Action
Research On the Use Of WebCT™ With A Late French Immersion
Science
Class: A Teacher’s Perspective
Jessica Webb, Teacher
Eastern
Web
Course Tools (™) is an online course management system that is used by many
universities, colleges and schools to deliver courses completely online. WebCT™ can also be used to supplement
learning in traditional, face-to-face classrooms. Between 2001 and 2004, I had developed some online content
for WebCT™ (notes,
web links) to supplement my Grade 9 late French immersion science class, and
I had used some of the WebCT™
tools (discussion forum, email) in a limited way with my students. During the academic year of 2004-2005, I
wanted to use the methods of action research to engage in a more formal evaluation
of the potential for the use of WebCT™ to supplement traditional classroom teaching and
learning. I joined the Science Across
the Curriculum project, an action research partnership between the Faculty of
Education at Memorial University of Newfoundland and the Eastern School
District of Newfoundland and Although my Grade 9 students are in their third year of
French immersion, they have a limited vocabulary and grammar and they find
the prescribed textbook difficult to understand. This can constrain their understanding as
well as their ability to express concepts, questions and wonderings about
science. I have also noticed that
students find it difficult to listen to oral explanations while they are
engaged in note taking. My hope was that using WebCT™ during the Chemistry unit would help students gain a
better understanding of the concepts.
I anticipated that if students printed the notes in advance, more
class time could be spent discussing and ‘doing’,
rather than copying notes from the board.
Students could use the Calendar tool to link to the day’s work even if they had to
miss class for any number of reasons, and would therefore have an easier time
catching up. I hoped that students
would use the online discussion forum outside of school time to post
questions or comments about the topics in class, homework, projects, or
review. Background
WebCT™ Web Course Tools (WebCT™) is an online course management application. WebCT™ provides the tools for an integrated environment in four
main areas: course organization (calendar, student management, grades),
communications (bulletin board, e-mail, chat), content (online notes,
internet links, assignment information) and assessment/exercises (quizzes,
self-tests). Many universities and colleges are using WebCT™ to deliver courses completely
online, or to supplement face-to-face classrooms. In Newfoundland, WebCT™ is being used as a platform for
some Distance Education courses in high schools, allowing students in rural
areas a greater variety of course selection, or allowing for independent
study (see http://www.cdli.ca/) Morss (1999) studied student perspectives on web-based
learning using WebCT™
in the university classroom. He found
that the use of WebCT™ as a supplement to classroom activities did not seem to
place any unwarranted burden on the students and helped at least some of the
students focus their attention on the subject and learn more quickly, but was
not favoured to immediately replace either text or conventional textbooks as
the preferred method of instruction. While
there is a growing body of research about WebCT™ and similar course
management systems, this research is still in its infancy. Just five years ago, Mitchell and Kerr
(2000) noted that, “little has been written about student perceptions of
Internet-based Web course management; and even less has been said regarding
the integration of Internet-based and traditional instructional systems”
(p.249). Most studies to date have
focused on the post-secondary level, but there are few studies of the use of WebCT™
at high school and almost no studies of its use at the junior high level. Theoretical framework: Three types of
interaction The
theoretical framework of this study is based on Context School context Our Junior High school has approximately 525 students in
Grades 7-9. It is located in an urban
area, and has a mix of students from different socio-economic
backgrounds. There are six classes at
each grade level: two classes of Late French Immersion and four classes of
regular (English) programming. The school’s
computer lab is equipped with 24 computers with Internet capability. There is also an LCD projector connected to
one of the computers which can be used for demonstrations. Each classroom has at least one networked
computer on the teacher’s
desk, and two Internet drops in each room.
The school has a laptop computer and another LCD projector on a cart
that can be signed out for classroom use. My role I am the only person teaching LFI Science at my school, so
I teach the same students over the course of the three years of their attendance. I consider this to be an advantage because
I get to know the students quite well and we have common references from one
year to another with respect to the curriculum delivery and the learning
experiences we have shared. In my science classes, I aim for a good mix of the
theoretical and the practical. In
general, students engage in activities and hands-on experiments first, and
then discuss theory afterwards. I
integrate technology into the curriculum whenever I can, using websites,
online demonstrations, activities and slide shows to help convey the
curriculum. My students This study was implemented using two Grade 9 Late French
Immersion Science classes, with a total of 45 students. In general, these students are above
average academically, compared to the school population as a whole. This is supported by their performance on
tests and exams, with a typical median of 78%-82%. All of the students are following the
prescribed curriculum program, with no identified learning difficulties. These students are also involved in a range of
extra-curricular activities, and this can lead to missed classes. Our school bands and choirs are
pullout programs during the school
day. Many students participate in
sports trips, music festivals, drama performances or a myriad of other
activities which may cause them to be absent, in addition to the typical
absences due to illness or outside appointments. I first decided to use WebCT™ with my Grade class with these two considerations in
mind - academically capable students, who sometimes have to miss class. I wanted to find a way of helping students
keep up with the curriculum, catch up if they missed classes, and even move
ahead and engage in enrichment if they displayed the desire. These students are quite comfortable with the use of computers, both in school and at home. Every one of the 45 students in the Grade 9 LFI classes had an Internet-capable computer at home. In the pre-implementation survey, 100% of the students reported using a computer for school work outside of school time at least 1 day a week, and 51% said that they used it at least 5 days a week. Many students communicate electronically with their classmates outside of school time as well; in the same survey, 76% responded that this communication occurred at least 5 days a week, and 60% stated that it occurred every day. Figure 1: Students' WebCT™ course welcome page Methods Students had access to all course notes on WebCT™, along with links to outside web sites to supplement the curriculum,
for the duration of the chemistry unit from early November, 2004, to late
January, 2005. A course calendar linked students to each day’s work and
assignments. Students were encouraged
to use the asynchronous discussion forum to post and/or read questions and
comments about the chemistry unit. An
internal email system allowed the students to email each other or me. Although students occasionally went to the
school computer lab for a class, the vast majority of their use of WebCT™ was
outside of school time, using their home computers. Figure 2: Discussion forum topics A variety
of data collection methods and sources were used to provide
triangulation. Qualitative data
included: three anonymous questionnaires (pre-, mid- and post-implementation)
with Likert-type rating questions as well as open-ended questions; a teacher
research journal; post-study student interviews (each 10-15 minutes in
duration); and transcript analysis of discussion forum posts. Quantitative data included statistical
information retained by WebCT™, such as the number of pages visited by
students as well as the number of discussion messages read and posted. Data analysis coincided with data
collection, including reading and re-reading data to identify emerging
themes. Figure 3: Section of the WebCT™ Student Survey Results/Analysis Students’
overall reaction to WebCT™ was positive.
Through the surveys, interviews and classroom observations, students
reported that they enjoyed using WebCT™ and found it helpful during the
chemistry unit. Over 94% of students
reported that they used WebCT™ at home (outside of school time) at least once
a week to access content (notes and links).
Students also stated that they used the Calendar tool to keep
organized, and the discussion forum to post or read questions about the
unit. All students interviewed
recommended that WebCT™ should continue to be used in future years. Learner-content
interaction Through the interviews, surveys and observations, students
reported that having the notes available online was helpful to them. Students liked the ability to preview and
review notes, and several students mentioned in the interviews that they felt
that they stayed more organized through the unit. As many researchers have noted, placing notes online is
not enough to encourage active learning by students (see Woodman,
Milankovic-Atkinson, Sadler & Murphy, 2001; Palloff & Pratt,
2000). However, students stated with
the notes in hand, they could pay more attention in class because they could
refer to their notes rather than struggling to copy from the board and listen
at the same time. Students also
reported that the links to outside web sites helped them solidify and extend
their understanding of the concepts in chemistry. Learner-instructor
interaction The use of the discussion forum and email tools helped to
foster learner-teacher interactions.
Students knew that they could ask a question about their science
course and they would likely get a response even outside of regular school
hours. I felt better connected to my
students. Some of the questions posed
through the discussion forum allowed me to clarify concepts or
misconceptions, and they gave me a better sense of how the students
understood the course material. Learner-learner
interaction The primary vehicle for learner-learner interaction with WebCT™ was the discussion
forum. Luca (2000) describes the use
of the online forum as “a learning environment where participants could share
knowledge, discuss ideas and contribute to each other’s understandings of
important issues” (p.151). Students
reported that the benefits of the discussion forum included helping/receiving
help from other students, reviewing with classmates for tests and projects,
and asking questions. While learner-learner interactions were strengthened by
the use of the discussion forum during the chemistry unit, they did not reach
Luca’s ideal. Relatively few students
(14 of 45) posted messages, and many of the messages were for purposes such
as checking due dates and homework.
Even the messages related to the chemistry unit tended to ask for
clarification rather than elaboration or critical thinking. Given that the use of the discussion forum
was unstructured and not required, the relatively low level of interaction on
the forum was not surprising and is anticipated by relevant reports in the
literature (Kanuka & Anderson, 1998). My changing role Dabbagh and Schmitt (1998) state that courses that have
been designed for the traditional classroom environment and later transformed
to an online delivery can provide learners with instructional and learning
opportunities that are not possible without the use of technology. However, the shift to online learning poses
many challenges to instructors and their institutions (Palloff & Pratt,
2000). One of these challenges is to
deal with the changing role of the instructor. Educators must re-examine their role, not
only in terms of course delivery but also in design and development of the
online environment. The use of WebCT with my Grade 9 science course has been
rewarding, but very time-consuming. During
the first year I used the program, I focussed on putting notes online, but it
WebCT™became clear to
me that placing notes online was not enough to encourage active learning by
students, a view that is supported by many researchers (see Woodman,
Milankovic-Atkinson, Sadler & Murphy, 2001, and Palloff & Pratt,
2000). Over the past two years, I have refined the notes, added
links to external websites, added multimedia content, linked the notes to the
course calendar, and added in the discussion forum. I plan to continue exploring other WebCT™ tools, such as the
quiz/survey tool and the ‘My Presentations’ area. In addition to the benefits perceived by students, as a teacher I
believe that I have benefited from the use of WebCT™ as well. The process of putting
the chemistry unit online has made me explore new ways of delivering the curriculum. I am integrating more online activities,
demonstrations and alternate examples and explanations into my classroom
teaching. Through the use of email and
the discussion forum, I feel like I am more connected with my students and so
I can assist them more easily if they are encountering difficulty. The use of WebCT™ has been time-consuming in terms of developing the content, searching
for additional resources, and monitoring and responding to emails and
discussion forum posts, but I have found it professionally enriching and
rewarding. Conclusions and Significance
of the study
The purpose of this action research study was to
investigate the use of WebCT™
in a junior high late French immersion science class. WebCT™ supported student learning in the two classes studied,
strengthening learner-content, learner-instructor and learner-learner
interactions. Students enjoyed using WebCT™ and recommended that
its use be continued with the Grade 9 science class. As a teacher, I also reaped the benefits
of using WebCT™,
finding new ways to deliver the curriculum and interact with my students. The findings in this study report on the experiences of
two Grade 9 late French immersion science classes in one school. Students were above-average academically
and there were no students with identified learning difficulties in the
class. All 45 students had access to
the Internet from a home computer and could access WebCT™ outside of school hours. It could certainly be argued that these two
classes are not typical. In many other
classroom contexts, access to technology and a greater diversity of learner
needs would have to be addressed before WebCT™ could be used. This study contributes to research into the use of course
management systems such as WebCT™
as a supplement to classroom teaching. A gap in current research is addressed
through the focus on the junior high level. References
Centre for Distance Learning and Innovation (2005). CDLI
Educator’s Resource Manual. Retrieved Hillman, D.C.A., Willis, D.J. & Gunawardena, C.N.
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knowledge construction. Journal of
Distance Education, 13(1), 57-74. Luca, J. (2000).
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