“Will you place it there?" development of distance learning and use of learning management systems at the upper secondary level in Iceland June 12th 2010 Valencia EDEN 2010 Annual Conference Sólveig Jakobsdóttir, Associate professor, University of Iceland – School of Education, [email protected]Kristín Helga Guðmundsdóttir, manager, Fjarkennsla.com, Iceland, [email protected]
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“Will you place it there?" development of distance learning and use of learning management
systems at the upper secondary level in Iceland
June 12th 2010
Valencia
EDEN 2010 Annual Conference
Sólveig Jakobsdóttir, Associate professor, University of Iceland – School of Education,
Jakobsdóttir, S., Jónsson, S. F., Elfarsdóttir, T., &
Jóhannesdóttir, S. (2007). Regatta for life and
learning? Trends and blends in distance education
at the secondary level in Iceland. In A. Gaskell & A.
Tait (Eds.), The 12th Cambridge International
Conference on Open and Distance Learning.
Jakobsdóttir, S. (2008). Waltzing from needs and
necessity to comfort and convenience: Online and
distance learning at the upper secondary level. In J.
Luca & E. R. Weippl (Eds.), Proceedings of World
Conference on Educational Multimedia, Hypermedia and
Telecommunications..
Among earlier results
• 2005-2006 Big range:
• “DE groups” 1 to 5
• LMS’s, videoconferences
• Blends: online+f2f
• Increase in use of LMS’s, and DE
• Students: number and type
• 2007: student voices: why DE – needs and
necessities to comfort and convenience
The focus of our paper
• How do teachers regard distance, online and
blended learning and/or the use of LMS for
teaching and learning?
• What are the main changes in the schools
concerning distance, online and blended
learning and the use of LMS's at the upper
secondary level in Iceland from 2005 to 2009?
Results from interviews with teachers, 2007
Attitude regarding distance education (DE)
Benefits
• Increased opportunities for small schools in rural
areas.
• Increased flexibility - coordinate residence,
family, work and study.
• Students learn new practices.
• Increased freedom for teachers and be labor
saving in the long run.
... Attitude regarding distance education
Drawbacks • Increased workload for teachers and isolation.
• Insufficient teacher-student interaction and
student-student interaction
• Is not for everyone – not all schools or learners.
• Greater risk of students: cheating and dropout.
• Technical problems.
DE requires self-control and maturity in students.
... Attitude regarding distance education
Improvements
• Plan the DE programs well in the beginning.
• Get teachers´ team who teach the same subject
to design DE courses.
• Increase communication in the courses.
• Improve teachers' knowledge in information
technology.
• Increase technical assistance in the schools.
• Develop student assessment further.
LMS and its role
• Teachers are beginning to use LMS to manage
the courses taught both in face to face programs
and in DE programs
– Putting teaching material in LMS,
communicate with students, using interactive
tests and ratings of students.
– Mostly using only part of the built-in features.
Modified teaching methods – blended
learning
• Use of LMS appears to affect teaching.
• Changing from traditional learning to blended
learning.
• Rethinking use of f2f lessons
• Rethinking student assessment – more
continuous throughout the course
Modified teaching methods – blended
learning
Teacher:
“Face to face students often ask. Is this in LMS,
will you place it there?”
Teacher:
“teachers are using LMS and the kids are
beginning to becoming addicted to this ...
It is a pressure on teachers ... I understand that
time is changing...“
Administrators attitude regarding the use of
LMS’s
• The administrators tended to be very pleased
with the use of the LMS’s.
• LMS improves information flow between
teachers and students both in DE and in face to
face teaching.
• Financial cuts in relation to DE after 2008.
The choice of LMS
9
11
7
5
3
10
11
10
3 3
2 2 2
3
11
14
12
2
0 0 0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
2005 2006 2009 2010-11 (projected)
Commercial Foreign Commercial Icelandic Homemade Icelandic Open Source Moodle None
Choice of LMS
2006
• The language (Icelandic).
• Access and user-friendly
interface.
• Development and adaptions.
• Connection with other
systems.
• Cost.
• Timing/history (best system
when chosen).
• Eexperiencee.
• Ideology (open source).
2009
• COST
• Experience of others
Effects of the Financial Crash
• Administrators in schools with DE students were worried because DE financial cuts (50%).
• Some were trying to minimize the effects for the learners involved –even if it cost the schools money, hoping that the situation would improve within a year or two.
• Main DE groups affected were distance learners from the lower secondary level – who had been doing very well (low drop-out); and/or adult learners
• DE and use of LMS’s have been thriving at the upper secondary level in Iceland. The financial crash is having effects in various ways on that development.
• Issues of quality are important.
• Collaboration between schools should be explored.
Summary and Discussion
• Most participants were positive towards distance
education and although they think it does not
suit everyone – not all schools or learners.
• Schools are starting to rely on LMS’s and there
is increased use of them in all schools among
learners, teachers and administrators.
• Clear trend towards the use of open source
software is evident probably to a large extent as
a result of the financial crash.
Project Leader
• Sólveig Jakobsdóttir, Associate professor, University of