A research project in e-learning

An Investigation into E-learning: Challenges and Solutions

by Alexandra Koulouri

Purpose

The remote technologies are fundamentally changing the way people engage and process the oral and written words and information [11, 5, 4]. My aim in this project is to initiate an exploration on a) how e-learning changes the way we experience mentally and emotionally teaching and learning, b) what are the main challenges and c) what kind of solutions we can propose (at this stage) in order to enhance this experience and ensure deep learning in problem solving classes in physics.  Whereas clinical studies on how screen-based learning [17, 7, 8] and lack of social interaction [10, 9, 7] in learning processes impact neuropsychologically children and adolescent brains are thriving, there is a substantial gap in similar studies related to higher education students. Since, clinical trails and validations are sparse, our main tools are often based on subjective, evidence-based approaches or comparative studies e.g. [14, 16, 15, 1] which can provide a partial view of the matter.

When COVID19 forced an abrupt move to a virtual teaching environment, there were many concerns and questions since there were no standardised teaching strategies. Here, I consider as a case study the course “Advanced problem solving” which is a well established module for a classroom teaching environment with clear objectives, learning outcomes and assessment processes. Our major concern was how this alignment can be sustained in an on-line framework without oversimplifying the learning outcomes, how to ensure that students have learnt the key concepts and how to mitigate emotional distress as much as possible. Our strategies were based on common sense and improvisation. In particular, we decided: 

1. to ’imitate ’the classroom environment online;

2. to give a strict schedule to the students what they needed to study on every week in the very beginning on the module;

3. to put all the materials online from the beginning of the module;

4. to replace the online examination with a coursework;

5. to use virtual whiteboards and to introduce thought-provoking videos to initiate discussions;

6. to use questionnaires/quizzes to find out whether the students had understood the content

7. and most importantly to stay positive and patient!

These ideas were surprisingly related to suggestions proposed in [13].

Moreover, throughout the course, in short chats with students conducted in collaboration with Dr. Ville Rimpilainen we observed the following:

-Face-to-face teaching was considered more preferable by the students e.g. due to better social engagement and peer-support;

-Pre-recorded lectures (especially short 10 min videos) with online questions & answers sheets were found beneficial;

-Studying remotely gave a lot of flexibility but students also found it challenging to manage their own time, to focus on studying (due to other distractions) and to engage with the materials.

Also, mental stress and alienation were mentioned [6];

-Technical problems such as poor internet connections were sometimes encountered, and the lack of technical tools such as electronic pens to write down equations on electronic whiteboards hindered active participation in the problem solving classes.

All these were in line with studies such as [2].

Even though, practical and empirical approaches can enhance e-learning, I strongly believe that by using findings from brain researchers can help online educators design better learning experiences [12], especially now that e-learning is emerging as a standard educational modality.

Insights: Hybrid learning strategies, which includes face-to-face classes and e-learning, will become more common. Modules focusing on problem solving tasks in physics have to be carefully redesigned to meet the new requirements. Pedagogical and comparative studies [14, 3] in conjunction with brain research [12] are essential in helping us to open the “black box” of learning with remote technologies.

Keywords:  E-learning, virtual environment, problem solving, physics, design online teaching, brain research