Evaluating Online Tools and Effective E-Learning Practices
There are four fundamental elements of a typical online classroom. These elements include students, curriculum, facilitator and technology. Each of these four aspects is conjoined to work together. If one of them fails, then the overall functionality of a virtual classroom becomes compromised. Essentially, the students represent the most basic part of these elements. They give purpose to the setup of online class by making learning practical and funding its progress. The students study the curriculum set by a state, country or globe. This curriculum allows education to reach the acceptable learning standards, which are capable of directing people with the reliable skills and experiences. In a bid to attain such standards, the online classroom needs an instructor referred to as a facilitator to guide learners across the curriculum.
Finally, all these elements are brought together through an online platform designed to reach people in various parts of the globe technologically. The delivery of online learning sessions is implemented by organizing these four elements strategically. For instance, they can use discussion boards and video session to discuss and interact. Assignments are issued and received using the same platform where such plagiarism checkers as Turnitin are used to evaluate the originality of work. The class management should setup a timetable for online classes and discussion in order to ensure that learners and their teachers are socially present in a concurrent manner. Students who fail to attend such classes should be made accountable by using LMS fully.
Keengwe, Onchwari, and Agamba argue that technology should be infused constructively to fit the teaching and learning principles (Keengwe, Onchwari and Agamba 887). The Web 2.0 and Web 3.0 Learning Management System (LMS) should be customized to register and log in to classes, submit assignments, receive accountability messages from student who fail to attend, and collect the overall level of responsiveness in online activities. Finally, it is prudent to create a reliable digital library to ease the accessibility of multimedia that students can use to study in an online class. In fact, the multimedia can be used to create and invite students into online seminars. The learners can be referred to reliable wikis and blogs to integrate the ideas learnt from the class. A facilitator may decide to post such learning materials by connecting the discussion board with the sites.
LMS and PLN Decisions
The LMS enables learners to study and interact regardless of separations caused by distance. It creates an affordable learning system that would be expensive due to cost of travelling over long distances. In this manner, the desires of people to learn are not limited by distance and time. It is also a very accessible learning platform where issues can be handled remotely (Fuchs 763). However, LMS can boost or encourage deceit. The students registered in various courses may not necessarily be real. Furthermore, the originality of submissions made by students may not reflect the actual knowledge of learners because it can be completed by another person. Such platforms of LMS as Blackboard are effective in creating online learning environment. This popular software can be customized to fit the learning processes of World University.
It does not only provide reliable LMS, but also allows students and facilitators to make customizations on their LMS accounts (Black et al. 36). The other pros of LMS include; provision of instant results, convenience of educators in terms of time and cost, provision of a discussion platform for students, as well as diverse learning tools availed in it. On the other hand, the implementation of the system is costly especially because each learning system is independent (Siemens 204). This aspect is attributed to the needs of each learning platform where procedures are entirely distinct per course. Apparently, LMS has been facilitated by the prevalence of social media and PLNs. These factors have allowed people to accept and embrace the use of computers and mobile devices in their life processes. This aspect has facilitated the marketing of online LMS. In this respect, the emerging Blackboard intended for World University should endorse similar capabilities to facilitate personal touch amongst students within and outside the class sessions.
Web Tools and the Classroom
The improvement of information technology has facilitated the delivery of varying and significant learning materials. In this regard, learners are able to use videos and books when seeking clarifications on various issues. First, research and development is creating reliable tools to facilitate learning on online courses (Naik and Shivalingaiah 499). Naik and Shivalingaiah informed that the accessibility of social participation is a credible outreach throughout the globe. Secondly, researchers have endorsed this argument by providing the constructivism procedure of the web 3.0 from earlier models (Aghaei, Ali and Khosravi 1). In this manner, LMS is expected to improve and make education highly efficient. This aspect has been enhanced by progressive internet penetration and software engineering (Rajiv and Lal 335).
The other point is that the advancement of study tools is making the virtual classes effective and interactive. In fact, the growth of interactive behaviors ordained by learners is making online learning acceptable throughout the world (Rajiv and Lal 335). However, it must be recognized that some learning activities cannot be learnt theoretically. There must be strategies to perform experiment and boost physical interactions between students. This aspect implies that the virtual classes must have physical meetings when required. They can be represented through connecting universities across the globe or building institutions to reduce the physical distances between learners and their instructors. The development of the Web 2.0 to Web 3.0 has contributed to LMS improvement. Such an advancement system initiates the sequential progress of new and better teaching and learning tools. Therefore, it makes online learning an acceptable way of delivering instructions especially in respect to its exceptional advantages. Researchers have postulated progressively about the positive effects of online learning with the Web 3.0 technologies (Rajiv and Lal 336).
Works Cited
Aghaei, Sareh, Mohammad Ali and Hadi Khosravi. “Evolution of the World Wide Web: From Web 1.0 to Web 4.0.” International Journal of Web & Semantic Technology 3.1 (2012): 1-10. Print.
Naik, Umesha and Dean Shivalingaiah. “Comparative Study of Web 1.0, Web 2.0 and Web 3.0.” International CALIBER 5.4 (2008): 499-508. Print.
Rajiv, Singh and Manohar Lal. “Web 3.0 in Education and Research.” International Journal of Information Technology 3.2 (2011): 335-341. Print.