Blending Video and Online Learning in Distance Education
Lucy G. Kamanja
Instructional Designer
University of South Africa
E-mail: kamanlg@unisa.ac.za
Introduction
Today’s education system is undergoing a paradigm shift, laying greater emphasis on independent learning. The instructor’s role is gradually shifting to that of a mentor and facilitator from that of a teacher. This is especially characteristic of distance education, where resources must bridge geographical distances, and be built around theories of effective independent learning.
The University of South Africa (UNISA) is a distance education institution with an enrollment of over 200,000 students. The average distance education student in UNISA is an adult who is highly motivated but is also isolated in the learning environment, combining study with busy schedules at work and at home. These students rarely interact with their instructors or their colleagues, making it difficult for the instructor to monitor how the students interact with the study materials. The students, therefore, lack a forum in which to discuss their experience with their studies or express other issues of concern.
The study materials provided in distance education, made up primarily of printed study guides, tutorial letters and prescribed text, are normally written in English, which is a second or a foreign language to most students. Given the above scenario, the instructor needs to explore how combining online learning with other multi media teaching materials like video or CD-ROM could supplement the written text, facilitating comprehension and thereby enriching the learning environment.
Learning at a distance
Distance educators recognise that their students have unique learning styles, and they ensure that study materials address these styles. Theorists suggest that different people learn best in different ways, and that appealing to learning style preferences increases learning efficiency and retention (Frye, 1999; Becker & Dwyer, 1998). The distance educator should provide for flexibility in the learning experiences so that students can construct meaning in their own way and in their own place and time. As Haynes states (1989:5) “By giving students greater flexibility, they are encouraged to accept greater responsibility for their learning and are able to access broader variations of stored data according to their course of study/or particular interests.”
Creating flexibility requires innovation in instructional design. Instructional systems designers need, therefore, to re-invent a new conceptual space for themselves to bring instructional design into accord with paradigm shifts in the world (Waghid, 1997:168). This challenges the instructor to plan, implement and evaluate the learning experience. It requires that they reconsider the learning theories behind instructional technology and incorporate teaching strategies and learning experiences that meet the unique needs of these students (Waghid, 1997:168).
Role of Instructional technology in distance education
Since there is geographical distance between the teacher and the educator in distance education, a coherent integration of various learning resources into a flexible pattern is required to facilitate learning. New and emerging technologies continue to provide greater opportunities to innovate and affect the way teaching and learning is conducted. Successful distance teaching requires that the technologies are used to design appropriately structured presentations and interactions. This calls for innovation in instructional design that recognizes varied characteristics of the distance learning population and hence the selection of the appropriate media for instruction.
Instructional technology has been defined by Newby et al (2000: 10) as “applying scientific knowledge about human learning to the practical tasks of teaching and learning. It translates and applies basic research on human learning to produce instructional design principles and processes as well as hardware products that teachers and students use to increase learning effectiveness.” This calls for innovation in instructional design that recognises and addresses the varied characteristics of the distant student population.
Online education requires that the instructor provides a coherent and comprehensive learning environment as a facilitator. The constructivist approach to learning guides students in seeking information, discovering, gaining insight and constructing their own meaning from their learning experiences. “Learners must now be viewed as proactive participants in learning, actively seeking ways to analyse, question, interpret and understand their ever changing environment” (Newby et al 2006:6). This way, students drive the lessons, shift instructional strategies and alter the content (Arminio, 1999; Sprague & Dede, 1999; Turoff, 1999).
This learning environment requires the use of various resources that enable the student to be active and to experience learning in different ways. The use of technology has brought new insights into the role that lecturers play in the teaching and learning process. Kossop( 2003) states that “Academics have recognised for years the shortcomings of the faculty-centred classroom, but it has been difficult to break away from the paradigm. Whatever the teacher uses, lectures, discussions, role play, small-group activities or other activities in an attempt to involve the learner, it is still the teacher running the show”. The challenge for educators is the selection of the appropriate technology that can increase learning effectiveness by challenging students to pose questions that better engage them, spark their curiosity, and push them to think critically and, ultimately to learn.
Internet technology allows students to access information for themselves. While this is positive, it does not guarantee effective learning. The instructor is then challenged to select the appropriate technology that can increase learning effectiveness. It is imperative to keep in mind that the resource rather than the medium determines how it is integrated into distance education. In choosing these resources, teachers should provide varied learning contexts, considering that students process information differently.
Instructors have resorted to multi-channel learning focusing on “the recognition that people learn in different ways and through various means and that those ways and means are neither the same for all people - nor constant across time, circumstances and types of learning efforts for the individual learner” (Sheathe, 1997).
At the University of South Africa, CDs, CD-ROMS, and videos are used to supplement the printed study materials. They are used in various disciplines such as communication science, economics, health, law, engineering, psychology, theology and many other subjects.
Successful distance education requires interaction. While video could be used in any discipline to enable students to develop practical skills, online discussions could encourage learners to participate actively in academic group discussions and work collaboratively. It also facilitates cooperative learning, group problem solving, and community building; there is evidence that this leads to greater cognitive development than the same individuals achieve when working alone (Stodolsky, 1984 as cited by Harasim, 1990). Since students are active constructors of knowledge, they should be encouraged to share this knowledge with others (Grabinger, 1996).
Advantages of using online learning and video
When video is used together with online learning, it has unique advantages. Both provide students the flexibility to learn when they have the time, where they are and how they learn best (eduScapes). One of the most important reasons for introducing multi media in education is to improve quality and effectiveness in teaching by providing more flexible patterns of learning. However, the two resources are completely separate, and online instructions can be modified without affecting the content or sequence in the video recording. Students can therefore have online discussions as they watch various sections of the video, and are in total control of how and when to use each of the mediums. The content of the video can be broken up (chunked) to provide specific points. These can be short audio-visual sequences that are coherent by themselves so the student can access the sequence that is relevant for a particular online learning session. The online facilitator can guide the learners to watch, analyse and discuss only that sequence on video that is required for a particular learning experience.
Video provides sensory experience that allows concepts to be experienced and come to life. Video gives both visual and audio stimulation to the students and in this way provides a feeling of presence and reality. It can be used to capture those scenes, events and situations that would be difficult to reproduce online and whose details are best shown visually. It can be use to record the latest developments in science, to record a cultural event or other notable event that form part of the study curricula. Graphic details, movement, procedures and emotions in a video are difficult to explain in text. Sound recorded in the video like music or sounds derived from an actual event or activity can create an atmosphere of a real life experience. Also, they are easy to store and retrieve, and the student can view them as and when required. The lecturer’s role is to get the students energized, creating an interactive lesson, resulting in active, deeper learning and retention of information (Griffin, 2003).
Online learning has many advantages over other distance learning modes. A pilot study at the University of South Africa (Heydenrych, 2002) showed that online learning is more effective when compared to learning through print based materials only. The study showed that online learning had a student retention rate of 72% while learning through print based materials had a student retention rate of only 42%. Also, the final mark in the examinations was 17% higher for the online students compared to the mark of students using print based materials only.
Online learning is more conducive to lifelong learning because it is time and place independent (Harasim, 1990). In everyday situations, individuals are called upon to make serious decisions that affect their lives and they do not have a tutor at their side to monitor or guide them. Online learning fosters self-motivated education and students develop skills of searching for information and learning on their own or in concert with other students. In online learning, students direct their own internet links, discussion boards, chat, e-mail, and in this case, the use of the video or CD-ROM. While the use of such resources does not guarantee learner initiative, they establish a framework that gives precedence to the autonomy of the learner (Kassop, 2003).
Lecturers can offer many types of interactive learning aids on their online course sites. For example, they can offer immediate feedback for tests thereby using the tests as formative assessment to improve learning. The students can also get immediate feedback on their queries from their lecturers. Tests can be designed with a grading capability for immediate feedback but also with references to online text or video picture that explains where to find the correct answers. Assignments can be returned to students more promptly and with guidance of how to make them better. Students can pose countless questions to their professors and engage in dialogue. The professors can also use the interactive dialogue to conduct research and improve their teaching and learning. Action research carried out during learning can inform the way future learning experiences are organised.
When a student subscribes to an online course, they automatically subscribe to a style of learning that requires that they collaborate with others and become part of that learning community. The discussion forums foster a community of learners who are eager to acquire knowledge through collaboration, leading to greater cognitive development. The students become highly engaged in the discussions and this produces opportunity, equity and participation for the group. It is through this interaction that the students are able to construct meaning and learn from the activities that have been designed for the online discussion. Shuell (1988) states that “learning is an active, constructive, cognitive, and social process by which the learner manages available cognitive, physical and social resources to create new knowledge by interacting with information in the environment and integrating with information already stored in memory,” (cited in Kozma, 1994, P.8).
Online learning often has many advantages over the face- to- face learning mode as well. It has been observed (Kassop, 2003) that many students who could not speak up in a face to face situation have found it easier to respond on the online setting. We know that the face-to-face settings are inhibiting for those learners who are introverted and the teachers tend to concentrate their efforts on the extroverted learners cutting off a big chunk of intelligent responses from those who do not have the courage to speak up. Online discussions eliminate stereotypes associated with high external social status or physical appearances (Harashim, 1990). It has been observed that the relative anonymity of online discussions helps create a level playing field for women, homosexuals, students with physical handicaps, and members of other potentially marginalised groups, as they can participate in class activities without being stigmatised (Kassop, 2003). Moreover, the format gives non- English speakers extra time to contemplate questions and compose appropriate answers, thus improving their written communication skills. They write more online than they can ever write in a face-to-face situation, thus improving their writing skills over the duration of the online course (Kassop 2003).
Discussion forums are an exciting feature of online learning. Once a facilitator posts a question, every student is expected to respond and do so intelligently several times in the same thread of discussion. The responses are always in written form. The students express themselves in the discussion forums and also seek feedback from their tutors through writing. Through online discussions, the students have the opportunity to share, comment and collaborate among themselves in a manner not experienced before in the face-to-face learning environment. An online discussion topic can take as long as the facilitator wishes. The online facilitator can then guide the students through each activity and give them an opportunity to test their understanding of these concepts in the online discussion forum. Online discussions allow students to read and react to each others discussion messages and have the time to think and formulate their own understanding. This of course increases student participation providing a non-judgemental environment. It provides a better learning experience for more introverted students who typically may not participate in traditional classroom discussion, but feel more safe and comfortable doing so in an online environment (Harasim, 1990). Also, online discussion encourages the students to contribute many responses and this consequently empowers students to improve their writing and communication skills. Also, the nature of online learning is such that the student can learn correct language construction from others with varied writing proficiency abilities.
Besides promoting more discussion, online learning also fosters higher-quality discussion by allowing students to formulate thoughts at a deeper more constructive level. Students can refer to their course materials or video and think through before posting a response. Since students post many responses within the same discussion thread, it is possible to view a video, read their colleagues responses and post their own responses, until one is satisfied with a learning experience.
Challenges of using video and online learning
The practical usability of the technology could pose a challenge. It is imperative that the students are able to access the hardware and software whenever it is required. At the University of South Africa, the students who learn online have to assure the faculty that they have all the proper facilities at their disposal. Students must have access to a video player and to a computer when using CD-ROM. Downloading video through the internet will require students to have certain software and also could take a lot of their time. The students therefore need to be given a range of resources whenever possible. Most students have access to the student portal known as myUnisa, where they can upload learning materials. However, this is not considered as a measure that students have access to the internet. Currently more than half the student population, that is, over 100,000 have accessed the student portal. They access the portal through the cybercafés or by other means which does not give them total control over the facilities. Hence, the number undergoing online courses at Unisa is normally very small and carefully selected to include only those with total access and control over the technology.
The infusion of information technology into the academic domain creates shifts in skills and cooperation. The lecturer has to work in a team with the online materials designer and the video producer. The faculty is responsible for course content, but instructional technologists apply the technology that suits the content (Anson, 1999). While video and CD-ROM designers are familiar with design technology, they may be unable to create learning materials that reflect the teacher’s position.
Online learning poses its own challenges to the lecturers who have to learn to teach by video, and learn how to facilitate and moderate the discussions in an online course. Lecturers have to learn how to facilitate online discussions and continually upgrade and improve the presentations on the video recordings and on CD-ROMs. It is, therefore, essential that lecturers test the designs developmentally and use the feedback from the students to make changes (Burge & Haughey, 2001).
Using media for teaching and learning cannot replace actual participation, especially in skill building. No matter how much students observe processes and procedures on video, and discuss these extensively online, the practical aspect of building a skill can only be achieved through the actual hands-on practical activity required to build the skill.
Conclusion
Learning technologies create changes in education, including the role educators assume and the application of learning theories. The design of the course should be flexible to meet students’ various learning styles, and to allow students time to cope with the learning workload.
The ability of the educators to take advantage of the power of the emerging technologies will depend on the creativity of engineers and their ability to exploit the capabilities of the media and incorporate learning theories effectively. Educators are also challenged to understand the relationship between the capabilities of the medium and potential applications. Engineers and educators must work together to design, deploy and use content specific media. It is imperative that institutions realise that the message is always more important than the means used to convey it and, that it is not only technology that is important, but also the learning methodologies utilized to employ the technology, Turoff (1999).
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