RUNNINGHEADER:Assignment4

Assignment4
ResearchProposal
GaryPage
ETEC500
UniversityofBritishColumbia
ProfessorStephenCarey

Assignment4
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PartTwoResearchProposal
Introduction
Virtualorwebbasedlearningisbecomingmoreprevalentineducation.Unlikea
traditionalclassroomsetting,virtuallearningreliesontechnologytoprovidethelearning
environment.Thereisadistinctrelationshipbetweeneducationandtechnology.The
technologicalenvironmentplaysaroleinhoweffectivelyandefficientlystudentsareableto
learn.Withovertwentyyearsofexperienceineducationandtechnology,theauthorfeelsthere
isalackofresearchinthisarea.Withthepaceofchangeintechnology,furtherstudiesshould
beginnowontheuseofvirtualenvironmentsandcontinueintothefuture.
StatementofProblemorQuestion
Technologicaladvancementdoesnotnecessarilyindicatethatthetechnologyitselfwill
berelevantforanyparticularfield.Althoughtechnologicaltoolsaredevelopedforeducation,
thesetoolsmayormaynotbeusefulforeducationalpurposes.Thisstudywillprovideresearch
onwhethervirtuallearningenvironmenttechnologyinfluenceslearning.Bydefault,usinga
virtualenvironmentuntoitselfdoesnotguaranteestudentswilllearn.Willdifferencesinthe
actuallearningenvironmentaffectstudentsabilitytolearn?
ReviewofLiterature
Inordertounderstandifthisresearchproposalhasmerit,aninitialbriefreviewof
relatedmaterialshasbeenperformed.Althoughmuchoftheresearchinthisareaissomewhat
dated,thefollowingfivearticlescitedheararerelativelyrecent.
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Inthefirstarticle,MuellerandStrohmeierstudythedesignofvirtualenvironmentsfor
learning.Inthisquantitativestudy,Muelleretalrecognizethatthereisnocompletely
developedtheoryofvirtualenvironmentdesign.Theyproposeasanalternativethat
InformationSystem(IS)designbeusedascurrentlyitiswelldefined.
Inthesecondarticle,MimirinisandBhattacharyadiscussdesignbutfromadifferent
perspective.Thisstudyprovidesinvestigationnotonthedesignsystembutonthelearning
outcomeswhenavirtualenvironmentisused.
Inthethirdarticle,Konstantinidis,Tsiatsos,andPomportsisdiscussvirtualenvironments
focusingoncollaboration.Theybasethereasonforthisstudyofdesignonthepremisethat
collaborativeactivitiesresultinagreateracquisitionofknowledge.Thisarticledetailsthe
selectionofapropervirtualenvironmenttoolbasedonaselectionofthoseavailableatthis
pointintime.
Inthefourtharticle,Ho,Higson,Dey,Xu,andBahsoondetailanevaluationprocessfor
virtualenvironments.Thisquantitativestudyisbasedonanevaluationcompletedusinga
formalstandardizedstructure.
Inthefiftharticle,ChapmanandStonestudyoutcomesfromtheuseofvirtual
environments.Theyarguethatalthoughthetechnologyeducationtoolsarebeingused,their
successislargelyanecdotalanddevelopmentalbestpracticesarerequired.
Althoughrelevantandcurrent,noneofthesearticlesdirectlyaddressthequestionthat
thisproposedresearchwillreview.
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Hypotheses
Thehypothesisforthisresearchisthatthetechnologicalenvironmentisakey
componentforvirtuallearning.Settingasideothertechnologicalissues,suchasconnectivity,
underlyingtechnologychange,etc.,theabilitytoworkintheenvironmentisabasic
requirement.Inapreviousstudy,understandabilitywasdefinedasofprimaryimportancefor
educationalpurposes.Therefore,ifaformaldevelopmentprocessisfollowedforthe
developmentofthevirtuallearningenvironment,willthiscreateanenvironmentthatis
understandablefortheuser?Inotherwords,willtheuserorstudentinthiscase,findthe
virtuallearningenvironmentmoreappealingandeasytouse?Previousstudiesshowthatifthe
virtualenvironmentisviewedtobeattractivebystudents,theyinturnwillfindthistobean
incentivetousethevirtualenvironment.Thetechnologyitselfbecomespartofthelearning.
Studentswillbemoreengagedintheirlearningresultinginbetterresults.
ResearchParticipants
Researchwillbeconductedusingasecondaryschoolclass.Theywillcompleteamodule
ofaparticularcourse.Theclasswillbesplitintotwogroupsofsimilarsizeandgenderratio.
Thefirstgroupwilluseavirtualenvironmentthatisprimitiveorveryfundamental.
AlthoughfunctionalanddevelopedusingInformationTechnologydevelopmentprinciples,the
interfaceisnotuserfriendlyandnoteasytonavigate.Inotherwords,thevirtualenvironment
willbeadetractorforlearning.
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Thesecondgroupwilluseavirtualenvironmentthatishasbeenfullydeveloped,tested,
andenhanced.AgaindevelopedusingInformationTechnologydevelopmentprinciples,the
interfaceisuserfriendlyandeasiertonavigatebasedonprevioususersfeedback.The
environmentwillbemoreofanincentiveforlearning.
Oncethemoduleiscompleted,eachgroupwillcompleteashortquestionnaire.The
questionnairewillcontainquestionsregardingtheunderstandabilityofthevirtualenvironment
used.Studentswillanswereachquestionbasedonascalefromonethroughfive.
Aswell,eachgroupwillcompleteaquizdesignedtotesttheirknowledgeoftheir
learningusingthevirtualenvironment.
ResearchInformation
Thestudyisdesignedtousebothqualitativeandquantitativemethodologywith
studentsineachgroup.Partonewillbesubjectiveaskingstudentstoratetheirexperience
basedonaseriesofquestions.Parttwowillbeobjectivebasedonthetestresultsofthetwo
groups.
Theresearchwillbecompletedoncethemoduleofstudyiscompletedandallresults
havebeengatheredandentered.Dataresultsandstatisticalanalysiswillbepresentedaspart
ofthestudy.Afinalreportwillbepresented.

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Conclusion
Thisresearchwilladvancethestudyofthecurrentuseofvirtualenvironmentsin
education.Asthetechnologyforvirtualenvironmentsisrelativelynewanditsusageever
expanding,theopportunityforcontinuedresearchisgreat.Asthetechnologyisadoptedacross
alargerdemographic,furtherstudiesaretoincludestudentsindifferentagerangegroupings.
Aswell,asthetechnologydevelopsfurtherstudywillberequiredintothisinthefuture.
References
Mueller,D.&Strohmeier,S.(2010).Designcharacteristicsofvirtuallearningenvironments:an
expertstudy.InternationalJournalofTrainingandDevelopment,14(3),209222.
Mimirinis,M.&Bhattacharya,M.(2007).Designofvirtuallearningenvironmentsfordeep
learning.JournalofInteractiveLearningResearch,18(1),5564.
Konstantinidis,A.,Tsiatsos,T,&Pomportsis,A.(2009).Collaborativevirtuallearning
environments:designandevaluation.MultimedToolsAppl44,279304.
Ho,W.,Higson,H.,Dey,P.,Xu,X.,&Bahsoon,R.(2009).Measuringperformanceofvirtual
learningenvironmentsysteminhighereducation.QualityAssuranceinEducation,
17(1),629.
Chapman,D.andStone,S.(2010).Measurementofoutcomesinvirtualenvironments.
AdvancesinDevelopingHumanResources12(6),665680.