The contribution of online learning environments to learning in higher education : a comparative analysis of teaching strategies and student experiences

Abstract

The contribution of online learning environments to learning in higher education is examined by investigating what pedagogib approaches work and under what conditions, through comparative analysis of students' and tutors' experiences in six online learning initiatives selected as case studies, using interviews with tutors (N=7), and focus groups, nominal group technique and a questionnaire with students (N=121), to illuminate congruence and disjuncture associated with agential, practical and structural factors. A synergy between two distinct theoretical fields, Dewey's (1933, 1938) classical pragmatist approach to education and Archer's (1982, 2000a,) more contemporary critical realist approach in social theory is combined, to propose a theory of learning as transformation of experience through praxis and reflexivity, addressing the wholeness of human beings operating with their senses, emotions and cognitions in real and challenging situations. b Findings highlight praxis differences between learning as discursive knowledge and transformational learning through experience, between ontological security and risk, reflection and reflexivity, time-space distanciation and time-space compression, and between learning as product or process (Bruner 1966, Giddens 1984, 1991, Harvey 1990, Lash 2002). The scope of online learning is challenged by the tension between learning as a "quick fix" information commodity (Lash 2002) and as a purposeful human process (Dewey 1933) with structural implications through the radicalisation of time and space. The study reveals the significance of Archer's work as a powerful methodological framework for understanding the complexities of e-learning but also contends it is a model for understanding the learning process and enhancing educational practice. Archer's approach provides the ontological foundation for learning theories situated in practical action and reflexivity, with practice placed at the centre of learning supported by reflexivity as a key component of learning. This stance acknowledges the influence of prior experiences, situating learning in its social context and suggesting benefits of a systems approach to understanding learning where significant natural, practical and social order factors interplay, giving equal precedence to individual and structural enablements and constraints influencing morphostasis and morphogenesis in pedagogical praxis.

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