Modeling Web-Based Learning - Essay Example

Models for Web Based Learning Introduction Web based learning is called by different people with different s. It is eLearning or distance learning or web based learning. It takes up different shapes as well. In some cases, web based learning is used to enhance the normal learning process. In certain others, it is the course delivery itself. Learning happens either as a self study or Directed study with experienced learners. Web based learning is best suited for such learning exercises. Secondly, there are also learning sessions that happen through instructor-led, live, real-time learning processes (Robert H Jackson, 15 Jul 2006). Thirdly, web based learning also helps in small group collaboration. There is also a possibility of using web-based learning as blended learning processes. We can broadly look at web based learning to mean delivery and support to an educational and learning course over the web. Essentially comprising of course materials, quizzes, tests and direct discussions are all made over the web. The course materials created on many occasions are made for contact based learning. When this gets used in web based learning the impact that is realised out of it is limited. Of course, on many situations web based learning would require basic information which can be supplemented by such books. Whereas the requirements of web based learning is different and requires a different style of approach. If they are not employed then the effectiveness of using technology for course delivery is lost. Since most of the technology components are typically asynchronous in nature, delivery has to necessarily go through asynchronous course management. Literary Review Initial Research The best way to deliver web based learning might find itself in a multitude of options. It is not possible to arrive at a specific conclusion that would help us in deciding on the right kind of learning processes. However, there had been lots of research that has gone into a variety of learning processes which in turn has led to creation of the models that would best fit web based learning. A number of models evolved during the research phase of the work. The virtual learning environment or the managed learning environment provides a different technology or method of learning rather than easing the learning process itself. As AW Bates (1995) says, new technologies such as computers and video conferencing are not necessarily better; it is just that they are different. But then the content of the program and the learning exercise itself is the same old thing and has to be done much in the same way. Web based learning starts from a pure distance learning exercise to a face to face learning system where distance education is used to support the normal program. This is looked at as a continuum and the delivered training depending upon the methods adopted might have varying degrees of personal contact in them (Judie McKimm, 2003). The Learning and Teaching Support Network (LTSN) is formed in UK to make use of the available technology and to provide quality programs to students across the country specifically in dentistry, medicine and veterinary science. Most of the pure distance learning systems would work towards understanding the individual's requirements; it would ideally provide for the needs of the individuals and tries to personalise them to the extent possible. Figure 1: Teaching Process To some extent web based programs could help in drawing out conventional programs and incorporate web based program features in it to enhance the value of the programs. While conventional distance education programs lack the ease of connectivity and communication between the student and the teacher, web based learning could provide the person the same. The other important aspect of web based learning is the asynchronous nature of the communication. This is both a disadvantage and an advantage. Advantage because the timings of the student and the teacher need not go together. Disadvantage is also the same, since this will mean the speed at which the student could learn is not the speed at which the teacher will be ready to teach. The doubts and questions in the minds of the students are not cleared immediately. But instead, there needs to be an exchange of mail or information before he could get his answer to the question. This causes a time delay that could reduce the interest in the students for learning. The learning ends with assessment. Online assessments are easy to administer and the students receive their feedback immediately since most of the assessments of this kind are machine resolved. This also means that the assessments if they have to be assessed by machines need to be objective type where clarity of the right answer is greater. This is comfortable for self assessments where one would like to know his or her own progress in a particular subject. But if this is used for overall assessment then the security of the test becomes an issue. This would also mean that student's work can not be authenticated and the results obtained may not be the true reflection of the skills that the student might have mastered. Even if the student answers and the questions are assessed by the computer, it is often a surface evaluation and does not become an in depth study of the knowledge gathered by the student. A number of models are evolved to take care of the entire learning cycle that has been laid out earlier in this section. Some of these are described below. Agent Based Model Agent based model aims at solving some of the fundamental issues of web based learning. Synchronising students and teachers and expecting them all to be online at a specific point in time is a major problem. Students, unlike as in contact classes, do not meet each other and do not get involved and help each other. The Human Machine Interface will be the one that brings the people together. Feng Wang and Hexiao Huang (2005) say that the agent technology provides a solution to these issues. Agents are software programs that are defined either by its producer or by its super-agent. Agents are defined by their five characteristics, viz., Mobility, independence, Study-ability, Reactivity and Cooperativeness. Tomoko,et al (2001) designed two agents one for web learning environment: Coordinator agent and pseudo student agent. While the coordinator agent will take care of the all the student requirements and steer the discussions and the learning processes for students, the pseudo student agent would produce virtual students out of the existing ones to create the sense of a classroom for them. Though this model made admirable progress it was not successful since when the coordinator agent which is a reactive one in contrast to the proactive student agent, has to play multiple number of roles, it hindered the interaction between the student and the agent. Wang and Huang (2005) proposed a three agent model in lieu of the two suggested by Tomoko. Their model as shown in figure 2, consists of three different agents, viz., student agent, mediator agent and teacher agent. In a classroom, the student expresses his feedback using his or her eyes, gesture, facial expressions, tone and annunciation. Whereas on a web learning environment, it is very common to find that the expressions of the students are largely not captured and therefore the effectiveness of the education is unknown. This makes the work at the teachers end more complex. In order to bring about a change in the expressiveness of the student, this model tries to introduce the mediator and the student agent which should be able to make up for the shortfall. This model also visualises a multi dimensional communication between the teacher and the student and between the students themselves. This makes up for another gap in the web learning process. Figure 2: Agent-based Web learning Model. The agent based model was efficiently employed by Sharona Levy, et al, (2004) for educating chemistry to secondary and under-graduate students. Their model employed a tool for agent based development called Netlogo as proposed by Wilensky (1999). This could provide a comprehensive graphics based education and an interaction system for the students. The complex theories on gases in chemistry could all be demonstrated and discussed using this model. Agent based models do have their advantages for creating an effective web based learning since the researchers have a better understanding of the model already elaborately used for social modelling. Adaptive Model Peter Brusilovsky, et al., (1998) define adaptive model as one that would take care of the individual student requirement and ensure that the personal requirements of the student is met during the learning process. The requirements of every student in a course would vary depending upon his educational background and on the methods of coaching that is adopted in common by the teacher. This is particularly true in the case of those programs that are wide spread and have to cater to the needs of people not from one country or locality but from a multitude of countries. In case of web based learning systems, this is a common need and the delivered program needs to satisfy all these people. Therefore, the adaptive nature of the model becomes more important. Brusilovsky & Weber (2001) proposed the ELM-ART, an user-adaptivity system. Many such adaptive systems that would select from a knowledge base, the best and the optimal learning methodology suited for a particular student were proposed and evolved. Metalink (Murray, et al, 1999), Learning spaces by IBM (2005) and Blackboard (http://www.blackboard.com) are all typical examples of the web based learning systems that are adaptive. These systems were developed for math, science and many of the subjects and could cater to a specified cross section of students. More and more interaction and adaptability of every education program for the requirements of the student is highly desired. The target of many of the research exercises include web-based, adaptive, generic and inter-active (Erica Melis, et al., 20 Nov 2001). The adaptive systems develop electronic books in hypermedia that could adapt to the needs of the user. Figure 3: Typical Adaptive system making use of the Pedagogical Rules (Erica Melis et al, 2001). Adaptive model has been successful in providing and addressing specific issues pertaining to distributed and distant learning exercises. These projects invariably had to take care of the issues that are connected with distant learning which not only had to address localisation issues relating to languages but also take care of the educational standards at that locality. Higher Level Research After studying either of the systems, an important question needs to be addressed. What are the major requirements of the students when they approach a web based learning program Are these models addressing those requirements or are they visualising their own requirements rather than consider the requirements of the students Are there any surveys that have been carried out which would let us know what are the most important requirements of the students when they log in to a distance education program Valley (1997) says that the pedagogical needs and preferences while learning is very diverse among learners. But then, customising the software and the content to the needs of every student is virtually impossible. And depending on the choice of the person and the needs of the student, the software has to choose the level and the nature of the program that has to be delivered to him. This would ensure continuing and ongoing interest in the students. Students would of course, prefer the entire process to take place asynchronously and the program needs to be interactive but at the same time cannot lose its asynchronous nature. Tricot et al, (2000) reinforce the basic methodologies of learning in three ways, viz., learning by doing, learning by instruction and learning by exploration. All these three aspects of learning have to be necessarily employed or kindled in the learner to ensure appropriate learning. The class rooms today provide leeway for all the three forms of learning in a combination that depends on the teacher. But all the three are provided in varying percentages. The web based learning also has to provide this feature to its students. Learning is a social activity. This means that interaction between the learner and the teacher alone is not what is sufficient for learning (Grabinger, et al, 1997). The web based learning should also provide for the social interaction between the learners and with the teacher in order to ensure full and complete learning by the students. Most often, teaching is complete only when dialogue ensues between the teacher and the learner; this is called reflective dialogue (Laurillard 1993). This would ensure that the teacher and the learner interact with one another and the teacher is able to confirm the extent to which the student has learnt the processes he has presented. His understanding gets reinforced if there is a social interaction with the other members of the class. While hypermedia is able to provide for such variations in the requirement and is able to link the student to the needed course content, many times this also becomes a problem for the student. Brusilovsky (1998) further states that there are instances when students encounter inappropriate material when they are looking for something relevant. Their efforts are wasted when they encounter such inappropriate or incoherently placed material. This is particularly true of hypermedia. There is also a possibility that the student is taken on a detour instead of landing him direct on to the topic concerned. The other concern noted is about the content upgrades (John Garafalakis et al, Oct 2002). Auto upgrading of contents become a need for most of the students without which they might be left with content that does not match the programme they are working on. In order to meet all of these requirements, the model that is created needs to be both adaptive to the students and to the teachers in addition to providing the needed agents for the requirements. While agent creation is a technology need, the adaptability of the program is a need of the user. Agent based models need to be employed to provide the adaptable structure that is required by the students and by the teachers. This is now taken as the basic issue in the detailed research. Detailed Research A merger of both the models for web based learning would provide the relevant technology as well as the appropriate approach towards learning. The web based learning systems should be adaptive and should also be agent driven so that it is easier to build and maintain. Addressing the needs of a multitude of learners with different requirements and the huge cost of producing learning material, are major deterrents for moving towards a large scale web based learning systems. Agents or components that could day specific jobs for the learning systems are more in line with meeting this requirement. A middle-ware for his purpose would be an ideal solution according to Yugyung Lee and James Geller (2002). They also propose a context independent system that would take care of: 1) data exchange and integration. 2) agent-based communication. 3) intelligent decision making. Such systems would help in building and managing global learning systems. Hypermedia systems help in realising such adaptive systems which are really a merger of both the agent based model on the technology front and on the adaptive modelling in the learning style (George D Magoulas, et al., Sep 2003). Botturi, et al (2005) say that with the improved semantic web coming into picture, the ontology would help people to realise pedagogical systems that were hitherto impossible to realise. Most of the pedagogical rules can be laid out in the ontology that would define the rules for selection and suitable decision making process for appropriately adapting the course content to the individual student requirement. These systems should be suitably evaluated in order to ensure proper implementation, by checking them out with suitable groups and individuals (Kosba, et al., 2005). Exploring the possible options to provide the right kind of learning systems is needed. Trails and appropriate evaluation of the systems are a must to ensure that they are in line with the expectations of the students as well as that of the teachers. Objectives In this research, the following questions were answered: 1. On a broader perspective, is the requirement of the student fully appreciated The needs of the students and the learners need to be fully understood in order to ensure that the process of education is complete. This was analysed from various sources and the salient points that came out of it was listed down. In the course of this, it was identified, that the contents need to be adaptive and in order to do the same it was found that agent based structuring or modelling was better suited. 2. This was subsequently analysed during the detailed study and it was found that a merger of these two models, agent based as well as the adaptive model, were the major criterion. Most of the authors suggested usage of both the models for the development work. Comparison chart Authors Research Question Primary or Secondary Research Methodology Yugyung Lee and James Geller The best option to build the web based learning system Primary Analysis of existing literature and a new model. George D Magoulas Hypermedia systems for learning systems Primary Analysis of existing literature and a new model. Botturi, et al Ontology based systems for web based learning Primary Analysis of existing literature and a new model. Kosba et al Evaluation of web based learning systems Primary Comparative study of existing web based systems. References 1. Bates AW, 1995, Technology, Open learning and distance education, London: Routledge. 2. Botturi, L. Dimitrova, V. , Matravers, J., Tebb, C., Withworth, D., Geldermann, J., & Hubert, I., 28 June - 2 July 2005, Development-oriented eLearning Tool Evaluation: the Edukalibre Approach, ED-MEDIA: World Conference on Educational Multimedia, Hypermedia and Telecommunications , Montreal, Canada available at: http://edukalibre.org/documentation/edmedia05_paper.pdf 3. Brusilovsky, P., 1998, Adaptive Educational Systems on the World Wide Web: A review of available technologies. Proceedings of the Workshop "WWW-Based Tutoring" at the 4th International Conference on Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITS'98). Available via: http://manic.cs.umass.edu/stern/webits/itsworkshop/brusilovsky.html 4. Erica Melis, et al., 20 Nov 2001, ActiveMath: A Generic and Adaptive Web-based Learning Environment, available at: http://www.ags.uni-sb.de/ilo/articles/GenericAndAdaptiveWebBasedLearningEnvironment.pdf 5. Feng Wang & Hexiao Huang, 15-17 Aug 2005, Agent-based Model for Web learning, ICEC'05 Proc. Of., Xi'an China, available at: http://delivery.acm.org/10.1145/1090000/1089690/p762-wang.pdfkey1=1089690&key2=4356116611&coll=&dl=ACM&CFID=15151515&CFTOKEN=6184618 6. George D Magoulas, et al., Sep 2003, Adaptive web-based learning: accommodating individual differences through system's adaptation, British Journal of Educational Technology, Vol 34, Issue 4, Page 511 available at: http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1467-8535.00347journalCode=bjet 7. Grabinger, R.S.; Dunlap, J.C. & Duffield, J.A., 1997, Rich environments for active learning in action: problem-based learning. Association for Learning Technology Journal, Vol: 5 pp 3-17 available at: http://www.springerlink.com 8. IBM, 2005, available at: http://www.ibm.com/mindspan 9. John Garofalakis, et al, Oct 2002, Adaptive User model for Web Based Learning Environment, Association for Advancement of Computing in Education, Norfolk, VA, In: E-Learn 2002 World Conference on E-Learning in Corporate, Government, Healthcare, & Higher Education. Proceedings (7th, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, October 15-19, 2002); see IR 022 093 available at: http://www.aace.org/DL/ 10. Judie McKimm, et al., 2003, ABC of learning and teaching web based learning, Vol 326, p 870-873. 11. Kosba, E., Dimitrova, V. , Boyle, R., 23-29 Jul 2005, Using Student and Group Models to Support Teachers in Web-Based Distance Education, 10th International Conference on User Modeling , Edinburgh, UK, 23-29 July 2005 available at: http://www.springerlink.com/content/8wfe0texa0ddruq6/ 12. Laurillard, D., 1993, Rethinking University Teaching: A framework for the effective use of educational technology. Routledge. 13. 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Yugyoung Lee & James Geller, 17-19 Aug 2002, A component Based Architecture for Adaptive, Collaborative Web-based Learning, First International conference for Advances in Web based Learning, Proc., Hong Kong, China, Vol: 2436/2002, pp 203 available at: http://www.springerlink.com/content/gtpkalyv8nk0dmt2/ Read More