TRACING THE EMMERGING USE OF COMMUNICATION

TECHNOLOGIES IN HIGHER EDUCATION

A Literature Review

Marta Pinto

, Francislê Souza

, Fernanda Nogueira

, Ana Balula

, Luís Pedro

, Lúcia Pombo

Fernando Ramos

and António Moreira

Department of Education, University of Aveiro, Campus Universitário de Santiago, Aveiro, Portugal

Department of Education, University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal

School of Technology and Management of Águeda, University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal

Department of Communication and Art, University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal

Department of Education, University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal

Department of Communication and Art, University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal

Department of Education, University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal

Keywords: Communication Technology, Higher Education, Teaching, Learning.

Abstract: Communication Technologies being used in Higher Education Institutions worldwide are producing

changes in the design of teaching and learning practices, giving rise to learning paradigms such as e-

learning, b-learning and m-learning. Research embraces different perspectives on how the use of Internet

and Communication Technologies potentiate innovation and disruptiveness of more traditional forms of

education, as well as promotion of changes in the way teachers and students work and in the roles they

adopt. The present review suggests that web 2.0 technologies has promoted new forms of communication,

interaction and sharing between users and content in formal education settings. Furthermore, the realization

of how vast and disperse the body of literature is, revealed as significant the main goals of the project

“Portuguese Public Higher Education Use of Communication Technologies”, that aims to characterize

Portuguese higher education institutions according to their use and best practices, disseminating the

information obtained through an online information visualization tool. The ultimate goal of the project is to

contribute towards making valuable and up-to-date information available to Higher Education Institutions

and users, facilitating and potentiating research in the area.

1 INTRODUCTION

The adoption and promotion of Communication

Technologies (CTs) is happening throughout the

world of Higher Education Institutions, especially

because CTs are now embedded in people’s lives,

shifting into more ubiquitous and networked

participations. This is estimated to further contribute

towards the future of economy, society and personal

quality of life, by simultaneously demanding Higher

Education (HE) institutions to compete in the

globalised economy, cooperating among themselves,

and resorting to a variety of technological services

that add to their capacity to potentiate best practices

and innovation. As to the existing impact of CTs in

HE, programs such as i2010 and entities like

UNESCO and OECD report that students are mostly

using the web to interact, communicate and produce

content, being increasingly influenced by Web

intelligent services that empower user to distribute

content and customize Internet applications. In this

article CTs are defined as the hardware and software

that allow and promote communication and

information distribution supported by the Internet

(Armstrong and Franklin, 2008); (Grodecka et al.,

2009).

The vast emerging and disperse body of

literature justifies the relevance of the present

literature review, aiming to provide a synthesis of

the research conducted in the field, and to draw

some conclusions as to the impact of these CTs in

181

Pinto M., Souza F., Nogueira F., Balula A., Pedro L., Pombo L., Ramos F. and Moreira A..

TRACING THE EMMERGING USE OF COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES IN HIGHER EDUCATION - A Literature Review.

DOI: 10.5220/0003920301810186

In Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Computer Supported Education (CSEDU-2012), pages 181-186

ISBN: 978-989-8565-06-8

 2012 SCITEPRESS (Science and Technology Publications, Lda.)

HE teaching and learning environments. In this

setting, it challenges of the project “Portuguese

Public Higher Education Use of Communication

Technologies” - TRACER, under development at the

University of Aveiro, are enhanced, once it aims to

trace and disseminate the information expected to

characterize the Portuguese Public Higher Education

Institutions (PPHEI) as to their adoption and use of

CT, disseminating the information obtained through

an online information visualization tool. This will

contribute to making information of interest to

institutions and users, available and up-to-date,

proposing the dissemination of best practices.

2 LITERATURE REVIEW

METHODOLOGY

A systematic literature review search was

undertaken from June to November 2011, in the

attempt to answer two questions: a) which CTs are

being used in HE? b) how are CTs being used in

HE? The need to answer these questions relates

to the development of the aforementioned research

project TRACER, looking specifically for

publications concerning web 2.0 tools, services and

platforms use in HE. The review was made in the

following international online bibliographic

databases: Scopus, Eric, Springer, B-On and Google

Scholar. Search was also performed directly in the

UNESCO and OECD websites. The keywords used

were: higher education, communication

technologies, communication technologies, web 2.0,

e-learning, blended learning, mobile learning,

immersive worlds, and personal learning

environments, all combined with the boolean

operator “AND”.

Search resulted in a total of 193 documents,

limited to the English and Portuguese languages,

namely: 22 books; 22 conference papers; 95 journal

articles; 28 reports; 18 work thesis; 2 series

documents and 2 webpages.

3 CTS USED IN HE TO SUPPORT

TEACHING AND LEARNING

PRACTICES

The use of CTs in HE has evolved, alongside the

evolution of the web and web technologies, from

web 1.0 tools with no interactive components, to

web 2.0 tools which embrace interaction and

promote social network media tools and applications

(O'Reilly, 2005).

CTs may be seen as becoming “an icon of early

21st century higher education provision” (Selwyn,

2007, p. 83), with increased investments on

computer infrastructures in developed and

developing countries, attempting to “‘blend’ ICTs

into all aspects of face-to-face teaching and learning,

as well as into students’ independent study”

(Selwyn, 2007, p. 83). In new learning

environments, new roles are adopted. Teachers

position themselves as facilitators and mentors,

continuously negotiating authority (Wesch, 2009), in

a shared process of scaffolding of learning, where

students gain more autonomy. With greater

autonomy students are empowered to create spaces

where learning can take place and skills are built,

managing information in different ways, analysing,

discussing, and sharing (Wesch, 2009), using and

transforming content. This is having its confirmation

in the exponential development and use of web 2.0

and social networking software for communication,

interaction, collaboration, establishing connections,

and sharing information, opinions and thoughts

(Downes, 2005).

Conversely et al., (2008) contested the idea of

disruption happening as a result of the impact of

technologies in HE. Their research showed that

between 2005 and 2006 the main use of one Virtual

Learning Environment (VLE) in Dublin City

University, did not go beyond replication of existing

practices, creating no disruptive change in

assessment methods and activities, where web tools

which demand collaboration or reflection are less

used than face-to-face teaching (Blin and Munro,

2008).

Other learning theories, such as connectivism

(Siemens, 2005), have revised the meaning of

learning, adjusted to reflect the changing and

connected learning environments.

3.1 Teaching and Learning Supported

by CTs

All the systems related with teaching and learning as

being supported by CTs in both the delivery of face-

to-face and distance modes – resorting to classical or

online approaches, may be defined as Distance

Learning (DL) (Bielschowsky, 2009). In this

context, teachers and students tend to nowadays

communicate resorting to several online tools and

media. When referring to distance learning we have

to understand Distance Education (DE) from which

it derives. DE is defined as being institutionally

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based, where teacher and student can be separate

geographically or in time, and CTs contribute to

diminish those distances (Schlosser and Simonson,

2009). The effort to develop DE supported by CTs is

extended to developed and developing countries, as

the UNESCO incentives African countries to invest

in the applications of CTs in HE, despite the need of

faculty training and the need to cooperate

internationally. The literature shows that within

learning supported by CTs, the concept of DL

comprises three learning paradigms, intersecting: e-

leaning, blended learning, mobile learning. For the

purpose of this article, the definitions of the learning

paradigms will only contemplate the formal learning

context.

3.1.1 e-Learning

e-Learning can be understood as a significant part of

the learning content made available via the Internet,

“the use of new multimedia technologies and

Internet, to improve the quality of learning by

facilitating access to resources and services, as well

as remote exchanges and collaboration”

(EuropeanComission, 2001), and the support of

online teaching and learning processes. E-learning in

European HE is considered to be strategic for the

education and training systems to become more

competitive and dynamic within a knowledge-based

economy.

It is expected that every HE institution in the

OECD area uses a learning management platform,

justifying the results of the OECD report on

Millennium Learners, which identifies the use of

VLEs by students (82.3% several times a week) as

one of the largest technologies used for academic

purposes (Pedró, 2009).

3.1.2 Blended Learning

Blended learning is considered to be a mix of face-

to-face and online learning, although “it is not clear

how much or how little, online learning is inherent

to blended learning” (Garrison and Kanuka, 2004, p.

97) and its instructional design must be flexible. It

requires a restructuring of the class, of the contact

hours between teachers and students, and of the

approach to teaching and learning (Garrison and

Kanuka, 2004). By practicing blended learning the

conveniences of online courses are gained without

the loss of face-to-face contact (Ellis et al., 2009).

Thus, a learning environment is created which is

richer than either a traditional face-to-face

environment or a fully online environment.

3.1.3 Mobile Learning

Mobile learning as a theory encompasses learning in

a society characterized by mobility of people and

knowledge supported by mobile devices (Sharples et

al., 2007) and by application software and

networking technology. The accessibility of mobile

technology to the average person is making learning

accessible anytime and anywhere.

Giorgieva (2011) states that mobile learning is a

new trend in the development of e-learning, in which

mobile devices help students get access to course

materials anytime anywhere. This is important for

HE because today’s faculty members and students

are arriving at universities with easy-to-use devices

such as laptops or mobile computers, fully equipped

with web development environments, music and

video displayers, productivity tools and prepared for

broadband web connections (Katz, 2008). Motiwalla

(2007), emphasizes that features such as alerts and

permanent access to interact and communicate may

help users be more productive, showing however

that differences reside in the tools used while the

pedagogies remain similar.

3.2 CTs used in HE to Support

Teaching and Learning

To look at CTs in HE means to look at web 2.0

tools. Longitudinal studies show the considerably

patchy and diverse use of web 2.0 social media

technologies in formal learning and change of

practices (Armstrong and Franklin, 2008); (Conole

and Alevizou, 2010) at the teaching and learning

levels. To sustain the review analysis we have

adopted the major categories of web 2.0 activity and

tools proposed in the BECTA Report (Crook et al.,

2008), also adopted in other reports (Conole and

Alevizou, 2010). Accordingly, 13 activities were

categorized, as transcribed (Crook et al., 2008, p. 9-

15.): “Trading; Media Sharing; Media manipulation;

Data/web mash-ups; Conversational arenas; Online

games and virtual worlds; Social networking;

Blogging; Social bookmarking; Recommender

systems; Collaborative editing; Wikis; Syndication”.

3.2.1 Web 2.0 Activities and Tools used in

In result of the review, there was no evidence

concerning trading in educational contexts.

Mash-up websites composed by data from

different sources into a new Web service (Batty et

al., 2010), are seen as a set of tools and

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environments of emerging interest in HE (Wesch,

2009). Netvibes, a web 2.0 mash-up is increasingly

being used to create ideal learning environments that

maximize the exchange of ideas and interaction,

individually or in a community (Li and Li, 2011).

Personal Learning Environments (PLEs) may be

understood as an aggregation kind of tool. In fact,

University of Aveiro offers its community, since

2009, aggregation possibilities in SAPO Campus, a

technological platform supported by widgets, which

integrates web 2.0 tools for video and photo sharing,

a cross-institutional wiki and a blog platform

promoting a PLE construction culture (Santos et al.,

2011).

Social networking sites such as Facebook, Ning

or Elgg, are frequently used to create communities

of practice in HE (Conole, 2010), to include group

settings in formal learning, and for library and

administrative applications. Facebook is popular and

commonly used by students. College of Business at

Carbondale, reported to have 400 members on its

Facebook group, receiving school news,

communicating with the school community, to

publish reports of Facebook use and to market

school events (Roblyer et al., 2010). The Brooklyn

College Library has provided a MySpace portal to

its services containing links to documents, databases

and catalogues (Roblyer et al., 2010).

Wikis are user constructed, allowing: i)

collaborative writing in a peer group wiki, where

students share and discuss ideas, improve their

communication skills and comment on their writing

(Armstrong and Franklin, 2008), ii) teaching support

in their design for learning, a single space where

they can share the materials for a lecture (Armstrong

and Franklin, 2008).

Blogging, wikis, RSS are commonly offered by

HE institutions, being integrated in social

networking sites such as Ning and Elgg, frequently

used as VLEs (Brown, 2010); (Conole and Alevizou,

2010), concerning mostly the management and

sustaining of various kinds of online interactions

through several web applications (Brown, 2010).

Resulting from the analysis of 4 case studies in 4

different universities, Franklin & van Harmelen

(2007) made it evident that there are multiple

choices for implementing VLE systems and web 2.0

tools within those systems - besides podcasting and

personal blogs; wiki and a social networking sites

are offered, to promote campus life communication

information, work groups, sharing research findings

and participating in communities of practice.

Nevertheless, as reported in the study done by

Harinarayana and Raju (2010) study, which involved

57 university library web, the use of podcast was

used only by 3 of them. Universities have also

embraced web 2.0 tools for enhancing their library

services. In the Tripathi study (2010), results showed

that from 277 university libraries, 211 had adopted

at least one web 2.0 tool, whereas 23.8% did not use

any web 2.0 tools. The three most used tools were

instant messaging (43.7%), blogs (33.2%), and RSS

(31.4%) to convey relevant news and events.

Media sharing tools, allow sharing content in

open access and open participation contexts. Video

media sharing tools, such as YouTube, are being

used by HE institutions in order to have official

presence in video sharing services, making lectures

available to larger audiences, publishing educational

content (Armstrong and Franklin, 2008), and also

being used for delivering DE courses. A large

number of HE institutions have adhered to iTunes U,

allowing their lectures to be openly viewed and

downloaded online (Katz, 2008).

As to immersive worlds, the 2007 Horizon

Report classified virtual worlds as an emerging trend

likely to have an impact in HE. Increasingly being

used in HE, virtual worlds are enabling authentic

and scenario-based learning contexts and, according

to Conole and Alevizou (2010), over 250 HE

institutions worldwide are teaching using Second

Life, because of the interaction opportunities, and

also because it supports activities like seminar and

lectures, social interaction within realistic contexts,

conceptual experimentation and role play, which

may facilitate different interpretations of events

(Freitas, 2008). The high usage of 3D immersive

virtual worlds by teachers in HE is reflected on the

numbers Dalgarno (2011) presents, indicating that

from a total of 125 HE teachers from Australia and

New Zeland, 62 use 3D immersive virtual worlds in

their teaching, using Second Life (78.0%) and

Active Worlds (5.0%), the most commonly used

platforms, followed by OpenSim (4.0%) and

There.com (1.0%).

4 DISCUSSION AND SUMMARY

OF RESEARCH AIMS

Tracing the use of CT in HE is a time-consuming

task, due to the vast and fragmented information

published. The systematized analysis proposed was

challenging and a small sample of a complex work

possible to be built. It is possible to conclude that the

ubiquity of CTs are both in people’s lives and in

educational contexts. Web 2.0 tools and

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environments are popular regarding the interactions

and communications they potentiate, with strong

impact in the support of teaching and learning

practices in HE, and changes in the roles adopted by

teachers and students, into more student-centred,

reflected on activities involving collaboration,

interaction, connection between users and content,

sharing, consuming and producing. The idea of a

disruptive change in teaching and learning practices

is considered by some authors, while others state

that technologies are used in HE, but teaching forms

have not changed. The difference of scale of the

documents reviewed, the contexts to which they

refer and time-frame of their development offer us a

clear view of the wide view upon approaches made.

To systematize the richness of the information

collected as a whole, a longer and exhaustive review

is needed.

One of the main objectives of the TRACER

project is to characterize, as stated earlier, the

adoption and use of CT in the PPHEI, in order to

understand which tools are used, if they are mostly

used as support for already existing technological

processes and structures of teaching and learning, or

whether their potential is being used for innovation.

To achieve this objective, an exploratory study will

be held based on the results of an online

questionnaire, addressing key elements of the HE

institutions, so that an overall institutional view of

CTs used and their support mechanisms (social,

academic, logistic) is unveiled. An information

visualization tool will serve the purpose of giving

visibility to the collected data, making sense of a

vast quantity of information. The aim is to contribute

towards making information of interest to

institutions and users, available and up-to-date,

facilitating and potentiating research in the area.

5 FINAL CONSIDERATIONS

As this literature review has revealed CTs have a

confirmed use in HE. The use of social Web tools

and environments is a trend in teaching and learning

practices in HE, placing challenges to teachers,

students, and institutions, at the level of the

interaction, production and delivery of educational

content. The ubiquity of web2.0 tools revealed a

strong relation to the idea of disruptive changes of

more traditional forms of education in HE. Despite

this, it is possible to conclude that HE is using social

web tools as a support for already existing

educational processes and adding them to

technological structures of teaching and learning

previously used. The change in the roles played by

teachers and students may also be disruptive of more

traditional ways of learning; although its use is not

always potentiated for innovation. The expectation is

for teaching and learning practices to change along

with an effective integration and innovative use of

CTs in education. Keeping up-to-date with the

information related to the adoption of CTs by HE

and to its' impact on the teaching and learning

practices, has become more and more difficult due to

the vast and fragmented publications, leading to the

need of serious and expedite systematising. That is

the ultimate goal of the online information

visualization tool proposed by the ongoing project.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Thanks to all the members of the project TRACER

for their contributions. Thanks also to FCT, the

Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology

for financially supporting the project under reference

PTDC/CPE-CED/113368/2009 COMPETE:FCOM

P-01-0124-FEDER-014394.

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