DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS
5.6 WBTL Technologies as Tools
Tools are very important if they are used to facilitate learning instead of being used as the sources of information (Littlejohn, 2003). The tools used by most of these facilitators are advanced enough to produce the alternate system of education through the Web in teaching and learning. Govender (2001) found that the Web in (virtual) teaching and learning proves to be one of the alternate systems of education and training in South Africa. If facilitators want to use the Web in teaching and learning as the alternate system in order to educate many students without using face-to-face teaching and also bring education to wherever their students are, they have to acquire the knowledge and skills for
the advanced tools. Web learning is used by only a few institutions’ facilitators, especially in African institutions.
The researcher believes that Web learning in South Africa is working well with contact sessions (face-to-face) because it combines both in a form of blended learning and has proved to be effective for facilitators (Hancock, Knoop &
Zeckoski, 2006). Even in this study the results from the participants indicated that they are using blended learning as they are using the Web, mainly for informational and supplemental functions (Harmon & Jones, 1999). Although Web learning works well alone in some cases, in most cases it needs at least one contact session for an introduction as is the case for these facilitators.
Carliner (2000) believes that the following tools are important if the facilitators want to produce any effective Web-Based-Teaching Learning: namely, Internet connection, e-mail, camera and relevant software to capture and transmit images; software for viewing and transmitting video and audio images from one’s computer; software that lets someone at one location display or change an image and lets people at other locations view the changes; database programmes, a well-designed database that uses terms and categories that are relevant to the students; groupware programme to encourage students to share information; word processor or web page editor; programming language; course help; HTML as well as authoring. Huber (1990) calls these tools the tools for producing virtual reality; and defines virtual reality as the creation of an artificial environment that the Internet users can experience. The majority of these facilitators were exposed to most of the advanced WBTL technologies because of the advancement of ICT in their institutions, course resources and levels of interactions as discussed in Chapter 4 under ‘theme 2.’
The most common tools for them were ‘chat’ (Appendix X: Respondent 2a’s design showing ‘chat’) and ‘discussion’ (Appendix X: Respondent 4b’s design showing ‘discussion’) tools. They were used for students’ interaction with other students or with the facilitators. Respondent 1a, Respondent 2a, Respondent 3b, use all the tools listed in Appendix X: Design learning tools available while Respondent 2b, Respondent 4a, Respondent 4b and Respondent 3a use most
of them but not all of them. But, Respondent 1b uses only one of them (blog) separate from the LMS (from google search engine). Today, LMS comes with all the advances tools (shown in Appendix VI and Appendix X). If facilitators attend any course on these LMSs (Appendix VIII) they can acquire relevant knowledge and skills in using these advanced Web learning tools. All the methods of teaching and learning (discussed in Chapter 2) need these tools to be applied in any effective Web designed for teaching and learning (Huber, 1990). It is important for the researcher to indicate that all the eight facilitators can use the email to communicate with their entire Web learning community members.
This study reveal that only six of the eight facilitators can use the HTML, let alone the other advanced programming language. HTML is one of the most important elements of any LMS or web page editor used in any Web learning (Hardin, 2006). So, it is not good if Respondent 1b is trying to work with the Web in his teaching and learning without mastering HTML. At least Respondent 2a is trying to learn HTML while Respondent 1b is not worried about any of these Web learning basic tools. He justifies this state of affairs by arguing that he is old enough to apply for his pension instead of trying to learn how to use these new advanced Web learning tools. These facilitators (with exceptional of Respondent 1a and Respondent 3b), however, will have to learn some of the tools that are shown in Appendix VI, which are still new to them. Both Respondent 1a and Respondent 3b apply these tools in their designs because they have been working with different types of Web learning.
It is thus clear that seven of the eight facilitators will go a long way in helping their students using the Web learning environment as they use all the three rings of TTTR and operate at level two and three of the AT. Facilitators are also prepared to learn in the process as they are learning newly introduced tools.
The researcher can not say the same of Respondent 1b because failing to use HTML (let alone the other advanced Web learning tools) will always let him down in the world of Web learning (WBTL). All in all tools are only important as parts of the process to transform the objects into outcomes as discussed in the next section.