Teaching, Learning and Relearning with Technology in Archaeology
One of the most obvious events of the last decade has been the explosion of the World Wide Web and its
effect on learning with multimedia. In parallel, this decade has witnessed a fundamental shift on paradigms
for learning and instruction that have altered our learning culture and learning styles. Learners are not
passive beings, waiting to be taught basic skills by adults; these skills, rather, emerge as a function of
adaptation to the real world (either present or past), where they pick up the ability to communicate with
peers and solve problems. As such, learners gradually become natural speakers, scientists, writers, and
problem solvers, utilising information that is offered via various technological means.
Therefore, within the context of the current technological status-quo, e-learning methodologies and
techniques have been developed. E-learning is a very promising way of delivering training and is broadly
used in tertiary education. In this introductory chapter, the benefits that e-learning offers over traditional
methods of education are concisely presented, and its imperative for archaeology is rationalized. For
this reason, special focus is given on the progress of information and communication technology (ICT)
in shaping our information society, and on the degree to which e-learning has been incorporated in the
citizens’ everyday routines.
The rapid growth of ICT over the last few decades has opened up new possibilities for governments
and individuals. Governments are increasingly using Wide Area Networks, the Internet, and mobile computing
in their daily interactions with citizens and businesses. E-government applications are improving
interactions with businesses by centralizing information sources into topical gateways, using Web-based
expert tools to help businesses access rules and regulations, and developing applications to allow electronic
tax filings. For citizens, they are attempting to make transactions, such as renewing licenses and
certifications, paying taxes, and applying for benefits, less time consuming and easier to carry out.
Apart from government services, ICT has been also utilized in other sectors such as health, commerce,
and of course, education. The increased use of ICT has actually been the motivation force for e-learning.
By its name, e-learning can be understood as any type of learning delivered electronically. Clark and
Mayer (2002) define e-learning as training delivered on a computer (including CD-ROM, Internet, or
Intranet) that is designed to support individual learning or organizational performance goals.
E-learning can be synchronous or asynchronous, depending on the extent to which it is bound by
place or time. E-learning is synchronous when two or more events occur at the same time. For example,
when attending live training simulating a class or a workshop, e-learning is synchronous, because the
event and the learning occur at the same time. In the opposite case, learning is asynchronous, for example
when attending an online course and completing events at different times (Codone, 2001).
There are a number of other terms also used to describe this mode of teaching and learning, such as
online learning, virtual learning, network, and Web-based learning. They all refer to educational processes that utilize ICTs to mediate asynchronous, as well as synchronous learning and teaching activities.
However, e-learning comprises a lot more than any of these terms. As the letter “e” in e-learning stands
for the word “electronic,” e-learning would incorporate all educational activities that are carried out by
individuals or groups working online or off-line, and synchronously or asynchronously via networked
or standalone computers and other electronic devices (Naidu, 2005).
E-Learning and Effective Technology Integration
E-learning, among others, is a tool for expanding and widening access to tertiary education. A key attribute
of ICT is its ability to enable flexible access to information and resources. Flexible access refers
to access and use of information and resources at a time, place, and pace that are suitable and convenient
to individual learners rather than the teacher or the educational organization. Using ICTs, e-learning
allows more people to participate in tertiary education: working students and adults, people living in
remote areas, nonmobile students, and even foreign students can now access education. In a few words,
e-learning has the ability to provide information to anyone, anytime, anywhere (Roblyer, 2003).
E-learning also promises to improve the quality of tertiary education and the effectiveness of learning.
Due to the use of ICTs, e-learning gives easier and almost instant access to data and information
in a digital form that allows manipulations that are sometimes not possible otherwise. E-learning can
lead to innovative pedagogic methods, and new ways of learning and interacting, because of the easy
sharing of these new practices among learners and teachers, as well as by easier comparisons between
teaching materials and methods. E-learning can also be seen as a promising way to reduce the cost of
tertiary education, which is critical for expanding and widening its access worldwide.
E-learning in its nature is rather autonomous, allowing learners to select the topics they want, control
the pace at which they progress, and decide whether to bypass some lesson elements such as examples or
practice exercises. The opposite takes place in traditional education, where the learning process is highly
dependent on the reactions of the student-instructor relationship. Although more reliable, in turmoil the
classic way of studying may lead to abrupt, chaotic and misleading professionally trajectories.
In Figure 1, the differences between learning in the 20th century (instructor-oriented) and learning in
the 21st century (student/group-oriented) are presented, as encoded by Chute, Thompson, and Hancock
(1999).
Depending on the use of ICTs and the level of reform, learning can be separated in four categories, as
shown in Figure 2. Successful e-learning requires both the use of ICT and reform. Therefore, successful
e-learning does not imply merely that the tools of the trade have to be used; it also means the Web-based
training provider should analyze needs and carefully select the delivery methods (Driscoll, 2002).
The Range of E-Learning Implementation in The Knowledge Society
The growing interest for e-learning seems to be coming from several directions. Organizations that
have traditionally offered distance education programs see the incorporation of online learning in their
repertoire as a logical extension of their distance education activities. The corporate sector, on the other
hand, is interested in e-learning as a way of rationalizing the costs of their in-house staff training activities.
For instance, multinational companies need to train their employees in new technologies. E-learning
is of interest to residential campus-based educational organizations that see e-learning as a way of
improving access to their programs. More rigorously, educational institutions see advantages in making
their programs accessible via a range of distributed locations, including on campus, home, and other
community learning or resource centers.
The increasing significance of ICTs has become a factor defining contemporary influence. We are
experiencing a transformation in the nature of economic activity, with associated implications for the
shape of society.
The generation and exploitation of knowledge is now the predominant factor in the creation of wealth.
Knowledge has always been a factor of production, and a driver of economic and social development.
However, technology-related developments have fundamentally transformed the degree to which knowledge
is being integrated into economic activity, to the extent that we are witnessing a shift in the very
basis of competitive advantage. Unlike capital and labour, information and knowledge have many of
the characteristics of what economists call public goods. Once discovered and made public, knowledge
can be shared at zero marginal cost and its value is not depleted in consumption: it is nonrival. Indeed,
the economic and social value of information and knowledge actually increases as it is shared with and
used by others (Means, Haertel, & Moses, 2003).
The next society, the one that will succeed the current information society, will be a knowledge society.
Knowledge will be its key resource, and knowledge workers will be the dominant group in its workforce.
There will be an increased demand for a well-educated and skilled workforce across the whole economy.
As access to information becomes easier and less expensive, it becomes more crucial that we have the
skills and competencies relating to the selection and use of that information. There is a clear imperative
for continuous education and training, and the establishment of incentives for firms and individuals to
make the critical adjustment to a culture of lifelong learning. Workers at all levels in the 21st century
knowledge society will need to be lifelong learners, adapting continuously to changed opportunities,
work practices, business models and forms of economic and social organization. E-learning can offer
lifelong, better, faster, and less expensive education for citizens and organizations.
A special interest group of e-learning is the one that enhances relearning. Because many competencies
of the working force are technology-related, it is obvious that scientists need to revamp their outpaced
knowledge base and potential. This is especially true in Archaeology. That archaeologists “collect data”
and “feed them into a computer” are almost taken as givens within everyday conversation (Lock, 2003).
However, the use of computer technology is not deteriorated to creating archaeological data repositories
and warehouses. A new scientific field has emerged referred to as computer applications in archaeology
(CAA).
Computer Applications in Archaeology, using as updated as possible ICTs, support archaeologists in
managing, presenting, and utilizing the results of their work with the help of new technology. With such
tools, observations from practical work are transformed to virtual reality (VR) reconstructions in such
a photorealistic manner that sometimes it is hard to say where reality ends and virtual dreams begin.
Clearly, with CAA the procedures of modeling the past perform a cognitive walk in new dimensions.
Amid this canopy studio, the e-learning potential in Archaeology emerges, promoting the increase
and the dissemination of archaeological knowledge. Also, it becomes manifested as a cross domain activity,
disseminating learning or relearning about technological factors that have changed significantly
within the recent years. For example, it is rather unlikely for mid-aged archaeologist to be proficient on
encoding mark-up languages like VRML or handling geographical information systems (GIS) for the
very simple reason that these technologies were practically nonexistent some 10-15 years ago, when he
was studying archaeology. Therefore, e-learning in archaeology does not involve only knowledge dissemination
using ICTs for the subject domain only, but also computer aided instruction about the new
technologies in focus.
Organization of the Book
This book is organized in 23 chapters clustered in four sections. The last section is comprised of eight
chapters, coming from IGI’s InfoSci-Online database; these are selected readings, already published,
that enhance and promote understanding for the amalgam of computers applications in archaeology and
e-learning tools. A brief description of each of the 23 chapters follows:
Section I, titled “E-learning Technologies, Strategies and Methodologies,” is comprised of four
chapters.
Chapter I describes the impact of technology on education, providing definitions on what e-learning
is about, and mostly, what e-learning is not about, separating facts from speculation and the likely
from the unlikely. Also, it describes how e-learning has evolved along with the World Wide Web and its
changing to a degree significant enough to warrant the recent neologism “E-learning 2.0.”
Chapter II digs in the computer aspects of virtual worlds used for e-learning. It explains how a
computer system can generate a 3-D virtual environment, with which the user can interact and receive
real time feedback. Then it describes what virtual learning environments (VLEs) are, and explains how
enhanced educational functionality can be achieved when the learner uses virtual worlds.
Chapter III expands the e-learning paradigm from a mere immersion to a virtual reality system to
a complete open and distance learning (ODL) strategy. It also explains the format of the multimedia
materials and the structure of teaching when instruction is delivered within a VLE.
Chapter IV continues even further, explaining how virtual learning communities may be created
when education and learning are offered through a Web site. It also explains how cognitive walkthrough
may be achieved by using elements and features of online education.
The concluding chapter for section I, Chapter V, it illuminates the process of evaluating e-learning
outcomes. Evaluation is conducted on the pedagogic paradigm, on the learning process and on the
teaching materials and learning tools. Some case studies present in practice how evaluation should be
conducted.
Section II, titled “Spatial-Computational Technologies and Virtual Reality Reconstructions in Archaeology,”
describes spearhead technologies that form the main context of CAA.
Chapter VI is the link between traditional archaeology and CAA. It deciphers how from observation
we may have a fruitful interpretation of archaeological data that lead the way for computer animated
reconstructions.
Chapter VII describes how archaeological data, coming from multiple excavations, can be stored
in a relational database management system and accessed via the Internet.
Chapter VIII is a primer to geographical information systems. Adopting a user-oriented approach
(rather than a programmer’s approach) it describes how geographic data and elements, like spatial queries,
may be used within an e-learning context.
Chapter IX presents the rapid evolution of virtual reality technologies and expands the digitization
process of archaeological data to reconstruction techniques and methodologies using high level deductive
reasoning.
In Chapter X, two vertical applications are analyzed in depth. They refer to simulations and virtual
reality reconstructions, using high-level programming tools. The first focuses on the emerging sector of
on-the-fly creation of virtual museums, mining data from linked archaeological databases. The second
is an avant-garde application is presented conveying the acoustic reproduction of ancient Greek singing
in a parameterized composing environment.
Chapter XI describes the implementation of an expert system’s architecture on predicates of archaeological
content. By using a network of rules, associated with a confidence factor that is derived
from the interpretation of archaeological data, the system may deduce some propositions that perform
a modeling of archaeological excavations in terms of “social”-like predicates.
Chapter XII demonstrates the tools that help us cope with the inherent multilingualism of archaeological
publications. Namely, machine translation systems promote a subfiled of computational linguistics
that helps translate the bulk volume of texts that are kept in archaeological repositories. Of course, the
system does not have 100% success and post-processing human intervention is needed, but it is encouraging
that archaeologists have started using and developing such tools, boosting their productivity.
Section III is titled “Electronic Publishing and Copyright Protection over Archaeological Computer
Networks.”
The first chapter in this section, Chapter XIII, gives concisely the legal framework within which
authoring in virtual environments is protected. It does not go into an in depth analysis, because jurisdictional
segregation implies that each county’s legal system has its own rules and particularities.
Chapter XIV presents in a systematic manner the electronic publication of a monument of the
European cultural heritage. Methods of electronic data processing that fit in for medium to long lasting
excavations are presented so that archaeologists can take them into account.
The last chapter of this section, Chapter XV, is devoted to clarifying how blogs and forums may
host electronic publications in a manner that copyright protection is safeguarded. Emphasis is given on
how automated multilingualism may be sustained, using machine translation tools.
The last section, section IV, is titled “Selected Readings.” It is virtually an annex for the cross-border
concepts that have been presented in the first three sections. It aims to enhance the scientific background
of those seeking more insight on the technological and pedagogical aspects of CAA.
More specific, Chapter XVI examines cross-cultural e-learning problems and conflicts. In Chapter
XVII, the pedagogical impact of multimedia is presented. The next chapter, Chapter XVIII, digs
into artificial intelligence (AI) evolutionary techniques that may be used within the context of CAA.
Chapter XIX focuses on the collaborative aspects of GIS, while Chapter XX examines contemporary
issues on database design and the development of information systems (IS). Finally, Chapters XXI,
XXII, and XXIII are devoted to 3D visualizations and their profound learning dimension. The last two
chapters especially emphasize the role of virtual museums in offering new learning experiences to the
general public.