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Research on Asynchronous Learning

Networks: What We Know and

What We Need To Know

(Beyond the “Black Box”)Starr Roxanne Hiltz

(copyright, 2004) Penn StateApril 2004

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Online Enrollments and Research are GrowingAbout 2 million college students in the

U.S. are in online courses in the spring of 2004

There have now been hundreds of studiesTypical study: compares one or two Face

to Face course sections with one or two online sections: finds ‘no significant difference” in grades received or other measures of outcomes.

But what happens online is a “black box”

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Two views of Online Courses:

A means of cutting costs-- Post materials on the web; collect assignments; can handle thousands of students.

OR: A means of supporting learning communities (requires small classes mentored by faculty members; goals are improved access and effectiveness- ALN)

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ALN= “Asynchronous Learning Network”Asynchronous means “anytime/anyplace”

Learning networks are communities of learners who work together to build and share knowledge, through computer networks

Led by an instructor(s) who structures and facilitates the learning experiences

Technology: Computer mediated communication, e.g., WebBoard, WebCt, Blackboard, etc.

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Learning Networks Effectiveness Research Project

1.Gather and organize the studies and try to build an online research community:

In Online WebCenter for Learning Networks Effectiveness Research

2. Summarize all the research in a book

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The Book…Learning Together Online: Research on

Asynchronous Learning NetworksTo be published by Erlbaum in Fall 2004,

Hiltz & Goldman, eds.This presentation draws on 4 chapters with

contributions from Raquel Benbunan-Fich, Ben Arbaugh, Peter Shea, Karen Swan, and others.

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Online Interaction Learning Theory

Models the variables and processes that are important in determining the relative effectiveness of communities of online learners

The “outputs” are measures of effectiveness: student learning, student satisfaction, faculty satisfaction are primary measures

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TechnologyTechnology CourseCourse Student Student CharacteristicsCharacteristics

Access-Access-To ProfessorTo ProfessorConvenience Convenience

Progress to DegreeProgress to Degree

Learning Quality/Depth Learning Quality/Depth Course OutcomesCourse OutcomesStudent & Faculty Student & Faculty

Satisfaction Satisfaction GradesGrades

Amount and Type of UseAmount and Type of UseTeacher/Social PresenceTeacher/Social Presence

Active Participation,Active Participation,Collaborative LearningCollaborative Learning

Online Interaction Learning ModelOnline Interaction Learning Model

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The "inputs" or moderators or “contextual factors” include the characteristics of:*The technology ( in particular, the media mix); *The group (course or class), and the

organizational setting (college or university), which define the context in which the technology is used.

*The instructor, and*The individual student. These four sets of factors are expected to act as

"moderator" variables (Barron and Kinney, 1986) that influence how the technology is adapted for a particular course.

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“Mediator” Variables: What actually goes on?

What is the nature and pattern of interaction online-

e.g.- Do students respond to one another?

Is there “Teaching Presence,” emergence of Community?

Is it mainly individual work and teacher-student communication, or Collaborative work with extensive student-student communication?

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Emphases today:1. What do we know about

effective learning processes online?

2. What are the relatively neglected but important research questions on contextual/ moderator factors?

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Teaching Presence

1. Simple level: if the instructor is not online every day, the students won’t be there either.

2. “Immediacy” refers to behaviors that lesson the “psychological distance between communicators” (Weiner & Mehrabian, 1968).

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Teaching Presence/ Immediacy behaviors

1. Immediacy behaviors can be verbal (ie., giving praise, soliciting viewpoints, humor, self-disclosure), or non-verbal (ie., physical proximity, touch, eye-contact, facial expressions, gestures).

2. Educational researchers have found that teachers’ verbal and non-verbal immediacy behaviors lead, directly or indirectly depending on the study, to greater learning.

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Collaborative Learning Premises of the NJIT studies and approach:

ALNs Provide unique opportunities to support collaborative (group based) learning

Collaborative learning is crucial to the effectiveness of online learning environments

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COLLABORATIVE OR “GROUP LEARNING”

STUDENTS LEARN FROM EACH OTHER– “A PROCESS OF GROUP CONVERSATIONS

AND ACTIVITY, GUIDED BY A FACULTY MEMBER WHO STRUCTURES TASKS AND ACTIVITIES AND OFFERS EXPERTISE.”

• (BOUTON & GARTH)

From dyads to whole class working together on an activity

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Seminar: Students as Teachers

Peer Writing Groups (Constructive Criticism)

Group Projects

Case study discussions

Web “treasure hunts,” compilations

Debates

Construct an exam/ work through sample exams

Networked classes

Reading Critiques: “Nuggets and Turds”

Delphi exercises (rounds of idea generation and voting/ evaluation)

Some VARIETIES OF COLLABORATIVE LEARNING

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Why Does Collaborative Learning Work?

1. Conflict or disagreement (Piaget)When disagreement occurs between peers, the

social relationship leads them to find a solution

The resulting verbal interactions to resolve the conflicting viewpoints can lead to learning.

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Why Does Collaborative Learning Work?

2. “Self- Explanation:” when one peer is more knowledgeable than the other, the latter can learn from the former,

AND

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Self explanation mechanism

The more able peer also benefits: providing an explanation improves the knowledge of the explainer. In explaining, they articulate and integrate various pieces of knowledge, make explicit some implicit problems solving steps, and thereby become more proficient.

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Why/How Does Collaborative Learning Work?

Some of the mechanisms can only function well in small groups; therefore, at least some of the ALN activities need to be in small groups

Some of the mechanisms work best when there is heterogeneity; ALN tends to attract a more heterogeneous “class” in terms of age, experience, gender, ethnic groups etc.

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Research Issues- Collaborative LearningTo have collaborative learning,

instructor needs to require and grade online participation. BUT-

1. How do you get students to actively engage with one another and respect the knowledge they have to share, rather than just go through the motions of “posting something” without responding to others?

2. How do you decrease the grading burden? (visualization tool- dissertation under way)

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Jeffrey Saltz: Social Network Visualization Tool

One Message Several

Messages

Different students replying to Student “B”

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Moderators, 1: Technology

1.Generally, comparative research on the effectiveness of various software packages and of the influence of different features and characteristics on teaching and learning is limited.

2.Media Mix- Blended/ synchronous chats/ All

asych. text3.Few studies on effects of digital

multimedia in collaborative learning, such as student presentations using audio.

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Institutional Characteristics

Typical institutional challenges can be classified in three critical areas: technological support, administrative support and policy issues.

Little focus on institutional obstacles that may prevent widespread implementation. The existing research regarding institutional characteristics is mostly prescriptive.

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Course CharacteristicsWhat we know: there seems to be a

curvilinear relationship with class size: Up to a certain point (about 25-30) effectiveness increases with class size; then it decreases.

What we need to know: Disciplines such as information systems have been the subject of extensive ALN research, but others such as the humanities have received little or no research attention.Few studies comparing undergraduate vs. graduate ALN courses

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Instructor Characteristics and Pedagogy A significant question meriting future

research attention is whether either the “objectivist” or the ‘constructivist” approach or a combination of them best predicts student learning and/or satisfaction in the ALN environment, and how this interacts with the characteristics of the students and the subject matter.

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What We Know About Student Characteristics

On the individual level, students who are motivated, self-directed and confident about having the computer skills necessary to use the technology are those who are most likely to thrive in the ALN environment.

Females seem on the average to be somewhat more comfortable in ALN courses than males– perhaps because of their generally

higher verbal skills and their greater tendency to like collaborative learning styles.

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Student Characteristics: What we need to knowCognitive Style: Students tend to prefer to

process information in different ways. There are many different classification schemes, and lack of agreement on whether aspects of cognitive style significantly predict learner success.

One classification is verbal vs. non-verbal learners:

The former feel more comfortable with text-based information while the latter prefer non-verbal materials, such as images (Monaghan & Stenning, 1988). We need more research on whether digital multimedia included in ALN helps non- verbal learners.

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What we need to know… How to support weaker students OVERALL: We could use more

longitudinal and multivariate studies

Across a variety of disciplines and institutions and cultural/national backgrounds of students,

Which look at how characteristics of the students interact with pedagogy and interaction patterns online to produce course outcomes.

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To Learn more: Join the research community on the

WebCenter for Learning Networks Effectiveness Research:

http://www.ALNResearch.org