A distant teaching environment should be warm and friendly and there should be a sense that everything is well planned and under control and that problems will be resolved. Moore and Kearsley (1996) write, "This sense of control is more important in a distant learning environment than it might be in conventional settings, since it is especially important to instill confidence in the students" (p. 146). As Moore and Kearsley (1996) point out, there are many differences between learning in a conventional classroom and in a distance education course. Teachers in distant courses cannot necessarily see how students react to what teachers are doing or saying, must be proficient with the relevant technology if their teaching is to be effective, and must pay close attention to students' feelings and motivation. One type of difference also occurs when a distance education course utilizes tutors rather than teachers. Another important difference is the manner in which three types of interactions-learner-content, learner-instructor, and learner-learner-play out.
Either method of using a teacher or using a tutor can be beneficial and effective depending on the course's intended purpose, subject matter, enrollment, and institutional limitations. For instance, if the course will be offered to a wide array of people and enrollment will be high, then the use of tutors would be most cost effective and save instructors time. Tutors can discuss course content, provide personal feedback on a student's progress, grade assignments and tests, help students plan their work, motivate students, answer administrative questions, supervise projects, teach face-to-face seminars, keep student records, intervene on behalf of students with the administration, and evaluate course effectiveness (Moore and Kearsley, 1996). And, according to Moore and Kearsley (1996), tutors "can play an important role in adapting the curriculum to meet individual or local needs-which can be especially critical in international programs that span many countries and cultures" (p. 148). Tutors also can provide counseling and guidance, both of which are more important in distance courses than traditional ones (p. 148). However, if a course is small, a teacher may be sufficient. But then again, if the institution has the funds, a teacher-tutor combination would be most beneficial because it would provide students with more individualized instruction. Good institutions should monitor their tutors closely and provide continuing in-service professional training, especially since many tutors, in practice, are "not very sophisticated in their capabilities" (p. 147).
The interaction between the tutor or teacher is only one type of interaction with the learner. Two other types of interaction include content-learner and learner-learner. The utilization of all three types of interactions can provide the best outcome for the student. Many courses attempt to provide all three types of interactions; however, others are clearly lacking in one or another of the interactions. For example, I have taken two types of distance education courses so far-one from Rio Salado Community College and one from Arizona State University-and both courses could have used the three interactions named above more effectively. Although they were strong in learner-content interaction, they were weak in learner-instructor and learner-learner interaction.
The first course I took, which was at Rio Salado(http://600624264:Winman@www.rio.maricopa.
edu/classes/edu/edu250/section7039/master.html),
was "Overview of the Community Colleges" and was very strong on learner-content
interaction. This type of interaction is a very important "defining
characteristic" since, as Moore and Kearsley (1996) explain, "Education
is a process of planned learning assisted by a teacher or teaching institution"
(128). The course provides multiple media for learner-content interaction.
Students receive audiotapes with interviews on them, and the same interviews
are available on the web so that the students can print them out in hardcopy
form. If students wish, they can request videos of instructor lectures
on the class content. The student can submit assignments via FirstClass
e-mail, fax, or postal mail. Learner-instructor interaction is minimal.
The instructor only contacts the students if they ask her a question via
the phone or FirstClass e-mail or when she is submitting grades.
Learner-learner interaction is even smaller. There is no mandatory
interaction among students. We don't read each other's assignments
or talk to each other, unless we are curious about one of our classmates
and send them an e-mail on our own volition. There is a class bulletin
board, but it's for the teacher to make an announcement to all of the students
rather than a communication vehicle amongst the students. Due to
the lack of interaction between teacher-student and student-student, I
felt very isolated in this course and did not find it very enjoyable.
I would've liked to debate with my peers about the course, get their ideas
on certain topics, and see how they completed their assignments, but the
class did not encourage this type of interaction.
The other class I took was "Internet for Teachers" at ASU (http://seamonkey.ed.asu.edu/~storslee/internet2.html). This course took an interesting approach to learner-content interaction since the content emphasized technical knowledge and application. The teacher made us learn "knowledge" by actually "going out and doing it," whether it be subscribing to a listserv, creating a web page, or joining a MOO discussion. There were no long handouts or lectures. However, the teacher did provide "how-to" demonstrations on TV and video. It was easy to feel lost at times since there was no place to get detailed "how to" instructions, unless one took really good notes while watching the video. The instructor set up a listserv so that he could make announcements and so that the students could talk amongst each others. Besides the bios that each student wrote, the students hardly interacted on the listserv since there was no requirement to do so. The teacher mainly interacted with individual students via e-mail or during office hours, and he posted our grades via a spreadsheet pasted to a web page. I always wondered about the way he posted our grades since my administrator said that we were not allowed to post grades that way because it would be a violation of the Buckley Amendment. The teacher was always prompt, although curt, in his replies, which helped the students to feel more comfortable. Overall, both courses would've been much improved if more learner-learner interaction was encouraged.
Moore, M. G. & Kearsley, G. (1996). Distance education: A systems view. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing Company.
Online
Koberna, S. (1998). EDU 250: Overview of Community Colleges. http://600624264:Winman@www.rio.maricopa.edu/classes/edu/edu250/section7039/master.html
Storslee, J. (1998). EMC 598: Internet for Teachers. http://seamonkey.ed.asu.edu/~storslee/internet2.html