Learning A Web Based Course Through Macromedia Breeze

What is the pedagogical ideal to advance web-based students’ learning? There is no simple one-size-fits-all solution to this question, because in order to answer this question, there are three aspects that need to be addressed. The first aspect is: our customer. Every student is different; some learn more efficiently through visualization, some more efficiently through auditory assimilation, while others more efficiently through ability to feel, and ability to rationalize the information presented to them. The second aspect is the dimensions of learning: learning consists of the ability to understand, the ability to recall, and the ability to apply the knowledge meaningfully. The third aspect is the web technology; how much classroom interaction can it replicate? Hence we think the question could be easier answered if it is phrased this way: is there any web-based instructional technique that could catered to all types of learners in a way that they could very efficiently understand, retain, and then meaningfully applied for problem solving. We suspect there is, and we believe Macromedia Breeze has been helping our visual, auditory, kinesthetic, and logical students to understand, recall, and then apply the material they learned from warehouse management class (IT 332) more effectively than students whom have not had the experience via distance at Purdue University. Since web-based learning communicates through the Internet, which is generally a oneway transaction, instructors do not receive real-time response from students as in a classroom. This limitation can be eliminated by the software, Macromedia Breeze. Macromedia Breeze offers many functions that would increase the learning efficiency. In this paper, we will be introducing what Breeze is, what advantages it brings to the four different types of learning experiences, why and how it enhances understanding, retention, and meaningful application. The goal of this study is to raise awareness of Breeze so that future researchers will support or contest these pedagogical hypotheses through follow up empirical analysis. This paper will also present how this experiment was conducted, and what hypotheses were set up.