RUNNINGHEADER:Assignment4

Assignment4
ReviewofResearchLiterature
GaryPage
ETEC500
UniversityofBritishColumbia
ProfessorStephenCarey

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Introduction
Duetoadvancementsintechnology,virtualorwebbasedlearningisnowavailableand
theuseofthismediumiseverincreasing.Althoughthistechnologyisrelativelynew,studies
havebeenconductedontheuseofvirtualenvironmentsregardingeducationandinformation
technology.Thisreviewofvariousstudieswillfocusonthevirtualenvironment,theirdesign
anduseforeducationandtheirrelationshiptoinformationtechnology.
LiteratureSummaryAnalysisandCritique
Inthefirstarticle,MuellerandStrohmeierstudythedesignofvirtualenvironmentsfor
learning.Inthisquantitativestudy,Muelleretalrecognizethatthereisnocompletely
developedtheoryofvirtualenvironmentdesign.Theyproposeasanalternativethat
InformationSystem(IS)designbeusedascurrentlyitiswelldefined.TheInformationSystem
SuccessModel(ISSM)hasaframeworkfortestingrelevantsuccessfuldesignedcharacteristics.
Thisisapplicableforvirtualenvironmentsystemrelatedandinformationrelatedfeatures.
Areviewofpreviousresearchshowedthirtydifferentcharacteristicsthatwereusedfor
evaluation.Althoughtheseweresystemorinformationrelated,therelevanceofeachisnot
clearlydefined.Furthermore,evenwiththisnumberofcharacteristics,theseweredefinedto
becoarsegranularasopposedtofinegranular,indicatingveryspecificdesigncharacteristics
werenotclearlyvisible.Aswell,althoughdesigncharacteristicswereused,therewasalackof
definitionfortheseincontracttotheISSM.Thisstudywasundertakenduetothesefacts.
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Forthisstudy,atwophasedapproachwasused.Phaseoneentailedapanelofexperts
completingaquestionnairetorankpredefinedcharacteristicsinorderofimportance.Phase
twothencomparedtheresultsoftheresponsesfromthisquestionnairetotheprevious
research.Thisstudyshowedthatreliabilitywasthemostimportantsystemdesign
characteristicwhileunderstandablewasthemostimportanteducationaldesigncharacteristic.
Thearticleiswelldesignedandmethodicalbutamoreformalstructurewouldhave
beenbeneficialforthereader.Morequestionswereraisedthanansweredbythisstudy.
Althoughpreviously,issuewithtechnologymayhavebeenmoreprevalent,reliabilityshouldbe
moreofacertaintythanaquestionmarkwithvirtualenvironments.Also,aclearlydefinedset
ofdesigncharacteristicsparticulartovirtualenvironmentsisrequired.
Inthesecondarticle,MimirinisandBhattacharyadiscussdesignbutfromadifferent
perspective.Thisstudyprovidesinvestigationnotonthedesignsystembutonthelearning
outcomeswhenavirtualenvironmentisused.Thisquantitativestudydiscussesthreedistinct
learningoutcomes:Deep,Strategic,andSurface.ADeeplearningoutcomeistheresultof
strongrelevancetostudentsinterests.Surfacelearningresultsfromlackofinterest,anxiety,
and/orheavyworkloadforstudents.Astrategicoutcomeresultsfromstudentsfocuson
achievementthroughthecompletionofassignedlearningtasks.
Thestudywascompletedusingfirstyearphysiologystudentsattendingapost
secondaryinstitution.Studentscompletedaquestionnaireinordertoprovidefeedbackabout
theirperceptionsandapproachestolearning.Avirtuallearningenvironmentfosteredlearning
forallthreeoutcomeswiththestrongestcorrelationtoStrategiclearning.Aswell,aDeep
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learningoutcomeshowedastrongcorrelationtousingvirtuallearningenvironmentsbutnotas
areplacementforinstructorledlearning.
Thearticleismethodicalandformalinpresentation.Notenoughdetailontheactual
questionnairewasgiven.Someconclusionsweredrawnthatdonothavebackgroundresearch
listed.Positiveperceptionswereattributedtotheeffectiveuseandavailabilityofthe
technologywhichhoweverisnotclearlydefined.Aswell,thedesignanduseofexistingvirtual
environmentfeaturestopromotehigherqualitydeeplearningisdiscussedbutnotproven.
Inthethirdarticle,Konstantinidis,Tsiatsos,andPomportsisdiscussvirtualenvironments
focusingoncollaboration.Theybasethereasonforthisstudyofdesignonthepremisethat
collaborativeactivitiesresultinagreateracquisitionofknowledge.Thisarticledetailsthe
selectionofapropervirtualenvironmenttoolbasedonaselectionofthoseavailableatthis
pointintime.Threesmallerscalequalitativestudieswerecompleted.Moreappropriately
designedandusablecollaborativevirtualenvironmentswillleadtoanenhancedprobabilityfor
collaborativelearning.Virtualenvironmentsarekeyastheyaredesignedtofacilitate
communication,evenwithdistanceandscaleissues.
Thepaperpresentsatwostepselectionprocess.Thefirststepisacomparisonofvirtual
environmenttoolsbasedadefinedsetofspecifichighlevelselectioncriteria.Thesecondstepis
thentoevaluatethechosenvirtualenvironmentagainstasetoflearningdesignprinciples.
Then,threereviewsoftheselectedtoolwerecompleted,twobypostgraduateandoneby
undergraduatestudents.AllvalidatedthechoiceoftherecommendedVirtualEnvironment.
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Resultsareclearlydisplayedandanacademicmethodologyforthesestudiesis
followed.Thereisanimmenseamountofdetailthatcanbedifficultforthereadertoreview
andprocess.Itcouldbearguedthatsomeofthisdetailedinformationisunnecessary.Aswell,
thecriteriausedtoevaluatethevirtualenvironmentsarenotfullyjustified.Thelearningdesign
principlesusedseemstandardbutthereisnotenoughacademicjustificationpresented.The
authorsreadilyadmitthatfutureworkshouldincludetheenhancementoftheirreview
methodology.
Inthefourtharticle,Ho,Higson,Dey,Xu,andBahsoondetailanevaluationprocessfor
virtualenvironments.Thisquantitativestudyisbasedonanevaluationcompletedusinga
formalstandardizedstructure.Thisisthecombinationofanalytichierarchprocess(AHP)and
qualityfunctiondeployment(QFD).Hoetal.showthesecriteriahavebeensuccessfullyused,
particularlyineducation.Acasestudyisusedtodemonstratetheprocess.Thesuccessofthe
evaluationisbasedonathesesetsofselectioncriteria.Thestudyusespairwisecomparison.A
questionnairewasusedtodeterminethemostimportantrequirementsbasedontwentyeight
systemfeatures.Stakeholderrequirementswerelinkedtovirtualenvironmentsystemfeatures.
Themostimportantfeaturescouldthenbeidentified.Thesixmostimportantfeatureswere
thenusedasawaytocomparevirtualenvironments.Basedonthisinformation,apreferred
virtualenvironmentsystemwasdetermined.
Thestudyiswelldesignedandpurposeful.Anexcellentstudywhichhasmeaningnot
onlyforeducationalpurposes,butalsoforITdevelopment.Thisisafundamentalconsideration
inthedesignofthesesystems.Itcouldbearguedthattoomuchofthedialogueisspentonthe
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validityofAHPandQFD.Thelistedcasestudyismoreimportantandseems,relatively,tobe
minimalizedinthearticle.
Inthelastarticle,ChapmanandStonestudyoutcomesfromtheuseofvirtual
environments.Theyarguethatalthoughthetechnologyeducationtoolsarebeingused,their
successislargelyanecdotalanddevelopmentalbestpracticesarerequired.Thisqualitative
studywasbasedoninterviewdatafromsixuniversitiesfocusingonmeasuringlearning
outcomesfromvirtualenvironmentinstruction.ChapmanandStoneconcludetheseoutcomes
andtheirevaluationaredependantaroundthetypesoflearningactivitiesused.More
traditionalmethods,forexample,surveys,interviewsetc.,canlendthemselvesmoretovirtual
environments.
Thisstudyiswelldesignedbutthefindingsarecircumspect.Thereisnotenoughdetail
provided.Thereshouldbeasetofevaluationcriteriaforvirtualenvironmentsascomparedto
facetofaceeducationalenvironments.Aswell,thereisadiscussionaroundtheeducational
pedagogybutthisneverexplicitlystated.Overall,thereadermayfeelambivalenttothis
researchasmanystatementsusedtosupporttheirargumentsseemtobemoreconjecture
thanfact.
Themes
Allstudiesarecenteredonvirtualenvironments.Althougheachpresentsinformationin
aresearchformat,theyareunique.However,eachbroadlystatesthattheuseofdesign
principles,forboththetechnologyandtheeducationalmaterial,aremorelikelytocreate
virtualenvironmentsthataremoreconducivetousabilityandlearning.However,therewasnot
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astandarddefinedinanyofthisresearch.Duetothisfact,somestudiesrelieduponprinciples
usedincomplementaryifnotsimilarenvironments.
Inallofthestudies,therewasaseparationoftechnologyandeducation.Technology
causedissuesforeducationandviceversa.Therewasnoinformationpresentedthatwas
determinedtobeusefulforbotheducationandIT.Technologyhasaninfluencerrolein
education.Thestudentisnotonlyinfluencedbythecontenttaughtbutalsobythetechnology
usedtoteachthiscontent.Engagementinvirtuallearningwillbehigherinlearningwhenthe
technologyitselfisinterestingtothelearnerand/ortechnologyisnotanissue.
Conclusions
Astechnologyandeducationaretwodistinctandseparateareas,possiblyresearchers
maynothavethebackground,particularlyininformationtechnology,toaccuratelyreflectin
theirstudiesinformationtechnologyrequirements.Possiblythefieldisstilltoonewtohave
historicalrelevantresearch.Therapidpaceofchangeintechnologycausesdistinctchallenges
forresearch.Thetoolthatwasreferencedduringastudymaybecomeobsoleterelatively
quickly.Thetechnologyusedmayquicklybecomeirrelevantaswell.
Engagementinlearningwillbehigherinlearningwhenthetechnologyitselfis
interestingtothelearner.Themorestudentsunderstandthetechnologyused,thegreatertheir
abilitytolearnusingthetechnology.
Allarticlesstatedthatfurtherresearchwasrequired.Thisneedstobeclearlystatedfor
theeverexpandingareaofvirtuallearning.
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References
Mueller,D.&Strohmeier,S.(2010).Designcharacteristicsofvirtuallearningenvironments:an
expertstudy.InternationalJournalofTrainingandDevelopment,14(3),209222.
Mimirinis,M.&Bhattacharya,M.(2007).Designofvirtuallearningenvironmentsfordeep
learning.JournalofInteractiveLearningResearch,18(1),5564.
Konstantinidis,A.,Tsiatsos,T,&Pomportsis,A.(2009).Collaborativevirtuallearning
environments:designandevaluation.MultimedToolsAppl44,279304.
Ho,W.,Higson,H.,Dey,P.,Xu,X.,&Bahsoon,R.(2009).Measuringperformanceofvirtual
learningenvironmentsysteminhighereducation.QualityAssuranceinEducation,
17(1),629.
Chapman,D.andStone,S.(2010).Measurementofoutcomesinvirtualenvironments.
AdvancesinDevelopingHumanResources12(6),665680.