Theoretical Background for e-Learning Design

Early back in 1994, the debate between Clark and Kozma triggered many discussions on the effects of technology use in learning. In particular, Clark (1994), claimed that “technology not only does not influence learning, but it will never influence learning, and that media is neither sufficient for nor necessary to learning” (p.23). Kozma (1994), fueled the debate, but because technology changes over time, he contended that “if we can find a relationship between media and learning then we will be able to see how technology influences learning” (p. 8). Despite technology having come of age, this debate has recurred on how networked technologies have redefined the boundaries and pedagogies of technology-based learning environments. Reflecting a general trend in educational technology toward a learner-centered paradigm (Jonassen, 2001) Ertmer and Ottenbreit-Leftwich (2013) suggests that “technology integration is no longer be achieved separately from pedagogic goals, but simply how students engage in relevant and meaningful interdisciplinary work” (p. 176). Based on this approach, the e-learning field establishes technologies not as means for content transmission but as tools to mediate interactive learning activities, support the learner and facilitate the teachings and learning process (Alman & West 2022).

9.2.1. Theories of Learning and e-Learning Design

A range of theories underpins research on technology-enhanced learning environments, and are used more intentionally in informing e-learning interventions, and explaining how these could improve teaching and learning. Rooted in epistemological frameworks for teaching and learning, the most common approaches used in e-learning environments employing theoretical perspectives ranged from cognition theory and constructivist approaches (Nardi, 1996, Papert, 1993), to Social Development Theory (Vygotsky, 1978), and connectivism (Siemens, 2008). E-learning approaches also adopt behaviorist approaches (Ajzen, 1985, Barker, 1968), distributed cognition approaches (Rogers, 1997), or Collaborativism (Harasim, 2017). A summary of the major theories and concepts of learning used in e-learning environments is provided in Table 1 and Table 2 accordingly.

Table 1. The Major Theories of Learning Used in e-Learning Environments

Table 2. The Major Theoretical Concepts of Learning Used in e-Learning Environments

Although the link to the theoretical approach used was not always clear when different technologies are involved, e-learning environments are usual frequently reported with a mixture of the main behaviorist, cognitivist, and constructivist theories and the major theoretical concepts of learning employed (Janelli, 2018, Ghislandi, 2012).

9.2.2. Pedagogical Principles for E-learning Design

It is widely recognized in the literature that although digital technologies are considered an important variable for designing more effective and purposeful e-learning systems, it is the pedagogical concepts and principles that enable learning to take place, and contribute to the achievement of learning outcomes (Debattista, 2018). Literature has allowed identifying three key ideas that guide e-learning designers in making effective choices, namely: (1) enhancing interaction, (2) promoting learning through community, and (3) facilitating active learning activities (Allman & West, 2021).

Enhancing Interaction

Interaction has long been a defining and critical component of the educational process and context (Anderson, 2003a). Anderson and Garrison (1998) described the three more common types of interaction discussed in the literature involving students (student-student, student-teacher, student-content), and extended the discussion to the other three types of interaction (teacher-teacher, teacher-content, content-content) as shown in Figure 1.

This theorem of interaction implies attempts to provide a theoretical rationale and guide for instructional designers and teachers interested in developing distance education systems that are both effective and efficient in meeting diverse student learning needs (Anderson 2003b). Thus, for planning or developing e-learning courses, designers are encouraged to build into their programs strategic amounts of each type of interaction and to develop activities that will encourage this amount of interaction. Anderson’s mode of interaction is explained briefly in Table 3.

Table 3.  Anderson’s Modes of Interaction

Promoting Learning Through Community

A learning community consists of formally implemented small peer groups with a focus on active and collaborative peer learning (Brouwer, et al. 2022). The notion of a learning community as it is rooted in the principle of social constructivism is that through ongoing peer interaction in a relatively stable small group, students develop learning support relationships (Vygotsky, 1978). Previous experiences, based on social network models, revealed that the learning that evolves from learning communities is collaborative, in which the collaborative knowledge of the community is greater than any individual knowledge (Coleman, 1990).

By viewing learning as being socially constructed, Wenger (1998) provides a theoretical basis for communities of practice. According to Wagner (1998, p.1) “communities of practice are groups of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly”. The essence of a community of practice is that, through joint engagement in some activity, an aggregation of people come to develop and share practices (Mayes & de Freitas, 2004). Learning in such a community of practice is known as ‘‘situated learning’’ (Wenger, 1998). The three of characteristics for communities of practice are presented in Table 4.

Table 4. The Three Elements that Constitute a Community of Practice

Goodyear (2002) described a cycle of learning, moving through phases of externalization (of tacit knowledge), sharing, discussion, refinement, and then internalization. He admitted how little is yet understood about how to design online learning spaces and places and how primitive our understanding yet of how the affordances of all the web-based learning resources should shape the design characteristics of Virtual Learning Environments. For Jones (2001), virtual communities use networked technology, especially the Internet, to establish collaboration across geographical barriers and time zones (p.51).

Figure 2. Elements of Communities of Practice (Source: Palloff & Pratt, 1999)

According to Pallof & Pratt (1999), virtual communities in cyberspace differ from traditional communities in several respects. The key concept of virtual communities is that they exist according to the identification of an idea or task, rather than the place. Networked communities bridge time zones and geographical locations allowing these virtual communities to exist. In particular, the Internet, or the WWW, becomes the “place” for the community, thus networked communication has increased the parameters of what is known as a community (Palloff & Pratt, 1999).
Palloff and Pratt (1999) revealed that both virtual communities and communities of practice have life cycles. They outlined the following five stages concerning the life cycle of community development, whether the community is traditional or virtual: (1) Forming, (2) norming, (3) storming, (4) performing, and (5) adjourning. Communities of practice comprise social arrangements in which individuals learn by participating in activities. Constructivist techniques (e.g., collaboration, facilitation, and ill-structured problems) enable learning to take place in communities of practice. It is long been recognized that virtual communities are organized around an activity, and they are formed as a need arises (Squire & Johnson, 2000).

Facilitating Active Learning Activities
There is a consensus in the literature that learning activities refer to the actions and operations that individuals perform to achieve the desired learning outcome mediated by educational tools (Lapre, Mukherjee, & VanWassenhove, 2000). In the context of online learning, such activities are mediated by online learning tools (Lam, 2004). Levy (2006b) defined online learning activity as ‘‘an educational procedure designed to stimulate learning by online experience utilizing online learning systems and tools” (p. 30). According to Levy, online learning activities combine the subjects (i.e., learners and professor[s]) with the online learning systems and tools, and with learning actions and operations to produce a learning outcome (see Fig. 3).

Figure 3. Human Activity in the Context of Online Learning (Source: Levy, 2006)

Jonassen and Rohrer-Murphy (1999), proposed a framework for designing constructivist learning environments based on activity theory. The activity theory is “the idea that the development of thoughts and cognitive activity requires social interaction and exchange with a physical environment (Morten et al. 2002, p. 155). Kaptelinin and Nardi (2006) explain that in technology-based learning environments “acting with technology is a phrase to position our relationship to technology as one in which people act intentionally in specific ways with technology – ways that we can study and for which we can produce effective designs” (p. 1). In the context of online learning, such actions are mediated by online learning tools (Lam, 2004). Levy (2008), listed online learning activities into five critical factors.  The five factors with relative activities are presented in Table 5.

Table 5. The Five Factors Relative to Online Activities (Source: Levy, 2008)