EDU110 Exploring Play MOOC
Students Name
University Affiliation
Date
Digital/Online Learning
Digital or online reading is considered to be a form of learning where the use of technology is involved. Technology motivated learning methods are included to support learners by use of many other ways of virtual learning. This method of learning is slowly but surely taking over from the traditional methods of learning with resources such as; Future learner.Com, Google, YouTube, and Evernote as the major platforms which are facilitating this form of learning. In the course of this assessment, we are going to evaluate and analyze the Exploring play MOOC developed. By the University of Sheffield will get its inclusivity to the diverseness of learners. We are also going to explain the merits and demerits associated with this theory.
Massive open online courses (MOOC) are a type of courses that are offered online, which are set to provide unlimited access and participation of learners via the Internet. Learning by use of this new technology, therefore, opens up many opportunities to the learners mainly as a result of the nature of the web, which is quite resourceful. The use of tutorials and imagery tools, e.g., PowerPoint, enables the students to better/ quickly capture the information being taught to them and also retain it in their head for a longer time CITATION War07 l 1033 (Warschauer, 2007). This assessment will help us better understand the Exploring play MOOC with some references from Futurelearn.com and also understand how different learners use the technology resource instead of the traditional way in their learning process.
Critical Evaluation
For some time now, we have been living in a world where technology is almost applied in every field. On this note, the education sector has not been left behind in using technology to enhance and assist in the teaching process. Technology, in the education process, however, has proven to have setbacks that would cover in the course of Exploring the MOOC. Hence it has left many education stakeholders wondering about the effectiveness of this learning tool. Massive open online courses (MOOC) have allowed more and more students to enroll in classes and interact with tutors who, on the other hand, gain better skills in expanding their teaching methodologiesCITATION Hew03 p 31 l 1033 (Hewitt, 2003, p. 31). According to research conducted by seaman (2007), he found out that there was a sharp increase in the number of students enrolled in digital learning across America from 2002-2006. More universities have also tapped into this new technology. By the end of 2014, over 400 universities had started on massive open courses offering more than 2500 such courses to nearly 19 million students around the world (Shah, 2014). These results indicate the need to design and implement the existing Exploring play massive online course (MOOC) and also invent new ones. MOOCs can be presented in centralized platforms, for example, learning management systems (LMS), which can be located in a school as well as decentralized networks, for example, Blogs, social media sites, and education websites.
The inclusivity of learning theories in digital learning is clearly outlined by Egbert and Thomas (2001). Therefore, the first step in our evaluation of the Exploring play MOOC is to look at the critical theories in learning. The first theory is the behaviorism theory; this theory explains why a particular behavior happens as a result of external or internal factors. With the help of this theory, skills such as behavioral conditioning can be applied to enhance the learning process. Coming up with a rewarding system after the successful completion of a massive open online course can serve as an excellent example of behavioral conditioning as learners will now take this course more seriously, therefore, resulting in a massive success of the program.
The connectivism theory suggests that in comparison to the traditional forms of learning, learning on the technology era does not stop after completion of the necessary formal education. Instead, knowledge is bound to continue from other platforms, for example, job experiences, networking, and the use of the Internet as source information. Therefore, this allows the learner to be well equipped with knowledge that will be relevant to the learnerCITATION Ros l 1033 (Rose, 2002). The connectivism theory is also a learning theory that explains how technology has created new opportunities for learners to learn and share information
The humanism theory explains that learning happens naturally to learner’s right from birth, helping them in self-actualization and in performing their day to day activities. This theory has very little demerits, as all learners are open to going through this process of learning. The cognitivism theory (Jean Piaget) illustrates how a child learns how to respond to experiences. The (agent theory) categorizes the child development process into four stages, which a child goes through in the learning process.
The sensorimotor stage: birth to 2 years
The preoperational stage: ages 2 to 7
The concrete operational stage: ages 7 to 11
The formal operational stage: ages 12 and up
Piaget, in his study, revealed that children take an active role in their learning process, playing a character like that of a scientist as they perform experiments and later learn from those particular experiments after observing what happens during their operation and in that process learn about the word.
The theory of our emphasis on this essay is the constructivism theory. The constructivism theory founded by a philosopher is based on observations and study of how learners grasp information. It states that different learners come up with their understanding and knowledge based on their experiences before starting their education. This theory can be traced back to Jean Peagant in his educational psychology study. He lay most of his attention on how humans made meaning of their encounters and their ideologies and not what people learn from one another. Lev Vygotsky, on his study on social constructivism, showed the importance of interactions with people, for example, interactions with adults, interactions with teachers, and interactions with well-behaved peers, which are then internalized by the learner to form mind constructs. John Bruner, with the help of some of his career friends, advanced on this study and came up with the concept of Instructional Scaffolding, which describes how the environment plays a role in the learning process.
Teachers who use tech to facilitate their teaching tend to take a constructivist perspective about instructing their learners. According to this theory, the teachers are expected to not only to teach the learners but also play the role of an expert learner who can guide the learners into gaining skills. For example, asking questions and self-assessments, therefore, guiding the students into becoming expert learnersCITATION Hil94 p 30 l 1033 (Hillman, 1994, p. 30). The teacher should assist the students in making assessments on how various learning activities are helping them in gaining knowledge.
Constructivism is the best theory for digital learning as it focuses on knowledge construction about the student’s prior experiences hence assures that learning is taking place among the learners. The goal of constructivism in digital learning is to:
Encourage the learners to tap on to the knowledge gained from social experiences
Assist the digital learning process by encouraging the use of multiple representation styles.
Equip the learners with significant problem-solving skills
Koohang (2008) describes the three elements of constructivism as:
The design of learning activities
Learning evaluation
The teacher’s role
The goal of this student cantered model for designing digital learning activities is to encourage the students to gain new knowledge. The teacher gives the students a real-life situation, and the students are expected to come up with their ways based on their previous experiences or the knowledge they have gained to tackle the job. For example, a teacher might consider giving an individual self-assessment to his students, asking them to overview the business strategy of a company.
Constructivism enhances the ability to not only solve problems at a personal level but also in a group. Online collaborative learning (OCL) is not a new term in digital learning. It is the process where learners facilitate their digital learning by having a discussion using technology mediums to come up with solutions. Digitally mediated research methods, which include online surveys and text messaging for research, have a huge advantage over the traditional forms of research.
First of all, it is very convenient and cheap to use this method. This is as a result of the resourcefulness of the Internet where it is much easier to find a specialist or other research partners who can assist the learner in gaining new knowledge. Less money is also spent as compared to the traditional methods where one would have to pay for library fees to access information needed in their learning process. Lastly, information sourced digitally is more timely and easy to access. Learners using technology in their research and studies are more likely to retrieve the information they are after faster compared to those who still use the traditional ways. This is with the help of powerful search engines, for example, Goggle, Chrome, Yahoo, Bing, and Wikipedia, which can filter through information on the Internet and give the desired search result. The most common disadvantage seen since the introduction of technology in education is the risks and threats common in the cyber world. This threat may include malicious cyber-attacks, false information put by unqualified persons on the Internet, device viruses which target to spoil the technology devices, and the most common of all accessibility. Most people, especially in developing third world countries, may be disadvantaged when it comes to digital learning and digital research.
New Content
The digital divide remains to be the biggest challenge laying between the inclusivity of all learners in the digital studying platforms. Learners living in poor neighborhoods are usually left out, in this case, limiting their full potential. This is as a result of their economic status where internet access and a computer are a luxury.
A case study conducted during the global epidemic 2020, showed that many students from poor neighborhoods were being forced to fail, due to lack or poor connectivity of the Internet. This is a result of the school shutdown, which had resulted in all classes being done digitally. The saddest part is that some of the learners are excellent performers before the global epidemicCITATION Jia00 p 317 l 1033 (Jiang, 2000, p. 317). If a student does not have the same opportunity as the other, how do you then test them using the same standards?
Digital division greatly trembles education in poor neighborhoods. Learners living in these societies are truly limited to their full potential; this is because they do not have the same opportunities that the learners who can access the Internet have. The Internet is a quick and easy way for learners where they can fetch information that is important towards their further educational endeavors. Computers and the Internet are, therefore, of extreme importance to learning and being successful in their studies and other endeavors. My solution to finish the digital divide between the rich learners and the poor learners is to be able to access the Internet free of charge. This should be the responsibility of the leaders in the society and the major education stakeholders to whom it is their duty to ensure that every learner gets a fair share of the education programmer. As an example, the local government could install high capacity metropolitan Wi-Fi networks, which could reach a huge number of learners in a given area. This Wi-Fi network would be of great help in covering the huge mobile data costs the people in these areas cannot afford. The local authorities, in collaboration with the major education stakeholders, should also ensure that every learner has access to any digital communication electronic egg tablets, phones, laptops, etc. In areas where this appliance is not available, this authority should install well-equipped act centers or cyber cafes where the learners can access the internet resources CITATION Kir02 l 1033 (Kirschner, 2002). These learners may vary from kindergarten kids to a high level of education learners. Therefore, the relevant authorities should come up with initiatives for all learners from all groups.
As a result, the global economy is now shifting to a digital economy where every activity is converting its operations from manual operations to technological operations. Such change means that all learners should be well equipped with technological skills before completing their studies in readiness for their career lives. Countries like Singapore and China are best known for their technology inclusive education curriculums. Countries in the (third world) category fall last in this transformation.
The education stakeholders should come up with plans to construct well-equipped ICT rooms where students can access video conferencing services with their tutors and get the required assistance needed. The teacher and student must meet face to face at regular intervals. Both the teachers and all the students should be involved in this process.
Teachers handling kindergarten learners should also come up with creative presentations to deliver to the children virtually. This incentive could include animations for educational purposes and songs and poem presentations CITATION Gri141 l 1033 (Griffin, 2014). It is because children at that age are more likely to grasp information presented in that manner more as compared to the traditional ways of theoretical learning.
Conclusion
Digital/Online learning is, without a doubt, the future of learning in years to come. With the correct adjustments made, this form of education could yield better results. Due to the corona epidemic, many of us learners have turned to digital learning. According to my perspective, I don’t find this method of teaching favorable for everyone, but I like it. Suddenly I have more time to myself as compared to before the schools were shut down where I would spend most of my time at school and have little time for myself. However, there has been an enormous cut of interactions between my peers with whom together we would hold constructive discussions on various issues and me. There is also the problem of power blackouts and down Internet times. Power blackouts are a result of harsh weather or sometimes just other factors. The Internet sometimes is slow, and this dramatically affects my studies as it interferes with my connectivity with schooling resources, which was not the case before this. Digital learning has positively impacted the lives of many learners during this global pandemic. It has enabled learners to take up courses alongside their careers. Digital learning has also been helpful to education institutions in guiding the students in their studies while online during the school shut down period. As a recommendation, the school should put into consideration the factors discussed in this essay for not all students have access to reliable Internet. Assignments should also be reasonably marked, putting into account that students are making most of their interpretation by themselves with little assistance from the tutors. It is also upon the institutions to make sure that all its learners are included in this digital learning rollout.
References
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Hillman, D. C. (1994). Learner‐interface interaction in distance education: An extension of contemporary models and strategies for practitioners. American Journal of Distance education, 8(2), 30-42.
Jiang, M. &. (2000). A study of factors influencing students’ perceived learning in a web-based course environment. International Journal of Educational Telecommunications, 6(4), 317-338.
Kirschner, P. A. (2002). Cognitive load theory: Implications of cognitive load theory on the design of learning.
Rose, D. H. (2002). Teaching every student in the digital age: Universal design for learning. Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, 1703 N. Beauregard St., Alexandria, VA 22311-1714.
Warschauer, M. (2007). The paradoxical future of digital learning. Learning Inquiry, 1(1), 41-49.