S., Sahin (2008). The relationship between student characteristics, including learning styles, and their perceptions and satisfaction in web-based courses in higher education. Turkish Online Journal of Distance Education, v 9, n1.


Many research show web-based course tend to favors learners with certain preferences or certain type of learning style; and this paper appear to be one of them. Based on Kolb’s learning style preferences, this research show evidence of learners who prefer AC (abstract conceptualization) positively correlated with the perception of authentic learning and active learning. CE (concrete experience) learners negatively correlated with active learning. Author suggested the reason of such negative correlation is due to CE learners tend to be people-oriented which does not online courses with mostly individual learning activities rather than collaborative activities. Hence for designers, more collaborative and real world activities should be provided to accommodate CE learners.

To accommodate CE learners, more collaborative learning activities should be added. However, we can have interaction going on without learning occurs. Other research (Garrison & Cleveland-Innes, 2005) shows that simply increasing interaction, in particularly learner-learner interaction, does not necessarily result learners to take deep and meaningful approach to learning. Many undergraduate courses provided collaboration tools, such as chatroom and discussion forum, but due to poor activity design, students seldom engaged in learning. Hence, structure and leadership in interaction are also important factors to learning. We shall not only provide various learning experiences including both individual and group learning activities in online courses to accommodate students with various learning styles and preferences, but also offering structure and leadership in interaction to help students engaging in such learning activities to make learning happen more efficiently.


References:
Garrison, D. R & Cleveland-Innes, M (2005). Facilitating Cognitive Presence in Online Learning: Interaction Is Not Enough. American Journal of Distance Education, 19 (3), 133-148. Retrieved June 29, 2008, from http://www.informaworld.com/10.1207/s15389286ajde1903_2

Issue of creating authentic learning activities.

J., F., Cronin. (1993). Four Misconceptions about Authentic Learning. Educational Leadership, v50 n7 p78-80 Apr 1993.

I just came across the term “authentic learning” in another paper so I looked for the meaning of it. Authentic learning is to “encounter and mater situations that resemble real life” (Ceonin, 1993). In other words, think like an expert while learning. This concept is familiar since as a student and a tutor I have experienced such learning activities; and personally I found it is extremely useful to motivate my learning and help me to construct my understanding to the topic. .

In this article, Cronin’s is sending the message that authentic learning activities does not have to be 100 percent authentic to qualified; teachers can provide and work on authentic learning without going via proper training; authentic learning activities may not be fun; and finally, authentic learning activities do not have to be real complex as real life scenarios. Hence, authentic learning is not as difficult as what teachers think.

However, I find that creating a good authentic learning activity is not an easy task. When I worked as a tutor, I have experienced difficulties of assisting students to go via authentic learning activities. Many students’ aim of working on a learning task is to simply complete it. Such learning experience may result students knowing how to press a button but still have little understanding of knowing when and why to press the button. The issue is how we make real authentic learning happens. In authentic learning tasks, learning process is not just to complete the tasks; more importantly, it is to find ways to complete the task. The ability to know the process of finding a solution classifies an expert and an executor. For instance, the difference between analytic programmer and computer programmer is that analytic programmer has ability to see from a global perspective of an entire project and provide one of the best solutions. Hence the issue is how we design an authentic learning task to encourage students working on the process of finding a solution in an analytical way rather than simply complete a task.

Calcaterra, A., Antonietti, A., & Underwood, J. (2005) Cognitive style, hypermedia navigation and learning. Computers & Education archive. V44 (4), 441-457.

The paper examined the influence of cognitive style, spatial orientation and computer skills on hypermedia navigation and learning outcome.

Not surprisingly, the research shows that learning outcome has no relationship with either cognitive style or computer skills. Hence, hypermedia does not favor learners with a specific cognitive style. Secondly, result shows that computer expertise is positively related with orientation ability; high computer skill was associated with holistic style of thinking. This finding may suggest that people who are familiar with operating computers has less extraneous cognitive load than those who have to pay extra effort on navigating in an unfamiliar learning environment.

Since online learning is heavily based on the use of computers, learners with adequate level of computer skills may benefit from the flexibility of navigation in hypermedia system. On the other hand, learners with little computer skills may be disadvantaged by this form of learning. Based on Moore’s (1989) three type of interaction model of distance education, Hillman (1994) extended it to four types of interaction model with the newly introduced learner-interface interaction. Different from conventional education and other forms of distance education, online education has issue of effective learner and interface communication. Design of hypermedia user interface should consider learners with different computer skills and it should take usability into account. Inappropriate design of interface may cause extra cognitive load to learners which brings unpleasant learning experience and decreases learning efficiency.

References:

Hillman, C., A. (1994). Learner-Interface Interaction in Distance Education: An Extension of Contemporary Models and Strategies for Practitioners. American Journal of Distance Education, v8 n2 p30-42.

Moore, M., G. (1989).Three types of interaction. American journal of distance education v3, n2.

Chen, S. Y. Fan, J and Macredie, R. D. (2006) Navigation in Hypermedia Learning Systems: Experts vs. Novices. Computers in Human Behavior. 22(2), 251-266.

This paper presented an issue, learners’ prior knowledge, in developing adaptive learning system. Online learner is a diverse group with various level of prior knowledge.

Prior domain knowledge is one the important factors affecting learning in hypermedia learning environment. Learner with different prior knowledge, for example experts and novices, tend to have very different learning patterns and behavior. Chen, fan and Macredie looked into disorientation, content structure, navigation tools and additional support issues in hypermedia system design. Trying to benefit both experts and novices, Chen, fan and Macredie developed a framework for hypermedia learning and provided implication for system design.

In the user interface design, implications fall into the three following areas: where are they, where have they been and where can users go. In the third area, author suggested hat “user interface has to help user decide which path can best satisfy their needs”. An example of such user interface is to keep novices on the correct path by hiding links to pages with advanced content. The first issue here is that how we can determine if leaner is a novice. In general, learner can not and should not be categorized as either novice or expert, for instance, a learner with some prior knowledge but not enough to be qualified as an expert. Second issue is how we can decide appropriate content path for learners. In other words, what content should we hide from a learner based on his prior knowledge.

All in all, it is important to acknowledge the prior knowledge factor in developing adaptive learning system, the challenge here is how we determine learners’ prior knowledge level and how we design appropriate learning path for each learner based on one’s prior knowledge.