Digital Skills and Research Methods

Aim:

“To analyse the impact of virtual learning environment Moodle on students learning experience” a case study.

Rationale

With the advancement in the technologies it has become important for the different institutions to upgrade their teaching and learning styles. It is for the benefit of the students as they have to be trained according to the requirements of their future. Due to this reason analysing the impact of virtual learning on students is crucial so that accordingly the changes in the different institutions are adopted.

Objectives

To understand the concept of virtual learning.

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To determine the impact of virtual learning on students learning

Questions

What is the concept of virtual learning?

What is the impact of virtual learning on students?

Scope

The chosen topic for the research has wide scope as in the present world almost everything now is done through the digital technology and has made the work easier. User will get to know about how it has impacted and changed the learning process. Much of information will be available as use of both secondary and primary source is done which will help in understanding the concept in more details.

literature Review

According to (Xu and et.al., 2011) virtual learning is a process which is carried out through computers and internet and can be used within and outside the education institution. Use of different software’s is done to facilitate the learning process and made teaching process more effective and interesting for the students. Author added that it has solved the issue of close monitoring on every student as through this activity of every student can be traced which was not earlier possible in the traditional learning styles. He says that now teachers can simply by log- in from anywhere can revise their syllabus, design the patterns and can plan their next lecture which has helped much to those who run short of time and finds it difficult to do all the work on their own. Apart from this not only the teachers but also the students can get the lecture if they were absent on a particular date which further has helped them to remain updated and loss which was faced before due to nonattendance is evaluated.  

According to Pellas, (2014) the virtual learning model has a significant impact on students' learning because there is critical customer relation between way of learning and students. In the virtual learning model, students are provided digital gadgets to under any concept or study. Due to this learning the level of satisfaction and engagement raised in an effective manner. The traditional model of learning is being avoided by most of the students because in this model, old techniques of learning are used. While in the virtual learning method, new and advanced technologies are used that help to students to learn in a quick manner as well as it is become cause of promoting education among learners. In addition, the another impact of this model on learning of students is that they can do study at any time and from nearly any location. This model offers an effective way to train students, to change the traditional approach of studying and to attract more number of students around the globe.

Though, along with the above mentioned positive impact of virtual learning on students, it has some negative impact too. Such as under this, due to absence of face to face meeting, various issues raise like lack of understanding of students. As well as in this model, about 78% of students fail to complete their course. The key reason of this is the lack of student engagement and their ineffectiveness to find needed activities. Basically, this model can become successful only if students engage actively. In some cases, students are getting benefit of this learning model because they involve completely in all the activities. In the economical perspective, this model is less costly and those students who have shortage of funds can get learning in less time. So overall, the virtual learning model has a positive impact on students if they involve actively.

Methodology 

In order to collect the information on relevant topics use of different methods is done. The following report uses these below approaches:

Primary method –

It is a process in which the data is collected for the first time. In this the researcher does the search by themselves on the topic and present them (Flaherty, Honeycutt .

Powers, 2015). Here in this report use of survey will be done that will be conducted in the class among the students. Simple random sampling method will be used and then observations will be further presented in graphical format so that the analyses can be done easily. Sample size of 30 would be taken.

Secondary method –

This is the other method of gathering the information. Here the data which already collected once by someone else is used to do the analysis (Quinlan and et.al., 2019. It is important that the source of information is wisely chosen as it will affect the quality of final work. In this research the views and aspects of different authors will be analysed and recorded to make the conclusions.

Ethical considerations –

While collecting the information from different resources it would be given care that the data is authenticated and has the copyright. No manipulation with the results will be done and presented in a simple language which do not mislead the user.

References

• Guasch, T., Alvarez, I. and Espasa, A., 2010. University teacher competencies in a virtual teaching/learning environment: Analysis of a teacher training experience. Teaching and Teacher Education. 26(2). pp.199-206.
• Xu and et.al., 2011. A new approach toward digital storytelling: An activity focused on writing self-efficacy in a virtual learning environment. Journal of educational technology & society, 14(4), pp.181-191.
• Pellas, N., 2014. The influence of computer self-efficacy, metacognitive self-regulation and self-esteem on student engagement in online learning programs: Evidence from the virtual world of Second Life. Computers in Human Behavior. 35. pp.157-170.
• Flaherty, T.B., Honeycutt, E.D. and Powers, D., 2015. Exploring text-based electronic mail surveys as a means of primary data collection. In Proceedings of the 1998 Academy of Marketing Science (AMS) Annual Conference (pp. 260-264). Springer, Cham.
• Quinlan, C., Babin, B., Carr, J. and Griffin, M., 2019. Business research methods. South Western Cengage.