Reflections on the article,"A Conceptual Framework for Using and Evaluating Web-Based Learning Resources in School Education"

The article assigned for reading this week is entitled “A Conceptual Framework for Using and Evaluating Web-Based Learning Resources in School Education” by Said Hadjerrouit. I must admit that I found this lengthy article difficult to follow at times, but I kept reading none the less. The goal of the article seemed to be to help establish criteria for the design and evaluation of Web-Based Learning Resources in the educational environment. It seems as though the author’s goal was to examine the use of Web-Based Learning Resources (or WBLRs as the article states) in education and develop a framework for determining whether or not these resources effective and how improvements could be made in the design of such resources to better produce desired results.

The author begins by looking at literature related to this topic. One thing that is mentioned that resonated with me is the idea that while WBLRs are beneficial because they provide the learner with “access to well-structured and easily-updateable study materials, task-based activities, online resources, and tutorial support”, they are often developed without the knowledge of “learner’s needs” in mind. Due to this factor, there are often WBLR that are hard to implement in an education setting. The author seems to indicate that many WBLRs are not as user friendly and basically “emphasize technical usability”. I interpret this to mean that the design of many WBLRs does not take into account the needs of educators and learners. Researchers suggest that “developers need to design WBLRs with suitable usability, and then tailor it more closely to meet the learner’s needs”. The authors points out that not much attention has been given to the “pedagogical usability of WBLRs” and that this is a crucial element in determining the success of implementing this technology into the classroom. There seems to be a missing link between the current design for WBLRs and the necessary elements to make their use in an educational environment successful. The article points out that the “pedagogical value of WBLRs lies in helping learners discover and explore things for themselves” and most of these resources that are available provide little support in helping learners to do so. It is also mentioned that the effective use of WBLRs within the classroom is related to the teachers’ “epistemological orientations, personal theories, and perceptions about teaching and learning processes”. In other words, teachers must consider the relationships between pedagogy, content, and technology in order to effectively be able to integrate WBLRs into their educational environment. Teachers should look at how these resources can support their pedagogical goals, as well as how the use of this technology helps to transform the content being presented.

According to the author, Web-Based Learning Resources can be defined as “a technology with four major features: (a) it is delivered through the Web; (b) it teaches content that meets specific learning objectives aligned with the curriculum; (c) it is designed on the basis of a learning theory; (d) it contains reusable elements”. Some examples of WBLRs can include Web 2.0 technologies like Wikis and Blogs. The article states that the design of WBLRs is embedded in learning theories like “instructionism, behaviorism, cognitivism, constructivism, collaborative learning, or a combination”. Thus, it makes sense that WBLRs should be used in an environment that combines classroom and Web-based learning. While this part of the article is understandable, I found it a bit confusing in relation to the first part of the article where it seemed to indicate that WBLRs are not sufficiently designed with the needs of the learner in mind. Perhaps the author means that although they are rooted in learning theories, improvements could be made to better tailor their design to the needs of the learner/user.

In the part of the article that discusses usability criteria, I developed a better understanding of the differences in usability that should be considered when evaluating a WBLR. Technical usability assesses the users’ ability to interact with the software without difficulty. When considering technical usability of WBLRs, there are three different factors to be considered, content design, page design, and site design. The content design refers to how easily the content can be read. Page design deals with the ability of the user to easily use the pages of the WBLR, while the site design indicates the ease in navigating the site. All three elements are important in the evaluation of technical usability. Pedagogical usability refers to the ability of the resource to support the desired learning process. I can see the importance of these elements in the design and successful implementation of WBLRs. In order for any technology based tool to be beneficial in a classroom, I feel that it is imperative that it is easy for both the teacher and students to use and helps to support the desired learning outcome.

In order to see true learning benefits from the use of WBLRs, it is suggested that teachers realize that these resources take a learner-centered approach to learning, rather than a teacher-centered approach. As a result, “designing learner-centered WBLRs requires a constructivist approach to learning”. Some of the key criteria involved in evaluating the pedagogical usability of WBLRs are: understandability, added value, goal-orientation, time, interactivity, multimedia, motivation, differentiation, flexibility, autonomy, collaboration, and variation. All of these elements are understandably important when looking at the effective use of WBLRs.

The next part of the article looks at the context of use and evaluation for WBLRs. It is in this section that I came across a term I had never seen, “milieu”. According to Brousseau’s definition, “learning is described as emerging from exchanges between the students and the milieu organized with teaching intentions”. The article states that the milieu “forms the very basis for the process underlying the design, development, use and evaluation of WBLRs”. The resulting interaction between the users and these resources “is dependent upon the instructional approach and epistemological orientation adopted by the teacher”.

Taking all of these elements into consideration, that author developed a conceptual framework for evaluating WBLRs. The first of the key features to be examined are the features of the WBLRs, including pedagogy, technology, and content. One of the next points to look at involves usability criteria, both technical usability and pedagogical usability. Finally, the context of use/evaluation is the final point to be considered and should include both non material milieu and material milieu. The rest of the article examines a case study involving this information, as well as students’ and teachers’ perceptions of WBLRs.

I have to say that while I understood the concept behind this article, there were areas where I had difficulty following what the author was attempting to say. Overall it contained very interesting and informative information that I feel is relevant to the purpose of the article and to the technology that we will be learning about in this class. As educators, as we learn about and consider using various new technologies (including WBLRs) in the classroom, it is important that we learn to properly evaluate the effective use of these new technologies. 

Source:

Journal of Information Technology Education Volume 9, 2010

A Conceptual Framework for Using and Evaluating Web-Based Learning Resources in School Education Said Hadjerrouit University of Agder, Kristiansand, Norway

http://www.jite.org/documents/Vol9/JITEv9p053-079Hadjerrouit743.pdf