Beyond emoderating: Building online learning communities across international boundaries

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Beyond e-moderating Building on-line learning
communities across international boundaries

• Dr Pat Jefferies
• De Montfort University, Bedford

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Beyond e-moderating (Salmon, 2000)

• Asynchronous Computer Conferencing strategies
  for a blended learning approach beyond
  e-moderating (Salmon, 2000)
• Theoretical perspective - underlying concepts and
  beliefs of computer supported collaborative
  learning (CSCL)
• Pedagogical and ethical issues
• Action Research - Fieldwork studies
• Qualitative and Quantitative

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Some of the Issues

• Use of technology dependent upon
• theoretical perspective of tutors/learners
• goal oriented, emancipatory
• institutional constraints
• progression rates, expectations
• political constraints
• league tables, public expectations,professional
  bodies
• learner expectations
• tutor expectations

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Some of the influencing factors
Government/Public expectationsProfessional bodies
Theories of learning/education
Institution
Other Resources
MLEs
Learning
Tutors/Learners
Technology
VLEs
Ethics SENDA
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A definition of Learning? (Koschmann, 1994)
Acquisition metaphor
Participation metaphor
Transaction metaphor
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Dimensions of learning (Adapted from Jarvenpaa
and Leidner, 1998)
Participation/ Acquisition
Learner
Constructivism (Individual)
Learning is
Control of the Learning Environment
Constructivism (Social)
Socioculturalism
Peer Group
Transaction
Collaborativism
Transmission/ Acquisition
Instructor
Objectivism
Abstractions Personally Experienced
Context is
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Pedagogical techniques for networked learning

• One-alone
• Web pages, databases, libraries, journals
• One-to-one the email paradigm
• negotiating learning contracts, tutorials
• One-to-many the bulletin board paradigm
• lecture notes, noticeboards, FAQs
• Many-to-many the conferencing paradigm
• seminars, discussion groups, brainstorming

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Dimensions of learning
Participation/Acquisition
Learner
Constructivism (Individual)
Learning is
Control of the Learning Environment
Constructivism (Social)
Socioculturalism
Peer Group
Transaction
Collaborativism
Instructor
Acquisition/ Transmission
Objectivism
Abstractions Personally Experienced
Context is
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Theoretical frameworks

• Using technology
• Mason (1998)
• Content Support Model
• Wrap-around Model
• Integrated Model
• Computer conferencing
• Salmon (2000)
• E-moderating

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Getting the right blend

• Why am I using it?
• Educational rationale
• What technology is to be used and what is it to
  be used for?
• When will the technology be used?
• Who will use the technology
• Ethical issues

• Where will the technology be used?
• How will the technology be used?
• Strategies are needed for
• implementation
• addressing pedagogical, ethical and technical
  issues
• integration with face-to-face
• moderation (?)
• monitoring, assessment and evaluation

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Fieldwork studies

• Asynchronous computer conferencing
• (BSCW, FirstClass, WebCT, Blackboard)
• 7 studies conducted over 5 years
• Final year computing undergraduates
• UK, USA, Ireland, Denmark
• Virtual work groups set up (6 students)
• Module studied
• Computing Ethics/Professional Issues in
  Computing

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Research questions addressed

• What is the role of the teacher in using
  Asynchronous Computer Conferencing (ACC) to
  support CSCL in a campus-based environment
• Is scaffolding/moderation a necessary or
  sufficient condition for success?
• How can ACC be authentically integrated into
  F2F contact sessions?
• How could use of ACC be assessed to support
  achievement of learning outcomes?
• What kinds of communication patterns emerge in
  using ACC and are students able to communicate
  productively?

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Aims of the research

• To identify the major factors that influence the
  use of ACC within a campus-based HE context
• To provide a pedagogically sound foundation to
  underpin and justify the design of a mixed mode
  context for supporting learning a blended,
  distributed on-line pedagogy.
• To provide guidelines that can support the
  successful integration of ACC within a
  campus-based, but geographically dispersed HE
  context.

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Viable Systems Model (Stafford Beer, 1981)
Zone of proximal development
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Types of analysis undertaken

• Discourse
• cognitive value of externalisation through social
  interaction (Collins, Brown and Holum, 1991)
• Conversation analysis
• Community of Inquiry model (Archer, Garrison,
  Anderson and Rourke, 2001).
• Interaction models
• Transaction analysis (Freeman 1978/79)
• Adjacency Models (Wortham, 1999)

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Community of Inquiry Model (Archer, Garrison,
Anderson and Rourke, 2001).

• Social presence
• Teaching presence
• Cognitive presence
• reflects higher-order knowledge acquisition and
  application related to critical thinking.
• Triggering (initiation phase of enquiry),
• Exploration (a divergent phase),
• Integration (constructing shared meaning)
• Resolution (resolving the issues or problem
  posed in the first phase )

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Transaction Analysis (Freeman, 1978/79)

• The star network pattern

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Transaction Analysis (Freeman, 1978/79)

• The five nodes below are fully-connected
  "all-channel."
• The "all-channel" network pattern

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Adjacency Matrix (Wortham, 1999)
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Other types of analyses undertaken

• Comparison with team roles/learning styles
• Team roles (Belbin, 1981)
• Learning styles (Honey Mumford, 1986)
• Groupworking
• Group development - Tuckman (1965)
• Moral judgement (Lind, 2001)
• Degree of moderation
• E-moderating (Salmon, 2000)
• Student/staff feedback
• Questionnaires, semi-structured interviews
• Comparison of Assessment outcomes

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Findings from the literature

• Influencing factors
• The role of the tutor. (Mitchell, 2001
  Jacques, 1995)
• Institutional factors (Becher, 1989) and
  orientations towards academic development. (Land,
  2001)
• Group dynamics. (Banet and Hayden, 1977)
• forming, storming, norming, performing,
  adjourning (Tuckman, 1965)
• free-rider effect, status sensitivity,
  sucker effect (Lipponen, 1999)

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Findings from the literature

• Influencing factors
• The teaching strategies used to prompt or
  support learning. (Stiles, 2002 Grout, 2002
  Booth et al., 2000)
• The design and characteristics of VLEs. (Shih,
  1998)
• The learning context and individual learning
  styles. (Knowles, 1978 Connor, 1996)
• Staff/student attitudes towards Assessment
  (Boud, 2002 Rust, 2002 Norton et al, 2001)

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Findings from the Fieldwork Studies

• A clear outline of expectations needs to be given
  to students to boost confidence in using the ACC
  medium.
• Students need to be encouraged to socialize as a
  first activity to build trust
• Both tutors and students need to have both
  extrinsic and intrinsic reward for using the
  system in order to stimulate motivation.
• Tutor intervention
• reduces the number of messages posted within the
  conferencing environment
• means that threads are often terminated
• promotes a star pattern of transaction to be
  evidenced

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Findings from the Fieldwork Studies

• Inclusion of a task focus increases quality and
  quantity of contribution as evidenced by message
  postings.
• Overall module grades in each of the fieldwork
  studies evidenced an improved pass rate in the
  fieldwork studies where
• tutor intervention within the conferencing
  environment was not undertaken and
• where there was a higher degree of access and
  message posting evidenced (e.g. fieldwork study
  6 an 84 pass rate)

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Findings from the Fieldwork Studies
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Recommendations

• Choose an appropriate, focussed module that has a
  discursive nature requiring development of
  critical analysis.
• Design module delivery to take into account
  Pedagogical, Ethical and Technological issues
  (the PET framework).
• Develop strategies for integrating use of the ACC
  environment into the F2F sessions
• Define how such use is going to be assessed.
• Brief students as to
• the monitoring that will be undertaken and
• how they are expected to use the environment.

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Recommendations

• Do not assume that the students have developed
• group working skills,
• critical evaluation and/or
• confidence in communicating through the text
  medium
• Propose introductory exercises for students to
  undertake using the technology e.g.
  socialization to build trust
• Clearly identify extrinsic and intrinsic rewards
  (e.g. interim and final deliverables)

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Recommendations

• Encourage students within the F2F contact
  sessions to organise themselves and use the
  conferencing environment effectively.
• Facilitate consideration of group roles in
  strategy development and implementation.
• Encourage development of critical evaluation and
  responsibility for learning through adopting a
  non-moderating role within the conferencing
  environment.
• Monitor the environment on a regular basis to
  pick up any issues that can then be addressed in
  the F2F contact sessions.
• Evaluate what is happening/what has happened.

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Current and Future research agenda

• To evaluate implementation of the framework
• Across the CertEd/PGCE Post Compulsory Education
  network
• developing a community of learners amongst the
  HEI and Associate College network of tutors and
  students
• Within a new module developed in the Faculty of
  Computing Sciences Engineering at Leicester
• Within the 14-19 sector

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Comments Questions?