ارزیابی سیستم های یادگیری متناوب در دوره مهندسی صنایع: غیرهمزمان، همزمان و کلاس درس

Web-based asynchronous learning systems have revolutionized the learning environment. Rapid advances in computer technology, the internet and transmission technology have created new opportunities for delivering instruction. It is anticipated that these technologies will dramatically change the way instruction will be imparted throughout the educational system. One example is asynchronous learning wherein instruction can be delivered at any place at any time on demand. If we are to use this new mode of delivering and receiving instruction, we need to fully understand its advantages and limitations to existing forms of delivering instruction. In response to this need, this paper describes a study conducted to evaluate the usefulness of delivering instruction asynchronously. The study compared three forms of instruction: classroom, synchronous and asynchronous using student subjects from an industrial engineering course. Even though the results of this study are specific to the industrial engineering course considered, the results could throw new light into the usefulness of the Internet and asynchronous learning in other learning environments.

Traditionally, learning and teaching have been built around the classroom environment with an instructor, using tools like a chalkboard and print material such as books, teaching students who meet at the same place and at the same time, that is synchronously. However, as computer technology has become more accessible and cost-effective, various attempts have been made to integrate it into educational environments. The invention of the internet and, more importantly, of the World Wide Web (WWW), a wide-area hypermedia information retrieval project begun in 1989 by Tim Berners-Lee at the CERN European Laboratory for particle physics (Berners-Lee, 1994), has contributed to this new age of electronic education, offering a wide range of options for communication and the exchange of information. By merging the techniques of information retrieval and hypertext to make an easy-to-use and powerful global information system, it offers millions of pages of information, forming a system of worldwide references. The statistics about the Web and its users are nothing short of overwhelming. In addition to allowing immediate access to the latest version of a document (Ibrahim and Franklin, 1995), the WWW also allows students great access that is more rapid to broader arrays of more up-to-date information than a traditional university library; affords them more input in their learning process, making education more pro-active; and allows a more individual approach to assessment and learning than is traditionally possible (Sloane, 1997). The implications of such changes are revolutionary, affecting the quality of instruction, its content and its presentation, to name a few. Among the changes is the fact that a student or a group of students may never have to set foot on campus; rather, they can fulfill all the course requirements using the computer and the WWW, never meeting synchronously to listen to the instructor teaching the courses. In addition to facilitating asynchronous learning, it should be noted that the Web can also be used to support synchronous courses or meeting. Thus, internet technology, and in this case the WWW system, has the potential to create a distance education environment which can exist beyond the traditional boundaries of a particular location to a broad range of students, involving them in highly interactive participation. Today, a student taking an on-campus course may never sit in a classroom; distance students may take a course concurrently with on-campus students, and course instructors may find themselves conducting office hours via electronic means. As Evans and Murray (1996) found, these asynchronous (different place, different time) distance courses could be successful, with students interacting through an electronic network such as e-mail. These Asynchronous Learning Networks (ALNs), defined as networks for anytime-anywhere learning, combine self-study with substantial, rapid asynchronous interactivity with others. In an ALN environment learners use computers and communications technology to work with remote learning resources, including coaches and other learners, without having to be online at the same time, with the most common ALN communication tool being the World Wide Web. As the empirical study conducted by Boaz and Nath (1997) found, using e-mail, the Web and bulletin boards as tools in ALNs achieved the educational goals of completing homework quickly, improving class performance, increasing productivity in class, enhancing learning and increasing the communication with instructor and peers in an environment appreciated by the students. To supplement academic performance and increase the power of ALNs, specialists have experimented with various presentation styles and multimedia components, making sure such educational environments are in accordance with new theories of communication systems; consistent with instructive philosophy and styles of teaching; convenient, accessible and relevant to the students; and finally, well-organized and well-presented (Barreau et al., 1994). However, it should be noted that, even though asynchronous learning has been part of the educational lexicon for many years in the form of “individual study,” it is the mode of technology that has revolutionized the teaching methods. Every new technology has its problems, and ALNs are no exceptions. The transition from face-to-face classroom instruction to ALN instruction can be tricky as both Harasim et al. (1995) and Ory and Bullock (1997) found, especially because students may find the physical non-availability of the instructor and their peers to be a major cause of concern. It is clear that instructional system designers and human factors professionals focusing on training/learning will need guidance on the use of ALNs and, more specifically, on knowing which technology is the best under certain environments to avoid its capricious and arbitrary use. Him et al. (1999) investigated the use of ALNs, developing a methodology to support classroom instruction using alternate delivery systems in addition to investigating various technologies to compliment ALNs. They conducted a study in which the information presented to a class was broken into modules with the technology being used classified as either low- or high-level. Low-level consisted of digital media including the use of e-mail, graphics, text and audio while high-level incorporated the most current technology available, including not only e-mail, text and audio but also animation, video, synchronization of videos and animation, chat-rooms, and bulletin boards. In addition, their study developed a methodology for the use of ALNs to supplement traditional classroom instruction. However, it did not take into account the various alternatives in delivering instruction—classroom, asynchronous or synchronous. In response to this need, this current study extended their work by evaluating the effectiveness of alternate delivery systems to promote learning in a specific industrial engineering course, Production Planning and Control. The specific objectives of this research are: • to compare the asynchronous, synchronous, and the traditional classroom delivery system using performance, system process and usability measures, and • to test the effectiveness of these delivery systems for procedural-based tasks using the Forecasting and Aggregate Planning modules of the Production Planning and Control course. Even though more specific to the course considered, the findings of this study could enable us to prescribe which technology and learning environment is the most effective, an important result since the implications of integrating state-of-the-art technology into education are wide-ranging, affecting the quality of instruction, the public's access to higher education, and the control consumers have over their own education.

Most importantly, this research concurs with Him's (2000) earlier findings: performance measures are not sensitive to the medium of delivery system, indicating that instructional system designers and human factors professionals should continue developing and integrating different learning environments to facilitate student learning styles and situations. In addition, this study offers several results which, while not statistically significant, may also have an impact: (a) the unlimited access of the modules for the asynchronous group had a positive effect on performance measures leading to the highest scores on the forecasting quiz and the final exam and ultimately, the total score, (b) analysis of the process data using the traditional measures of speed and accuracy found that these measures significantly affected the task. Thus, for more involved tasks, unlimited access in terms of amount of time spent and number of times the task is used as a training tool might result in better performance. Although the results of this study are specific to the course considered, they could have important implications for other learning environments. While this study is just the first step, its results indicate that further research is merited. The areas listed below are ones suggested as being among the most promising: • An investigation to see if the same technology used consistently for both the synchronous and asynchronous groups will yield different results on the performance, process, and usability measures. • An investigation to see if varying the difficulty of the task affects the subjects’ preference for the technology used in training. • An investigation into the effect of using adaptive systems in which participants are given mock quizzes that are not graded during a training period. • An investigation of the effect of task factors on process and performance measures by combining knowledge and procedural-based tasks in an entire course and comparing classroom and synchronous groups. • An evaluation of the effects of subject factors by studying students with diverse computer backgrounds.