Holly Denney
OMDE 0603 9040, Summer 2001
Assignment 2
June 25, 2001
Word count: 823 (excluding quotes and references)
A Critical Analysis of Three Distance Education Technologies
Introduction
Distance education is practiced in all part of the world to provide study opportunities for those who cannot - or do not want to - take part in classroom teaching (Holmberg, 1995, p. 1).
Print, radio, and networked learning (NL) share traits of availability, accessibility,
cost efficiency, and, when combined, provide individual learners with a range
of presentation styles. The three identified technologies also provide a balance
of synchronous and asynchronous communication. An "ideal" technology
has not been identified, because each learner has unique needs and expectations
for her/his learning experiences. Therefore, DE designers should strive for
a balance of media that uses a manageable number of different technologies.
The ultimate goals should be to provide interaction and user-friendliness (Bates,
1995).
Analysis
[This work] proposes to diminish the modality's distance through the production of materials that are not intended to be self-sufficient, that provide information for analysis and discussion, that consider the receiver as belonging to a group, that create space for participation, that provide two-way and multidirectional communication, and that require production, not reproduction, of answers (Mena, 1993, 3).
Print is the original DE technology. It is portable, requires no equipment
to access, is the best technology for reading significant amounts of text, and
is an effective way to provide complex two-dimensional graphics.
Print is an interactive media because the reader engages with the material
through thinking about what is presented. Holmberg (1995) discusses his concept
of a "guided didactic conversation" (p. 47) and encourages a less-formal
writing style to encourage the learner's reflection. Unfortunately, because
the interaction is asynchronous, many learners perceive the lack of interaction
with the instructor and other students as a weakness of print-based DE (Thompson,
1990).
While print is an effective learning media, there are some subjects, such as
foreign languages, music, and performance arts, that are better treated if the
learner is able to hear as well as read the material. Learners from an aural
tradition and those who are less literate may gain more from the spoken word
(Bates, 1995).
Radio
Radio is accessible to more people than any other single technology. Millions of people around the world who cannot read or do not have access to television have a radio set (Bates, 1995, p. 139).
Radio has been used most extensively in developing countries (Kirby & Thompson,
1987), although radio as a learning technology has been used successfully in
Canada, Australia, and Great Britain with good success (Bates, 1995; Maskow,
2000).
Despite radio's almost universal availability, it has never had the broad appeal
of either print or networked learning. For radio to be effective, learners must
listen properly and engage mentally with the speaker(s) throughout the broadcast.
Producing good quality broadcast radio is expensive, yet its audience is limited
(Bates, 1995; Mascow, 2000). Part of that limitation may be caused by broadcasts
that are at inconvenient times and by the requirement that the learners be present
at the time of the broadcast. Radio is also ephemeral. While broadcasts can
be recorded, the learner must be present to do the recording because most audio
recorders are not programmable (Bates). Interaction is asynchronous unless learners
and tutors are using short-wave radio, as in some cases in Australia (Bates).
Both print and radio have limitations in the amount of interaction between
instructors and learners. Yet, DE is viewed as the way of bringing educational
opportunities to those who are not able to obtain education through traditional
schools. Nipper (1989) observes:
But by giving very low priority to the process of communication, by making it one-way or very restricted two-way, the result has in fact been a strong social bias in first and second generation distance education. It has mostly appealed to groups of educationally already privileged learners and it has to a certain extent 'expelled' the educationally or socially weak learner ( 6).
Networked learning comes closest to meeting all the needs of distance learners,
including those who may have been disenfranchised by the earlier technologies.
Networked Learning
According to one educator, four factors should come into play in developing a more efficient and effective learning environment: cognition, collaboration, communication, and computing (Oblinger & Maruyama, 1996, p. 5).
Networked learning (NL) combines the features of print and radio, adds the
ability to present video and 3-D images, adds synchronous communication, and
brings virtually limitless sources of information to the learners' desks. With
NL, there is less need to provide print materials to learners, and audio clips
can be accessed at the learner's convenience and played repeatedly. The non-linear
nature of the Internet facilitates each learner constructing her/his own learning,
a model that replicates the working world. The ability to communicate synchronously
and asynchronously enables collaboration among learners who are separated by
distance and time. For learners who are shy or marginalized in face-to-face
learning situations, the asynchronous mode enables them to participate more
fully in the learning experience.
NL is portable, although it requires expensive equipment; it is accessible,
as long as the learner has a reliable power source and Internet connectivity;
and it can be cost efficient, although it is not inexpensive (Rumble, 1997).
There is a learning curve related to the use of the hardware and the software.
In addition, it supports active learning formats that are different from the
traditional lecture, which is a paradigm shift for many faculty. NL has the
greatest potential for currency of material, although maintaining that currency
requires a significant commitment on the part of the faculty and the institution.
As was the case with each new technology, there is much optimism surrounding
NL. It's not the perfect DE technology, but it has the most potential.
Conclusion
DE offers many options for learners who cannot or will not attend traditional
classroom courses. NL has generated the most discussion about issues of access
and offers the most options for meeting individual learning preferences. Regardless
of the format used, DE is best suited for learners who have high self-motivation.
Media selections should be made based upon which are the best for delivering the desired learning objectives not solely upon the production cost of each. Regardless of the media, the instructor is central to fostering an environment of learner inquiry rather than serving as a "gatekeeper" and to connecting the learners to a place they may not physically visit.
References *
Bates, A. W. (Tony). (1995). Technology, open learning and distance education. London: Routledge.
Holmberg, B. (1995). Theory and practice of distance education (2nd ed.). London: Routledge.
Maskow, M. (2000, Winter). Radio as a learning technology. In E. J. Burge (Ed.), New directions for adult and continuing education: The strategic use of learning technologies (pp. 59-68). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Mena, M. (1993). New pedagogical approaches to improve production of materials in distance education. CADE: Journal of Distance Education / Revue de l'enseignement à distance 8(3). Retrieved June 20, 2001, from the World Wide Web: http://cade.athabascau.ca/vol8.3/10b_mena-english.html (link broken - substitute site as of October 30, 2002: http://www.cade-aced.ca/ , select "Publications," search by title
Nipper, S. (1989). Third generation distance learning and computer conferencing. In R. Mason, & A. Kaye (Eds.). Mindweave: Communication, computers and distance education (pp. 63-73). Aarhus, Denmark: Aarhus Technical College and DEUS Consortium. Retrieved June 20, 2001, from the World Wide Web: http://www-icdl.open.ac.uk/mindweave/mindweave.html (link broken - substitute site as of October 30, 2002: http://icdl.open.ac.uk/lit2k/LitResult.ihtml?&id=162 , click on link)
Nwaerondu, N., & Thompson, G. (1987). The use of educational radio in developing countries: Lessons from the past. CADE: Journal of Distance Education / Revue de l'enseignement à distance (2)2. Retrieved June 25, 2001, from the World Wide Web: http://www.cade.athabascau.ca/vol2.2/7_Nwaerondu_and_Thompson.html (link broken - substitute site as of October 30, 2002: http://www.cade-aced.ca/ , select "Publications," search by title)
Oblinger, D. G., & Maruyama, M. K. (1996). Distributed learning. CAUSE Professional Paper Series #14. Retrieved June 20, 2001, from the World Wide Web: http://www.educause.edu/asp/doclib/abstract.asp?ID=PUB3014
Rumble, G. (1997). The costs and economics of open and distance learning. London: Kogan Page.
Thompson, G. (1990). How can correspondence-based distance education be improved? A survey of attitudes of students who are not well disposed toward correspondence study. CADE: Journal of Distance Education / Revue de l'enseignement à distance 5(1). Retrieved June 20, 2001, from the World Wide Web: http://www.cade.athabascau.ca/vol5.1/11_thompson.html (link broken - substitute site as of October 30, 2002: http://www.cade-aced.ca/ , select "Publications," search by title)
Additional Works Consulted *
Byron, I., & Gagliardi, R. (1998). Communities and the information society: The role of information and communication technologies in education. UNESCO: International Bureau of Education. Retrieved June 16, 2001, from the World Wide Web: http://www.idrc.ca/acadia/studies/ir-unes.htm (link broken - substitute site as of October 30, 2002: http://www.idrc.ca , enter title in "search" field
McFadden, A. C., Marsh II, G. E., Price, B. J. (1999, Winter). Why do educators embrace high-cost technologies? Online Journal of Distance Learning Administration, II(IIII). Retrieved June 20, 2001, from the World Wide Web: http://www.westga.edu/~distance/mcfadden24.html
O'Rourke, J. (2000, Winter). Print. In E. J. Burge (Ed.), New directions for adult and continuing education: The strategic use of learning technologies (pp. 49-57). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Pascual, L., Murriello, A., & Suarez, M. A. (2000). Teaching
and learning at a distance: opinions of tutors and students. EURODL. Retrieved
June 20, 2001, from the World Wide Web:
http://www1.nks.no/eurodl/shoen/pascual.html (link broken - substitute site
as of October 30, 2002: http://www.eurodl.org/ , select "Direct link to
list of recent publications," select "2000 publications")
Watson, E. (1999). Distance education in the Caribbean: Past, present and future. FID Review (1), 2/3.