Faculty Empowerment in Technology Enabled Learning
Faculty Empowerment in Technology Enabled Learning
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Abstract—Advances in Information and Communication model to make this transformation in a seamless manner. This
Technologies have opened up new challenges and opportunities in model focuses on faculty-student interaction to facilitate
higher educational institutions. There is steep rise in internet enhancement in learning outcome of a self directed learner
usage around the world during the last decade. Connectivity and with faculty empowerment as the key indicator for making this
instant access have opened up new vistas in many spheres of lives transformation happen. Faculties need new tools to monitor
of people. The traditional class room based educational system and foster self regulatory behavior of students. Google
needs transformation to catch up with technology. The learners analytics is one such tool and it helps faculties to understand
today have opportunities and the flexibility of learning at any
the needs of students by analyzing visual statistics on web
time, any where, and at any pace. Now the responsibility of
learning has been shifted from teacher to the learner. The role of
usage data. Analysis of data generated in our studies , confirm
teacher has been changed from instructor to facilitator or mentor existence of patterns in web access behavior of students on an
in learning. The faculties need empowerment to acquire new experimental e-learning web site maintained at our institution.
skills to facilitate this transformation. Many research work focus The following sections reinforce the importance of new roles to
on self regulated learning as key indicator in improving the be played by faculties in technology enabled learning as per
learning outcome of self directed learners. This research work is research work done by different authors. The subsequent
directed towards establishing faculty empowerment as a key sections high light the current research work on Faculty
indicator in fostering self directed learning . The faculties needs empowerment based on UML Modeling to foster self regulated
to get trained to acquire new ICT(Information and learning. In the beginning, a brief overview on Virtual Learning
Communication Technology) skills so as to enable him or her to Environments and the status of major E-Learning systems in
create quality content and design navigational paths for learners vogue are discussed. Also the importance of UML as a
to access content and enhance his or her learning outcome. Also language for modeling web applications is presented as
faculty has a role in monitoring the progress of the student using suggested by different authors based on their research works
assessment and feedbacks. Faculty student interaction plays an done in the past decade.
important role in success of an e-learning system. An UML based
Model is suggested in this work which provides a controlled
environment in which a self directed learner adopts different II. RELATED WORK
learning strategies and become autonomous. Continuous
improvement is possible in this system where a faculty plays an A. Virtual Learning Environments
important role as facilitator of learning. Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) is a learning platform
Keywords-E-Learning;Self-regulated-Learning;UML that organizes and provides access to online learning services
Modeling; Faculty Empowerment; Educational Data Mining; Web
for the students, teachers, and administrators. It provides web
Analytics; Virtual Learning Environment(VLE); Learning
management Systems(LMS); based access to content, grades, assessments and other online
learning facilities. VLE facilitates learners and tutors
participate in online interactions of various kinds including
I. INTRODUCTION
chat, discussion forums etc[22]. The study by Karen (2007),
Advancement in communication technologies and reinforce that the teachers were positive about the use of
availability of bandwidth have facilitated steep increase in communication facilities in VLEs and felt that there is
internet usage world over in Industry, Government, Business significant gains in learning and community building[15].
and Education and other sectors. Teaching and Learning
process in higher education have been undergoing major B. Problems and issues in Virtual Learning Environments
transformation. Introduction of e-learning in Universities and The next generation of Virtual Learning Environments should
colleges have resulted in shift in emphasis from instruction be able to overcome insufficiencies in current systems such as
paradigm to Learning paradigm. The faculty’s role has been information overload, lack of customization etc. Also there is a
changed to instructor to content provider and facilitator of need for high usability in VLE systems. If the usability is poor,
learning. This paper discusses a UML based faculty adoption this will lead to disengagement by students. There is also
2
possibility of “lost in cyberspace” while navigating through faced by traditional Engineering education in the light of the
web content. technological changes: (1) What do we want our engineering
students to learn?, (2) How are we going to teach it? [5]. Clive
C. Status of major E-Learning systems in vogue tells : Engineering Design is hard to learn and harder still to
From 1997 to the present two LMSs have emerged as teach[1]. Ilker Yengin et al. (2010) emphasizes the importance
forerunners namely Blackboard and Moodle, offering E- of faculty satisfaction in his End User Computing Satisfaction
Learning solutions to Higher Education Institutions. Model[9]. He raises the following concerns: There is no model
According to Blackboard, the current client base exceeds 5000 showing role of instructor satisfaction in the e-learning success
institutions and includes millions of other users. Janiess Sallee model. Hence educational institutions and policy makers
et al. (2012) in their research survey, point out that, the should consider faculty satisfaction as an important factor for
majority of the professors are primarily using Blackboard to a) making e-learning systems to be successful. He has analyzed e-
post course content, b) calculate grades, and c) Communicate learning success metrics in terms of System Quality,
with students via the Announcements tool. Advanced features Information Quality, Service Quality, and user satisfaction.
This work stressed satisfaction is one of the factors that affect
such as Rubric, Wikis, and blogs are not widely used. Further
usability of the system which also directly affect instructors’
research needed for answering questions like “Is Blackboard
performance. The authors suggest some solutions related to
meeting current instructional needs?, and “Are faculty aware faculty satisfactions and a few which are (1) Providing training
of the advanced features?”[20]. sessions, (2) Create a detailed instructor guide, (3) Develop
D. Solutions to problems in E-Learning today train-the-trainer session., (4) Conduct detailed evaluation
feedback with participants.
As per Conallen. J (1999), web applications are becoming
increasingly complex and mission critical. To help manage Jos Beishuizen (2010), stresses Teachers who are able to show
this complexity, they need to be modeled. UML is the standard how they apply heuristic strategies must have developed
language for modeling software intensive systems[18],[19]. As appropriate strategies for learning and self-regulate
per Azrul Hazri Jantan (2012), the process of designing web themselves[11]. Teachers can make use of various strategies to
hypermedia application is one of the big challenge for today’s foster self regulated learning such as (1) Structuring the
web engineering industry. He suggests an object oriented learning environment, (2) Providing outlines, (3) Providing
modeling method based on UML modeling paradigm as a feedback on the basis of attaining goals., (4) Providing models
solution to manage complexity in web application design. N. for performance standards.
Moreno et al.(2007) points out that web engineering
community has started using UML notation, techniques and III. SELF REGULATED LEARNING AND UML
supporting tools for modeling web systems which helps MODELING
interoperability and improves reuse.[21]. Qian Zhongsheng
(2011), in his research work points out that web applications A. Previous work on Self Regulated Learning
make users more convenient and efficient, but the problem of Since e-learning shifts the responsibility of learning from the
leading them to “getting lost in hyperspace”. He advocates a instructor to the learner, many researchers highlight Self
model driven approach which suggests conceptual model, Regulation as the key-Indicator that has to be included in an e-
navigation model and presentation model[24]. Koch. N learning framework for making e-learning more successful.
(2002), stress that UML is powerful enough to cover all the This section, stress the importance of self regulation and traces
requirements that arise when modeling web based the research work done on the subject by different authors.
applications[16],[23]. Zimmerman (1990) emphasizes learners as individuals should
assume responsibility and control for their own acquisition of
E. Previous work on Faculty’s role in E-learning knowledge and skill. He professes Self Regulated Learning in
The following paragraphs summarize research work on E- which a learner has to study key processes through which they
learning success in the past decade. Many authors extol the self regulate their academic learning. Virtually all researchers
virtues of E-Learning as well as raise concerns on Faculty’s agree upon that self regulation depends on continuing
role in facilitating e-learning which needs new skills to be feedback of learning effectiveness. Self Regulated Learning
learnt. systematically uses Meta cognitive, motivational, and or
behavioral strategies to improve upon student’s learning
F. Summary of Findings outcome. He emphasizes 14 self regulated learning strategies
Nicole Wagner (2008) emphasizes the change in role of that can be adopted by students to enhance their learning
Instructor who has become coordinator of the content which outcome. Some of the strategies like a) self-evaluation b) goal
the students then peruse in their own pace in contrast to setting and planning, c) record keeping, d) self monitoring, e)
traditional class room environment where the instructor seeking social assistance and e) reviewing can be effectively
delivers the content to the class and responds to their questions. adopted by students to promote self regulation in e-learning
The major concern raised by the author are : (a) How to alter scenario [25]. As per David J. Nicol (2006), intelligent self
the instructional design? (b) The amount of time that takes regulation requires that the student has in mind some goals to
instructor to create and administer e-learning courses. [10].
Clive L. Dym raises the question, In the face of challenges
3
course life cycle, a student can be in any one of different above discussions it is apparent that UML Diagrams can be
possible states. A transition is a relationship between two used for modeling a Faculty’s role and a student’s role in an
states that indicates that when an event occurs, the student E-Learning system. This principle can be used in designing
moves from the prior state to the subsequent state. For web based E-Learning systems.
example, when a student browses through the E-Learning
content, he moves to the self-learning state. When a student
gets a pass in final examination, he moves to the certified
state. The state changes of a student in E-Learning can be
notified to different observers as shown in Fig. 11. From the
* Feedback receives
gives 0..1
having Goals
* Assignment .
sets *
0..1 *
0..1 0..1
0..1 * 0..1 * 0..1 adopts *
Teacher Test Student Learning Strategies
designs takes
0..1 conducts
* 0..1 0..1
Assessment
conducts * receives
* *
Course Progress Statement
supervise
0..1
* Classtakes
* runs 0..1
Content
contains Topic *
* browses
Figure 1.
UML Domain Model illustrating Faculty’s role in Self Regulated Learning
Designs Instruction
Creates Content
Gives assignment
Evaluate students
Gets Student Feedback
2 Faculty Analyses Web usage statistics
Improves content
Prepares and conduct quiz &
tests
Fosters self-Regulated-
Learning of students
Authenticate User
Uploads course content
Figure 2. UML Sequence Diagram depicting Faculty Course Maintains the Web Site
3
Administrator Monitors users and their
Interactions
actions
Provide Security
Sl.
N
Actor Roles & Responsibilities
o
1 Student
Browses or downloads
content and learns Figure 4: Web Site Visitor Statistics
Submits assignment
Gives feed back on course
Participate in quiz & tests
6
B. Student Feedback
The following are typical feedback received from students:
a) Requesting to upload specific course material.
b) Students perceive the contents are useful.
c) Students who missed the class lectures find this web
site useful.
d) Students perceive the web content are helpful for
exam preparation.
e) The contents can be useful for faculties also.
f) Students want course material for all subjects as per Figure 6. Page Views for OOAD (April 2011)
syllabus.
The student feedback triggers two way communication and
faculties can understand student’s needs based on this. There
can be further communications via email, chat etc which is
asynchronous. Faculties can plan, web site improvements or
up gradations, add new course materials.
C. Educational Data Mining
Recently Educational Data Mining has become an emerging
research field used to extract knowledge and discover patterns
from E-Learning systems[15]. Teachers can know the
students’ learning processes and their knowledge states in
order to give some effective educational introductions to the Figure 7. Page Views for OOAD (May-2012)
learners. Teachers can analyze the contents in order to improve
the content[14].
D. Web Analytics
Faculties can improve the usefulness of the web site if they
get the statistics on web site usage and user behavior. The user
behavior patterns can be viewed by faculties using which the
faculties can adopt alternate strategies for content redesign and
suitably alter the navigational paths used by the students. The
7
Figure 8. Site usage statistics of OOAD Course for 2011 & 2012 Figure 9. Plot of visits made and Pages viewed
for 2011 & 2012
Figure 10. Scatter plot of visits versus Page Views for 2011 & 2012
CONCLUSION
faculties need to be empowered in learning new ICT skills and [7] N.Vivekananthamoorthy, S.Sankar, R.Siva and S. Sharmila (2009), ”An
to foster Self Regulated Learning. effective E-Learning Framework Model – A case study”, 7th
International Conference on ICT and Knowledge Engineering, Siam
University, Bangkok, December,1-2,2009.
FUTURE DIRECTIONS [8] Terry Quatrani, and Jim palistrant, “Visual Modeling with IBM Rational
Software Architect and UML”, Pearson Education, Inc., 2006.
The present work is preliminary and concrete experimentation
[9] Ilker Yengin, and Adem Karahoca (2010), “E-learning Success Model
can be deigned in future to support the proposed UML based for Instructors’ Satisfactions in Perspective of Interaction and Usability
Self Regulated Learning E-Learning Framework. The Outcomes”, World Conference on Information Technology 2010.
following points suggest some future work that can be [10] Nicole Wagner (2008), “Who is responsible for E-Learning success in
initiated : Higher Education – A Stake holder’s Analysis”, Journal of Educational
Technology and Society,Vol. 11 No. 3,pp. 26-36.
a) Since UML Modeling, Self-Regulated Learning, and
[11] Jos Beishuizen (2010), “Lessons on Learning : Guidelines for Teachers
Faculty Empowerment are separate concepts, more fostering self-regulated learning in a technology enhanced learning
experiments and evidence needed to prove that the environments”, Proc of Stellar-Tachonet Conference, Barcelona,
suggested model improves learning outcome of students October 1, 2010.
when applied. [12] Grady Booch et al (2007), “Object Oriented Analysis and Design with
b) Also the pilot study has to be scaled up covering a larger Applications”, 3rd Ed, Pearson.
audience. Also more studies are needed to establish [13] Maomi Ueno (2004), “Data Mining and Text Mining Technologies for
collaborative learning in an ILMS “Samurai””, Proc of the IEEE Int
correlation between site visits, page views and Learning Conf on Advanced Learning Technquies (ICALT’04)
outcomes. [14] Anduela Lile (2011), “Analysing E-Learning systems using Educational
c) Educational Data Mining Techniques can be adopted Data Mining Techniques”, Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences,
which can automatically analyze web log data and Vol. 2, No. 3, September 2011.
provide visual reports in understanding student learning [15] Kear, Karen (2007), “ Communication aspects of Virtual Learning
Environments : Perspective of Early Adopters”, ED-MEDIA 2007, 25-
behavior and for knowledge discovery 29 June 2007, Vancouver, Canada.
[16] Nora Koch and Andreas Kraus (2002), “The Expressive Power of UML
based Web Engineering”, Second Int. Workshop on Web Oriented
ACKNOWLEDGMENT Software Technology,pp. 105-119, 2002.
We acknowledge with thanks to all who have contributed [17] Arzul Hazri Jantan (2012),” An Extension of UML modeling for web
Hyper Media Design : A Case Study”, Int. J. of ICT Research, VOl. 2,
towards this research work and thank Chair Person, Director NO.1, January 2012.
and CEO, Management and staff of Hindustan group of [18] Conallen. J (1999), “ Modeling Web Application Architectures with
Institutions, Director/KC Tech for their constant support and UML”, Communication of ACM, Vol. 42,No. 10.
valuable guidance. [19] Conallen. J (2002), “ Building web application with UML”,Addison
Wesley, 2002,2/E.
[20] Janiess Sallee et al. (2012), “ Satisfied with the basics : 2012 Faculty
Evaluation of Blackboard”, Seattle Pacific University.
[21] N. Moreno, P. Fraternali, A. Vallcillo (2007), “ WebML modeling in
UML”, IET Software Journal, 2007.
[22] Hilary Page-Bucci (2002),” Developing an Evaluation Model for Virtual
Learning Environment”, www.hkadesigns.co.uk/websites/msc/eval/
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Index.htm
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