Ashley Montgomery,
Ph.D. Candidate University of Tennessee montgome@utk.edu |
Julie K. Little,
Ed.D. University of Tennessee jklittle@utk.edu |
In the State of the Union address last January, President Clinton talked about the internet revolutionizing education. In reality the revolution is brewing slowly due to infrastructure and connectivity issues. For these participants, the collective application of internet-based instructional technologies is still in its infancy and remains bound to augmenting traditional face-to-face applications. However, a portion have overcome the issues, surpassed the challenges of using initial internet-based technologies, and are immersing themselves in advanced technologies to deliver education at a distance. As a result, the next and potentially greatest contribution the internet may make to education will be in revolutionizing distance education (West, 1991).
Distance education is no stranger to change. Since its earliest form as paper-based correspondence in the 1800's, the concept of delivering education at a distance has changed to incorporate new and emerging technologies. These have included, but are not limited to, ham-radio, audio and video cassette, telephone, and two-way audio video. While all of these delivery mechanisms are still in use, the concept of distance education continues to expand as new internet technologies emerge. "Around the globe, technology is changing the way we work and play. It is changing how we use information and is making lifelong learning a necessity in almost every walk of life. In the process, it is moving distance education-our ability to meet the changing needs of learners everywhere they may be-into the mainstream of our academic community" (Miller, 1997, p.3).
The United States Distance Learning Association defines distance learning as the acquisition of knowledge and skills through mediated information and instruction, encompassing all technologies and other forms of learning at a distance. Clearly, this definition incorporates the wide range of technologies available for the delivery of instruction at a distance. However, there remains little clarity regarding effective teaching and learning models.
Distance education, with all of its delivery mechanisms, is so attractive to institutions of higher learning because of increasing costs associated with traditional means of delivering instruction. It is attractive to learners because instructor expertise can be distributed across time and distance - therefore learning can be achieved "anytime, anyplace." With institutional efforts to build a telecommunications infrastructure, adding the "internet element" increases the speed, flexibility, and reach of distance education. But again, the question remains, how do we foster collaboration and communication for quality dialogue amongst a community of learners?
Rather than creating new ways for students to learn over the internet, the common model emerging is to use internet technologies to draw more students to a course. Often, this model leaves learner dialogue partially, if not totally, unexercised. With the institutional push to embrace cost effective instructional delivery mechanisms, resources to develop innovative models of instruction have been limited. As a result, an unfortunate recourse is to employ traditional teaching methodologies over new internet technologies.
A growing number of educators have begun to seek a corrective to didactic teaching and passive recall. That "fix" is active student involvement in the learning process. Educators are realizing the power of active engagement and recognizing their students need constructivist learning opportunities. As a result, these educators are discovering ways to structure instruction so students collaborate in the learning process.
Quality learning in higher education involves more than skill training. Learners need prompting to think critically about their lives and futures, and to examine their assumptions about and place in the world. When exercised, these skills enable them to be flexible and creative learners throughout their lifetime, not just during their time amongst the student ranks of higher education.
"The least effective mode of teaching and learning is still the most popular at all levels of instruction: teaching by telling, learning by parroting. I tell it. You tell is back to me. When you tell it back to me the way I told it to you, I assume you have knowledge. In this world of classic didacticism, the poor student alternates between passive listening and mindless recall, the "good" student between good note-taker and clever cramming. The poor student becomes bored, alienated, or hostile; the "good" student skilled at short-term mimicry" (Elder, 1997, p.1).
Utilizing internet-based technologies requires changing the way we teach and learn. Rethinking how information is delivered is the initial - and often last - step. However, teaching a course via the internet holds the potential for offering a collaborative learning environment that reinforces discussion and interaction. Rethinking how to facilitate communication is often a missing step and the focus of this paper.
Within internet-based delivery mechanisms, it is time to move beyond earlier models where communication takes the form of submitting paper-based assignments or passive observation of video (Burgstahler, 1997). This has particular relevance when you consider how many people use the internet for personal communication. With this in mind, why not have a course that is collaborative and fosters a class support structure where learners can benefit from the community for help or additional instruction?
"Socialization is not best done by segregating students into classrooms. The computer is a medium in which what you make lends itself to be modified and shared. When students get together on a project, there is abundant discussion; they show it to others, other students want to see it, they learn to share knowledge with other people much more than in a traditional classroom" (de Pommereau, 1997, p.2). While a great deal of emphasis is being placed on putting courses and degree programs on the Web, less attention is being given to the other components that help to foster a successful learning environment. These components include the affective and social, as well as the cognitive elements of a college education, some of which occur outside of class time, some take place during class, and even some occur during class but not necessarily during instructional time (Bauman, 1997). These "other" elements are important components to a college education and need to be included in any distance education plan.
Fostering these class dynamics in a distance education class involves institutions offering more than technologically advanced versions of correspondence classes where learners complete independent lessons, send them to some unknown instructor, and receive a grade with some comments or corrections (Bauman, 1997). This change would involve offering learners the opportunity to interact with other learners, to include the instructor and others from online learning communities related to the course. The online learning community is where students can try out new ideas, test their assumptions, and ask questions in the company of other learners who are doing the same (Donahue, 1996).
In addition, while the concept of distance education on the internet is still new, we already need to look at revising models of instruction for Web-based delivery of courses. Unlike previous models for distance education, the internet offers the opportunity to create online learning communities where we can benefit from the casual interactions that help to create classroom communities (Buchanan, 1997). Because these sort of interactions occur naturally and inevitably as a result of the people in a class seeing each other face to face at a set time and place, thinking and planning for these kind of experiences becomes necessary in a distance education model (Bower, 1998).
Redefining an instructor's role to include facilitator of interaction and well as joining the community of learners as an equal partner, can make the transition to a distance education model on the internet a difficult change (Osterman, 1994). As facilitator of learning in an internet-based course, we no longer benefit from verbal and visual cues which are traditionally use to gauge student engagement and understanding of the material.
The first step is to identify the unique traits of each member then understand the dynamics of the entire group. The facilitator's awareness of these factors can enhance communication, cooperation, and collaboration; improve shared problem solving; and team building. This is particularly important because the process of team building is essential to student satisfaction and increased retention (Roda, 1994).
In this model for distance education, technology is an enabler. It requires a network of resources to backup an environment conducive to communication and collaboration. The structure and support of the network are important in limiting the complexity of the learner interface. The specifics depend on the individual case and can be best evaluated in the beginning of a course.
In such a course, tutors and facilitators are essential resources. Like the textbooks supporting face-to-face teaching, teaching materials must be produced to include critical information and resources needed to stimulate learner communication and cooperation.
The components in this model work to reinforce the teaching and learning process by facilitating communication. Keep in mind it is not necessary to design for the lowest common denominator. Instead, it is more valuable to maintain the focus on the learner and class content, not the technology. Therefore, by working within the technology, the learner may have more internalized learning experiences with the content that ultimately build confidence as well as experience with technology.
Given the above, let's link some factors to establish a rationale for creating online learning communities:
IF learners, particularly adult learners, respond best to collaborative opportunities; AND the internet is a powerful mechanism for delivering learning opportunities to adults; THEN online courses should have elements of collaboration built-in to facilitate the learning community.
Fostering interaction, communication, and collaboration involves understanding the limitations and strengths of the technology you select to use. As the facilitator/instructor, choose the technology you are comfortable with and will use for other purposes besides this particular course. Also, it is important to use the simplest, most appropriate tools you can for the purposes you want to achieve.
There are several potential difficulties involved with Web-based learning communities and many of them stem from the fact that we have moved into an online environment. This means that we no longer have the benefit of interactions that naturally and inevitably occur as a result of face-to-face classes. Success in building a distance education class that communicates with the instructor, as a group, and with fellow class members requires that the instructor think and plan for this type of experience by pursuing a variety of asynchronous and synchronous communication options. Some tools that might be utilized include:
Success in a Web-based distance education class with these tools is possible because one of the reasons the Web is such a powerful medium for instruction is because it is used for other reasons. Because most students use the Web for entertainment, learning to use a chat tool, contributing to a net forum, or filling out a form online have a very low learning curve because they are already familiar with the technology.
Note:Many of these resources can be maintained via
packages like webCT, Lotus Learning Space, or TopClass. They are tools designed to
facilitate the creation of WWW educational environments. Aside from
facilitating WWW based course development, they aid in the management and
maintenance of extensive web sites.
With the growth in popularity of continuing education, there is also a increasing need for new models, methods, and technologies that support collaborative learner centered experiences. In combination with the growth of the Web and increased connectivity there is more support to develop new teaching environments. Together these two ideas promote a more flexible, collaborative learning experience that implements communication tool that allow learners to access many sources of information in a variety of formats at their own pace.
Successful implementation of these new communication tools depends on a change in teaching styles. This shift in the pedagogy is a movement away from a teacher-centered paradigm toward a learner-centered paradigm. This translates into instructional design that uses collaborative technologies integrated with communication tools to facilitate group work, discovery learning, mentoring, and foster continuous life-long learning.
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Ashley Montgomery is a doctoral student at the University of Tennessee in the Instructional Technology program. She works in the Office of Computing for the College of Education as the College's Webmaster, LAN adminstrator for their Novell Network, and helps to provide technical support / training for the faculty and staff. Her research interests include teacher experience of using technology in their classroom, with emphasis on the incorporation of internet resources in the curriculum.
Dr. Julie Little is Manager of the Innovative Technologies Center and an Adjunct Assistant Professor with the College of Education, University of Tennessee, Knoxville. In addition to working with faculty across the University to integrate technology in their teaching practice, Dr. Little is also the Coordinator of the Technology Licensure Standards program where she works with preservice teachers. Her current research interests involve distance education, particularly integrating web-based technologies.