using e-learning 2.0 tools in business education: a case study
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Using E-Learning 2.0 Tools in Business Education: A case Study. Andriani PIKI - José-Rodrigo CÓRDOBA School of Management, Royal Holloway University of London, UK. Overview. Background - current learning needs Using blogs in Business Education Findings - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
Using E-Learning 2.0 Tools in Business Education: A case Study
Andriani PIKI - José-Rodrigo CÓRDOBASchool of Management, Royal Holloway University of London, UK
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Overview
1. Background - current learning needs
2. Using blogs in Business Education
3. Findings
4. Web 2.0 tools – Opportunities and Challenges
5. Conclusions
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1. Background - current learning needs
• Need for improving career prospects
• Learn to work efficiently in groups of people from different cultures and diverse professional or academic backgrounds.
• Learn how to use technologies to collaborate effectively with collocated, distributed, and mobile members.
• Need for interaction and socialising – learning from each other
• Life-long learning – continuous development
• Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL)anything
anytime anywhere with anyone
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2. Using blogs in Business Education: a case study
• Research aim:
– Explore how the use of Collaborative Technologies (blogs) affects the learning experience
• Participants:– 43 postgraduate students in MSc in Business Information Systems.
• Diversity of students:
– Diverse academic and professional backgrounds– Ages raging from 20 to 45 – 68% have previous work experience.– 81% are international students, only 8 of 43 were European students.
• Pedagogical approach = Blended Learning
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2. Using blogs in Business Education: a case study
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2. Using blogs in Business Education: a case study
• Qualitative data collection methods:• Participant observation – Ethnography • Focus groups• Monitoring the blogs
• 4 emerging themes:• Collaborative Learning• Individual Learning• Motivation to participate on the blog• Instructor’s active role and feedback
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3. Findings – 'Collaborative Learning’
• Experiencing different perspectives
IB: “The advantage is that you learn things from different people…Your horizon of learning increases.”
• Communication skills
EC: “I think group work improves your skills of communicating with other people”
• Beneficial for future career
CC: “I think it’s a big advantage to work as a group because you have to be ready to work like that in the future life and it is really important for us.”
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3. Findings – ‘Individual Learning’
• Blogs are a goldmine of information
EB: “The blogs for example when we were doing the actual coursework they were quite helpful because you had an overview of what we’ve done the whole term.”
• Blogs facilitate the individual assignment
EA: “On my assignment I’ve read at least 4 other groups’ blogs just to check other perspectives while writing my assignment which is a profit in knowledge.”
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3. Findings – ‘Motivation to participate on the blog’
Motivating factors for using the blogs:
• Helpful information for the assignment.
• The information was in simple, daily language.
• By reading other blogs, students ensured they are on the right track.
• An alternative way for students to express their thoughts.
• A useful tool for remembering the course content.
FA: “We had the things written by our own hands so it was more helpful to remember things.”
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3. Findings – ‘Motivation to participate on the blog’
Reasons for low participation on the blogs:
• The blogs were not assessed and participation was optional.
Interviewer: Do you think marking the group work would affect it positively or negatively?
DA: Personally, if you apply it to me it could work positively because I would put more effort in when I am assessed.
DD: Yeah because there is motivation behind. If there is motivation then we have more interest to find information and things.
• Students were not posting comments to avoid conflicts.
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3. Findings – ‘Instructor’s active role and feedback’
• Feedback is important
Interviewer: What do you think about the feedback from [the instructor]? Was it helpful?
FB: For me it was helpful because each time I read the blog I also read the comments because I think it helps us for writing the next time.
FA: It provides motivation and guidance.
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4. Overview of findings
• Abstract framework showing the themes and the relationships between them.
Collaborative Learning
Motivation to participateon the blog
Individual Learning
Instructor’s active role and feedback
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5. Web 2.0 tools – Benefits and Challenges
• Autonomy • Creativity
• Collaboration • Inclusivity
• Writing skills• Critical thinking
• Sharing experiences
Benefits
For students For instructors
• Ongoing (formative) assessmentof students’ understanding
• Strongerteacher-student relationships
• Need for moderation
• Need for continuous and timely feedback
Challenges
• Unclear expectations
• Low participation
• Motivation
• Limited or no experience with Web 2.0 tools
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6. Conclusions
• The integration of Web 2.0 tools facilitates learning and helps students develop skills useful for their future careers:
– Working in groups
– Using technology
• The vision: new pedagogical models that utilise Web 2.0 tools for empowering learning and collaboration:
– amongst students,
– between the students and the teacher,
– within a community of learners.
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Using E-Learning 2.0 Tools in Business Education: A case StudyAndriani PIKI - José-Rodrigo CÓRDOBA