Pre-service Teachers' Learning Object Development: A Case Study in K-12 Setting

Abstract

Teachers use variety of media to support students' learning. Though there are many new tools and settlements in learning technologies and their specifications, there has been a fierce debate over learning objects and their development. This research aimed to examine the effect of preservice teachers' experience in information and communication technology (ICT) use on their learning object development through (1) inspecting type, number and organization of their learning object (LO) components authored in a non-commercial system, (2) evaluating quality of their learning objects using the Learning Object Review Instrument (Nesbitt & Li, 2004), and (3) studying relationship between the components, quality and subject matter of their LOs. Seventysix pre-service teachers were asked to design and develop LOs in a non-commercial learning content development system. Analysis of their learning objects and a usability test data showed that the participants found the system easy to use in general. Novice and experienced information technology users were able to develop learning objects similar in size and features. The analysis showed meaningful correlation between the use of some of the learning object components. There seems to be significant relations between the quality of the LOs measured with the LORI items and some elements of the developed LOs, however, the novice and experienced groups' LOs did differ neither in overall ratings nor at nine individual items of the LORI. The study suggested some further work for developing quality LOs through collaborative learning resource authoring.Keywords: Learning object, pre-service teachers, Learning object authoring, instructional assets, learning content management system IntroductionTeachers play an important role in determining what and how students learn throughout their activities both in conventional and technology rich learning environments. Teachers are responsible for monitoring the flow of each student's activities, playing a meta-cognitive function for the students by probing their knowledge and reasoning, monitoring participation and student engagement. Student activities must be rich and needs based so that teachers make their educational diagnosis and intervention accordingly. As student needs vary and those needs may be fulfilled with different task regimes, it would be functional for teachers to have access to a large activity pool which is constructed and enriched by teachers. E-learning systems replace the teacher to the center for learning, the teacher's role shifts fromMaterial published as part of this publication, either on-line or in print, is copyrighted by the Informing Science Institute. Permission to make digital or paper copy of part or all of these works for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that the copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage AND that copies 1) bear this notice in full and 2) give the full citation on the first page. It is permissible to abstract these works so long as cr...

Examining Mathematical Task and Pedagogical Usability of Web Contents Authored by Prospective Mathematics Teachers

“…Thus, although Kay, Knaack and Patrarca (2009) noted that WBLRs may be easy and more flexible to use for teaching, mathematics teachers' inability to design their own WBLRs may perhaps, limit the use of these resources in the teaching. The findings in this study support the advocacy in current literature (Akpinar & Simsek, 2007;Nam & Smith-Jackson, 2007;Hadjerrouit, 2010b) for the involvement of teachers in the construction of technology-based learning resources and virtual environments for mathematics education.…”

“…Approximately 58% and 36% of the web contents met moderate and high pedagogical usability criteria respectively. The low usability rating is not surprising as studies (Akpinar & Simsek, 2007;Hadjerrouit, 2010b) have indicated that some WBLRs created and posted on the internet have considerable pedagogical usability problems. However, key to this study is the finding that approximately 94% of the web modules were found to possess appreciable pedagogical usability characteristics.…”

“…According to him, a large proportion of WBLRs are created by software experts for classroom teachers to solve instructional problems. As these experts know little about the contextual needs of users and the pedagogies aligned to specific mathematics task in the curriculum, their WBLRs are often deficient in pedagogy, learner control and users' social domain (Akpinar & Simsek, 2007).…”

“…In recent times, researchers (Akpinar & Simsek, 2007;Hadjerrouit, 2010b) have found a mismatch between existing WBLRs and what teachers, educators and learners need for effective teaching and learning. While the majority of WBLRs are posted online, Hadjerrouit (2010b) emphasized that they do not conform to the instructional goals, philosophical beliefs and intentions of many mathematics teachers.…”

Developing Web-Based Learning Resources in School Education: A User-Centered Approach

“…To realize their potential capabilities, WBLRs need to be designed to support a learner-centered environment, where students explore the content of the subject matter and enhance their learning through interactive, flexible, differentiated, authentic, and motivating activities (John & Sutherland, 2009). Unfortunately, much of the construction of WBLRs is carried out without a true understanding of pedagogy, issues pertinent to learner control, and user involvement (Akpinar & Simsek, 2007;Farrell & Carr, 2007). As a result, current WBLRs provide little support to achieve a high level of flexibility, interactivity, feedback, differentiation, and collaboration, diminishing the added value of WBLRs (Liu & LaMont Johnson, 2005;Martinidale, Cates & Qian, 2005).…”