Turchina T.V.

The Ukrainian Academy of Banking, Sumy

Learning with Information Technology

Summary. The Information and communication technology has made many innovations in the field of teaching. Computers can be used to aide in teaching Foreign Language Learners in core academic subjects. Together with future internet developments, new technologies and services will enable the creation of new and innovative e-learning system extensions and modules.

Key words: e-learning, technologies, Moodle , innovation

Advancements in web technologies and the increased influence of the World Wide Web are leading to new and innovative ways of learning. New e-learning system technologies and services enable activities that allow users to be active learners, actively participating in the on-line learning process. When an elearning system with new technologies and services is presented, it needs to be adopted by its users. The acceptance and use of an e-learning system can be influenced by different factors.

An e-learning system is a system that provides services that are necessary for handling all aspects of a course through a single, intuitive and consistent web interface. Such services are, for example: (1) course content management, (2) synchronous and asynchronous communication, (3) the uploading of content, (4) the return of students' work, (5) peer assessment, (6) student administration, (7) the collection and organization of students' grades, (8) online questionnaires, (9) online quizzes, (10) tracking tools, etc. With the advent of Web 2.0 technologies and services (like wikis, blogs, RSS, 3D virtual learning spaces, etc) e-learning systems will provide services that enable students to shift from passive to active learners where they can actively participate in the on-line learning process. E-learning environments that provide access to synchronous and asynchronous learning resources and activities are going to continue growing.

In addition to educational organizations, business organizations are also using e-learning technologies and services for cost-effective online training for their employees. In spite of the fact that educational and business institutions are investing a lot of money and resources in implementing e-learning systems, such systems will not be fully utilized if the users fail to use the system. When a new e-learning environment is presented, it needs to be adopted by its users. User's perceptions regarding the use and acceptance of an elearning system can be affected by different factors, which can be combined into two main groups: (a) technological characteristics (like reliability, responsiveness, efficiency, security, etc.) and (b) individual characteristics (like age, gender, e-learning experience, etc.). The main challenge for e-learning system developers is to provide an e-learning system with appropriate services that will positively affect a user's experience. E-learning content providers must attract learners with appropriate e-learning content and they have to adequately incorporate e-learning services and technologies in the e-learning process. For these reasons, developers, designers and purchasers of elearning systems must carefully consider the needs, trends and values of e-learning users and ensure that the system will meet their demands.

This article aimed to investigate the factors that affect the acceptance and use of an e-learning system, namely Moodle. Moodle provides different activity modules (like Assignments, Forums, Wikis, Blogs, Quizzes, Tracking, etc.), and can therefore be applied in different ways. Moodle can be used as a tool for delivering content to students and assess learning using assignments or quizzes and, more interestingly, it can be used to build rich collaborative learning communities. At the different faculties students use Moodle to enroll in courses, download learning materials, communicate with other participants using forums, write blogs, contribute in content creation using wikis, communicate with professors and teaching assistants through a built-in messaging system, finish their activities and upload files, check grades, etc. Professors and teaching assistants use Moodle to manage learning content materials, manage students and their grades, check the uploaded students' work, prepare quizzes, create content using Wikis, aggregate news from different RSS feeds, etc. To understand students' perceptions about using Moodle, the technology acceptance (TAM) research model and hypothesized relationships between TAM constructs were empirically tested using the structural equation modelling (SEM) approach.

Moodle is an open-source system and can be downloaded, deployed and used for free. Therefore, it is hard to identify the exact number of Moodle users. The number increases by approximately 1,300 new registered users every month. The statistical report from April 2010 [21] indicates that at the time of this report, 44,171 Moodle sites from 207 countries had been registered and validated. So far, over three million online courses using Moodle have been established and there are more than 31 million registered Moodle users. .

The students' intention of using Moodle is mainly prompted by its perceived usefulness, meaning that students will use the e-learning system if they find it useful in their learning process.

Students mostly like to use an e-learning system because they find it useful for their studies, meaning that the e-learning system has to provide all the necessary e-learning services that a modern student needs in his or her learning process. E-learning system developers have to keep up with new web technologies and properly build them into the e-learning system. The usefulness of the e-learning system is also closely connected to the content of e-learning materials that students are downloading from it. Learning content providers have to take advantage of an e-learning system to make the best of it when providing students with learning materials, news, asynchronous and synchronous communication, etc. We believe that students would find the e-learning system more useful if they would get adequate learning materials. The research model should be extended in order to find external variables to investigate which factors have a significant influence on students' perceptions regarding ease of use and the usefulness of the e-learning system.
An average student is male and already possesses technical skills when it comes to internet use. Although Moodle is a modern and well accepted e-learning system, the generalization of the results is limited to the characteristics and features provided by it. Moodle is an open-source product and therefore extensions can be implemented. The actual implementation and deployment of Moodle can affect different students' perceptions, such as usefulness and easiness. Because Moodle deployments' primary objectives are not the same in every case, this is another variable that will have to be addressed in future work as well.

In online learning exchanges roles for teachers differ from those in traditional classrooms. In the initial stages of a project the teacher is responsible for preparing learners for the challenges to come; designing tasks which will enable them to engage productively with members of another culture; selecting the right tools for the project; setting basic rules; establishing a clear timeframe and providing the space necessary for learners to reflect periodically . Once a project has started, the teacher's role shifts. Rather than being responsible for imparting knowledge (which in some cases she may not possess), her task is to scaffold the construction by learners of shared knowledge "because the point is not to provide the right answer or to say which group members are right, but to perform a minimal pedagogical intervention.. .in order to redirect the group work in a productive direction or to monitor which members are left out of the interaction"[1]. Especially in Web-based collaborative exchanges for intercultural learning "the teacher cannot be the voice of authority. The teacher's role is ... not to 'teach culture' in the traditional sense but to help students bring patterns to light and gradually put together the culture puzzle--in other words, to teach the students to ask the right questions themselves and to facilitate the experience of self-learning" [2]. In short, the aim of a telecollaborative exchange is to create a virtual learning community. In this "the facilitator plays a critical role in modeling social presence and identity for students. The facilitator can set the tone for the community and aid the development of trust and social bonds among learners" [3]. 79). As is reflected in the special issue articles, task design and e-facilitation are particularly challenging in a telecollaborative setting.
Together with future internet developments, new technologies and services will enable the creation of new and innovative e-learning system extensions and modules. We believe there are many constructs related to the user, technology and service domain characteristics. Such constructs can have a direct or indirect (but significant) impact on users' attitudes and intention for using the system.

Use of existing technology, such as learning and course management systems like Moodle and Blackboard, can support a blended approach. Many higher education institutions currently use these systems, and career centers are beginning to tap into this avenue for delivery [4]. Dahl reported that the School of Information Studies at Syracuse University uses WebCT to communicate with students and to provide student services information. This effort has been "cost effective and requires minimal resources" and has resulted in increased student satisfaction ratings with the support services provided.

Offering flexible services to meet student's career development needs, with the right mix of technology and human contact, is a challenging endeavor. With multiple types of technology tools available and often very limited resources, career center professionals are faced with many decisions. Among the considerations are student needs and characteristics, as well as funding and ethical issues. A needs assessment is recommended as an early step in technology decision making involving all stakeholders. Finally, training and support are important to ensure the success and use of the technologies that are ultimately chosen.

The Information and communication technology has made many innovations in the field of teaching and also made a drastic change from the old paradigm of teaching and learning. In the new paradigm of learning, the role of student is more important than teachers. The concepts of paperless and penless classroom are emerging as an alternative to the old teaching learning method. Nowadays there is democratization of knowledge an the role of the teacher is changing to that of facilitator. We need to have interactive teaching and this changing role of education is inevitable with the introduction of multimedia technology and the spawning of a technologically-savvy generation of youths.

The arrival of educational technology vis-a-vis instructional technology whether as a field of education or new terminology to what has been there before like teaching aids or apparatus, as it was earlier called . Current achievements in the field of computer and communication technologies have offered tremendous opportunities for learning by electronic means . The use of new multimedia technologies and the Internet in learning is seen as a means to improve accessibility, efficiency and quality of learning by facilitating access to information resources and services as well as remote exchanges and collaboration. Nonetheless, by the middle of the 20th century the growth in technology and applications even in the field of education became unavoidable to be ignored. The world of technology continued to grow and today the whole world has become a global village. By the beginning of the 21st millennium educational technology has stretched educational boundaries and created new ones on a daily basis. One of these new and rapidly expanding boundaries is e-learning which is offering tremendous advantage to education.

The researchers believe that the core objective of teaching is passing on the

information or knowledge to the minds of the students. Any method using computers or modifying the existing conventional chalk-talk method are innovative if they ultimately serve the attainment of core objective of teaching.

References

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2. Johnson, S. 2005. Everything bad is good for you: how today’s popular culture
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3. Jonassen, D. H., Peck, K. L., and Wilson, B. G. 1999. Learning With

Technology: A Constructivist Perspective, New Jersey: Merrill/Prentice Ha

4. Lewis, P. 2007. Using productivity software for beginning language learning÷Part 1. The word processor. Learning and Leading with Technology, 24 (8), 14-17.

5. Prensky, M. 2001. Digital game-based learning. New York: McGraw-Hill.

6. Moodle, Moodle.org: open-source community-based tools for learning. Moodle.org, 2010. Available at: http://www.moodle.org .