other, because their only contact with each other was through emails, chat rooms and discussion boards. Additionally, El Mansour and Mupinga (2007) conducted research with hybrid classes in which technology problems and feelings of isolation were also reported. Both believed that quality interaction and collaboration were an important part of an effective learning environment.
Research by Sparks and Mentz (2006) used instant messaging in an online class for graduate programs. The interactions that were enabled by instant message between students as well as students and teachers proved to be powerful tools to foster strong collaboration. Students were also given control on how to use instant message, and provided each other with an enriched learning environment.
The research demonstrates the manner in which new media in online learning needs serious consideration. Whereas Dickey (2004) discovered one outcome when using different communication tools, Sparks and Mentz (2006) conclusions were quite different. Whether it is the bias of the researcher, a misalignment of technology with an online program, or a online course design flaw, further research needs to be performed to determine what technologies best compliment what programs to continually improve student learning and achievement.
Citations:
Berdarrain, Y. (2006). Distance education trends: Integrating new technologies to foster student interaction and collaboration. Distance Education. 27 (2), 139-153.
Dickey, M. (2004). The impact of web-logs (blogs) on student perceptions of isolationand alienation in a web-based distance-learning environment. Open Learning, 19(3), 279-291.
Fozdar, B.I., Kumar, L.S. (2007) Moblie learning and student retention. International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning 8, http://www.irrodl.org/index/php/irrodl/article/view/345/927
Glogoff, S. (2005). Instructional blogging: Promoting interactivy, student centered learning, and peer input. Innovate, 1 (5), 1-6.
Knowles, M. (1984). Andragogy in Action. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Lam, P., & McNaught, C. (2006). Design and evaluation of online courses containinig media-enhanced learning materials. Educational Media International, 43(3), 199-218
Luanne F., Martin M., (May 2007). Plugging into students' digital DNA: five myths prohibiting proper podcasting pedagogy in the new classroom domain. Vol. 3, No 3.
Sparks, P., Mentz, L. (2006). electronic not passing: Enriching online learning with new communication tools. Journal of Online Learning and Teaching, 2(4), 1-6.
Weller, M., Pegler, C., Mason, R. (2005). Use of innovative technoloties on an e-learning course. The Internet and Higher Education, 8(1), 61-71.
Witte, S. (2007). That's online writing, not boring school wirting: Writing with blogs and the Talkback Project. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy. 51, 92-96
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6 comments:
Your review is well written, each area and subtopic well defined. I focused primarily on the new media and social sections. I appreciated that you quoted several studies I hadn't seen before and that added a nice element. I wonder how much of the comfort gap in new media between teachers and students comes down to age. Assuming younger students have more experience with the recent technology and the 'older' teachers needing a little more time to familiarize themselves and accept. I think you are dead on about the instant gratification aspect of IM etc. I have the same age prejudice question about the social aspects of technology. I loved college in my teens as a full time student and the social aspect was most or all of the fun (I attended college on the island of Pangaea). Now that I'm old and cantankerous, I want to focus on the content and how I can apply it; the social aspect is negligible. Some of your references seems to support that idea, maybe it's worth exploring.
Hi Jason,
Thanks for your thoughtful comments on my blog. I really like the way you took the ecological concept a step further (in your comment). We can't stop students from doing certain things (like texting each other during class) because this is their way of creating social presence. The social presence that we as adults who grew up in a time of more face to face interaction, find lacking in online classes, might be the very thing that younger students consider normal.
Anyway, great job on your review and thanks again for yourinsightful comment on my post.
Rebecca
I like that you addressed life long learning. That is a topic that is often discussed. I think two areas where new technology can impact life long learning are JIT, just in time learning, and problem centered learning.
It is know possible to seek knowledge an training at the moment is is needed instead before or after a problem arises that requires new skills. This pushes our learning to problem solving not content regurgitation.
I can easily find relevant content what is needed is the methodologies to apply that content when it is needed. To me that is the crux of life long learning.
Hi, Jeff. Excellent review. Social presence of online media definitely has some room for research in assessing what it is really doing in education. I think online media can very easily become a crutch for some students that would rather avoid physical interaction. I wonder if online classes and their sometimes exclusive use in undergrad and graduate programs is going to create some social vulnerabilities in future employees that we have not been able to measure yet? One thing is for sure, online media and online learning are not going away any time soon. Bill Klopping
Jeff,
Good job on the review. The part where you talked about social presence and isolation reminded me of an online experience we had in another class. Were you in Baek's 500 last quarter? If you were and you remember Eric, he said right up front that he was usually very shy and withdrawn in face-to-face classes, yet during our real-time chats he was a major contributor. This contradicts the unfortunately real "crutch" concept that Bill mentioned. I do think that turning into an online recluse while getting your masters is not a great thing, but it was nice to see Eric open up the way he did. I would venture to say that if we were ever to have gone back into a face-to-face situation in that class, Eric would have been far more comfortable with the group. The ice had already been broken so to speak...
One of the things I liked about the Luanne and Martin paper was that many of their comments on the podcasting myths were applicable to technology in general.
And as Rebecca said, we can't entirely stop the misuse of text messaging or (in my wife's class - transferring files via bluetooth). But you don't catch every whispered message or love note passed either do you? =)
Did they toss paper and pencil out the window when they first used them for instruction simply because the students might write on their desks and make spit wads?
Matt =)
Jeff,
I appreciate the advice on the citations. I do not feel 100% confident in the way that I cite my information, but I will continue to improve.
I read your paper and thought that you did a good job summarizing the studies in your three sections. I did take note to the way that you cited your information and I liked the way that you presented the factors of androgogy in a numbered list. Your ideas were clearly visible and supported by the research. The only difference I can see in your review when I compared it to the way that I wrote my review was that I focused on defining the topics and you focused on providing examples of the topics through the research. Thank you for helping me out with my citations.
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