AD ALTA
JOURNAL OF INTERDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH
Bleed (2011) supports the idea of introducing the “hybrid”
model, which creatively combines technology and people. He
proposes the model in which technology is placed into
a traditional course. He aptly names this model ‘half “bricks”
and half “clicks” ’ (p.18), calling blended learning an
opportunity to redesign how courses are developed and
delivered.
Teachers try to use many ways how to incorporate new
technologies into their courses to meet the needs of their
Generation Z learners. According to Henrich and Sieber (2009),
the number of accessible and demanded electronic tools is still
rising. Most facilities for the creation of blended courses are
included in Learning Management Systems (LMS) (Henrich &
Sieber, 2009). These authors also claim that rich media formats
in LMSs reach a high degree of multimediality and interactivity.
The authors of this article use the LMS Moodle in their everyday
practice and exploit its considerable potentials for blended
learning environment.
2.3 LMS Moodle
The LMS Moodle offers the whole menu of activities that could
be exploited in creation of courses for Generation Z learners,
who are technically knowledgeable, prefer communication via
technological tools before direct contact with people; they are
visual learners, as their brains have higher visual abilities; they
do not want to read long texts and thus prefer Internet to books;
moreover, they are kinaesthetic learners, who like interaction
with multimedia (Prensky, 2001). As a result, their life (learning
included) is for them inconceivable without the Internet
(Poláková & Klímová, 2019).
Fortunately, the LMS Moodle has in its repertoire a whole range
of tools that respond to the major above-mentioned demands of
these learners. The tools can be divided according to the type of
activity into: creation (Database, Glossary); organisation
(Lesson, Resources – Book, File, Folder, Page, URL, etc.);
delivery (Assignments, Workshops); communication (Chats,
Forums, News); collaboration (Glossary, Blog, Wikis); and
assessment (Quiz, Survey, Feedback).
The LMS Moodle is a system, which is fully adapted to the Web
2.0 conditions. It offers tools such as Blog, Glossary, Quickmail,
Feedback, Chat, Forum, Assignment, Wiki and other, which are
designed according to the Web 2.0 principles as described above.
Moreover, some of the classic tools like Lesson can be converted
by the teacher into a discussion forum.
However, it is important to stress that every tool is only as
powerful as its user. In this case, it is the teacher, who should be
knowledgeable about them and able to organize all the
educational process (Costa, Alvelos, & Teixeira, 2012). The
teachers of those subject matters that are different from
Information and communication technologies (ICT), moreover,
being themselves digital immigrants, not digital natives (Henrich
& Sieber, 2009), may find it difficult to cope with the demands
of latest technologies. However, modern LMS systems are
designed to be user-friendly and their users do not need any
special courses or skills to be able to fill them up with the
desirable content. Then, the most demanding task is to keep the
system updated and adapted to the latest developments. The new
generation of learners needs a new generation of learning aids,
and these can be the tools of Web 2.0.
2.4 Web 2.0
At the beginning, the Internet was simply a portal, where
common users passively received information (Faizi, 2018). This
phase of development is called Web 1.0, or “readable phase” of
the Internet. This author further explains that today, the Internet
has developed into the “read-write” venue for participants to
collaborate, share information, and interact socially; Internet
users now create new content and publish or communicate it to
the whole world (Faizi, 2018.). This environment is called Web
2.0. Evidently, it offers many tools that can be used in education.
The Open Education Database (n.d.) lists 101 Web 2.0 teaching
tools, classifying them into the following categories:
aggregators; bookmark managers; classroom tools;
collaboration; course management; e-learning; gamification;
office suites; office tools; productivity public content
management; and storage.
Undoubtedly, a teacher cannot master and use all of them. The
solution to deal with this overload is to use Learning
Management Systems, in which these tools are incorporated (see
above).
Technical skills and profound knowledge of educational
technologies are not the only demands on modern teachers. They
should also be familiar with learning theories that create the
background of their teaching. These theories explain not only
what can be used, but also why and how to use it to create
challenging learning environment, tools and materials, from
which the learners can benefit. The most important learning
theories behind Web 2.0 tools and LMSs are constructivism and
connectivism.
2.5 Constructivism
We agree with Bada (2015), who claims that, the implications of
constructivism I teaching/learning are immense. The main idea,
which should be realized, understood and applied by all teachers
in practice, is that “teachers cannot simply transmit knowledge
to students, but students need to actively construct knowledge in
their own minds. That is, they discover and transform
information, check new information against old, and revise rules
when they do no longer apply. This constructivist view of
learning considers the learner as “an active agent in the process
of knowledge acquisition (Bada, 2015, p.66).” Constructivism
derives its name from the notion of “mental construction” that is
the result of learning.
If we analyse the Web 2.0 tools from the point of view of this
theory, it can be clearly concluded that they can be used to
support the teachers’ efforts to help their learners to “construct”
their knowledge. Moreover, the LMS Moodle, which is used in
our research, is based on this learning theory. Evans (2011)
summarizes how the LMS Moodle can support constructivism in
the classroom in five main points (n.p):
1.
collaboration,
2.
responsibility for learning (Active Role),
3.
promotion and assessment of Constructivism,
4.
cooperative learning,
5.
metacognition.
We can add that there are more constructivist principles behind
the LMS Moodle tools. The most important is that it supports
constructing knowledge, for example by using the Glossary,
where students create their own content, creating Wikis, blogs,
etc.
2.6 Connectivism
Connectivism is a theory that was introduced by Siemens (2006),
who claimed that in the early days of constructivism,
cognitivism and behaviourism education was not as markedly
under the influence of technologies as it is nowadays. This
influence has enormous consequences, and it is reflected by not
only in the content of education, but also the ways and methods
teachers teach, and learners learn. While constructivism is based
on the presumption that learners actively construct meaning,
connectivism considerably emphasizes the process of learning.
Siemens (2006, p. 30) is convinced, that: “The connections that
enable us to learn more are more important than our current state
of knowing.” He develops this idea further, seeing learning as a
managed, not fostered process, where “the network of
connections is the structure which holds the knowledge of
individuals in a holistic manner (p. 33).”
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