Article Summary
The aim of this paper is to investigate the practical effects a problem solving , collaborative approach in an online environment within two undergraduate university courses. The writers are specifically gathering data on student perceptions and value judgments on the comparison of face to face and online courses.
The results show students are largely positive about the course with particular strength in developing lifelong learning skills and that the tasks allowed them to spend more time on the course material. Some differences were noted in the way higher-learning tasks were rated less highly in terms of affective factors than lower cognitive load tasks.
The results also show that classroom based material can be moved to an online environment mostly successfully.
The main conclusion is that future course development needs to maintain the central role of the teacher in teacher-student communication and the overall learning process.
We found the article well written in an academic style. The sections break down the research paper clearly and each section begins with a succinct introduction sentence to guide our focus. We also found the writers use cohesive devices within the paper to refer back to their main points and ensure the paper if well ground in the theory is espouses.
Although the research methodology was not explained in full and the qualitative interview schedule was not presented, the quantitative results were laid out clearly with Likert scale results in a valid format.
More development of education points raised would have been useful where they make statements without citing appropriately.
Ultimately this paper is a very useful additional to the field of curriculum design and the data produced can be applied usefully to future course development.
Oliver, R. and Omari, A. (1999). Using online technologies to support problem based learning: Learners’ responses and perceptions. Australian Journal of Educational Technology, 15(1), 58-79. http://www.ascilite.org.au/ajet/ajet15/oliver.html