Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
Integrating Cloud and Mobile Technologies in Experiential Learning: From Reality to Reflection
Stephanie Day EIT Hawke’s Bay
Napier New Zealand
Michael Verhaart EIT Hawke’s Bay
Napier New Zealand
ABSTRACT Tertiary education is witnessing a paradigm shift as institutions grapple with meeting the converging demands of student needs, changing learning environments and the increasing demand for ubiquitous learning. The challenge for educators is to provide integrated learning activities that address these demands while remaining engaging and authentic. This paper reports on a field trip activity where both local and remote students used several technologies to participate, capture evidence and reflect on their experiences. The research uses a qualitative case study methodology and the question this paper addresses is “How can the integration of multiple technologies support participation and engagement in experiential learning activities?”
The findings from this research show that a combination of web-based and mobile technologies successfully supported experiential field-based learning for both face-to-face and remote students. Students successfully used mobile devices to capture multimedia evidence while in the field and later shared these in a class blog. Although the shared blogging environment caused some issues, it provided a number of benefits for both students and lecturer. These benefits included promotion of deeper student reflections and a reduced marking load for the lecturer.
Keywords: gxLearning, synchromodal, synchronous hybrid, Hyflex, experiential learning, field trip, mobile learning, Adobe Connect, #NPF14LMD
1. INTRODUCTION Education is witnessing a paradigm shift. The NMC Horizon report: 2013 Higher Education Edition (New Media Consortium, 2013), acknowledged that educator roles are changing as students engage in more informal and ubiquitous learning using the opportunities afforded by mobile devices and the availability of Internet based information. Coupled with this connectedness, is the expectations by new students in tertiary education that they will experience multi-mode learning and assessment opportunities (Ako Aotearoa, 2009) that meet their individual needs. Institutions, in response to these demands are moving towards providing increased hybrid or blended learning opportunities, where students have the opportunity to attend class for some activities and take advantage of online opportunities for others (New Media Consortium, 2013). The challenge for educators in this environment of change is to provide innovative learning and assessment opportunities that remain authentic and continue to engage students.
A field trip is one way to engage students in an authentic learning experience. Students studying a level 7 Bachelor of Computing Systems paper at the Eastern Institute of Technology (EIT) participated in a mobile device augmented field trip as part of a NZ wide project, Ako Aotearoa National Project Fund, ‘Learners and mobile devices (#NPF14LMD): A framework for enhanced learning and institutional change’ (2014). The project's key questions were derived from Traxler (2010), Will learners’ mobile devices deliver innovation, inclusion, and transformation—the main potential benefits for learners? If so, how? What is the ‘framework for enhanced
learning and institutional change’ that will deliver these benefits?
Using a qualitative case study approach, this research focused on the integration of several technologies needed to support the field trip and in particular, the mobile technologies used to support geographically extended learning (coined by Verhaart and Hagen-Hall (2012) as “gxLearning”), where through the use of web conferencing, students were able to either attend physically and/or online in real time. The research question this paper addresses is, “How can the integration of multiple technologies support participation and engagement in experiential learning activities?” and multiple sources were used to capture evidence of both student and staff observations and experiences.
A brief literature review is presented that outlines the value of field trips as experiential learning activities and how these activities may be supported for remote student participation using a combination of cloud and mobile technologies. This is followed by a description of the field trip with observations from both students and academic staff, and concludes with recommendations for future research. With a special focus on the layers of technology required to support experiential learning for remote participants, this paper emphasises the importance of good technological infrastructure to support student learning in the field.
2. CASE STUDY BACKGROUND 2.1 Digital Learning Technologies The EIT level 7 Bachelor of Computing Systems (BCS) paper, Digital Learning Technologies (DLT), aims to provide students with knowledge and practical experience of digital technologies used in an educational and training environment (Digital Learning Technologies, 2015). Students were able to participate in this class either attending face-to-face or remotely using the web conferencing system, Adobe Connect.
This quality assured paper appeared at the 6th annual conference of Computing and Information Technology Research and Education New Zealand (CITRENZ2015) and the 28h Annual Conference of the National Advisory Committee on Computing Qualifications, Queenstown, New Zealand, October 6-9, 2015. Michael Verhaart, Amit Sarkar, Rosemarie Tomlinson and Emre Erturk (Eds).
Each week, students explored digital learning technologies and related theories and practices. At the conclusion of each week, students were required to complete a research or reflection based assessed activity normally in their own blog.
2.2 The field trip As part of a DLT segment on exploring instructional design and technological/pedagogical relationships, students were taken into the field to experience how a teacher uses a classroom management system within EIT’s School of Music. During the field trip, the students were encouraged to ask relevant questions and use mobile devices to capture multimedia evidence of their experience. Figure 1 shows the guest teacher welcoming students to the music suite, and Figure 2 is inside the music suit showing students recording the session with personal digital devices.
Figure 1: Welcoming students to music suite
Figure 2: Inside the music suite
As part of exposing the students to a variety of technological/pedagogical experiences they were required to complete the following assessed activities in a shared class blog:
Reflect on the issues surrounding the use of the digital learning technologies experienced during the field trip. Include any photos or media captured during the tour,
List the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats when using these technologies,
Reflect on some of the considerations when designing learning for remote participation.
Google Blogger was chosen as the host blogging platform as it features the ability to have a variety of control and access methods, including ways in which authors can contribute to
the blog. Authors may contribute directly if given author rights by the blog owner, post via SMS or post using email. Blogger also has an app that allows posting for a variety of mobile devices.
To add complexity to the field trip, students who were unable to attend face-to-face, participated within a mobile enabled gxLearning environment using Adobe Connect. Two mobile devices were used to enable the remote students to participate. An iPad was used to video stream the field trip and laptop to facilitate the discussion (see Figure 1). Twenty-eight students from the Digital Learning Technologies class participated in the case study field experience, 10 who attended remotely. Figure 3 illustrates the Adobe Connect software view as seen by remote students, and this view is similar on PC and tablet based devices.
Figure 3: Music School lecturer introduces DLT students
to classroom management software
3. LITERATURE REVIEW 3.1 Field trips as experiential learning The value of field trips has been widely recognised as increasing student interest, knowledge and motivation (Behrendt & Franklin, 2014). Described by Scarce (1997) as short-term experiential learning, field trips have been part of an educational strategy that provides students with a learning experience that connects classroom learning to the real world (Wu, 2009). A field trip as experiential learning has its roots in philosophical thought. Described as a four stage cycle, experiential learning consists of a learner experience, reflecting or reviewing the experience, forming concepts as a result of the experience and finally, testing the implications of the learned concepts in new scenarios (Kolb, 1984). Beard and Wilson (2006) also describe this in a linear chronological manner; “learning from an event at the time it occurs; learning from the past event when reflecting on it later; learning more about a past event when thinking about it further; reinterpreting the past event differently in light of further experience(s); analysing future scenarios.” (pp. 35-36).
The virtual field trip (VFT) aims to bring the real world experience into the classroom by way of computing technology. As early as 1985, educators were using current technology to audio conference between schools to support student investigation and learning (Tuthill & Klemm, 2002). More recently, online simulation software has been used to create virtual environments where the real world is simulated and participants take online roles to actively participate in the experience (Schott, Murray, Mclean & Raivoka, 2011). Between these two paradigms, lies the opportunity to use cloud and mobile technologies to enable virtual participation in a real-life field experience.
3.2 Mobile in the field A mobile device is characterised as being a small hand-held computer that has connectivity to mobile telecommunications or Wi-Fi networks. Mobile devices are usually represented as smart-phones or tablets and take on many of the functions of desktop computers. Traxler (2010) describes their use as a learning tool:
“Students no longer need to engage with information and discussion at the expense of real life, but can do so as part of real life as they move about the world, using their own devices to connect them to people, ideas, and information of their own choosing, perhaps using these same devices to produce, consume, and store content and conversation” (p. 3).
Mobile devices have been used to support field trip activities. The advantage to student learning is the seamless nature by which the devices allow learning over various contexts and locations, from recording observations in the field, vocalising questions from notes (Lai, Chen & Yang, 2014), to using the device video and audio capabilities alongside location aware applications and GPS trackers to capture metadata for later use (Beddall-Hill & Raper, 2010). In an effort to extend learning beyond the field to students in the classroom, Joel, Arnott, Hine, et al. (2004) reported on the European Commission’s Remote Access Field Trip (RAFT) project where video-conferencing and instant messaging was used to create a “pervasive environment in which participants can interact with each other” (p. 2). Their conclusions summarise the need for systems that enable access both in the field and in class, a system where the technology supports the fieldwork and the fieldwork is not impeded by the use of technology and an infrastructure that is “all-encompassing”.
3.3 gxLearning As student cohorts have become more diverse and the need for flexibility in delivery is increased, institutes have looked for ways to cater to these demands. One way this has been met is by using technology to enable student class participation without being in the physical space. Using technology to enable flexibility is evident in eLearning or blended learning environments, but the ability to include distance students in a face-to-face class has only become possible with the development of reliable web conferencing and video conferencing technologies that require little infrastructure and support. One such method is “gxLearning”, and is described by Verhaart and Hagen-Hall (2012) as a method of teaching to “a geographically distributed class, consisting of students in a face-to-face mode plus students in a remote location” (p. 111). Similar environments have been described by Bell, Sawaya and Cain (2014) as synchromodal learning, synchromodal classes or synchronous hybrid, where online and face-to-face students interact synchronously through video conferencing and other web based technologies. Earlier, the Hyflex design was described as offering students flexibility to attend either face-to-face or online using a variety of both synchronous and asynchronous technologies (Beatty, 2007). Web conferencing technologies such as Adobe Connect support gxLearning by providing an online environment that offers a variety of synchronous communication opportunities; video, audio, chat and interactive whiteboard and presentation capabilities, to the combined student group. The gxLearning environment, along with supporting Wi-Fi or data networks has the potential to be extended beyond classroom, providing opportunities for students to engage in field experiences no matter their location.
3.4 Blogging as reflective practice Blogs or similar cloud based journaling tools have increasingly been used in education as a platform for enabling reflective practice as part of assessment (Garrison & Vaughn, 2008). Reflection forms an integral part of the experiential learning cycle, building the connection between what students have experienced and assisting in generating understanding and new ideas (Behrendt & Franklin, 2014) and blogs offer an accessible and user friendly platform on which this can be achieved. Blogging has the potential to span the field-class (remote – face-to-face) divide. Accessible by mobile devices, cloud based blogging tools enable quick reflection and curating of media in the field, and later, these entries can form the basis for further clarification, interpretation and deeper understanding (Pierroux, Krange, & Sem, 2011).
4. RESEARCH 4.1 Purpose In order to investigate the effectiveness of mobile technology in supporting a field trip experience a case study approach was taken. This case study “investigates a contemporary phenomenon within its real-life context” (Yin, 2003) and relies on multiple sources of evidence to answer the question “How can the integration of multiple technologies support participation and engagement in experiential learning activities?”
4.2 Method and data collection The student blog entries as an assessed activity formed part of the empirical evidence used in analysing student observation, experience and reflection resulting from the field trip. Further qualitative evidence was then captured using a short electronic survey and a class based focus group. The findings from these three sources are interwoven and supplemented by lecturer observations and reflections.
4.2.1 Class blog Reflective comments from the student blog posts were coded into the three themes relevant to this research; mobile use, gxLearning and class blogging. Participation in this activity was expected as part of assessment requirements.
Twenty-one students completed their assessed activity and published their blog posts.
4.2.2 Survey In order to gauge student experience in the gxLearning environment, a small online survey used in an earlier research project was used (Verhaart & Hagen-Hall, 2012, p. 118) that focused on capturing use, benefits and disadvantages, level of engagement and enjoyment in using Adobe Connect for remote participation. Likert scale ratings questions were included that captured a variety of usage scenarios. The scales ranged from 1 - 5, where 1 indicated an awful experience and 5 a great experience. Included with each Likert scale question was the ability to add unstructured comments. Basic demographic questions were also included. The survey was distributed electronically to students and no identifying data was captured during the process.
The online survey was open to two classes that had the opportunity to participate using Adobe Connect, Digital Learning Technology (DLT) and Advanced Internet and Web (AIWD), and was completed by 35 students (out of a possible 65).
4.2.3 Focus group The focus group discussion took place during normal class time with the DLT students. Questions were displayed on a shared Google document, allowing students working remotely to include their answers. The focus group questions asked the
students to further describe their experiences attending (either face-to-face or virtually) the field trip, their use mobile technology and their participation in the class blog. Comments were captured in class, in the Google document and from the chat stream within Adobe Connect. The class lecturer facilitated the discussion. All identifying information has been removed.
The focus group discussion included 28 students, 12 of whom were in the face-to-face class and 16 who attended virtually.
4.3 Ethics This research was approved by EIT’s Research and Ethics Approvals Committee (2012) under the umbrella of approval granted for gxLearning and the #npf14lmd mobile project research. Survey participation was voluntary, and respondents were able to choose which questions to respond to. All results are reported anonymously.
4.4 Limitations The sample size is identified as a significant limitation of the study, and the results must be considered with this in mind. Also, the effect of this being a “one-off” and “novel” student experience will have an impact on how students found the experience both positive and negative. Any issues with technology may also have affected the results, however, it is hoped that students will have been able to provide feedback in either the survey or the focus group. Another factor that should be considered is that the student cohort is made up of third year undergraduate Information Technology students, so there is an expectation that they would have an advanced level of computer literacy. It should be noted that while the Adobe Connect interaction was encouraged in DLT as part of the student learning, it is was provided as an optional mode of delivery for AIWD, and this would have an effect on the survey responses.
5. FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION The purpose of this study was to investigate how the integration of multiple technologies can support both local and remote student participation and engagement in experiential learning activities in the field. The results indicate that while the mobile technologies used were enabling, several issues impacted on the student experience. These issues were particularly relevant for those students who attended remotely via the gxLearning environment. The results also show that while class blogging has its benefits, there are time and management considerations for the blog owner during both the setup and assessment periods.
5.1 Adobe Connect and gxLearning Student feedback about the benefits of attending class using Adobe Connect and the gxLearning environment aligned to four distinct themes: flexibility, distance, mobile access and the ability to watch session recordings.
Flexibility with attendance was a dominant theme, particularly during times of illness;
“Continue "attending" lectures when unwell”, and “When my children was sick I attended class via adobe
connect, works great”, “This webinar technology helps to attend the class from
anywhere. I can attend the class if i am feeling not well”
The ability to attend when at a distance also played a part in student choice to participate virtually, “I could attend class from anywhere and anytime from any device.” Particularly pertinent was the ability to offer the class to student located at EIT’s remote campus in Gisborne “I live in Gisborne city and cannot relocate to Taradale to attend classes. :)”.
Mobile technology too featured as a benefit, “Even without a computer, I can still use a smartphone to attend class” and “... sometimes i had my work and class at the same time . So i could always attend the class through my cellphone at my work easily”.
Lastly, the ability to record the session for later viewing and reflection was considered beneficial, as one student noted, “I usually attend all the classes but can not always remember every important detail. It is a nice way of going through the lecture again and refresh the information provided.”
Students commented on the technological requirements “The more complex and more useful technologies go often hand in hand with higher requirements in terms of hardware and technical understanding” and offered solutions, “Use good hardware for better resolution and good sound for example webcam integrated with mic (microphone)”. The time required to set up a gxLearning environment was also noted by one student, “always takes some time so set everything up and if you do not have the appropriate hardware, the software's potential can not be fully used”
Students also reflected on the pedagogical aspects of gxLearning “the learning design and preparation needs to over the increased demands of teaching across two channels at the same time” and “The teacher must be skilled (and preferably at expert level) across all domains: pedagogy, instructional design, the subject material to be presented, the technology used for delivery and managing two audiences before, during and after delivery”. One student also recognised the additional work demands on the lecturer, “The time demands, workload and variables are significantly increased over a standard face to face delivery to a class”.
The students listed the general disadvantages of the gxLearning environment as being technology related. The key theme that emerged was the general dissatisfaction with the quality of the audio stream, “sometimes the audio is not very clear” and the “Volume of the audio, clarity of the other students feeding back”. This was noted in particular by one student, “The sound quality is really poor. Especially for non-native speakers it is even harder to understand the lecturer when recorded in a poor sound quality”. One student related this to the quality of the Internet connection “sometimes when you do not have good internet connection you may experience loss of sound”. Another student also attributed the quality of Internet connection to viewing ability, “bad Internet connection made it hard to view”.
Other disadvantages of relevance were related to engagement in the learning experience, “The inherent remoteness of presence and sound making for a lesser quality learning experience”, “Lecturer not being aware of people commenting online and having to wait a while for a reply” and “It was a little harder to stay focused on what i was doing while i had access to my games at the same time”.
5.2 The Mobile gxLearning enabled Field Trip In this case study, students participated in the field trip either face-to-face or via mobile device enabled web conferencing using the gxLearning environment and Adobe Connect. The use of mobile devices to include remote students as active participants in experiential learning activities has been largely unexplored. The RAFT project in 2002 started to investigate this concept with a vision to expand the then current eLearning and mobile learning (mLearning) practices (Joel, et al., 2004), but never extended this beyond connecting the field to the classroom.
During the field trip two mobile devices were used to enable remote student participation, a laptop to facilitate the text chat and an iPad to stream the video. The remote students attended from a variety of places, including home, work and other places on campus. This remote location diversity highlighted a number of issues that affected their experience, including:
the need for a strong Wi-Fi or 3g connection to support the live video and audio feeds,
the need for good quality hardware, the cost factor if using mobile data networks for either
streaming or participation, and device choice.
The students who attended remotely commented on the quality of the audio and video feeds noting “lousy video, audio clear” and that the poor video quality from the iPad made it “hard to view”. Although one student attributed this to the “internet connection”, the general quality of video when using the Adobe Connect iPad app is low.
In the field, the class lecturer monitored the chat feed and was able to relay questions as they appeared and students were appreciative of this ability to actively participate, “asked questions that were answered”. For one student, time saving was critical, “Adobe connect played important role for me as it saved having to travel a for a longer time that it would have taken to attend the actual class, can be 4 hours travel for 1 hour class”.
Although mobile phones have long been used to support field trips as a way to encourage students to capture evidence, share first impressions, and to reflect on later (Pierroux, Krange & Sem, 2011), most of the DLT students did not post media or blog while in the field, but deferred this until a later time. Photos were then transferred to a laptop or PC for uploading into the blog. One student noted it was “easier on mobile than on PC” but the majority felt typing was “easier on a PC”. Students were reluctant to use mobile devices to enter volumes of text due to their small size. One student described the issue, “not comfortable using mobile due to awkwardness of small keyboard”. One student who did use the Blogger mobile app considered that, “The mobile devices were great for photos and videos. Could access blogs remotely. The only issue I had was that some of the editing features are limited on mobile devices but full editing features are avail[sic] on desktop”. However, in most cases, students transferred media from their mobile devices to laptops or desktop computers before integrating into the reflective blogging activity.
The students showed they were able to recognise limitations and complete activities using different devices in different situations. This interchange and fluidity between devices by these students supports the assertion by Pacher, Bachmair, Cook and Kress (2010) that mobile for learning is less about the device itself and more “about the processes of coming to know and being able to operate successfully in, and across, new and ever changing contexts and learning spaces” (p.6). Students reported using a range of mobile devices including laptops, “used a laptop computer 14 inch screen. Advantage is standard working environment for me”; smartphones “I used a mobile device to view the virtual classroom. The device is a Samsung S4 mobile phone”, and tablets “I used a tablet and was able to watch but communication with it on my end was hard”.
The convenience of mobile was noted along with disadvantages “the disadvantages of a mobile device is finding somewhere to connect to a wifi connection. if you are using mobile data, you are likey[sic] to use up most of your daily or monthly data usage very quickly as you are streaming live video”.
The expense of using mobile data when in a 3g-network environment was a significant finding. This expense influences how a device is used when outside free Wi-Fi areas and limits student willingness to “stream video” and other media.
From a lecturer perspective, setting up the field trip and associated technologies required significant pre-planning, however, once done, could be reused in other future activities. In this case, students in the DLT class were third year degree level therefore a significant level of computer expertise could be assumed. Having the necessary skills to use mobile devices, and add a post to a blog that included multimedia was expected. In other classes this ability may need to be clarified prior to arranging a gxLearning enhanced field trip.
5.3 Shared Reflective Blogging Blogging was seen as a positive way to enable students to reflect on their field experiences, and in this case study, formed part of an assessed activity.
There are two ways blogging can be managed: student personal blogs, and shared class blogs. Students had already been exposed to personal blogging for reflection and assessment, and the lecturer had graded these. From a lecturer perspective, having to access each student blog individually, locate the relevant post, assess and grade the entry was a time consuming task. This raised the question, “would a shared student blog for an assessed activity make this easier to manage?” Using a class blog also gave the digital learning technology students the opportunity to compare the advantages and disadvantages of using both blog types.
Shared blogging, however, posed several challenges. One issue was how to allow students to post to the blog. Blogging platforms such as Word Press and Google Blogger both allow posting via email, however, Blogger allows a blog owner to generate a custom email address whereas Word Press provides a cryptic one. This, alongside an earlier requirement that students create a Google account, was the deciding factor in choosing Blogger as the preferred shared blogging platform. A significant disadvantage of allowing students to post via the blog email address is that the post is recorded as having been added by the owner (in this case the lecturer) and if students omit adding an identifying comment (such as their name), it is not possible to determine whom the post was from. To allow students to post using their name however, posed additional challenges. Students Google Gmail (email) addresses needed to be added to the blog and given authoring rights. This was a manual process that required the lecturer to collect the Gmail addresses then enter them into the blog permissions area.
Students did not necessarily want to share their Gmail address with the whole class so it was important that this process was managed to ensure privacy. Therefore, prior to the field trip, students were asked to add their Gmail address to an assessment upload area in the Institute's Learning Management System (LMS), EITOnline. This allowed students to keep their Gmail addresses confidential from other students while sharing with the class lecturer. Although students had many reminders to provide their Gmail addresses for inclusion as authors, some supplied these late and therefore experienced additional problems. Students commented on the time it took for the class lecturer to add email addresses and that invitations to edit often expired before the student was ready to post, however this could also attributed to the flow on effect of the students themselves being late. The class lecturer reported regular checking was needed to keep track of which students has recently added their addresses. Despite having the fallback of a shared email
facility, some students still experienced difficulty posting and in one instance a student posted via a “friend’s” user-id.
One positive note was the student’s ability to easily see what other students had blogged, “They were good to read to sometimes get ideas”, and another “it was like having a template, but I went off in another direction”. Apart from one individual, students did not feel like they were cheating by having access to the ideas generated in other student posts, one expressed that it was “Collaborative learning”. Students felt that being able to view other students’ posts allowed them to more clearly construct their own reflections. This is congruent with the findings of Philip and Nicholls (2009), where they found the “public nature of the group blog strengthened the depth of analysis and reflection” (p. 696).
For assessment purposes, having the posts in a single blog made grading significantly easier and less time consuming. A sample blog post is illustrated in Figure 4.
Figure 4: Sample student blog post (Source:
http://virtualmvblogger.blogspot.co.nz/2015/04/boom-dtl-tour-of-tom-cats-music.html)
6. CONCLUSION A geographically extended (gxLearning) field trip activity was enabled by the use of mobile devices and the web conferencing technology Adobe Connect. These technologies allowed both face-to-face and online students to attend and provided a means for remote students to virtually, but actively participate in the field. Student reflections of the event were then recorded in an online-shared blog as part of an assessed activity. Based on this activity, the research question discussed in this paper was “How can the integration of multiple technologies support participation and engagement in experiential learning activities?”.
Analysis of the results and findings revealed several themes. In the field, an iPad running the web conferencing software Adobe Connect, provided a live video feed, and the class lecturer used a laptop connected to the same Adobe Connect room to encourage interaction using the text chat facility. The remote students could use this to pose questions that were then relayed to the presenter. Having a dedicated person in the field, monitoring the chat and able to relay questions, assisted in engaging the geographically distant students. While there were issues with the quality of the ipad-captured video, the student experience feedback was positive.
To capture evidence of the field trip, students used mobile technologies to record images and video of the session. The students then used a variety of hardware and software combinations to include this evidence into their reflective blog posts as part of the assessed activity. Using a shared and publicly accessible blog proved to be a successful way for
students to reflect on their experiences. Students indicated that being able to read the posts of others did not feel like cheating but provided a “template”, and allowed them to “get ideas”. This, along with the inclusion of images and videos captured in the field, helped students clarify and construct their own reflections.
Overall, the integration of web conferencing technologies to support remote student participation during the field trip proved successful. The inclusion of reflective blogging as part of the experiential learning cycle was equally successful and particularly so in the shared blog scenario. This case study proved a good example gxLearning in practice and highlighted the successes and issues when using multiple technologies in the field.
7. FUTURE WORK Using Adobe Connect as a tool to deliver classes in a gxLearning mode, poses some interesting avenues for future work.
Firstly, there is continued work needed into improving the video and audio experience for remote students as this has a significant impact on their overall online experience. Secondly, although the gxLearning mode offers distinct advantages, particularly for those students who cannot make the class, questions are often raised about the impact of attendance in this modality and its relationship to successful course completion. An initial review of the data shows the two courses delivered using Adobe Connect achieved a 75% plus attendance (face-to-face + online) and over 80% successful completion, but further studies are needed to discover any long term trends or impacts. Thirdly, web conferencing also allows classes to be recorded, but the usefulness of this is in question. In the focus discussion, when asked, “how many have never looked at a recording?” 5/12 of the face-to-face students and 8/16 of the online students indicated they had not. This however, indicates almost 50% of the class had looked at the recordings so it would be of interest to discover how the students used the recordings in their studies.
The RAFT project (Joel, et al., 2004) encouraged learner-learner and learner-interface interaction by allowing students to control the communication functionality and interactions between the field and classroom. There was an opportunity in this field trip to allow the same and it would have been particularly relevant to the cohort and digital learning technologies students as a way of extending their learning and understanding of mobile pedagogies and practice. The effectiveness of this would be a relevant field for further research.
8. REFERENCES Abuzzyworld. (2015). Boom! DLT tour of “TOM CATS’
music lab/classroom. Retrieved from http://virtualmvblogger.blogspot.co.nz/2015/04/boom-dtl-tour-of-tom-cats-music.html
Beard, C. & Wilson, J.P. (2006). Experiential learning: a best practice handbook for educators and trainers (2nd ed.). [EBL]. Retrieved from http://reader.eblib.com.au.libraryproxy.openpolytechnic.ac.nz/(S(nxnsdhofiu3owi54hxixm3z0))/Reader.aspx?p=268895&o=107&u=2215672&t=1433132412&h=F4A9E07A2331DE6FCE50592F11A49EA955424E9B&s=19573907&ut=304&pg=1&r=img&c=-1&pat=n&cms=-1&sd=1#
Beatty, B.J. (2007). Hybrid classes with flexible participation options – If you build it, how will the come? Retrieved from http://www.aect.org/pdf/proceedings07/2007/07_3.pdf
Beddall-Hill, N.L., & Raper, J. (2010). Mobile Devices as ‘Boundary Objects’ on Field Trips. Journal of the Research Center for Educational Technology (RCET), 6(1), 28-46.
Behrendt, M., & Franklin, T. (2014). A Review of Research on School Field Trips and Their Value in Education. International Journal of Environmental & Science Education, 9, 235-245. Doi: 10.12973/ijese.2014.213a
Bell, J., Sawaya, S., & Cain, W. (2014). Synchromodal Classes: Designing for Shared Learning Experiences between Face-to-face and Online Students. International Journal of Designs for learning, 5(1). 68-82. Retreived from http://www.researchgate.net/profile/William_Cain3/publication/264220501_SYNCHROMODAL_CLASSES_DESIGNING_FOR_SHARED_LEARNING_EXPERIENCES_BETWEEN_FACE-TO-FACE_AND_ONLINE_STUDENTS/links/53d257240cf220632f3c9155.pdf
Digital Learning Technologies (2015) In EIT Staffnet, Central Repository Project, Current.
Garrison, D.R., & Vaughan, N.D. (2008). Blended Learning in Higher Education: Framework principles and guidelines (1st Ed). Sanfrancisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.Kolb, D. A. (1984). Experiential Learning, Englewood Cliffs, NJ.: Prentice Hall.
Joel, S., Arnott, J.L., Ingvarsson, S., Rentoul, R., & Schofield, S. (2004). A Framework for Analysing Interactivity in a Remote Access Field Exploration System. Proceedings of IEEE Conference on Systems, Man & Cybernetics, 2669-2674. DOI: 10.1109/ICSMC.2004.1400734. Retrieved from http://staff.computing.dundee.ac.uk/jarnott/SMC2004-Raft.pdf
Kolb, D.A. (1984). Experiential learning: experience as the source of learning and development. Retrieved from http://academic.regis.edu/ed205/kolb.pdf
Lai, C-H., Chen, F-C., & Yang, J-C. (2014). Exploration of Tensions in a Mobile-Technology Supported Fieldtrip: An Activity Theory Perspective. International Journal of Distance Education Technologies, 12(2), 104-117.
Learners and mobile devices (#NPF14LMD): A framework for enhanced learning and institutional change (2014). Ako Aotearoa, National Center for Tertiary Teaching Excellence. Retrieved from https://akoaotearoa.ac.nz/learner-mobile-devices
New Media Consortium (2013). NMC Horizon Report: 2013 Higher Education Edition. Retrieved from http://www.nmc.org/pdf/2013-horizon-report-HE.pdf
Pachler, N., Bachmair, B., & Cook, J. (2010). Mobile Learning: Structures, Agency, Practices. [Kindle sample] Retrieved from Amazon.com
Philip, R., & Nicholls, J. (2009). Group Blogs: Documenting collaborative drama processes. Australian Journal of Educational Technology, 25(5), 683-699.
Pierroux, P., Krange, I., & Sem, I. (2011). Bridging contexts and interpretations: Mobile blogging on art museum field trips. Journal of media and communication research, 50, 30-47.
Scarce, R. (1997). Field trips as short-term experiential education. Teaching Sociology, 25(3), 219. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/223512647?accountid=39646
Schott, C., Murray, W., Mclean, D., & Raivoka, M. (2011). A Roadmap to Virtual Fieldtrips Lessons learned from developing a virtual Fijian island for fieldwork by Tourism Management and Development Studies students at Victoria University of Wellington. Retrieved from http://www.victoria.ac.nz/vbs/teaching/publications/SchottRoadmaptoVirtualFieldtrips.pdf.
Traxler, J. (2010). Will Students Devices Deliver Innovation, Inclusion, and Transformation? Journal of the Research Center for Educational Technology (RCET), 6(1), 3-15.
Tuthill, Gail, & Klemm, E. Barbara. (2002). Virtual field trips: Alternatives to actual field trips. International Journal of Instructional Media, 29(4), 453.
Verhaart, M. & Hagen-Hall, K. (2012). gxLearning, teaching to geographically extended classes. In M. Lopez, M. Verhaart (Eds.) Proceedings of the 3rd Annual Conference of the Computing and Information Technology Research and Education of New Zealand Conference (Incorporating the 25th National Advisory Committee on Computing Qualifications Conference), Christchurch, New Zealand. October 7 – 10. pp 75-81.
Wu, H-J. (2009). Using field trips to enhance student learning in operations management: Literature Review and Field Observations. Retrieved from http://www.csupom.org/publications/2009/2009-17.pdf
Yin, R. (2003). Case Study Research: Design and Methods (3rd ed). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
