Back
to Caroline Haythornthwaite’s home page.
This workshop was held October 5, 2005 as a pre-conference event at the Internet Researchers 6.0 conference, Chicago, Illinois organized by the Association of Internet Researchers. The workshop was made possible by funding from the World University Network.
The workshop brought together speakers and participants from across the globe. Presenters came from the Universities of York, Manchester and Leeds in the UK, Penn State, and University of Illinois, with participants from the US, Germany, Italy, and Israel. The format allowed for much discussion and we were not short of things to discuss. Highlights included discussion of the way technologies change and are changed by their implementation and use in a process of reciprocal co-evolution (Andrews), a plea to not forget distance e-learning students as attention turns to including e-learning in on-campus settings (Thompson), a challenge to understand the organizational factors influencing (and perhaps also being influenced by) the e-learning agenda (Whitworth). New opportunities were addressed in the way learners embedded in their community not only learn by remaining embedded there, but also how the community itself benefits from these community-embedded learners (Kazmer), along with caveat for us all to ask "Who is being served?" with e-learning, including consideration of learning styles, comfort zones, digital divide conditions, and individuals social circumstances (Sandars). The final discussion addressed inquiry based learning (Bruce & Jones), bringing us back to the first speaker by giving attention to dynamic, evolving processes, in this case considering the dynamic nature of learning with its progression from question to answer to further questions. Overall, this was an active, interested group, benefiting from the opportunity to find like minds and co-evolve our own views and agenda for future e-learning research.
Thanks to all presenters and participants for a stimulating day.
Caroline Haythornthwaite
Graduate School of Library and Information Science, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (haythorn@uiuc.edu)
This full-day workshop, held October 5, 2005, explored the state of E-learning research with a view to setting an agenda for future work. E-learning is a particularly interesting phenomenon because of the number of fields involved, including computer science, information science, education, communication, and higher education management. This workshop encouraged discussion of the multiple perspectives and fields that inform E-learning, with a view to articulating the synergies between fields and approaches, and looking at research challenges for the future. The workshop gave an opportunity to discuss e-learning in the light of research about the Internet, including creation of online communities, communication via computer-media, and design and use of collaboratory systems. Speakers and discussants included international speakers interested in E-learning research, drawn from a variety of fields. Workshop participants were encouraged to bring their ideas to the table, and the workshop included ample time set for discussion of current and future research issues. The emphasis was on theoretical and conceptual issues for researching E-learning, and exploring what should be done next in terms of research on the Internet and E-learning. Individuals attending the workshop were able to exchange ideas and knowledge, as well as lay the groundwork for later collaborations on E-learning research.
8:30-9:00 Introduction: E-learning, Computer-Mediated Communication, and the Internet, Caroline Haythornthwaite
9:00-10:00 Problems in Framing E-Learning Research, and a Possible Solution, Richard Andrews
10:00-10:30 Break
10:30-11:15 The ‘"E" is for Everything’ Fallacy: The Importance of Retaining a Focus on Distance Education, Melody M. Thompson
11:15-12:00 Discussion: The E-Learning Research Environment, and Its Consequences, Andrew Whitworth
12:30-2:00 Lunch
2:00-2:30 E-learning as Embedded Learning: An Approach to Understanding students' Experience of the E-Learning Environment, Michelle M. Kazmer
2:30-3:00 Who is served by E-learning? John Sandars
3:00-3:30 Break
3:30-4:00 Evolution of the Inquiry Page: How Participation in Inquiry Leads Technology, Chip Bruce & Cameron Jones
4:00-5:00 Discussion: Directions for E-learning Research, All
Associate Professor, Graduate School of Library and Information Science, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
This introduction will highlight how CMC and Internet research provides insights for E-learning and vice-versa.
Professor of Education at The University of York, UK
In this paper I aim to identify some of the problems in the field of researching E-learning. Some of these are definitional, others more to do with conventional research approaches which seem inappropriate when investigating a new field. In particular, the paper focuses on research reviews of ICT and internet research at school level, revealing that much of the research to date has missed an opportunity to ask the kinds of questions that will give answers that are useful for further research or to practice. A model will be presented of how the field could be conceived; a model which, it is hoped, will provoke discussion and contribute to further development of the field itself.
Outreach Director of Planning & Research for Penn State Continuing & Distance Education, and Assistant Professor of Education in the College of Education
Many in the field of education are viewing e-learning (and its offspring "blended learning") as the evolutionary culmination of what began over a century ago as distance education. Others, especially those without prior connections to distance education, see e-learning as a totally new phenomenon essentially unconnected to past research and practice, and therefore as something to be studied in the "here and now," as opposed to within its historical context. This presentation will provide a historical context for the mainstreaming of e-learning in higher education, suggest the importance of maintaining a focus on the concept of "distance" for both conceptual and equity reasons, identify challenges related to research in this area, and propose appropriate categories for future research.
Senior Lecturer in Community Based Education, Medical Education Unit, University of Leeds
The discussion will explore trends in e-learning practice and the impact of those trends on who has access to and benefits from e-learning. Ideas for further research will be identified.
Lecturer, School of Education, University of Manchester, UK.
This discussion session aims to help participants develop critical understanding of the environment within which e-learning research takes place. Three principal areas will be addressed:
1. What is the form of the e-learning research environment? What organisational factors influence work in this field (e.g., promotion and reward structures; the availability and nature of funding)? Which factors permeate the global epistemic community, and which are more localised, perhaps confined to particular institutions or even research teams?
2. What consequences do these environmental factors have? What kinds of e-learning research do they promote, and what kinds do they constrain? What is the impact on the intellectual landscape and on the everyday experience of employment in HE? What impacts might it have in the future?
3. Can – and should – anything be done to reshape the e-learning research environment? If so, how might we proceed?
There are certainly no single answers to these questions, but the aim of the workshop is not to seek unity. Instead, the intention is to encourage participants to develop new perspectives, through sharing experiences with colleagues from different disciplines, different institutions and different countries. Overall, this session intends to enhance the quality of the cognitive resources on which e-learning researchers can draw.
Assistant Professor, College of Information, Florida State University
This presentation and discussion focuses on the interaction between students' local settings and their e-learning experiences. Local settings are viewed at two levels of granularity: a broad level that looks at students' local communities and a narrower level that looks at students' physical environs. Community-embedded learning happens when| e-learners have ties to their local communities: family and friends, memberships in clubs and social groups, and civic and volunteer activities. These students bring what they learn in their courses back to a job and community they know and that know them. As well, the knowledge students co-create in the e-learning environment is shaped by each student's community embeddedness. Community embeddedness reflects the knowledge flows between local communities and e-learning networks. Knowledge also flows between local individual settings such as the office, home, or coffee shop, and the e-learning classroom. This related concept views the online classroom as a hybrid space combining a shared online space and each student's physical environments. Community-embedded learning reflects a broader approach, while hybrid online classrooms represent a narrower approach. The two approaches lead to a similar conclusion, that students interpret the shared e-learning experience through the filters of their local environs, which in turn shapes their contributions to the knowledge building.
We present an overview of an inquiry approach to developing tools to support inquiry-based teaching and learning. Our approach sees inquiry as involving transformation of situations not simply learning concepts, engaging classweb in multiple forms of collaboration, and envisioning tools as both the means and products of inquiry. To illustrate these ideas we tell the story of the Inquiry Unit, a web-based means for classweb to describe processes of inquiry. Over the last eight years the Inquiry Units have evolved from a simple mechanism for teachers to share curriculum units with other teachers into a general mechanism for classweb in community centers, libraries, school, and other settings, to engage in collaborative inquiry. These changes have included mechanisms for co- authorship, comments, spin-offs, document sharing, and group and community support. Central to our discussion is how these features emerged through an open, participatory process of reflective inquiry.
Caroline Haythornthwaite is Associate Professor at the Graduate School of Library and Information Science, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Her research examines how the Internet and computer media support work and social interactions among members of online learning and work communities. Studies of online learners have examined the formation of social networks and use of media in online classes, the development and nature of community online, communication issues for new online learners; studies of collaborative groups explore the nature of collaboration, the social networks of collaborating researchers, and of distributed knowledge. Major publications include The Internet in Everyday Life (2002, edited with Barry Wellman); Learning, Culture and Community in Online Education: Research and Practice (2004, edited with Michelle M. Kazmer), a special issue of JCMC on Computer-Mediated Collaborative Practices and Systems (2005), and Handbook of E-learning Research (in preparation, edited with Richard Andrews).
Richard Andrews is Professor of Education at The University of York, where he currently chairs the Department of Educational Studies and plays a part in the Centre for Language Learning Research. He is co-coordinator of the English (Teaching) Review Group, which undertakes systematic reviews and syntheses of research literature. He is editor of The Impact of ICT on Literacy Education (RoutledgeFalmer, 2004) and is currently editing on the Sage Handbook of E-learning Research with Caroline Haythornthwaite. He is also embarking on new research with Paul Prior (Illinois) and Sally Mitchell (Queen Mary, University of London) on argumentation for first-year undergraduates, funded by the UK’s Higher Education Academy.
John Sandars is Senior Lecturer in Community Based Education, Medical Education Unit, University of Leeds. He trained and worked substantially as a family physician until 4 years ago. He qualified in 1975 at the University of Sheffield and subsequently took postgraduate training in counseling and education, including a masters degree. He worked part time in medical education at the University of Manchester for about 12 years and 4 years ago was responsible for the development of the first UK online web-based masters in public health. In 1994, he moved to Leeds and now works only one day a week as a family physician. The rest of his time is divided between teaching and research. He is the manager for personal and professional development for medical students which includes ethics, communication skills and reflective practice.
Chip Bruce is a Professor in Library & Information Science, Curriculum & Instruction, Bioengineering, Writing Studies, and the Center for East Asian & Pacific Studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. His central interest is in learning—the constructive process whereby individuals and organizations develop as they adapt to new circumstances. This work draws on the theory of inquiry (John Dewey, et al.) and situated work in communities. An important component is the study of changes in the nature of knowledge, community, and literacy, as discussed in recent books, including Literacy in the information age: Inquiries into meaning making with new technologies and Libraries: Changing information space and practice, various articles, and presentations. It is also represented in the development of systems for community, collaboration, and content management (C3MS), such as the Inquiry Page and Inquiry Labs (iLabs). http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~chip/
Cameron Jones is a doctoral student at GSLIS, working on the iLabs project.
Michelle M. Kazmer is an Assistant Professor at the College of Information, Florida State University. Her research focuses on social processes in online social worlds, especially online worlds that are designed to be temporary. Her recent research has examined the social world disengaging processes of distance learners and academic researchers, as well as community-embedded online learning. She is also involved with an interdisciplinary research team that uses a hermeneutics approach for studying virtual communities. Michelle has worked with online learners as a teacher and researcher since 1997, in the LEEP program at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and at Florida State University.
Melody M. Thompson, D. Ed., has a dual appointment as Outreach Director of Planning & Research for Penn State Continuing & Distance Education and as Assistant Professor of Education in the College of Education. Her responsibilities in these roles include teaching, advising graduate students, facilitating the development of collaborative research agendas, and strategic planning. Dr. Thompson's research interests include the evaluation of distance education programming, institutional policy related to distance education, K-12-higher education collaboration, and the faculty experience in the online environment. She has served as director of the American Center for the Study of Distance Education and is currently the US coordinator for e-learning research collaboration for the Worldwide Universities Network (WUN) and editor of the Sloan-C "Faculty Satisfaction" Effective Practices Web site. Dr. Thompson he has written a number of peer-reviewed articles and several book chapters about distance education, and with Alan Chute and Burton Hancock she co-authored the 1997 McGraw-Hill Handbook of Distance Education. She has served as book review editor for The American Journal of Distance Education and currently serves on the editorial board of JALN (Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks.
Andrew Whitworth teaches ICT in Education at the School of Education, University of Manchester, UK. His research is concerned with developing critical methods for studying educational technologies, through investigating the politics of innovation within educational organisations.