PLEs and CMSs Critical junctures in online learning

Marj Kibby 2009

Course Management Systems

Course Management Systems are enterprise wide, scalable, internet based systems that can be used to support teaching and learning programmes.

They provide for:• Synchronous and asynchronous communication • Content development and delivery• Formative and summative assessment• Class and student management

Personal Learning Environments

• A combination of the formal and informal tools and processes we use to gather information, reflect on it and do something with it, i.e. ‘learn’.

• Bundled Web 2.0 applications that add a range of research, creation, collaboration and publication tools to the online or f2f classroom.

Personal Learning Environments

Tools that help learners take control of and manage their own learning. This includes providing support for learners to:

– Set their own learning goals – Manage their learning; managing both content and

process – Communicate with others in the process of learning– Situate what is being learned in authentic contexts – Create performances and texts.

Situated Cognition

A learning theory that suggests that learning is naturally tied to:

• Authentic activity• Context• Culture

Effective learning is a process of enculturation.Effective learning requires a social environment.Effective learning requires an authentic context.

Research Question

• What do the attitudes of students and the experiences of university educators reveal about the use of course management systems and personal learning environments, in facilitating learning that is tied to authentic activity, context and culture?

Research Method

• Focus group discussions with two groups of around twenty.

• Focus group discussions with eighteen academics undertaking a workshop in web-based teaching and learning.

• Review of discussions of CMSs and PLEs located through Technorati.

Lecturer Responses

The most used categories are:• Transmit documents to students• Communicate asynchronously• Quiz students• Collect and return assignments• Survey students

Lecturer Responses

• Bb more useful for communication on course management issues than communication as teaching/learning.

• Bb makes it easy to start teaching online - one system to learn.

• Nothing in Bb prevents you from linking to blogs, wikis etc.

• Bb looks academic, it is separate from social and leisure spaces eg Facebook.

Lecturer Responses

• Bb eases worries about copyright, protecting course materials.

• Bb allows more efficient use of class time.

• Lectopia/podcasts and online slides change the dynamic of the lecture from performance to text.

• Efficiency pay-off for the initial investment of time.

• Wouldn’t say it improves learning – but it makes teaching more efficient.

Student responses

• Students said 90% of their courses have a Blackboard site.

• Students said 25% of their courses involved the use of a web-based tool other than Blackboard.

Student responses

Communication• Bb makes it easier to communicate with

the lecturer.• Bb ensures questions are answered

more quickly.• Bb is good for questions you’d feel

stupid asking in class.• In online discussion students talk to

each other, not just to the lecturer.• Online forums extend in-class

discussion.

Student responses

Organisation• Convenient access to materials.• Positive effect on the use of class time.• Faster feedback on assignments and

quizzes.• Lectopia/podcast allows time shifting

and revision.• Posting slides and handouts online

means we’re better prepared for class.

Student responses

Learning• Students see LMS as a general part of

university infrastructure rather than as special tools that add value to their learning.

• Learning benefits expressed in terms of convenient access to texts and the lecturer rather than improvement in knowledge and skills.

Student responses

Blogging• Allows reflection on course topics and

more engaged discussion.• Encourages opinions not just repeating

information. Makes you think.• Knowing that the blog is public affects

the way you write. It’s cool when someone from the public comments on your thoughts.

Student responses

Facebook, Twitter, Bb iPhone app

Students tended to see these as a “Creepy Treehouse”

PLEsPersonal Learning Environments were

seen in terms of choice – Bb and imposed/assessed use of tools were not included.

PLEs discussed in terms of ‘situated cognition’

• Ask for information• See what others are doing• Specific purpose in the use of the tool

PLEs

Appreciated learning about new Web 2.0 tools – Google Scholar– Zotero– Mindomo– Wet Paint Wikis– Blogger– Delicious

F2F - Bb - Web2.0

PLE’s are the tools that help learners manage their own learning.

Tools can include face to face performances and interactions, print and online texts, structured systems, and web-based creation, communication, organisation and publication tools.

Page Flakes

CMS or PLE

“Because of how  education works, most students don’t have PLEs… they have “PGGEs” (Personal Grade Getting Environments)”

http://andremalan.net/