Chapter Seven: Delightful Learning 1
Introduction
This chapter considers the research question on how students experience delight in an online
learning community and how this relates to their learning. It examines what the students learnt and
enjoyed in their learning.
‘Delightful learning’ in the literature
Definition of delight
Delight can be described as an emotion since the dictionary defines delight as “extreme pleasure”
and an emotion as “any strong feeling, such as joy or fear” dictionary (Collins, 1997). In this study,
the word ‘delight’ is used to describe the feeling and emotion of delight, and therefore includes
other synonyms, such as motivation, engagement, enjoyment, pleasure, enjoyed and liked.
The affective and cognitive domains
In addition to effective online teaching and learning, the purpose of this research study was to
investigate more closely the ‘affective’ domain of ICT usage in a naturalistic, constructivist, inquiry
setting. In the literature, the affective and cognitive domains are associated with effective teaching
and learning. Emotions are described as part of the affective domain, and learning is included in the
cognitive domain (Krathwohl, Bloom, & Masia, 1964). The learner-centred principles (APA, 1997)
include the two of the four categories named: ‘Cognitive and metacognitive’, and ‘Motivational and
affective factors’.
Delight in the literature
There was little literature that mentioned ‘delight’ in an online learning community, particularly
with primary school students in the New Zealand context. Ultralab, a learning and technology
research centre, include delight in their philosophy and projects on online learning communities.
Ramondt and Chapman (1998), from Ultralab, identified True delight in the fourth stage of the
development of two online communities they were researching. In this research project on the
Learn-Now programme, data was collected over four terms to investigate whether or not delight was
evident after a period of time.
Effectiveness and ‘delight’ in online teaching and learning Anne Mason
Chapter Seven: Delightful Learning 2
Evidence of delightful learning
The following indicators for ‘delight’ and ‘learning’ helped to identify the phenomenon of
‘delightful learning’.
Delight: Indicators for ‘delight’ were when students:
• displayed signs of animation in their body language such as arm movement or facial expression
• displayed signs of delight in their voice
- the tone and volume
- the use of positive words, e.g. superlative adjectives like Great! Cool!
- exclamatory participles, e.g. excited, enjoyed, loved, liked and happy
• were engaged in the Learn-Now programme activities
- the speed, range, number and completion of activities
- during ‘out-of-school’ hours, ie, evenings, weekends
• talked about online activities to others
• expressed creative vision or innovative ideas
• made supportive or positive comments
• showed perseverance or determination when working in an online environment
• showed a sense of community by
the use of ‘I’ to ‘we’ in language
the length of time involved in learning activities or interaction
the frequency of times initiated contact with other students
sharing ideas and working collaboratively when online
using words that show they value others opinions and ideas
using questions to encourage a response or interaction
offering time and commitment to other students
supporting other students e.g. with learning activities or software
contributing to a positive tone in the online learning community with greetings, sharing
ideas and personal information, asking personal questions
contributing to positive relationships with others (teacher, students, mentors)
enjoying working together on collaborative activities
being willingly to share their ideas with others
Effectiveness and ‘delight’ in online teaching and learning Anne Mason
Chapter Seven: Delightful Learning 3
respecting each others’ differences
being willing to help/work with others on learning activities
showing confidence when interacting with others
Learning: Indicators for learning were when students:
• showed curiosity and sought to solve problems
• were able to work independently as well as collaboratively
• initiated learning activities for themselves or others
• showed interest in learning about things that interested them in their learning activities e.g.
asked questions
• made connections with prior learning experiences
• made connections between shared ideas
• reflected on what they had learnt
• differentiated between fact and opinion
• located information from a variety of sources
• identified and sought additional material or information
• engaged in self-directed learning activities, e.g. inquiries, investigations
• analysed ideas and information
• communicated effectively and appropriately
• could compare and contrast ideas
• evaluated the learning activity and ideas
• could draw conclusions
• used high-order thinking
Delightful learning from the facilitator’s viewpoint
In an interview, the facilitator described signs of delight that she observed in the students’
behaviour, such as, comments that involved an emotion or a reaction, and students wanting to begin
another project or take the next step. She gave an example of students volunteering. “The kids have
taken on-board roles such as directors and they are bouncing in [the discussion board areas] with
their offers to help, ‘I’m here to help’”. She added that the use of exclamation marks or capital
letters showed students’ delight. “If they put it in capital letters, and it’s positive, then they are
Effectiveness and ‘delight’ in online teaching and learning Anne Mason
Chapter Seven: Delightful Learning 4
shouting it out”, the facilitator laughed, “because they know that capital letters means emphasis.” In
MSN the students’ delight was often more obvious as they added emoticons that were positive and
visual, such as a smiley face or a wink. The facilitator said that when she was in the face-to-face
situation in a video-conferencing session or visiting, she could see their “visual bounce”, as they
bobbed up and down on the edge of their seats.
Delightful learning
Delight was linked with engagement and motivation. Data about what the students learnt came from
a number of sources: students’ comments in the Feedback Centre, discussion boards, the
facilitator’s interviews and students’ documents and questionnaires. The students’ pleasure and
delight was very evident from the very beginning. The students emphasized words, used
exclamation marks, capital letters, positive words and emoticons to express their delight and
enjoyment. The students also showed engagement in their learning activities. This was very evident
from the quantity, quality and completion of activities, the number of discussion board messages
they posted, and the times spent on the programme, gained from the Blackboard statistics and
learning logs. In an interview, the facilitator commented that many students accessed the Learn-
Now programme outside classroom or school hours, often about half an hour to two hours a night.
Delight in the use of ICT
The students learnt to use various information and communication technologies as well as gaining
enjoyment from them. Many students enjoyed the synchronous tools to communicate with. They
used computers in various places around the school, for example in classrooms, computer rooms,
and in the principals’ office. The position of the computers sometimes impacted on students’ access
to computers. For example, students who accessed a computer from the Principals’ office
sometimes found that it was not available, which impacted on their time allocation to the
programme and their enjoyment of their online learning. Some students used computers that were
always located in one place, whereas others used laptops that were more mobile (Fig. 59).
Effectiveness and ‘delight’ in online teaching and learning Anne Mason
Chapter Seven: Delightful Learning 5
Computer skills: In the
Feedback Centre, the facilitator asked
some reflective questions about what
the students had learnt this year in the
Learn-Now programme. Some
students wrote about increasing the
speed of their typing and
improving their skills in using the
Internet and communication tools
such as email. One student wrote
that he liked posting messages
because he liked typing, and
another enjoyed becoming more
independent and needing less
support.
Using collaborative tools: Most students learnt how to navigate and use Blackboard and its
synchronous and asynchronous collaborative tools effectively. The students enjoyed using
collaborative tools to contact students from other schools. Some students mentioned that one of the
greatest things about the programme was using the Virtual classroom, a synchronous form of
interaction. In Term 3 when asked what made the programme so enjoyable, one student replied,
“This program is cool because we learn how to use our computer to communicate via the virtual
classroom.”
Creating presentations using software: Students had become more competent in their use of
software programmes. They commented in the Feedback Centre of their improved knowledge and
use of basic software like Microsoft Word and PowerPoint, as well as web design software. For
example, some students indicated specifically that they had enjoyed learning to create a PowerPoint
presentation. It was evident that more skills had been learnt than those students had indicated in
their feedback. For example, many students used the terminology of the software applications
correctly and appropriately, which showed that they were learning about the technology while using
it.
Adding colour and movement: Many students enjoyed exploring and practicing new skills, such
Effectiveness and ‘delight’ in online teaching and learning Anne Mason
Chapter Seven: Delightful Learning 6
as writing html coding to add colour and movement to text. One student gave specific details about
skills she had learnt, “I love the colour font”. Many students enjoyed using html coding to add
colour and movement with marquee, for example, “Fun Fun Fun Fun Fun!!!!!!!”, which showed
striped and coloured words scrolling back and forth across the screen. In an interview, the facilitator
laughed as she described a funny situation when some students learned the appropriate times to use
marquee html code. The students had added movement coding to the beginning and end of their
message, but had difficulty reading it because the whole message, (not just the title) was moving
from left to right and back across the screen. Part of learning, she believed, was allowing students to
explore.
The students enjoyed practising their skills by showing their peers and online friends what they
could do. One school had asked for students not to participate in the social areas as they considered
it to be a waste of time. However, in Term 1, some students commented that the informal areas were
where they practiced their new skills. “I really want the Crazy Chit Chat back because it was an
excuse for me to use my knowledge of colour text.” In the social areas, students not only developed
their relationships, and their social and collaborative skills, but also practiced and learnt new skills
from each other informally.
Computer texting: Many students enjoyed exploring and practicing new skills in texting.
Computer texting was a feature of this community that many students enjoyed, very evident from
the quantity of messages with abbreviated words. Some farewell messages had text signatures, such
as, “L8ers, KT” and many students used emoticons ( ;-) or ).
Delight in social learning
Communication skills
Students developed their communication skills in both online and offline
activities (Fig. 60). In the Feedback Centre, some students wrote about
the communication skills they had learnt when using the collaborative
tools. They learnt to promote discussion by using questions or beginning
a new thread. They also learnt to continue discussion by responding to a
message.
Effectiveness and ‘delight’ in online teaching and learning Anne Mason
Chapter Seven: Delightful Learning 7
Students learnt to communicate appropriately, for example using computer texting in informal but
not in formal language. The computer texting (Fig. 61) was a skill that many students developed to
convey their message in a limited amount of time.
Figure 61: Another example of computer texting (abbreviated words)
Social skills
Students used the collaborative tools to get to know each other and make friends with one another.
Later, they worked together, giving opinions and negotiating ideas. They helped and supported each
other by sharing what they had learnt. When asked in their reflective journal at the end of Term 1,
what were the new things they had learnt in the Learn-Now programme, there were comments that
included chatting online and emailing others. However, new experiences also included arguing and
being criticized online, which they did not enjoy this, as it was a form of bullying. The facilitator
gave students guided instructions on how to give and receive constructive feedback to prevent
negative reactions. She also dealt with bullying by email when it arose.
Socialising
Students gained pleasure and delight in communicating and working collaboratively with other
students. When asked at the end of Term One, what had been the greatest things about the
programme, there were many comments about the social relationships they had developed. In an
interview, the facilitator said that the students enjoyed chatting and getting to know other students.
The students reinforced this with many comments. They liked the online learning because they:
• learnt with friends
• helped and worked with others
• worked with different people
• shared problems with others and got support and advice from them
• read others’ ideas and opinions
• understood how other people thought and felt
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Chapter Seven: Delightful Learning 8
• had a large audience of seventy-five people
• could voice an opinion about what’s going on
When asked in the Term Four evaluation about what they like about the programme, one student
wrote about the feelings and emotions when speaking up in a face-to-face situation. The student felt
supported by the online students within a supportive community (Fig. 62).
Silence in eSchool [the Learn-Now programme] doesn’t hurt as
much as silence in the classroom when you say something
because sooner or later someone always supports you.
Figure 62: A comment made about online support
Student-
teacher relationship
Some students appreciated the close relationship between themselves and the facilitator. Several
students wrote that they enjoyed working with the facilitator, Jo Clouston. When asked in the Term
Four evaluation what they enjoyed, one student replied, “Jo!!! Because I learnt that school can be fun
and it’s because she was never grumpy, never bossy and never in my face. She gave me so much
opportunity and more than I’ve ever had in a school before.” Another student wrote that since working
with Jo, his relationships with other teachers had improved and they now trusted him.
Delight in the online programme
Novelty factor
Students sometimes enjoy using ICT, because of its novelty factor. In Term 3, when students were
asked what they enjoyed about the programme, one student replied with, “I think the whole concept
that you are in an online extension project.” Another student commented, “doing extension work to
get out of class”, so perhaps part of the enjoyment at the end of Term One was the novelty factor. In
addition, another student commented about using ICT to learn in a different way, “doing a whole
new school sort of thing on the computer not just typing and researching”.
Clubs, projects and businesses
There were numerous comments from students about how they got great pleasure and delight from
the clubs, projects and businesses. “Clubs and projects are cool too” and “The thing that makes this
Effectiveness and ‘delight’ in online teaching and learning Anne Mason
Chapter Seven: Delightful Learning 9
programme cool is being able to do cool projects.” Some reasons were: they had success and fun,
and yet were still learning, it was interesting, they had learnt new skills, including life skills. For
example, one student wrote, “This program is cool because we learn how to set up and run our own
business”.
Having control of their own learning
Students enjoyed taking responsibility for their own learning. In Term Three when students were
asked what they enjoyed about the programme one student wrote, “I think the whole concept that
you are driving your own learning”. This became a strong point for some students when their
supervisors and parents made decisions for them about their projects without discussing the issues
with them. These students wanted to be included in or responsible for making decisions in their own
learning.
Collaborative learning
Some students really enjoyed the clubs and projects because of their collaborative nature. “The
clubs are fun because you can talk to people all over NZ.” “Working with other students is also
awesome.” The students enjoyed having access to other students’ projects and clubs, “What makes
this programme enjoyable is being able to see what other people are doing and you may be able to
join in and see what other people are doing.”
Having fun
Students enjoyed having fun in their learning. There were a lot of reflective comments that linked
fun with aspects of their learning activities. One student commented on the learning activities, “I
enjoy the Learn-Now programme because of the fun tasks we need 2 complete.” The students
enjoyed the business centre, evident by comments like, “The businesses make the most fun.” The
students enjoyed having fun while still learning.
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Chapter Seven: Delightful Learning 10
Being involved in real-life situations
A number of students enjoyed the businesses because it involved making money. Perhaps this made
it more authentic and relevant for students when the learning activity was situated in the real world.
They made comments like, “I think the whole concept that you can earn money from it!” and “I
really like the business centre because it is fun and makes more money.” “This program is cool
because we can make money with our business”. Although making money was part of the pleasure,
for some students, it seemed that this was also linked with the social responsibility of raising money
to help others, in their community and in the international context. “I enjoy it coz I like trying to sort
out our pizza business. I also like the idea of donating to charity so we picked CanTeen. I'm having
fun making the pizzas.” “The thing that makes it enjoyable 4 me is the thought of helping people
out and raising heaps of money.” Some students commented, “I like it because we are getting into
bigger and better things like making money it makes it a lot of fun.
Learning life skills
Some students enjoyed learning activities that gave them life skills. In the feedback comments about
what should be included in the programme in the following year, some students added businesses. “I
like the idea of making a business and I think it should be carried on next year, because it gives us
skills for later life.” In Term 4, “I also like being able to learn things that I can use later on in life,
business or other.” “The Business Centre because it helped us to know how to set up Business for
later in life. I just thought you had to get a job but now I can think about having my own business
too.” One student also added “it helps extend yourself to higher levels”.
Summary
This chapter on delightful learning described the factors that contributed to students experiencing
delight in an online learning community and examined how this related to their learning.
Delightful learning in the literature: Delight was described as an emotion since the dictionary
defines delight as “extreme pleasure” and an emotion as “any strong feeling, such as joy or fear”
dictionary (Collins, 1997). In this research project, I have assumed therefore that delight is an
emotion.
Literature also defined emotions as part of the affective domain and learning as included in the
Effectiveness and ‘delight’ in online teaching and learning Anne Mason
Chapter Seven: Delightful Learning 11
cognitive domain (Krathwohl, Bloom, & Masia, 1964). The affective and cognitive domains are
also included in the learner-centred principles (APA, 1997).
In this study, the word ‘delight’ was not so important as the feeling and emotion of delight, pleasure
and enjoyment that this research was seeking to examine. Therefore, the word 'delight' was used and
included other synonyms of delight, such as motivation, engagement, enjoyment, pleasure, enjoyed
and liked.
In the review of literature about online learning communities, 'delight' was not often mentioned,
except when associated with Ultralab, a learning and technology research centre. Ramondt and
Chapman (1998) describe ‘True delight’ as the fourth stage in the development of two online
communities. In this research project on the Learn-Now programme, data was collected over four
terms in a year to investigate whether or not delight was evident after a period of time.
Indicators of delight: The factors that contributed to students' delight in their learning, were
identified using indicators for 'delight' and 'learning' to help identify the phenomenon of 'delightful
learning'. Some indicators for 'delight' were when students used positive words or comments,
punctuation (GREAT!!!!), were engaged in the Learn-Now programme activities during 'out-of-
school' hours, and enjoyed working together on collaborative activities. Indicators for learning were
when students initiated learning activities for themselves or others, were able to work independently
as well as collaboratively, reflected on what they had learnt and were engaged in self-directed
learning activities.
The students' pleasure and delight was very evident from the beginning. The students emphasized
words, used exclamation marks, capital letters, positive words and emoticons to express their
delight and enjoyment. The students also showed engagement in their learning activities, evident
from them accessing Blackboard outside school hours. Students gained delight in the use of ICT,
social learning and the online programme.
Delight in the use of ICT: The students enjoyed using various information and communication
technologies, and in particular, synchronous tools. Students increased the speed of their typing and
improved their skills in using the Internet and communication tools. They learnt how to navigate
Blackboard and enjoyed using its collaborative tools to contact students from other schools.
Students got enjoyment from improving their computer skills and knowledge of software
programmes and using them creatively. They also enjoyed exploring and learning new skills, for
example, computer texting and writing in html coding to add colour and movement to text. They got
Effectiveness and ‘delight’ in online teaching and learning Anne Mason
Chapter Seven: Delightful Learning 12
a great deal of pleasure from practising and sharing these skills in the social areas.
Delight in social learning: The students developed communication and collaborative skills
through online and off line activities. They learnt to communicate appropriately, for example using
computer texting in informal but not formal language. Students used the collaborative tools to get to
know each other and supported one another by sharing what they had learnt. Students gained
pleasure and delight in learning with other students from other schools and countries. The students
developed close relationships in the online learning community with each other and the facilitator.
Delight in the online programme: Some students enjoyed the online learning because it was a
novelty. There were numerous comments from the students about how they enjoyed and liked the
clubs, projects and businesses. They enjoyed them because they were collaborative, and involved
real-life situations and life skills. Students also enjoyed taking responsibility for their own learning
and having fun in their learning. There were a lot of reflective comments that linked fun with
aspects of their learning activities.
Chapters Four to Seven are the findings of the study and are now followed by the conclusion and
recommendations.
Effectiveness and ‘delight’ in online teaching and learning Anne Mason