Resources Based Learning

The nature of information has changed dramatically during the past 25 years. The digital age has redefined the nature of a resource and dramatically changed how resources are used to support learning. Media of often unknown origin and quality are now used across a wide range of learning systems to address diverse epistemological beliefs and associated learning goals. The number and types of resources have also grown exponentially. Several factors increase the viability of resources for learning, including access to resources in contexts not previously available, increased flexibility in their use, and ready availability, manipulability, and sharability. The purposes of this chapter are to present a brief historical perspective on resource-based learning; describe components of resourcebased learning; introduce the influence of underlying epistemology, foundations, and assumptions in grounding resource use; critically analyze related research; and identify implications for RBL.

KEYWORDS
Resource: Media, people, places or ideas that have the potential to support learning (Hill and Hannafin, 2001, p.38) Resources-Based Learning: The use and application of available assets to support varied learning needs across contexts. Scaffolding: Process through which individuals are supported in identifying, interpreting, or otherwise using resources. Tools: devices that aid individuals to engage and manipulate resources and ideas.

INTRODUCTION
The digital age has both redefined the nature of information and transformed educational resources. Resources need no longer be intact and self-contained but can be readily repurposed as well as accessed, created, modified, and assembled from virtually anywhere to address individual goals and needs. The educational implications have only begun to emerge as homes, schools, classrooms, workplaces, and community centers become increasingly resource centered. The potential and challenges of resource-based learning (RBL) are considerable. Increasingly, designers and learners must evaluate growing numbers of digital resources that are developed for purposes other than those being sought and used, that exist in ever expanding and geographically dispersed repositories, and that are often of unknown quality, accuracy, and integrity. So, while technology has been lauded for potentially democratizing access to information (Kellner, 2003),

educational use remains fraught with issues of literacy, misinterpretation, and propagandizing (Brooks, 2003) as well as problems with copyright and fair use (Kahle, 1997). No singular, universally accepted definition exists as to what constitutes a resource or how resources should be used during learning. One distinction has focused on the extent to which resources embody pedagogical attributes. Wiley (2001) characterized a learning object as a digital resource that embodies pedagogical properties that can be refused to facilitate learning. Downes (2004) characterized a resource as being comprised of and supporting varied functions distributed across users and locations. Increased granularity may enable educators to utilize resources to address a wide variety of learning needs and to support a broad range of learning models, as well as to realize the potential of digital resources (Hodgins, 2001; Schatz, 2005). Earlier, we characterized a resource as an information asset of broad applicability and defined resources as Media, people, places or ideas that have the potential to support learning (Hill and Hannafin, 2001, p.38). Furthermore, we argued that the meaning of given resource varies according to the epistemological, psychological, and pedagogical context of its use. Accordingly, we define resource-based learning as the use and applications of available assets to support varied learning needs across contexts (Beswick, 1977; Doiron and Davies, 1998; Haycock, 1991). Several factors increase the viability of resources for learning, including access in contexts not previously available, increased flexibility in their use, and ready availability, manipulability, and sharability across multiple contexts and purposes. The purposes of this chapter are to present a brief perspective an and describe components of resource-based learning, describe how resource definitions and use are mediated by the underlying beliefs and practices associated with different learning models, and identify implications for creating and using digital resources for varied learning purposes.

THE EMERGENCE OF RESOURCE-BASED LEARNING

Although the use of resources for learning is not new (Beswick, 1977; Haycock, 1991), their creation and use were limited in predigital environments. Resources were typically static, created and published by companies, and used largely intact to address specific, well defined needs and goals. In some instances, parts of an intact resource were used (e.g., chapter in textbook), but it remained difficult to adapt resource to address individuals needs. The digital age has changed the very nature of a resource. The resulting opportunities are considerable and range from increasing the number and availability through granularization, to repurposing components resources to address myriad individual needs, to providing multiple perspectives. We now have ready access to more traditional historic (e.g., daily articles) and contemporary (e.g., daily news) information sources (Maddux and Johnson, 1997), as well as emerging, dynamic information sources (e.g.,blogs, wikis, podcast)

(Matindale and Wiley, 2005). Although the opportunities afforded through digitalization are considerable, challenges remain. In this chapter, we describe the transformation of resources for educational purposes; introduce the foundations, assumptions, and components of resource-based learning; and describe a range of studies utilizing resource-based learning in varied teaching-learning models.

Metamorphosis of Media
Media have become vastly easier to produce and access; for example, high-quality, sharable digital documents have become commonplace through word processing, movie making, and desktop publishing (Counts, 2006). It is no longer necessary for large design and production facilities to assemble or develop information resources, as individuals and small teams now have the ability to create-even costumize-resources rapidly. Digitization has also reduced the need to warehouse resources at centralized repositories. According to Lyman and Varian (2003), the Web has become the leading technology for accessing and sharing information. Traditional publishing and production houses, although important, are no longer required to produce, store, and distribute information. Users must no longer wait for a book to arrive in a library or bookstore; many titles are now available directly from authors (see, for example, Stephen Kings downloadable novels at http://www.stephen-king.com/). Likewise, television and movie titles are now downloaded directly or accessed on-demand-a trend that is projected to expand rapidly (Avery, 2004). Numerous online brokers and vendors (e.g., iTunes, Microsoft, Amazon.com) allow users to download digital music, computer software, books (.pdf documents or audiobooks), and video resources directly. Finally, public information, such as historical documents, weather information, and governments reports, is increasingly digital in nature. Digital media are now available directly from a myriad of primary sources and brokers, democratizing availability and access across a vast array of hitherto centralized resources.

Socially Constructed Resources

Blogs and wikis have become a primary source of information across a growing range of users. Blogs enable a wide distribution of ideas, and wikis enable broad distribution as well as the collaborative building of ideas (Engstrom and Jewett, 2005). Raine (2005), in his work with the Pew Internet and American Life Project, documented a 58% rise in blog readership in 2004. Political blogs, such as Instapundit and Daily Kos (Harp and Tremayne, 2006) were among the top blogs visited, with 9% of respondents to the Pew Internet survey reporting regular or occasional readership (Rainie, 2005).

The increased use of political and news-related blogs provides an important indication of how socially constructed resources have democratized access to ideas an information (Bichard, 2006). Educators have used blogs and wikis both within their classes and to share ideas across a variety of disciplines and grade levels (Martindale and Wiley, 2005). (For description of wikis in a graduate-level information systems course, see Raman et al., 2005; for discussion of preservice teachers using blogs to facilitate learning in an instructional technology course, see West et al., 2006; for discussion of the use of wikis with middle grades students to engage the learners in the critical examination of an environmental challenge, see Engstrom and Jewett, 2005.) Whereas interest in and the use of forums such as blogs and wikis appear to be increasing, some question their contributors, readers, and value of the integrity of their contents. Harp and Treymane (2006) indicated that the majority of blogging in political contexts is male dominated. Likewise, upon examining bloggers in the Pew Internet project, Rainie (2005, p.2) concluded that like bloggers, blog readers are more likely to be young, male, well-educated, Internet veterans. This suggest that the presumably open-forum-blogging available on the Internet may actually reflect rather narrow, rather than democratic and open, information resources. Other challenges discussed in the literature include variable reading level, unique communication styles, quality of information, and information literacy skills needed to generate, interpret, and use such resources (McPherson, 2006).

Sophistication of Information Systems

During the past two decades, the amount of information available has increased exponentially; for example, Lawrence and Giles (1998) estimated that the indexable Web was comprised of approximately 320 million pages. More recently, DeKunder at Tilburg University estimated the total Web pages to be 14.3 billion, with sustained growth rate of 2% per month (Tilburg University, 2006). With the extraordinary volume of available resources, problems have emerged, particulary with locating the right information. Mark-up technologies provide descriptive metatags where authors can specify unique search terms and categories for the end user (Hill et al., 2007), which provides fine-grained indexing previously unavailable by resources creator; however, some have suggested that the use of a given resource is continually redefined by subsequent users. Metadata may provide guidance in identifying media attributes but little insight into appropriateness for use in given contexts or for learning models (Mwanza and Engestrom, 2005).

Affordability, Power, and Availability

Technologies have decreased in cost while growing exponentially in capability. According to recent estimates, the cycle processing rates of computer operating systems double every 18 to 20 months (Ekman et al., 2004) . At the onset of the 21st Century, a high percentage of households in Western countries reported at least one computer with Internet access (NTIA, 2000). Low-cost wireless computer technologies are now widely available and in use, enabling cost-effective access to almost anything, anytime, and anyplace (for a recent study exploring the promises and challenges of nomadic computing, see Cousins, 2004). Internet access has also improved exponentially. According to recent Federal Communication Commission statistics (FCC, 2006), access speeds range from telephone dial-up at 56 kilobits per second to broadband speeds of 200 kilobits per second to the home. T-1 access speeds (1,5 megabytes per second) are now commonplace in public and business facilities. For RBL, both traditional digital text and graphic resources, as well as streaming video and audio resources, can now be provided to the home as well as to education settings affording ready access to a wealth of basic and high-end media resources.

Changing Nature of Resources

The emergence of learning objects (Northrup, 2007; Wiley, 2001) has stimulated alternative conceptions of resources. Traditional video content can be segmented into a series of scenes or clips that can be accessed individually or viewed in their entirety. Books need not be defined in their entirety but can be comprised of individual objects (e.g., words, tables, figures, and pictures) that can be used independently or in combinations. The meaning is continually redefined as audio recordings, video scenes, and Web resources are contextualized. Individual resource components, thus, are malleable rather than fixed, affording infinite potential to redefine meanings, allow multiple literacies (Hout et al., 2004), and support different learning goals, context, and models.

Economic and Practical Influences

According to the National Education Association (NEA, 2004), the past two decades have brought radical budgetary constraints to both formal and informal educational initiatives. Availability of resources is required across learning contexts and models to enable use for varied purposes. Resources-Based Learning, particularly in dgital environments, offers promise for broad applicability across a variety of contexts to provide access to an expanding global library of dgital resources.

COMPONENTS
Resources-based learning involves establishing contexts for, tools for acting on and with, and scaffolds to guide the differentiated interpretation, use, and understanding of resources in ways that are consistent with the epistemology, foundations, and assumptions of a given learning model (Hill and Hannafin, 2001). RBL does not embody a particular epistemology but rather provide a process through which epistemologically different, but grounded, learning, models are enacted. WebQuests, for example, are inquiry-oriented activit[ies] in which some or all of the information that learners interact with comes from resources on the Internet (Dodge, 1995, p.12). In open-ended learning environments, resources are presumed to be epistemologically neutral until contextualized and designed to support unique learning goals (hannafin et al., 1999). In the following sections, we describe how resources-based learning is enacted differentially to support different teachinglearning models.

Context
External contexts supplied situations or problems are provided by an instructor or external agent to orient learners to a particular learning goal. Specific problem statements or questions, consistent with objectivist epistemology, direct expectations explicitly and guide the strategies and resources used by teachers and students (Hannafin et al., 1997). In individual contexts, learners establish learning contexts based on their unique circumstances or needs. Consistent with constructivist epistemology, individuals establish the learning context, define their knowledge and skill needs, identify resources to meet the needs, and situate the resources meaning to address their needs. Negotiated contexts combine aspects of external and individual contexts. Typically, an external problem or issues is provided (e.g., social justice, civil rights), but the specific problems to be addressed (e.g., what led to nonviolent protest in the mid 20th century?) are unique to individual learners (Hill et al., 2007). In problem-based learning models, the contexts typically enables multiple issues to be identified and studied using varied resources to support individual approaches. Iiyoshi (1999), for example, examined the effects of different orienting contexts on nursing students search strategies, interpretation and under understanding using multimedia resources contained in a multimedia database, the Human Body. Students were provided tasks that explicitly directed them to specific resources, focused on relationships between two or more resources, or posed a problem requiring a synthesis of information across multiple resources. Participants tended to learn specific concepts using directed tasks but were only able to synthesize meaning across resources when oriented

accordingly. Similarly, the Jasper Woodbury series establishes problem contexts using authentic video vignettes depicting dilemmas wherein different problems and subproblems can be identified to establish and implement a plan (Barron et al., 1995; Cognition and Technology Group at Vanderbilt, 1992).

Tools
Tools enable learners to engage and manipulate both resources and ideas. Tool use varies with contexts and intention; the same tool can support different activities based on its alignment with given learning models. Numerous tool types (see, for example, Hill and Hannafin, 1997) and functions (Iiyoshi et al ., 2005) have been identified. Processing tools help to manage cognitive demands associated with different RBL models. When embodying objectivist epistemology, spreadsheets enable learners to manipulate scenarios to test the limits within a simulation, extend their cognitive abilities, and reduce the extraneous cognitive load associated with tasks and mental manipulation (Hannafin et al., 2007). The some tools, in contrast, may embody constructivist epistemology when used to negotiate a resources meaning in the technology enhanced, distance learning environments (Hill et al., 2007). Searching tools can be used in directed as well as learner-centered environments. Generalpurpose Web-based search engines such as Google (www.google.com) identify the location of and direct access to a variety of electronic resources. Google Scholar, which seeks and generates Webindexed links among published documents, and Apple Learning Interchange

(http://ali.apple.com/ali_appleworks/templates.sthml), which supports searching for highly indexed pre-12 lesson planning resources, provide sophisticated function-specific searching tools. Domainspecific resources can be searched using the State of Georgias GALILEO database (www.galileo.usg.edu), which contains a variety of subject-specific as well as general search engines, enabling direct access to associated electronic resources (e.g., journal articles, reports) as well as resources in libraries. Manipulations tools are used to test or explore. Consistent with constructivist epistemology, applications such as SimCity SimEarth empower learners to hypothesize, design, build, test, and rebuild cities and ecosystems to investigate relationships between and among objects and systems. Manipulation tools allow the testing of environmental scenarios and manipulation of systemic concepts such as global warming in ways otherwise impossible or impractical. Finally, communication tools support the ability to exchange information and ideas. Asynchronous tools such as e-mail, podcasts, blogs, and wikis enable and sustain access among learners, instructors, and experts. Synchronous communication tools (e.g., instant messaging, video

conferencing) provide access to others in real time, whether they are located a few rooms away or around the globe.

Scaffolds
Scaffolding is support provided initially and subsequently faded in a continuous cycle as knowledge and understanding develops. The amount and frequency of scaffolding vary with the individual learner, problems encountered, and the needs or demands of a specific context (Sharma and Hannafin, 2007). Procedural, conceptual, metacognitive, and strategic scaffolds are especially relevant for RBL. Procedural scaffolds emphasize how to use the features and functions of a given resource. Greene and Land (2000), for example, made extensive use of procedural scaffolds to support preservice teachers in their development and Internet based RBL lesson. Procedural scaffolds allow learners to focus cognitive resources for other learning activities (e.g., problem solving). Conceptual scaffolds guide learners in what to consider by assisting with the identification of knowledge related to a problem or by making connections between concepts more apparent. Resources-intense toolkits were created by the Open University to assist students with learning at a distance in a directed environment (Jelf et al., 2004). Metacognitive scaffolds, common in inquirybased environments, prompt reflection, comparison, and revision based on self-assessments of understanding. Checklists, for example, can assist the learner with reflecting upon decisions made or actions to take. Cases also support reflection and comparison, presenting scenarios for learners to consider as well as confirmation points where learners reflect on their understanding to reveal what they do or do not understand (Kim and Hannafin, in press a; Kolodner et al., 2004). Finally, strategic scaffolds provide assistance in identifying ways to analyze, plan, and respond (e.g., identifying and selecting information, evaluating resources). Many models have been developed to guide learners in developing and applying information literacy skills (see, for example, Eisenberg et al., 2004). Several libraries have created websites to guide learners with evaluating print and electronic resources that can be used across learning contexts. The University and of California-Berkeley Purdue University

(http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Evaluation.html)

(http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/research/r_evalsource.html) have established extensive website for evaluating resources. Similarly, Trochims (2004) social science research website

provides strategic scaffolding to guide the research process.