VOLUME 10, NUMBER 3, 1996
Editorial
Media Options
Michael G. Moore
Articles (for abstracts,
click here)
Transactional Distance and Interactive Television in the Distance Education
of Health Professionals
Whitney Rogers Bischoff, Sarah W. Bisconer, Barbara M. Kooker, and Lanell
C. Woods
Students Assume the Mantle of Moderating Computer
Conferences: A Case Study
Karen L. Murphy, Lauren Cifuentes, Ann D. Yakimovicz, Rhoda Segur, Sue
E. Mahoney, and Sailaja Kodali
Student Perceptions of the Affective Experiences Encountered
in Distance Learning Courses
J. D. Thomerson and Clifton L. Smith
Persistence in a Distance Learning Program: A Case
in Pharmaceutical Education
Nancy F. Fjortoft
Grass Roots
Attitudes of Alaskan Distance Education Students Toward Media and Instruction
Kyle Franks
Interview
Speaking Personally with Jeanne C. Meister
Shirley Hendrick
Book Review
Why the Information Highway? Lessons from Open and Distance Learning
edited by Judy Roberts and Erin Keough
Tony Bates
Media Review
GroupWise: Groupware for Improved Communications
Ellen D. Wagner and Steven F. Acquistapace
EDITORIAL
Media Options
Michael G. Moore
Recently, I was asked to reflect on what media should be used by a teaching or training organization as it considers setting up its first distance education program. Here are some thoughts, some "food for thought." First, each medium has qualities that are appropriate for particular types of messages, and some learners tend to prefer some media rather than others. The art of effective instructional design in distance education depends largely on making the right selection among media for each particular content and each type of learner within various constraints, particularly those of cost. Significant considerations include access to expertise in designing good-quality programs for available media and the availability of support services to the learners who use them, usually through the provision of support personnel in the learners' localities.
Consider the learners. How many will there be in each class? At how many sites? How well motivated are they? Recorded media can be delivered to any number of students, although other considerations may not make this practicable. Two-way video interaction will be more effective with a small number of sites and a smaller number of students or trainees; one-way video, two-way audio with a larger number of sites and students; and audio with still larger groups. Learners' locations also will become of some significance, since participating in real-time communication at inconvenient hours (e.g., because of different time zones) demands high levels of motivation.
Motivation is probably the single most important variable determining learning at a distance or in other educational environments. Previous education is also extremely important. Can it be assumed that your audience has a high level of previous education and will, therefore, have the ability as well as the motivation to study at a distance? The best materials and instruction may not work if there is little motivation to learn; conversely, weaker materials may be effective if the motivation is high. The instructors may not be able to do much about this situation; however, administrators or managers can boost motivation by specific strategies. Whereas in business, rewards might be in the form of salary increments, in schools and colleges rewards are usually in the form of grades, and motivation may be less of a problem (although not necessarily so, of course). Increasing motivation and therefore enhancing learning outcomes can help institutions and organizations recoup much of their investment in education or training.
Consider the content. How much of this content can be recorded, and what needs to be provided in real time? If we can identify that part of the subject which is likely to remain stable and unchanged for a considerable period of time, it may be recorded on relatively expensive (to design and produce) media, such as videotape or CD-ROM, or published in a good-quality text. (Attractive text should be preferred where economically justified by numbers of students or trainees and by the "shelf-life" of the content.) Those parts of the subject that are most likely to change frequently may be recorded on relatively inexpensive media (i.e., desk-top publications and audiotape), while the most volatile subjects will have to be delivered via real-time media, i.e., the teleconference media. Content needs to be analyzed to identify which parts can effectively be communicated by text, which require the spoken word and other audio attributes, which can better be illustrated visually, and which need interaction.
If it can be assumed that recorded materials alone will be sufficient, there is no need for interactive media. However, it is seldom the case that most learners in a class will achieve learning goals as well independently as by participating in discussions, project activities, and similar interactive experiences. Frequently, the basic information can be communicated by print, expert commentary and authentic sounds by audiotape, and demonstrations and motivational excerpts by videotape. Interaction provides opportunity for students to practice using ideas and information and to obtain motivational feedback from an instructor.
If the learners are relatively sophisticated and the subject matter relatively conceptual, lower-cost interactive media (e.g., audio- and computer conferencing) will suffice; videoconferencing is more expensive-and useful where verbal explanations are not adequate or where visual demonstration is essential-but frequently its use is not justified pedagogically.
Consider local learner support, pedagogical, but also technical. A major element in successful distance learning is the positioning by the institution or organization of local support personnel. These people need not be specialists in the content-indeed should not be-but rather act as intermediaries between students or trainees and the central teaching organization. Each student should know whom to contact locally to resolve problems of content, learning process, and administration of the learning program. Continuity of experience is desirable. Familiarity with the teaching organization, so that problems can be referred to central experts, is essential. Local support may include the ability to set up and trouble-shoot teleconference technology. Local support personnel need to be recruited with care, trained appropriately, monitored and supervised, and well rewarded.
Consider design and production. As we consider designing and delivering our program, we must ask if we have the expertise in-house to design effective teaching materials to be delivered by the various media and, if not, whether we have access to external design and production resources (in which case a system for careful monitoring of the external agency is needed). Very few commercial or conventional educational organizations have personnel who know how to teach in print, by recorded media, and by teleconference. It would be wise to consider appointing specific in-house staff who could specialize in these skills, designing and producing the materials themselves as much as possible, but also negotiating for whatever further expertise is needed through outside production agencies.
Consider instruction. Do we have the expertise-or do we need to train staff-to provide interaction with students or trainees? How will such interaction be accomplished? By correspondence? In real-time audio conferences? In computer conferences? In video conferences?
Consider costs and availability. Is it necessary to install hardware for the reception and use of our instructional programs, or is hardware already in place? Is there money for the cost of real-time teleconferencing? More importantly, is there sufficient money to pay for good-quality design, production, and learner-support?
Other things being equal, a lower-cost mixture of media obviously is to be preferred over a higher-cost solution. If human resources are limited in number or in experience with distance education design/delivery of instruction, and if money is limited, it is better to focus the resources on obtaining good-quality instructional design and good quality instruction and learner support, while using relatively inexpensive media. If learner motivation is not high, it may be necessary to use "motivating media," i.e., recorded and interactive video; however, doing this with the necessary quality will be more costly.
As I said at the beginning, these ideas are meant
to provide "food for thought." Comments are invited on DEOS-L,
the on-line discussion forum of the American Center for the Study of Distance
Education; additionally, authors are encouraged to submit research articles
on these themes for evaluation and possible publication in AJDE.
Transactional Distance and Interactive
Television in the Distance Education of Health Professionals
Whitney Rogers Bischoff, Sarah W. Bisconer, Barbara M. Kooker, and Lanell
C. Woods
There is an increase in the use of interactive television technology in the delivery of distance education. "The variables in the current study were operationally defined following Moore (1973, 665)": "A learner's 'distance' from his teacher [transactional distance] …is defined as a function of individualization [structure] and dialogue." The instrument used in the study was a 68-item questionnaire with items designed to measure the following three constructs: dialogue, structure, and transactional distance. This was done using a 5-point Lickert scale. The research used courses taken from the graduate program of the Schools of Public Health and Nursing at the University of Hawaii at Manoa during Fall, 1992 and Spring, 1993 semesters. The questionnaires were given out in thirteen courses to a total of 322 students.
"Interactive television, thought
by many to be an undesirable teaching context, showed parity on measures
of structure and transactional distance when compared with traditional
learning environments." A limit of this study is low generalizability
to other students and course designs. Rogers, et al. believes that public
health practitioners and nurses' education is at a vital crossroads; the
use of education, technology and an interactive world population can work
together to have a positive impact on the health of all people. The authors
believe this goal can be accomplished by using good integration of interpersonal
interactions while the health profession is involved in its teaching efforts.
The results presented from the analysis of this study indicate "that
there may be no difference in these elements when comparing tradition-
with distance-format courses." In fact the results of the study indicated
that learner-teacher communication was stronger with the distance-format
courses, therefore pointing to "meaningful interpersonal interaction
within a classroom regardless of the delivery format".
Students Assume the Mantle of Moderating
Computer Conferences: A Case Study
Karen L. Murphy, Lauren Cifuentes, Ann D. Yakimovicz, Rhoda Segur, Sue
E. Mahoney, and Sailija Kodali
The analysis of six semester-long computer conferences (CC) overseen by graduate students to learn how students perceived and used the conferences is the focus of this article. There were two purposes in the use of conferences: use of a purposeful context for preservice teachers to acquire knowledge about technology and collaborative learning and for graduate students to discover through experience how to moderate computer conferences . As more educational institutions gain access to the Internet, the use of CC is dramatically increasing as a teaching-learning tool. Although "CC is still in its cultural infancy" its use is expected to become a common support for regular instructional activities in higher education.
Texas A & M University was the setting
for this study in 1994 during a fifteen-week semester. Seventy-seven preservice
teacher training students who were studying educational technology were
the participants. Three graduate assistants were the moderators. The study
used a qualitative research method and had six researchers working together
in data collection, analysis, and development of meaning. Two instructors,
the three graduate assistants for the two courses, and one graduate student
were the researchers for this project. Moderators were able to model message
styles as a learning tool in the CC and the participants followed suit.
Murphy, et al. noted that the literature reports new CC users must learn
to "adapt to a text-based communication system"; this study
also indicated that the CC moderators needed to communicate with the technology
support staff. Difficulties included the fact that the co-moderators were
scattered throughout the state and linked by two-way videoconference,
which it was noted posed problems in ease of communication. A lack of
sufficient knowledge of each other (moderators and participants) e.g.,
participants were unaware that the moderators were teachers since this
was not always mentioned in the introduction, caused difficulties. Most
the participants and moderators developed confidence and acquired techniques
for communicating in CC as a result of this project.
Student Perceptions of the Affective Experiences
Encountered in Distance Learning Courses
J. D. Thomerson and Clifton L. Smith
The setting for the study was the College of Education at Valdosta State University and the purpose was to "compare the affective perceptions of remote-site distance learning students, host-site distance learning students, and traditional classroom students towards the experience they encountered while taking courses" at this College. Thomerson and Smith note that the immediacy of interaction in the new distance education delivery system, with two-way audio and video transmission, are more and more being accepted by administrators and faculty in higher-education.
"This research study dealt with
the affective perceptions of students at Valdosta State University who
received instruction via compressed video (T-1) technology." All
College of Education majors attending courses during five academic quarters
of 1993-94 were the population for this research (N=1885), which was made
up of the following three groups: "remote-site distance learning
students, host-site distance learning students, and traditional classroom
students." Since there was a disproportionate number of students
in the traditional classroom group, "a stratified sample using the
equal allocation method was chosen." By using computer generated
random numbers, samples were comprised of 165 students at each site. "The
most notable results based on mean scores among the three groups dealt
with two clusters: course enjoyment/satisfaction and the physical learning
environment." Research results indicated "no significant differences
between the three groups in regard to student/teacher interaction or course
structure. However, the remote- and host-site groups responded significantly
less positively to questions dealing with the physical learning environment
than did students in the traditional group, and the host-site group responded
significantly less positively to questions dealing with overall course
enjoyment/satisfaction than did students in the traditional group."
Persistence in a Distance Learning Program:
A Case in Pharmaceutical Education
Nancy F. Fjortoft
This study examined the parameters of adult learner persistence in distance education programs. The research was completed at one (unnamed) distance education institution and involved a part-time, adult, post-baccalaureate Doctor of Pharmacy program. Students in this ten year old program had minimal contact with either the instructor or their peers. "The data from the survey were used to test a predictive model developed to examine the parameters of adult student persistence in distance learning programs." Sample size was 395 and was made up of two groups of learners: "persisters and nonpersisters". Actively enrolled students (N=179) made up the persister group while former students who had withdrawn before completion came to (N=216).
The study response rate was 50% (N=198). For the purpose of this study "persistence was defined as successful completion of at least one year of study and registration for the subsequent term." Findings included:
- respondents who had a higher level of perceived intrinsic benefits from earning the degree were more likely apt to persist in obtaining this post-baccalaureate pharmacy degree,
- motivation arose from an internal desire to increase satisfaction and challenge in one's career, and not from seeking increased salary or career mobility,
- younger students were more inclined to persist in this distance learning program,
- An unexpected result was people who had higher levels of ease with learning individually were less prone to persist in their studies.
