Assignment 3 - Online Education

Bev Rogers
Unit 81524
Graduate Certificate in Distance Education
 

Introduction

One of the key considerations in using the web for education, and for me, one of the key attractions, is the potential for improving student learning and achievement. It is something of a contentious position to suggest that the use of the web in education improves learning.  Clark (1983) is very clear about his view that media and the use of technology are the vehicles for the delivery of instruction and do not influence student achievement. In his view it is the instructional design which does this. Others disagree, for example Kozma (1994) when he argues for reconsidering this position in the light of future technologies which can provide sufficient conditions for learning to take place. Najjar (1996) believes that computer-based instruction may in fact, force better instructional design and hence be responsible for better learning advantages. This could occur though the use of multi-media which provides for dual-coding of information.

It is my view that the technology available through the WWW both currently and in the future, has the capability to create opportunities for instructional design which has not previously been possible with other media, either individually or in combination. Whether increased student achievement comes because of the instructional design afforded by use of the web or by the nature of the technology itself may not in the long run matter. It might be more important to heed Clark's concern that educational technology is not just tacked onto existing courses which may be poorly designed in the hope that they are transformed.  The use of web-based technology has the potential to not only influence learning but influence the design of instruction aimed at student learning, provided that the designer takes the time to consider the key elements of ID and the opportunities and challenges afforded by the technology.

Learning

The potential for the significant use of the web is partly due to the way in which the web capitalises on the ability to use media in a way which parallels human cognition.  Increasingly, viewing an education as mastering a body of knowledge or being a complete preparation for a career is becoming outmoded (Twigg 1994).  This is due in part to the definition of learning changing over time, to the changing profile of people accessing courses beyond their initial qualifications, the changing nature of employment patterns, and also in part because the actual content of bodies of knowledge is increasing and /or changing so fast, no one can hope to learn all they need 'in one sitting'. The developments in knowledge about how people learn points to the need for an expanded notion of teaching and delivery of courses. Twigg points to two developments (Gardner's 7 intelligences (- now 8 and 1/2 I think) and Myer-Briggs Type Indicators for preferred learning styles), which would suggest some possible directions for this expanded notion of teaching based on the convergence of what we know, with new multi-media capabilities. If we are able to utilise the WWW to provide these opportunities, it may that be the potential it has for people learning about thinking, that provides the most power.

Hughes (1994) states that human cognition is essentially organised as a semantic network in which concepts are linked together by associations. Hypertext systems try to exploit this basic nature of cognition. Jaffe (1995) has suggested that hypertext calls on and develops cognitive skills beyond those associated with processing static text because it is non-linear and organised along multiple dimensions. It is the ability to link pages through text or various forms of media which are one of the important elements of web-based education.  This can be a double-edged sword in terms of promoting deep learning as opposed to surface skimming or 'surfing', because the learner may not have sufficient skills to use or search the information successfully. However, the potential exists, not only to develop these skills but to facilitate meta-cognitive skills in the learner, as they monitor their actions. Jaffe suggests that the non-linear nature of the web can produce flexible representations of knowledge which are suitable for complex bodies of knowledge, by enabling the learner to 'criss-cross conceptual landscapes' linking new knowledge to existing schema to produce structures which are able to be accessed in a variety of (real) situations.

One of the other key elements of web-based education is the connection with knowledge sources, either human or digital in a range of situations across the world. This is not only possible with current news and recent key events, but is becoming more so with on-line papers, conference reports, on-line journals and courses and the increasing digitisation and storage of resources in virtual galleries and museums. The accessibility of up-to-date information about a wide variety of subjects in a variety of forms makes the use of the web a very different proposition from the use of texts and libraries of probably out-of-date printed resources. In the McKenzie (1994) article on 'Libraries of the Future', he describes two possible futures for libraries and their 'guardians'. This will be discussed later, but at this point it is important to note that the multimedia environment, including the internet, is already providing easy access to much of the kind of information previously only available in libraries. This is "independent of time and place and subject discipline" and according to McKenzie, poses the greatest promise and the greatest threat.

Teaching

"Traditionally, teachers are the "keepers of knowledge" and they transmit this knowledge to students." (Pedroni 1996)   One of the things which becomes clear to anyone who attempts to access the most recent knowledge in a subject field or the most recent happenings around the world, is that being the keeper of knowledge is no longer physically possible and has not been for quite some time. The model of the teacher using strategies to 'transmit' what is known, is not one which will serve our students well into the 21st century. There are at least two reasons for this. The first is concerned with changes in work practices and expectations of the kinds of skills people need to move into and stay in employment. Skills like problem-solving, working in a team, gathering, using and presenting information (e.g. Meyer key competencies). The second concerns the reality of the global technological world and the need to face this as an opportunity not a threat.

The World Wide Web is a reality and will continue to grow in its links to information and communication opportunities. "The Internet has the ability to erase all geographical, languages, and time barriers so that students can continue their learning long after leaving the school grounds. " (Pedroni 1996)  The kinds of skills students need to manage rich information sources include investigation, researching and making meaning from data (McKenzie 1996).  This list also coincides with skills required in the workplaces of the next century. Teachers need to provide students with the "technology of questioning" :

"Questioning is the primary technology to make meaning(s). Questioning converts data into information and information into insight." (McKenzie 1996)  These are just the kind of skills which are needed in using web-based resources, without which leaping from link to link could be a chaotic path to being 'lost in hyperspace'.  McKenzie also claims that students must learn at least three kinds of literacy - text, numerical and visual. He defines literacy as the ability to make meaning from data. This would be a crucial skill to be able to navigate through cyberspace. The Bellingham schools site has a good set of information and on-line teacher development lessons which tackle the issue.

The WWW provides opportunities to do what McKenzie describes as real time research. Much of the research with students is project-based research. This requires students to work in teams and use problem-solving skills and make decision making questions. They can employ the research cycle which involves:

"In classrooms where technology is used to engage students in learning, teachers are no longer the informational givers,they are facilitators, guides, and co-learners. As facilitators, teachers provide rich learning environments, experiences, and activities, create opportunities for students to work collaborative, to solve problems, do authentic tasks, and share knowledge and responsibility" (Pedroni).  They must create opportunities for interpersonal skills and cooperative learning in a global neighbourhood. The consequences of the education sector not doing something will be that the commercial sector will,  with all its influence on on advertising , entertainment and pop culture (McKenzie). If the contribution the use of web-based education can make is ignored then the educational aspect will be commercially driven with all its inherent inequalities and marketing of the 'truth'.
 
"The challenge of teaching is to communicate matter in such a way that learners can understand and, as a result, actively engage. The success of learning, depends, to a large degree, on the amount of interaction with the materials and also with the social learning environment such as other students and the instructor".(Schlegel 1996)  The web-based environment has the potential to allow for deep interaction with the learning materials because it mirrors cognitive processes. The global communication available via the web also has the potential for involvement with other students and the instructor.

Libraries of the future

McKenzie (1994) suggests a 'best case scenario' in putting forward the concepts of media specialists(or librarians) being pilots, information mediators, IT managers and/or curators. As pilots there is a key role in helping learners navigate the sea of information which threatens to be an 'info-glut' without the skills to manage it. As information mediators, librarians would identify and evaluate resources available for teachers in order to provide support to a curriculum planning teams of teachers. As IT manager, they could be able to bring to the managment of WANs and LANs an educational framework for how they are organised rather than solely a technical one. The organisation could be based on the most effective teaching and learning associated with a particular resource like a CD-ROM encyclopaedia. As curator, the librarian could have the role of protecting artifacts like old pictures, manuscripts, oral history tapes etc while access to these objects is provided on-line via a digitised version. This is already being done with many sites. An example is the Vatican Library where a variety of pictures, manuscripts and letters can be seen.

Opportunities provide through the WWW

Schlegel 1996 suggests many advantages of the web, as does Carvin (1997) and other writers. Carvin sees four roles for the Web in relation to education. These are as tutor, publishing house, forum and navigator. I have attempted to summarise the advantages described by a number of writers under the following headings and where possible have added a link showing an example. The benefits listed in most cases apply to the designer of courses and well as the student (consumer) of courses.

Curriculum

  1. Research capabilities Field Museum - online exhibits     Australian National Botanical Gardens
  2. On-line Courses not otherwise available e.g.Virtual School, School for the gifted, NASA site. Basics of Space Flight, Web Topics
  3. Real world information with e-zines and newspapers on line e.g. Newscorp
  4. Can use for archiving of conferences, reports for example AusWeb95
Instruction
  1. Creation of own work and publishing as web pages, PDF, word etc. MidLink magazine

    2. HTML easy to use especially with Word 97. Text can be typed or scanned as a word document and then converted to HTML by saving the file. This is particularly effective for papers, minutes or articles published in a number of formats. A similar process works for Adobe Acrobat PDF files. See an example of a paper http://www.connect.usq.edu.au/students/d9713107/  on my homepage. It is important here to maintain standard forms of HTML which work on any browser. Currently some browsers support non standard code.
  2. Content of the Web can be changed easily and updated. The use of WYSIWYG editors makes the updating in adding of information as easy as typing a document. However, this achieves only the basics of the content - there needs to be considerable effort put into the design of the pages in keeping with their purpose. Schlegel suggests that there is a need to consider a more reflective stance to web design, which involves the consideration of cognitve issues, theories of learning and instructional design.
  3. Allows synchronous and asynchronous learning via newsgroups, email, conferencing. There are a large number of listservs operating which enables people to subscribe to a 'talk list' concerning a particular field of interest or topic. Personal experience reveals a changing population of subscribers and people decide what meets their needs and the more common feature of archiving the information in searchable form providing a rich source of assistance. An example of this is the CU-SEEME talk list providing almost constant practical assistance from a range of people in different locations aroud the world, in using this method of video conferencing.
  4. Combination of multimedia and text into one document - Java and Javascript, Real Audio and Video, Shockwave Quicktime and VRML. An example of real audio interviews I have put together is at

    5. http://www.nexus.edu.au/associations/saspa/exp.htm  The Progressive networks site provides the Real Player at no cost and examples of the possibilities. My own experience in creating a real audio version of a track from my school's CD - Barcelona Nights - has demonstated that the process is achievable by a novice. the use of Java and Javascript has the potential to allow for interactivity in the form of simulations driven by the user or animations which reveal patterns relevant to the topic- see for example Animated Fractals, and the numerous subject based sites which make use of java applets, e.g. Gollog's Periodic Table  of javascript at e.g. Music 101   
    Examples of Shockwave sites at Macromedia Gallery  , examples of all multimedia at Judy Stern's Multimedia on the Web bookmarks
  5. Global Communication and sharing projects eg Virtual Classroom using Email, mail lists , chat and video conferencing for teachers and students.  Projects R-12 list, Web 66  Educational Technology Strategies - research and evaluation  This is no only for student-related projects. The potential for collaboration by teachers from a number of locations to develop web-based resources is already there. This could involve the notion of 'collective ownership' of documents which might be threatening, but as Schlegel suggests, might improve the quality of them.
  6. Level of interactivity unmatched by other forms of technology. The speed of communication means that students can communicate with people they would not normally be able to contact directly other than letter. The communications can be exchanged a number of times in the time it would take to send and receive a letter. Some 'experts' in certain fields are happy to be available for assistance via email rather than phone, since it can maintain privacy and give the support person control of their work times. The range of ways in which interaction can occur utilising the same set of hardware and software contributes to this.
  7. Access to information and courses in extended time-frame. Schlegel discusses the concept of life-long and just-in-time learning. The WWW can provide the opportunity for updates for those with existing knowledge and learning about new areas form scratch. This is particularly the case using the ability to publish without production times. The combination of CD ROM and internet for updates is a useful mechanism being currently used by Encyclopaedia (e.g. Encyclopaedia Britannica) developers. The WWW also provides the opportunity to learn from resources or artifacts which the student cannot visit or that the school or institution cannot afford to buy.  e.g. Museums and Cultural centres on-line
  8. Allows for a step back from face to face - eg lurking. One of the benefits suggested by some writers is that the effect of allowing for participation at various levels (i.e. active vs lurking) in newsgroups, listservs etc can be positive. People can learn in a way which matches their confidence at a particular time. This may have the effect of including a broader range of people in further education.
Assessment
  1. Possibility of increased learning due to paralleling of human cognition would need to be mathed by a range of methods of assessing student work. Some courses include submissions to a newsgroup or on-line conferencing system which are part of the course marks. The number of ways in which work can be assessed apart from essay increases with the use of technology. However students need to feel confortable with it and have the required skills in utilising the technology.
  2. Feedback can be given on a more individual basis. Apart from the lecturer, feedback can be received from other members of the course, structured in response to agreed signposts in the course. My personal experience here is that the kind of feedback available once people have developed more comfort with email, is of potentially higher quality that face to face tutorials, partly because, the responses can be very short and that the writer can take time in thinking and composing responses which are specific.
It is of some interest to determine the age range which can most benefit from certain web-based assessment strategies. The applicability to secondary high school students is of interest in my own situation and warrants further attention.

 Technical

  1. Platform independence and easily available tutorials and on-line help e.g. Maricopa Centre , Levine's tutorial,Yale C/AIM Web Style Guide to HTML, From sucky to savvy - web pages
  2. Global Communication and sharing projects as above. Email and the similar setup of newsgroups, talk-lists, mailing lists, etc are probably the easiest methods of communication at the moment. Chat groups also fit in here because of their general ease of use and their similarity to other methods of sharing text-based communication. Much more development needs to be done in web-based video conferencing involving synchronous audio and video before it can be a main pillar of communication in a course. This does not prevent trialling of something like net-meeting. It does however require additional hardware and software in an area where standards are developing.
Threats
Schlegel also suggests that one of the biggest threats which the WWW creates,  is to conventional classroom delivery. This is the case for several reasons. The reconfiguring of the concepts of author and reader, student and teacher, learner and lecturer are likely in a hypertext environment. Such an environment brings a bigger focus on the learner, and learning rather than teaching Schlegel suggests.
 
Evaluation
Many writers claim the advantages of the WWW in education and there is some quantitative research to show this for example, Schutte . Rather than focus on research comparing this kind of technology with traditional methods, Ehrmann suggests that this is a useless question, because it represents 'traditional methods' as some widely practiced method with predictable results, which Ehrmann suggests is not the case. A more profitable series of questions would concern the kind of technologies which support certain kinds of learning and the strategies developed to use them. He uses a term 'worldware' to desribe those kind of 'enduring' technologies which are worth building into delivery of instruction. Some exampes are word processors, CAD, email and internet. The Flashlight Project is an example of efforts to evaluate the effectiveness of educational technologies. The paper by Yuri (1996) ives some detail of linking certain kinds of meida with the kinds of learning desired.

Concerns
Some of the following concerns about the internet and web-based resources have been expressed by a number of writers. Censorship and inappropriate content, there being no one in control (some writers suggest this is a positive), out of date URLs, multimedia not  integrated yet especially via modem because of bandwith requirement, the nature of web pages being anarchic and disorganised or poorly structured, and different levels of censorship applying in different countries may lead to uneven development of the internet and may compromise the accuracy of information or its relevance to the lives of real people.

Some of the technical concerns in regard to the use of web-based education may disappear as the developments in technology lead to better integration of multimedia, faster download time, cheaper hardware and perhaps the webTV interface which will make access easier. Telstra, for example, are planning their marketing based on strategies which deliver the internet connection as easily as switching on a TV. The article by Downes (1996) suggests that this development could be rapid. "Moore's law predicts new technologies to be developed and distributed cheaply whilst Metcalfe's Law predicts the utility of these technolgies will grow exponentially as more and more people have access to them".

Other concerns like out of date URLs, or loss of valuable content through changes made to the web pages will become less of a problem as the collective wisdom and skill develops in archiving of information or sites and as software develops to keep track of valuable sites and their upgrades. In my opinion an 'etiquette' will develop as it has done with email, which self regulates the movement of URLs, the expectations of web-sites maintained. The concerns about poorly organised sites can be applied to any medium for delivery or instruction. Since an educational institution is unlikely to have spent large sums of money in committing themselves to a certain resource site teachers and students will simply not use the site. This would be very difficult if the resource were a set of texts.

The biggest concerns as I see them are in fact inter-related. They are the potential commercialisation of the internet for profit, the 'taking control' by large media consortiums as they have done with radio, newspaper and TV, and the reluctance on the part of many educators to learn about technology and its applications to education. As the WWW becomes increasingly accessible and the number of people using it increases the more likely it is that some large companies will determine ways of controlling the access and hence the profits. It is possible that there might develop user pays education 'channels' which function like the text-book stranglehold in the USA. It would seem important that educators do at some point take an interest in developments so that where possible web-based material directed at the education market is in the hands of education practitioners.

Wason makes and important point about availability not being the same as accessibility in regard to WWW resources. "An effective system of access combines content-relevant navigation and landmarks. Resource access is content-specific. People deeply knowledgeable can work with program specialists to create navigation and landmark systems for accessing the knowledge base". This aspect of using web-based resources will make it crucial that teachers do not use the WWW as they would a text book, but tilise their own instructional desing skills to build an environment in which students can navigate areas of knowledge without becoming lost or disillusioned by the sheer amount of it.

Summary

Wason (1994), believes that , today's
new information technologies open to us the chance to develop a  student-centered model of learning akin to the Socratic: a process of  education effectively applying the specialties of a trio of content experts:  the resource expert, the question developer, and the teacher... Historically speaking, the lecture-followed-by test instructional model  developed out of necessity: primary sources were simply not widely  available. In 12th century France, Pierre Abelard (1079-1142)  developed the lecture model of instruction. Two centuries later, Gutenberg's (ca. 1390 - 1468) invention of movable  type began to make primary resources more accessible and opened a  window of opportunity for breaking out of the lecture model of  instruction, but the window closed and the lecture method remained.
Wason asks whether we can take the opportunity now to move away from the lecture-followed-by test instructional model. He says that the new instructional method which is possible is simply using a  system of carefully developed questions that guide learners through the learning process rather than questions as vehicles to test the learning product. As McKenzie pointed out earlier, the development of questioning techniques will be crucial in the management and use of huge amounts of information.

There is little doubt that the Information Superhighway can and is having in some places, a tremendous impact on education, although that change may not be distributed evenly across the educational spectrum. The development of Virtual Universities and ongoing education on-line, will probably make institutions of higher education change significantly. In time this would impact on secondary education. The concept of the "library" will change as more and more materials can be shared electronically. As more powerful search and retrieval tools become commonplace, critical thinking and reading skills will become more important than ever. Evaluating information may be a far more important skill than finding information, and managing our own personal electronic libraries may be the task of the 21st century.(Schwalm 1996)

Heterick and Gehl suggest that the real point in thinking about the future is not prediction but self-examination. "The real point is to allow the future to inform the present and shape today's decisions". They pose some questions for educators: if this is what we see in 25 years what should we be doing now? What does it mean to be a student? What does a course look like?  They claim that the history of educational technology has many examples of over-estimation of the short term and under-estimation of the implications.

Apart from all other considerations the value of web-based education may be in the way it forces us to think about learning. Norman is critical of the education system being designed for the teacher not the learner - the lecture being the easiest way to teach not learn. Barone follows on from this by suggesting that technology may provide a way to allow teaching and learning to be different and once again provide a way to offer quality educational outcomes.

References and Resources

Alexander, S. (1995) Teaching and Learning on the World Wide Web. Paper presented at AusWeb '95 Gold Coast [http://elmo.scu.edu.au/sponsored/ausweb/ausweb95/papers/education2/alexander/ accessed 6/1/98

Alvarez, L. (1994) Why Technology?. Educom Review. Volume 31 Number 3 [http://educom.edu/web/pubs/review/reviewArticles/31324.html accessed: 2/1/98]
Six distinguished leaders in higher education address fundamental questions about information technology and learning

Bellingham Schools Course Outline:Information Literacy and the Net

Carvin, A. (1997) EdWeb: exploring technology and school reform [http://edweb.cnidr.org:90/resource.cntnts.html accessed: 21st July 1997]

Clark, R. (1983) Reconsidering research on learning from media, Review of Educational Research, vol. 53, no. 4, pp. 445-9. An edited version of this paper is available at [http://educom.edu/program/nlii/articles/clark.html accessed: 22/11/97]

Clark, R. C. (1994) Media will never influence learning, Educational Technology Research and Development, vol. 42, no. 2, pp. 21-29. [http://www.usq.edu.au/material/resource/clark/media.htm] accessesed 30/12/97
 
Downes, L. (1996) Moore's Law and Metcalfe's Law - An Explosive Combination [http://www.dbsforum.com/consulting/laws.html accessed: 21st July 1997]

Educom Review Staff (1994) Transforming and Preserving Education: Traditional Values in Question
http://educom.edu/web/pubs/review/reviewArticles/29636.html
Educom review Volume 29 number 6

Educom Review Staff (1996) Why Technology?
http://educom.edu/web/pubs/review/reviewArticles/31324.html
Educom review Volume 31 number 3

Ehrmann S :Asking the Right Question: What Research Tells Us about Technology and Higher Learning

Flashlight Project: http://www.learner.org/edtech/rscheval/flashlight/toc.html

Glover, M. (1997) Glover.com - The web site & pages of Jeffery M. Glover 1997] [http://www.glover.com/ss.html ] contains good suggestions for changing web pages from "sucky to savvy".

Harris Judi (1997)University of Texas : List of On-line Educational Projects R-12

Heterick,R Jnr a Gehl J (1995) Information Technology and the Year 2020  http://educom.edu/web/pubs/review/reviewArticles/30122.html  Educom Review Volume 30, Number 1

Hughes (1994) Hypertext...

Jaffe, J. (1995) Media Interactivity, Cognitive Flexibility, and Self-efficacy. PhD Dissertation. The University of Michigan  [http://research.haifa.ac.il/~jmjaffe/Dissert/LitRev.html .

Kozma, R. (1994) Will Media Influence Learning? reference in Clark 1994

Levine, A (1997) Writing HTML: a tutorial for creating WWW pages. Maricopa center for Learning and instruction. [http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/tut/index.html ]

Lynch, P. & Horton, S. (1997) Yale C/AIM Web Style Guide [http://info.med.yale.edu/caim/manual/contents.html ]

MCLI (1997) The Maricopa Center for Learning and Instruction (MCLI) [http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/ accessed: 21st July 1997] Excellent collection of materials related to the use of technology within educational settings.

McKenzie J (1996) The Post Modem School in the New Information Landscape
Vol 6 NO2 October 1996 From Now On

McKenzie J (1994) Libraries of the Future
From Now On Archive accessed 20/12/97

Najjar, L. (1996) Multimedia information and learning. Journal of Educational Multimedia and Hypermedia, 5, 129-150. [http://mime1.marc.gatech.edu/mime/papers/multimedia_and_learning.html accessed: 21st July 1997]

Pedroni Guillermo E. The Importance of the WWW in education K-12

Schlegel, K. (1996) EduWeb. [http://www.netspot.unisa.edu.au/eduweb/ ] and Concepts in Learning

Schutte, J. (1997) Virtual Teaching in Higher Education: The New Intellectual Superhighway or Just Another Traffic Jam? [http://www.csun.edu/sociology/virexp.htm accessed: 30/12/97]

Schwalm, K. (1996) Building the Information Superhighway: An Exploratory Essay [http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/~schwalm/info.html accessed: 21st July 1997]

Twigg, C. (1994) The Changing Definition of Learning. Educom Review Volume 29, Number 4 [http://educom.edu/web/pubs/review/reviewArticles/29422.html accessed: 21st July 1997]

Vatican Library http://sunsite.unc.edu/expo/vatican.exhibit/exhibit/a-vatican_lib/Vatican_lib.html

Wason Tom in The Monitor: A Gutenberg Juncture:Changing the Model of Instruction in a New Technological Environment at http://www.iat.unc.edu/publications/monitor/issue1/wason.html

Yuri, Q. (1996) Evaluating the Value and Effectiveness of Internet-Based Learning [http://www.newmedia.slis.uwo.ca/research/papers/inet96/edu/paper/index.html accessed: 30/12/97]