Comparative Analysis of Asynchronous & Synchronous Technologies
Introduction
There are many online tools available that can enhance, manage, or deliver e-learning. One type of useful tool is the web conferencing application. Another tool, which is widely in use by universities as well as government organizations and businesses, is the learning management system (LMS). In this research, an example of each of these types of applications will be examined – the web conferencing tool by Adobe, Acrobat Connect, and an open source LMS, Moodle.
General Aspects
Its primary purpose being web conferencing, Connect is an application that easily allows a group of individuals connected to the Internet to have an online meeting or conference. The individuals can also have a phone conference at the same time, using Acrobat Connect phone conferencing. While this program is generally used for synchronous meetings, it can also be used in asynchronous ways, such as delivering and tracking self-paced e-learning modules built with other software applications.
The typical use of Moodle, on the other hand, is the delivery and tracking of asynchronous e-learning programs or distance education courses. Being open source, it is capable of being upgraded to serve virtually any purpose one can think to do online. For example, there is a chat module, allowing for synchronous communication between students or between students and teachers. There are also modules allowing a third party conferencing application, such as Elluminate, to run within the Moodle interface.
Technological review
Connect, in its simplest form, needs no software installation – it is a fully online meeting tool, accessible via a URL created by the meeting presenter. It is cross platform, allowing Windows, Mac, Linux, and Solaris users to access the application. It is browser based, available for use on a variety of browsers, depending on the computer operating system. It also requires the Flash plug-in, again depending on the computer operating system. It does not require a broadband connection, only a 56 Kbps connection. A PC or Mac with 128MB RAM would have no problem running the application. Connect offers add-ins, such as for screen sharing, which require installation prior to first use.
In order to use Moodle, one must either purchase a Moodle site from a Moodle hosting company, or download and install the application themselves onto a web server. Moodle is also cross platform; although it was written for Linux, it supports Windows, Mac, and Solaris operating systems. To test, I installed it on my Windows Vista PC with Apache for the web server and MySQL for the database. I had no issues installing Moodle or running it via all of my browsers (IE 8, Chrome 3, Safari 4, and Firefox 3) under my configuration. There are several versions of Moodle available for download; not every module or plug-in works in every version.
In Connect, there are two main types of users, the host (or administrator, depending on how the application is being used) and the participant. The host sets up the meeting or learning event, send invitations to participants, and runs the meeting. During a meeting, the host can chat with the participants, post notes for them to see, let the participants see a document or application that is on the host’s computer screen, and show the participants video using a camera connected to the host’s computer. The meeting participant can view the presentation, chat online with other participants and the host, and view the video.
Moodle allows for a nearly unlimited number of user roles, which can be created and modified by the site’s administrator. Default roles include the:
Student, who takes the course
A student can launch SCORM objects (e-learning lessons created in a SCORM-compliant manner), take quizzes, and access a variety of other learning activities. If it has been included, the student can chat, participate in forums, write a blog, collaborate in a workshop, and contribute to a wiki.
Pedagogical view
The strength of Connect as a pedagogical tool is its ability to create significant dialogue and interaction between the instructor and students. The weakness is its lack of creating autonomy for the student, since it is geared towards the pace of the instructor, and its potential for misuse. By misuse, I mean it lends itself to situation where a presenter leads a discussion about a document or such, while the participants become passive and unresponsive. Connect requires not just the skill to operate the software, but the skill to adequately involve the participants and invoke as much feedback and collaboration as possible. Although it does allow for interaction with content, this is best accomplished with the additional e-learning module, which requires additional skills in e-learning development.
Moodle’s website, www.moodle.org, states that Moodle “promotes a social constructionist pedagogy” which mainly refers to the modules which allow for forums, chat, wikis, and blogs. Moore and Kearsley (2005) mention a study conducted by Gunawardena and Zittle, published in 1997, that shows that a virtual group can, through “compromise and negotiation” construct knowledge (p. 230). Yet although it does promote social constructionist learning, as further described in Downes (2005), administrators ultimately decide if these features are even available to the students, which if left out, could create a course with little if any dialogue.
Key strengths and the key limitations of the systems
A key strength of Acrobat Connect is its ability to quickly create an environment in which ideas may be exchanged online. It takes little effort, or even software application knowledge, to be able to create and host a web conference. A key strength for Moodle is its ability to easily create student- content interaction by using the many built-in tools for creating learning objects. These simple to create learning objects, such as SCORM-based activities, quizzes, hot potatoes, multimedia files, and standard documents, when combined with the student- student and student- teacher interactions, offers the best assortment of learning interactions, suitable for virtually every learning style. The fact that Moodle not only offers so many different technologies, but you can develop your own module for something new, makes it a candidate for what Anderson (2003) calls a “single-faceted” tool that allows for diverse distance education interactions (p.141). Both of these programs are mature software programs, having been upgraded consistently to decrease any limitations. But prime limitations to Moodle are its need to be hosted in some way (although there are some hosting sites which have inexpensive Moodle hosting packages) and the general lack of software support which is a general drawback to open source programs. The primary limitation to Connect is its cost, considering that free web-conferencing tools, like Yugma, exist.
Conclusion
In conclusion, both Connect and Moodle offer useful and easy to use tools for the creation of online distance education interactions.
References
Anderson, T. (2003). Modes of interaction in distance education: Recent developments and research questions. In M.G. Moore & W.G. Anderson (Eds.), Handbook of distance education, (pp. 129-144). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Inc.
Downes, S . (2005). Places to Go: Moodle. Innovate, 2(2). Retrieved September 23, 2009 from http://www.innovateonline.info/index.php?view=article&id=245
Moore, M., & Kearsley, G. (2005). Distance education: A systems view. Belmont, CA: Thomson Wadsworth.
There are many online tools available that can enhance, manage, or deliver e-learning. One type of useful tool is the web conferencing application. Another tool, which is widely in use by universities as well as government organizations and businesses, is the learning management system (LMS). In this research, an example of each of these types of applications will be examined – the web conferencing tool by Adobe, Acrobat Connect, and an open source LMS, Moodle.
General Aspects
Its primary purpose being web conferencing, Connect is an application that easily allows a group of individuals connected to the Internet to have an online meeting or conference. The individuals can also have a phone conference at the same time, using Acrobat Connect phone conferencing. While this program is generally used for synchronous meetings, it can also be used in asynchronous ways, such as delivering and tracking self-paced e-learning modules built with other software applications.
The typical use of Moodle, on the other hand, is the delivery and tracking of asynchronous e-learning programs or distance education courses. Being open source, it is capable of being upgraded to serve virtually any purpose one can think to do online. For example, there is a chat module, allowing for synchronous communication between students or between students and teachers. There are also modules allowing a third party conferencing application, such as Elluminate, to run within the Moodle interface.
Technological review
Connect, in its simplest form, needs no software installation – it is a fully online meeting tool, accessible via a URL created by the meeting presenter. It is cross platform, allowing Windows, Mac, Linux, and Solaris users to access the application. It is browser based, available for use on a variety of browsers, depending on the computer operating system. It also requires the Flash plug-in, again depending on the computer operating system. It does not require a broadband connection, only a 56 Kbps connection. A PC or Mac with 128MB RAM would have no problem running the application. Connect offers add-ins, such as for screen sharing, which require installation prior to first use.
In order to use Moodle, one must either purchase a Moodle site from a Moodle hosting company, or download and install the application themselves onto a web server. Moodle is also cross platform; although it was written for Linux, it supports Windows, Mac, and Solaris operating systems. To test, I installed it on my Windows Vista PC with Apache for the web server and MySQL for the database. I had no issues installing Moodle or running it via all of my browsers (IE 8, Chrome 3, Safari 4, and Firefox 3) under my configuration. There are several versions of Moodle available for download; not every module or plug-in works in every version.
In Connect, there are two main types of users, the host (or administrator, depending on how the application is being used) and the participant. The host sets up the meeting or learning event, send invitations to participants, and runs the meeting. During a meeting, the host can chat with the participants, post notes for them to see, let the participants see a document or application that is on the host’s computer screen, and show the participants video using a camera connected to the host’s computer. The meeting participant can view the presentation, chat online with other participants and the host, and view the video.
Moodle allows for a nearly unlimited number of user roles, which can be created and modified by the site’s administrator. Default roles include the:
- Administrator, who can modify anything on the Moodle instance
- Course creator, who can build courses and be a teacher for these courses
- Teacher, who can do anything within a course to which they are assigned
- Non-editing teacher, who can perform teaching a grading functions only
Student, who takes the course
A student can launch SCORM objects (e-learning lessons created in a SCORM-compliant manner), take quizzes, and access a variety of other learning activities. If it has been included, the student can chat, participate in forums, write a blog, collaborate in a workshop, and contribute to a wiki.
Pedagogical view
The strength of Connect as a pedagogical tool is its ability to create significant dialogue and interaction between the instructor and students. The weakness is its lack of creating autonomy for the student, since it is geared towards the pace of the instructor, and its potential for misuse. By misuse, I mean it lends itself to situation where a presenter leads a discussion about a document or such, while the participants become passive and unresponsive. Connect requires not just the skill to operate the software, but the skill to adequately involve the participants and invoke as much feedback and collaboration as possible. Although it does allow for interaction with content, this is best accomplished with the additional e-learning module, which requires additional skills in e-learning development.
Moodle’s website, www.moodle.org, states that Moodle “promotes a social constructionist pedagogy” which mainly refers to the modules which allow for forums, chat, wikis, and blogs. Moore and Kearsley (2005) mention a study conducted by Gunawardena and Zittle, published in 1997, that shows that a virtual group can, through “compromise and negotiation” construct knowledge (p. 230). Yet although it does promote social constructionist learning, as further described in Downes (2005), administrators ultimately decide if these features are even available to the students, which if left out, could create a course with little if any dialogue.
Key strengths and the key limitations of the systems
A key strength of Acrobat Connect is its ability to quickly create an environment in which ideas may be exchanged online. It takes little effort, or even software application knowledge, to be able to create and host a web conference. A key strength for Moodle is its ability to easily create student- content interaction by using the many built-in tools for creating learning objects. These simple to create learning objects, such as SCORM-based activities, quizzes, hot potatoes, multimedia files, and standard documents, when combined with the student- student and student- teacher interactions, offers the best assortment of learning interactions, suitable for virtually every learning style. The fact that Moodle not only offers so many different technologies, but you can develop your own module for something new, makes it a candidate for what Anderson (2003) calls a “single-faceted” tool that allows for diverse distance education interactions (p.141). Both of these programs are mature software programs, having been upgraded consistently to decrease any limitations. But prime limitations to Moodle are its need to be hosted in some way (although there are some hosting sites which have inexpensive Moodle hosting packages) and the general lack of software support which is a general drawback to open source programs. The primary limitation to Connect is its cost, considering that free web-conferencing tools, like Yugma, exist.
Conclusion
In conclusion, both Connect and Moodle offer useful and easy to use tools for the creation of online distance education interactions.
References
Anderson, T. (2003). Modes of interaction in distance education: Recent developments and research questions. In M.G. Moore & W.G. Anderson (Eds.), Handbook of distance education, (pp. 129-144). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Inc.
Downes, S . (2005). Places to Go: Moodle. Innovate, 2(2). Retrieved September 23, 2009 from http://www.innovateonline.info/index.php?view=article&id=245
Moore, M., & Kearsley, G. (2005). Distance education: A systems view. Belmont, CA: Thomson Wadsworth.