Use of ICTs: To Promote Good Teaching and Learning Practices in Higher Management Education

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International Journal of Emerging Technology and Advanced Engineering

Website: www.ijetae.com (ISSN 2250-2459, ISO 9001:2008 Certified Journal, Volume 3, Issue 6, June 2013)

288

Use of ICTs: To Promote Good Teaching and Learning Practices

in Higher Management Education

Rupal Choudhary

1

, Jai Ram Choudhary

2

1

Lecturer, MCA Dr. D.Y. Patil Institute of Management and Research, Pune

2 _{HOD Software Development Cell, Dr. D.Y. Patil Vidyapeeth, Pune}

Abstract— Teachers in higher education are struggling with rising expectations about graduate capabilities, diversifying intake, increasing pressure on time and a dizzying proliferation of technology options. The use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) has become an integral part of teaching practices. The work involved in designing good learning tasks is becoming more complex. This is partly because of the changing needs of the knowledge. Society is placing greater demand on the ability of graduates to work with knowledge in more versatile ways. The use of ICTs in good teaching and learning has become inevitable. The use of educational technologies for higher education has a number of potential benefits, from increasing access to education and flexibility of teaching, to enhancing communication and providing more opportunities for student collaboration, and creating rich learning environments.

In recent years there has been a groundswell of interest in how computers, Internet and technologies like Web 2.0 can best be harnessed to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of education at all levels and in both formal and non-formal settings. Various ICTs and their effective and efficient use in promoting good teaching have been discussed in this paper.

Keywords—WBLT, Web 2.0, Blogs, YouTube, Wiki, Learning Design, Pedagogy

I. INTRODUCTION

ICTs stand for Information and Communication Technologies and are defined as a ―diverse set of technological tools and resources used to communicate, and to create, disseminate, store, and manage information.‖

Creative Classroom techniques incorporating technology promote a more productive and enriched learning environment. College faculty can ensure they are addressing the learning styles and attention span of the new faster-paced, web-connected learners, sometimes referred to as the Web 2.0 generation, by not only providing relevant education, but also using effective and engaging strategies. Innovative teaching strategies are imperative in higher education courses to engage and motivate the newer tech-savvy generation. Research has shown that creative classroom techniques that incorporate technology promote a more productive and enriched learning environment.

It is beyond time that higher education institutions recognize the untenable position of holding onto past practices that are in congruent with the needs and demands of a knowledge society. Higher education leaders have the challenge to position their institutions for the twenty-first century. They must provide students with an opportunity to engage their professors and peers in critical and creative reflection and discourse—the conventional ideals of higher education. The past is the future if we examine the ideals of higher education and recognize the need to critically examine current practices in higher education and the potential of communications technology to support intense, varied, and continuous engagement in the learning process. There is the opportunity to revisit and regain the ideals of higher education with the adoption of approaches that value dialogue and debate.

Emerging technologies, such as the YouTube video-sharing web site, are important to both in-class and online instructors for establishing a sense of classroom community and achieving better learner outcomes. Internet-based resources like YouTube can also be used to integrate relevant content and encourage learners to reflect on how the material can be applied to settings within their discipline. Through this fresh and innovative technology medium, instructors have a new educational tool that speaks to the students and is geared towards the learning style of those who are more comfortable and familiar to the online environment.

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II. OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

Following are the objectives behind conducting the mentioned research project:

 To study various ICTs that can be used to promote good teaching and learning.

 To understand the use of various ICTs by the students pursuing higher education so as to help the Teaching Faculty in aligning their teaching methodology.

III. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Research in common man‘s language refers to ―search of knowledge‖. Research is an art of scientific investigation. It is also a systematic design, collection, analysis and the reporting the findings and solutions for a research problem. Research is required because of the following reasons:

 To identify and find solutions to the problem

 To help making decisions

 To develop new concepts

 To find alternate strategies

Convenience sampling technique was adopted for this prospective study. The sample size was 116. The data collected for the study is primary data.

Limitations of the study

The following are the specific limitations of the study:

1) This study is purely based on the information given by the respondents.

2) The study is limited to two management campuses in Pune city only and therefore the findings of the study cannot be extended to another area.

3) Sample size of the study was limited to 116.

IV. WEB 2.0

Web 2.0 technologies provide educators with many possibilities for engaging students in desirable practices such as collaborative content creation, peer assessment and motivation of students through innovative use of media. These can be used in development of authentic learning tasks and enhance the learning experience.

It is not sufficient to use online learning and teaching technologies simply for the delivery of the content to students. A new ―Learning Ecology‖ is present where these Web 2.0 technologies can be explored for collaborative and creative purpose as well as for the critical assessment, evaluation and personalization of information.

Web 2.0 refers to a perceived second generation of web-based interactions, applications and communities. It is considered to be inclusive of a shift from a World Wide Web that is ―read only‖ to a Web that is being described as the ―Read Write Web‘ (Gillmor. 2007).

V. BLOG

Blog, in its simplest form is a Website with dated entries, presented in reverse chronological order and published on the Internet. The word blog is both a noun and a verb. People who maintain a blog are called bloggers. The act of posting to a blog is called blogging and the distributed, collective, and interlinked world of blogging is the blogosphere.

A. Educational benefits of blogs

Potential benefits as identified by learning specialists Femette and Brock Eide and cited by Will Richardson (2008) in Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web tools for Classrooms include the following:

 can promote critical and analytical thinking;

 can promote creative, intuitive and associational thinking; (creative and associational thinking in relation to blogs being used as a brainstorming tool and also as a resource for interlinking, commenting on interlinked ideas);

 can promote analogical thinking;

 potential for increased access and exposure to quality information;

 combination of solitary and social interaction

 Within the structure of a blog, students can demonstrate critical thinking, take creative risks, and make sophisticated use of language and design elements. In doing so, the students acquire creative, critical, communicative, and collaborative skills that may be useful to them in both scholarly and professional contexts. The growing popularity of blogs suggests the possibility that some of the work that students need to do in order to read well, respond critically, and write vigorously, might be accomplished under circumstances dramatically different from those currently utilized in education.

B. Strategies for using blogs in teaching and learning

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Within a personal academic perspective a blog can support;

 reflection on teaching experiences;

 ramblings regarding professional challenges and teaching tips for other academics, and

 illustration of specific technology-related tips for other colleagues

Within an organizational perspective a blog can support;  a common online presence for unit-related

information such as calendars, events, assignments and resources, and

 online area for students to post contact details and queries relating to assessment

Within a pedagogical perspective a blog can support;  comments based on content, literature readings and

student responses:

 a collaborative space for students to act as reviewers for course-related materials;

 images and reflections related to industry placement

 an online gallery space for review of works, writings, etc., in progress, making use especially of the commenting feature;

 teachers encouraging reactions, reflections and Ideas by commenting on their students blogs.

 the development of a student portfolio of work

VI. YOUTUBE

YouTube is a popular video sharing website where users can upload, view, and share video clips. YouTube has become an enormously popular form of web 2.0 new media.

YouTube videos can be used by faculty to drive a certain point, to show an example or to show a case-study. Using videos in Classroom is described in details on http://techforschools.com/handouts/youtubeineducation.pdf

Class projects that involve presentations or directions on how to do something could be enhanced with video uploading. Imagine completing a video project with classmates, uploading to a site, and linking the site to the class‘s portal for everyone to view, share, and rate based on the topic. It would be a great way to collaborate and provide ‗live‘ feedback on ongoing projects; businesses do this today with a variety of online collaboration tools, and teachers can make use of this process to their advantage.

Video sharing in education can have multiple benefits for both educators and students.

Responsibility and ethics with internet use are certainly factors that play a strong role in making the best of today‘s technology; the rise in porn sites and the dangers of cyberspace cannot be overlooked. However, there is great potential for educators to create effective policies and allow students to participate in a positive and productive way.

A. Use of YouTube in PowerPoint Presentations

PowerPoint presentations are great for lectures, and YouTube videos can enhance them. While using videos in PowerPoint presentations, certain points need to be considered:

 internet availability at the presentation site;

 internet bandwidth available;

 size of the video;

The safest method is to download the YouTube video locally in either Windows Media or AVI format since PowerPoint doesn‘t understand the default FLV or MP4 formats of YouTube. MediaConverter.org can be used to save any YouTube video as an AVI file. Once the video is saved as an AVI or WMV file on the computer, it can be put in the current slide by selecting the Insert –> Movie –> ―Movie from file‖ option of PowerPoint

VII. WIKIS

Collaborative authoring has been one of the most popular uses of Web 2.0 technologies as is evidenced by the hugely successful Wikipedia. Based on the Mediawiki technology, the site has over 75000 active contributors who have created more than 13 million articles in over than 260 languages and attracts over 65 million visitors a month(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:About). However there are hundreds of wiki tools available for use (for instance, http://www.wikimatrix.org allows visitors to compare the features of over 120 wikis). Many of these are served and freely available for use, such as PBworks (previously PBwiki, http://pbworks.com/academic.wiki), Wetpaint (http://www.wetpaint.com) and Wikispaces (http://www.wikispaces.com). These wikis allow educators to not only organise and interrelate conceptual information for their students, but more importantly allow students to co-construct such knowledge bases.

VIII. LEARNING DESIGN

The field of learning design studies the creation of student learning experiences. It examines:

 What support people need in order to learn;

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 How learning and support can be made as effective,

efficient, attractive and accessible as possible for everyone involved in the process (Koper & Tattersall, 2005).

Comprehensive definition of learning design is, ―a representation of teaching and learning practice documented in some notational format so that it can serve as a model or template adaptable by a teacher to suit his/her context‖ (Agostinho, 2006).

It has been proposed that generic learning designs could serve as pedagogical frameworks to support academic staff in creating new learning experiences, whereby the lecturer adapts an existing learning design, specifies the learning activities, and chooses or creates the resources and supports needed to suit his/her students (Bennett, 2004).

A. Learning design, Pedagogy and Web 2.0

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In so far as defining the sorts of knowledge and skills that teachers require in order to successfully implement technology based learning designs, Mishra and Koehler (2006) present a Technological Pedagogical and Content Knowledge (TPACK) model (see Figure 1 below).

Figure I: The TPACK model of educational practice

The TPACK approach emphasizes the importance of the intersections between Technological Knowledge, Pedagogical Knowledge and Content Knowledge, and proposes that effective integration of technology into the curriculum requires a sensitive understanding of the dynamic relationship between all three components.

IX. DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION

A total of 180 students were approached with the questionnaire. 116 students completed the questionnaire. The composition of the sample is given below:

1. Sample Composition

Chart -I: Gender composition

There were 79 (68%) males and 37 (32%) female respondents.

Chart - II : Educational composition

68 32

Male Female

53

47 MBA

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55 (47%) of the respondents were pursuing their MCA Degree and the rest 61 (53%) were doing MBA course.

Q.1:Educational uses of blogs and Awareness of Blogs

 Do you have your own blog?

Chart - III

111 (96%) of the respondents do not have their own blogs. This indicates that the students are not creative enough to write topics on various topics for blogs. It may also indicate the ignorance about the blogs among the student community.

 Are you a member of one or more blogs?

Chart – IV

Among the 116 respondents, only 18 (16%) respondents are members of one or more blog community. Membership factor does not necessarily mean that the students are not reading blogs.

This simply means the students do not want to become members of some blogs. They may be referring many blogs.

 In your opinion, do blogs help in education?

Chart - V

38% of the respondents have a positive opinion of blogs help in education. 62% of the respondents have the opinion that the blogs are anything other than being educational.

 Would you like your Lecturer to create blog for further discussions on his/her Subject?

Chart - VI

It is an interesting observation. Chart-5 indicates that only 38% respondents thought that the blogs are helpful in education. But majority (61%) of them wants the Lecturers to create blogs for further discussions on the subject. 4

96

Yes

No

16

84

Yes

No

38

62

Yes

No

61 39

Yes

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Q.2: Use of YouTube in Education and its Awareness

Chart - VII

More than half (61%) of the respondents watch educational videos on YouTube. Overwhelming majority of the respondents (73%) was of the opinion that if the Lecturer uses YouTube videos in their PowerPoint Presentations, it would be more engaging.

Q.3: Do you prefer to use WBLT as a study tool to replace the face-to-face lectures?

Chart - VIII

It‘s very clear, whatever the technology, there is no substitute for Face-to-face lectures. The ICTs can be of assistance to students but not the replacement for the Lecturer. 106 (91%) of the respondents said no to the preference of WBLT replacing face-to-face lectures.

Q.4 : User preference for using WBLT

Chart - IX

The use of WBLT to review difficult concepts was the top ranked reason for using WBLT. The students used least the WBLTs to Check over the Notes by Lecturers. The second highest preference was given to make-up for missed lectures

Q.5 : How often do you visit Wikipedia?

Chart - X

61

73

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

Do you watch educational videos on YouTube

Would it be helpful if the Faculty member uses YouTube

videos in Powerpoint Presentations?

9

91

Yes

No

Check Over Notes, 2

To review difficult concepts,

59

To revise for exams,

9

To make-up for missed lectures, 30

9

15

45

32

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50

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It is evident from the above chart that the students (45%) very often visit Wikipedia in the quest of finding answers and detailed articles. 32% respondents claim to always use the Wikipedia for knowing about the unknown and clear their concepts.

X. DISCUSSIONS

Phase one of a pilot study (Siragusa & Dixon, 2008) collected data from a group of undergraduate students in a higher education setting to determine their attitudes towards their engagement with ICT interactions. Phase two of the pilot study was undertaken in 2009 with another group of students in a pre-service teaching course which employed a mixed method approach.

The quantitative data that was collected suggests that the participants felt that interacting with ICT is pleasant and helpful and that it also gave them a sense of control and achievement. The vast majority of the students indicated that engaging with ICT was easy and that it gave them a sense of confidence.

XI. CONCLUSION

Based on the research outlined in this paper shows that use of various ICTS like YouTube, Blogs, Wikis create an enriching learning environment for post graduate students.

The research underlines the preference of the students for YouTube videos in PowerPoint presentations, creation of blogs for further discussion on topics and heavy use of wikis for learning. Mentioned ICTs can be used in development of authentic learning tasks and enhance the learning experience.

Learning designs using ICTs emphasizes the importance of the intersections between Technological Knowledge, Pedagogical Knowledge and Content Knowledge, and proposes that effective integration of technology into the curriculum requires a sensitive understanding of the dynamic relationship between all three components.

Interacting with ICT is pleasant and helpful and that it also gave them a sense of control and achievement.

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