THE MEETING OF TWO CLASSROOMS; VIRTUAL VS.

PHYSICAL League of Worlds 2005, Camilla Lindeberg _____________________________________________________________________________________

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THE MEETING OF TWO CLASSROOMS; VIRTUAL VS. PHYSICAL - adapting pedagogical principles when teaching and learning in a virtual environment CAMILLA LINDEBERG Arcada Polytechnic: Department of Economy, Media and Technic Jan-Magnus Janssonsplats 1 00550 Helsinki, Finland E-mail: camilla.lindeberg@arcada.fi Presentation format: Poster/Demonstration This position paper compares how the professional profile of students in higher education can be built in a virtual environment and in a traditional (physical) classroom, with the background on basic principles of pedagogy. The paper also looks at how the traditional classroom teaching can be effectively adapted to the virtual classroom. It also looks at the role of the teacher in a virtual environment compared to the physical classroom environment. This can be viewed from two different aspects: the class as a community that works together and the student working individually. 1. Background/ Introduction In the spring of 2002 the multimedia program in the department of Media at Arcada Polytechnic began a long-term initiative with the primary aim of tying together the different strands of the multimedia courses. The secondary aim was to create a new project platform where the different programs and students at Arcada Polytechnic could effectively work together. For the multimedia staff it was important to find a realistic environment to give realistic hands-on practice to the students and also give them the opportunity to work closely together with their teachers. The platform took the form of a multi-user 3D environment, modeling Marinetta [1], the capital city of the Mediterranean island Rosario. In the first three years of the project students have developed a concept for the island, built the actual first version of the 3D environment, designed healthcare and environment regulations and also built an infrastructure for the island of Rosario. During a course in spring 2005 the third year multimedia students designed a concept for how to effectively do distance learning in the 3D environment. During the summer of 2005 students volunteered to model a second version of the capital whit a possibility to later on build the whole island. This paper looks at the concept the students created and seeks different ways to link them with traditional pedagogical principles. 2. Learning by yourself or in a group? The biggest difference between learning in a traditional classroom environment is the fact that students learn together. In difference from this 3D or virtual learning environments have been specifically created so that the students can deal with their learning in their own time. One of the first reasons for creating a virtual learning environment is to give students, which have to work besides their studies or live far away from the school, a possibility to still participate in the

THE MEETING OF TWO CLASSROOMS; VIRTUAL VS. PHYSICAL League of Worlds 2005, Camilla Lindeberg _____________________________________________________________________________________

courses. At the same time it can be argued whether the classroom teaching really is about learning together. How often does the teacher stand in a dominant role forcing the students to adapt the principles he or she is teaching? If we look at the traditional classroom as an environment where the learning is actually done by each student on their own, with a lot of the learning done at home via homework then it is easy to compare the classroom learning environment and learning in a virtual 3D environment. When the third year students at Arcada did their research around learning in a virtual environment they realized the advantage of learning on a deeper level when doing it on your own. [2] They listed that it was possible to learn much more by studying a given subject on your own, when having the sources of information available and the teacher backing them up when problems would rise. 3. The role of the teacher Whether learning by yourself, as described in chapter two, is done in a physical or virtual environment, the role of the teacher can not be underestimated. The teacher must still be present at least on some points during the learning process. As the students stated in their research project [2] it is important that the teacher provides the students with the right kind of information. Many can argue against this statement by saying that all the information needed is available, for instance on the internet. However, it is our responsibility as teachers to provide the students with the right kind of information. True, the internet has a lot of useful information, but at the same time you need to be able to see what information you can rely on and what not. We can and need to believe that professional people have the ability to see the difference between right and wrong information, but students are studying to be professionals and need the teachers help along the way. It is stated that learning is a process in a persons up-bringing [3]. Therefore the actual process of learning can not be differentiated from the actual content that is learned. On the level of higher education the teaching is focused on professionalism and via the teaching and research the students will build up on their own professional profile. Even though most higher education is not focused on an actual profession it can not be denied that the final goal is to crate new professionals for the community. Therefore the role of the teacher is not only to teach and help the students to learn, he also functions as a motivator and mentor for the student. 4. The problem of enhancing students professional profiles in a virtual classroom This paper looks at higher education and how the professional profiles of students can be enhanced. Usually enhancing professional profiles of students need a close mentor relationship between the student and a teacher. Due to the fact that there are more students than teachers in a school it is impossible for all students to get the same kind of attention from a teacher. Can virtual communities be a solution for this? If more professional people, not only teachers, provide their expertise for student in a virtual environment, can more students gain from this than in a physical school environment? When the teaching and learning is done in a virtual environment it is harder for the teacher to monitor the students progresses. The same kind of problem is faced when teaching big

THE MEETING OF TWO CLASSROOMS; VIRTUAL VS. PHYSICAL League of Worlds 2005, Camilla Lindeberg _____________________________________________________________________________________

university classes. This is usually avoided by teachers having appointment times for the students and thereby providing the opportunity to discuss progress and motivation. These are some of the central problems to be discussed in this paper: What pedagogical principles can be used in virtual learning when it comes to higher education? Can the students professional profiles be enhanced in a virtual environment better than in a physical classroom? How can students work together as part of a virtual community or individually? What pedagogical principles divide these methods of working? How can the students progresses be monitored in a virtual classroom? Can traditional pedagogical principles be of use in enhancing student motivation in a virtual course?

5. Pedagogical principles in learning as a part of a community There are several pedagogical principles on learning as a part of a community. These are best viewed from the point of building up on the students professional profile. One aspect is the community of practice [4]. The central points are that a group of people share the same interest, solve a problem, work together or share the same culture. This pedagogical principle is not only applicable for teaching a specific subject in a school environment; it is a form of learning that we use in our daily lives. The reason for bringing this up in this paper is the fact that most virtual communities tend to build opportunities that lead to community of practice. The basic principle is that in your everyday life you are involved in different communities that teach you something frequently. One of the goals with the Marinetta project was for students and other people wandering around in the world to meet by accident in the virtual street, start chatting and find out they share the same kind of interests or culture. When meeting someone in a virtual environment new smaller communities are born, this provides the community automatically with the learning rules of community of practice. One pedagogical and professional principle that suits virtual environments perfectly is networking [4]. In different ways of networking the members of the community can provide each other with their field of specialty. The main idea of the principle of networking is to share knowledge. Professional people and people working within the academic world use this principle daily, why not provide the students with the same opportunity? One answer is to build up academic virtual network between schools and introduce students with the same kind of interests. Another example is the principle of decentralization of expertise [4]. The rule is that the community of students divide themselves in smaller groups that actively find out certain aspects on a given subject. All groups have different aspects that they shall study and research. When the research is done the students meet again and the groups split up to other groups, that now consists of one member from each different research group. Now the different members tell the others what they found out doing their specific research. Afterwards all students have the same amount of knowledge on the given subject. There is no reason why this principle could not work in a virtual environment. It can also be adapted so that each member in the community gets an individual task and then tell the whole community about the research result.

6. Pedagogical principles in individual learning processes

THE MEETING OF TWO CLASSROOMS; VIRTUAL VS. PHYSICAL League of Worlds 2005, Camilla Lindeberg _____________________________________________________________________________________

Legitimate peripheral participation [4] can be done in a group or individually lead by a mentor. The main principle is that the student is taken trough a process where the professionalism is taught in different phases. Most of the learning is done by observing professional people and in this way the student is being gradually able to help the professionals in their work and build up the students own professional profile. The primary rule is that the student gets in contact with professional communities and is lead trough a process with a goal of becoming part of the community itself. Theoretically this principle could be done virtually if the community itself is virtually active. There are a lot of communities that function entirely on a virtual level that could provide a student to a legitimate peripheral participation, one example the League of World symbiosis itself. The principles of cognitive master and journeyman [4] learning is also based on believes that the student can gradually become part of the community. In difference from legitimate peripheral participation is the principle of cogitation, the student actually steps directly in to the professional environment by starting with basic tasks. This is a pedagogical principle that is suitable for physical professions as sports, music and so on, but it has also been proven important in the research profession. In order for a student to become a researcher one day it is important to first participate in the project by doing small task like literature searches, fill in databases, rewrite articles etc. This gradually enhances the students knowledge in the subject researches and provides a starting ground for own research projects. Again even though it has mainly been used for physical professions, there is nothing that points in a direction that it could not be used in a virtual environment. There is several research groups consisted of people living and working in different countries and continents that rely and communicate trough a virtual environment. 7. Conclusion This paper states that the pedagogical principles that have been introduced can be well used for both virtual and traditional teaching. But we also have to consider the differences between students. It is known that people learn in different ways. Some learn better by reading or researching information on their own, others need more hands-on help with their learning. This paper does not consider the differences in different learning styles, but merely looks at the pedagogical principles and compares them in two different environments. When talking about higher education and specifically about enhancing students professional profiles it is usually a deal between theory and practice. The virtual environment can in most technology- and media professions provide virtual tasks for students to try their knowledge in doing something practical. But it is not only the more modern fields that can have use of virtual environments. It is stated that historically older fields as healthcare, business and tourism can take use of on-line learning environments. In Arcada Polytechnic this has even been tested in most of the fields that the school offers [5]. When comparing virtual and traditional learning environments the question of working in groups or individually is the same. Both kind of learning is done in both environments. In virtual courses you can give the students group task just in the same way as in a normal classroom. The different is that in some virtual classrooms the students may not know physically the students they are working together with. The richness in virtual environments are the communities that gives both students and teachers a good network and in which each community member provides more information to others. Information can be spread when solving a task or simply in discussions between community members. This naturally enhances learning even more and enhances further

THE MEETING OF TWO CLASSROOMS; VIRTUAL VS. PHYSICAL League of Worlds 2005, Camilla Lindeberg _____________________________________________________________________________________

students professional profiles. Monitoring student process does not differentiate much in a virtual classroom than in a traditional. The only lack is that the teacher can not always observe the students when they are working together. Another lack is also the natural discussions that can rise during a teaching session in the classroom. Naturally this can be solved with the use of message boards and forums, but in virtual classrooms the discussions are not always as spontaneous and dont necessarily involve all the students. Otherwise the monitoring can be done by tasks and exams just in the same way as in a physical environment. The question on student motivation is always important, no matter in what kind of environment the teaching and learning is done. Same kind of motivation is needed in both virtual and physical courses. Again we are facing the differences between students. Some students find it more motivating to be able to research on their own, during a time of the day that suits them best. We all know that we dont always feel our sharpest the same time during the day as others do. In the same way some students need more encouragement from teachers than others do. In this paper we look at higher education where students have already done a choice on what they want to study. They have some basic knowledge of life and studying. Therefore it is easier to coach them virtually than younger students. But it is important that the students know they can contact the teacher if they need it. There are different ways to stay in contact with the students in a virtual environment but that is a topic for another paper.

References:

1. http://www.marinetta.net The webpage that serves with information and updates within
the Marinetta project.

2. Frglra som Distance Learning? Research project by Aki Wirmalainen, Bjrn Heselius,
Anders Karf, Jim Silander, Johan Snell, Arcada 2005. The project report from the third year multimedia students.

3. Leino, Anna-Liisa; Leino, Jarkko: Oppmistyyli, teoriaa ja kytnt, 1990, Kirjayhtym,

Jyvskyl. This book discuss that learning is only a path in the up-bringing and growth of the individual person. The university an polytechnic students learning can be seen as a path in growing up to the profession the student later will have.

4. Hakkarainen, Kai; Lonka, Kirsti; Lipponen, Lasse: Tutkiva oppiminen: Jrki, tunteet, ja kulttuuri oppimisen sytyttjin. WSOY 2004, Helsinki; ISBN: 9510281867 This book is
a good guide to how to learn with a profession in mind. It also explains new theories on how learning can be done in a group/community, as an individual or on-line.

5. Sthl, Tore (red.): Ntpedagogiska toppar och floppar erfarenheter av Pil-projektet.

Arcada 2005, Helsinki. ISBN 952-5260-24-0. The Pil-projekt was a project inside Arcada that researched the possibilities of on-line pedagogy. This publication is a report on which programs and projects developed on-line courses and virtual simulations with the help of the project. Almost all programs in Arcada participated in some way.