Proceedings of the 8th WSEAS International Conference on EDUCATION and EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY
Activation of Informal Learning with E-learning Technology Hazem M. El-Bakry
Nikos Mastorakis Technical University of Sofia, BULGARIA
Faculty of Computer Science & Information Systems, Mansoura University, EGYPT E-mail:
[email protected]
Abstract: The next generation of learners expects more informality in learning. Formal learning systems such as traditional LMS systems no longer meet the needs of a generation of learners used to Twitter and Facebook, social networking and usergenerated content. Regardless of this, however, formal content and learning models are still important and play a major role in educating learners, particularly in enterprise. So a new challenge for e-learning is to create collaborative learning spaces in which informal learning can thrive. To overcome such problem, innovative technology is added to e-learning environment to incorporate informal learning capabilities to formal learning architectures.
Keywords: e-learning 2.0; informal learning; social networks; user generated content; web 2.0. and preparing assignments. Assignments were evaluated by the teacher. In contrast, the new e-learning places increased emphasis on social learning and use of social software such as blogs, wikis, podcasts and virtual worlds such as Second Life.
I. Introduction Informal learning has been defined as "any activity involving the pursuit of understanding, knowledge or skill which occurs without the presence of externally imposed curricular criteria"; this definition covers a wide range of student activity, from casual conversation, to intentional, but unstructured or unguided browsing of resources on the web [1-4].
The first 10 years of e-learning (e-learning 1.0) was focused on using the internet to replicate the instructor-led experience. Content was designed to lead a learner through the content, providing a wide and ever-increasing set of interactions, experiences, assessments, and simulations. Elearning 2.0, by contrast (patterned after Web 2.0) is built around collaboration. E-learning 2.0 assumes that knowledge (as meaning and understanding) is socially constructed. Learning takes place through conversations about content and grounded interaction about problems and actions. Advocates of social learning claim that one of the best ways to learn something is to teach it to others.
Informal learning in the 21st century has grown to include many web 2.0 technologies such as instant messaging, chat rooms, blogs, wikis, user forums, video and audio blogging, and other modern communication technologies. Informal learning today may also include information and advice from outside the enterprise. Communities of practice, friend of a friend networks, self-selecting collections of users, and information from sources outside the enterprise may be used by informal learners [5-8].
There is also an increased use of virtual classrooms (online presentations delivered live) as an online learning platform and classroom for a diverse set of education providers.
To date, "eLearning has focused on more formal learning methods such as structured courses, workshops. These types of courses account for only 20% of what we learn in the workplace while consuming up to 80% of the training budget". Corporate training departments feel safe with formal training as it provides certification and tangible results. However, informal learning, or unstructured and unscheduled learning accounts for up to 80% of our actual workplace learning.
In addition to virtual classroom environments, social networks have become an important part of E-learning 2.0. Social networks have been used to foster online learning communities around subjects as diverse as test preparation and language education.
E-Learning 2.0
II. The impact of Web 2.0 in e-learning environments
The term e-Learning 2.0 is used to refer to new ways of thinking about e-learning inspired by the emergence of Web 2.0. From an e-Learning 2.0 perspective, conventional e-learning systems were based on instructional packets that were delivered to students using Internet technologies. The role of the student consisted in learning from the readings
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The great propagation of Web 2.0 is having a huge effect and change on the way people search, find, collaboratively develop and consume information and knowledge.
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Proceedings of the 8th WSEAS International Conference on EDUCATION and EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY
For students, a blog can be used as a living record of their learning: a place to pose questions, publish work in progress or provide links to (and comments on) relevant web resources.
Education and learning are not an exception of Web 2.0 trends, as the number of Web 2.0 empowered e-learning environments are booming. The rise of social software for eLearning, especially social media, makes the issue of co-creation in learning content development increasingly relevant to an organization’s learning strategy. By eLearning 2.0 which mean implementations of social media and social software such as blogs, wikis, twitter, video, podcasts, and other types of Web 2.0 technologies that enable users to easily message one another, generate content and tag it for findability, and share knowledge in new ways, contributing to eLearning communities of practice, customer communities, and social networks. All of these activities qualify as informal learning supported by Web 2.0 applications.
Teachers who are subject specialists may want to start their own subject-based blog where they can provide up-to-date information and commentary on their subject area, as well as posting questions and assignments, and linking to relevant news stories and websites.
III. Collaborative Publishing A key theme of many web 2.0 applications is that they harness the collective intelligence of users, and this is particularly true of wikis. As with blogs, wiki software makes it possible to publish a website with very little technical knowledge but puts a greater emphasis on collaborative rather than personal publishing. Every wiki entry has an "edit this page" button so that users can not only add new content but make changes to existing pages.
Teachers are starting to explore the potential of blogs, wikis, media-sharing services and other social software which, although not designed specifically for e-learning, can be used to empower students and create exciting new learning opportunities.
Tagging
The early promise of e-learning has not been fully realized. The experience of e-learning for many has been no more than a hand-out published online, coupled with a simple multiple-choice quiz. But by using these new web services, e-learning has the potential to become far more personal, social and flexible.
Users are encouraged to assign freely chosen keywords to pieces of information or data. Web 2.0 services that use tagging include those designed to allow users to publish and share various media, such as photos or videos, as well as most blog software, where each entry can be assigned keywords.
The traditional approach to e-learning has been to employ the use of a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE), software that is often expensive - and which tends to be structured around courses, timetables, and testing. That is an approach that is too often driven by the needs of the institution rather than the individual learner. In contrast, e-learning 2.0 takes a 'small pieces, loosely joined' approach that combines the use of discrete but complementary tools and web services to support the creation of ad-hoc learning communities.
"Social bookmarks managers" such as Delicious (http://del.icio.us/) allow users to create their own personal collection of web links and can be accessed from any computer connected to the net because they are stored online. Each bookmark is given a short description and tagged with keywords, and collections can be shared. All teachers and students would benefit from using a social bookmarking service.
Many teachers are doing this through use of web logs or "blogs" -a form of online micropublishing, typically of personal thoughts and web links-, wikis - web publishing software that lets users create and edit web pages using a standard web browser - and other forms of social software, as well as various digital media and devices – think podcasting.
Podcasting Podcasting has become a popular technology in education, in part because it provides a way of pushing educational content to learners. As with blogging, podcasting provides students with a sense of audience - and they are highly motivated to podcast because the skills required seem 'relevant' to today's world.
Blogging
Media sharing
Blogging is increasingly finding a home in education (both in school and university), as not only does the software remove the technical barriers to writing and publishing online - but the 'journal' format encourages students to keep a record of their thinking over time. Blogs also of course facilitate critical feedback, by letting readers add comments - which could be from teachers, students or a wider audience.
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The photo-sharing sites such as Flickr (www.flickr.com) are also finding use within education - as they provide a valuable resource for students and educators looking for images for use in presentations, learning materials or coursework. Many of the images uploaded to photo-sharing sites carry a Creative Commons license, making them
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particular suitable for educational use - and the tagging of images makes it much easier to find relevant content. Students can also use photo-sharing sites to publish their digital photography to a wider audience. And like blogging, the commenting function on many photo-sharing sites allows for critical feedback. As the same, the video-sharing sites such as youtube (www.youtube.com) are also finding use within education as they provide a valuable resource for students and educators looking for videos for use in learning materials or coursework. Students may be asked to produce short videos on a chosen new media subject, and then these videos are published onto video-sharing sites, where they can be viewed and commented on by classmates and the wider site community. Social Networks The educational potential of social software and services is huge as they allow users to create web pages or profiles that provide information about themselves and are available to other users; and offer a mechanism for communication with other users, such as a forum, chat room, email, or instant messenger.
IV. Conclusion This study aims to discuss the use of Web 2.0 in (e)learning and the new skills that they enable in order to create collaborative learning spaces in which informal learning can thrive, and then, discuss the theories that support the exploitation of Web 2.0 for creating personalized and collaborative learning environments by adding informal learning capabilities to that environments.
References: [1] Bill McDaniel, Mark Leyden, Edward Curry (2008). Leveraging Informality Within eLearning. [2] Brown J.S & Adler R, (2008). ‘Minds on Fire: Open Education, the Long Tail, and Learning 2.0′. [3] Karrer, T (2007). Understanding eLearning 2.0 http://www.learningcircuits.org/2007/0707karrer.html. [4] Karrer, T (2006). What is eLearning 2.0? http://elearningtech.blogspot.com/2006/02/what-iselearning-20.html. [5] Cross, Jay.(2006). Informal Learning: Rediscovering the Natural Pathways that Inspire Innovation and Performance. [6] Guest Author (2006). e-learning 2.0 - how Web technologies are shaping education. [7] Stephen O'Hear. The Guardian, Tuesday 15 November (2005). Seconds out, round two. [8] Livingstone, D.W. (2001). Adults' Informal Learning: Definitions, Findings, Gaps and Future Research.
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