A Survey on Recent Learning Approaches in School Education Using Edmodo

Introduction

Educational technology is the combination of technological tools and methodologies used in educational settings in order to satisfy specific educational needs (Roblyer & Doering, 2013). Educational technology may involve various types of devices and applications (Prentzas, 2013). The main purpose is to provide advantages compared to alternative learning approaches that are not using technology (Roblyer & Doering, 2013). This is achieved by exploiting technological features that offer benefits to students and tutors. The benefits anticipated from educational technology are several. It is needless to say that a main anticipated benefit involves improved learning (Roblyer & Doering, 2013) as also seen from the research aims of corresponding research studies.

In this context, the Internet plays an important role. This role was intensified with the advent of the World Wide Web and the widespread use of Web-based resources and tools. The advantages and popularity of the Internet have led many tutors to exploit it in school education. This trend has led to blended learning approaches that combine classroom and Internet-based learning (Horn & Staker, 2011). There are several advantages of blended learning as reported in literature. Generally speaking, blended learning approaches have the potential to provide enhanced learning experiences by exploiting the benefits of both classroom and Internet-based learning (Horn & Staker, 2011; Bonk & Graham, 2012).

The advantages that the Internet may offer in blended learning concern several aspects. Students have the ability to learn and interact with others beyond classroom hours. Therefore, students may work anywhere and anytime (Wardono, Mariani, Rahayuningsiha, & Winartia, 2018). Students and tutors may communicate in classroom and through the use of a wide range of synchronous and asynchronous communication tools (Bonk & Graham, 2012). Internet-based resources provide students the motives to learn as their attention is attracted and they are encouraged to take part in creative activities (Roblyer & Doering, 2013; Yusuf, Yusuf, Erdiana, & Pratama, 2018; Wardono et al., 2018). Students gain access to educational content of various types. The educational process is focused on students and adapted to their characteristics (Hairunnisah, Suyitno, & Hidayah, 2019; Prentzas, Hatzilygeroudis, & Koutsojannis, 2001). Cooperative learning approaches may also be employed using the infrastructure of the Internet (Wrahatnolo, Wibawa, & Wahono, 2019).

Face-to-face classroom learning provides advantages that blended learning approaches exploit. Learning through face-to-face interaction enhances the bonds among students and among students and tutors. Face-to-face interaction facilitates students and tutors because they co-exist in the same classroom. The diversity of this interaction cannot be replaced by pure Internet-based learning. Research studies have shown advantages of blended learning approaches compared to traditional classroom instruction (Safiri & Suparwoto, 2018; Rahmawati, Muryani, & Sarwono, 2018; Bonk & Graham, 2012) and pure Internet-based learning (Bonk & Graham, 2012).

Open educational resources (OER) are very useful in blended learning approaches as they are publicly available which facilitates their use (Piedra, Chicaiza, López, & Caro, 2016). OER may involve any resource, application or tool that can support learning. For instance, OER may be related to all types of learning activities, courses, course material, repositories, digital textbooks and workbooks, guides, demonstrations, syllabi, software, multimedia items and Virtual Learning Environments, among others (Atkins, Brown & Hammond, 2007; Butcher, 2015).