Advances in E-learning-Experiences and Methodologies

Telematic Environments and Competition-Based Methodologies
Hislop (1999) presents some interesting data
obtained when evaluating a learning experience
developed completely online: 95% of students felt
that they had better access to the instructor, and
43% felt that they actually communicated with the
instructor more than they would in a traditional
class. These data confirm the hypothesis that
Web tools facilitate the interaction between the
teacher and the student. However, 51% of students
missed face-to-face lectures, 40% felt that they
had to work harder in the online course, and 15%
felt that the online class was more boring than a
traditional class. These data reflect, on the one
hand, the benefit of considering telematic systems
as additional resources to be used taking into account
the students’ profile and the educational,
social, and professional context. On the other hand,
they reflect the idea that online education does
not work well for everyone, since the success also
depends on the different learning styles.
Learning styles
The interactivity provided by the Web seems to
be positive, since it is a good motivation element.
However, as it has been mentioned along this chapter,
it must be always taken into account the different
learning styles. Results from Mehlenbacher,
Miller, Covington, & Larsen (2000) show that, in
a Web environment, reflective and global learners
are performing better than active and sequential
learners. They conclude that reflective learners,
who prefer solitary, quiet problem-solving as opposed
to group discussion of problems, may have
been more comfortable in the online courses.
This result surprised them somewhat, since they
assumed that their “interactive” Web site would
favour active learners. However, attempting to
emulate the interactivity of a face-to-face class
on the Web has a high level of difficulty.
It is also important to consider, as some authors
highlight (Burd & Buchanan, 2004), that, even
if individuals are usually strong in one learning
style, in general, they will exhibit multiple
learning styles depending on factors such as age,
personality, culture, and environment. Agreeing
with this principle, we believe that not every
student must be treated in the same way, and that
a set of activities that contribute to facilitate the
learning process of the different students must
be proposed by the team of teachers. The idea is
to respect diverse talents and ways of learning
(Chickering & Ehrmann, 1996): students need
opportunities to show their talents and learn in
ways that adapt better to their learning styles.
Therefore, teachers must apply different learning
techniques: collaborative learning, practical
sessions, self-assessments, and so forth, when
designing their classes.
However, we also believe that students must
be adequately prepared to successfully undertake
their professional careers. Then, teachers should
focus on the use of active strategies where cooperative
and competitive learning activities, and not
only individual learning activities, take place.
As it has been explained before, although
motivation is one of the most positive aspects
of collaborative work, some students feel more
motivated through competition. Team competition
has a dual nature; it is both competitive and
collaborative and, therefore, offers a lot of possibilities
when facing a heterogeneous group of
students. This could be taken into account when
selecting and designing a learning strategy.
When designing a competitive learning
strategy, besides the selection of individual or
team competition, other factors should be analyzed,
since the competitive methodology can
be anonymous or of known authorship, faceto-face
or distance located, and so forth. At this
moment, the possibilities of networking should
be considered.
use of Ict
ICT is a useful tool to support pedagogical
principles. Yet, for each learning strategy we
must ensure that the right technology is applied.
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