social inclusion
Articles
Utilisation de l’e-learning. Les écarts de participation entre les différents collectifs de personnes âgées
04 Novembre 2004
La plupart des centres Internet récemment interrogés au Suffolk (Royaume-Uni) ont indiqué que les personnes âgées actives constituaient une proportion significative des utilisateurs, parfois la majorité. Mais cela ne concerne pourtant que certaines tranches de cette population. Beaucoup reste à faire pour éveiller l’intérêt des personnes du troisième âge défavorisées du fait de leur santé, de leur pauvreté ou d’un manque d’éducation.
De récentes analyses de Melanie Lewin, Rosemarie Gilligan et David Segarra sur le phénomène qu’on appelle « fracture numérique » au Royaume-Uni ont mis en lumière l’exclusion et la marginalisation des personnes âgées. Ces apports et d’autres contributions au débat ont permis de cerner les facteurs responsables de cet écart, en mettant en avant les barrières culturelles, technologiques et financières, ainsi que celles tenant à l’éducation ou à la situation géographique. Ce phénomène est souligné par de récentes statistiques officielles, qui font apparaître qu’au Royaume-Uni, 15 % seulement des personnes âgées de 65 ans et plus utilisent régulièrement Internet, contre 83 % pour la tranche d’âge des 16-24 ans. Cette disparité constitue un motif de préoccupation. Le gouvernement britannique s’est engagé à rendre accessibles électroniquement, d’ici à 2006, tous les services du gouvernement central et des autorités locales. Cette opération est un volet essentiel de sa stratégie numérique. Le manque relatif d’expérience et de compétences des personnes âgées dans le domaine des TIC est doublement significatif de ce point de vue, car cette population est concernée au premier chef par ces services, dont elle dépend souvent de manière disproportionnée, ne serait-ce qu’en termes de pension, soins de santé et services sociaux.
Cependant, les tendances globales cachent, semble-t-il, d’importantes différences en ce qui concerne l’expérience des personnes âgées en matière de TIC et leurs activités dans ce domaine. À l’instar de ce qui se produit pour la population en général, les plus de 65 ans constituent un groupe divers et nettement stratifié. Au troisième âge, le vécu continue d’être marqué par la richesse, la situation géographique, la formation et l’expérience professionnelle. Bien évidemment, il est aussi nécessaire d’établir une distinction entre les personnes toujours actives et celles ayant des limitations en raison de leur état de santé ou d’un handicap. Les expériences des personnes âgées ne sont pas uniformes. De fait, au-delà du cliché du « papy surfeur », lorsque des initiatives sont lancées dans le domaine des TIC, il apparaît qu’il est parfois plus facile de faire participer certains secteurs de la population âgée que d’autres groupes « difficiles à toucher;», notamment lorsqu’il s’agit de projets d’apprentissage des TIC menés au niveau local, dans des structures de proximité.
Caractéristiques des internautes du troisième âge
Dans le cadre de récents travaux de recherche conduits dans le comté du Suffolk au Royaume-Uni pour le compte du Learning Partnership (réseau local), le Centre for Research into the Educational Applications of Telematics du Suffolk College (CREATE) a examiné plus d’une centaine de centres d’apprentissage des technologies de l’information et points d’accès publics à Internet afin de déterminer les niveaux actuels de capacité technique et de connectivité, l’offre d’apprentissage et les habitudes d’utilisation. Ces centres et points d’accès étaient gérés par différents secteurs : public, privé, caritatif et bénévole. La plupart avaient été établis à la faveur d’initiatives des pouvoirs publics visant à combler et combattre la fracture numérique, comme UK Online, The People’s Network et Learndirect, ou bien à l’aide d’autres fonds destinés à permettre l’accès aux TIC de populations isolées ou défavorisées. Ils étaient généralement implantés dans les locaux de centres de formation ou d’équipements collectifs existants (bibliothèques, salles paroissiales, centres socioculturels). L’étude englobait aussi des services du secteur privé tels que ceux fournis dans les cybercafés ou par des organismes de formation privés.
La plupart des centres interrogés, particulièrement ceux relevant des secteurs public, caritatif et bénévole, ont indiqué que les personnes âgées actives et celles récemment retraitées constituaient une part importante des utilisateurs et visiteurs, et parfois la majorité. Plusieurs motifs ont été cités pour expliquer cette participation. Certaines personnes étaient manifestement attirées par la possibilité de bénéficier d’un accès – souvent gratuit ou subventionné – aux TIC et à des formations connexes et élémentaires d’introduction à l’informatique. Beaucoup auraient exprimé leur curiosité au sujet des TIC et aussi le sentiment qu’elles devraient faire un effort pour « vivre avec leur temps ». D’autres souhaitaient acquérir une expérience et des compétences dans le domaine des TIC afin de pouvoir les utiliser pour mieux profiter de leurs passe-temps ou de leurs hobbys. Une autre motivation courante était le désir d’apprendre à manier le courrier électronique en vue de garder le contact avec des proches et des amis plus jeunes ou vivant loin.
D’importants facteurs sociaux semblent aussi contribuer à la capacité à faire participer activement les aînés à des activités de formation aux TIC organisées dans des structures de proximité. La plupart des personnes âgées ont beaucoup de temps libre. Elles sont aussi plus susceptibles d’être déjà utilisatrices des équipements collectifs où sont généralement implantés les centres d’apprentissage des TIC au Royaume-Uni, tels que les bibliothèques, les salles paroissiales ou les centres socioculturels. Indiscutablement, les utilisateurs plus âgés tendaient à représenter une part des visiteurs proportionnellement beaucoup plus importante que celle des jeunes dans la plupart des centres du Suffolk ayant répondu à l’enquête, mais cela n’a peut-être rien d’étonnant. Statistiquement, les éléments les plus jeunes de la population sont plus susceptibles d’avoir accès aux TIC à leur domicile et n’ont donc pas besoin d’utiliser le matériel mis à disposition dans les centres d’apprentissage. De plus, ils possèdent vraisemblablement déjà les compétences et l’expérience que des personnes appartenant à des tranches d’âge plus élevées voudront plus facilement chercher à acquérir par l’intermédiaire des centres d’apprentissage. Le manque d’expérience et de compétences de ces dernières se traduit aussi par une plus grande dépendance de l’aide qui est souvent offerte par d’autres apprenants, les assistants et le personnel d’encadrement dans les centres d’apprentissage implantés dans des structures de proximité.
Réduction ou aggravation de la fracture numérique ?
Au sein d’une population diverse, il y a bien évidemment différents niveaux d’expérience et de participation dans le domaine des TIC, à tel point que, même si beaucoup de personnes âgées restent à l’écart des TIC, certains secteurs de cette population constituent une proportion significative des utilisateurs des centres d’apprentissage. Cependant, le fait que des initiatives lancées au niveau local arrivent à faire participer activement des personnes âgées ne résout pas le problème des populations défavorisées et de la concentration des savoirs et des privilèges. Au sein d’une population âgée fortement stratifiée, les plus susceptibles d’utiliser les services de ces centres sont généralement ceux qui sont déjà motivés et avantagés sur le plan de l’éducation et sur le plan matériel. En réalité, même les centres et les projets d’enseignement des TIC qui visent officiellement à lutter contre les handicaps dispensent le plus souvent une formation à des personnes déjà relativement favorisées en termes d’éducation et de pouvoir d’achat. D’une certaine façon, cela aggrave encore les écarts et les inégalités, comme l’a parfaitement mis en évidence David Segarra.
La concentration des savoirs et de l’expérience est peut-être inévitable, même parmi le troisième âge, mais, comme le suggère Melanie Lewin, une série de mesures peuvent néanmoins être prises en vue de faire participer davantage les personnes défavorisées du fait de leur santé, de leur pauvreté ou d’un manque d’éducation, ainsi que celles qui se sont volontairement « auto-exclues ». Comme pour tout groupe d’utilisateurs potentiels, il importe de contextualiser les bénéfices des TIC et de montrer à ces personnes tout le profit qu’elles peuvent en tirer. Pour ce faire, il ne faudrait pas se limiter à mettre en avant les dimensions sociale et culturelle. D’autres possibilités d’interaction se font jour alors que de plus en plus de services deviennent disponibles sous forme numérique. Pour ne donner qu’un seul exemple, les TIC peuvent potentiellement permettre aux personnes ayant des problèmes de mobilité de conserver ou de retrouver un contrôle sur d’importants aspects de leur vie : elles leur permettent notamment de mieux gérer leur budget, de faire leurs courses en ligne et de régler plus facilement certaines questions domestiques.
Il importe aussi d’agir en amont et de se concentrer sur des stratégies visant à faire participer les personnes âgées défavorisées ou exclues, plutôt que sur celles reposant presque essentiellement sur l’esprit d’initiative des bénéficiaires. Melanie Lewin met en avant des exemples d’approches de groupes marginalisés dans des centres de jour à Édimbourg. Dans le Suffolk, des organismes de formation ouverts à tous ont conduit des initiatives semblables en détachant des formateurs munis d’ordinateurs portables dans les centres de soins. D’autres initiatives d’enseignement des TIC menées au niveau local, dans l’environnement habituel des groupes cibles, ont été couronnées de succès parce qu’elles ont été réalisées en partenariat avec des organismes publics, des ONG et des organisations caritatives qui travaillaient déjà auprès de personnes âgées et bénéficiaient donc de leur confiance.
Développer ce type d’approches exigera de nouveaux investissements, axés, par exemple, sur les équipements collectifs destinés aux personnes âgées et où les TIC et la connexion haut débit ne sont pas encore mises à la disposition du public. Des matériels adaptés, comme des claviers simplifiés et des moniteurs grand écran, doivent aussi être prévus en plus grand nombre. De même, il faut veiller à ce que les nouveaux venus dans le domaine des TIC bénéficient d’une assistance pédagogique suffisante. Il semble que les personnes âgées s’épanouissent dans des situations d’apprentissage collectif, notamment lorsqu’une dimension sociale est donnée à la formation. Cependant, tout comme de nombreux autres apprenants adultes, elles ont généralement besoin d’être; épaulées par un personnel particulièrement attentif.
Cependant, les tendances globales cachent, semble-t-il, d’importantes différences en ce qui concerne l’expérience des personnes âgées en matière de TIC et leurs activités dans ce domaine. À l’instar de ce qui se produit pour la population en général, les plus de 65 ans constituent un groupe divers et nettement stratifié. Au troisième âge, le vécu continue d’être marqué par la richesse, la situation géographique, la formation et l’expérience professionnelle. Bien évidemment, il est aussi nécessaire d’établir une distinction entre les personnes toujours actives et celles ayant des limitations en raison de leur état de santé ou d’un handicap. Les expériences des personnes âgées ne sont pas uniformes. De fait, au-delà du cliché du « papy surfeur », lorsque des initiatives sont lancées dans le domaine des TIC, il apparaît qu’il est parfois plus facile de faire participer certains secteurs de la population âgée que d’autres groupes « difficiles à toucher;», notamment lorsqu’il s’agit de projets d’apprentissage des TIC menés au niveau local, dans des structures de proximité.
Caractéristiques des internautes du troisième âge
Dans le cadre de récents travaux de recherche conduits dans le comté du Suffolk au Royaume-Uni pour le compte du Learning Partnership (réseau local), le Centre for Research into the Educational Applications of Telematics du Suffolk College (CREATE) a examiné plus d’une centaine de centres d’apprentissage des technologies de l’information et points d’accès publics à Internet afin de déterminer les niveaux actuels de capacité technique et de connectivité, l’offre d’apprentissage et les habitudes d’utilisation. Ces centres et points d’accès étaient gérés par différents secteurs : public, privé, caritatif et bénévole. La plupart avaient été établis à la faveur d’initiatives des pouvoirs publics visant à combler et combattre la fracture numérique, comme UK Online, The People’s Network et Learndirect, ou bien à l’aide d’autres fonds destinés à permettre l’accès aux TIC de populations isolées ou défavorisées. Ils étaient généralement implantés dans les locaux de centres de formation ou d’équipements collectifs existants (bibliothèques, salles paroissiales, centres socioculturels). L’étude englobait aussi des services du secteur privé tels que ceux fournis dans les cybercafés ou par des organismes de formation privés.
La plupart des centres interrogés, particulièrement ceux relevant des secteurs public, caritatif et bénévole, ont indiqué que les personnes âgées actives et celles récemment retraitées constituaient une part importante des utilisateurs et visiteurs, et parfois la majorité. Plusieurs motifs ont été cités pour expliquer cette participation. Certaines personnes étaient manifestement attirées par la possibilité de bénéficier d’un accès – souvent gratuit ou subventionné – aux TIC et à des formations connexes et élémentaires d’introduction à l’informatique. Beaucoup auraient exprimé leur curiosité au sujet des TIC et aussi le sentiment qu’elles devraient faire un effort pour « vivre avec leur temps ». D’autres souhaitaient acquérir une expérience et des compétences dans le domaine des TIC afin de pouvoir les utiliser pour mieux profiter de leurs passe-temps ou de leurs hobbys. Une autre motivation courante était le désir d’apprendre à manier le courrier électronique en vue de garder le contact avec des proches et des amis plus jeunes ou vivant loin.
D’importants facteurs sociaux semblent aussi contribuer à la capacité à faire participer activement les aînés à des activités de formation aux TIC organisées dans des structures de proximité. La plupart des personnes âgées ont beaucoup de temps libre. Elles sont aussi plus susceptibles d’être déjà utilisatrices des équipements collectifs où sont généralement implantés les centres d’apprentissage des TIC au Royaume-Uni, tels que les bibliothèques, les salles paroissiales ou les centres socioculturels. Indiscutablement, les utilisateurs plus âgés tendaient à représenter une part des visiteurs proportionnellement beaucoup plus importante que celle des jeunes dans la plupart des centres du Suffolk ayant répondu à l’enquête, mais cela n’a peut-être rien d’étonnant. Statistiquement, les éléments les plus jeunes de la population sont plus susceptibles d’avoir accès aux TIC à leur domicile et n’ont donc pas besoin d’utiliser le matériel mis à disposition dans les centres d’apprentissage. De plus, ils possèdent vraisemblablement déjà les compétences et l’expérience que des personnes appartenant à des tranches d’âge plus élevées voudront plus facilement chercher à acquérir par l’intermédiaire des centres d’apprentissage. Le manque d’expérience et de compétences de ces dernières se traduit aussi par une plus grande dépendance de l’aide qui est souvent offerte par d’autres apprenants, les assistants et le personnel d’encadrement dans les centres d’apprentissage implantés dans des structures de proximité.
Réduction ou aggravation de la fracture numérique ?
Au sein d’une population diverse, il y a bien évidemment différents niveaux d’expérience et de participation dans le domaine des TIC, à tel point que, même si beaucoup de personnes âgées restent à l’écart des TIC, certains secteurs de cette population constituent une proportion significative des utilisateurs des centres d’apprentissage. Cependant, le fait que des initiatives lancées au niveau local arrivent à faire participer activement des personnes âgées ne résout pas le problème des populations défavorisées et de la concentration des savoirs et des privilèges. Au sein d’une population âgée fortement stratifiée, les plus susceptibles d’utiliser les services de ces centres sont généralement ceux qui sont déjà motivés et avantagés sur le plan de l’éducation et sur le plan matériel. En réalité, même les centres et les projets d’enseignement des TIC qui visent officiellement à lutter contre les handicaps dispensent le plus souvent une formation à des personnes déjà relativement favorisées en termes d’éducation et de pouvoir d’achat. D’une certaine façon, cela aggrave encore les écarts et les inégalités, comme l’a parfaitement mis en évidence David Segarra.
La concentration des savoirs et de l’expérience est peut-être inévitable, même parmi le troisième âge, mais, comme le suggère Melanie Lewin, une série de mesures peuvent néanmoins être prises en vue de faire participer davantage les personnes défavorisées du fait de leur santé, de leur pauvreté ou d’un manque d’éducation, ainsi que celles qui se sont volontairement « auto-exclues ». Comme pour tout groupe d’utilisateurs potentiels, il importe de contextualiser les bénéfices des TIC et de montrer à ces personnes tout le profit qu’elles peuvent en tirer. Pour ce faire, il ne faudrait pas se limiter à mettre en avant les dimensions sociale et culturelle. D’autres possibilités d’interaction se font jour alors que de plus en plus de services deviennent disponibles sous forme numérique. Pour ne donner qu’un seul exemple, les TIC peuvent potentiellement permettre aux personnes ayant des problèmes de mobilité de conserver ou de retrouver un contrôle sur d’importants aspects de leur vie : elles leur permettent notamment de mieux gérer leur budget, de faire leurs courses en ligne et de régler plus facilement certaines questions domestiques.
Il importe aussi d’agir en amont et de se concentrer sur des stratégies visant à faire participer les personnes âgées défavorisées ou exclues, plutôt que sur celles reposant presque essentiellement sur l’esprit d’initiative des bénéficiaires. Melanie Lewin met en avant des exemples d’approches de groupes marginalisés dans des centres de jour à Édimbourg. Dans le Suffolk, des organismes de formation ouverts à tous ont conduit des initiatives semblables en détachant des formateurs munis d’ordinateurs portables dans les centres de soins. D’autres initiatives d’enseignement des TIC menées au niveau local, dans l’environnement habituel des groupes cibles, ont été couronnées de succès parce qu’elles ont été réalisées en partenariat avec des organismes publics, des ONG et des organisations caritatives qui travaillaient déjà auprès de personnes âgées et bénéficiaient donc de leur confiance.
Développer ce type d’approches exigera de nouveaux investissements, axés, par exemple, sur les équipements collectifs destinés aux personnes âgées et où les TIC et la connexion haut débit ne sont pas encore mises à la disposition du public. Des matériels adaptés, comme des claviers simplifiés et des moniteurs grand écran, doivent aussi être prévus en plus grand nombre. De même, il faut veiller à ce que les nouveaux venus dans le domaine des TIC bénéficient d’une assistance pédagogique suffisante. Il semble que les personnes âgées s’épanouissent dans des situations d’apprentissage collectif, notamment lorsqu’une dimension sociale est donnée à la formation. Cependant, tout comme de nombreux autres apprenants adultes, elles ont généralement besoin d’être; épaulées par un personnel particulièrement attentif.
Articles
Le nouveau modèle : l'e-learning social
20 Décembre 2004
Nous souhaitons une société de l'information égalitaire dans ses dimensions culturelles, sociales et politiques. Pour favoriser l'intégration sociale et professionnelle de tous, les techniques numériques doivent être porteuses de valeurs et améliorer la participation démocratique ainsi que les conditions de vie des individus.
Une analyse approfondie d'actions d'e-learning permet de mettre en évidence cinq principaux facteurs de succès.
I. Proposer des solutions sociales aux problèmes sociaux
Les pratiques sociales sont en interaction avec les techniques. Pour que tous les individus puissent s'intégrer dans la société de l'information, il faut commencer par résoudre les problèmes sociaux qui génèrent une exclusion du numérique. Nous ne sommes pas tous égaux face au fossé numérique : une personne formée et socialement insérée franchira plus facilement ce fossé qu'une personne exclue ayant d'autres besoins, prioritaires.
II. Impliquer les différents groupes dans leurs dimensions sociales, politiques et culturelles
Les communautés apprenantes ne doivent pas être uniquement considérées comme un moyen d'améliorer l'apprentissage. Des groupes ou des réseaux peuvent produire de l'écrit public et étendre leurs horizons politiques, sociaux et culturels grâce à des logiciels qui permettent de créer et de maintenir du lien social (« social software »). Les communautés isolées ou minoritaires peuvent utiliser des outils numériques pour se faire connaître, les groupes dispersés (comme les migrants qui travaillent loin de chez eux) pour rester en contact et continuer à développer leur culture. Internet permet ainsi aux individus de prendre conscience de l'existence de l'exclusion sociale : c'est un moyen de la combattre.
III. Aller vers l'ordinateur transparent
Ordinateurs et logiciels intègrent de nouvelles fonctions chaque année, mais ils deviennent de fait plus difficiles à utiliser. Si les familiers des TIC y trouvent leur compte, l'accès est toujours plus difficile pour les exclus de la technique. Cette stratégie du « toujours plus de nouvelles fonctionnalités » peut avoir des conséquences néfastes au plan social. Il faut repenser cette tendance pour développer des outils plus faciles à utiliser et permettant des approches intuitives comme un appareil photo ou une voiture. Pour prendre une photo, il faut orienter l'appareil vers le sujet et appuyer sur un bouton. Pour tourner à droite, il faut tourner le volant dans le même sens. Pourquoi les TIC ne seraient-elles pas aussi simples ?
IV. Appliquer la méthode de résolution de problèmes à l'e-learning
Il faut dépasser les modèles de formation traditionnels, souvent trop académiques, et construire des cours pratiques et motivants, adaptés au contexte socioculturel et aux besoins spécifiques des personnes exclues. Le manque de confiance en soi et de motivation est une barrière importante à l'inclusion numérique que des formations procédurales n'aident pas à franchir. Développer l'apprentissage par projet permet de s'adapter à la compétitivité croissante générée par la société de l'information : le fait de savoir utiliser un traitement de texte ou le courrier électronique ne fera bientôt plus de différence sur le marché de travail.
V. Développer un Internet pour tous
Les barrières physiques, liées à la distance ou à la conception des bâtiments, limitent l'accès à la culture des personnes à mobilité réduite. Les productions numériques, quant à elles, sont suffisamment plastiques pour être adaptées aux besoins des différents handicaps. Il faut donc sensibiliser les développeurs, les constructeurs, les éducateurs mais aussi les entreprises, les administrations ou les particuliers, à la prise en compte de ces handicaps.
I. Proposer des solutions sociales aux problèmes sociaux
Les pratiques sociales sont en interaction avec les techniques. Pour que tous les individus puissent s'intégrer dans la société de l'information, il faut commencer par résoudre les problèmes sociaux qui génèrent une exclusion du numérique. Nous ne sommes pas tous égaux face au fossé numérique : une personne formée et socialement insérée franchira plus facilement ce fossé qu'une personne exclue ayant d'autres besoins, prioritaires.
II. Impliquer les différents groupes dans leurs dimensions sociales, politiques et culturelles
Les communautés apprenantes ne doivent pas être uniquement considérées comme un moyen d'améliorer l'apprentissage. Des groupes ou des réseaux peuvent produire de l'écrit public et étendre leurs horizons politiques, sociaux et culturels grâce à des logiciels qui permettent de créer et de maintenir du lien social (« social software »). Les communautés isolées ou minoritaires peuvent utiliser des outils numériques pour se faire connaître, les groupes dispersés (comme les migrants qui travaillent loin de chez eux) pour rester en contact et continuer à développer leur culture. Internet permet ainsi aux individus de prendre conscience de l'existence de l'exclusion sociale : c'est un moyen de la combattre.
III. Aller vers l'ordinateur transparent
Ordinateurs et logiciels intègrent de nouvelles fonctions chaque année, mais ils deviennent de fait plus difficiles à utiliser. Si les familiers des TIC y trouvent leur compte, l'accès est toujours plus difficile pour les exclus de la technique. Cette stratégie du « toujours plus de nouvelles fonctionnalités » peut avoir des conséquences néfastes au plan social. Il faut repenser cette tendance pour développer des outils plus faciles à utiliser et permettant des approches intuitives comme un appareil photo ou une voiture. Pour prendre une photo, il faut orienter l'appareil vers le sujet et appuyer sur un bouton. Pour tourner à droite, il faut tourner le volant dans le même sens. Pourquoi les TIC ne seraient-elles pas aussi simples ?
IV. Appliquer la méthode de résolution de problèmes à l'e-learning
Il faut dépasser les modèles de formation traditionnels, souvent trop académiques, et construire des cours pratiques et motivants, adaptés au contexte socioculturel et aux besoins spécifiques des personnes exclues. Le manque de confiance en soi et de motivation est une barrière importante à l'inclusion numérique que des formations procédurales n'aident pas à franchir. Développer l'apprentissage par projet permet de s'adapter à la compétitivité croissante générée par la société de l'information : le fait de savoir utiliser un traitement de texte ou le courrier électronique ne fera bientôt plus de différence sur le marché de travail.
V. Développer un Internet pour tous
Les barrières physiques, liées à la distance ou à la conception des bâtiments, limitent l'accès à la culture des personnes à mobilité réduite. Les productions numériques, quant à elles, sont suffisamment plastiques pour être adaptées aux besoins des différents handicaps. Il faut donc sensibiliser les développeurs, les constructeurs, les éducateurs mais aussi les entreprises, les administrations ou les particuliers, à la prise en compte de ces handicaps.
Articles
What Do ICTs Represent: A Bridge To Knowledge Or A New Exclusion Factor?
19 juillet 2004
The new technologies obviously offer new, interesting opportunities for access to knowledge. Their application may also however become a new exclusion factor.
This paper sets out to offer a first examination of this issue, based on articles published on the elearningeuropa.info portal.
A brief theoretical note may prove useful to focus the question. According to Information Theory, knowledge tends to become concentrated in itself. Richer structures are able to accumulate new information with ease. In contrast however, “info-poor” structures tend to remain so. In other words, the distance between those who know a lot and those who know little is tending to grow because the former gather information faster than the latter. The propensity of information to become accumulated into increasingly complex structures seems to be a general tendency of all systems, from human societies to ecosystems.
This context provides the setting for the two basic academic visions that the new technologies invoke in contemporary societies:
1. The new technologies may constitute another exclusion factor to be added to the classics (age, poverty, illiteracy and so on). ICTs may therefore aggravate pre-existing problems.
2. The new technologies may help overcome some “traditional” exclusion, fostering as they do new methods of learning, and can especially benefit social groups distanced from traditional education.
Both visions are clearly contrasting. Yet both are probably true. What factors determine the predomination of one force or the other in one particular social group or context?
Do the information and communication technologies constitute a new exclusion factor?
Some of the articles published on the elearningeuropa.info will help us explore to what extent the new technologies may represent an exclusion factor.
The article, Obstacles to Older People using Computers, by Melanie Lewin, offers an interesting perspective on the problems affecting the elderly. Senior citizens make up a perfect example of the exclusion phenomena as they concentrate a large number of exclusion factors: their advanced age is added to their poverty (the elderly generally exist on a low income); they suffer disabilities (the severity of physical problems increases with age); their educational level (usually lower than average); elements related to gender (there are many more elderly women than men), and so on.
To date, the new technologies have acted as a factor of exclusion rather than one of inclusion in this context. Senior citizens have little or no access to the information society and this intensifies their remaining at the margin of the social system. In Catalonia, for example, 71.7% of young people between the ages of 15 and 19 are Internet users, a percentage that falls to 4.7% for people aged from 60 to 64, according to the study The Net Society in Catalonia, published in 2002.
Though the passage of time will tend to improve these results it is obvious that in our ageing Western societies an extremely high proportion of people have no access to the ever-increasing number of services available through the Internet. Worse still is the fact that many senior citizens show no interest whatsoever in the virtual world, seeing the new technologies as “not for them”, and thus tend towards their own self-exclusion, according to the thesis of the French sociologist Philippe Breton (see the article, “Old People Feel Excluded from New Technologies”.
Much remains to be done to redress this situation and in this respect the "Report on Special Education in Europe" provides a useful focus. When educational needs are highly specific and complex, e-learning systems should be adapted to certain specific contexts and thus introduce the flexibility that pupils lack. They should, above all however, also form part of a global, coherent educational approach. There is little point offering a few classes to senior citizens, for example, if later they have nobody to answer the endless number of little doubts that the day-to-day handling of computers raises for a novice in the field. An education and training service should be provided which is especially adapted to extremely well-defined areas and characteristics.
According to the "Charter for Digital and Social Inclusion", the digital divide, “is a multidimensional phenomenon which includes barriers that are highly diverse in nature. It is the cause of great concern that some of these are in essence psychological and must therefore be approached with an educational strategy. Others, involving a lack of confidence or motivation, are attributable to the user, but there are also barriers in the production of e-learning systems, such as the development of excessively formal systems and non-adapted technologies, the lack of meaningful context and the use of generalist methodologies that fail to pay the necessary attention to cultural and social contexts.”
Are the new technologies an inclusion factor?
On the other hand, some reports have detected an interesting potential for inclusion in the new technologies. A study carried out in Spain, for example, suggests that pupils with least motivation and the worst grades are those who experience greatest improvement when the computer and digital teaching materials are introduced into their education (see the article, “An experimental study on the impact of the computer in the classroom”). According to this line of argument, the new technologies can play a “redistributor” role in the dissemination of information by stimulating the rhythm of information acquisition of those who know less and bringing it closer to that of those who know more. This is the case because the new technologies exert influence in two essential aspects: motivation and learning processes.
With regard to motivation, the analysis carried out by Wendy Jones in her article, "The BBC and e-learning" is highly revealing. The wide range of resources and platforms made available by the BBC (interactive television, mobile telephony, websites and so on) has enabled the Corporation to reach segments of the public usually highly resistant to formal learning proposals. As Jones explains, “The e-learning environment created by these new technologies can break down barriers to learning, particularly among the young. For many of this “screen generation”, new technology is inherently attractive and ICT is linked to leisure.” The migration to e-learning from computer games or interactive TV may prove to be relatively simple.
As regards learning processes, obviously the new technologies bring into play a certain degree of diversity in cognitive processes, reason for which it is easier for a multimedia system to be adapted to individual learning styles. This will attract a wider variety of pupils and may lead to more uniform access to knowledge. Furthermore, as Professor Tony Bates emphasises, “multimedia systems allow a richer mental construction than classical linear text.”
Some characteristics of the new technologies seem to facilitate their inclusive role. Many e-learning projects work in informal environments and introduce certain leisure-based aspects: participative models are often introduced which are based on games and simulations and the diversity of resources (texts, animation, videos and so on) stimulates diverse styles of learning. But to be able to play out their inclusive role it is necessary for access to the new technologies to be produced in the right environment, an environment which excluded collectives obviously lack.
Conclusion
In certain contexts it seems clear that the new technologies may help distribute knowledge better. Information will continue its tendency to accumulate in itself, but ICTs can help in the flow of information towards the less fortunate. It is also highly likely that they help homogenize learning rhythms.
For this to occur however, minimum conditions of access must be available from which the ICTs can help break down the barrier of lack of motivation and previous information. When the problem of exclusion is serious and the minimum conditions of access to computer systems inexistent, the new technologies only exacerbate the existing problem by adding a further element of exclusion.
How can we avoid the negative side of ICTs and strengthen their positive aspects? The answer to this question lies in guaranteeing equality in their conditions of access, an issue far more related to media literacy than to access to technology. We shall be witnesses in the coming years to a multitude of projects along these lines. In fact, there are now so many initiatives that the e-Learning for e-Inclusion project has developed its own method of classification: a Digital Library containing a great number of projects, classified by the type of inclusion problem and the solution they provide.
The number of projects whose aim is to achieve digital inclusion will rise exponentially over the next few years. The challenge will consist in learning enough from them to be able to design a structured framework of knowledge. Research into exclusion factors must be energetically promoted, as well as that into the characteristics of the different social groups that are excluded. Bibliography:
Bates, T. (1999). “The impact of new media on academic knowledge”. Burda Medien Envisioning Knowledge – from Information to Knowledge. February 3rd - 4th, 1999 Munich.
Carta para la Inclusión Digital y Social.
Castells, Manuel; Tubella, Inma; “La Sociedad Red en Cataluña”.
Ibáñez, Augusto. "Un estudio experimental sobre el impacto del ordenador en el aula".
IInforme sobre Educación Especial en Europa.
Jones, Wendy. The BBC and e-learning.
Lewin, Melanie. Obstacles to Older People using Computers.
A brief theoretical note may prove useful to focus the question. According to Information Theory, knowledge tends to become concentrated in itself. Richer structures are able to accumulate new information with ease. In contrast however, “info-poor” structures tend to remain so. In other words, the distance between those who know a lot and those who know little is tending to grow because the former gather information faster than the latter. The propensity of information to become accumulated into increasingly complex structures seems to be a general tendency of all systems, from human societies to ecosystems.
This context provides the setting for the two basic academic visions that the new technologies invoke in contemporary societies:
1. The new technologies may constitute another exclusion factor to be added to the classics (age, poverty, illiteracy and so on). ICTs may therefore aggravate pre-existing problems.
2. The new technologies may help overcome some “traditional” exclusion, fostering as they do new methods of learning, and can especially benefit social groups distanced from traditional education.
Both visions are clearly contrasting. Yet both are probably true. What factors determine the predomination of one force or the other in one particular social group or context?
Do the information and communication technologies constitute a new exclusion factor?
Some of the articles published on the elearningeuropa.info will help us explore to what extent the new technologies may represent an exclusion factor.
The article, Obstacles to Older People using Computers, by Melanie Lewin, offers an interesting perspective on the problems affecting the elderly. Senior citizens make up a perfect example of the exclusion phenomena as they concentrate a large number of exclusion factors: their advanced age is added to their poverty (the elderly generally exist on a low income); they suffer disabilities (the severity of physical problems increases with age); their educational level (usually lower than average); elements related to gender (there are many more elderly women than men), and so on.
To date, the new technologies have acted as a factor of exclusion rather than one of inclusion in this context. Senior citizens have little or no access to the information society and this intensifies their remaining at the margin of the social system. In Catalonia, for example, 71.7% of young people between the ages of 15 and 19 are Internet users, a percentage that falls to 4.7% for people aged from 60 to 64, according to the study The Net Society in Catalonia, published in 2002.
Though the passage of time will tend to improve these results it is obvious that in our ageing Western societies an extremely high proportion of people have no access to the ever-increasing number of services available through the Internet. Worse still is the fact that many senior citizens show no interest whatsoever in the virtual world, seeing the new technologies as “not for them”, and thus tend towards their own self-exclusion, according to the thesis of the French sociologist Philippe Breton (see the article, “Old People Feel Excluded from New Technologies”.
Much remains to be done to redress this situation and in this respect the "Report on Special Education in Europe" provides a useful focus. When educational needs are highly specific and complex, e-learning systems should be adapted to certain specific contexts and thus introduce the flexibility that pupils lack. They should, above all however, also form part of a global, coherent educational approach. There is little point offering a few classes to senior citizens, for example, if later they have nobody to answer the endless number of little doubts that the day-to-day handling of computers raises for a novice in the field. An education and training service should be provided which is especially adapted to extremely well-defined areas and characteristics.
According to the "Charter for Digital and Social Inclusion", the digital divide, “is a multidimensional phenomenon which includes barriers that are highly diverse in nature. It is the cause of great concern that some of these are in essence psychological and must therefore be approached with an educational strategy. Others, involving a lack of confidence or motivation, are attributable to the user, but there are also barriers in the production of e-learning systems, such as the development of excessively formal systems and non-adapted technologies, the lack of meaningful context and the use of generalist methodologies that fail to pay the necessary attention to cultural and social contexts.”
Are the new technologies an inclusion factor?
On the other hand, some reports have detected an interesting potential for inclusion in the new technologies. A study carried out in Spain, for example, suggests that pupils with least motivation and the worst grades are those who experience greatest improvement when the computer and digital teaching materials are introduced into their education (see the article, “An experimental study on the impact of the computer in the classroom”). According to this line of argument, the new technologies can play a “redistributor” role in the dissemination of information by stimulating the rhythm of information acquisition of those who know less and bringing it closer to that of those who know more. This is the case because the new technologies exert influence in two essential aspects: motivation and learning processes.
With regard to motivation, the analysis carried out by Wendy Jones in her article, "The BBC and e-learning" is highly revealing. The wide range of resources and platforms made available by the BBC (interactive television, mobile telephony, websites and so on) has enabled the Corporation to reach segments of the public usually highly resistant to formal learning proposals. As Jones explains, “The e-learning environment created by these new technologies can break down barriers to learning, particularly among the young. For many of this “screen generation”, new technology is inherently attractive and ICT is linked to leisure.” The migration to e-learning from computer games or interactive TV may prove to be relatively simple.
As regards learning processes, obviously the new technologies bring into play a certain degree of diversity in cognitive processes, reason for which it is easier for a multimedia system to be adapted to individual learning styles. This will attract a wider variety of pupils and may lead to more uniform access to knowledge. Furthermore, as Professor Tony Bates emphasises, “multimedia systems allow a richer mental construction than classical linear text.”
Some characteristics of the new technologies seem to facilitate their inclusive role. Many e-learning projects work in informal environments and introduce certain leisure-based aspects: participative models are often introduced which are based on games and simulations and the diversity of resources (texts, animation, videos and so on) stimulates diverse styles of learning. But to be able to play out their inclusive role it is necessary for access to the new technologies to be produced in the right environment, an environment which excluded collectives obviously lack.
Conclusion
In certain contexts it seems clear that the new technologies may help distribute knowledge better. Information will continue its tendency to accumulate in itself, but ICTs can help in the flow of information towards the less fortunate. It is also highly likely that they help homogenize learning rhythms.
For this to occur however, minimum conditions of access must be available from which the ICTs can help break down the barrier of lack of motivation and previous information. When the problem of exclusion is serious and the minimum conditions of access to computer systems inexistent, the new technologies only exacerbate the existing problem by adding a further element of exclusion.
How can we avoid the negative side of ICTs and strengthen their positive aspects? The answer to this question lies in guaranteeing equality in their conditions of access, an issue far more related to media literacy than to access to technology. We shall be witnesses in the coming years to a multitude of projects along these lines. In fact, there are now so many initiatives that the e-Learning for e-Inclusion project has developed its own method of classification: a Digital Library containing a great number of projects, classified by the type of inclusion problem and the solution they provide.
The number of projects whose aim is to achieve digital inclusion will rise exponentially over the next few years. The challenge will consist in learning enough from them to be able to design a structured framework of knowledge. Research into exclusion factors must be energetically promoted, as well as that into the characteristics of the different social groups that are excluded. Bibliography:
Bates, T. (1999). “The impact of new media on academic knowledge”. Burda Medien Envisioning Knowledge – from Information to Knowledge. February 3rd - 4th, 1999 Munich.
Carta para la Inclusión Digital y Social.
Castells, Manuel; Tubella, Inma; “La Sociedad Red en Cataluña”.
Ibáñez, Augusto. "Un estudio experimental sobre el impacto del ordenador en el aula".
IInforme sobre Educación Especial en Europa.
Jones, Wendy. The BBC and e-learning.
Lewin, Melanie. Obstacles to Older People using Computers.
Articles
Adult Learning and ICT
29 juin 2004
"I grow old learning something new every day" (Solon, c.639BC - c.559BC)
"We are all adult learners. Most of us have learned a great deal more out of school than in it." (Laurent A Daloz, Effective teaching and mentoring,1986, ch.1)
"We are all adult learners. Most of us have learned a great deal more out of school than in it." (Laurent A Daloz, Effective teaching and mentoring,1986, ch.1)
Although classes in the University of Strathclyde’s Extension Programme, run by the Centre for Lifelong Learning are "open to all, regardless of age or previous educational experience" most attendees are adults, who have completed secondary education.
A key feature of adult learners is that, in general, they attend classes voluntarily, unlike the Shakespearean schoolboy, "creeping like snail, unwillingly to school". That said, another characteristic of adult learners is that they have an agenda, a reason to be there. This differs from one person to another. Some researchers suggest that where the motivation is professional or work advancement, attendance cannot be said to be truly voluntary. However, a general distinction can be made between those attending school because it is compulsory or pursuing formal academic and vocational qualifications on one hand, and the majority of adult learners on the other.
The way in which adults learn
It is only relatively recently - from the 1970s onwards - that attention has been paid to the way in which adults learn as distinct from the way children learn. Malcolm Knowles cites four key differences.
· self-concept ; adults are less likely to ’brush off’ failure;
· experience : adults who cannot master a new skill suffer a lack of self-esteem;
· readiness: children are more willing and able to learn and accept new ideas;
· time : children are unafraid of failure as they feel they can always learn later; adults are less likely to feel like this.
Subsequent researchers identified other factors affecting the adult learner:
· Scheduling problems
· Lack of time and money
· Family and job responsibilities
· Transport problems
On the other hand, research also suggests that adults compensate for outdated knowledge by working harder, find it easier to incorporate new knowledge into existing knowledge, are more highly motivated and have a clearer purpose. Some writers suggest that older learners can compensate for being slower in some psychomotor skills by being more accurate and less likely to resort to trial and error. A corollary of taking errors personally and thus lowering self-esteem is that adults take fewer risks, relying on tried and tested methods.
Much of this applies to any class of adults, and it can be straightforward to deal with some issues. For example, open-ended sessions benefit those who do not want to miss their ‘bus or train home.
It could be argued that teaching computer skills to adults is a special case. Older learners are faced with a subject which may not have existed when they were undertaking school or post-school education. At worst, this can manifest itself as "computerphobia" or "communication apprehension". Brosnan and Davidson (The psychologist,vol. 7, 2, 1994, pages 73-8) looked at evidence which suggested that between a quarter and a third of all people are computerphobic. However, surveys suggest that computer ownership amongst older people (55+) is increasing - the so-called "silver surfers" - and that the average age of Internet users is therefore rising.
On my courses, familiarity with the computer, both hardware and software, varied amongst the participants. This confirms the findings of a survey by Clyde and Klobas of Internet trainees based in Iceland. The opening class is a good time to check if students are familiar with right-clicking, minimising windows, etc.
Motivations to learn ICT
Icebreakers in week 1 give each student a chance to say why he or she is there. Some reasons were obvious:
· retired people seeking a new interest (or wanting to keep up with their grand-children!);
Others were less so:
· need to use IT skills at work but lacked training opportunities;
· working towards European Computer Driving License;
· wanted to use Internet to plan and book holiday
With retired people, the motivation was often general - a desire to find out about new technology - but sometimes quite specific. One retired gentleman in my Internet class was also attending classes in JAVA, and wanted to find and download applets from the Web. A former English lecturer was interested in newsgroups and Web sources on his favourite authors. He later returned to my HTML class, and began building his own website. Another class member wanted to research family history, particularly connections with the Boston area. Within the overall plan for the class then, it had to be possible to cater for individual and quite specific interests, without neglecting those whose interests are more general. Learning to use the Internet can be a useful starting point for the acquisition of general computer skills.
Teaching about the Internet should establish general principles about searching, but also pass on useful information such as what to do about spam, or perhaps what not to do. Students should become aware that any information on the ’Net has to be approached with a degree of caution. Anyone who uses the Internet as a source of information has to learn to do so critically. Books on library shelves, articles in a journal, have normally gone through a selection or editorial process, which is transparent to the user. Such quality control does not necessarily apply to Internet sources.
Even those comfortable with the general skills of personal computing can find the Internet daunting. Searching for files on hard disk, floppy or CD-ROM is relatively uncomplicated. Using the Internet to find and download information is less so. Response times vary, error messages can be difficult to understand, and the lack of a coherent structure to the Internet is confusing, like having to use the telephone system without a phone book.
As one of "30 things we know for sure about adult learning", Ron and Susan Zemke say:
"…straightforward how-to is the preferred content orientation. Adults cite a need for application and how-to information as the prime motivation for beginning a learning project" (Innovation Abstracts Vol VI, No 8, March 9, 1984)
Applying that to teaching about the Internet means a minimum of formal lecturing and a strategy of using practical, hands-on exercises where possible. Instead of talking about truncating URLs, which generate error messages, let students point the browser at a problem URL and gradually truncate it until it works. Get them to e-mail a bogus address and then look at the resulting error message rather than just describe it. A student mistake such as typing one ’/’ instead of two in a URL, that can be used to reinforce correct practice. Once again, it is important that the students develop understanding and skills which will be relevant and lasting.
"We have to abandon the idea that schooling is something restricted to youth. How can it be, in a world where half the things a man knows at 20 are no longer true at 40 -- and half the things he knows at 40 hadn’t been discovered when he was 20?" (Clarke, Arthur C. The View from Serendip)Additional Info:
The University of Strathclyde Centre for Lifelong Learning: Adult Learning programme
Learning in Later Life programme;
The Senior Studies Institute
Computer Buddy Project
A key feature of adult learners is that, in general, they attend classes voluntarily, unlike the Shakespearean schoolboy, "creeping like snail, unwillingly to school". That said, another characteristic of adult learners is that they have an agenda, a reason to be there. This differs from one person to another. Some researchers suggest that where the motivation is professional or work advancement, attendance cannot be said to be truly voluntary. However, a general distinction can be made between those attending school because it is compulsory or pursuing formal academic and vocational qualifications on one hand, and the majority of adult learners on the other.
The way in which adults learn
It is only relatively recently - from the 1970s onwards - that attention has been paid to the way in which adults learn as distinct from the way children learn. Malcolm Knowles cites four key differences.
· self-concept ; adults are less likely to ’brush off’ failure;
· experience : adults who cannot master a new skill suffer a lack of self-esteem;
· readiness: children are more willing and able to learn and accept new ideas;
· time : children are unafraid of failure as they feel they can always learn later; adults are less likely to feel like this.
Subsequent researchers identified other factors affecting the adult learner:
· Scheduling problems
· Lack of time and money
· Family and job responsibilities
· Transport problems
On the other hand, research also suggests that adults compensate for outdated knowledge by working harder, find it easier to incorporate new knowledge into existing knowledge, are more highly motivated and have a clearer purpose. Some writers suggest that older learners can compensate for being slower in some psychomotor skills by being more accurate and less likely to resort to trial and error. A corollary of taking errors personally and thus lowering self-esteem is that adults take fewer risks, relying on tried and tested methods.
Much of this applies to any class of adults, and it can be straightforward to deal with some issues. For example, open-ended sessions benefit those who do not want to miss their ‘bus or train home.
It could be argued that teaching computer skills to adults is a special case. Older learners are faced with a subject which may not have existed when they were undertaking school or post-school education. At worst, this can manifest itself as "computerphobia" or "communication apprehension". Brosnan and Davidson (The psychologist,vol. 7, 2, 1994, pages 73-8) looked at evidence which suggested that between a quarter and a third of all people are computerphobic. However, surveys suggest that computer ownership amongst older people (55+) is increasing - the so-called "silver surfers" - and that the average age of Internet users is therefore rising.
On my courses, familiarity with the computer, both hardware and software, varied amongst the participants. This confirms the findings of a survey by Clyde and Klobas of Internet trainees based in Iceland. The opening class is a good time to check if students are familiar with right-clicking, minimising windows, etc.
Motivations to learn ICT
Icebreakers in week 1 give each student a chance to say why he or she is there. Some reasons were obvious:
· retired people seeking a new interest (or wanting to keep up with their grand-children!);
Others were less so:
· need to use IT skills at work but lacked training opportunities;
· working towards European Computer Driving License;
· wanted to use Internet to plan and book holiday
With retired people, the motivation was often general - a desire to find out about new technology - but sometimes quite specific. One retired gentleman in my Internet class was also attending classes in JAVA, and wanted to find and download applets from the Web. A former English lecturer was interested in newsgroups and Web sources on his favourite authors. He later returned to my HTML class, and began building his own website. Another class member wanted to research family history, particularly connections with the Boston area. Within the overall plan for the class then, it had to be possible to cater for individual and quite specific interests, without neglecting those whose interests are more general. Learning to use the Internet can be a useful starting point for the acquisition of general computer skills.
Teaching about the Internet should establish general principles about searching, but also pass on useful information such as what to do about spam, or perhaps what not to do. Students should become aware that any information on the ’Net has to be approached with a degree of caution. Anyone who uses the Internet as a source of information has to learn to do so critically. Books on library shelves, articles in a journal, have normally gone through a selection or editorial process, which is transparent to the user. Such quality control does not necessarily apply to Internet sources.
Even those comfortable with the general skills of personal computing can find the Internet daunting. Searching for files on hard disk, floppy or CD-ROM is relatively uncomplicated. Using the Internet to find and download information is less so. Response times vary, error messages can be difficult to understand, and the lack of a coherent structure to the Internet is confusing, like having to use the telephone system without a phone book.
As one of "30 things we know for sure about adult learning", Ron and Susan Zemke say:
"…straightforward how-to is the preferred content orientation. Adults cite a need for application and how-to information as the prime motivation for beginning a learning project" (Innovation Abstracts Vol VI, No 8, March 9, 1984)
Applying that to teaching about the Internet means a minimum of formal lecturing and a strategy of using practical, hands-on exercises where possible. Instead of talking about truncating URLs, which generate error messages, let students point the browser at a problem URL and gradually truncate it until it works. Get them to e-mail a bogus address and then look at the resulting error message rather than just describe it. A student mistake such as typing one ’/’ instead of two in a URL, that can be used to reinforce correct practice. Once again, it is important that the students develop understanding and skills which will be relevant and lasting.
"We have to abandon the idea that schooling is something restricted to youth. How can it be, in a world where half the things a man knows at 20 are no longer true at 40 -- and half the things he knows at 40 hadn’t been discovered when he was 20?" (Clarke, Arthur C. The View from Serendip)Additional Info:
The University of Strathclyde Centre for Lifelong Learning: Adult Learning programme
Learning in Later Life programme;
The Senior Studies Institute
Computer Buddy Project
Articles
Commercial Cybercafés: A Useful Weapon Against the ‘Digital Divide’?
08 juin 2004
In some countries of the developing world, cybercafés are by far the main way to connect to the Internet and to interact with computers. This is the starting point of this interesting analysis on the role of Internet in less developed countries.
Internet use is rapidly spreading to the developing world, bringing connectivity to individuals and groups and promoting the transformation of communities on a global scale. Yet only a small fraction of the people in the developing world can afford to have home connection to the Internet. A dial-up connection, the way most people connect, implies to have a fixed telephone at home, to buy hardware and software equipment and to pay the monthly telephone and Internet charges. This way of connecting to the Internet is evidently not suited for all people, as most people in the world do not have the resources to afford all this.
Within this difficult context, collective access is the only alternative that can give Internet connectivity to the masses. Places for collective access have been growing steadily in the cities of the developing world, established by three main stakeholders: (1) governments, (2) NGOs, activists and the development community, and (3) the private sector.
1. Governments’ Programmes. Universal access to the Internet is acknowledged by most governments as an important step towards the progress of their nations. Programmes have been created with that purpose, sometimes under an umbrella programme, sometimes as fragmented small scope policies addressed to different target groups (students, low-income groups, isolated communities). However, developing countries’ governments have scarce resources and urgent problems, so they have difficulties to properly fund universal access programmes, which generally end as good intentions, or having modest goals and target populations. Further, governments’ telecentres may have social goals or not. Many public programmes have been addressed to simply establish public access centres while expanding the geographic coverage of public telephony and Internet in their national territories.
2. Socially Oriented Projects. NGOs, activists and other non-profit institutions have established ‘telecentres’ or public access centres with socially oriented goals. These have been set up in developing countries thanks to the support of the international donor agencies, which see in them the best feasible model for providing Internet access in rural and poor areas. Telecentres do not consider themselves as providers of universal access, they rather provide training on new technologies, youth and community gathering, and promote local economic activities through support to micro-enterprises and associations. Although the telecentre community is very dynamic and highly networked, there are no large numbers of this type of collective access points, which also suffer from problems of economic sustainability.
3. Demand-oriented Cybercafés. The commercial type of public access centres is, for the users, the most popular of the three types. Cybercafés are flourishing in places of concentration of activities in cities of the developing world. Cybercafés have existed in the large cities almost since the commercial introduction of Internet in cities. Originally, they were addressed to the demand of tourists or businessmen, and located in business and commercial districts. However, the new trend is another type of cybercafé run by local entrepreneurs addressing the demand of those who cannot afford home connection. Therefore, the prices per hour in this new type are much cheaper and tend to decrease when new businesses open their doors in the vicinity. But cybercafés have no social pretensions; they are simply the fruit of thousands of individual business initiatives of small entrepreneurs. Their function is to provide connectivity to the customers that pay for it, and as such, they are highly demand-oriented.
The example of Peru: the cybercafé as a new urban facility
In some countries of the developing world, cybercafés are by far the main way to connect to the Internet and to interact with computers. One of these countries is Peru, where more than 80 percent of Internet users connect from collective places. The effect of the popularity of cybercafés is visible in the Peruvian society. They have become a new urban facility at neighbourhood level. The use of computers and Internet has become common by school and university students. Peruvian have changed their recreation activities and since 2002 the visit to the cybercafé has become the first recreation activity. Peruvians are much better communicated with their relatives abroad than before, which has partly contributed to increase the level of remittances to the country. At city level, cybercafés are offering different urban services which have been systematically denied to poor neighbourhoods. Libraries, post-offices, recreation facilities, youth centres, training centres, etc. are now present and combined in the multiple services offered by cybercafés (Fernández-Maldonado, 2003). All this has happened without any support from the state, and in a country that has more than 50 percent of its population living in poverty.
The wide availability of affordable cybercafés in cities of Peru has developed a local Internet culture which is especially clear with youth and students of all sectors of society. This has already called the attention of outsiders, since Peruvian cybercafés have removed the first barrier that lower-income groups have to connect to the Internet. The experience in Peru poses a series of questions, from which an important one is: are commercial cybercafés a good alternative to tackle the digital divide in developing countries?
The nature of the Digital Divide: from access to the networks to the ‘effective use’ of ICT
But the answer to this question is not straightforward. There are multiple debates going on in the academic and practitioners fields that need to be spelled out to understand the context. To begin with, the very existence of the digital divide is a matter of debate. In developing countries, the ‘digital’ divide is just another symptom of the social and economic divide among rich and poor and, as such, not a very useful category. To alleviate it requires structural solutions. To solve the digital divide would be then, a matter of development.
Another important debate is on the nature of the digital divide. The initial conceptualisation of the digital divide as a difference in access to the networks has given room to a more comprehensive concept that encompasses the notion of ‘effective use’. The idea behind this is to redirect the resources to fight the digital divide from simple access towards more sensible strategies that provide more visible benefits to users. Because it is obvious that large software corporations and telecommunications firms are the great winners from the increased global connectivity.
But the notion of effective use, while useful in rich countries needs some attention in the context of developing countries. What is ‘effective use’? Michael Gurstein defines it as “The capacity and opportunity to successfully integrate ICTs into the accomplishment of self or collaboratively identified goals.” (2003: 8). If effective use is a matter of the users, individually or collectively, it is them who have to decide if they are getting an ‘effective use’.
The importance of the Internet in the ‘Global South’
When users in developing countries, and especially young groups, are consulted about the significance of Internet use in their lives, they all answer straightforwardly, enthusiastically and positively. This differs greatly with responses in rich countries, where access to the networks, and the new uses it brings, may be experienced as a threat to the familiar ways of doing things, especially in work environments. In affluent countries access to the new technologies is a matter of personal election; in disadvantaged regions it is a new resource that generally implies an improvement of daily life.
Regarding communications, if in the developed world the Internet complements other telecommunication media such as telegraph, traditional mail, fax, and local or long-distance telephone, in the developing world access to the Internet provides new possibilities for communication among peoples who previously could not contact others who were distant from them, because of the absence, scarcity, inefficiency, or unaffordability of traditional communication services.
Regarding information, if in the developed world the Internet complements familiar sources of written information as newspapers, books, magazines, bulletins, brochures, data bases, research papers, in the developing world access to the Internet provides new possibilities for information for peoples who previously could not afford a book, attend a library, read the news or consult an encyclopedia.
Common sense tells us that access per se is not an end in itself. But for the people in the global South, and especially for young users, access to Internet is making a big difference from their previous situation, a fact which is sometimes difficult to perceive for outsiders, or those interested in measuring economic impacts. In the developing world Internet is more a cultural than an economic phenomenon, and its use is rapidly transforming communities in unprecedented ways.
Another related debate goes on regarding the observed uses of commercial cybercafés in cities of the developing world. Several surveys and observations point out that the use of Internet in cybercafés is highly linked to communication and entertainment purposes, while didactic and economic uses are not as popular as the first. The public that attends cybercafés is mostly young people and students, who enjoy the possibilities to communicate and chat with their peers. The example of the success of text messaging in countries of the North suggests that young people’s strong ‘communication need’ is an age-related phenomenon.
But it becomes difficult to separate communication, work, entertainment and learning while using the Internet, because one of its singularities is precisely its multifunctionality. Further, almost no ethnographic studies have been yet carried on to see the impact of cybercafés on people’s lives. On the other hand, the great enthusiasm of young users towards the Internet as a window to the world is not taken into account. If we ask the users, they generally express the importance they give to improving their computer skills and training to get more chances in the highly difficult employment market. As in the previous debate, the scepticism towards Internet use in cybercafés suggests the higher importance assigned to economic productivity than to the daily life concerns of the users. The social implications of the Internet are not straightforward (DiMaggio et al., 2001).
Challenging the logic of the Digital Divide discussion
Recently, two economists from the World Bank have challenged the logic of the main arguments on the digital divide discussion, and provoked a lively discussion within academics and practitioners circles. Carsten Fink and Charles J. Kenny (2004) have point out that measuring absolute differences is quite a different affair than measuring relative differences in access to ICTs. They state that, given the presence of collective ways to access telephone and Internet services in developing countries, per head measurements do not constitute a good indicator of diffusion.
A better indicator, which gives idea of the relative importance attached to ICTs by users, is their per-income availability. On this indicator, low- and middle–income countries are ahead of affluent countries, a fact which becomes more surprising given the worsening of income inequality between the developed and developing countries during the last decades. This suggests that developing countries have found their ways to “catch up digitally”. Fink and Kenny finally state that the divide between rich and poor countries is closing instead of growing and that there are more digital opportunities than divides.
These and other related debates give an indication of the importance of the topic for academics, practitioners, NGOs, the development community, and policy makers. Perhaps is useful to remind that, despite its rapid diffusion, global use of the Internet is still in its infancy. The rapid pace of technological advances in ICTs may change the present picture in unforeseen ways. In the meantime, it is necessary to give careful attention to the digital problems and opportunities of the most disadvantaged groups. References:
· Di Maggio P., E. Hargittai, W. R. Neuman, and J. P. Robinson (2001) “Social Implications of the Internet” In: Annual Review of Sociology 2001, Vol. 27, pp. 307-336.
· Fernández-Maldonado, A.M. (2003) “Satisfying the demand for ICT connectivity of low-income groups” In: Badshah, Akhtar; Sarbuland Khan and Maria Garrido (eds.) Connected for Development - Information Kiosks and Sustainability United Nations ICT Task Force and Digital Partners. (pp. 57-61)
· Fink, C. and C. J. Kenny (2004) W(h)ither the Digital Divide? Development Gateway.
· Gurstein, M. (2003) “Effective use: A community informatics strategy beyond the Digital Divide” In: First Monday. Volume 8, Number 12 — December 1st 2003
Within this difficult context, collective access is the only alternative that can give Internet connectivity to the masses. Places for collective access have been growing steadily in the cities of the developing world, established by three main stakeholders: (1) governments, (2) NGOs, activists and the development community, and (3) the private sector.
1. Governments’ Programmes. Universal access to the Internet is acknowledged by most governments as an important step towards the progress of their nations. Programmes have been created with that purpose, sometimes under an umbrella programme, sometimes as fragmented small scope policies addressed to different target groups (students, low-income groups, isolated communities). However, developing countries’ governments have scarce resources and urgent problems, so they have difficulties to properly fund universal access programmes, which generally end as good intentions, or having modest goals and target populations. Further, governments’ telecentres may have social goals or not. Many public programmes have been addressed to simply establish public access centres while expanding the geographic coverage of public telephony and Internet in their national territories.
2. Socially Oriented Projects. NGOs, activists and other non-profit institutions have established ‘telecentres’ or public access centres with socially oriented goals. These have been set up in developing countries thanks to the support of the international donor agencies, which see in them the best feasible model for providing Internet access in rural and poor areas. Telecentres do not consider themselves as providers of universal access, they rather provide training on new technologies, youth and community gathering, and promote local economic activities through support to micro-enterprises and associations. Although the telecentre community is very dynamic and highly networked, there are no large numbers of this type of collective access points, which also suffer from problems of economic sustainability.
3. Demand-oriented Cybercafés. The commercial type of public access centres is, for the users, the most popular of the three types. Cybercafés are flourishing in places of concentration of activities in cities of the developing world. Cybercafés have existed in the large cities almost since the commercial introduction of Internet in cities. Originally, they were addressed to the demand of tourists or businessmen, and located in business and commercial districts. However, the new trend is another type of cybercafé run by local entrepreneurs addressing the demand of those who cannot afford home connection. Therefore, the prices per hour in this new type are much cheaper and tend to decrease when new businesses open their doors in the vicinity. But cybercafés have no social pretensions; they are simply the fruit of thousands of individual business initiatives of small entrepreneurs. Their function is to provide connectivity to the customers that pay for it, and as such, they are highly demand-oriented.
The example of Peru: the cybercafé as a new urban facility
In some countries of the developing world, cybercafés are by far the main way to connect to the Internet and to interact with computers. One of these countries is Peru, where more than 80 percent of Internet users connect from collective places. The effect of the popularity of cybercafés is visible in the Peruvian society. They have become a new urban facility at neighbourhood level. The use of computers and Internet has become common by school and university students. Peruvian have changed their recreation activities and since 2002 the visit to the cybercafé has become the first recreation activity. Peruvians are much better communicated with their relatives abroad than before, which has partly contributed to increase the level of remittances to the country. At city level, cybercafés are offering different urban services which have been systematically denied to poor neighbourhoods. Libraries, post-offices, recreation facilities, youth centres, training centres, etc. are now present and combined in the multiple services offered by cybercafés (Fernández-Maldonado, 2003). All this has happened without any support from the state, and in a country that has more than 50 percent of its population living in poverty.
The wide availability of affordable cybercafés in cities of Peru has developed a local Internet culture which is especially clear with youth and students of all sectors of society. This has already called the attention of outsiders, since Peruvian cybercafés have removed the first barrier that lower-income groups have to connect to the Internet. The experience in Peru poses a series of questions, from which an important one is: are commercial cybercafés a good alternative to tackle the digital divide in developing countries?
The nature of the Digital Divide: from access to the networks to the ‘effective use’ of ICT
But the answer to this question is not straightforward. There are multiple debates going on in the academic and practitioners fields that need to be spelled out to understand the context. To begin with, the very existence of the digital divide is a matter of debate. In developing countries, the ‘digital’ divide is just another symptom of the social and economic divide among rich and poor and, as such, not a very useful category. To alleviate it requires structural solutions. To solve the digital divide would be then, a matter of development.
Another important debate is on the nature of the digital divide. The initial conceptualisation of the digital divide as a difference in access to the networks has given room to a more comprehensive concept that encompasses the notion of ‘effective use’. The idea behind this is to redirect the resources to fight the digital divide from simple access towards more sensible strategies that provide more visible benefits to users. Because it is obvious that large software corporations and telecommunications firms are the great winners from the increased global connectivity.
But the notion of effective use, while useful in rich countries needs some attention in the context of developing countries. What is ‘effective use’? Michael Gurstein defines it as “The capacity and opportunity to successfully integrate ICTs into the accomplishment of self or collaboratively identified goals.” (2003: 8). If effective use is a matter of the users, individually or collectively, it is them who have to decide if they are getting an ‘effective use’.
The importance of the Internet in the ‘Global South’
When users in developing countries, and especially young groups, are consulted about the significance of Internet use in their lives, they all answer straightforwardly, enthusiastically and positively. This differs greatly with responses in rich countries, where access to the networks, and the new uses it brings, may be experienced as a threat to the familiar ways of doing things, especially in work environments. In affluent countries access to the new technologies is a matter of personal election; in disadvantaged regions it is a new resource that generally implies an improvement of daily life.
Regarding communications, if in the developed world the Internet complements other telecommunication media such as telegraph, traditional mail, fax, and local or long-distance telephone, in the developing world access to the Internet provides new possibilities for communication among peoples who previously could not contact others who were distant from them, because of the absence, scarcity, inefficiency, or unaffordability of traditional communication services.
Regarding information, if in the developed world the Internet complements familiar sources of written information as newspapers, books, magazines, bulletins, brochures, data bases, research papers, in the developing world access to the Internet provides new possibilities for information for peoples who previously could not afford a book, attend a library, read the news or consult an encyclopedia.
Common sense tells us that access per se is not an end in itself. But for the people in the global South, and especially for young users, access to Internet is making a big difference from their previous situation, a fact which is sometimes difficult to perceive for outsiders, or those interested in measuring economic impacts. In the developing world Internet is more a cultural than an economic phenomenon, and its use is rapidly transforming communities in unprecedented ways.
Another related debate goes on regarding the observed uses of commercial cybercafés in cities of the developing world. Several surveys and observations point out that the use of Internet in cybercafés is highly linked to communication and entertainment purposes, while didactic and economic uses are not as popular as the first. The public that attends cybercafés is mostly young people and students, who enjoy the possibilities to communicate and chat with their peers. The example of the success of text messaging in countries of the North suggests that young people’s strong ‘communication need’ is an age-related phenomenon.
But it becomes difficult to separate communication, work, entertainment and learning while using the Internet, because one of its singularities is precisely its multifunctionality. Further, almost no ethnographic studies have been yet carried on to see the impact of cybercafés on people’s lives. On the other hand, the great enthusiasm of young users towards the Internet as a window to the world is not taken into account. If we ask the users, they generally express the importance they give to improving their computer skills and training to get more chances in the highly difficult employment market. As in the previous debate, the scepticism towards Internet use in cybercafés suggests the higher importance assigned to economic productivity than to the daily life concerns of the users. The social implications of the Internet are not straightforward (DiMaggio et al., 2001).
Challenging the logic of the Digital Divide discussion
Recently, two economists from the World Bank have challenged the logic of the main arguments on the digital divide discussion, and provoked a lively discussion within academics and practitioners circles. Carsten Fink and Charles J. Kenny (2004) have point out that measuring absolute differences is quite a different affair than measuring relative differences in access to ICTs. They state that, given the presence of collective ways to access telephone and Internet services in developing countries, per head measurements do not constitute a good indicator of diffusion.
A better indicator, which gives idea of the relative importance attached to ICTs by users, is their per-income availability. On this indicator, low- and middle–income countries are ahead of affluent countries, a fact which becomes more surprising given the worsening of income inequality between the developed and developing countries during the last decades. This suggests that developing countries have found their ways to “catch up digitally”. Fink and Kenny finally state that the divide between rich and poor countries is closing instead of growing and that there are more digital opportunities than divides.
These and other related debates give an indication of the importance of the topic for academics, practitioners, NGOs, the development community, and policy makers. Perhaps is useful to remind that, despite its rapid diffusion, global use of the Internet is still in its infancy. The rapid pace of technological advances in ICTs may change the present picture in unforeseen ways. In the meantime, it is necessary to give careful attention to the digital problems and opportunities of the most disadvantaged groups. References:
· Di Maggio P., E. Hargittai, W. R. Neuman, and J. P. Robinson (2001) “Social Implications of the Internet” In: Annual Review of Sociology 2001, Vol. 27, pp. 307-336.
· Fernández-Maldonado, A.M. (2003) “Satisfying the demand for ICT connectivity of low-income groups” In: Badshah, Akhtar; Sarbuland Khan and Maria Garrido (eds.) Connected for Development - Information Kiosks and Sustainability United Nations ICT Task Force and Digital Partners. (pp. 57-61)
· Fink, C. and C. J. Kenny (2004) W(h)ither the Digital Divide? Development Gateway.
· Gurstein, M. (2003) “Effective use: A community informatics strategy beyond the Digital Divide” In: First Monday. Volume 8, Number 12 — December 1st 2003
Articles
How to Remove the Major Obstacle of Learning: poor usability
12 Mars 2004
Before starting to write this article, we checked if there was anything written about usability in Finnish or English in the elearningeuropa.info site and found some articles about this issue.
Now, at the latest, it is time to act for rooting out the usability problems related to nearly every aspect of virtual learning environments (VLEs):
· relevance and form of the content;
· navigational aids;
· activation and motivation of the students;
· guidance for studying.
Several recent publications of e-learning report usability problems in the current VLEs. The problems include, for example, unnecessary features, which are either rarely used or not used at all (Beasley&Smyth 2003), lack of navigational freedom affecting the user’s feeling of control (Armitage et al. 2003) and difficulties in identifying content (Lindh and Soames 2003). The environment may also be so difficult to use, that it causes deep dissatisfaction in the students (Kent 2003) or even withdrawals from the course (Jones et al 2003).
The VLE being highly technical or artistic does not matter, if the usability of the environment is poor. The lack of good usability makes students avoid using the environment or concentrate on irrelevant issues instead the content. One solution for achieving a VLE with good usability is to design the VLE using User Centred Design (UCD) approach.
Usability and user centred design
Usability is defined as effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction (ISO 9241-11) which, in case of a learning environment, means:
· Are the users able to use the VLE for studying purposes?
· Is the learning with the VLE efficient, for example, is the user able to access the information and adapt the content?
· Is the interaction between the user and VLE smooth and comfortable?
Problems mostly occur, because learning environments are not planned and tested their target user group. In the beginning of the design process of a learning environment, the targeted user group and the environment of use, the context, should be defined. If a defined learning environment development method is used, this phase is usually included in the design process. However, the following phase is often somewhat, or even totally, neglected. During the design and implementation, the learning environment should be iteratively tested with prototypes within the targeted user group.
The motivation for usability studies during the design and implementation phases, in addition to better learnability, is money. Like in every other software engineering project, also in case of learning environments:
The later the change is made the more it costs in terms of labour, time and customer satisfaction. (Boehm 1987)
Case example
Virtual learning environment concerning safety at work, Virtu, was designed and implemented in co-operation between two institutes, Software Systems and Occupational Safety Engineering, in Tampere University of Technology using the UCD approach (Ihamäki and Vilpola 2003). In the beginning of the case Virtu, two user groups were defined; students at the university and workers in industry. The first paper prototype was tested within both groups and the most significant finding was that the same content was not appropriate for both user groups. As a result, two separate contents were made for students and industrial workers. This decision also affected the structure of Virtu, but the change was easy to make in requirements specification (Figure 1).
Development of Virtu had six usability actions:
· ISO 13407 Human centred design processes for interactive systems (ISO 1999)
· Interviews
· Paper prototype and its testing
· Functional prototype and its testing
· Heuristic evaluation
· Iterative design
According to the standard ISO 13407, context of use and user and organisational requirements were specified using stakeholder interviews. From the basis of requirement specification, a paper prototype was made and tested within end users. Changes ware made to the requirements specification according to the test results. Next prototype was implemented in the design and implementation phase and it was tested again within the end users. Comments received from the tests were adapted to the implementation. Testing and implementation were iterated until no big changes occurred. In addition to the end user testing, a usability expert evaluated Virtu. In this evaluation the expert used Jakob Nielsen´s heuristics (Nielsen 1994).
How to ensure usability of the VLE
Usability is a key issue what comes to teaching and studying using VLEs. There is no way you can add usability in a ready-made VLE (of course the current VLEs can be tested and improvements can be made). The usability aspect has to be taken into account right from the beginning of the VLE design process.
To ensure usability in virtual learning environments (VLEs):
1. Define the user group(s) of the VLE and the context of use.
2. Make a paper prototype containing few key displays and play the computer while end users are testing the prototype. Make notes of all the actions and comments the users make.
3. Apply the ideas and iterate the tests and the design until no big comments occur.
4. Implement the environment and test it again.
5. When all the critical problems have disappeared, it is time to release the version 1 of the environment.
6. Encourage users to give feedback on the version 1
7. Collect the feedback and use it for improving the design of version 2.
8. Long-term acceptability study (optional).
You will be happy to see a new kind of commitment by the designers, implementers, and students to your VLE. And even more, you can now honestly say that the VLE is especially designed for users; effective, efficient and satisfying to use.
A Recommendation
We recommend that you should visit the usabilitynet site, to see other ISO standards related to usabilty.Figure 1. Project activities and usability actions in Virtu´s development.References
Armitage, U., Wilson, S., Sharp, H. The Effects of Navigation Aids on Ownership for Learning with Electronic Texts, Proceedings of the 2nd European Confrence on eLearning, Ed. Roy Williams, Academic Conferences International, Reading (2003) pp.47-58.
Beasley, N., Smyth, K. Students´ Selective use of a Virtual learning Environment: Reflections and Recommendations, Proceedings of the 2nd European Confrence on eLearning, Ed. Roy Williams, Academic Conferences International, Reading (2003) pp.71-79.
Boehm, B.W. Improving Software Productivity. IEEE Computer (September 1987) pp. 43-57
Ihamäki, H., Vilpola, I. Designing an Adjustable Learning Environment Concerning Safety at Work, Proceedings of the 2nd European Confrence on eLearning, Ed. Roy Williams, Academic Conferences International, Reading (2003) pp.217-226.
International Organization for Standardization ISO (1999) ISO 13407 Human-centred design processes for interactive systems, International Organization for Standardization, Geneve.
Jones, P., Packham, G., Miller, C., Davies, I., Jones, A. “e-Retention: An Initial Evaluation of Student Withdrawals within a Virtual Learning Environment”, Proceedings of the 2nd European Confrence on eLearning, Ed. Roy Williams, Academic Conferences International, Reading (2003) pp.239-248.
Kent, T. Supporting staff using WebCT at the University of Birmingham in the UK, Electronic Journal of e-Learning, Volume 1 Issue 1, (February 2003) pp. 1-10.
Lindh, J., Soames, C-A. Are Students´ and Teachers´ Views of Online Courses in Accordance? A Dual Perspective on a University Course, Proceedings of the 2nd European Confrence on eLearning, Ed. Roy Williams, Academic Conferences International, Reading (2003) pp.275-282.
Nielsen, J. Ten usability heuristics, 1994 [online, referenced January 23, 2004].
· relevance and form of the content;
· navigational aids;
· activation and motivation of the students;
· guidance for studying.
Several recent publications of e-learning report usability problems in the current VLEs. The problems include, for example, unnecessary features, which are either rarely used or not used at all (Beasley&Smyth 2003), lack of navigational freedom affecting the user’s feeling of control (Armitage et al. 2003) and difficulties in identifying content (Lindh and Soames 2003). The environment may also be so difficult to use, that it causes deep dissatisfaction in the students (Kent 2003) or even withdrawals from the course (Jones et al 2003).
The VLE being highly technical or artistic does not matter, if the usability of the environment is poor. The lack of good usability makes students avoid using the environment or concentrate on irrelevant issues instead the content. One solution for achieving a VLE with good usability is to design the VLE using User Centred Design (UCD) approach.
Usability and user centred design
Usability is defined as effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction (ISO 9241-11) which, in case of a learning environment, means:
· Are the users able to use the VLE for studying purposes?
· Is the learning with the VLE efficient, for example, is the user able to access the information and adapt the content?
· Is the interaction between the user and VLE smooth and comfortable?
Problems mostly occur, because learning environments are not planned and tested their target user group. In the beginning of the design process of a learning environment, the targeted user group and the environment of use, the context, should be defined. If a defined learning environment development method is used, this phase is usually included in the design process. However, the following phase is often somewhat, or even totally, neglected. During the design and implementation, the learning environment should be iteratively tested with prototypes within the targeted user group.
The motivation for usability studies during the design and implementation phases, in addition to better learnability, is money. Like in every other software engineering project, also in case of learning environments:
The later the change is made the more it costs in terms of labour, time and customer satisfaction. (Boehm 1987)
Case example
Virtual learning environment concerning safety at work, Virtu, was designed and implemented in co-operation between two institutes, Software Systems and Occupational Safety Engineering, in Tampere University of Technology using the UCD approach (Ihamäki and Vilpola 2003). In the beginning of the case Virtu, two user groups were defined; students at the university and workers in industry. The first paper prototype was tested within both groups and the most significant finding was that the same content was not appropriate for both user groups. As a result, two separate contents were made for students and industrial workers. This decision also affected the structure of Virtu, but the change was easy to make in requirements specification (Figure 1).
Figure 1. Project activities and usability actions in Virtu´s development.
Development of Virtu had six usability actions:
· ISO 13407 Human centred design processes for interactive systems (ISO 1999)
· Interviews
· Paper prototype and its testing
· Functional prototype and its testing
· Heuristic evaluation
· Iterative design
According to the standard ISO 13407, context of use and user and organisational requirements were specified using stakeholder interviews. From the basis of requirement specification, a paper prototype was made and tested within end users. Changes ware made to the requirements specification according to the test results. Next prototype was implemented in the design and implementation phase and it was tested again within the end users. Comments received from the tests were adapted to the implementation. Testing and implementation were iterated until no big changes occurred. In addition to the end user testing, a usability expert evaluated Virtu. In this evaluation the expert used Jakob Nielsen´s heuristics (Nielsen 1994).
How to ensure usability of the VLE
Usability is a key issue what comes to teaching and studying using VLEs. There is no way you can add usability in a ready-made VLE (of course the current VLEs can be tested and improvements can be made). The usability aspect has to be taken into account right from the beginning of the VLE design process.
To ensure usability in virtual learning environments (VLEs):
1. Define the user group(s) of the VLE and the context of use.
2. Make a paper prototype containing few key displays and play the computer while end users are testing the prototype. Make notes of all the actions and comments the users make.
3. Apply the ideas and iterate the tests and the design until no big comments occur.
4. Implement the environment and test it again.
5. When all the critical problems have disappeared, it is time to release the version 1 of the environment.
6. Encourage users to give feedback on the version 1
7. Collect the feedback and use it for improving the design of version 2.
8. Long-term acceptability study (optional).
You will be happy to see a new kind of commitment by the designers, implementers, and students to your VLE. And even more, you can now honestly say that the VLE is especially designed for users; effective, efficient and satisfying to use.
A Recommendation
We recommend that you should visit the usabilitynet site, to see other ISO standards related to usabilty.
Figure 1. Project activities and usability actions in Virtu´s development.ReferencesArmitage, U., Wilson, S., Sharp, H. The Effects of Navigation Aids on Ownership for Learning with Electronic Texts, Proceedings of the 2nd European Confrence on eLearning, Ed. Roy Williams, Academic Conferences International, Reading (2003) pp.47-58.
Beasley, N., Smyth, K. Students´ Selective use of a Virtual learning Environment: Reflections and Recommendations, Proceedings of the 2nd European Confrence on eLearning, Ed. Roy Williams, Academic Conferences International, Reading (2003) pp.71-79.
Boehm, B.W. Improving Software Productivity. IEEE Computer (September 1987) pp. 43-57
Ihamäki, H., Vilpola, I. Designing an Adjustable Learning Environment Concerning Safety at Work, Proceedings of the 2nd European Confrence on eLearning, Ed. Roy Williams, Academic Conferences International, Reading (2003) pp.217-226.
International Organization for Standardization ISO (1999) ISO 13407 Human-centred design processes for interactive systems, International Organization for Standardization, Geneve.
Jones, P., Packham, G., Miller, C., Davies, I., Jones, A. “e-Retention: An Initial Evaluation of Student Withdrawals within a Virtual Learning Environment”, Proceedings of the 2nd European Confrence on eLearning, Ed. Roy Williams, Academic Conferences International, Reading (2003) pp.239-248.
Kent, T. Supporting staff using WebCT at the University of Birmingham in the UK, Electronic Journal of e-Learning, Volume 1 Issue 1, (February 2003) pp. 1-10.
Lindh, J., Soames, C-A. Are Students´ and Teachers´ Views of Online Courses in Accordance? A Dual Perspective on a University Course, Proceedings of the 2nd European Confrence on eLearning, Ed. Roy Williams, Academic Conferences International, Reading (2003) pp.275-282.
Nielsen, J. Ten usability heuristics, 1994 [online, referenced January 23, 2004].
Articles
Pour une autre approche dans l’utilisation de l’e-learning au service de l’inclusion numérique
19 juin 2005
Cinq stratégies pour surmonter les barrières mentales et développer les capacités dans un contexte d’analphabétisme informatique.
Le présent article propose une contribution innovatrice concernant l’inclusion numérique. La plupart des initiatives dans ce domaine tendent à se concentrer sur la question du matériel moyennant le don d’ordinateurs, le câblage des domiciles, l’utilisation de dispositifs sans fil, etc. Compte tenu des spécificités des publics cibles touchés par la fracture numérique, nous défendons la thèse qu’une autre approche s’impose.
Notre proposition est fondée sur les principales conclusions du projet e-learning pour l’e-inclusion. Ce projet de l’Union européenne, financé par l’initiative e-learning, a analysé plus de 600 activités en faveur de l’inclusion numérique.
L’exclusion numérique est un concept très vague. Les prétendus analphabètes informatiques (handicapés mis à part) sont des collectifs confrontés à des situations très diverses, tels que les personnes du troisième âge, les chômeurs, les détenus, les jeunes vivant dans des circonstances difficiles, les immigrés, etc.
Pour tous ces groupes, élaborer et mettre en œuvre des programmes d’enseignement des TIC est insuffisant. Une autre approche devrait être développée sur la base de deux grands impératifs :
Dans ce contexte, nous recommandons cinq stratégies pour utiliser efficacement l’e-learning au service de l’inclusion sociale et numérique.
1. Combiner l’enseignement des TIC avec celui d’autres savoirs non numériques tout aussi importants pour l’inclusion sociale. Premièrement, les élèves sont beaucoup plus motivés, car ils associent l’apprentissage des TIC avec une chose qui les intéresse vraiment (obtenir leur permis de conduire, trouver un emploi, etc.). Deuxièmement, la combinaison de buts d’apprentissage est un facteur d’efficacité, car les apprenants acquièrent à la fois des compétences dans l’utilisation d’Internet et d’autres aptitudes (par exemple apprendre à conduire, comme dans le cas du projet La casa de Shere Rom, axé sur la communauté rom, où les ordinateurs étaient utilisés comme un outil pour préparer l’examen du permis de conduire). Troisièmement, l’objectif d’inclusion sociale est largement atteint, étant donné qu’une telle démarche permet de donner des compétences numériques et d’autres aptitudes non numériques, mais qui n’en sont pas moins essentielles pour l’inclusion sociale.
2. Stratégie de communication. Notre analyse des échecs a démontré que si la proposition n’est pas communiquée de manière appropriée, elle n’atteindra pas ses objectifs. Il existe d’innombrables sites web visant à aider les femmes ou les immigrés, qui peuvent être très bien conçus et organisés, mais qui faillissent dans leur mission parce que la « cible » ignore leur existence. La communication doit être adaptée à la fois à la cible et à sa situation géographique. La démarche ne sera pas la même selon que l’on se place au niveau local, national ou international. En outre, il importe d’utiliser des moyens non numériques pour délivrer le message, vu que les groupes cibles sont justement les exclus numériques.
3. Éducation des élèves par d’autres élèves du groupe. Dans la mesure du possible, il est bon que les élèves s’entraident et se transmettent leurs compétences. Cela peut se faire dans un cadre structuré ou de manière non directive. Dans le premier cas, les élèves sont « promus » au rang d’enseignants. Il y a là une implication importante, à savoir que s’il y a suffisamment d’élèves prêts à jouer ce rôle, la viabilité de la formule est garantie. Par ailleurs, dans des situations moins structurées, l’aide que peuvent apporter les élèves renforce considérablement l’intérêt cognitif de ce qui est expliqué et accroît la motivation.
4. Création d’environnements informels. Cette stratégie présente l’avantage d’être applicable à plusieurs groupes cibles. Par exemple, enseigner des compétences informatiques dans l’environnement traditionnel de la classe peut être très ennuyeux pour des enfants qui ne sont pas habitués à manier l’ordinateur. Une approche moins structurée, davantage axée sur l’expérimentation – où les enfants utilisent l’ordinateur comme un jouet –, peut se révéler très efficace. De même, des environnements trop scolaires peuvent être intimidants pour des immigrés ayant un héritage culturel très différent de celui du pays d’accueil. Ils se sentiront plus à l’aise dans un cadre moins conventionnel. La même chose est vraie pour certains groupes de femmes et de personnes âgées.
5. Enseignement fondé sur une communauté de culture ou de genre. Cette approche est particulièrement bien attestée dans les initiatives d’e-learning ciblées sur les femmes. Étant donné que la technologie numérique tend à être considérée comme relevant du domaine des hommes, les adolescentes sont souvent peu motivées par ces activités. Il peut donc être intéressant de faire appel à des monitrices pour expliquer l’utilisation d’un environnement e-learning, ainsi que d’utiliser des personnages féminins pour présenter les contenus. Même si l’incidence de cette stratégie se fait essentiellement au niveau du subconscient, ce n’en est pas moins important, car cela va à l’encontre du cliché selon lequel seuls les hommes savent manier les TIC. Un phénomène semblable a été observé dans le cas des immigrés. Un instructeur originaire de la même culture tend à être plus motivant, même si les immigrés parlent bien la langue locale.
Conclusions
La pratique de l’inclusion numérique doit combiner les approches techniques et cognitives. L’enseignement de compétences techniques nécessitant l’utilisation d’un ordinateur ou d’Internet est inutile en l’absence de motivation et de contextualisation. C’est la conjonction de ces éléments qui rend ce savoir-faire véritablement utile pour le groupe cible et efficace dans la lutte contre l’exclusion sociale.
D’autres solutions sont possibles. Elles ont toutes été trop souvent négligées en raison de la prédominance d’une approche exclusivement technique de la problématique en cause. Les stratégies proposées supposent le passage à un nouveau modèle fondé sur des environnements d’apprentissage plus informels, où la communication entre pairs est fondamentale et évitant les clichés préjudiciables concernant les nouvelles technologies.
Bien évidemment, il va sans dire que toutes ces pratiques ne sauraient être viables sans un minimum d’équipement. Il est ainsi indispensable de disposer d’un ordinateur et d’un accès Internet. Cependant, il est tout aussi clair que l’investissement consistant à fournir des moyens techniques s’avère inefficace s’il ne s’accompagne pas d’une nouvelle méthodologie, fondée sur la contextualisation et la motivation.Le présent article est une version abrégée de l’article intitulé Digital Inclusion: Best practices from eLearning, présenté lors de la conférence sur l’utilisation de l’e-learning au service de l’inclusion numérique.
Voir l’article intitulé The Future Paradigm: Social e-learning (Le nouveau modèle : l’e-learning social) pour en savoir plus sur la Charte pour l’inclusion numérique et sociale promue par diverses institutions.
Voir le document intitulé Le potentiel de la société de l’information au service de l’inclusion sociale en Europe, créé par le groupe de haut niveau « Emploi et dimension sociale de la société de l’information » des services de la Commission européenne.
Références
[1] Alexander, C., Ishikawa, S., Silverstein, M., The Timeless Way of Building, New York : Oxford University Press, 1979.
[2] Gardner, K., Cognitive Patterns: Problem-Solving Frameworks for Object Technology, New York : Cambridge University Press, 1998.
[3] Shalloway, A., Trott, J. Design Patterns Explained: a new Perspective in Object-Oriented Design, Cambridge (Massachusetts) : O’Reilly, 2001.
[4] Park, J., Hunting, S., XML Topic Maps: Creating and Using Topic Maps for the Web,Cambridge (Massachusetts) : O’Reilly, 2002.
Notre proposition est fondée sur les principales conclusions du projet e-learning pour l’e-inclusion. Ce projet de l’Union européenne, financé par l’initiative e-learning, a analysé plus de 600 activités en faveur de l’inclusion numérique.
L’exclusion numérique est un concept très vague. Les prétendus analphabètes informatiques (handicapés mis à part) sont des collectifs confrontés à des situations très diverses, tels que les personnes du troisième âge, les chômeurs, les détenus, les jeunes vivant dans des circonstances difficiles, les immigrés, etc.
Pour tous ces groupes, élaborer et mettre en œuvre des programmes d’enseignement des TIC est insuffisant. Une autre approche devrait être développée sur la base de deux grands impératifs :
- Surmonter les barrières mentales (par opposition aux simples obstacles techniques)
Nous constatons, pour l’heure, que les principaux facteurs causals de l’exclusion de la société de l’information sont, entre autres, la méfiance qui est souvent ressentie envers les nouvelles technologies et l’absence de contenus attrayants ou utiles pour les groupes marginalisés et les personnes en danger d’exclusion sociale. - Donner la priorité au renforcement des capacités (par opposition à l’utilisation immédiate)
L’important n’est pas d’enseigner comment utiliser, par exemple, Netscape ou Outlook, mais plutôt le potentiel d’éducation et de libération des nouvelles technologies. Internet peut constituer un instrument d’intégration des exclus sociaux en leur donnant les compétences voulues pour trouver un emploi dans la société de l’information. Cependant, cela ne doit pas être dissocié d’une démarche visant à développer leur sens critique ainsi que leur capacité à se former leurs propres opinions politiques et à s’organiser eux-mêmes en tant que citoyens et groupes culturels. Les TIC devraient être considérées dans une perspective plus large, intégrant la dimension sociale, plutôt qu’à travers le prisme d’une approche technique réductive.
Dans ce contexte, nous recommandons cinq stratégies pour utiliser efficacement l’e-learning au service de l’inclusion sociale et numérique.
1. Combiner l’enseignement des TIC avec celui d’autres savoirs non numériques tout aussi importants pour l’inclusion sociale. Premièrement, les élèves sont beaucoup plus motivés, car ils associent l’apprentissage des TIC avec une chose qui les intéresse vraiment (obtenir leur permis de conduire, trouver un emploi, etc.). Deuxièmement, la combinaison de buts d’apprentissage est un facteur d’efficacité, car les apprenants acquièrent à la fois des compétences dans l’utilisation d’Internet et d’autres aptitudes (par exemple apprendre à conduire, comme dans le cas du projet La casa de Shere Rom, axé sur la communauté rom, où les ordinateurs étaient utilisés comme un outil pour préparer l’examen du permis de conduire). Troisièmement, l’objectif d’inclusion sociale est largement atteint, étant donné qu’une telle démarche permet de donner des compétences numériques et d’autres aptitudes non numériques, mais qui n’en sont pas moins essentielles pour l’inclusion sociale.
2. Stratégie de communication. Notre analyse des échecs a démontré que si la proposition n’est pas communiquée de manière appropriée, elle n’atteindra pas ses objectifs. Il existe d’innombrables sites web visant à aider les femmes ou les immigrés, qui peuvent être très bien conçus et organisés, mais qui faillissent dans leur mission parce que la « cible » ignore leur existence. La communication doit être adaptée à la fois à la cible et à sa situation géographique. La démarche ne sera pas la même selon que l’on se place au niveau local, national ou international. En outre, il importe d’utiliser des moyens non numériques pour délivrer le message, vu que les groupes cibles sont justement les exclus numériques.
3. Éducation des élèves par d’autres élèves du groupe. Dans la mesure du possible, il est bon que les élèves s’entraident et se transmettent leurs compétences. Cela peut se faire dans un cadre structuré ou de manière non directive. Dans le premier cas, les élèves sont « promus » au rang d’enseignants. Il y a là une implication importante, à savoir que s’il y a suffisamment d’élèves prêts à jouer ce rôle, la viabilité de la formule est garantie. Par ailleurs, dans des situations moins structurées, l’aide que peuvent apporter les élèves renforce considérablement l’intérêt cognitif de ce qui est expliqué et accroît la motivation.
4. Création d’environnements informels. Cette stratégie présente l’avantage d’être applicable à plusieurs groupes cibles. Par exemple, enseigner des compétences informatiques dans l’environnement traditionnel de la classe peut être très ennuyeux pour des enfants qui ne sont pas habitués à manier l’ordinateur. Une approche moins structurée, davantage axée sur l’expérimentation – où les enfants utilisent l’ordinateur comme un jouet –, peut se révéler très efficace. De même, des environnements trop scolaires peuvent être intimidants pour des immigrés ayant un héritage culturel très différent de celui du pays d’accueil. Ils se sentiront plus à l’aise dans un cadre moins conventionnel. La même chose est vraie pour certains groupes de femmes et de personnes âgées.
5. Enseignement fondé sur une communauté de culture ou de genre. Cette approche est particulièrement bien attestée dans les initiatives d’e-learning ciblées sur les femmes. Étant donné que la technologie numérique tend à être considérée comme relevant du domaine des hommes, les adolescentes sont souvent peu motivées par ces activités. Il peut donc être intéressant de faire appel à des monitrices pour expliquer l’utilisation d’un environnement e-learning, ainsi que d’utiliser des personnages féminins pour présenter les contenus. Même si l’incidence de cette stratégie se fait essentiellement au niveau du subconscient, ce n’en est pas moins important, car cela va à l’encontre du cliché selon lequel seuls les hommes savent manier les TIC. Un phénomène semblable a été observé dans le cas des immigrés. Un instructeur originaire de la même culture tend à être plus motivant, même si les immigrés parlent bien la langue locale.
Conclusions
La pratique de l’inclusion numérique doit combiner les approches techniques et cognitives. L’enseignement de compétences techniques nécessitant l’utilisation d’un ordinateur ou d’Internet est inutile en l’absence de motivation et de contextualisation. C’est la conjonction de ces éléments qui rend ce savoir-faire véritablement utile pour le groupe cible et efficace dans la lutte contre l’exclusion sociale.
D’autres solutions sont possibles. Elles ont toutes été trop souvent négligées en raison de la prédominance d’une approche exclusivement technique de la problématique en cause. Les stratégies proposées supposent le passage à un nouveau modèle fondé sur des environnements d’apprentissage plus informels, où la communication entre pairs est fondamentale et évitant les clichés préjudiciables concernant les nouvelles technologies.
Bien évidemment, il va sans dire que toutes ces pratiques ne sauraient être viables sans un minimum d’équipement. Il est ainsi indispensable de disposer d’un ordinateur et d’un accès Internet. Cependant, il est tout aussi clair que l’investissement consistant à fournir des moyens techniques s’avère inefficace s’il ne s’accompagne pas d’une nouvelle méthodologie, fondée sur la contextualisation et la motivation.Le présent article est une version abrégée de l’article intitulé Digital Inclusion: Best practices from eLearning, présenté lors de la conférence sur l’utilisation de l’e-learning au service de l’inclusion numérique.
Voir l’article intitulé The Future Paradigm: Social e-learning (Le nouveau modèle : l’e-learning social) pour en savoir plus sur la Charte pour l’inclusion numérique et sociale promue par diverses institutions.
Voir le document intitulé Le potentiel de la société de l’information au service de l’inclusion sociale en Europe, créé par le groupe de haut niveau « Emploi et dimension sociale de la société de l’information » des services de la Commission européenne.
Références
[1] Alexander, C., Ishikawa, S., Silverstein, M., The Timeless Way of Building, New York : Oxford University Press, 1979.
[2] Gardner, K., Cognitive Patterns: Problem-Solving Frameworks for Object Technology, New York : Cambridge University Press, 1998.
[3] Shalloway, A., Trott, J. Design Patterns Explained: a new Perspective in Object-Oriented Design, Cambridge (Massachusetts) : O’Reilly, 2001.
[4] Park, J., Hunting, S., XML Topic Maps: Creating and Using Topic Maps for the Web,Cambridge (Massachusetts) : O’Reilly, 2002.