Las comunidades virtuales como forma de apoyo al aprendizaje están actualmente en auge

Yvonne Sandiford, Open University Business School Madrid

Las comunidades virtuales como forma de apoyo al aprendizaje están actualmente en auge y son cada vez más las universidades que incorporan este tipo de servicios y/o plataformas a su oferta formativa, ya sea virtual, semi-presencial o presencial, para sus estudiantes. Pero, ¿cómo incide esta nueva forma de comunicación en las relaciones de enseñanza-aprendizaje? ¿qué tipo de servicios o contenidos virtuales complementarios cree que deberían incluir estas plataformas para ser atractivas y útiles a los estudiantes?

The period when e-learning threatened to erase all other types of study has come and gone. Briefly it was sold as a way to cut costs, more recently the concept of blended learning was born and this has brought with it the understanding that e-learning is not an elixir - it is a tool, which has its limitations, as do many approaches to learning. The Gartner Group model below illustrates extremely well what frequently happens with new technologies.

Blended learning is a relatively new term in educational circles, but the principals have been around for many years. Essentially, blended learning is defined as a method of educating at a distance that uses technology combined with traditional education or training. The e-learning environment is changing as the move towards blended e-learning gathers pace.

At the Open University Business School (OUBS), blended e-learning has always been at the forefront of its e-learning activities. It recognises that the best outcomes for learning are usually achieved by striking a balance between using traditional and new media, as the products and tools that are best suited for each course are carefully selected and applied.

There are several questions that should be asked about e-learning. What kind of tool is it ? What are its unique capabilities ? Can these capabilities really help the learning process ? The best place to start is perhaps to develop an understanding of human learning, in order to see how e-learning may fit in to the performance-improving tool-kit.

Research from journals on learning, instruction and memory has produced clear results which when applied to e-learning lead to particularly effective designs.

It is vital that the learner develop the ability to retrieve information from the memory - e-learning can have a powerful impact in minimizing forgetting and thus increasing the probability of retrieval. It ulilizes spacing and delayed feedback, each a proven method of lessening forgetting. It provides meaningful repetition to aid learners in relearning forgotten information. It can shrink the length of the retention interval and it can also provide realistic retrieval practice opportunities, feedback on these opportunities, effective learning objectives and learning contexts that mirror the performance context (e.g. simulations). In brief e-learning is the only media to have the protential to provide meaningful and renewable contact with learners over time. Only through e-learning is it possible and relatively easy to give e-learners pre-work, course work, post-work and reminders.

The OUBS strongly believes that new media offer a more advanced and interactive form of learning, but it is important to stress that the university does not strive to become solely an "online university".

Instead, for many of its courses, e-learning tools form an important part of the methods used, alongside other non-electronic tools. Almost 200 of the Open University's courses require the student to have online access; a further 100 allow the student to use online services if they wish. Thirty-one of its courses are described as "web-based".

In addition to the the unique capabilities of e-learning, because the materials are available at the click of a mouse, they bring an added benefit in that they can give busy executives extra flexibility. They allow them to study when and where they like, so long as they have a laptop - an important consideration for OUBS students, the majority of whom are combining busy working and family lives with their studies.

From the point of view of the student there are two other factors that make virtual learning particularly attractive to the student - feedback can be extremely rapid - with interactive materials, it may be immediate, other sites promise feedback within 24 hours - no longer is it necessary to wait a week or two to discover where you went wrong. It is important to recognise that not every student has the same learning style, or learns at the same speed. E-learning enables individualisation and self-pacing from the student side and a by using pre-work the tutor can work with a range of different levels and abilities.

The effectiveness of e-learning depends to a large extent on the materials and courses being studied, so at the Open University Business School the decision about which media to choose for course material delivery is based on a simple principle. Courses adopt e-learning techniques only where their use will enhance the student learning experience.

Dr Paul Clark, Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Learning and Teaching) at the Open University, says: "High-quality teaching is achieved by using complementary technologies - old and new - and by concentrating on the needs of our students. We use the new technologies appropriately for teaching and by focussing on the value they add to learning."

E-learning can be used very effectively as a learning medium but, like all other media, it needs to be used appropriately and the people who develop and use e-learning tools must not become more concerned with their appearance and delivery than with the content and learning that those tools contain.

Finally, let us consider the student's perspective. For some of them, 100 per cent virtual learning can be a lonely experience, with its limited opportunities for interaction with other students. Blended e-learning, with its potential to offer face-to-face learning alongside PC-based e-tools, can go some way to alleviate those feelings of isolation while, at the same time, making the most of the increased opportunities that e-learning can offer.