Authentic e-learning in higher education: Design principles for authentic learning environments and tasks

With many learners failing to engage with didactic and outmoded instructional methods, and unwilling to use technology that simply replicates the one-way transfer of information from teacher to student, authentic learning designs have the potential to improve student engagement and educational outcomes. This paper argues that online technologies afford the design and creation of truly innovative authentic learning environments. The theoretical foundations of this approach are strong, and they are also explored, together with discussion of the importance of tasks as the focus of authentic activities. Finally, the case is made for a more comprehensive approach to investigating the effectiveness of authentic learning environments through design-based research. Authentic learning environments Despite the intuitive appeal of authentic learning environments, and much anecdotal evidence that they are effective in promoting higher order learning, such complex learning environments appear to be used only rarely in higher education courses. With many learners failing to engage with didactic and outmoded instructional methods (ref), and unwilling to use technology that simply replicates the one-way transfer of information from teacher to student, authentic learning designs have the potential to improve student engagement and educational outcomes. This paper describes the origins of ‘authentic learning,’ drawing largely on the theoretical constructs of situated learning and cognitive apprenticeships, and I summarize some of its defining characteristics. It then focuses more specifically on the task as the central focus for authentic activity, and concludes with suggestions for the dissemination of good practice and theory development through design-based research. Based largely on the work of Lave and Wenger (1991), and in particular two important papers published in 1989, by Brown, Collins and Duguid (1989) and Collins, Brown & Newman (1989), teachers and researchers in education began to investigate the notion of apprenticeships and to try to distinguish those characteristics which were critical to its success. Their aim was to begin the process of developing a theoretical perspective for learning based on the apprenticeship model, that cognitive science had, to date, not been able to explain. Brown, Collins and Duguid (1989) were the first to use the ideas to produce a proposal for a model of instruction that has implications for higher education. In their model of situated cognition, Brown et al. (1989) argued that meaningful learning will only take place if it is embedded in the social and physical context within which it will be used. At its most simple, situated learning was defined by Collins (1988) as: ‘the notion of learning knowledge and skills in contexts that reflect the way the knowledge will be useful in real life’ (p. 2). Further development of the theory meant that in the next decade, situated learning was more fully explored and described. During the 1990s, the further exploration of cognitive apprenticehips and situated learning (e.g., McLellan, 1996) coincided with rapid development in the educational uptake of multimedia and web-based learning environments. In 1993, Brown and Duguid noted: ‘One of the most persistent educational questions following discussions of situated learning has been: How can these situated theories be operationalized?’ (1993, p. 10). Although many people were writing in the area at the time, and despite calls for a model of instruction to isolate those ‘critical elements’ that make apprenticeships successful, no comprehensive model of the approach for classroom practice had emerged. A comprehensive literature review and analysis conducted later in that decade proposed a model of critical characteristics of situated learning, developed in reference to the design of multimedia learning environments (Herrington, 1997; Herrington & Oliver, 2000). This was later applied to web environments (Oliver & Herrington, 2000), and then more generically to learning environments in higher education (Herrington & Herrington, 2006). The characteristics of situated learning that emerged from that research are listed below, together with a short but not exhaustive list of references of researchers who advocated each element. In effect, a situated learning environment employs: 1. An authentic context that reflects the way the knowledge will be used in real life In designing online learning environments with authentic contexts, it is not enough to simply provide suitable examples from real-world situations to illustrate the concept or issue being taught. The context needs to be all-embracing, to provide the purpose and motivation for learning, and to provide a sustained and complex learning environment that can be explored at length (e.g., Brown, Collins, & Duguid, 1989; Honebein, Duffy, & Fishman, 1993; Reeves & Reeves, 1997). 2. Authentic activities The learning environment needs to provide ill-defined activities which have real-world relevance, and which present a single complex task to be completed over a sustained period of time, rather than a series of shorter disconnected examples (Bransford, Vye, Kinzer, & Risko, 1990; Brown, Collins, & Duguid, 1989; Reeves & Reeves, 1997; Lebow & Wager, 1994). 3. Access to expert performances and the modelling of processes In order to provide expert performances, the online learning environment needs to provide access to expert thinking and the modelling of processes, access to learners in various levels of expertise, and access to the social periphery or the observation of real-life episodes as they occur (Collins, Brown, & Newman, 1989; Brown, Collins, & Duguid, 1989; Lave & Wenger, 1991). The facility of the World Wide Web to create global communities of learners who can interact readily via email, also enables opportunities for the sharing of narratives and stories. 4. Multiple roles and perspectives In order for students to be able to investigate the learning environment from more than a single perspective, it is important to enable and encourage students to explore different perspectives on the topics from various points of view, and to ‘criss cross’ the learning environment repeatedly (e.g., Collins, Brown, & Newman, 1989; Honebein, Duffy, & Fishman, 1993; Spiro, Feltovich, Jacobson, & Coulson, 1991). 5. Collaborative construction of knowledge The opportunity for users to collaborate is an important design element, particularly for students who may be learning at a distance. Consequently, tasks need to be addressed to a group rather than an individual, and appropriate means of communication need to be established. Collaboration can be encouraged through appropriate tasks and communication technology (e.g., discussion boards, chats, email, debates etc.) (e.g., Brown, Collins, & Duguid, 1989; Collins, Brown, & Newman, 1989; Hooper, 1992; Reeves & Reeves, 1997).