Assessment 4

Is E- Learning Is Replacing The Traditional Lecture?

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Research Paper

Is e Learning Replacing the Traditional Lecture?

Summary of the Paper:
Is e-learning replacing the traditional lecture? 

Introduction

This article is written by Jonathan D. Owens and Liz Price from Lincoln Business School, University of Lincoln, Lincoln, UK and published by Emerald Group Publishing Limited in Education and Training (Vol. 52 No. 2, 2010). The purpose of this paper is to review e-learning and information technology (IT) as learning technology tools replacing the traditional learning experience in higher education (HE). This research took place at Lincoln Business School (LBS) within the University of Lincoln and Buckinghamshire Business School (BBS), at Buckinghamshire New University in UK Higher Education Institutes (HEIs). Three units that offered similar content and level were selected for this study and all the units include a web site aimed at supporting fulltime undergraduate and postgraduate students' learning. Unstructured interview with the lecturer and a questionnaire for the students were used. This article suggest that the learning technology implications for Higher Education Institutes cannot assume that presenting new technologies automatically make their institutions "youth friendly" and new generation would like to see some concrete benefits of technology. However, this paper attempts to investigate in which direction higher education might go. Is this generation wants a change? Thus this study suggests that not only the new technologies play a part but also help to free up time in order to engage and support students in new and interesting ways.

Findings

Interview 

From the interview conducted by the researchers with the lecturers it emerged that the teaching team for each unit provided a web site that aimed to offer additional support for the students. The lecturer was able to publish the lecture notes, the syllabus, the module outline, the assessment brief and any other text material. The related web links could be edited at the discretion by the lecturer who has the control over the content of the web site. Furthermore, the lecturer could set up a discussion area by proposing a topic and encouraging student participation. The students could respond or comment on the topic and get the lecturer's feedback and also they could see the contributions of their fellow students. While the discussion forum with the lecturers allowed for identification of main themes and items that were very helpful and the feedback build the level of interaction between the student-lecturer using internet base learning.

Questionnaire

1)Level Certificate in Management Studies (CMS): Operations Management Module:- Only 21% of respondents at Lincoln Business School (LBS) and 19% of respondents at Buckinghamshire Business School (BBS) log on to the web site at least once a week. Approximately 2/3 of the students at the two institutes visit the web site once per month or less, or not more than five times in a semester to look at the lecturer's questions, lecture notes and to surf other material related to their assessment. But in both institutes the majority of students feel the web site helps their learning, makes it easier to keep up to date with the lectures, offers the opportunity to discuss questions with the lecturer, and ask for clarifications. 

2) Level BA 2: Management of Operations Module at Lincoln Business School (LBS) and Buckinghamshire Business School (BBS):- Roughly about 49% Lincoln Business School (LBS) and 47% Buckinghamshire Business School (BBS) of the students use the web site on a weekly basis. According to the authors, this was perhaps an expected finding at level three undergraduate rather than level two undergraduate because of the maturity of the student towards learning and, the weighting of the degree programme at the final level in England and Wales. Similar to the previous two levels, these students mostly use the lecture notes; lecturer's questions and use the web links.

3) Level BA 3: Strategic Management Module at
Lincoln Business School (LBS) and Buckinghamshire Business School (BBS):- Almost 2/3 of the students at each institute visit the web site at least every week. The students at Lincoln Business School (LBS) and Buckinghamshire Business School (BBS) felt that the web site helps their learning, makes it easier to keep up to date with the lectures, offers the opportunity to discuss questions with the lecturer, and to ask for clarifications. Based on the article, it is clear that the students at both institutes would use the web site more often if there was more material related to the module assessment. 

Conclusion

Overall in this study, more than half the cohort had used the particular function of the web site, or had expressed a preference for how the web site had been used. Education is being transformed through the application, integration and utilization of learning technologies in UK Higher Education Institutions. From a traditional perception, e-learning will act only as supportive capacity to the traditional teaching and learning approach at Higher Education Institutions. So the question, "Is e-learning replacing the traditional lecture?" the indication from this research is not answerable at the moment. In future all courses offered will be a mixture of face-to-face and online learning and more students will use mobile technology as a tool for learning.