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Center for innovations and digital education DIG-ED. Skopje, Macedonia ... Edmodo as a blended learning environment supports the learning and ..... of decision support system to selection of the blended learning platforms for mathematics ...
Can a Blended Learning Environment Increase the Quality of Learning? Maja Videnovik Center for innovations and digital education DIG-ED Skopje, Macedonia [email protected]

Abstract—Blended learning environments combine different pedagogical approaches, integrating the best aspects of face-toface and online collaboration using ICT. Innovative learning environments increase students' interest and motivation for achieving learning outcomes. This paper elaborates how a blended learning educational scenario can contribute to the quality of learning. Quality of Learning is a combination of quality of experience while learning and results of achieved learning outcomes. The quality of experience while learning is determined with students' attitudes toward learning and achieving learning goals. Results of the achieved learning outcomes are determined using students’ grades. The methodology used in the paper combines qualitative and quantitative analyses in order to determine the influence that blended learning environment has on achieved Quality of Learning. The blended learning environment is created using the educational networking site – Edmodo. The blended learning environment was supported by development of a blended learning educational scenario for engagement, guiding students in the learning process and achieving educational goals. Keywords—learning environment, blended learning, technology acceptance, social network in education

I. INTRODUCTION Contemporary education is trying to develop students' 21st century skills necessary for living in this constantly changing world. The traditional education where space and the time were usually strictly controlled and restrained is slowly fading away. Education is an interactive process during which students gradually adopt knowledge, develop intelligent reasoning, judgment and skills. The student-centered educational approach emerged as an alternative to the traditional teacher-centered education, by bringing the student’s engagement with the educational activities adapted to their individual abilities and interests in the center of the learning process. At the same time, students motivation to collaborate in order to achieve certain educational goal is increased. This approach promises to produce multiple benefits regarding academic performance, as well as behavioral gains such as students' retention in the education, responsibility, and development of transferable skills like collaboration, communication, problem solving etc. The gradual shift from the traditional learning environment towards student-centered learning environment stimulates understanding above pure memorization of the educational content leading to increased quality of educational outcomes. If we want to empower our students' skills for the 21st century jobs we must put them in the center of the teaching,

Gjorgjina Dimova Center for innovations and digital education DIG-ED Skopje, Macedonia [email protected]

encouraging them for active participation in the classroom, collaboration and getting information on their own which can be used in their further learning. The teacher should just guide students' activities and continuously monitor students' work giving them constructive feedback and direction for their further learning. On this way students will acquire a lot of knowledge, skills and attitudes that are needed to function independently in a world of change. Schools must promote "learning to learn", acquisition of knowledge and skills for continuous learning over lifetime. The different kind of pedagogical approaches should be implemented in order to raise students' interest and motivation and to make them active participants in the learning process. The learning must happen according to students’ needs and opportunities, exceeding the classroom boundaries; it. Today's students are complex, energetic and tech-savvy individuals. Technology is an integral part of their lives, so if we want to motivate and inspire them the same surroundings should be used. Educators must recognize the potential for improving student engagement in the classroom using different technologies [1].Technology must be used as a supplement of face-to-face learning in order to create innovative learning environments where students would like to be active participants. Blended learning has become a “hot topic” in the educational world in the recent years. The combination of faceto-face instructions and online teaching allows individualization, flexibility and greater student success. In blended learning, technology is used to serve multiple learning styles or needs, engage the learners, and prepare the students for life after school. There are some choices of platforms that can be used for blended learning in the learning process at school, which among others are Edmodo, Moodle, Kelase, etc. [2]. Edmodo as a blended learning environment supports the learning and networking of teachers and students. This free and secure learning platform provides a simple way for teachers and students to connect and collaborate in a virtual class. This social networking geared towards the needs of students could have a profound impact on how students collaborate and learn in their world, rather than the school setting their teachers grew up in [3]. In the paper, the development of blended learning educational scenario is elaborated and the benefits from this pedagogical approach are described. The main purpose of this study is to investigate the Quality of Learning achieved using

blended learning environment created with Edmodo online platform. For that purpose, the quality of learning is defined as a combination of the quality of experience while learning, and the results of achieved learning outcomes. The quality of experience while learning is determined with the students' attitudes toward learning and achieving learning goals. The results of achieved learning outcomes are determined using students’ grades. The paper is organized as follows: next section, Section 2 presents the related work. The used methodology is present in Section 3, while results and discussion are given in Section 4. Section 5 concludes the paper. II. RELATED WORK Today’s education is trying to overcome traditional teaching, where there is one classroom, one teacher, one class and where students are passive listeners. The education must adapt to students and their way of learning, empowering students 21st century skills. The gap between the skills people learn and the skills people need is becoming more obvious, as traditional learning falls short of equipping students with the knowledge they need to thrive [4]. Students want to be challenged and inspired in their learning, to collaborate and work with their peers, to incorporate technology they love into their classroom experience as much as they can. There is a constant urge in the educational community to promote new technologies that will add additional value to education [5]. The learning process should be supported with carefully created synchronous and asynchronous learning events [6]. The main benefit of using distance learning educational systems and different learning management systems is enabling teachers and students to be virtually “present” in an environment that they cannot physically reach because of lack of different resources [7]. In addition, different real [8] and virtual resources [9] can be made available for students. The impact and effect of the media on the student’s satisfaction and engagement in the learning process is subject of many studies [10], [11], [12]. The authors conclude that the asynchronous rich media presentations increase the quality of student’s learning experience. The ability of the distance education system to adapt to the learning goals of individual student, leads to improved quality of learning experience [13]. The educational gains from this approach can be measured and compared to traditional classroom teaching concept in order to evaluate the results and determine the directions for further improvement and development of the distance educational systems [14], [15]. Blended learning environments enable strategic and systematic approach to combining times and models of learning, integrating the best aspects of face-to-face and online interactions for each discipline, using appropriate ICTs [16]. In a blended course, conventional learning is supplemented with the use of proper learning technologies that create innovative learning environments that enable instructors to organize their teaching in a more efficient way [17]. Blended learning can remove deficiencies found in the learning process such as time limit of face-to-face classroom. Previous studies reveal positive results of blended learning on learners’ performance [18], [19].

With the advent of technology and the ease of access that it affords, the unique environment for blended learning can be more easily and successfully created [20]. Researches show that Edmodo changes traditional classroom and transforms it into blended learning. In traditional classes, students usually work using paper and schoolbooks. By Edmodo all the information can be reached online without time and space limitation. When teacher uses Edmodo the students can do their individual work and group work online and the teacher can check the work, and give feedback to the students online [21]. While the traditional classroom may be limited to words spoken and written by instructors, and can be trapped in hard copies of the materials distributed for reference, blended learning via Edmodo goes far and beyond [22]. Shared multimedia information can be reached multiple times, according to students' pace of learning. The personal communication is what students benefit in face-to-face interaction in the classroom. But Edmodo continues the work online and it ensures that knowledge is no longer contained in places and defined by geography. The implementation of Edmodo for creation of a blended learning environment could become a powerful medium that extends responsible learning environment beyond the classroom [23]. III. METHODOLOGY The study was carried out with total of 160 primary school students from 8 different classes. The methodology used combines qualitative and quantitative analyses in order determine the influence that the blended learning environment created using Edmodo, has on achieved Quality of Learning. Qualitative analyses were used to determine quality of experience while learning, while quantitative analyses were used to compare results of achieved learning outcomes. A simple blended learning educational scenario is used for the purpose of the study. Virtual groups where students and the teacher exchanged materials, information and products connected with the curriculum were created for each of the classes. The aim was to see could we use those virtual groups as a "virtual classrooms" which would allow learning to take place outside the classroom, but monitored by the teacher. The collected data were qualitative, consisting of posts on Edmodo (students' self-reflection, feedback or discussion) and the focus discussions conducted with the students. Quantitative data from students’ grades were considered as results of achieved learning. A. Creating a blended learning environment Edmodo is a free and secure learning platform that looks similar to Facebook, but is much more private and safe because it allows teachers to create and manage accounts for their students. Once account is created, student receives a group code and than he can register, access and join the group. Students without group cannot participate in any of the group activities. The Edmodo site provides a simple way for teachers and students to connect and collaborate in a virtual class. For each class separate group on this platform was created. The aim was to see if we could we those groups as a "virtual

classrooms" which would allow learning to take place outside the school, but monitored by the teacher. In those groups the students and the teacher exchanged different multimedia contents (materials, information and different things of interest connected to the curriculum). Teaching materials were posted in the groups regarding the previous or the next lesson. Different tasks with the description of the activities that should be carried out, objectives that should be achieved and evaluation criteria, were shared with the students. Different quizzes and surveys were set, too. Students created their own profiles - accounts on the corresponded group. Each student uploaded information and has been involved in the implementation of the activities given by the teacher. For each activity, students uploaded the product of their work and using given outcomes and success criteria had to reflect on the learning process and write a post about this. The teacher encouraged students in these posts to describe their work, activities that they carried out, to explain their strengths, the difficulties during the work, used ways for improvement and what else they would like to learn. In this way, students create their own e-portfolio as a reflexive diary of their learning. Their e-portfolio consisted of the products from their work according to the teacher’s guidelines, their reflection of the achieved learning outcomes and ways of improvement. Teacher analyzed students' posts, their works and gave effective feedback to each student, focusing on student learning. At the same time the teacher motivated students to assess each other’s work and give each other a feedback. The students had enough time to act according to the received feedback. During group work the teacher created small groups inside every class where students could collaborate and work together on the assignment. Students' were encouraged to asses each other work and to start discussions about the level of achievement and what could be improved. Discussions were carried out both online and during the classes. The collected data were qualitative and consist of students' posts on Edmodo, whether it refers to reflection, feedback or discussion. The performed analysis is descriptive and focuses on students’ attitudes toward use of Edmodo. The students were trained for self-reflection, as a way for identification of their strengths, weaknesses and further learning directions as a base for developing lifelong learning skills. The posts from the students were analyzed together with students’ focus groups discussions in order to determine students' engagement, guidance in the learning process and their perception of achievement of educational goals. These elements were used to determine students’ quality of experience while learning. The results of the achieved learning from the students that participated to the study was compared with the results of the achieved learning from students that learned using traditional learning environment. The quality of experience while learning and the results of achieved learning outcomes can be used to determine the quality of learning. In our approach we consider both factors to contribute equally to the quality of learning.

IV. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS All students successfully created their user accounts and with little or no efforts started using all Edmodo features. They used Edmodo for exchanging information with the teacher and other classmates. All students regularly logged on Edmodo, during and after lessons. Most of the students continued their learning online using the materials the teacher posted on the network. Collaboration with their peers and the teacher continued online. Even shy students participated in online discussions and gave their feedback on other students’ work. Following teacher's guidelines and success criteria all students created their own e-portfolio. Most of the students had qualitative reflections with a detailed analyzes on their learning. The feedback from the teacher was motivating for the students and inspired them to modify their work. Students were persistent to achieve goals when they saw that the teacher monitor and guide their work. Because they had the opportunity to correct their work, they were not afraid to take risk and explore new possibilities for achieving the goals. Each student worked individually, according to the direction that he got, according to his abilities, independently from the other students. Focus discussions carried out with students showed students' satisfaction from using Edmodo in everyday learning. They find it easy to reach teaching materials in Edmodo. Furthermore, the materials helped the majority of the students in successfully achieving of learning outcomes. The feature of uploading their work on Edmodo was considered as very useful by the students. Students believe Edmodo to be a useful social network platform for communication between the teacher and students during the learning process and reflection on students' work. They feel very positive about the possibility of commenting on peers’ posts, but also value the feedback they were given by their peers and their teacher. One of the biggest benefits, according to students, is that they can use Edmodo outside the classroom, at a time that suits them. This is a huge benefit for learning, too. Students spend more time on platform learning, which means that they were more persistent in achieving the learning outcomes. In that way, they clearly preferred the blended learning environment over traditional classroom. The comments from the students were very interesting: “It’s like Facebook, I felt comfortable using it”, “All my work is on one place and I can reach it any time I want”, “I always have proof for the work I’ve done”, “Now nobody can use my homework as his own”, “Everything that is not in the book, I can find it on Edmodo, where my teacher posted it”, "I like it because I can work from home, too". Achieved results by the students that used Edmodo blended learning environment were increased by 20% compared to the achieved results from the students that took traditional classroom learning environment that stayed the same. At the same time, the quality of experience while learning was much better for the students that participated in the study.

As conclusion, the quality of learning was much better for the students that participated in the study (used blended learning environment created by Edmodo) compared to the quality of learning among students in the traditional classroom.

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V. CONCLUSION The development of lifelong learning skills inevitably imposes the necessity of ICT integration into daily teaching as a tool for communication and collaboration that exceeds time and space limitation of traditional classroom.

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By using Edmodo, blended learning environment was created and students got the possibility to progress according to their abilities, through continuously cooperation with the teacher. Students were able to explore, create, reflect on their work, organize and direct their own learning.

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The results from the students' work on this platform and discussions with them showed that students find Edmodo to be user-friendly social learning platform that enables them to achieve learning outcomes on an online class. They consider that Edmodo is a useful tool for finding materials and accessing them with their own pace. They like the possibility to have evidence for their own learning and to upload their work which can be accessed and evaluated after classes. As a largest advantage student indicate flexibility in space and time when using it. They have used Edmodo for communication, cooperation, sharing information, reflection, self-evaluation and directing their own learning, by which lifelong learning skills were developed. Achieved results and the quality of experience while learning was much better for the students that participated in the study compared with students that used traditional learning environment. As conclusion, the quality of learning can be increased using blended learning environment REFERENCES [1]

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