E-Learning and the Use of
Virtual Learning Environments in Economics
Guglielmo Volpe
London Metropolitan
University
Structure of Presentation
•E-Learning: Definition and Use
•Virtual Learning Environment
•Web 2.0 – Social Software
•Reusable Learning Objects
E-Learning: Definition and Use
•E-Learning
“Mixture of the different preferred learning methods,
delivered to the learner through the use of information
technology. Supported with instructional design and
engaging content”
•Use of E-Learning
E-learning can be used effectively as a replacement
for existing classroom training or as part of a blended
Information Technology and classroom based training
solution
E-Learning
• Using E-Learning
• Support to students’ learning: IT provides a
simple support to the learning process in terms of,
for example, distribution of teaching material
• Embedded within module/course design to
support chosen pedagogical approach: IT is
integrated within the design of a module/course and
is key to the achievement of desired learning
outcomes
Questions
• Did you experience e-learning yourself during your
studies?
• If yes, in what form?
• How do you think e-learning can support students’
learning
• Put yourself in the position of a student: how could IT
help your learning?
Virtual Learning Environment
• “VLEs refer to the components in which learners and
tutors participate in ‘online’ interactions of various
kinds, including online learning” (JISC, 2001)
• Until recently the main products in the UK HE were
‘Blackboard’ and ‘WebCT’
• The two companies have now merged and ‘WebCT
Vista’ (do not confuse it with new Microsoft OS!!) is
now the new main product on the market
• Vista aims at being ‘more’ than just a virtual learning
environment – Integrated solution for academic
management
Virtual Learning Environment
VLEs provide an e-box full of e-tools that can be
combined to support or drive students’ learning
• Communication tools (emails, notice boards,
blogs, student’s journal-PDP)
• Assessment tools
• Repository for and distribution of teaching and
learning material
• Shared spaces for students
• Students management system (registration,
tracking, performance)
• Students space
Virtual Learning Environment
• Levels of VLE Use (Mason, 1998)
• Content and support model: pre-prepared content is
delivered in print or online and support is provided
online
• Wrap-around model: where there is a mixture of preprepared content and online learning activities (online
discussions, collaborative activities)
• Integrated model: where most of the learning takes
place via collaborative online activities and content is
determined mainly by the learners
Virtual Learning Environment
Levels of use (Cook, 1999)
Simple
Complex
•
Posting course information and material
•
Including links to other online material
•
Communication between students and lecturers
•
Provide a ‘shell’ for computer-assisted learning resources
•
Assessment – self-assessment and end-of-term assessment
•
Integrating online activities, support and materials with
lecturers and seminars
•
Collaborative student projects
•
Delivering complete online courses with fully integrated
activities
Virtual Learning Environment: levels of use
• Posting course information and material
• Lecture notes, reading lists, handbooks
• Assignment details
• Overall: repository and distribution of teaching material
• Including links to other online material
• Links to external resources (articles, datasets, international
organisations websites, researcher’s website etc.)
• Students-posted links: links can be posted by students
themselves via discussion board, personal website, blogs
etc.
Virtual Learning Environment: levels of use
•
Communication between students and tutors
• Discussion Board: to foster class discussion about topic or issue
• Emails: allows students to email privately among themselves or with
tutor within VLE
• Chat Rooms: synchronous communication among students logged
into the VLE – Useful for direct debate about sudden issue; office
hours?; virtual seminar?
• Blogs: posts entries/topics/discussions that students can look and
reply to
• Student’s Journal: private space for student to post personal
reflections on her/his studies
•
Provide a ‘shell’ for computer-assisted learning resources
• Interactive learning (economics) material freely available on the web
can be included in VLE
• Reusable Learning Objects???
Virtual Learning Environment: levels of use
•
Summative and Formative Assessment
• Create questions databanks that can be used to generate selfassessment quizzes and end-of-term exams
• Assessment Tools Include: multiple choice tests, True or False
questions, short answers, matching words
•
Integrating online activities, support and materials with
lecturers and seminars
• Complement lecture with online tutorials that end up with selfassessment
• Ask students to engage in discussion forum about specific
issues raised in class – quality and quantity of contribution can
be assessed
• Overall: design a system whereby the learning objectives can
be achieved through an integration of ‘old’ and ‘new’
technologies
Virtual Learning Environment: levels of use
•
Collaborative student projects
• Students work in groups towards the solution of a task
• The communication tools can be used to work together and to
exchange information with other groups
•
Delivering complete online courses with fully integrated
activities
• All the teaching, learning and assessment material is developed
in an integrated way within the VLE
• Limited or no contact with the tutor
• Learner more in control of his learning
Virtual Learning Environment: Pros and Cons
Advantages
 Easy online delivery of material
 Easiness of use for both staff and
students
 Flexible use by students
 Ideal support for large groups of
students
 Flexible support for lecturers
 Stimulates innovative approaches
to learning and teaching
Disadvantages
 Could become just simple
‘dumping ground’ for any type of
material
 IPR and Copyright issues
 Initial fixed cost in setting up
website; cost of regularly updating
website
 On and off-campus access to
hardware, network and printing
 Disability issues
 Support for students in dealing
with technology
 Institutional support for staff
Are VLEs the Future?
There is an increasing recognition of the tension between the monolithic
VLE that tends to see university business from an administrative view
rather than from the perspective of the individual student, and an
individual's personalised view of the environment they work, study and
live within. This tension runs to the very heart of what universities and
higher/further education is about… Successful technologies in the 21st
century are all about “helping people”, exemplified by the success of
Google in helping people find stuff on the internet. This is in contrast with
the trend in the late 20th century of building big institutions, databases
containing large amounts of content… So the current trend is towards
small groups of students and workers able to learn anywhere with freely
available content where the emphasis is on the social aspect of learning.
This has huge implications for traditional universities, who will need to
think creatively about learning, assessment and particularly learning
spaces to attract tomorrow’s learners (Heppell, 2006)
Web 2.0 – Social Software
• Use of networked computers to connect people in order to boost
their knowledge and their ability to learn (blogs, wikis, podcasting,
videoblogs, social networking – facebook, myspace)
• Microcontent: break away from Web as a book – blogs are
about posts, wikis are stream of conversation, revision,
truncation, amendments
• Openness
• Users to play fundamental role in information architecture
(wisdom of crowds)
• Folksonomies: words that users generate and attach to
content
Web 2.0 – Social Software

Social Bookmarking – del.icio.us
 Ability to store, share, describe bookmarks
 Bookmarks are tagged and searches can be made according to
tags
 Role in Higher Education?
 Outbound Memory: location to store links that might be lost
to time
 Help finding people with similar or related interests, learn
from others, new collaborations
 Clusters of tags reveal patterns not immediately visible by
examining URLs
 Multi-authored bookmark pages can be helpful for team
projects
 Following a bookmark site gives insights into the owner’s
research
Web 2.0 – Social Software

Social Writing Platforms

Wiki pages allow users to quickly edit their content
from within the browser window

Collaborative writing softwares (Writeboard,
Writely)

Role in Higher Education?

Students group learning

Department collaborative work
Web 2.0 – Social Software

Blogging

Role in Higher Education?

Learning from news, articles, analyses

Search across time as news/views develop


Collaboration across departments,
universities, etc.
Awareness of topical issue
Reusable Learning Objects: The New?
•Reusable learning objects are web-based interactive chunks of elearning designed to explain a stand-alone learning objective. The fact
that the learning object has been broken down to a low level of
granularity facilitates its reuse in different learning and teaching
situations
•RLOs are stored in repositories which are an electronic library in
which learning objects are stored. Learning objects can be retrieved
from a repository by a teacher working at a standard desktop PC
•Incorporating appropriate pedagogy (i.e. learning and teaching
methods and strategies) into the effective use of learning objects is an
important issue to consider in the development of RLOs
• A Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning for Reusable
Learning Objects has been created in partnership between Cambridge
University, London Metropolitan University and Nottingham University
www.rlo-cetl.ac.uk
New Technologies?
•Mobile Phones: students interact a lot through text-messaging or
distant communication. Can this technology be used to support
students’ learning?
• Handheld Computers (PDAs): could learning material be
distributed through PDAs and can students be asked to engage in
their learning through this technology?
•iPods: they are very common among young people. Could this
technology be used to support learning?
• Developments
• Tests are taking place to develop RLOs for mobile phones and
PDAs
• Some universities have developed T&L material for iPods and
some lecturers have given up big-lecture teaching!
• Some universities give iPods to their students and they keep it
if they pass the course!
References
Publications

Cook J., (1999), Virtual Learning Environments: Making the Web Easy to Use for
Teachers and Learners, University of Bristol, available on
http://www.ltss.bris.ac.uk/guides.htm

Heppell S., (2006), Helping learners to help each other: why learning in the 21st century
is a very different place, Available on http://www.alt.ac.uk/

Mason R., (1998), ‘Models of online Courses’, ALN Magazine, vol. 2, n. 2

O’Leary R., Ramsden A., (2001), Virtual Learning Environments, The Handbook for
Economics Lecturers, Economics Network, available on
http://www.economicsnetwork.ac.uk/handbook/vle/

Bryan A., (2006), “Web 2.0. A New Wave of Innovation for Teaching and Learning?”,
Educause Review, available on
http://connect.educause.edu/library/abstract/Web20ANewWaveofInnov/40615
Websites

JISC on e-learning: http://www.elearning.ac.uk/

RLO Cetl: http://www.rlo-cetl.ac.uk

Learning Development & Innovation Moodle at Staffordshire University
http://crusldi1.staffs.ac.uk/moodle/login/index.php