Graphics Programs Reference
In-Depth Information
can be characterised as a collaborative e-learning
environment:
or less experienced participants of the learning
community (Barab & Duffy, 2000).
CVEs have many advantages compared to
tools supporting traditional teaching methods.
Education program designers should have these
advantages in mind, when designing courses,
in order to meet students' needs, as well as the
educational objectives. The advantages may vary
from student motivation and entertainment to the
simplification of the development of cognitive
models from complicated or abstract material.
However, educational institutions tend to take
traditional classroom ideas and pedagogy and
integrate them into non-contiguous collaborative
learning environments (Strijbos et al., 2004). The
assumption is that, since these environments have
features that allow the interaction that we see in the
classroom (e.g., messaging, real-time meetings,
and shared applications), traditional pedagogy
can be used. The proximate result is often dis-
gruntled or disappointed students and instructors,
motivation that is quickly extinguished, poorly
used environments, wasted time and money, and
showcase environments that are often not much
more than computer assisted page-turning.
This result is certainly partly due to the novelty
of the CSCL ideas in schools but it also indicates
that the theoretical and practical principles of
CSCL are still too immature to be widely applied
in practical educational reforms.
Studies presented by Prasolova-Førland
(2008), show that even in virtual places humans
follow the conventions adopted in the real world,
such as keeping social distances, grouping when
talking or moving, preferring ''natural'' navigation
modes and adjusting their behaviour according to
the context. Therefore, when designing a virtual
place it is important to find a balance between
recreating a naturally looking and recognizable
environment on one side, and introducing ad-
ditional functionality for better efficiency, not
possible in the physical world, on the other.
According to Prinsen et al. (2009), more
research is needed to reveal conditions of CSCL
•
Users have different roles and rights,
•
The educational interactions in the envi-
ronment should change the simple virtual
space to a communication space. In other
words, users should be provided with mul-
tiple communication channels, which en-
able them to interact with each other, in-
side the virtual space.
•
The environment should be represented by
various representation forms, which can
range from simple text to 3D worlds.
•
The learners in the environment should not
be passive, but should be able to interact
with it and with one another.
•
The environment should be able to inte-
grate various technologies, support vari-
ous e-learning scenarios and have common
features with a physical space.
Growing research shows the educational
effectiveness of constructivist and collabora-
tive learning in virtual learning environments
(Resta & Laferrière, 2007). The virtual learning
environment features are considered a support
for knowledge construction, self direction, im-
mersion, interactivity, and education. Depending
on the instructional methods employed, CVEs
can support constructivistic learning, in terms
of distributed and situated learning (Dieterle &
Clarke, 2007).
According to Perkins (1992), a virtual learn-
ing environment can distribute knowledge and
cognition among various artefacts (such as tools
and virtual objects), among students (for example
when they collaborate to solve a problem, or to
perform an experiment), and among symbols, as it
introduces new possibilities for scientific thinking
and representational methods through the avatar's
existence in the virtual space. In other words,
students learn while they associate with more
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