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User-Centered Design of Online Learning Communities
Abstract
User-centered design (UCD) is gaining popularity in both the educational and business sectors. This is due to the fact that UCD sheds light on the entire process of analyzing, planning, designing, developing, using, evaluating, and maintaining computer-based learning. User-Centered Design of Online Learning Communities explains how computers can be used to augment human intellect for productivity and innovation, both nationally and globally. This book gives guidance to all stakeholders involved in online learning: organizations and businesses, developers, tutors, students, and evaluators; as well as provides best practices for the different phases of developing online learning communities from the analysis and design phase to the development, use, evaluation, and maintenance stage.
... The Society for Research in LA [15][16] defines LA as the measurement, collection, analysis, and reporting of data about learners and their contexts, for purposes of understanding and optimizing learning and the environments in which it occurs. LA sits at the convergence of Learning (e.g., educational research, learning and assessment sciences, educational technology), Analytics (e.g., statistics, visualization, computer/data sciences, artificial intelligence), and User/Learner-Centered Design (e.g., pedagogical usability and social computing) [17]. Relevant modalities suggest diverse data collection, such as text, audio, video, interaction logs, texts, and interactive and transmedia content. ...
The students’ groups' coexistence on both individual and team levels towards learning symmetry occurs within two zones: the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) for knowledge co-construction with the help of more capable "others"; and the creative flow, balancing skills, and challenges of the tasks. Thus, each group functions in the Zone of Proximal Flow (ZPF). eLearning must support the dual persona of the learners as users engaging and remaining within ZPF in Educational Digital Storytelling.
... Such as stated in the 2 nd research at the College of Education (King Saud University), in the 3 rd research faced by Israel students, in the 4 th research faced by EFL learners at Science and Arts College, Alula, Taibah University in Saudi Arabia, in the 4 th research faced by Chinese students, in the 6 th research faced by Albanian students, and in the 7 th research faced by Philippine students. After of implementation of online learning, students and instructors still face problems with online learning environments (Niki & Panayiotis, 2006). In online learning during the Covid-19 pandemic, there are many obstacles faced by lecturers as educators and students (students). ...
This research describes problems faced by students of ITB AAS Indonesia in the implementation of online learning during the pandemic Covid-19 in the academic year 2020/2021. This research uses qualitative research. The analysis results show that during online learning in English class, students' problems are: 1) concentration during learning. 2) feeling bored and lazy during learning. 3) slow or unstable internet network. 4) expensive internet quota prices. 5) technical problems with learning devices such as computers, laptops, or cellphones. 6) adaptation to digital technology such as video-conferencing applications. 7) the circumstances that are not conducive at home. 8 communicating and interacting with the lecturer and classmates. 9) managing work and study time. 10) accessing institutional e-learning or other learning applications. 11) understanding English learning materials. 12) doing the English assignments and homework given by the lecturer. 14) the total number of English assignments is too much. 13) having limited time for doing English assignments and homework. 14) the lecture schedule is not adjusted to the proper lecture schedule. 15) lecturers have a limited learning method during teaching online. 16) feeling worried and anxious about the English midterm exam and the final exam including the question type, number, or level of difficulty of questions and the implementation of online exams during online learning. 17) feeling worries and anxiety about the English final grade or score that will be obtained at the end of the semester. As teachers or lecturers, we have to find various solutions to overcome the problems.
... New approaches to the formation of digital resources are able to retain attention for a sufficiently long time and achieve a marketing goal. From an educational point of view, the idea of a user-oriented digital content fully describes the ideas of a person-centered approach in distance learning [15,16]. According to [17][18][19], personally-centered education is focused on easy education by creating conditions that provide motivation for learning, the development of the student's personality, and a humane attitude towards him. ...
Today, online education resources are gaining more and more popularity, providing unlimited access to sources of knowledge for all social groups. However, modern educational resources do not fully provide learners with content that is adjusted to their level of subject training and cognitive requirements. Taking into account the peculiarities of the modern “digital” generation, which impose high requirements on visualization, structuring of educational material that gives answers to their questions and requests, it seems necessary to search for new ways of presenting educational material, built along an individual trajectory. In this regard, it is of interest to model adaptive mechanisms for the presentation of educational content in an inverted form, ensuring the maximum consideration of the preferences and abilities of modern youth. The purpose of the work is to substantiate an approach to the creation of personally-centered digital educational resources based on a question-problem tree of knowledge of the subject area, which provides self-construction of educational content by students. The analysis of the methodological, psychological, pedagogical and scientific literature devoted to the research problem, carried out by the authors, made it possible to describe the method of the inverted presentation of educational content in the format of a question-problem tree of knowledge of the subject area from the perspective of personally-centered education. The structure of the topological representation of the knowledge tree allows the student to personally select the questions and tasks of interest to him, and, therefore, to receive informational educational answers to these declared preferences, as well as to construct a holistic educational material presented in a format corresponding to the psychotype of the student's perception. Approbation of the proposed approach in real educational practice of a higher educational institution and school has shown great efficiency and interest of the students.
... Knowing student preferences, requirements, and motivations has been a guiding principle for technology-enhanced learning projects for some time [7]. It's important because it can help design the right scaffolding of activities to support high-order learning and inform techniques during delivery, which encourage engagement and build a sense of community [8]. ...
... A sap usually adds the advantage of physical cohabitation, which is the basic element that fosters the birth of a residential learning community (Martin-Kniep, 2007, 2008). However, it typically takes time for the process of community building to solidify even when participants have seen each other and have shared experiences during predeparture meetings (Smith, 1983). ...
This case study proposes a comprehensive conceptual framework for exploring student learning outcomes of short-term study abroad programs. It uses the Social, Legal, Economic, Political, and Technological framework to assess understanding of the host country before departing and after returning. Participation fostered global literacy and critical analysis of global issues.
... Developments on communication technology have brought the concept of communities to the cyberspace and there is no shortage of publications in the field of online learning communities. From the beginning of the century, researchers have examined a wide range of issues related to technology-based learning from the instructional, technical and collaborative point of view (Andreson & Elloumi, 2004;Lambropoulos & Zaphiris, 2007;Luppicini, 2007;Palloff & Pratt, 2007;Palloff & Pratt, 2010;Pozzi & Persico, 2010;Prestridge, 2010;Stephenson, 2001;Warschauer, 2002). There are also edited publications specifically connected to the setting of this study, such as England (2012) who focuses on online education from a TESOL perspective and Lancashire (2009) who brings together a collection of case studies in language and literature online teaching. ...
This study is an investigation of readers’ posts to an online discussion forum devoted to the discussion of short stories and poems. It was conducted in an online reading group, which is an electronic version of a face-to-face reading circle. The ELT Online Reading Group (ORG) aimed at promoting the development of reading skills and the reading of literature among teachers, trainee teachers and other professionals in the field of English language teaching (ELT). This paper focuses on the multi-layered relationships between readers in the group by looking at the distinctive features of participants’ posts. Results suggest that there is a dialogical orientation in the communicative strategies participants employ in the forum and that factors that contribute to successful discussions include the selection of texts, a range of different opinions in the group, and the diversity of background contexts and information that participants brought to the discussions.
... Which media best conveys the message? (5) . Schwier and Daniel (2008) for learning through media have forwarded three forms of interactive, comparative, and engaging communication (6) . ...
Backgrund: The objective of this research was to design a model medical education based on grounded theory, so the educational system which utilizes the above processes can function more consciously, purposefully and more professionally. Methods: The research was conducted using the exploratory mixed method. This is a two- phased method; the first phase is to design a model of qualitative grounded theory, and in the second phase as a means of validation of the designed model, a survey method was used. To collect information during the first phase of the research, a multistep open interview, taking notes from texts, and scientific documents were used, while for the second phase a questionnaire with measured reliability and validity was employed. To analyze the data in the first phase, open, axial, and selective coding methods were used, while in the second phase, descriptive statistics (frequency, mean and standard deviation) and inferential statistics was used. Results: The research findings in the first phase resulted in the model design for medical education. This model is composed of 4 stages with 6 categories. These main categories contain 33 sub-categories. According to experts, Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, it can be said that 8% of the total sample found the model of medical education to be non-desirable, 55% relatively desirable, and 33% found the evaluation to be desirable. Conclusion: Therefore, the stated model can be an effective medical education, and will be responsive to the needs of educational systems.
... Yet, focusing on learner needs and outcomes measured through data can center design decisions on the learner and focus a heterogeneous system development team (cf. [Lambropoulos and Zaphiris 2006]). ...
Recently, online learning systems such as cognitive tutors, online courses, and massive open online courses (MOOCS) increased in popularity in various domains. The design quality of online learning systems is difficult to maintain. Multiple stakeholders are involved (e.g., software developers, interaction designers, learning scientists, teachers), the system is complex, there are rapid changes in software, platforms (e.g., mobile, tablet, desktop) and learning subject content, and so forth. Many existing online learning systems collect a significant amount of data that describe students’ learning gains and affective states, which are indirect measures of system quality. Analysis of online learning system data can uncover linkages between particular design choices made and student learning. In this paper, we describe the data-driven design pattern production (3D2P) methodology to prospect, mine, write, and evaluate design patterns for online learning systems from collected data. Design patterns are high quality solutions for recurring problems in a particular context. Patterns identified with 3D2P can guide the addition of new content and the modification of system designs to maintain the quality of online learning systems. A case study on the ASSISTments math online learning system is presented to demonstrate the 3D2P methodology and discuss its benefits and limitations.
The aim of this research is to shed light in collaborative e-learning communities in order to observe, analyse and support the e-learning participants. The research context is the Greek teachers’ e-learning community, started in 2003 as part of a project for online teachers’ training and aimed at enabling teachers to acquire new competencies. However, these aims were not met because of passive participation; therefore this study aimed to enhance the Greek teachers’ social engagement to achieve the new skills acquisition. Therefore, the initial sense of community identification was based on empathy; however, because it was inadequate to fully describe the context,, a Sense of E-Learning Community Index (SeLCI) was developed. The new SeLCI attributes were: community evolution; sense of belonging; empathy; trust; intensity characterised by e-learners’ levels of participation and persistence on posting; collaborative e-learning quality measured by the quality in Computer Supported Collaborative eLearning (CSCeL) dialogical sequences, participants’ reflections on own learning; and social network analysis based on: global cohesion anchored in density, reciprocity, cliques and structural equivalence, global centrality derived from in- and out-degree centrality and closeness; and local nodes and centrality in real time. Forty Greek teachers participated in the study for 30 days using Moodle and enhanced Moodle with to measure participation, local Social network Analysis and critical thinking levels in CSCeL. Quantitative, qualitative, Social Network Analysis and measurements produced by the tools were used for data analysis. The findings indicated that each of the SeLCI is essential to enhance participation, collaboration, internalisation and externalisation of knowledge to ensure the e-learning quality and new skills acquisition. Affective factors in CSCeL (sense of belonging, empathy and trust) were also essential to increase reciprocity and promote active participation. Community management, e-learning activities and lastly, the technology appear to affect CSCeL.
It is generally accepted that the notion of a Community of Practice (CoP) originated from Lave and Wenger's 1991 work. They provided a definition of a CoP as being one without boundaries, where the membership is not necessarily clearly defined, and where participation is voluntary, and occurs at different levels. The fexibility of the CoP is its strength. These authors argue the case for what they coined as "legitimate peripheral participation", a notion that is useful in educational contexts, where students are not experts, but indeed, participate in a range of activities, initially as "fringe members". As they develop expertise, they are likely to remain members of the CoP, but in a different role - from learner to master, and thus become a resource for learning within that CoP. This paper describes the fostering of a CoP developed through a carefully designed new on-line environment. The learning resources, the teaching methods, and the frequency of instructions, together with the information technology platform, are analysed from a multi-disciplinary perspective. In conclusion, this course is proposed as a model of good practice for on-line teaching and learning, based on the positive outcomes reported so far.
While many simulations have been developed, only few projects provide access to real experiments through the Internet. A shortcoming of most remote laboratories is that they do not support distributed team learning with tutorial assistance. We describe the technical and educational concept of distributed internet assisted laboratory experiments (I-Labs). We present the I-Labs project, its goals and research questions. Currently we work on a remote experiment where students develop an embedded controller program which serves the deflection unit of a laser system. Our educational concept is based on self-directed and collaborative learning with tutorial assistance. Learning strategies and outcomes will be evaluated comparing self-directed and teacher-directed learning in co-located and distributed settings. The results shall help future developers of remote labs to choose an appropriate educational setting.
John Dewey and L. S. Vygotsky share similar ideas concerning the relationship of activity and learning/development, especially the roles everyday activities and social environment play in the educational process. However, the two theorists are far apart in their conception of the relationship between process and goals in education. Dewey concentrates on means in education, believing that it is the ability of the individual to question through experience that is most important for the human community. Vygotsky, while recognizing the importance of (especially cultural) process in education, sees social and cultural goals as being integrated into social pedagogy. This paper compares Dewey and Vygotsky on three key points that relate directly to educational processes and goals. First, the two theorists are compared on the role of social history and the tools it produces. Dewey sees social history as creating a set of malleable tools that are of use in present circumstances. Vygotsky believes that tools developed through history have a far more lasting impact on the social community. Second, the two theorists are compared in their conceptualizations of experience/culture. Dewey sees experience as helping to form thinking, whereas Vygotsky, in his cultural historical theory, posits culture as the raw material of thinking. Third, the two theorists are compared on their perspectives on human inquiry. Dewey sees the child as a free agent who achieves goals through her own interest in the activity. Vygotsky suggests there should be greater control by a mentor who creates activity that will lead the child towards mastery. These differences are then explored in terms of how they might impact actual classroom strategies and curriculum.
This paper discusses the university academic's role as teacher, especially considering pressures and trends for implementing web technology for teaching and learning. It introduces two Hong Kong government-funded projects which provide the staff development, management system, and expertise needed to design, build, implement, and evaluate educational websites.
For several years many of us at Peabody College have participated in the evolution of a theory of community, the first conceptualization of which was presented in a working paper (McMillan, 1976) of the Center for Community Studies. To support the proposed definition, McMillan focused on the literature on group cohesiveness, and we build here on that original definition. This article attempts to describe the dynamics of the sense-of-community force — to identify the various elements in the force and to describe the process by which these elements work together to produce the experience of sense of community.
Any system designed for people to use should be (a) easy to learn; (b) useful, i.e., contain functions people really need in their work; (c) easy to use; and (d) pleasant to use. In this note we present theoretical considerations and empirical data relevant to attaining these goals. First, we mention four principles for system design which we believe are necessary to attain these goals; Then we present survey results that demonstrate that our principles are not really all that obvious, but just seem obvious once presented. The responses of designers suggest they may sometimes think they are doing what we recommend when in fact they are not. This is consistent with the experience that systems designers do not often recommend or use them themselves. We contrast some of these responses with what we have in mind in order to provide a more useful description of our principles. Lastly, we consider why this might be so. These sections are summaries of those in a longer paper to appear elsewhere (Gould & Lewis, 1983). In that paper we elaborate on our four principles, showing how they form the basis for a general methodology of design, and we describe a successful example of using them in actual system design (IBM's Audio Distribution System).
The evolution of higher education is shaped by changes in the characteristics of entering students, by development of new methods of teaching and learning, and by shifts in the knowledge that society values. Rapid advances in information technology are influencing each of these factors, as the standard interface for computers and telecommunications that brings distant experts and archives to one's desktop is increasingly complemented by "Alice in Wonderland" interfaces to virtual environments and "Ubiquitous Computing" infusions of digital information into real world settings (Dede, 2002). Higher education institutions can prosper by basing their strategic investments on using these emerging educational technologies to match the increasingly "neomillennial" learning styles of their students. Based on "mediated immersion" in "distributed-learning communities," these emerging learning styles include: • fluency in multiple media and in simulation-based virtual settings; • communal learning involving diverse, tacit, situated experience, with knowledge distributed across a community and a context as well as within an individual; • a balance among experiential learning, guided mentoring, and collective reflection; • expression through non-linear, associational webs of representations; and • co-design of learning experiences personalized to individual needs and preferences.
A bstract
This paper describes the creation and testing of computer‐simulated laboratories for use in undergraduate engineering education. The design and implementation of a ‘virtual laboratory’ that closely mimics the capabilities of a physical laboratory is explained. Experiments that compare time and learning gains of students using physical and virtual laboratories are discussed. Experimental results indicate that students who use the virtual laboratory prior to a physical laboratory are able to complete the physical laboratory in a much shorter time, require less assistance, and also report that they are very satisfied with their laboratory experience.
Examines the developmental needs for Web-based courses, focusing on content, user interface, and pedagogy. Studies the Web course development process as a system, explores various stages in the process, and includes graphs and tables designed to be used as management tools for the effective development of Web-based courses. (Author/LRW)