Bluepulse for eLearning - Instructor preparedness. Student readiness.
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Bluepulse™ for eLearning
Instructor preparedness. Student readiness.
DEFINITION
e-learn ning
noun
1. learning conducted via electronic media, typically on the internet
2. learning and teaching online through network technologies
3. instruction delivered by any technological mode intended to promote learning
4. using new multimedia technologies and the Internet to provide high-quality
education and training
eXplorance Inc. – Bluepulse™ www.bluepulsehub.com
1470 Peel Street, Suite 500 Tel.: +1 (514) 938.2111
Montreal, QC, Canada Fax.: +1 (514) 635.6264
H3A 1T11
THE FUTURE OF ELEARNING
As the number of eLearning courses grows, the academic experience is constantly in flux for an
increasing number of instructors and students. Both groups must learn to adapt as the
institutional support processes evolve. When it comes to course design and preparation,
instructors must be cognoscente of learning curves for new technology that may introduce new
concepts into the classroom.
These new challenges present new opportunities; refining and honing teaching methodologies
of the past to meet future needs will define the competency of institutions to effectively
embrace technology as an integral support structure for young instructors and students alike.
1.1 CONVERGENCE ON ADAPTATION
The ideal scenario illustrates a clear, emerging path when instructors decide to incorporate
eLearning elements into course design. Typically, instructors begin by adapting a current course
and slowly incorporate tools and methods that are in line with pedagogical goals. This sequential
path to adaptation starts at the rudimentary level and continues until the instructor has gained
confidence and begins to consider other ways to enhance the course.
Instructors tend to start with less complex activities;
o Posting course material on Course Management Systems (CMSs)
Instructors then being to focus on pedagogical aspects, even if it is just to consider how to
best use CMS functions;
Instructors rethink their course concepts accordingly;
Instructors begin to reference other teaching models;1
As eLearning continues to grow, this ideal scenario is rarely the case and is often unpredictable
for new and incumbent instructors. Bluepulse can be easily adapted to evaluate the
effectiveness of other eLearning technologies along with more traditional classroom
approaches. How these approaches are evaluated and prioritized in terms of their effectiveness
is intrinsic to the rating system employed by Bluepulse.
With the right focus and implementation of the initiatives feature, instructors can put emphasis
on how students are learning, as much as what they are learning.
1
EDUCAUSE Center for Applied Research, Supporting E-Learning in Higher Education: Impacts and Challenges of E-Learning
Volume 3, 2003 Web Accessed: September 24, 2014, https://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ers0303/rs/ers03036.pdf
Bluepulse™ for eLearning | 02
www.bluepulsehub.com1.2 MEASURING EFFECTIVENESS OF ELEARNING
With emerging educational models, validating teaching approaches is an important part of
establishing best practices. The evaluation and measurement of eLearning strategies should be
tied to student outcomes but should also include other metrics. Combining statistics (where
possible) about enrollment, course completion, and time to completion with matching newly
acquired knowledge with improvement goals is an excellent complement to learning outcome
measures.
The effectiveness of specific technologies and approaches yields an interesting dichotomy in
how this is applied. To measure successes for various types of eLearning, asynchronous vs
synchronous, different metrics must be used concerning the different types of interactions that
occur.
The social applicability and multiple access points to submit suggestions, review new initiatives
and rate initiatives accordingly is a perfect strategic fit for both asynchronous and synchronous
types of learning.
Personal and Cognitive Dimensions of eLearning
Personal Participation Cognitive Participation
Increased arousal, motivation, and Increased reflection and ability to
convergence on meaning process information
Figure 1: Bluepulse complements various types of communication that occur in both asynchronous and synchronous
learning environment.
Bluepulse complements existing eLearning communication types that are important for building
and sustaining eLearning communities:
Content-related communication
Planning of Tasks
Social Support
Bluepulse™ for eLearning | 03
www.bluepulsehub.comDepending on the structure of the eLearning course, on the continuum of asynchronous to
synchronous, these types of communications will appear more or less frequently. For
asynchronous learning, content-related communication tends to dominate, diminishing for
task-related communication and social support. The reverse is true for synchronous learning.
These are important considerations when evaluating the effectiveness of technology-specific
approaches in the eLearning environment.2
This is something that Bluepulse does elegantly, as it occupies the space where synchronous and
asynchronous learning overlap. The student suggestion and rating feature for initiatives work
well with cognitive participation surrounding content-related communication. The time
required to digest concepts and topics matches well with the ability to access Bluepulse at any
time, from any device.
Figure 2: Bluepulse can help evaluate different eLearning technologies and teaching approaches depending on the
learning environment.
As for personal participation in the classroom, as a real-time feedback tool, Bluepulse’s same
suggestion and rating features let students and instructors monitor important initiatives as they
become increasingly popular with more ratings. This sort of visceral feedback serves as a social
motivator for users.
2
Hrastinski, S., Asynchronous & Synchronous E-Learning: A study of asynchronous and synchronous e-learning methods
discovered that each supports different purposes, Volume 4. (Educause Quarterly, 2008)
https://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/EQM0848.pdf
Bluepulse™ for eLearning | 04
www.bluepulsehub.com2
BLUEPULSE - STRATEGIC FIT
At its core, Bluepulse lets instructors evaluate and prioritize the introduction of new teaching
elements into the classroom. These elements can be evaluated as either technology-specific or
skill-specific in terms of their delivery, impact, and fit depending on the structure of the course.
Their effectiveness is a direct function of the appeal and adoption by eLearners and how student
ratings are distributed among the published initiatives.
By producing easy to read graphs & bubble charts, limiting suggestions to just 160 characters
once per day per course, and limiting ratings to once per initiative per day per course, instructors
are armed with real-time feedback to makes incremental changes to the delivery of content and
improved teaching and learning approaches.
Bluepulse collects information that exclusively available to the instructor. Creating a safe
environment for both students and instructors, Bluepulse promotes:
Reflective Practice: instructors can identify teaching ‘blind spots’ and engage students in
the process. This establishes a culture of continuous learning where improvement is the
focus, rather than performance.
Proactive Primary Research: evaluating eLearning technologies and approaches in order
to establish best practices and refine the learning experience for students.
Address and Prevent Motivational Challenges: with an engaged set of students, instruc-
tors have the ‘pulse’ on the classroom to help identify learning gaps based on instant
feedback.
Anticipate Formalized Feedback Results: with a clear day-to-day picture of what is
occurring in the classroom, instructors have the opportunity to make adjustments that
are directly related to student sentiment, forecasting the results for end-of-term course
evaluations.
Bluepulse™ for eLearning | 05
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