1. 1 Research on Asynchronous Learning Networks: What We Know and What We Need To Know (Beyond the “Black Box”) Starr Roxanne Hiltz (copyright, 2004) Penn State April 2004

2. 2 Online Enrollments and Research are Growing About 2 million college students in the U.S. are in online courses in the spring of 2004 There have now been hundreds of studies Typical 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”

3. 3 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)

4. 4 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.

5. 5 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

6. 6 The Book… Learning Together Online: Research on Asynchronous Learning Networks To 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.

7. 7 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

8. 8 TechnologyCourse Student Characteristics Access- To Professor Convenience Progress to Degree Learning Quality/Depth Course Outcomes Student & Faculty Satisfaction Grades Amount and Type of Use Teacher/Social Presence Active Participation, Collaborative Learning Online Interaction Learning Model

9. 9 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.

10. 10 “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?

11. 11 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?

12. 12 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).

13. 13 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.

14. 14 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

15. 15 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

16. 16 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

17. 17 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.

18. 18 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

19. 19 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.

20. 20 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.

21. 21 Research Issues- Collaborative Learning To 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)

22. 22 Jeffrey Saltz: Social Network Visualization Tool

23. 23 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. text 3.Few studies on effects of digital multimedia in collaborative learning, such as student presentations using audio.

24. 24 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.

25. 25 Course Characteristics What 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

26. 26 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.

27. 27 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.

28. 28 Student Characteristics: What we need to know Cognitive 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.

29. 29 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.

30. 30 To Learn more: Join the research community on the WebCenter for Learning Networks Effectiveness Research: http://www.ALNResearch.org