ED-MEDIA 1999 Proceedings Book - Association for the ...
ED-MEDIA 1999 Proceedings Book - Association for the ... ED-MEDIA 1999 Proceedings Book - Association for the ...
found to be effective are well documented in the literature. For example, according to Moore and Kearsley (1996), the support that is provided for students should reflect factors related to both instructional credibility and authenticity. That is, learners should be assured of the level of content solidity and reputability as well as feeling comfortable that their needs are being met through the application of what have come to be known as humanistic tendencies – kindness, humanness, "walking-the-talk," or the alignment of what is said to what is done (Brookfield, 1990). Moore & Kearsley (1996) emphasize that the information given to learners has to be perceived as up-to-date and relevant, and authoritative in its applicability. Content should be delivered flexibly in order to accommodate varying needs, learning styles, and schedules. But, beyond that, learners need to be buoyed by their confidence in the institutional authenticity that envelopes the delivery of first-class content. They probably require, and should receive, guidance in determining what and how to study; they need to be provided with relevant opportunities to apply their learning, through the vehicles of assignments and projects; they require constructive and timely feedback on their progress and assistance in dealing with program-related administrative problems and difficulties that arise along the way. Similarly, Willis (1993) argues that efforts should be made to better meet the needs of distance learners in a number of ways that, once again, emphasize the authenticity of the institution, the instructor, and reflect the andragogical understanding that participants must take active roles in the distance-delivered course. Learners should be made aware of, and made comfortable with, the communication methodology – hardware and software and accompanying processes – that will be used for course delivery. In an anticipatory fashion, learners should be prepared for dealing with the technical problems that will inevitably arise. They should be encouraged to build community across the distance through invitations to share their interests, backgrounds and their experiences; this activity can be modeled by the instructor. Resulting emphases on learners’ individuality will spark sensitivity to different communication styles and varying cultural histories. Learning’s affective domain, so often so well tended to in traditional classrooms by instructors sensitive to adults’ learning needs, is as important, if not more so, in the establishment of a comfortable virtual classroom. Race’s (1994) description of a successful student support system includes making learners feel at ease and building their confidence by helping them feel that they’re not alone in their struggle. Learners should be reassured that other learners are having the same problems, that they are not alone in the mistakes they make. Open up the communication channels for the exchange of information – phone numbers and addresses and so on. These strategies remind learners that even the hardest things can be mastered one step at a time; in giving study skills advice, the instructor demonstrates that she is there to help, not just to evaluate and assess. In a similar vein, instructors can share practical or personal advice on examination techniques and work to instill confidence in learners for the writing of exams or the accomplishment of other formidable tasks. Keep learners focussed on the picture beyond the course: what will they do next What are the next learning opportunities that will be presented The foregoing techniques are all essential parts of extending a learning community virtually – beyond the traditional classroom’s parameters. However, more importantly, the factors listed below should provide a broader, more conceptual framework for instructors introducing virtual education to their teaching methodologies. Specifically, it was our experience that understanding these elements was essential to success when integrating technologies in a distance program. Good pedagogy will always reflect a human quality. The reality is that learning technologies will not miraculously metamorphose bad instructors into good ones. They will not increase the quality of learning. Good pedagogy will forever contain a human element that includes interaction in the learning process. In the end it is the level of the interaction between the learners, the instructor, and the content that will determine the quality of a learner's educational experience—whether it is face-to-face or distributed learning using the Internet. Good pedagogy precedes good technology. The value of technologies as a communication medium in the learning process is directly related to the learners' need. A paramount problem with much of the current technically- enhanced instruction has to do with the fact that many instructors are finding that most technologies are relatively easy to learn and many of the features are seductive. This often results in good teaching practices (instructional design, significance, depiction, reflective thought) being subsumed because it is fun to play with the media. Almost anyone can learn how to use technologies; the difficult but critical component, however, is to integrate what we know about how our learners learn with technological expertise. Technology integration is neither economically nor educationally justifiable without meaningful interaction between the learners, the instructor and the content. Creating pedagogically sound technology enhanced instructional materials takes time and requires new skills. Most educators are usually surprised and then overwhelmed at the time and skills required when developing distance education materials. YES! It takes time and requires new skills; it also requires the support of and collaboration from individuals who have competencies in using learning technologies. One technology alone is not effective. The web is a wonderful medium for disseminating information, facilitating learner-content interaction and aiding assessment (instructor, learner, and course). Reading materials also facilitate learner-content interaction. Computer mediated communication helps to facilitate learner-learner and learner-instructor interaction in addition to building a community of learners, as do audio and videoconferencing and face-to-face instruction. Effective technology integration will include learner-learner interaction, learner-instructor interaction, learner-content interaction and support learning communities. The provision of these elements necessitates the integration of a number of technologies such as web-based instruction, computermediated conferencing, video and audio communication, print based media, and face-to-face instruction. Know each technology's strength and weakness. Every educator's decision to integrate technologies in the learning process needs to be based upon an informed understanding of their strengths and weakness. Upon deciding to use the technologies, educators should have a sound understanding of how to use them as a learning environment, communication medium and as a tool in the learning process. Conclusion The integration of technologies into the learning environment has tremendous potential to remove many situational barriers to learning opportunities. More importantly, however, technology integration can provide opportunities for learner-learner and learner-instructor interaction in a way that could not, previously, be economically or educationally justified in distance education. In spite of the problems outlined in this paper, these developments offer very exciting opportunities for distance educators to provide rich and meaningful learning experiences for outreach students. References Brookfield. S. (1990). The Skillful Teacher. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Daniel, J. (1996). Mega-Universities and knowledge media: Technology strategies for higher education. Great Britain: Biddles Ltd. Garrison, D. R. & Shale, D. (1990). (Eds.) Education at a Distance: From Issues to Practice. Florida: Robert E. Krieger. Garrison, D. R. (1989). Understanding Distance Education: A framework for the future. London: Routledge. Lauzon, A. (1991). Enhancing accessibility to meaningful earning opportunities: A pilot project in online education at the University of Guelph. Research in Distance Education. (3)4. 2-5. McCullough, K. & McCullough, J. S. (1994). The promise of the telecommunications superhighway: Conquering the limits of time and space in adult education. Adult Learning. November/December. 28-29. Moore, M. G. & Kearsley, G. (1996). Distance education: A systems view. Scarborough, ON.: Wadsworth Publishing Company. Race, P. (1994). The open learning handbook. London: Kogan Page. Willis, B. (1993). Distance education: A practical guide. Englewood Cliffs, NJ.: Educational technology publications. Woods, D. R. (1994). Problem-based learning: How to gain the most from PBL.Waterdown, ON.: Donald R. Woods.
Networking The Nation Noel Craske Senior Lecturer. Monash University, Australia. noel.craske@csse.monash.edu.au George Murdoch VISE Course Co-ordinator. Australia. gmurdock@tpgi.com.au Arno Besse IT Technician and Internet Trainer. Ballarat University, Australia. a.besse@ballarat.edu.au Marijke Heywood IT Trainer and Web Publications. Ballarat University, Australia. m.heywood@ballarat.edu.au Joy Nunn Course Co-ordinator/Project Manager. Ballarat University, Australia, j.nunn@ballarat.edu.au The Australian Government Networking the Nation Project is using the Internet to bring Educational and Community services to Isolated and Remote communities. The project training course creates a community of Internet trainers who then become trainers in various hubs of the bush. As each training course and subsequent placements occur there is an expansion in the number of people using e-mail, conferencing, news group, WWW and chat sessions. To people in the bush, isolated by enormous distances, this provides the comfort and support that many urban Australians take for granted. This project has placed a magnifying glass on the reality of telecommunication services in the outback where even a reliable power source is still a dream for many inhabitants. The Project “Internet to the Outback” is part-funded through the Federal Government’s “Networking the Nation” program - an initiative designed to give everyone, living anywhere in Australia, access to the Internet at the end of a five year period. All families in remote or isolated areas of country Australia are eligible to receive visits from Volunteers for Isolated Students’ Education (VISE). Summary of Progress (Specifics may be found at http://www.ballarat.edu.au/vise) Training The training syllabus used to instruct the trainers and which the trainers in turn use to instruct the isolated families/communities has been developed. Each trainer can link a family to the Web and train them to use email and access the Web in less than the week originally suggested. Experience demonstrates it is possible to average two per week over a six-week period and allow for unforeseen problems and the differing stages of development of families. Equipment We recommend buying from either a reputable national retailer offering a good warranty and a reliable network of service centres or from a company offering a proven mail order service for high quality equipment who are able to support the equipment with warranties fully covering transportation costs in the event of a service requirement. Connection The quality of the modem has been the definitive factor in connecting to the World Wide Web, thus it would be better to buy a computer and add an external modem rather than buy a machine with an internal modem installed. Concerns and Problems Quality of Telephone Lines and Services. The single most outstanding feature with regard to the speed was variation in both the quality and reliability of existing communications links. The single most common problem associated with data communication was line noise. A good modem is essential as it has the error correction ability to compensate for a number of connection problems. However, no modem regardless of quality can provide adequate connection speeds in some of the areas tested. Availability of Communication Access
- Page 9 and 10: of the users as participating actor
- Page 11 and 12: 2. Other Characteristics of the Pro
- Page 13 and 14: education resources are being produ
- Page 15 and 16: y using a drop-down menu: Informati
- Page 17 and 18: Results Computing ability and expos
- Page 19 and 20: instructional designs while introdu
- Page 21 and 22: Global Educational Multimedia Serve
- Page 23 and 24: Assured Access/Mobile Computing Ini
- Page 25 and 26: The University has set up a secure
- Page 27 and 28: * Changes in educational paradigms
- Page 29 and 30: Using Computer Imagery and Visualis
- Page 31 and 32: Publishing an imej Journal for Comp
- Page 33 and 34: In summary, we offer the following
- Page 35 and 36: Discussion Forums and Peer Review F
- Page 37 and 38: Languages and Statistics: Solutions
- Page 39 and 40: Kelly and Leckbee (1998) indicate,
- Page 41 and 42: A Wide Array of Uses: Inquiry and I
- Page 43 and 44: Effects of Question-Based Learning
- Page 45 and 46: The EFFECTS of TRAINGING METHOD on
- Page 47 and 48: 3. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY A 10-day ex
- Page 49 and 50: prototype for futuristic learning e
- Page 51 and 52: Designing a Course Web-Site to Supp
- Page 53 and 54: International Collaborative Learnin
- Page 55 and 56: Facilitation frameworks Bostrom et
- Page 57 and 58: From table 2 it can be seen that te
- Page 59: Learning in Safety and Comfort: Tow
- Page 63 and 64: Norfolk Stations. Schools of Distan
- Page 65 and 66: one-on-one with Teaching Assistants
- Page 67 and 68: Java. One of them is already an exp
- Page 69 and 70: • Personal study room management
- Page 71 and 72: As has already been discussed in th
- Page 73 and 74: On-line Support of On-Campus Educat
- Page 75 and 76: In-service Teachers Teaching Pre-se
- Page 77 and 78: How the Construction & Analysis of
- Page 79 and 80: Yet, still we ask ourselves: How do
- Page 81 and 82: us, we need to be ever-conscious of
- Page 83 and 84: A Reporting Simulation Using Toolbo
- Page 85 and 86: environment — it is impossible to
- Page 87 and 88: Actually, when a particular author
- Page 89 and 90: Any instance of this type is an HC
- Page 91 and 92: Figure 5: Saving an Educational App
- Page 93 and 94: To address this problem Webfuse dra
- Page 95 and 96: Cognitive tools can act as structur
- Page 97 and 98: In this study, we propose the follo
- Page 99 and 100: more information about it, for exam
- Page 101 and 102: Charlottesville, VA., 691-696. Muly
- Page 103 and 104: ownership is retained by the instit
- Page 105 and 106: priority, it is in the interests of
- Page 107 and 108: limitations of the prevailing compl
- Page 109 and 110: exchange information with other cla
Networking The Nation<br />
Noel Craske<br />
Senior Lecturer. Monash University, Australia.<br />
noel.craske@csse.monash.edu.au<br />
George Murdoch<br />
VISE Course Co-ordinator. Australia.<br />
gmurdock@tpgi.com.au<br />
Arno Besse<br />
IT Technician and Internet Trainer. Ballarat University, Australia.<br />
a.besse@ballarat.edu.au<br />
Marijke Heywood<br />
IT Trainer and Web Publications. Ballarat University, Australia.<br />
m.heywood@ballarat.edu.au<br />
Joy Nunn<br />
Course Co-ordinator/Project Manager. Ballarat University, Australia,<br />
j.nunn@ballarat.edu.au<br />
The Australian Government Networking <strong>the</strong> Nation Project is using <strong>the</strong> Internet to bring Educational and Community services to<br />
Isolated and Remote communities.<br />
The project training course creates a community of Internet trainers who <strong>the</strong>n become trainers in various hubs of <strong>the</strong> bush. As each<br />
training course and subsequent placements occur <strong>the</strong>re is an expansion in <strong>the</strong> number of people using e-mail, conferencing, news group, WWW<br />
and chat sessions. To people in <strong>the</strong> bush, isolated by enormous distances, this provides <strong>the</strong> com<strong>for</strong>t and support that many urban Australians take<br />
<strong>for</strong> granted. This project has placed a magnifying glass on <strong>the</strong> reality of telecommunication services in <strong>the</strong> outback where even a reliable power<br />
source is still a dream <strong>for</strong> many inhabitants.<br />
The Project<br />
“Internet to <strong>the</strong> Outback” is part-funded through <strong>the</strong> Federal Government’s “Networking <strong>the</strong> Nation” program - an initiative designed<br />
to give everyone, living anywhere in Australia, access to <strong>the</strong> Internet at <strong>the</strong> end of a five year period. All families in remote or isolated areas of<br />
country Australia are eligible to receive visits from Volunteers <strong>for</strong> Isolated Students’ Education (VISE).<br />
Summary of Progress (Specifics may be found at http://www.ballarat.edu.au/vise)<br />
Training<br />
The training syllabus used to instruct <strong>the</strong> trainers and which <strong>the</strong> trainers in turn use to instruct <strong>the</strong> isolated families/communities has<br />
been developed. Each trainer can link a family to <strong>the</strong> Web and train <strong>the</strong>m to use email and access <strong>the</strong> Web in less than <strong>the</strong> week originally<br />
suggested. Experience demonstrates it is possible to average two per week over a six-week period and allow <strong>for</strong> un<strong>for</strong>eseen problems and <strong>the</strong><br />
differing stages of development of families.<br />
Equipment<br />
We recommend buying from ei<strong>the</strong>r a reputable national retailer offering a good warranty and a reliable network of service centres or<br />
from a company offering a proven mail order service <strong>for</strong> high quality equipment who are able to support <strong>the</strong> equipment with warranties fully<br />
covering transportation costs in <strong>the</strong> event of a service requirement.<br />
Connection<br />
The quality of <strong>the</strong> modem has been <strong>the</strong> definitive factor in connecting to <strong>the</strong> World Wide Web, thus it would be better to buy a<br />
computer and add an external modem ra<strong>the</strong>r than buy a machine with an internal modem installed.<br />
Concerns and Problems<br />
Quality of Telephone Lines and Services.<br />
The single most outstanding feature with regard to <strong>the</strong> speed was variation in both <strong>the</strong> quality and reliability of existing<br />
communications links.<br />
The single most common problem associated with data communication was line noise. A good modem is essential as it has <strong>the</strong> error<br />
correction ability to compensate <strong>for</strong> a number of connection problems. However, no modem regardless of quality can provide adequate<br />
connection speeds in some of <strong>the</strong> areas tested.<br />
Availability of Communication Access
Change language