Overview of Online Instruction and

Learning Environments and Communities

Institute of Education, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University

Sheng-Chang Chen Ph. D. 2025.02.25

 Questions
⚫ Please discuss and answer the following questions:
⚫ What are similarities or differences among e-learning, web-
based learning, and on line learning?
⚫ What is distance education? Describe three types of them?
⚫ Describe the five types of distance education systems.
⚫ Discuss advantages and disadvantages of online instruction.
⚫ Describe online environments and learning communities.
⚫ Describe main types of interaction in online learning.
⚫ Compare three types of online instruction.
⚫ Describe technological tools used.
 Introduction
⚫ The Internet and World Wide Web provide a wealth of
information on various websites.
⚫ The number of individuals using the Web has also
increased from the previous decades to now.
⚫ The amount of time spent using electronic devices
(e.g., computers, tablets, smartphones) appears to be
increasing each year.
⚫ The work-related purposes
⚫ Communicating with others through email and
social media
⚫ Shopping, playing games, and accessing
information and resources
⚫ Education and training
 Education and Training Using Web Delivery
⚫ In the early 1990s
⚫ The use of the military, business and industry, and
educational institutions for training and education
⚫ provide technology-based training and e-learning
⚫ In the late 1990s
⚫ corporations moved away from traditional training
(i.e., face-to-face classroom) to online training
⚫ All online toward blended learning (i.e., combining
online with face-to-face meetings)
⚫ Now
⚫ Web conferencing and social media
⚫ Universities across the world are creating virtual
campuses and programs for the students
 Defining Online Instruction
⚫ E-learning (electronic-learning) & Web-based
instruction (WBI) are synonymous with online learning
or instruction.
⚫ However, in international settings
⚫ e-learning: use of any electronic applications and
processes for instruction, including CBT (computer-
based training), WBI, and mobile learning
⚫ WBI: as instruction via the Internet, Intranet, and
Web only
⚫ In the US, online learning and WBI will be considered
to be synonymous
What is E-learning ?

Mobile CAI
learning (Computer-
Assisted
Instruction)
Web-based
learning E-book
Audio

Video
TV
Web-based instruction

Mobile
learning CAI

E-book Web-based Audio

learning

TV Video
 Distance education
⚫ Online instruction is one type of distance education
⚫ Instruction that exists where instructors and learners
are separated by time and/or location
⚫ Three types of distance education

synchronous

asynchronous general
 Overview of Distance Education
⚫ A historical overview of distance education
⚫ Delivery system(delivery medium): Instruction how to
bring to and from learners
 Types of distance education systems
⚫ Correspondence Courses
⚫ Postal services and railways for course delivery; print-
based (text and illustrations)
⚫ Contained audio and video materials (e.g., DVDs, CDs);
⚫ Integrate electronic technologies (online bulletin
boards & email)
⚫ Broadcast and Broadband Systems
⚫ Radio; television; satellite technology; broadband
cable television; digital television ; broadband cable
⚫ Teleconferencing Systems and Communication
Networks
⚫ Telephone-to-telephone audio systems to desktop
video conferencing between two (more) computers
 Types of distance education systems
⚫ Computers and Digital Technologies
⚫ Interconnected networks include local area networks
(LANs) and wide area networks (WANs)
⚫ LANs are usually found in a single organization and
serve as an inter-networking communication system
⚫ WANs connect computers and smaller networks into
a large-scale communication network typically within
a state, geographical region, or country
⚫ Internet and Web
⚫ The Internet: text-based materials to be transmitted
⚫ The Web: a graphical environment to be displayed &
find information, communicate, and use software
⚫ Search Engines, Portals, and Web Browsers
Online Instruction of Benefits and Challenges
Online Learning Environment and Community
⚫ Online instruction is part of an overarching system
⚫ Learning environment (includes learning community)
⚫ Administrative infrastructure
(administrators & administrative
support staff)
⚫ Technology infrastructure
(technical support staff)
⚫ Learning community
⚫ Instructors
⚫ Instructional Support team
⚫ Learners
 Online Learning Environment
⚫ A combination of individuals and technologies that
help to create the environment
⚫ Administrative infrastructure
⚫ managers and those individuals who are a part of
the organization’s day-to-day functions, such as
accounting and bookkeeping support
⚫ Technology infrastructure (technical support staff)
⚫ the software, hardware, and servers, which
facilitate the delivery of the instruction
⚫ The technology support team (e.g. webmasters)
has access to servers and server files to maintain
and update them
 Learning community
⚫ The elements of learning community
⚫ Instructors
⚫ implement online instruction and maintain its
contents and the learning environment
⚫ Instructional Support team
⚫ a designer develops the online course or project site
to make it a web learning environment
⚫ Learners
⚫ access to the web-based materials and are unable to
alter the course website
 Learning community
⚫ Learning community
⚫ share a common language, world, values in terms of
pedagogical approach and knowledge to be acquired
⚫ pursue a common learning goal by communicating and
cooperating through electronic media in the learning
process
⚫ provide a social structure in which instructors and learners
work collaboratively to achieve goals and participate in a
distributed experience
⚫ developing relationships between instructor and learners
⚫ They may have a shared responsibility
⚫ the main responsibility is the instructor’s, who guides
and facilitates interaction and provides feedback,
encouraging learners to become community members
 Learning community
⚫ Learning community
⚫ share a common language, world, values in terms of
pedagogical approach and knowledge to be acquired
⚫ pursue a common learning goal by communicating and
cooperating through electronic media in the learning
process
⚫ provide a social structure in which instructors and learners
work collaboratively to achieve goals and participate in a
distributed experience
⚫ developing relationships between instructor and learners
⚫ They may have a shared responsibility
⚫ the main responsibility is the instructor’s, who guides
and facilitates interaction and provides feedback,
encouraging learners to become community members
 Main types of interaction in online learning
⚫ Student-to-instruction interaction
⚫ occurs when the participant is connecting to
information and activities contained in the WBI
⚫ Student-to-student interactions
⚫ are experienced when participants interact with
each other on individual, small group, or whole class
⚫ may facilitate an affiliation among learners
⚫ Student-to-instructor interactions
⚫ directly communicate with each other
⚫ occur through emails, feedback on assignments
⚫ student-to-learning management system
⚫ Learners: keep track of their progress, grades, and
turned-in assignments
⚫ Instructor: automate some instructional duties
A Continuum of Online Learning Communities
Web-based learning community

⚫ The direction of the continuum: an instructional element

that must be determined based on what will best serve
the instructional purposes e.g. more independent or
collaborative activities
 Types of Online Instruction(1)

⚫ The learners and instructor do not have face-to-face

interactions or meetings.
 Types of Online Instruction(2)

⚫ The course must have some class sessions, or lessons, delivered

face-to-face with a significant portion delivered online.
 Types of Online Instruction(3)

⚫ Occurs when learners attend class entirely oncampus

⚫ The majority of classroom activities including discussions,
collaborative projects, or practice exercises, quizzes, and exams
⚫ other types of assignments apply locating Web resources,
conducting online library searches, or emailing information
Current and Emerging Technological Tools
Learning management system (LMS)
Current and Emerging Technological Tools
Current and Emerging Technological Tools
 Learning management System (LMS)
⚫ Has emerged as a technology that supports
planning, designing, developing, implementing, and
administering online learning experiences
⚫ Provide an organized environment for Web delivery
and structure online design and development
⚫ An LMS is a software tool that schedules, registers,
and tracks learner progress and performance
⚫ e. g. E3 platform, Moodle, google classroom
An analysis of the design about science
learning courses

Institute of Education, National Chiao-Tung University

Sheng-Chang Chen Ph. D. 2025.02.25

 Task 1
⚫ Comparing with the below websites for science learning
⚫ https://www.khanacademy.org/science
⚫ https://phet.colorado.edu
⚫ https://www.biointeractive.org/
⚫ https://www.labxchange.org/
 Questions
⚫ What are features in these websites?

⚫ What are similarities and differences among these websites?

⚫ Which website is the best for learning? Provide your

explanations.
 Q&A