What does online participation mean in education?

„The Internet offers learning at any time, in any place and for anyone“, is the optimistic assessment by Robinson and Hullinger (2008). Major players in the digital world such as Google and Wikipedia are synonymous with access to countless sources and the accumulated knowledge found within the online community. The Internet is an instrument of communication and of conveying knowledge. It is hardly surprising, therefore, that a large number of academics have become interested in the effects the Internet has on learning and education. The research area into participation in education is large, second only to political engagement, although by a long measure. Numerous studies investigate the specific platforms or instruments used in online learning and the associated learning success. But this study was particularly concerned with the extent to which the Internet promotes participation by users.

There is no doubt that the Internet lowers the access barriers to information and knowledge. Potentially, this may increase participation in education (Rambe, 2012; Davies & Graff, 2005). New forms of learning emerge, adapting and blending to suit the different needs of students. For instance, computer-assisted learning forms can prevent disadvantages associated with face-to-face learning such as peer pressure, intimidation and such like. The terms of teaching and learning are also becoming increasingly vague on the Internet: Self-teaching is commonplace here, for example when referencing terms or locating a technical text. In contrast, traditional learning forms are becoming increasingly scarce. It is indeed possible that online learning now has few similarities with concentrated study at school.

Hence the participatory effect of the Internet serves to strengthen the student and, in relative terms, to weaken the traditional learning structures – which again represents a form of „empowerment“ (Kidd, 2011; Erstad, 2006). „Clients“ in the educational sector develop greater independence and autonomy, while the teacher loses influence. Some authors now consider the teacher to be no more than a „facilitator“ who here and there will intervene to steer a largely self-controlled learning process (Reimer, 2003; Duncan et al., 2012; Mayrberger, 2012). „Student-centred learning“ is a pedagogical byword in the Internet age (Arbaugh, 2000; Hratinski, 2008).

"Moodle": Cooperative teaching and learning

Example 21: „Moodle“ is an open source learning platform that enables cooperative teaching and learning.

Here the social component possesses particular importance: New media support and facilitate communication between the students and collaborative forms of learning (McBrien et al., 2009), producing something akin to a co-creation of knowledge and learning – entirely along the lines of the Wikipedia swarm intelligence. Communication between students also means transparency and comparability. In the same way that teacher grade student performances, the students are perfectly candid in assessing the performance of their teachers on the Net (Asselin & Moayeri, 2011). This also represents a shift in power within the process of learning.

"Rate My Professors": Shift of power in education

Example 22: Students can use „Rate My Professors“ to grade their professors and universities and also to view the ratings submitted by other users. The page is extremely popular and is therefore available as an app, also.

It goes without saying that online participation in education requires a certain competency for use. This prompts the interesting question as to how this competency required for learning can be acquired, and how successful the traditional learning process can be in communicating new Internet competencies.

"Coursera": Online courses

Example 23: „Coursera“ is still a young enterprise; it offers online courses and compiles services by other providers. Some of the courses are free, while others are subject to charge. A series of leading international education providers are currently cooperating with the platform.