Designing Effective Learning Environments

What attributes constitute "effective learning"? This is a question which has kept educational and psychology theorists pondering for decades. In a quest for answers, recent literature seems to be supporting a common theme, that is: social interaction amongst learners plays an important part in the learning process; in fact, it can have a significant impact on learning outcomes.

Collaboration is an essential ingredient in the recipe to create an "effective learning environment" as it provides learners with the opportunity to discuss, argue, negotiate and reflect upon existing beliefs and knowledge. The learner is "involved in constructing knowledge through a process of discussion and interaction with learning peers and experts." Harasim

To facilitate collaboration so that personal knowledge can be constructed, there needs to be a purpose for the collaboration and the purpose needs to be meaningful to the learner. Thus it is important that an appropriate context is set for the collaborative activity, for example, assigning a "real world" task for learners or a problem to which all learners can relate. In addition to setting the context, there needs to be a vehicle through which collaboration can take place. In traditional face-to-face educational settings, collaboration mostly occurs through conversation, that is, individuals interacting with one another via the use of language.

Therefore, in terms of creating an effective learning environment, four attributes surface as being paramount:

Providing opportunities to foster personal construction of knowledge; by
Setting an appropriate context for the learning; and
Facilitating collaboration amongst learners; through the use of
Conversation.

In essence, these attributes form the underpinning principles of constructivist philosophy.

The World Wide Web is a tool that can create and support such a learning environment. Its ability to promote computer mediated communication (CMC), that is, the use of computer networks to allow learners in different geographical locations to interact with one another either in synchronous (real time) or asynchronous (delayed) mode via text-based communication for the purpose of discourse, can aid the construction of knowledge as learners can formulate their ideas into words and build on these ideas through the response from others. The opportunity for reflective interaction (Harasim, 1989, p.52) can be encouraged and supported, which is a feature not readily demanded in traditional university lecture settings. Jonassen et. al. (1995) argues that CMC tools can function as cognitive tools assisting with the processing and generation of new knowledge. All of these claims form a growing research base about computer mediated communication and how its features can support collaborative learning.