Heather Kanuka

Bio: Heather Kanuka is an academic researcher from University of Alberta. The author has contributed to research in topics: Higher education & Educational technology. The author has an hindex of 26, co-authored 72 publications receiving 6418 citations. Previous affiliations of Heather Kanuka include University of Calgary & Athabasca University.

Blended Learning: Uncovering Its Transformative Potential in Higher Education

Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to provide a discussion of the transformative potential of blended learning in the context of the challenges facing higher education. Based upon a description of blended learning, its potential to support deep and meaningful learning is discussed. From here, a shift to the need to rethink and restructure the learning experience occurs and its transformative potential is analyzed. Finally, administrative and leadership issues are addressed and the outline of an action plan to implement blended learning approaches is presented. The conclusion is that blended learning is consistent with the values of traditional higher education institutions and has the proven potential to enhance both the effectiveness and efficiency of meaningful learning experiences.

Online Social Interchange, Discord, and Knowledge Construction

Abstract: Online forums provide potential for new forms of collaborative work, study, and community that reduce barriers of time and distance. Yet the types of interaction and means by which individuals create new knowledge in online environments are not well understood. This study presents the results of an exploratory multimethod evaluation study and transcript analysis of an online forum. The researchers used a constructivist interaction analysis model developed by Gunawardena, Lowe, and Anderson (1997) to help understand and assess online learning. The model describes the phases that are attributed to learning development in an online forum. Analysis of the transcripts revealed that most of the online interactions during the forum were at the lower phases of the interaction analysis model. In addition, the researchers studied the interaction patterns that occurred during the online forum. Social-cognitive processes were observed among participants in the forum. The processes included significant time engaged in social interchange followed occasionally by social discord. The social discord served as a catalyst to the knowledge construction process observed. The results of the study illustrate that there are many types of structures, motivations, and applications of online interaction that make the understanding of this communication medium both challenging and exciting. La conference electronique est une application technologique qui peut susciter des formes inedites de travail et d’apprentissage collaboratifs, de meme que de nouveaux types de communautes, en reduisant les obstacles que representent le temps et la distance. Cependant, les types d’interaction et les modes de construction des connaissances adoptes par les usagers des environnements virtuels sont encore mal compris. La presente etude rapporte les resultats d’une etude d’evaluation preliminaire appliquant plusieurs methodes d’analyse aux interactions et a la transcription d’une conference electronique. Les chercheurs ont applique un modele constructiviste d’analyse des processus d’interaction, propose par Gunawardena, Lowe et Anderson (1997), pour tenter de comprendre et d’evaluer l’apprentissage en milieu virtuel. Ce modele decrit les phases attribuees au developpement de l’apprentissage au cours d’une conference electronique. Une analyse des transcriptions revele que la plupart des interactions electroniques au cours de la conference se situaient aux niveaux inferieurs du modele d’analyse des interactions. Les chercheurs se sont egalement penches sur la configuration des interactions au cours de la conference electronique. On a pu observer des processus sociocognitifs entre les participants, notamment un temps significatif accorde a des echanges sociaux, suivis a l’occasion par une discorde sociale; celle-ci servait de catalyseur au processus de construction des connaissances. Nos resultats illustrent le fait que les types de structures, de motivations et d’applications de l’interaction electronique sont multiples et font de celle-ci un objet d’etude a la fois exigeant et stimulant.

The Influence of Instructional Methods on the Quality of Online Discussion.

Abstract: In this case study, we examined the influence of five groups of communication activities on the quality of students’ contributions to online discussion. The activities were the nominal group technique, debate, invited expert, WebQuest and reflective deliberation. Quality of discussion was operationalised as cognitive presence, a construct developed to investigate the role of critical discourse in higher, distance education contexts. Using the quantitative content analysis technique, the postings of 19 students in an undergraduate university course were assigned to one of the four categories of cognitive presence. Across the five activities, the proportion and number of contributions categorised in the highest phases of cognitive presence was low (20.21%), but was highest during the Webquest and debate activities. There are three advantageous qualities of these two activities, we argue: 1They were well structured. 2They provided clearly defined roles and responsibilities for the students. 3They provoked the students to explicitly confront others’ opinions.

Learning in Communities of Inquiry: A Review of the Literature

Abstract: The purpose of this study was to investigate learning in communities of inquiry (CoI) as the terms are defined in Garrison, Anderson, and Archer's (2000) framework. We identified 252 reports from 2000—2008 that referenced the framework, and we reviewed them using Ogawan and Malen's (1991) strategy for synthesizing multi-vocal bodies of literature. Of the 252 reports, 48 collected and analyzed data on one or more aspects of the CoI framework; only five included a measure of student learning. Predominantly, learning was defined as perceived learning and assessed with a single item on a closed-form survey. Concerns about the soundness of such measures pervade the educational measure m e n t community; in addition, we question the validity of the particular items employed in the CoI literature. Bracketing these concerns, the review indicates that it is unlikely that deep and meaningful learning arises in CoI. Students associate the surface learning that does occur with independent activities or didactic instruction; not sustained communication in critical CoI. We encourage researchers to conduct more, substantial investigations into the central construct of the popular framework for e-learning and theorists to respond to the mounting body of disconfirming evidence.

Technology, e-Learning and Distance Education (2nd edition)

Abstract: Technology, E-Learning and Distance Education aims to be the “essential guide for anyone wanting advice on how to choose the right technology at the right cost for a course or flexible learning program” (p. i). Building on the previous edition (Technology, Open Learning and Distance Education published in 1995 – which was prior to the ubiquitous use of the World Wide Web), this book offers new chapters which provide an overview of the developments in distance education and e-learning in the past decade (Chapter 1), two additional chapters on Web-based learning (Chapters 7 and 8), and two on synchronous conferring technologies (Chapter 9 and 10) – which are co-edited with Janice Picard.

Educational Research: Competencies for Analysis and Application:

Abstract: to many, however, it constantly appears as an instructional problem. The final two chapters serve as excellent summary statements. Chapter 13 emphasizes the application of previous text material to the classroom situation. Of great significance is the author's discussion of commonly defined independent, dependent, and moderator variables. The final chapter focuses on evaluation in the overall sense, particularly as it relates to programs of study. The principles of measurement and research design are applied to the evaluation process through several ex-

Visible Learning: A Synthesis of Over 800 Meta-Analyses Relating to Achievement

Abstract: Preface Chapter 1 The challenge Chapter 2 The nature of the evidence: A synthesis of meta-analyses Chapter 3 The argument: Visible teaching and visible learning Chapter 4: The contributions from the student Chapter 5 The contributions from the home Chapter 6 The contributions from the school Chapter 7 The contributions from the teacher Chapter 8 The contributions from the curricula Chapter 9 The contributions from teaching approaches - I Chapter 10 The contributions from teaching approaches - II Chapter 11: Bringing it all together Appendix A: The 800 meta-analyses Appendix B: The meta-analyses by rank order References

Critical Inquiry in a Text-Based Environment: Computer Conferencing in Higher Education

Abstract: The purpose of this study is to provide conceptual order and a tool for the use of computer-mediated communication (CMC) and computer conferencing in supporting an educational experience. Central to the study introduced here is a model of community inquiry that constitutes three elements essential to an educational transaction—cognitive presence, social presence, and teaching presence. Indicators (key words/phrases) for each of the three elements emerged from the analysis of computer-conferencing transcripts. The indicators described represent a template or tool for researchers to analyze written transcripts, as well as a guide to educators for the optimal use of computer conferencing as a medium to facilitate an educational transaction. This research would suggest that computer conferencing has considerable potential to create a community of inquiry for educational purposes.

스크린 위의 삶 = Life on the screen : identity in the age of the internet

Abstract: From the Publisher: A Question of Identity Life on the Screen is a fascinating and wide-ranging investigation of the impact of computers and networking on society, peoples' perceptions of themselves, and the individual's relationship to machines. Sherry Turkle, a Professor of the Sociology of Science at MIT and a licensed psychologist, uses Internet MUDs (multi-user domains, or in older gaming parlance multi-user dungeons) as a launching pad for explorations of software design, user interfaces, simulation, artificial intelligence, artificial life, agents, "bots," virtual reality, and "the on-line way of life." Turkle's discussion of postmodernism is particularly enlightening. She shows how postmodern concepts in art, architecture, and ethics are related to concrete topics much closer to home, for example AI research (Minsky's "Society of Mind") and even MUDs (exemplified by students with X-window terminals who are doing homework in one window and simultaneously playing out several different roles in the same MUD in other windows). Those of you who have (like me) been turned off by the shallow, pretentious, meaningless paintings and sculptures that litter our museums of modern art may have a different perspective after hearing what Turkle has to say. This is a psychoanalytical book, not a technical one. However, software developers and engineers will find it highly accessible because of the depth of the author's technical understanding and credibility. Unlike most other authors in this genre, Turkle does not constantly jar the technically-literate reader with blatant errors or bogus assertions about how things work. Although I personally don't have time or patience for MUDs,view most of AI as snake-oil, and abhor postmodern architecture, I thought the time spent reading this book was an extremely good investment.