copyright sr hiltz 20081 e-learning: effectiveness and scenarios for higher education in romania...

Copyright SR Hiltz 2008 1

E-Learning:Effectiveness and Scenarios for Higher Education in Romania

Starr Roxanne Hiltz(Distinguished Prof. Emerita, Information

Systems, NJIT)


Outline1. Background: What is “ALN”?:

Nature, philosophy, history2. Overview of Comparisons of

outcomes3. Trends: Growth in ALN and other

forms of e-learning in the U.S. and elsewhere

4. University futures- Potentials and Scenarios – U.S. and Romania…


“Asynchronous Learning Networks” or ALNAlthough many different technologies are

used in delivering online courses, this is the technology and approach for which there has been the most success and research.

‘Asynchronous’ refers to Computer-Mediated Communication (CMC) systems that allow ‘anytime’ “anywhere” communication via the Internet, systems such as computerized conferencing or discussion boards that support threaded discussions for a class (e.g., Blackboard, Moodle).


ALN Definition, 2‘Learning Networks’ refer to the social network

or community of learners that emerges when students and faculty communicate and work together to build and share knowledge.

ALN thus integrates social and technical aspects; it depends upon technologies such as the Internet to link together teachers and learners, but it is an effective means of learning only when collaborative social/pedagogical processes emerge from the communication that is supported by the technology.


(Philosophy) The objective of ALN is not just to be ‘as good

as’ traditional classroom-based learning, but to use CMC to encourage and support new forms of collaboration and learning together online, that can be more effective than the traditional classroom.

Goals include critical thinking, communication skills, teamwork skills

Implementation: may also use some “synchronous” media such as Skype or virtual worlds, but these are hard to schedule for working students

May be combined with limited face to face meetings in “hybrid” mode ( e.g., a few intensive days at start of course).


Two views of Online Courses:

A means of cutting costs-- Post materials on the web; tutorials and quizzes; collect assignments; can handle thousands of students. ( and is not very effective except if you call memorizing a fixed body of knowledge “learning“

OR: A means of supporting learning communities (requires small classes (or groups) mentored by faculty members; goals are improved access and effectiveness- ALN, CSCL


Typical Components of a Complete ALN Course

1. Complete syllabus, with course activities, expectations, readings and due dates for each module- before the course starts.

2. For each module (1-4 weeks in duration):1. Overview/ Learning Objectives2. Assigned readings3. Lecture type materials: delivered by

Powerpoint + audio, streaming video, online tutorial, Ipod audio files, or whatever –

4. Tests or self-tests (optional) (may be online testing module)


Unique Components of a Complete ALN Course:

Collaboration is the Key 5. Online group discussion topics and

activities are central and required/graded and, and facilitated by an instructor.

6. A project/ artifact/ deliverable, preferably created by collaborative group activity; sometimes global partially distributed teams of students in classes from different countries


Interaction and Higher-Order Learning are key to effective online

learning

Active involvement (Alavi and Dufner, 2004)

Interaction with classmates, instructors, and content (Leidner & Fuller 1997; Swan 2004)

Small group discussions that generate meaningful discourse and deep reflection (Hiltz 1986; Harasim, 1990; Hiltz, Coppola et al., 2000; Swan and Shea, 2004)


Active Participation and Student Outcomes: What we know from

researchCollaborative learning can increase student

achievement and high-level thinking [Kitchen & McDougall 1998]

Participation is key for enabling collaborative learning [Hardless, Lundin, & Nulden 2001]

A strong correlation exists between an instructor’s requirement for discussion and a student’s perceived learning [Jiang & Ting, 2000].


2. Studies of Effectiveness of Learning Networks


Survey of All Comparative StudiesCriteria for Inclusion

•Empirical studies of the effectiveness of learning networks published in a refereed journal or conference proceedings, in the English language, as of 2005.

•30 studies compared FtF and Online courses.

•Most were field studies (in which students self-select mode); only 5 experiments with random assignment.


ProcedureResults for each study were categorized

in terms of whether they, in total, showed ALN to be better, worse, or no different on the whole.


Measures of student learning used in the studies

Student learning has been the most frequently measured variable for comparative studies.

In 47 instances, objective measures of learning have been used, including grade (10 instances), midterm examination (4 instances) or final exam grade (11).


Detailed findings on learning effectiveness:

For 16 comparisons of objective measures, ALN was found to be significantly better.

The majority of studies (29 instances) have found no significant difference in objective outcomes.

Two studies found ALN significantly worse.Conclusion: The evidence is overwhelming

that ALN tends to be as effective or more effective than traditional modes of course delivery, at the university level.


3. Trends: Online Enrollments and Research are Growing

First online courses in the 1970’s, but no real growth until the spread of the Internet in the 1990s.

About 2 million university students in the U.S. were in online courses by the spring of 2004; about 4 million by 2008. (Source: Allen & Seaman, “Staying the Course: Online Education in the US, 2008,” Babson Survey Research Group/ Sloan Consortium- survey of chief academic officers; N= 2577)


· The 12.9 percent growth rate for online enrollments far exceeds the 1.2 percent growth of the overall higher education student population.

· Over twenty percent of all U.S. higher education students were taking at least one online course in the fall of 2007.


Trends

· Online Education is Critical to the Long-term Strategy of my Institution Fall 2002 Fall 2003 Fall 2004 Fall 2005 Fall 2006 Fall 2007

Agree 49% 54% 56% 58

Public institutions continue to be the most likely to believe that online education is

critical to their long-term strategy.Most prevalent in undergraduate education


Expanding “reach” ?

The belief that online education extends the geographic boundaries of institutions is not borne out when we look at where, geographically, the online students reside.

For all types of institutions, Carnegie Classifications, and size of institutions, the current geographic reach of schools is predominately local with over 85 percent of all online students coming from within 50 miles of campus (local) or from within the state or surrounding states (regional).


ALN: Costs and revenuesFaculty spend at least as much time teaching an ALN

course online as they do in an FtF class ( daily availability and interaction) and one “discussion section” should be no larger than 30

BUT… Can use more adjuncts Can increase class size by use of TAs and breakout

group discussions Can draw students from anywhere (at least a small

proportion) No need to fund the non-academic “Ps” for non-

residential students (Pillows, Pizza, Pools…) No need to build buildings Can have consortia to share courses For fixed material- can use open source course

materials such as those posted online by MIT.


Trends

Do not have the comparable data for Europe, but institutions such as the British Open U. are expanding their enrollments

This is a trend and a strategy that Romania has to take account of in planning the future of education.


Trends- ConsortiaMany universities and campuses SHARE the

development and offering and enrollments and revenues for online courses

EG: Many Australian and other U’s are offering “hybrid” courses in collaboration with Asian Universities (one week intensive ftf faculty visit, rest of courses online)

SUNY New York has about 54 campuses: any student on any campus can enroll in an online course offered through any of these campuses (decreases costs of replicating the same course for less popular courses of study in particular)


4. Some Scenarios1. The bleak future of universities… from the National

Association of Scholars in the U.S. (partly to scare everybody? Satire?) (version of “Higher Ed Inc”)

“The Great Transition” - see full text at http://www.nas.org/polArticles.cfm?Doc_Id=1019 “In 2024, the movement to close state colleges and

universities crested. This movement began in 2017 with the passage of a ballot proposition in California promoted by the taxpayer group, Citizens for Free College. CFC argued that California could offer a free college education to all who wanted it at a fraction of the cost to taxpayers of maintaining the state’s public systems. In the end, only the University of California Berkeley survived the five-year phased-in shut-down. Berkeley was purchased by a company based in Shenzhen, PRC, with extensive interests in mining and telecommunications.

http://www.nas.org/polArticles.cfm?Doc_Id=1019




By 2024, eighteen other states had followed suit, and twenty more had opted for less drastic forms of phasing out state colleges and universities. The NCAA quickly reorganized as an umbrella group of professional sports teams. Pennsylvania State University became the first formerly public university actually owned by a sports franchise, Nittany Lions, Inc…

Online education had been thriving long before this, of course, but the huge new demand for online courses and programs turned online education into something like the railroad boom of the nineteenth century. Perhaps the most surprising change was that the new online sector was almost entirely for-profit. ”


Discussion: Building an Alternate Scenario for Romania

Components? What can/ should Romania do to take advantage of

ALN or other e-learning technologies/ pedagogies? How do policy makers get informed about the need

for “classroom-like” interaction and project work for quality learning, not just posting fixed materials and exams?

EG: what proportion of university students can take courses in English or German or another (non- Romanian) language and thus enroll in consortia type courses in partnership with other European or U.S. universities?

How do you motivate and train Romanian HE faculty? Should E-learning be extended down to secondary

schools? ( where it is also increasingly prevalent in the U.S., e.g., as part of “home schooling” movement)

copyright sr hiltz 20081 e-learning: effectiveness and scenarios for higher education in romania...

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