Review by: Reichert, Raimond (2004-07-06)

Online learning environments (OLE) raised many hopes, and some claimed they would provide ideal constructivist learning environments. This article takes a critical look at the authors’ actual use of an OLE in tertiary education, after briefly expanding upon the above claims on the impact of online learning environments. Their course was on Petroleum Engineering and was offered to workplace-based students who had a fairly high degree of computer literacy and prior experience with independent learning. The environment provided access to all study materials, worked examples, case studies, and instant-feedback multiple assessment questions. The materials were searchable and indexed in a linked glossary. Discussion fora were made available to communicate with staff and peers. Progress reports showed learners which materials and exercises they had covered.

The discussion of the student experience in the article shows that the OLE was in many ways not used as intended. Four issues in particular are discussed:

(1) Students exclusively studied the material in a linear fashion, even though they knew they could have accessed the hypertexted material non-linearly. The authors note that perhaps the navigational structure did not provide enough guidance; as it were, learners saw no benefit in using non-linear access. However, they did appreciate the glossary and the search facility.

(2) The students asked for paper-based materials, even though they did not have any technical problems. They liked reading offline, and they mentioned that they could only annotate the materials on paper. One reason for these observations may be that the learners in this study were adults, and had not grown up in computer-rich environments.

(3) The communication facilities were hardly used. The main reason may be that there was no task associated with using the facilities, and students would not use them just because they were provided. Also, the students preferred face-to-face contact with their companies’ tutors.

(4) Students extensively used the self-assessment questions to evaluate their understanding of the materials. However, they did not use the progress reports at all. Since they worked through the materials in a linear fashion and used the self-assessment questions, they felt there was no need to look at a report which told them what they had read.

This article provides an honest and critical look at the experiences with using an OLE in a tertiary education setting, experiences that many others have probably also had. The issues raised should serve to develop realistic expectations about the use of OLEs, and they should be considered in designing future OLEs.