Different Time/Same Place Instruction

This type of instruction usually takes place in a lab or study center where distance learners gather at different times to interact with instructors, tutors and other students. Certain types of instructional objectives can only be successfully met by arranging for learners to conduct an experiment in a lab and observing this experiment for evaluation purposes. Local study centers are used by major distance teaching universities such as the British Open University to support the distance learner by offering meetings with tutors, discussion with peer groups, and library facilities. In a survey of distance teaching institutions in the United States (Gunawardena, 1988) found that only 41% of the total number of institutions surveyed used local study centers. The types of services provided by most of the institutions were student access to media equipment such as videocassette players and microcomputers, and library facilities such as books, tapes and cassettes; rather than arrangements for tutor student interaction.

Different Time/Different Place Instruction

The technologies used in this category are further classified as those that transmit one-way information such as print, audio and video cassettes, and those that provide for interaction. Technologies that provide for interaction are divided into two groups: those that permit interaction between the instructor and the learner, and among groups of learners such as computer-mediated communication (CMC); and those that provide learner-machine interaction as in Computer Assisted Instruction (CAI)/Computer Based Training (CBT) and interactive video and videotex. CAI/CBT, interactive video and videotex are highly individualized learning experiences that can be designed to give learners control over their learning. Since the technologies that provide learner-machine interaction are discussed elsewhere in this book, they will not be discussed in this chapter.

Print

Until the beginning of the 1970s and the advent of two-way telecommunications technologies, print and the mail system were the predominant delivery medium for distance education. Correspondence study relied primarily on print to mediate the communication between the instructor and the learner. Currently many distance education institutions in developing countries use print based correspondence study as the main distance education medium as the use of communications technologies is often cost-prohibitive. Garrison (1990) refers to print based correspondence study as the first generation of distance education technology. It is characterized by the mass production of educational materials and Peters (1983) describes it as an industrial form of education. The difficulty with correspondence education has been the infrequent and inefficient form of communication between the instructor and the students. Also, it was difficult to arrange for peer interaction in correspondence based distance education. The development of broadcast technologies and two-way interactive media have mitigated the limitations of correspondence study, specially in relation to facilitating two-way communication. However, print remains a very important support medium for electronically delivered distance education. Printed study guides have become a very important component of electronic distance education. In a survey of distance teaching institutions in the United States that use television as a main delivery medium, Gunawardena (1988) found that a majority of institutions cited the study guide which provides printed lesson materials and guidelines for studying, the most important form of support for distance learners. A study guide can steer and facilitate the study of correspondence texts, television programs, and other components in a distance education course. A study guide, if well-designed, can provide the integration between various media components and activate students to read and or listen to presentations of various kinds, to compare and criticize them, and to try to come to conclusions of their own. In a study guide or correspondence text, simulated conversation can be brought about by the use of a conversational tone, advance organizers, mathemagenic devices such as directions, and underlining, self-assessment and self remediation exercises.

Audiocassettes

Audiocassettes afford the learner control over the learning material because learners can stop, rewind, and fast forward the tape. They offer great flexibility in the way they can be used, either at home or while driving a car. Since audiocassettes are a fairly cost-effective medium they are easily accessible to students. Audiocassettes can be used to tape lectures or can be specially designed with clear stopping points in order to supplement print or video material. For example, audiocassettes can be used to describe diagrams and abstract concepts that students encounter in texts in order to facilitate student learning. An audiocassette can be used to record the sound portion of a a television program if a videocassette recorder is not available, and an audiocassette can provide a review of a television program in order to assist students to analyze the video material. They can also be used to provide feedback to student assignments and is a very useful medium to check student pronunciation when teaching languages at a distance. Audiocassettes can be an excellent supplementary medium to enrich print or other media and can provide resource material to distance learners. Since they can be produced and distributed without much cost, audiocassettes are also a very cost-effective medium for use in distance education.

Videocassettes

Videocassettes are like broadcast television in that they combine moving pictures and sound but unlike broadcast television are distributed differently and viewed in different ways. An institution using videocassettes for distribution of video material to distant learners can use them as
An important advantage in using videocassettes is that students can exercise "control" over the programming by using the stop, rewind, replay, and fast forward features to proceed at their own pace. Videocassettes are also a very flexible medium allowing students to use the cassettes at a time that is suitable to them. Bates (1987), observing that the "videocassette is to the broadcast what the book is to the lecture" (p. 13),
If videocassettes are designed to take advantage of their "control" characteristics and students are encouraged to use the "control" characteristics, then there is opportunity for students to interact with the lesson material. Students can repeat the material until they gain mastery of it by reflecting on and analyzing it. The control features that videocassettes afford the learner give course designers the ability to integrate video material more closely with other learning materials, so that learners can move between lesson material supplied by different media. "The ability to create 'chunks' of learning material, or to edit and reconstruct video material, can help develop a more questioning approach to the presentation of video material. Recorded television therefore considerably increases the control of the learner (and the teacher) over the way video material can be used for learning purposes" (Bates, 1983 pp.61-62).
Bates (1987) discusses the implications of the "control" characteristics for program design on videocassettes: (a) use of segments, (b) clear stopping points, (c) use of activities, (d) indexing, (e) close integration with other media (e.g., text, discussion), and (f) concentration on audio-visual aspects.
When videocassettes are used in a Tutored Video Instruction (TVI) program, where tutors attend video-playback sessions at work places or study centers to answer questions and to encourage student discussion, students can take advantage of the features of a lecture (on videocassette) and a small group discussion, which gives them the opportunity for personal interaction available in on-campus instruction.

Computer-mediated Communication (CMC)

CMC supports three types of on-line services: electronic mail (e-mail), computer conferencing, and on-line databases. In e-mail systems a message is routed by the system to the addressee's mailbox on the host computer and remain there till it is read by the addressee. This message can be read, replied to, left in the mailbox for later perusal, saved to the hard disk on the microcomputer, deleted, or forwarded to someone else. Most e-mail systems have a bulletin board feature which allows users to read and post messages and documents to be seen by all. However, the messages in the bulletin board system are not linked to each other and provide for only a very limited form of group communication.
Computer conferencing systems, on the other hand, provide a conferencing feature in addition to e-mail, which supports group and many-to-many communication. In these systems, messages are linked to form chains of communication and these messages are stored on the host computer till an individual logs on to read and reply to messages. Most conferencing systems offer a range of facilities for enhancing group communication and information retrieval. These include directories of users and conferences, conference management tools, search facilities, polling options, cooperative authoring, the ability to customize the system with special commands for particular groups, and access to databases (Kaye, 1989). Databases can be made available on the same host computer which is used for an e-mail or computer conferencing system, or, users can access public or private databases resident on other computers. Some of the well-known computer conferencing systems are: EIES, PARTI, CAUCUS, CONFER, COSY, VAX NOTES and TEAMATE. Recent developments in groupware, the design of software that facilitates group processes especially in the CMC environment will have a tremendous impact on facilitating group work between participants who are separated in time and place.
The key features of computer conferencing systems that have an impact on distance education are the ability to support many-to-many interactive communication, the asynchronous (time-independent), and place-independent features. It offers the flexibility of assembling groups at times and places convenient to participants. The disadvantage however, is that since online groups depend on text-based communication, they lack the benefit of non-verbal cues that facilitates interaction in a face-to-face meeting. Levinson (1990) notes that research into education via computer conferencing must be sensitive to the ways in which subtle differences in the technology can impact the social educational environment. "The importance of social factors suggests that 'computer conferencing" may be a better name for the process than is 'computer-mediated communication': the term 'conferencing' accentuates the inherent 'groupness' of this educational medium" (p. 7). Harasim (1989) emphasizes the necessity to approach on-line education as a distinct and unique domain. "The group nature of computer conferencing may be the most fundamental or critical component underpinning theory-building and the design and implementation of on-line educational activities" (p. 51). Gunawardena (1993) reviews research related to the essentially group or socially interactive nature of computer conferences focusing on factors that impact collaborative learning and group dynamics.
GLOBALED, a project that linked graduate classes in six universities: San Diego State University, Texas A&M University, University of New Mexico, University of Oklahoma, University of Wisconsin-Madison, and the University of Wyoming, to engage in the discussion of research related to distance education, is an example of the potential of computer conferencing to link students and instructors in learning communities (Gunawardena, Campbell Gibson, Cochenour, Dean, Dillon, Hessmiller, et al., 1994). While the six major participating universities conducted research projects and moderated the discussions of their findings on Globaled, several interested students and faculty from other U.S. and overseas universities, including the Pennsylvania State University and the University of Wollongong in Australia, participated in the discussions. The Globaled community had approximately 90 participants. Globaled was premised upon a learner-centered collaborative learning model where the learner would be an active participant in the learning process involved in constructing knowledge through a process of interaction and discussion with learning peers and instructors.

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