Eurodl EDEN
About EURODL | Current Issue | Subscription | For Authors | Special Issues | Archives Eurodl RSS
Full-papers | Brief items | Reviews
New Chief Editor in EURODL
The EDEN Executive Committee assigned Dr. Ulrich Bernath as Chief Editor of the journal.
Latest article
Improving Learning in a Traditional, Large-Scale Science Module with a Simple and Efficient Learning Design
26.11.2014
Latest Brief Item
Strategies for the Adoption of Open Textbooks: The Latin American Open Textbooks Initiative
02.10.2014
Archives
2014/I
2013/II
2013/I
2012/II
2012/I
2011/II
2011/I
2010/II
2010/I
2009/II
2009/I
2008/II
2008/I
2007/II
2007/I
2006/II
2006/I
2005/II
2005/I
2004/II
2004/I
2002
2001
2000
1999
1998
1997
EURODL Mailinglist
2876 subcribers
EURODL Visitors
Bookmark and Share
back
Students’ Attitudes towards Technology-Enabled Learning: A Change in Learning Patterns? The Case of a Master’s Course in Political Science
Mihai Păunescu, National School of Political and Administrative Studies, Bucharest, Romania
Abstract
This article sets to explore the attitudes of higher education students enrolled in a political science programme at Master level towards e-learning facilitated by the introduction of a Moodle platform. The students have been surveyed at the end of public management course in the first semester of the programme asking them to evaluate both the contents (resources) available on the virtual learning environment, as well as the type of activities and the general interaction with technology. The objectives of our survey were twofold: first to carry a thorough evaluation of the course in order to collect evidence for further improvement, but also, more importantly, to unravel the established patterns of students’ learning and their attitudes towards a set of technology facilitated type of learning activities. We conclude that the implementation of a VLE is definitely not likely to immediately change existing learning/teaching practice. It is seen mainly as a support and complementing activity of face-to-face course deliveries, but does not yet change the pedagogical underpinnings of the learning practices. On the other hand, a thorough evaluation of students’ attitudes towards technology-enabled learning is crucial for consistently planning course designs and for embedding a quality culture at course level.
Keywords: e-learning, learning strategies, learning theories, higher education, students' attitudes.
Objectives
This article sets to explore the attitudes of higher education students enrolled in a political science programme at Master’s level towards e-learning facilitated by the introduction of a Moodle platform. The students have been surveyed at the end of public management course in the first semester of the programme asking them to evaluate both the contents (resources) available on the virtual learning environment, as well as the type of activities and the general interaction with technology. The objectives of our survey were twofold: first to carry a thorough evaluation of the course in order to collect evidence for further improvement, but also, more importantly, to unravel established patterns of students’ learning and their attitudes towards a set of technology facilitated type of learning activities. The literature review that was undertaken for the purpose of this study has also considered two streams of research. First, we reviewed articles on the factual attitudes and representations of students towards technology in learning also comparing to teachers’ views and actual use of technology in higher education. Secondly, we spanned some normative models that link various types of tools and technology to educational theories suggesting how to develop consistent design in order to reach the proposed learning outcomes. The first strand of reviewed literature is factual, while the second is more normative.
The ‘Factual’ Literature Review
There is a quite impressive strand of educational research on the impact of technology on the students’ attitudes, habits and patterns of learning as well as on their students and teachers’ representations of learning with technology (Vogel and Oliver, 2004; Oliver and Price, 2005; Price and Oliver, 2007; Conole et al., 2008; Edmunds et al., 2012). Recent research (Edmunds et al., 2012) shows that usefulness and ease of use are key dimensions of students attitudes towards technology; thus the students attitudes are very much pragmatic and oriented towards effectiveness and flexibility between study, work and leisure. This is consistent with the finding that “technology use at work is an important driver for technology use in other areas” (p. 71). The same research also draws the attention to the fact that students do not necessarily share teachers’ perceptions of what is functional and that they “have clear requirements in terms of technology enabling them to produce more in the time they have, and enabling them to be more effective” (p.83). Therefore thorough evaluation of the students’ attitudes and their ways of interaction with technology shall be undertaken in order to take full advantage in planning and designing a learning environment. Another piece of research (Conole et al., 2008) that supports these findings also shows that technology provides “alternative routes to engagement, responsive and immediate modes of interaction and communication and flexibility, which allows home, work and university life to become manageable” (p. 523). The research concludes that students are comfortable with technology, see it as integral, are sophisticated users and have specific expectations, such as up-to-date and relevant information and communication. Aspects of learning such as directed study, resource discovery, preparation of assignments, communication and collaboration are supported by students’ use of technology. Analyzing the students’ attitudes towards a hypermedia Learning Environment, Heike Theyssen (2006) argues that flexibility, including the free choice of time, individual timing and the option of repeats is, from the students’ point of view, the most important advantage; “a second important advantage can be seen in the self determined use of the advices within the HML, which implies a certain degree of self-control of the learning process”.
On the other hand, as Vogel and Oliver (2004) show teachers tend to think of their virtual learning environment (VLE) area as a publishing platform and not as a course representation; academics are using technology mainly as a support and complementary element. Furthermore Oliver and Price (2005) found that the use of VLEs radically changed the way teachers in higher education do things, but not the purposes and pedagogical values of their practice; teachers tend to focus their use of VLEs on tasks that are easy to implement, usually employing a ‘transmissive’ model of pedagogy.
Consequently, an important strand of research carried to date warns us of the possible mismatch between the universities “current offerings and students use and a further mismatch between institutions’ perceptions of students’ use of technology and actual use” (Conole et al., 2008, p.513).
There are, nonetheless, other researches which adopt a more contingent perspective on students’ attitudes towards technology use. The individual situation in which a student may be impacts on the attitudes and perceptions towards using a learning platform (Graff, Davies and McNorton, 2004; Alobiedat & Saraierh, 2010). “Although an illusory ‘typical learner’ exists, a variety of factors, including students’ gender, access to the internet, age, owning laptop, and motivation, could explain different reactions among the student population.” Graff, Davies and McNorton (2004) argue that “differences exist principally on two levels, which are nationality and cognitive learning style.” The authors suggest “that future design of web-based and computer-assisted learning systems need to take account of these differences”.
Normative Models of E-Learning Integration
On the other hand, a number of studies have focused on normative models and ways of mapping pedagogy, tools and practice for effective e-learning design (Conole et al, 2004; de Freitas et al., 2008). Conole and Fill (2005) have also proposed a taxonomy of learning activities establishing correspondences between pedagogical approaches, type of learning tasks, educational techniques and technological tools. Based on key learning theories, Conole et al. (2004) developed a framework model consisting of six components that constitute alternatives in designing learning activities. According to Conole et al. (2004, p.22-23) these components are:
Individual – Where the individual is the focus of learning.
Social – learning is explained through interaction with others (such as a tutor or fellow students), through discourse and collaboration and the wider social context within which the learning takes place.
Reflection – Where conscious reflection on experience is the basis by which experience is transformed into learning.
Non-reflection – Where learning is explained with reference to processes such as conditioning, preconscious learning, skills learning and memorisation (Jarvis, Holford, & Griffin, 1998)
Information – Where an external body of information such as text, artefacts and bodies of knowledge form the basis of experience and the raw material for learning.
Experience – Where learning arises through direct experience, activity and practical application.
Conole et al. (2004) assert that the different pedagogical approaches, such as behaviourism, reflective learning, experiential learning can be mapped to different parts of the model and thus consistent learning activities could be designed. This model constituted the normative starting point of our research; we thus included survey items that not only evaluated the course componen