Pedagogical model for online learning: the case of System Engineering Subjects at National University of Southern Patagonia Gabriela VILANOVA Institute of Applied Technology (ITA), National University of Southern Patagonia 9000 -Juan Jose Paso 513 – B° Palazzo - Comodoro Rivadavia – CHUBUT – ARGENTINA Phone: 54-297-4549550, e-mail: vilanova@uolsinectis.com.ar and Jorge VARAS Institute of Work, Economy and Territory (ITET), National University of Southern Patagonia 9000 - Juan Jose Paso 513 – B° Palazzo - Comodoro Rivadavia – CHUBUT – ARGENTINA Phone: 54-297-4549550, e-mail: jrvaras@uolsinectis.com.ar
ABSTRACT This essay aims to address the challenges faced by teachers in pursuing teaching and learning processes in virtual learning environments at university with a network learning perspective, flexible education and a teaching process design. In this paper, we describe our experience with Unpabimodal system based on Moodle platform at National University of Southern Patagonia Argentina in two System Engineering subjects, Analysis and Design Software and Safety, Health and Environmental Management (Caleta Olivia Academic Unit). Educational processes have been modified to suit current social conditions. At the same time, the introduction of technology for the educational field has given rise to a new scenario based on the use of ICT (Information and Communication Technology), which provides with a different learning process. Specifically, some experts agree with the idea of showing the key role of the university as "the institution of the network society”. In this sense, nowadays higher education institutions have to challenge its former image to suit XXI century students´ interests. As a result, institutions must meet the current demands of society and ensure students acquire the skills needed in the present and future working environment.
Keywords: Pedagogic innovation, virtual learning environment, flexible education, emergent pedagogical models.
1. INTRODUCTION The characteristics of globalization and the advancement of ICT (Information and Communication Technology) force to develop and carry out strategies to exploit the opportunities they offer in all the areas of modern society. The new teaching systems, configured around telecommunications and interactive technologies, require a redefinition of traditional models to lead students to a more flexible kind of teaching and learning process, such as the one suggested by Unpabimodal pedagogical model. [1] From a pedagogical perspective, approaches related to flexible education, from ordinary classrooms, blended to distant learning, can make a new concept when it provides students with
a variety of means and ability to make decisions about learning [2, 3] There is not only one e-learning model but different enhancements of models of existing learning. [4] They define key terms as follows: o
Theories of learning provide accounts of the variables which influence the learning process and explain the way in which that influence occurs.
o
Pedagogical frameworks describe the broad principles through which theories are applied to learning and teaching practice.
o
Models of e-learning describe where technology plays a specific role in supporting learning.
The application of ICT training activities under the concept of flexible learning opens several fronts of change and renewal to consider: • Changes in conceptions (how to work in the classroom, the new teacher´s role, etc.) • Changes in the basic resources: Files (materials, etc.), infrastructure (technological access, etc.), and open use of these resources for teachers and students. • Changes in the teachers and students´ practice. The training methods based on ICT lead to new conceptions of the learning process that emphasize the students ‘active involvement not only in the process of building knowledge but also in the emotional and intellectual skills at different levels. Therefore, the preparation of young people to take responsibility in a fast and ever changing world, requires flexibility to enter a workplace that considers long training and life-skills necessary for this continuous learning [2, 5]. The challenges of organizing the teaching-learning process will depend largely on the stage of learning (the home, the workplace or a learning resource center) and the space-time framework for the users to develop learning activities.
The management of technology projects in higher education institutions cannot be separated from the management of virtual training environments, since in many of the decisions that are made in this process, the context and the practice itself should be considered. The definition of the corporate strategy is the key in any process of introducing an innovation [6-9]. Regarding this strategy and, above all, facing decisions in infrastructure, teacher training, etc., any educational innovation has to be considered as a multi-faceted process which involves political, economical, ideological or cultural factors. This strategy concerns different levels, from the classroom level to university as a whole. The success or failure of educational innovations depends largely on the way different educational actors interpret, redefine, filter and shape the proposed changes. In conclusion, innovations in the learning process are the main challenge before making individual, group and institutional changes. [10]. The answer to these universities challenges is not standard since each university must respond to its own specificity, based on the context, the society it serves taking into account, basically, the traditions and strengths it has. The institutional implications of the processes of change that the introduction of ICT in university teaching have manifestations in the following aspects:
2. PEDAGOGICAL MODEL FOR ONLINE LEARNING AT UNPA: Unpabimodal Since 2003, UNPA adopted Moodle Platform as its virtual teaching and learning environment and called it “Virtual Environment for Teaching and Learning Unpabimodal” [11]. The virtual environment Unpabimodal is composed of a set of virtual classrooms whose main objective is to enhance the students´ better learning in a different pedagogical structure. The structure of the classroom Unpabimodal is shaped by distinct areas: the left side containing general links to Participants, Activities and Administration; the right side with the New Course, Calendar, Events and online users, and the central containing General Issues (such as forms of communication with the team chair, students, the course syllabus, compulsory literature, working plans) and development of the course itself (class materials, activities, resources, thematic units, assessments). (Fig. 2)
• Institutional Policy: needed at universities as a corporate strategy involving a formulation of a shared vision of the model of learning. • Context: Changes occurring in different order such as. population distribution, socio-economical and cultural aspects and the students´own needs (job timetables, academic offer, etc.) Particularly, the context of (UNPA) National University of Southern Patagonia) consists of geographical distribution of dispersed students all over the Southern Patagonia region (provinces of Tierra del Fuego, Santa Cruz and Chubut) of more than 490,000 km², and a population density of 1.2 inhabitants per km². The UNPA is composed by four academic units located in different cities, separated at least by 800 kms among them: Río Gallegos, Río Turbio, Caleta Olivia and Puerto San Julián. (Fig. 1).
Fig. 2. Unpabimodal System Analysis and Design Classroom A virtual learning environment requires certain components: a pedagogical component which refers to learning activities, teaching situations, learning materials , supporting and mentoring at stake, evaluation, etc…;, a technological component which refers to the tools selected in connection with the pedagogical model and an organizational or Institutional
Fig. 1. Area of Influence of the National University of Southern Patagonia
component which deals with the organization of the space, calendar, community management, etc.). (Fig. 3)
PEDAGOGICAL ELEMENTSNTS
exercises, practice through field work, essays, reflections, diagrams, conceptual maps, solving problematic situations); exhibition and large group sharing, collaborative work (work in pairs, and discussion forums, research groups, case studies, questionnaires midterms, virtual classroom sessions with Adobe Connect videoconferencing).
Teaching student-centered. New role of the student TECHNOLOGICAL ELEMENTSNTS
INSTITUTIONAL ELEMENTSNTS
Fig. 3: Virtual learning environment components. In virtual learning environment management not all the strategies and decisions are made at the same level. It is not the same to define a strategy for an institution interested in an ICT introduction project or for an e-learning corporate project, than define a strategy to design a concrete process of teaching and learning in a virtual environment. Thus, there are three different levels of decisions in the design and development of the possibilities of virtual training environments and these levels will necessarily lead to three types of management documents: Level 1: Strategies for the introduction and / or implementation of technology in an e-learning process. It refers to the management processes of the institutional policy. Level 2: Dissemination and implementation strategies in the institution. At this level, the virtual environment management refers to the process of e- learning as a part of the culture of the institution. Level 3: Daily practice and experience directed to choose the most appropriate combination of methods, tools and techniques to help students achieve desired goals more easily and more effectively. In other words by designing and implementing teaching strategies. [12]. There are four models of on-line teaching presented by Roberts, Romm and Jones (2000), the naïve model, the standard model, the evolutionary model, and the radical model. . The naïve model may be characterized by the lack of extra facilities provided. As a result, the notes used in live face-to-face lectures are transformed with minimal alteration into a webbased format accessible by a standard browser (such as Internet Explorer or Netscape Communicator). The standard model attempts to actively utilizes the advantages provided by the technology to allow a significant degree of communication and interaction between students and staff. The evolutionary model takes the standard model as a basis and supplements it with many other features to enhance both, the teaching and learning environment. Whereas all three previous models attempt to adapt the traditional face-to-face lecture delivery method to a more suitable web-based format, the radical model dispenses with lectures entirely. Instead, students are formed into groups, and learn by interacting amongst themselves and using the vast amount of existing Web-based resources, with the instructor. We based our didactic strategy decisions for each Unpabimodal classroom´s subject on Level three, in particular the Radical model. We use the following techniques: focused on the individualized teaching (information retrieval, tutorials,
The training, overcoming the barriers of space and time should get advantage and utilizes information technology and communication correctly, and this is only achieved through the forced redesign of the methodological proposals of training programs [14]. These methodological proposals must be based on flexibility, interactivity and collaborative learning in the net, since the fundamental characteristic of learning is carried out in collaboration [15]. The role of the teacher changes from being a domain expert to being a facilitator in the building knowledge by students [16]. Adopting a learner-centered teaching means meeting those attitudes, policies and practice that can increase or decrease the 'distance' of the distant students. Several authors have studied about the teacher´s function which must be developed by them in learning environments are exploiting the potential of computer-mediated communication. They mention three roles [17]: organizational role, social role and intellectual role, and categorize them into four areas: pedagogical, social, organizational, administrative and technical. However, the same person is not expected to play all these roles. There are authors that agree to assign the following functions to the teacher [18]: Organizational: It Provides learning activities, determines the objectives, the timing and patterns of each activity, directs the flow and direction of interactions, provides contextual feedback to solve problems related to the participation rules or time. Social: the teacher should try to create and maintain a social environment which enables learning, maintain an atmosphere of friendliness, fun and entertainment which favors students over group relationships, development and group cohesion and helps them keep the unit as the group work. Pedagogical or intellectual: The teacher acts as a facilitator focusing on the most relevant aspects and discriminates irrelevance of the contents, making questions to encourage deep reflections and debate. Technique: students try to possess skills in communication system, ensuring a certain comfort with the system prior to the beginning of learning activities and ensure that the technology is transparent to them. As for the changes in the students´ role it is clear that students´ are benefitted in several ways by means of the ICT contact and it advances in this new vision of user training. This requires educational activities related to the use, selection and organization of information so that students will become an autonomous citizen in the information society.
3. CASE OF SYSTEM ENGINEERING SUBJECTS AT UNPABIMODAL CLASSROOM Software engineering is a discipline for building quality software solutions from different components, which deals with different aspects of the problem to be solved by using a variety of methods, tools, procedures and paradigms. [19, 20, 21] The characteristics of globalization and the advancement of ICT (information and communication) make teachers develop and carry out strategies to exploit the opportunities offered by all the areas of modern society. Universities generally have adopted ICT mainly in: management, research and for learning processes.
case studies and reflection and debate performed by students´ learned concepts. They must also perform the analysis of a regional industry, real case of their choice, related to oil, gas, mining and power generation. Reading and research material are available at Unpabimodal environment such as papers, technical reports and notes per unit developing the course contents. Students should submit a task and a lesson for each unit as well as participate in forums as a reflective activity authorized for this purpose. To develop the real case the resource wiki for collaborative work is enabled by using it as a strategy. Sessions with Adobe Connect videoconferencing are also used.
Every day in the software industry, the required skills of the professionals increase. New challenges in offshore software development (development in different geographical locations) and distributed software development require professionals with new skills. These professionals must be trained to perform their work on asynchronous team, collaborate on demand and perform a computer-mediated interaction. The students are focused on the importance of Risk identification as the first stage of the risk management process. It is concerned with identifying the risks that could pose a major threat to the software engineering process, the software being developed, or the development organization. Risk identification may be a team process where a team gets together to brainstorm possible risks. [22] Unpabimodal Pedagogical Model considers didactic strategies as the following: • Strategies focused on individual teaching. • Strategies for teaching group. • Strategies focused on collaborative work. The System Engineering degree program´s subject Analysis and Design Software, is a 2nd semester subject. It has been implemented at Unpabimodal classroom since 2004. There is reference material, case studies and solved real industrial problems, previous projects, forums and activities. The percentage of Interaction in each month can be observed in Graph 1. The highest level of interaction has been observed in October due to Strategies focused on collaborative work (forum, wiki, video conference, etc…).
Graph 2. Safety, Health and Environmental Management Unpabimodal Classroom The (Graph 2) shows levels of participant’s resources views and forum messages in one term of the year (second semester). The highest interaction (November views=350) in forums and wikis can be observed in order to enable collaborative work between them. There is a decrease in the activity in the last month due to fieldwork that students must take to the completion of the course.
4. CONCLUSIONS Innovations in the learning process at higher education institutions must respond to University Institutional specificity, context and the society it serves. The institutional implications of the process change because of the introduction of ICT innovation in teaching learning activities which has an impact on several aspects such as an institutional and state Policies. There are no doubts whether students in contact with ICT are benefitted in several ways and advanced in this new vision of becoming a user trainee. This requires educational actions related to the use, selection and organization of the information so that students go training as a mature citizen member of the information society.
Graph. 1 Analysis and Design Software Unpabimodal Classroom The proposed methodology for Safety, Health and Environmental Management subject is based on real industry
Teachers should prepare students to face the world that surrounds them. Therefore, they should have a thorough knowledge of this so its Professional development should, or should evolve as the society advances.
Because of the fact that most students and teachers´ residence is at least 80 km far from University academic units and sometimes the hardest winter climate conditions do not allow them to reach the university building, a higher percentage of students consider Unpabimodal as a golden education opportunity to suit their needs. As a result, this context is also contributing with people´s inclusion in our region, because since distances are so long, they could not access to university education unless this system is applied.
[11] Informe del Sistema Educativo de Enseñanza y Aprendizaje Unpabimodal. Consejo Superior Agosto 2009. UNPA ( Univerisidad Nacional de la Patagonia Austral) www.unpa.edu.ar/unpabimodal
This university education is then reflected in the specific applications of labor organizations in the region, mainly in local SMEs, which occupy most of the people, consolidating them in service quality, safety and environmental protection.
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