0229590_C6FC0_solomon_negash_michael_e_whitman_amy_b_woszczynski_handbook

Blending Interactive Videoconferencing and Asynchronous Learning in Adult Education

Table 1. Web-based learning environment: The fundamental

Functions	Services available	Benefits for students	Benefits for teachers and tutors
1. Management	Access policy online diary	• Access to course	• Access to secrecy area
		• Course schedule	• Class management
		• Submission of assignments	• Submission of grades
		• Grades	• Monitoring students’ perfor-
		• Update	mance
			• Diary: reports
2. Production	• Tools: designing methods of teaching	• Preparation of assignments	• Production of teaching material
	material	in digital form	individually or in collaboration
	• Designing patterns		with others
	• Reusable learning objects
3. Storage	• Selection of database	Storage: Classification of	Storage: Classification of
classification	• Reusable files	assignments	teaching material and learning
	• Metadata		activities
4. Structure of	• Frequently asked questions	Support to:	Support to:
supporting	• Glossary/ terminology	• Administrative and learning	• Administrative and learning
functions	• External links	procedures	procedures
	• Search engines	• Search engines	• Search engines
	• Access to useful tools	• Study methods	• Study methods
	• Annotations reference material
5. Provision	• Multi-user interface	Internet access to:	Ability to post and update teach-
of content	• Navigator	• Teaching material	ing material on platform
	• Client software	• Additional notes
	• Plug in	• Alternative sources
	• Transmission of content in:	• Slides
	• Printed form	• Lectures
	• CD
6. Communication	• E-mail	• Communication with	• Communication/collaboration
	• Notice boards, chat rooms , forums	teacher/other students	with students and teachers
	• Frequently asked questions, etc.	• Exchange of information	• Development of teaching activi-
	• Online users awareness	• Joint/collaborative prepara-	ties and research
	• Data sharing: Application sharing	tion of assignments (group-
	• Videoconferencing	work)
		• Social interaction
7. Assessment	Evaluation of system performance:	Assessment of:	Assessment of system
	• Formative	• The teacher
	• Summative	• The material
		• User-friendliness, etc.
8. Support to	Assessment of students’ performance	Self-assessment	• Assessment criteria
procedures			• Authoring questioning tolls
of students’			• Monitoring of performance
assessment			• Reports
9. Management of	• Diagnosis of students’ learning needs	Supports the individual choice	Grouping of students sharing
learning needs	• Diagnosis of students’ learning styles	of learning style	common goals, learning needs
			and styles, etc.

Gagne, Briggs, & Wager, 1994; Smith & Regan, 1993) are linear or structured and based on traditional principles of objectivism-positivism.

Followingthecontemporarylearningtheories, there seems to be a transition from a teacher-cen-

tred to a student-centred approach, from teaching to learning, from individual learning, to a learning derived from a collaborative environment, within the context of a learning community. Such considerations originate from the field of cogni-

Blending Interactive Videoconferencing and Asynchronous Learning in Adult Education

tive theories of social interaction (i.e., distributed cognition theory [Pea, 1995, & Salomon, 1995] and activity theory [Engestrom, 1987]).

In the recent years there have been proposals recommending the designing of a Web-based learning environment (Graham, McNeil, & Pettiford, 2000; Horton, 2000; Jolliffe, Ritter, & Stevens, 2001; Karpov & Haywood, 1998). Most of them converge as to the point that the important elements of designing a Web-based learning environment are the learning goals, the learning activities, the role of tutors and students, the connection between learning goals and teaching material, the assessment, and the social content of learning.

Roberts (1995) suggests a user-friendly model called ‘a template for converting classroom courses to distributed, asynchronous courses’ (http://www.unc.edu/cit/iat-archive/publications/ roberts/template.html), which emphasises the definitionoflearninggoals,theadaptationofthe teaching material to the defined learning goals, the choice and best combination of the appropriate learning theories, the choice of technological means,and,finally,theformationofacollaborative environment.

In a systemic approach towards the designing of a Web-based learning environment (Cobb, 1994; Jonassen, 1992; Philips, 1995) the model of problem solving is adopted and includes four phases: analysis, designing, development-imple- mentation, and assessment-revision.

Since the early 90s (Salomon, 1992; Kagan, 1994) emphasis has been given on the designing of collaborative Web-based environments. These attempts focus on the fact that the student should becapableofsolvingproblems,collaboratingwith others, being responsible for their pacing, and being rewarded for achieving their goals within the group (Reiser, 2001). However, several issues are raised which are connected to the development (Jonassen, 1997; Van Berlo, 2000) and the quality of such systems regarding the achievement of the set learning goals (Hakkinen, Järvelä, &

Byman, 2001).

The formation of collaborative Web-based learning environments offers a great many significantadvantages(Connell,1994).However,its success depends to a great extent on the designing of an environment which aims at the encouragement and support of the active participation of students (Mason & Bacsich, 1998).

The most recent research (Strijbos, Martens, & Jochems, 2004) recommends the following six stepsintheformationofacollaborativeWeb-based learningenvironment:definingthelearninggoals, selecting the expected interaction, selecting the responsibilities of the human resources, deciding whether it will be a structured collaborative environment or not, and finally, defining the technological means to support the application.

fundamentals of designing a web-based de environment

The designing of a Web-based learning environment should be based on pedagogical principles, the understanding of learning material and the set learning goals, and definitely, the awareness of the way advanced Internet technologies can contribute to attaining these goals (Colis & Moonen, 2001).

The designing of a Web-based learning environment requires special attention, as we need to adhere to DE principles when we develop the teaching material, plan our teaching strategy, and decide on the combination of the technological means to support the attainment of the set learning goals (Anastasiades, 2002). In the proposed designing we follow the basic principles which should determine a learning environment according to the methodology of the American Distance Education Consortium (http://www.adec.edu).

•A distance learning environment should be regulated by clear learning goals and focus on predefined expected outcomes, consid-

Blending Interactive Videoconferencing and Asynchronous Learning in Adult Education

Figure 5. Basic principles of American Distance Education Consortium (http://www.adec.edu/)

		Active participation
	Defining goals	of students
	Student-centred—Flexible	Learning by doing,
		case-based learning
	Supporting	Best combination of
	collaborative learning
		technological means
	Development of Communities
	ADEC Principles

ering the special characteristics and needs of students within the context of an open, flexible, and student-centred approach

•The student should be encouraged to actively participate throughout the learning course, associating learning by doing, learning by reflection, case-learning study, and learning byexploring.Relatinglearninggoalswithreal life learning experiences is a major priority.

•The learning environment should combine the use of technological means in order to attain the set learning goals considering the different learning styles of students. The selection of the technological means depends on the nature of content, the access to technology of the learning group, and the general educational philosophy of the teaching staff.

•The learning environment should encourage interaction among the human resources by ensuring the appropriate conditions and

Table 2. Learning events based on interaction

actively supporting the development of communities which share common interests with the aim of achieving collaborative learning.

Strong emphasis is placed on interaction, as it is regarded as one of the fundamental factors in achieving the learning objectives. The proposed interactive environment implements the theory of three types of interaction (Moore, 1989) and that of Paulsen’s methodology (1977) and is illustrated in Table 2.

Phases of development of a web-based learning environment

The designing of a Web-based learning environment proposed in this chapter applies the methodology of dividing the process into phases and implements the relevant approaches.

This model recommends four phases of development: analysis, designing, application, and assessment.

Each phase comprises of specific actions and demands the most of the human, learning, and technological resources of the system.

synchronous learning environment: designing aspects

The main objective of videoconferencing is not to replace face-to-face conventional teach-

Method / Interaction	Learner—Content	Learner—Teacher	Learner—Learner
One: alone	Web pages with Graphics, Audio,
(e.g. www)	Video, Quizzes, Interactive Checks
	on Progress
One to One		E-mail, chat, online diary, Tutor-	E-mail, chat
(e.g. e-mail)		Marked Assignments	(social and/or academic)
One to Many		E-mail, mailing list, group chat,	E-mail, mailing list, group chat,
(e.g. Bulletin board)		discussion board	discussion board
Many to Many		Group chat, discussion board	Group chat, discussion board, Group
(e.g. Conferencing)			projects, Peer-based evaluation

Blending Interactive Videoconferencing and Asynchronous Learning in Adult Education

Table 3. Phases of development of a Web-based learning environment

	Phases	Description	Expected outcomes
	1st Phase: Analysis
	Action 1: Analysis of needs justifica-	• Which learning needs are covered?	Report:
	tion of necessity of the Web-based	• Which are the learning groups we aim at?	• Outline
	course	• Is the proposed plan feasible in teaching, techno-	• Schedule of actions
		logical and financial terms?	• Budget
		• Will there be certification and in which form?
		• Will the students be charged?
	Action 2: Analysis of the minimum	• Basic PC and Internet skills	Report:
	necessary characteristics of the	• Does the attendance require specific technologi-	• Defining the minimum requirements of
	learning group	cal tools? How will the student be provided with	technological means and communication
		them?	• Supporting system for students (loans,
		• Which is the students’ capacity for communica-	collaboration with organisations, etc.)
		tion?	• Pilot plan for students
		• Will there be support for students not having the
		appropriate equipment of technology and com-
		munication?
	Action 3: Analysis of the institution	• How will the teaching staff be trained in the new	Report:
	characteristics		• Standardisation of the required human
		system?
			and technological resources
		• Which are the necessary characteristics of the
			• Support planning and alternative applica-
		human and technological resources?
			tion plans
		• Which will the form of support of the new system
			• Statute
		be (internal development, purchase of services)?
	2nd Phase: Designing
	Action 1: Pedagogical planning	• Defining the model: synchronous, asynchronous,	Recommendation:
		combined, hybrid?	• Guidelines to pedagogical designing
		• Learning theories: we usually combine strate-
		gies from the most popular learning theories (be-
		haviourism, cognitive) according to the learning
		goals and the students’profile
	Action 2: Designing the develop-	• Which will the methodology be?	1. Manual for designing teaching material
	ment of the teaching material	• Who will be involved, in what way and capacity?	2. Procedure plan
		• Internal development or outsourcing?	3. Curriculum
		• monitoring tools
	Action 3: Designing asynchronous	• What will the pedagogical characteristics of the	• Development plan of asynchronous trans-
	transmission technologies	asynchronous platform be?	mission technologies
		• Which basic functions will it support?
		• Open source or market research?
		• Purchase of equipment or access to outbound
		sources?
		• What are the necessary human and technological
		resources to develop, maintain and update it?
		• Internal development or outsourcing?
	Action 4: Designing asynchronous	• What will the characteristics of videoconferenc-	1. Development plan of the videoconfer-
	transmission technologies	ing be?	encing system
		• Which basic functions will it support?	2. Recommendation for the classroom
		• Purchase of equipment or resort to other solu-
		tions?
		• What human and technological resources are
		required to operate the system?
	Action 5: Assessment plan	• What will be assessed?	Assessment methodology:
		• How?	• of asynchronous learning
		• When?	• of synchronous education
		• By whom?
			continued on following page

Blending Interactive Videoconferencing and Asynchronous Learning in Adult Education

Table 3. continued

Phases	Description		Expected outcomes
3rd Phase: Application
Action 1: Designing the platform	• Application of the pedagogical planning	1.	Operation of platform
	• Purchase, installation and operation of equipment	2.	Teaching staff training on the usage and
	• Completion of applications		the pedagogical strategies
	• Grouping of material and software
	• Piloting
	• Training
Action 2: Developing the teaching	1. Compilation of the basic course manual apply-	1.	Posting the material on the platform
material	ing DE method (author-assistant author)	2.	Pilot operation of the platform
	2. Feedback from the DE methodology expert	3. Assessment
	3. Converting the material into HTML	4.	Revision
	4. Feedback (author, tutor, program co-ordinator)
	5. Adaptation of material
	6. Posting the material on the Internet (platform
	manager)
	7. Feedback (platform manager, author, tutor, etc.)
Action 3: Applying synchronous	• Layout of classroom	1.	Preparation of teleconferencing class-
education	• Purchase, installation and operation of techno-		room
	logical equipment	2.	Training in the pedagogical application
	• Supplementary equipment		of synchronous transmission
	• Training	3.	Pilot operation
		4. Assessment
		5.	Revision
Action 4: Defining the statute of	• Statute of teaching staff, administrative staff and	1. teaching staff guide
human resources	students	2. administrative staff guide
		3. student guide
Action 5: Information, promotion	• Information of the potential	• Promotion
Action 6: Maintenance, update		• Maintenance guidelines
4th phase: Assessment
	• Learning effectiveness	Formative and summative assessment of:
	• User-friendliness	• Asynchronous platform
	• Usability	• Synchronous services
	• Resolvability/preservability

ing but to come into supplementary operation (Anastasiades, 2006b; Hanor & Hayden, 2003).

Berge και Mrozowski (2001), who studied educational videoconferences from 1990 since 1999, concluded that the most important issue for the successful outcome of a videoconference was not only the technology provided but also the educational methodology that was constructed and followed by the educators. IVC have to create an environment in which social dialogue, discourse and interaction, problem-based learning, negotiation of meaning, and construction of knowledge must be the basic goals of the whole process, so constructivism is the appropriate pedagogy for

videoconferencing (Jonassen, Howland, Moore, & Marra, 2003; Anastasiades 2006b).

TheproposedIVCpedagogicalmodelrequires a specific pedagogic approach (Anastasiades,

2003c, 2006a) designed to achieve the best possible results which include:

1.The development of the IVC pyramid

2.The delineation of a communication model

3.The designing of classroom architecture

4.The selection of a technological infrastructure

5.The design of an organisational and supporting model

6.The evaluation methodology

0

Blending Interactive Videoconferencing and Asynchronous Learning in Adult Education

Figure 6. The IVC pyramid for adult learning

Collaborative Argumentation

(Stage D)

Collaboration – WorkGroup

(Stage C)

Virtual Classroom

Preliminary Period (Stage A)

the ivc Pyramid		•	Familiarisation of instructors with
			the basic traits of the new learning
The adult students will get in contact with the			environment(i.e.,newroles,pedagogic
new teaching model progressively, in order to			concerns etc.).
become a part of the new learning environment		•	Knowing how to use the required tech-
as smoothly as possible.			nological VC tools and applications.
This willbeachieved through theimplementa-		•	Psychopedagogic approach of the new
tion of four stages			environment.
		•	Techniques of encouraging and moti-
Preliminary Period (Stage A)			vating students.
	A3	Preparation of students:
Based on the above methodology, the steps of the		•	Introductory briefings on distance
Phase A are described as follows:			learning via IVC.
		•	It is very important to choose and pre-
A1 Infrastructures: Provision of all the neces-			pare a student as a class motivator. The
sarytechnology(i.e.,VCsoftware,hardware,			student will have the responsibility to
communicational status, networking of			motivate the other students to get in-
classrooms, and technical staff) in order to			volved into the learning process and to
support the instructor on technical matters.			supporttheadministrationbackground
A2 Familiarisation of the instructors with			(mentionandfixsmalltechnicalprob-
the new reality:			lems, etc.). The motivator will be the
•	Seminar providing basic knowledge		interface between teacher and students
	on VC in teaching and learning		in distance mode.

Blending Interactive Videoconferencing and Asynchronous Learning in Adult Education

A4 Introductory VC: The introductory VC course will be organised by the instructor and will be attended by both the students of the instructor’s class and the students form remote classrooms. At a scheduled time the two classes will be ready for action. In this phase we need to familiarise as smoothly as they can the instructor, the motivators, and the students with the concept of VC.

A5 Evaluation:

•Students’ evaluation (evaluation of knowledge,experiencefromtheteaching, etc.) by the teachers.

•Teachers’ evaluation (noting down problems, ways of solving them, alternate approaches, etc.) by the teachers themselves in cooperation with other teachers, specialists and so forth.

•Evaluation of the VC (satisfaction, interactivity, familiarising, etc.)

Creation of the Virtual Classroom

(Stage B)

The creation of an interactive learning environment is attempted in this phase, where the whole VC course period will be covered by lecturing, questions, and interactive dialogues in order to negotiatetheadultlearnersneeds,findouttheprior knowledge,andtostartbuildingupthe knowledge construction. The instructor must have the ability tomanagethewholevirtualclassroomandthemotivators to be active to the other classrooms. This phase is aiming at the creation of the necessary conditions in order to unfold all the activities that take place in a conventional classroom. Teachers, motivators and students familiarise themselves with the idea of the virtual classroom.

Evaluation:

•Students’ evaluation (evaluation of knowledge, experience from the teaching, etc.) by the teachers.

•Instructor’ evaluation (noting down problems, ways of solving them, alternate approaches, etc.) by the teachers themselves in cooperation with other teachers, specialists, and so forth.

Collaboration by Distance: Development of Joint Activities

Between Remote Classrooms.

(Phase C)

In this phase we have an attempt to create an open collaborativeenvironmentbetweenthestudentsof the remote classrooms, by creating work groups that will be in collaboration from a distance, in order to carry through a joint activity. During this phase, the students are the leading actors in the new collaborative environment, while the teacher and the motivators play a rather supervis- ing-guiding role, interfering whenever they find it necessary.

In this stage we try to engage teachers and learners in collaborative learning activities according to research and practice in computer supportedcollaborativelearning(Dillenbourg,Baker, Blaye, & O’Malley, 1996; O’Malley, 1995). According tothe proposed methodology participants engagecollaborativelyinknowledgeconstruction and negotiate with one another to reach a common shared understanding about a particular topic in order to achieve a joint project (Anastasiades 2003a; Dillenbourg & Traum, 1999)

Evaluation:

•Self-evaluation of the students (evaluation of the procedure by the students themselves).

•Students’ evaluation by the teachers (noting down problems, ways of solving them, alternate approaches, etc.) by the students themselves in cooperation with other students, specialists, and so forth.

Blending Interactive Videoconferencing and Asynchronous Learning in Adult Education

Collaborative Argumentations (Stage D)

Each group of the local and distant sites presents theircollaborativeprojectstothevirtualclassroom and the facilitator organises an interactive collaborative argumentation. Learners have to explain their position, focusing their cognitive activities on the problem so that different perspectives are essential to discuss them collaboratively (Fischer, Kollar, Mandl, & Haake, in press)

Evaluation:

•Self-evaluationofthestudents(evaluationof the procedure by the students themselves).

•Students’ evaluation by the teachers (noting down problems, ways of solving them, alternate approaches, etc.) by the students themselves in cooperation with other students, specialists, and so forth.

the communication Model

This methodology is combined with the application of the three models method of University of Maryland, University College, (UMUC), and particularlymodelΑ(IDE,1996)availableonline at http://www.umuc.edu/IDE/modeldata.html,

that is a virtual classroom composed of groups of students in two or more distant locations. The collaboration of teachers and motivators is an innovative proposal, which support effectively the whole process.

the classroom architecture Model

The aim of a distance learning methodology is to develop an interactive learning virtual space in which learning communities with common interestscan collaborate ‘face-to-face’ eachother. This is easy to manage, if we have small courses (8-10 students). But what we have to do if we a need to manage a medium or big audience? The methodology chosen is that of separating the audience into active and passive.

The active audience consists of 6-8 students who sit in a triangle on the top of which we find the teacher and the blackboard. The students of the active and passive audience alternate during the lessons, so that all the students of each class have an active role experience.

TheconceptualconvergenceofmodelΑ(IDE,

1996) with the proposed classroom architecture model forms a transitory approach of original methodology which from now on will be referred

Figure 7. The communication model (point to point IVC)

	instructor
	Students
	Classroom A
Motivator	Motivator
Students	Students
Classroom B	Classroom C

Blending Interactive Videoconferencing and Asynchronous Learning in Adult Education

Figure 8. The classroom architecture model

	Section A
	Ca
	mer
	Spea
Spea	ker 2
ker 1	Monitor
	Control
	Panel
	Teacher
	Section B2
Section B1
	Web-board

toastransitionmethodology.Transitionmethodology ensures equal participation of all the students of the class in the new learning environment, without upsetting the relation of the students to the existing structure of the traditional school schedule.

the technological infrastructure

The main components of the proposed synchronous learning environment are as follows:

1.VideoconferencingsystemΗ.320/Η.323and

MCU

2.Interactive whiteboard facilities

3.Streaming media encoder/server

4.Unidirectional condenser boundary microphone

the organisation and support Model

The organisational and support model constituted three committees. The monitoring committee, which is composed of certain representatives of institutions, has the general monitoring responsibility of the project. The research committee has theplanningandimplementationresponsibilityof

Blending Interactive Videoconferencing and Asynchronous Learning in Adult Education

Figure 9. The communication model (Multipoint IVC)

Instructor
virtual learning collaboration	P
P

Motivator

Motivator

the project. Finally, the organisational committee has a general supporting role.

a case study at the univeRsity of cRete

general description

The whole project, PAIDEIA OMOGENWN (http://ediamme.edc.uoc.gr/diaspora/), aims to continue, develop, and promote Greek language and culture, to primary and secondary students of Greek origin, who live and study abroad, as well asnon-Greekspeakingstudentswhowanttolearn the Greek language and become participants of the Greek culture (Damanakis, 1987). The implementationofthespecificprogramstartedinJune

1997 and continued until December 2004. It was funded by the Greek Ministry of Education (25%) and the European Union (75%). The Ministry of EducationinGreece,withitsvariousdepartments,

supervises the program, while its implementation has been assigned to the University of Crete and more specifically to the Center of Intercultural and Migration Studies (E.DIA.M.ME.) at the Department of Education of the university with Director Professor Michali Damanaki.

One of the most important topics of the project concerns the implementation of a complete e-learning environment adopted and developed for the training for the continuous training of teachers who teach Greek as a second and foreign language through e-learning.

Based on the initial plan, learning materials were designed and developed for three courses:

1.Socialisation and Education in the Diaspora (Prof. Damanakis)

2.History and Culture in the Modern Greek (Prof. Xourdakis)

3.TopicsinModernGreekLiterature(Instructor Mitrofanis)