User:Kjetil Joa

== Annotated Bibliography ==

New Approaches to Higher Education: The Virtual Learning Environment

This paper is an annotated bibliography that will explore sources relevant for a study into the fast-changing environment of higher education. It will focus on the new and changing online resources offered to students and teachers to in a new and effective way enhance learning objectives.

The bibliography will look at how these sources of information describe e-learning in higher education, both investigation positive enhancements in the learning environment, and other possible implications with new technology in education.

Jones, G.R. (2002) Cyber Schools, An Education Renaissance, New York: Ibooks.

Glenn R. Jones talks about the difference between the educated and the not educated in his book about cyber schools in higher education. A dream of his would be to offer all students around the world the same quality education, taught by the same new approaches and with the same equipment/resources available.

Jones argues that because of the rapid ripe in literacy and education in western countries, education has become a lucrative export product. He says that this is made possible because of the convergence of technology and education.

In chapter 1 Jones talks about the global challenges facing higher education in the 21st century. He also discusses what higher education really targets. In chapter 4 he talks about the implications of the “virtual classroom�? which ha says can be anywhere; a university computer lab, or your own living room. In chapter 7 Jones outlines the roots and implications for distance learning. He argues that in these modern days e-learning has provided a campus for every continent.

Catherall, P. (2005) Delivering E-learning for information services in higher education. Oxford: Chandos Publishing Limited.

Catherall’s book aims to firstly define e-learning (electronic learning, most often defined as learning via the internet and networks) and VLE (the Virtual Learning Environment students and teachers operate in). The history of the internet and electronic sources are then shortly described.

In chapters 1-4 the author discusses approaches and strategy to e-learning in educational systems, as well as training and user-support for staff and students. Chapter 5 discuss the importance of accessibility to the net and implications for those that are left out. Legal issues about approaches to e-learning are also outlined.

Catherall concludes that the higher educational environment is rapidly changing, putting increasingly pressure on information services to meet demands of an non-traditional context. He argues that e-learning has become worldwide and that not only are universities adjusting to the new approaches to learning, more and more universities have courses offered online only.

Shields, M.A. (ed.) (1995) Work and Technology in Higher Education, The Social Construction of Higher Education, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers.

This book, edited by Mark A. Shields, is a collection of texts from various authors, providing research and case-studies about the link between technology and education. The texts in this book are a collection of ethnographic research where the focus is on the new uses of computer technology by people in both the learning environment and in private spaces.

The start of the book outlines the social constructions of academic computing, while later on the focus is on using a computer as a: machine, text and culture. The book is quite old (ten years is a long time in the world of technology) and therefore it can be useful to compare the results found by Shields et al, with newer ethnographic research about academic computing and new approaches to technology.

Bowles, M. S. (2004) Relearning to e-learn, Strategies for electronic learning and knowledge. Melbourne: Melbourne University Press.

Relearning to e-learn is an international research project designed to better understand both e-learning and the impact of multiple disciplines and processes within an organisational context. Its focus is especially on organisations, but also touches upon e-learning development by learners and instructors. The research’s result really promotes rethinking of strategies at individual, group and organisational levels. The author argues that many corporate e-learning initiatives have been compromised by lack of attention to issues in design, implementation and evaluation. Bowles really stresses the importance of evaluation and the way of processing new knowledge. He argues that e-learning’s role is not only transferring knowledge, but the value-adding achieved when analysing, building and implementing knowledge into systems, that will generate new knowledge.

Gillani, B.B. (2003) Learning Theories and the Design of E-Learning Environments, Maryland: University Press of America.

Gillani talks about the information overload learners receive today and the student diversity resulting from this. Students are more heterogenous than before, coming from different cultures and bringing different qualifications. The author talks about different cognitive models to employ in e-learning, which gives educational institutions further challenges.

Cognitive, social and psychological theories to e-learning are being discussed in full. Other than theories models, the author emphases on the design of e-learning approaches and argues that too much information is presented in the wrong way due to time pressure, or the simple fact that people want things out on the net as fast as possible. The author suggestions are to use different mediums for the specific information. He also suggests using other ways to design messages for its audience.

Gordon, G. (2004) “E-learning: a philosophical enquiry�?, Education & Training, 46(6/7), 308-314.

In this article Gordon not only outlines what e-learning is and its uses, he also draws comparisons with other new developments and their expectations and implications. Rather broad comparisons such as with the development of the nuclear bomb and other wild, but highly technical developments. But still inventions that gave expectations and had to adjust into society in its own specific way.

Gordon argues that the anticipated benefits with e-learning lie primarily in greater accessibility with respect to both time and space. The educational experience that e-learning can provide is not restricted to any geographical or even spatial location. He says that though the computerised learning can be unrestricted to any particular space, there are spatial restrictions. The learner must be at a computer or some other interface.

He argues that a book has an advantage that a computer, even a laptop, generally lacks. It can be slipped in a pocket or a handbag and read on the bus, train or plane. So, the extent to which e-learning makes educational materials more widely accessible is a matter of degree.

Gordon also touches on the implications of cost with e-learning. For a private person a computer, software and accessories can become a highly expensive cost, while books usually won’t. Also worth mentioning is that some software can take longer time to be developed than first anticipated, and that their “life-time�? is often rather short-lived, which means the learner has to acquire newer versions of the software, computer or other devices.

Lorimer, K.V. (1996) Education, knowledge and the Computer, Education Network for the 21st Century, San Diego: Link-Frame Publishing.

Kenneth Lorimer’s book dwells on knowledge and its ways functioning as information. Knowledge is nothing without being coded as information and decoded by the receiver, because information becomes knowledge when presented in the right way. Lorimer argues that there are different knowledge systems, and human capital is the main workers in the knowledge industry.

He takes his argument further by discussing how knowledge is represented internally in a computer at the basic level before he starts discussing the computer revolution that we now are living in and interacting with daily.

The author starts his explorations of the world of computer systems with dwelling on basic knowledge and cognitive systems. Further out in his discussion the author outlines the new possibilities for educational and organisational institutions, and ends his study with a case study about computers and alternative teaching methods.

McPherson, M. (2005) “Developing innovation in e-learning: lessons to be learned�?. British Journal of Educational Technology Volume 36 Issue 4 Page 585 - July 2005.

This article is a short editorial from British Journal of Education where the author discusses lessons to be learned by researchers and teachers of e-learning. The author argue that there are enough literature and information about design, development, and implementation about e-learning, and therefore wonders about the lack of information about why some projects does not work. Reasons mentioned are: unclear project scope, inadequate knowledge and skills, ambitious timeline and inadequate contingency plans. However the author confirms that these reasons are mere speculation.

The author argues that one might solve this problem by learning from past mistakes. Other ways of learning how to encounter problems may include enlisting researchers to report e-learning implementation problems in order to help bring fresh perspective to an institutional e-learning strategy.

Weller, M. Pegler, C. Mason, R. (2005) “Students' experience of component versus integrated virtual learning environments�?. Blackwell-synergy journal.

This article is a research into the virtual learning environment (VLE) in British schools. The focus is on different approaches to use in providing students with the most effective learning.

Two different ‘packages’ are mentioned and students and teachers are researched about which they prefer to use as a main component in their ‘virtual learning environment’ at school.

According to the author, the principal components of a VLE package, include curriculum mapping, student tracking, online support for both teacher and student, electronic communication (e-mail, threaded discussions, chat, Web publishing), and Internet links to outside curriculum resources.

In this study students and teachers were provided with two ‘packages’ (VLEs), one integrated approach and the other component. The integrated approach provides all of the common online learning tools within one software package. The component one also offers the possibility to adopt a 'best of breed' approach, by combining components from different providers (including free or open source software) into a single system.

In general, students preferred the component system, although this may have been influenced by other factors such as performance. Although the authors claim the latter approach to be the best on in the eyes of students, they admit that it will be hard to really generalise from a study in such a small scale as the one they have conducted.

Lynch, M. M. (2004) Learning Online, a guide to success in the virtual classroom. FoutledgeFarmer. New York

Lynch’s book is a study guide to online learning and focuses on broad aspects of the subject. The book starts with demystifying terms and concepts to online learning. Here the author starts with making the readers familiar with the media on has o understand to be able to work in a virtual learning environment. Secondly the author takes the reader on a journey to overcome ‘isolation’ and to start building community, something she calls the psychology of being online.

When the user (reader) is ‘adapted’ to the new online environment the discussion is taken further and applies learning techniques, online research methods and starts addressing issues of online ethics such as netiquette, plagiarism and software piracy. This book is a really good guide to e-learning and how to adapt to the virtual learning environment (VLE), discussing the basic terms in an easy-to-read way.

Kjetil Joa 12:00, 12 Aug 2005 (EST)