Alternative technological tools and their features t  hat could be adopted for online 4 learning

Analysis Factors that influence the satisfactory learning experience of online learners.. Satisfactory learning experience for online learning Student perceptions play a vital role in ev

BUSINESS ANALYSIS REPORT

Nguyen Thi Ha Phuong -S3892023 Nguyen Tran Bao Nhi -S3879297

Table of Contents

II Analysis

Factors that influence the satisfactory learning experience of online learners 2

Alternative technological tools and their features that could be adopted for online

4 learning

3 Using the blended learning remedy.

4 Adding more functions as well as enhancing the Canvas. 8

The Covid19 pandemic is considered as a major threat to the entire educational

community According to the International Labor Organization (International labour

organization 2020), more than 70% of students have been negatively impacted by

the closing of colleges, universities, and educational centers Delaying face-to-face

teaching tasks, in more depth, not only speeds down the learning progress, but also

creates much confusion for learners In this situation, to address this issue, application of technology may be one of the most critical keys to sustain and foster education E-learning software is a web-based software that allows school systems to deliver, monitor, and manage courses via the Internet (Mukhtar et al 2020) As a result, lecturers and students could be enabled to continue collaborating online and exchange course materials side by side, which facilitates the achievement of learning objectives For deeper understanding, this report will evaluate several related aspects through defining the satisfactory learning experience with online learning, analyzing important factors as well as alternative technology tools that may influence this virtual form of learning and then providing some specific recommendations that can be directly applied to RMIT university

Satisfactory learning experience for online learning

Student perceptions play a vital role in evaluating the quality of educational systems However, it seems very complicated to give an exact definition of a satisfactory learning experience for online learning due to the differences in the standards of each learner According to Sinclaire (2011), only six out of thirty-four studies conducted to analyze this aspect can reach a definitive conclusion One of the studies mentioned above proves that satisfaction is the totality of students' beliefs and behavioral attitudes that are the result of aggregating all the benefits that students receive from the environment of learning (Wu et al 2010) More specifically, the environment which the report focuses on is e-learning

Factors that influence the satisfactory learning experience of online

learners

1.1Interaction

In face-to-face classes, students and lecturers have many chances to connect with each other through discussions and activities; while online classes offer less opportunities to do so However, interaction seems to be one of the most crucial factors in online learning that has great impacts on student involvement, inspiration, and their academic performance (Bouhnik & Marcus 2006) Interaction in online courses can be divided into 2 types: Interaction between students and students, interaction between students and their lecturers

A Interaction between students and students

The interaction among students has been correlated with their increased satisfaction with course experiences In an online format, their interactive connection is essential for fostering a sense of community, which promotes productive and enjoyable learning while also assisting students in enhancing issue-solving and critical thinking abilities (Kolloff 2011)

On the other hand, interaction among students' group is not always valued and implemented by themselves Kellogg and Smith (2009) reported that many online

students found it hard to communicate with other students in the course while studying online One student indicated that frustration stemmed from the difficulties in organizing schedules with other classmates

B Interaction between students and instructor

Instructor-to-student interaction is necessary for a variety of reasons in order to bring many optimal results in the online learning process To better increase interaction and concentration in lessons, lecturers should use applications that can be broadcasted so that students can work along with their peers and instructors, which will be similar to being in a lecture hall (Aydin 2013) Students can easily get feedback and assignments through these apps and ask lecturers through social media In the complicated situation of the Covid-19 pandemic, the demand for online teaching and learning has boomed, so there are many useful applications with video recording features such as Zoom, Kahoot and Google Classroom (Singer, N 2021)

1.2 Gamification

Recently, the gamification of learning courses has become more and more popular, especially during Covid-19 pandemic According to Gee (2003), this technology can convince students to try and be more active in learning Gamification is the process of turning everything into a game in strategy to garner learners and make a subject more fascinating There is no doubt that gamification can provide learners with endless benefits In addition to experiencing a new learning concept compared to taking traditional classes, learners can get immediate feedback after the program has ended, and they can reinforce and retain the knowledge learned (Ertemel & Sel 2017) Because of the application of the games utilized, as well as the usage of graphics, using this technology helps to eliminate monotony and pressure by many students It also helps boost the excitement, creativity and inspiration to grasp the lessons

1.3 Usability

Usability, which is a subset of user experience design and covers issues like

efficacy, efficiency, and overall satisfaction, may be found in the larger definition of user experience design (Feldstein, 2002) There are factors that affect the usability

of learning online:

Learnability: Students find it easy to accomplish basic tasks, easy to

communicate with other students or instructors through typing or chatting.

Efficiency: The effectiveness illustrates through the speed of completing basic tasks, any struggles from students should be solved as soon as possible in order to optimize learning

Memorability: Important data should be kept in personal folders It is also

vital that students can find what they need in a very short time Shared data and personal data should be kept separately and safely

Errors: Minimize the errors that could happen during the course Announce and instruct students right after the error was detected

Satisfaction: feeling of students while learning online.

Planning for usability is attached to the need to comprehend and expect human

conduct, and usability factors impact both the interface and experiential plan of your internet learning encounters We should investigate how these standards may work out in an online courses Finally, since new approaches for evaluating e-learning efficacy are still being developed, much effort is required

Alternative technological tools and their features that could be adopted for online learning

2.1 Learning Management Systems (LMS)

A Learning Management System (LMS) is a system built to make teaching and learning easier for everyone, from the youngest to university faculty or business leaders (Canvas n.d.) In addition, this is also a school that helps the system and teachers assign assignments and assess students learning through online courses (Canvas LMS 2021) Through the learning management system, students can watch online lectures, do homework or submit homework, solve online quizzes for review Canvas is seen as a learning management system where all the tools and applications are integrated to help maximize interaction between educators and students in multiple ways (Figure 1) With screen sharing, voice, video, people can interact with each other conveniently and easily (Knowledge Base n.d.) In addition, Canvas is also

a place where teachers grade online or run limited-time tests to help teachers assess student learning (SLCC 2019) Therefore, it can be said that the Canvas learning management system is a smart and convenient solution for students as well as teachers when they have to change learning files from the environment to online

Figure 1: Migration to Canvas LMS (FIU n.d.)

II.2 Communication Tools

When participating in an online learning environment, neither the instructors nor the students avoid cooperation and exchange while learning Besides, the team working too will also have difficulty when not being able to talk to each other face to face Therefore, Microsoft Teams is the communication tool that allows users to interact and chat anywhere via the Internet (Microsoft 2019) The main feature of the Microsoft Teams is for people to interact with each other is to organize video and online meetings, with this feature users can set up online meetings for up to 250 people (Microsoft Build 2021) In addition, these tools provide teachers

or students with an authoring environment that allows them to stay connected wherever they are Besides, Microsoft Teams also have a recording function (Moore 2021.) With this function, after the online lecture ends, students can review the recording as many times as possible to study or analyze the lessons In general, Microsoft Teams provide users with a friendly and easy-to-use interface (Figure 2) that facilitate communication and interaction between people when taking online classes especially during the pandemic of Covid-19.

Figure 2: How to use Microsoft Teams (Concordia University n.d.)

II.3Competitive Platform

Platform competition is also an indispensable part of taking online classes For

instance, Kahoot! is a competitive platform designed as a game-based learning tool to engage learners through work using an element of play for assessment (Figure 3) In addition, the platform often provides ready-made quizzes with a variety of lesson topics and content so that teachers can test their students' knowledge before starting

to teach to avoid it being ineffective or complex in class (Sabandar, Supit & Suryana 2018) The study stated that "Gamification" makes seemingly difficult things more interesting, it strengthens the force and interaction between learners and teachers (Kim et al 2018) Besides, Kahoot! It also has great flexibility as it can be accessed from any device via the web or downloaded the mobile application without the need for

a login account With an attractive and creative interface, Kahoot! creates a learning environment for students as well as lessons to help teachers not get bored and this will be a good solution for students to be motivated to participate in the online learning process (Cambridge University n.d.)

Figure 3: Kahoot! (CRME 2018)

The three mentioned tools above have all various useful features that could satisfy the users efficiently However, in order to maximize and raise the level of quality and learning

experience for online learners, the combination of these apps could attain that.

3 Using the blended learning remedy.

3.1 Combining with Microsoft Teams

RMIT has been integrating Canvas into learning for many years which is now one of the most

used apps for LMS (Tate 2018) Firstly, in the matter of interaction, when the increase in the

interaction happens, students are more likely to be able to raise their need for individual learning (Kaymark and Hozum 2013) Collaborate Ultra is an online conferencing program that works in the browser being connected with Canvas and participants can use a range of tools to effortlessly share material and interact with others (Knowledge Base n.d.) Despite the fact that Collaborate Ultra on Canvas satisfies most of the requirements for an interactive online

classroom, our team members still see that Canvas lacks the tools to encourage student-to-student contact In order to provide a better quality of LMS, we greatly recommend RMIT to enhance the communication tools on Canvas In fact, instructors or lecturers could create meetings among students by opening the session and inviting them on Collaborate Ultra, hence, it

is an advantage of online learning but, this tool is not for student meetings In other words, students could not organise the meeting themselves and if they would like to

do that, they would need to get help from their lecturers to assign them a session on Collaborate Ultra (Blackboard n.d.) As a result, that has prompted inconvenience for

us while learning online Why it is so sophisticated is because this tool only hands over authority for lecturers to create a meeting and students have to be the one who are invited to engage in Students could also utilize a similar tool which is Microsoft Teams as an alternative remedy Microsoft Teams and Collaborate Ultra have much the same characteristics, nonetheless, Microsoft Teams allow people to form a

meeting whoever they are, they could be students or lecturers Thus, Microsoft Teams and Canvas should be blended together in LMS platforms By doing this, students just need to open one app but could access two to meet their demands

3.2 Combining with Kahoot!

Canvas has many functions that serve the essential needs for studying of students such as

Module, Assignment, and Quizzes Secondly, in terms of gamification, I and my team

members have experienced and find that Canvas still lacks the full functionality which could not maximize the incentive of learning in students Game is an element to boost the

competition, experimentation, exploration, innovation and transgression

( Squire and Jenkins 2003) As mentioned above, Kahoot is a game-based LMS which is an ideal learning platform because of the hybrid of the learning and playing with questions and answers in quiz form Quizzes on Canvas could be used to test and challenge students’ understanding of course materials and exams are also

conducted and moderated via quizzes (Canvas n.d.) However, the Quizzes on

Canvas may not seem fascinating enough to students, particularly we do not perceive the interest in that tool because it merely provides the basic interface with questions and multiple-choice answers and no colors or sounds That may not help students feel entertained while reviewing lessons and feel serious as they are doing the tests Kumi et.al (2013) found that Color from design computer interface could have impact

on the outcomes of learning Moreover, audio element is considered as a contributor

to the immersion of people (Mark, Craig & Lennart 2008) and has direct influence on students’ mood and feelings (Park & Jung 2007).Therefore, it is highly recommended that Canvas should collaborate with Kahoot to bring more superiors experience to the users because Kahoot is an app which could form the incentive in learning via

friendly competitions with colors and sounds

4 Adding more functions as well as enhancing the Canvas.

4.1 The searching toolbar

With regard to usability, it is one of the most essential factors that impacts satisfaction in

online learning The module is a useful service of Canvas where online class materials are organized clearly Modules allow users to be aware of the stream of courses and students can know what they are going to learn These materials on the online classes are arranged

by week, units and any kind of organizational configuration (Canvas n.d) We have used the application for a long time and now we could conclude that though this functionality meets the demands of students, the usability of it may not

be exploited effectively, which could reduce students’ satisfaction Specifically,

students have to spend a high amount of time searching for several courses and learning materials in Modules by scrolling a long list of lessons, and that would

become time consuming for them and us, so we may lose our incentive to study As a result, adding a new searching toolbar on the first main page of Canvas which

supports the students during finding information from learning courses could be a feasible and convenient solution In other words, this convenient tool would aid

efficiency and decrease the amount of time for sea Additionally, it would bring about the growth in the level of student’s enjoyment in learning They easily figure out class materials and post-class activities by typing in what they would like to search in the toolbar and it appears straightforward to the place containing the information Thus, with enhancing the usability, students' quality with their courses would be advanced and they could surge productivity as well as saving their time (Wright 2010)

4.2 A grades graph

In addition, the grade part related to the usability of Canvas should also be enhanced The

grades part in Canvas is where all grades of the type assignments that are submitted such

as quizzes and assignments overview (Canvas n.d) After using it, we find it time consuming.

In detail, it takes us a long time to click on each of their assignments from each course to view their grades Even new students first accessing Canvas, they find it complicated to check the grades Consequently, Rmit should append a graph that demonstrates grades of all students’ assignments for all courses These graphs would be located at the Dashboard bar, and students could easily keep track of their grades Moreover, students like us could know the fluctuation of our assignment scores through the lines on the graph As mentioned above, the usability impacts the level of student’s pleasure and enriches students’ incentive

to learn.

In summary

Ultimately, though Canvas is an efficient and helpful application, there still exists certain problems that developers should progress to enhance the student’s online learning

experience Firstly, the Collaborate Ultra does not support student-to-student interaction so Canvas is recommended to be blended together in Microsoft Teams Besides that, the

Quizzes on Canvas lacks the ability to appeal to students and may make them feel grave during the lessons review, so it would be upgraded if Canvas collaborate with Kahoot to create quizzes with sounds and colors Finally, because the grade part and modules in

Canvas have not acquired usability, hence, RMIT should enhance the design of the platform

by adding a new searching bar and score graph.

IV CONCLUSION

In short, to evaluate the effectiveness of online learning, educational leaders should focus mainly on analyzing students' perceptions Learners must have positive interactions with lecturers, engaging in interesting lessons that combine theory and gamification exercises, and the ability to use knowledge successfully in order to have a satisfactory learning experience The internet network's long-term viability is a key factor in achieving all three of the above goals Alternative technical techniques, such as using