Theories of learning and teaching
In the past, many early adopters of VLEs explored the possibilities of the technology at a basic level. For example, they frequently used the VLE to allow students to access and download supplementary learning materials - similar to an electronic filing cabinet. Although this may have some benefits for your students, it is not harnessing the full potential of the VLE.
Sigala (2002) in her overview of the evolution of Internet pedagogy describes this as the first stage in the use of e-learning; at this stage many tutors use e-learning including VLEs to provide a web version of their classroom activities. In other words, tutors 'webify' their face-to-face sessions. Unfortunately, the impact of this transfer of the didactic, transmission approach to learning and teaching from face-to-face to web-based instruction is very limited. What's more, an ad hoc approach to course development within a VLE is inefficient: you may spend a lot of time on developing materials for your course in a VLE for little reward. To get the best out of your VLE, it is worthwhile thinking about the underlying theory of your approaches to learning and teaching and how they can best be exploited for you in the VLE.
One of the best places to start is the Seven Principles of Good Practice in Undergraduate Education developed by Chickering and Gamson in 1987. They point to the following characteristics of teaching-learning as being especially valuable for improving learning outcomes:
Encourage student-staff contact;
Encourage co-operation among students;
Encourage active learning;
Give prompt feedback;
Emphasise time on task;
Communicate high expectations;
Respect diverse talents and ways of learning.
Steve Ehrmann and Arthur Chickering later wrote an article about how technology can be used to advance each of these principles. The following outlines how the collaboration, communication and assessment tools in a VLE can support you in each of the Seven Principles of Good Practice.
Using a VLE to support the Seven Principles of Good Practice
| Encourage student-staff contact | A VLE can help contact between tutors and their students through the communication tools in a VLE. Students can post messages at a time and place convenient for them. For example, tutors can set up a Q&A area in the discussion board (in some VLEs this could be anonymous) which tutors read and respond to on a regular basis. |
| Encourage co-operation among students | The discussion tools can be used to encourage student co-operation in small or large groups, face-to-face or online. Areas can also be created in a VLE for students to share work. For example, groups of students can have a private area where they develop their group presentation. They may choose to work together face-to-face and then load their work into the VLE for others, including the tutor, to review. |
| Encourage active learning | Through careful course design, focusing on student activities, you can encourage active learning. For example, before loading materials into the VLE, think about what you want the students to do and how these activities will help fulfil the learning outcomes. For example, if you want them to review a poem from World War 1, you would divide the class into groups and ask them to review the poem from different perspectives: from the reader, the poet, the narrator, the friend. These could all be housed in the VLE with groups commenting on each other's work. |
| Give prompt feedback | The assessment tools including quizzes and the assessment dropbox assist timely feedback. Quizzes can provide a wealth of feedback for students. Not only can they inform students if the answers are correct but they can provide pointers to further study, hints and tips and links to additional readings. |
| Emphasise time on task | By using a VLE, to link to Library resources and online resources, students can spend time working through activities that you have developed rather than searching through shelves and surfing the web. This means they focus on the task rather than getting the materials for the task. |
| Communicate high expectations | As the tutor, you can use a VLE to show what you expect of your students. With agreement from students, you can use examples of previous students' work to show the level of work that you expect and why. |
| Respect diverse talents and ways of learning | The online discussion area can be used to build a community of learners which shows how the diverse talents of its learners can all contribute to everyone's learning. For example, a distance learning programme in marketing can call upon its students from all over the world to provide examples of how they would market a product. |
There are a number of current models of learning dealing specifically with the use of learning technologies in learning and teaching. Many of these are based on the early work by Vygotsky (1962). In his theory of the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD), Vygotsky observed that children learned skills more effectively when they were working in collaboration with an adult. This was not always due to the adult teaching them how to perform the task but the process of engagement with the adult which enabled children to refine their thinking or their performance to make it more effective. These observations formed the basis for constructivist theory in which these ideas have been expanded and can inform adult learning.
In his essay on constructivism, Doolittle (1999) maintains that constructivist learning can lead to a set of pedagogical principles:
Learning should take place in authentic and real-world environments;
Learning should involve social negotiation and mediation;
Content and skills should be made relevant to the learner;
Content and skills should be understood within the framework of the learner's prior knowledge;
Students should be assessed formatively, serving to inform future learning experiences;
Students should be encouraged to become self-regulatory, self-mediated, and self-aware;
Tutors serve primarily as guides and facilitators of learning, not instructors;
Tutors should provide for and encourage multiple perspectives and representations of content.
These principles are reflected in the models of learning and teaching with technology in the next section.
Linked to constructivism, is the idea of 'scaffolding'; this is a term used to describe the ways in which we help students build their understanding of a concept (hence use of the term 'scaffold'). A common example is when the tutor helps a student to work his or her way through a problem by asking questions. The tutor is, in effect, building a scaffold to support the student's learning. Scaffolding can exist at different levels of cognition. These include:
Conceptual - at this level, we guide the learner in understanding concepts by providing explicit hints and examples. Examples include helping the student think through a problem by asking him/her questions.
Metacognition - at this level, we may guide the learner in how to approach a problem. Examples include supporting the student in constructing a strategy for tackling a problem (eg the student is asked to plan a scientific experiment that will address a particular problem).
Procedural - at this level, we guide the learner on how to use information. Examples include guidelines and tutoring (eg the student is guided in how to use a map).
Strategic - these guide the learner in analysing and approaching the problem with a strategy.
