Online Learning
Online Learning
Online Learning, also commonly referred to as Distant Education [1] and Digital learning, is learning accompanied and aided by technology [2]. Digital learning has a spectrum of implementations, resulting in many variations of the practice. In recent years, online learning experienced a surge in implementation due to the Covid-19 pandemic. This increased relevancy led to an increased amount of coverage and increased visibility to the public eye [3], resulting in Digital Learning being the subject of many debates on its efficiency in comparison to traditional classroom learning.
Background
Some online learning is merely an enhancement of in-person instruction, while other variations have all of the instruction being done through some sort of technology[2]. Some examples of instructional methods using technology include blended/hybrid learning, fully online learning, flipped learning, digital tutoring, personalized learning, gamification, and other variations. Digital tools can also be utilized to create online learning experiences by non-instructors with students individually seeking out instructional and learning materials through technology.
A wide variety of digital learning methods have been developed and implemented, with some common ones defined below. All digital learning methods can be broken down into two different types: synchronous and asynchronous [4]. “Synchronous classes run in real time,” [4] operating with all involved parties being online and participating in the learning process at the same time. Methods falling into the asynchronous category operate “with students accessing class materials during different hours and from different locations” [4] and do not require the real-time participation seen in synchronous environments.
Blended learning
Blended learning, also sometimes referred to as hybrid learning or technology-mediated instruction [5], is a method of construction that mixes or “blends” together with traditional instructional techniques with technology, incorporating the technologies into the instruction[6]. Clifford Maxwell of the Blended Learning Universe breaks blended learning down into three parts: a degree of student control, a supervised physical location to learn in, and an “integrated learning experience” [5]. A modern example of blended learning is traditional brick-and-mortar schools incorporating material and activities provided on educational websites like Khan Academy.
Collaborative learning
Collaborative learning, a shortened version of the term Computer-supported collaborative learning (often abbreviated as CSCL), is described by Dillenbourg and Schneider as a method distinctly separate from cooperative learning. While cooperative learning is described as “… a protocol in which the task is in advance split into subtasks that the partners solve independently,” they define collaborative learning as situations “… in which two or more subjects build synchronously and interactively a joint solution to some problem.” [7] The marker of Computer-supported collaborative learning is the interaction and collaboration between both instructor and student as well as between students and their peers[8]. In this variation of education aided by technology, the learning is done through social interaction based on and supplemented by technologies such as websites, blog posts, virtual posting boards, and other types of technological support.[9]
Fully online learning
Gamification
History
Technologies
The Association for Educational Communications and Technology (commonly abbreviated as AECT), “a professional association of instructional designers, educators and professionals who provide leadership and advise policy makers in order to sustain a continuous effort to enrich teaching and learning,” [15] defines educational technology as "the study and ethical practice of facilitating learning and improving performance by creating, using and managing appropriate technological processes and resources" [16].
[17] There are many technologies that can be utilized for digital instruction. Tools like video conference technology have particularly contributed significantly to the practice of online learning, as they are one of the tools making distance learning a possibility[18].
Zoom, Bluejeans, Google Meet, and other video conferencing tools
Gamified Learning Websites
Youtube
Khan Academy
Ebooks
Reactions to Digital Learning
Positive
Negative
References
- ↑ Reed, M. (2020). 5 Distance Learning Technology Must-Haves. [online] Wwt.com. Available at: https://www.wwt.com/article/five-technology-must-haves-distance-learning.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Davis, L. (2020). Digital Learning: What to Know in 2020. [online] Schoology.com. Available at: https://www.schoology.com/blog/digital-learning
- ↑ Li, C., Lalani, F. and World Economic Forum (2020). The rise of online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. [online] World Economic Forum. Available at: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/04/coronavirus-education-global-covid19-online-digital-learning/].
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 TheBestSchools.org. (2017). Synchronous vs. Asynchronous Classes: What’s the Difference? - TheBestSchools.org. [online] Available at: https://thebestschools.org/resources/synchronous-vs-asynchronous-programs-courses/#:~:text=Synchronous%20classes%20run%20in%20real,hours%20and%20from%20different%20locations.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Harasim, L. (2000). Shift happens: online education as a new paradigm in learning. The Internet and Higher Education, [online] 3(1-2), pp.41–61. Available at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1096751600000324
- ↑ Blended Learning Universe. (2016). What blended learning is - and isn’t - Blended Learning Universe. [online] Available at: https://www.blendedlearning.org/what-blended-learning-is-and-isnt/
- ↑ ResearchGate. (2022). (PDF) Collaborative Learning and the Internet. [online] Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/2336975_Collaborative_Learning_and_the_Internet
- ↑ Stahl, G., Koschmann, T. and Suthers, D. (n.d.). Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning. In: The Cambridge Handbook of the Learning Sciences. [online] pp.479–500. Available at: http://gerrystahl.net/cscl/CSCL_English.pdf.
- ↑ Onrubia, J. and Engel, A. (2009). Strategies for collaborative writing and phases of knowledge construction in CSCL environments. Computers & Education, [online] 53(4), pp.1256–1265. Available at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360131509001559?via%3Dihub
- ↑ https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED529699
- ↑ https://ictlogy.net/bibliography/reports/projects.php?idp=3138&lang=ca
- ↑ http://treeves.coe.uga.edu/edit6900/BertelsmannReeves98.pdf
- ↑ https://www.researchgate.net/publication/261710379_Building_a_Global_Network
- ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Educational_technology#:~:text=Cookie%20statement-,%22As%20Schools%20Close%20Over%20Coronavirus%2C%20Protect%20Kids%27%20Privacy%20in%20Online%20Learning%22,-.%20Human%20Rights%20Watch
- ↑ Aect.org. (2022). ABOUT US - Association for Educational Communications and Technology. [online] Available at: https://www.aect.org/about_us.php
- ↑ Reflections on the 2008 AECT Definitions of the Field. (2008). TechTrends, [online] 52(1), pp.24–25. Available at: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11528-008-0108-2
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20080705012345/http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/
- ↑ https://books.google.com/books?id=w8xIPSTfZBUC&lpg=PP8&ots=fRgkmEaQW6&dq=different%20kinds%20of%20learning%20technology&lr&pg=PA5#v=onepage&q&f=false
- ↑ https://www.thencat.com/Articles/erm0352.pdf
- ↑ https://www.desu.edu/sites/flagship/files/document/16/how_people_learn_book.pdf
