As a college, we now have well over 200 sections of our courses that post
some of content of the course on the World Wide Web.  Either in Blackboard,
external sites that we link to or in faculty web spaces.  Each day more and
more of the "content" that we "teach" is digitized and posted.  This posting
talks about the promise (mostly unfulfilled) that "hypertext" can bring to
adult learning environments.   I hope it helps you think differently (or get
a good idea or two) about how you post material to the web for your
students. 

It is from Chapter 5,  From Text to e-Text - Message Design, in E-ffective
Writing for e-Learning Environments, by Katy Campbell. Published in the
United States of America by, Information Science Publishing (an imprint of
Idea Group, Inc.), 701 E. Chocolate Avenue, Suite 200, Hershey, PA
17033-1240.  [http://www.idea-group.com]. Copyright © 2004 by Idea Group
Inc. All rights reserved.  Reprinted with permission.


                  ADULT LEARNERS AND HYPERMEDIA ENVIRONMENTS

                Multimodal Learning

Over the past decade, learning technologies have evolved from environments
in which highly structured information is presented electronically, to
environments where the learner is supported in meaning-making or in
constructing knowledge.  This shift in control from the computer to learner
is evident in multimedia and, in particular, hypermedia environments, where
the onus is on the learner to make decisions about optimal learning paths
and semantic linking.

David Jonassen (1990, 1994, 1996), Roger Schank (1993), and Brent Wilson
(1999) are three of many learning theorists who believe that learners should
be "doing something, not just watching something" and that if this occurs,
"multimedia offers serious improvements to instruction through computers."
(Yaverbaum, 1997, p. 141).  Both multimedia and hypermedia environments have
the ability to support and/or create active learning environments, affording
the learner opportunities to engage with and think about the information
(Hill, 1998).  In the best of these contexts, learners must develop their
own learning strategies, which is a cognitive process that encourages deep
learning.  If this process involves the social negotiation inherent in
collaborative decision-making with others, knowledge construction is much
enriched.  Thus, the learning environment is much enhanced through the
dynamic, interactive, and visual capabilities of multimedia learning.
(Crosby & Stelovsky, 1995).

Ewing, Dowling, and Coutts (1998) have identified several features of the
World Wide Web (Web) as an information source.  In brief, information is
semantically structured by creators of Web sites who embed links to other
information according to their own individual or personal preferences and
perceptions.  These embedded links are dynamic, evolving almost daily, and
are extended by the site users who follow the links through multiple stages
and branches.  In this process, the user is making his/her own semantic
links or building a personal pathway structured by the way that the
information is connected or the meaning that he/she brings to the
relationships.  The amount of information and the rate at which it is
expanding is unknown and unknowable.

Although hypermedia environments have great potential to foster the critical
thinking required to actively structure them for learning, they have to date
resembled early CD-ROMs, that is, they are mostly linear text (Child, 1998).
Ewing, Dowling, and Coutts (1998) speculate that the potential richness of
hypermedia has not been realized because traditional perspectives on
structuring learning tasks do not correspond easily to these environments.
Planning for computer-based learning has been based on identifiable
outcomes, with structured objectives on which activities are based and
assessed.  Teachers may have trouble re-conceptualizing their roles as
instructional planners, just as learners may be confused about how to
proceed with a structured task in the context of unstructured environments
(Ewing, Dowling, & Coutts, 1998).  Carver, Lehrer, Connell, and Erickson
(1992, in Child, 1998) suggested that the lack of effective implementation
of multimedial environments is rare because both teachers and students lack
the skills necessary to function in environments where they are
"collaborative designers rather than transmitters and recipients of
knowledge" (p. 69).

        The Learning Benefits of Hypermedia Environments

The instructional paradigm is shifting from a teaching environment to a
learning environment, with a focus on "practice-centered learning." This
orientation aligns with adult learning theory (andragogy), in which the
notion of self-directed learning is fundamental to the design of learning
contexts.  Hypermedia environments support self-directed, life-long learning
if structured to stimulate and motivate learners to be able to independently
locate the resources necessary to continue learning (Diaz, 1998).

Technologies that facilitate self-directed, practice-centered learning and
meet the andragogical challenge include hypermedia, real-time chats,
threaded discussion, and tools such as VRML, Shockwave, and Java applets
that make the Web interactive while delivering rich content.  These
technologies have been related to both learning and cost effectiveness, as
they tend to influence the ways in which a learner represents and processes
information (Kozma, 1991) as an active strategy in which he/she is required
to structure the learning process as a co-designer of his/her own
experience.  Diverse learning and cognitive styles are supported through
multiple presentations of information, improving retention and performance,
and increasing motivation to learn (Crosby & Stelovsky, 1995; Daughtery &
Funke, 1998; Oz & White, 1993; Yaverbaum et al., 1997).
Criticizing conventional educational environments that help to shape
'compliant thinking. "Hill (1998) describes learners who lack the
"orientation, mental models, and strategies (or capabilities for creating
them) for open-ended learning environments, where divergent thinking,
multiple perspectives, and independent learning are critical" (p. 79).

Learning is now deemed heavily influenced by social interactions and
environmental factors such as culture, technology, and instructional
practices.  As educators and researchers increasingly accept the views of
Vygotsky, (1978) and Bruner (1986) that interaction is the origin of all
mental activity and grown, student learning is increasingly analyzed in a
social context.  From this perspective, meaning is seen as a negotiation and
knowledge building process within a learning community (Bonk & Reynolds,
1998).  These communities, characterized by their open-ended nature, are
exemplified by the Web, which shows significant promise by its very
structure, or lack of it, and in its support of communication tools that
enable dialogue across and among diverse communities of knowers.

The social environment results in learning gains and increased creativity of
outcomes that develops from collaborating and working in groups (Nelson &
South, 1999).  Internet-based communication tools such as e-mail,
Internet-relay chat (IRC), threaded discussion forums, and synchronous
conferencing enable dialogue that can help students think critically and
make better decisions.  Using computers as collaborative tools can be seen
as a type of social constructivism whereby knowledge is generated
problem-solving skills are scaffolded through group activity (Clements &
Natasi, 1992).  In these groups, students frequently reach a state of
conflict that must be reconciled in the form of a solution.  The solution
represents a "qualitatively different third perspective (combining) two
opposing ideas into a coherent, higher-level idea" (p. 243).  Cooperative
learning and cooperative problem-solving groups enhance opportunities for
generative learning, generating a wider diversity of ideas, most reflective
thinking, and increased creative responses (CTGV, 1990, 1992; Oliver, Omari,
and Herrington, 1998, in Oliver, 1999, p. 10)

Open-ended, hypermedia, collaborative environments are more engaging, can
support diverse interests and cognitive styles, support independent and
self-directed learning, increase retention and performance, and enhance
critical-thinking and problem-solving skills by exposing learners to
multiple perspectives.  However, unless designed carefully these
environments can be problematic and counter-productive for adult learners.
Many of these problems stem from the very elements that make hypermedia
environments so unique and effective: open-endedness, self-directed learning
strategies; learner control.

            Design Challenges for Adult Learners

An earl supporter of hypermedia texts, Jonassen (1988, 1990) accentuated the
structural differences of hypertext-based organization of knowledge over the
linear representation found in textbooks.  According to him at that time,
because hypertext is a node-link system based upon semantic structures, it
should map fairly directly the structure of knowledge it is presenting
(Tergan, 1997).  However, Jonassen acknowledged that it is not merely the
structure of the information that is important, it is the "active and
constructive processing of the learner to meet the cognitive requirements of
the anticipated task which are relevant for effective processing of
hypertext" (Tergan, 1997, p. 260).  He subsequently described the greatest
problem related to hypertext-based learning  as "how learners will integrate
the information they acquire in the hypertext into their own knowledge
structuresŠ Learners must synthesize new knowledge structures for all the
information contained in the hypertextŠ" (Jonassen, 1996, p. 190)

Similarly, Myers (1993, in Oliver, 1999) found that students needed a
semester or even a school year to learn how to process hypermedia deeply.
Simply embedding strategies in the system did not cue higher-order thinking
unless the teacher similarly cued the students.  Most learners cannot cope
adequately with such complex systems and keep on studying texts in a fashion
that is quite similar to linear text processing, following frames of
information as presented in computer-based tutorials.  A major result of
this and related studies is that learning outcomes are ultimately determined
by the quality of learners' goal-oriented activity, although learners who
are more field-independent or who are domain experts, may perform better in
unstructured environments (Tergan, 1997; Wenger & Payne, 1996).

Research shows that users are often unable to explore hypertext without
experiencing navigational problems at some point.  McDonald and Stevenson
(1996), describe the keyhole problem, in which learners don't understand the
position of hypertext nodes in relation to the rest of the document, since
it may be hidden.  Detriments, other than the lack of adequate overview of
the scope of resources, include cognitive overload, inefficiency because
more time is spent learning how to navigate rather than processing
information, and interference with the critical and creative comprehension
necessary to solve open-ended problems (Oliver, 1999).

Interestingly, however, Mayes, Kibby, and Anderson (1990), in McDonald and
Stevenson (1996), suggest that in certain circumstances, disorientation may
be a necessary precondition for conceptual understanding.  For example, in
discovery learning the whole point is that learners should engage in a
continual process of restructuring their knowledge by integrating the new
information encountered into existing knowledge structures.

There is evident that hypertext-based learning may be enhanced when it is
integrated into a broader educational context.  According to Cunningham,
Duffy and Knuth (1993) the successful use of a hypertext system in
university classes is mainly due to the instructional supports offered (i.e.
explicit modeling and scaffolding and the system's embeddedness in a social
context.)

            Design for Effective Hypermedia Environments

Is there an appropriate theory of learning for hypermedia environments?
Many theorists believe that Piaget's theory of accommodation provides an
epistemological basis for planning for experiences in which thinking and
learning involves making links through new knowledge and past knowledge by
organizing, ordering, classifying, identifying relations, transforming, and
explaining.

Similarly, Nunes and Fowell (1996) and Ryser, Beeler and McKenzie (1995)
suggest that hypermedia most effectively supports tasks requiring the
acquisition of high-level skills of problem-solving and critical thinking.
Learners actively increase their knowledge and understanding by working in
collaborative learning environments that encourage them to adjust their
views of the world.  In this view, learning is likely to be the result of
active involvement in internal mental processes (thinking) while interacting
with others.

Interaction, especially in cooperation learning activities, appears to be a
key factor for success in many hypertext-based learning tasks.  Equally
important, however, is the intellectual and technical support provided as
adults learn to navigate these environments and structure their own learning
in ways appropriate to the learning tasks and outcomes.  The essential
components of an effective hypermedia environment then, are: well-defined
goals and explicit scaffolding support (Guzdial & Kehoe, 1998; Tergan,
1997); participation in determining learning goals and processes (Glaser,
1991); authentic learning environments in which knowledge is socially
constructed (Denning & Smith, 1998; Rogoff, 1990); and
navigational/cognitive devices such as spatial and conceptual maps.

Numerous models of learning have been examined for those best supported by
hypertext frameworks.  Learning is suggested to be most effective if it
embedded in social experience and if it is situated in authentic
problem-solving contexts that entail cognitive demands relevant for coping
with real life situations.  In this notion, learning is characterized by the
cognitive ability to effectively criss-cross landscapes of information
(Spiro, Feltovich, Jacobson, & Coulson, 1988, 1991) represented by the
semantic units in hyperdocuments and the development of cognitive
flexibility.  Opportunities to critically reflect on new learning are
maximized by social activity and the expectation that new conceptions will
be shared and negotiated in dialogue with others (Fosnot, 1998; van Dusen &
Worthen, 1993).

Embedding opportunities for reflection and summarization in social
conversation helps solidify student learning and restructure student
knowledge (Bonk & Reynolds, 1997).  Naturally how all participants share
representations is a key issue in the design of these learning environments.
Zhao (1998) suggests that the critical feedback of peers required for
learners to reshape their ideas and learn new information that they might
not discover on their own.  Another closely related factor is conceptual
conflict resolution.  According to Harasim (1990), group controversy may
lead members to question their own concepts and seek new information and
perspectives.

Apprenticeship learning and goal-based scenarios (GBS) are two learning
designs that show promise for critically reflective, socially-based,
authentic learning.  Both are based on the idea that the learner acts as
his/her own agent in determining learning progress and taking more executive
control and he/she negotiates navigates a learning task.

Apprenticeship learning is when students learn through active participation
in a task.  At first it may be limited as students gain an understanding
through observation and making small contributions, but the involvement
develops into full participation and eventually task ownership (Guzdial &
Kehoe, p 290, 1998).

Goal-based scenarios are where students are provided wit an interesting
situation in which they have goals to achieve.  Students have the resources
and tools with which to achieve goals.  Progress is compared against a model
of a successful process.  When students fail they are provided with
conceptual and process information in the form of a story of practice to
allow them to understand and correct their faults.  Often there is no single
correct process and as learners articulate their learning in conversation
with peers and coaches, they begin to move toward a personal conception of
domain expertise.  Browsing is not an effective instructional strategy in
either of these environments, as it supports incidental rather than
intentional learning (Tergan, 1997).  Rather, cognitive strategies such as
the creation of a conceptual map require the learner to trace and elaborate
his/her learning progress.

How can we design a virtual community that supports learning?  Schrage
(1991) offers a model that highlights the importance of collaboration.
According to Schrage, the goal is to create a shared experience rather than
an experience that is shared.  An experience that is shared is passive.  A
shared experience is one that is participatory and can be understood by
comparing a conversation or a discussion (negotiated discourse) to a lecture
or a television broadcast (didactic instruction).

McLellan (1997) outlines 13 design themes in Schrage's model of virtual
community: competence, a shared, understood goal; mutual respect, tolerance,
and trust; creation and manipulation of shared spaces; multiple forms of
representation; playing with representations; continuous but not continual
communication; formal and informal environments; clear lines of
responsibility but no restrictive boundaries; decisions that do not have to
be made by consensus; virtual presence; selective use of outsiders for
complementary insights and information; and collaboration (p. 186).
Hypermedia environments that support communications tools and that are
structured by a problem-solving model are able to support the self-directed
and collaborative learning in which adult learners are successful.

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