We have been looking at online learning in general and discussing whether the technology affects learning. I will look more specifically at whether Blackboard affects student learning or just transmits content. (Note: In my Wimba support work at UMASS Boston, I am able to view ALL online courses offered every semester. This means I have seen at least 300 courses, all delivered in Blackboard, since last September.)
The Assessment tool enables the following types of questions: calculation, combination, fill in the blank, jumbled sentence, matching, multiple choice, paragraph, short answer, true/false. This does not affect learning. The strategy of HOW to use assessments affects learning, not the tool itself.
The Assignment tool does not affect learning, it merely collects student work.
The Announcement, Mail, Calendar, the Roster, Who’s Online with instant messenger, and Chat tools enable a learning community. This does not enhance learning; it just makes communication possible. Of course, communication DOES affect learning (Constructivist theory). In this context, however, I view communication as a means of overcoming the time/place disconnect of virtual learning. Communication "normalizes" online learning, rather than enhances it. Lack of communication would have a greater affect on learning. It would detract from it.
Learning modules deliver content: Assessments, Assignments, Chat, Discussions, Media Collections, SCORM modules, web links, and content in files. This does not affect learning, just delivers the content.
The Discussion tool (threaded, blogs, journals) DOES affect learning, as it enables deep reflection (Cognitive theory)
The Goals tool, quite frankly, is useless. Goals (objectives) are better stated in the syllabus and at the beginning of each learning module.
Hence, as far as Blackboard goes, I agree with Clark (2001) quoted in Mohamed Ally, in Foundations of Educational Theory for Online Learning (http://cde.athabascau.ca/online_book/) that [at least for Blackboard] “technologies are merely vehicles that deliver instruction, but do not themselves influence student achievement.”
The Assessment tool enables the following types of questions: calculation, combination, fill in the blank, jumbled sentence, matching, multiple choice, paragraph, short answer, true/false. This does not affect learning. The strategy of HOW to use assessments affects learning, not the tool itself.
The Assignment tool does not affect learning, it merely collects student work.
The Announcement, Mail, Calendar, the Roster, Who’s Online with instant messenger, and Chat tools enable a learning community. This does not enhance learning; it just makes communication possible. Of course, communication DOES affect learning (Constructivist theory). In this context, however, I view communication as a means of overcoming the time/place disconnect of virtual learning. Communication "normalizes" online learning, rather than enhances it. Lack of communication would have a greater affect on learning. It would detract from it.
Learning modules deliver content: Assessments, Assignments, Chat, Discussions, Media Collections, SCORM modules, web links, and content in files. This does not affect learning, just delivers the content.
The Discussion tool (threaded, blogs, journals) DOES affect learning, as it enables deep reflection (Cognitive theory)
The Goals tool, quite frankly, is useless. Goals (objectives) are better stated in the syllabus and at the beginning of each learning module.
Hence, as far as Blackboard goes, I agree with Clark (2001) quoted in Mohamed Ally, in Foundations of Educational Theory for Online Learning (http://cde.athabascau.ca/online_book/) that [at least for Blackboard] “technologies are merely vehicles that deliver instruction, but do not themselves influence student achievement.”
Maybe the real point is that Blackboard needs an overhaul. Maybe the developers of Blackboard should study learning theory and create a new learning enviornment (I don't know what that would look like). Maybe emerging technologies should some how be incorporated into this old-fashioned LMS.
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4 comments:
I mostly agree. But non-fully functioning technology directly affects my learning...I learn not to count on it or give up on it (at least for a time)...
This "learning" can sometimes compromise one's focus, attention span, willingness to work through frustration, etc. enough to affect content "absorption"/mastery
This issue is peripheral to your general premise (to which I largely agree)but technology delivery systems can impact the quality of learning - for better and/or worse.
Bob
I'm going to disagree. I believe Blackboard has a negative effect on learning. The question is, however, is it a net negative effect?
If Blackboard enables learning where there was none before, then that's a net positive effect.
If Blackboard takes the place of some other medium where learning was occurring, and people spend so much time trying to figure out where everything is, and spend a larger percentage of the available learning time on the overhead of using the tool, then I say that's a negative effect.
So I feel, in my experience, that Bb has a negative effect. And I'm as about as expert as someone can get at using a website. However, since it enables me to take classes more easily than heading to campus (versus no tool) I don't know if it's a net negative.
I haven't seen a better tool than Bb, but that's more an indictment of the genre rather than an endorsement of the product.
Hi Ellen,
I work for Excelsior College in Albany, NY.
-Erin
I think everything affects everything. The uncomfortable seat in a traditional classroom. The link that doesn't work online when I need it to. And so on and so on.
I don't think of these things as part of the content or knowledge, though; just outside elements that affect my learning experience. And that affect my experience in a negative fashion; you think of the stuff when it's a problem; when it's working right, it kind of fades into the background.
I've been working with several reincarnations of WebCT/Blackboard over the past four or five years; they have made some improvements (the journal discussion option is one; before that we figured out how to create private discussions for faculty and students; a time-consuming process) and they have made some changes that are probably tradeoffs toward making those improvements. (Oh, the JRE hassles!)
As I understand, Bb won't be making any more changes to the existing application; instead they are developing something new, so you (and I) will get our wish. I just hope we don't have to remember the old adage "be careful what you wish for."
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