15.963: Electronic Commerce and Marketing
Prof. John D. Little
Prof. Erik Brynjolfsson
March 1998
Investigating Distance Education
Leandro Burnes
A Holt
Janet Lee
Gerald Lucas
I. Definition
II. Delivery Media
III. Effectiveness/Success Factors
IV. Costs
V. Intangible Benefits
VI. Future of Distance Learning
VII. Wrap-Up
Defining 'Distance Education/Distance Learning'
Veteran educational training expert, Glenn Hoyle defines 'distance learning' as "the general term used to cover the broad range of teaching and learning events in which the student is separated (at a distance) from the instructor, or other fellow learners. Obviously, distance education includes video, traditional correspondence courses done via mail, newspapers, television, etc. -- Most of the research in the paper will focus primarily on distance education within the United States although global issues will also be explored.
Delivery Media
1. Video - Instructional video tools include still images such as slides, pre-produced moving images (i.e. film, videotape), and real-time moving images combined with audio-conferencing (one-way or two-way video with two-way audio).
2. Data - Computers send and receive information electronically. For this reason, the term "data" is used to describe this broad category of instructional tools. Computer applications for distance education are varied and include:
a. Computer-assisted instruction (CAI) - uses the computer as a self-contained teaching machine to present individual lessons.
b. Computer-managed instruction (CMI) - uses the computer to organize instruction and track student records and progress. The instruction itself need not be delivered via a computer, although CAI is often combined with CMI.
c. Computer-mediated education (CME) - describes computer applications that facilitate the delivery of instruction. Examples include electronic mail, fax, real-time computer conferencing, and World Wide Web applications.
3. Print (correspondence courses in the past) - is a foundational element of distance education programs and the basis from which all other delivery systems have evolved. Various print formats are available including: textbooks, study guides, workbooks, course syllabi, and case studies.
Effectiveness/Success Factors
Many educators ask if distant students learn as much as students receiving traditional face-to-face instruction. Research comparing distance education to traditional face-to-face instruction indicates that teaching and studying at a distance can be as effective as traditional instruction. When the method and technologies used are appropriate to the instructional tasks, there is adequate student-to-student interaction and timely teacher-to-student feedback (Moore & Thompson, 1990; Verduin & Clark, 1991).
Most of the success stories surrounding distance learning have occurred for programs that were developed for adults. RealEducation, for example has created several thriving virtual campuses throughout the state of Colorado. In addition, 87% of surveyed students who participated in a 1995 distance class at the University of Northern Iowa gave either a favorable or very favorable response to their overall experience in the course.
Primary education (grades K-12), on the other hand, has its own peculiarities associated with it. Unlike management training programs, which may have dozens of participants and still remain effective, secondary school 'distance' classrooms cannot function optimally with a great number of students-the ideal distance classroom size being between 20 and 30 pupils (Boone, 1998). This mirrors what has been found for traditional primary school classrooms, which become unmanageable beyond around the same threshold. Maintaining order as well as students' collective attention requires an adult to be present at all times, which is not an absolute necessity at the adult level. Since technology, especially for younger people, can potentially be a distraction, an adult on hand provides necessary focus and direction. All distance education programs require some kind of backup plan or mechanism in case of technological difficulties or transmission failures.
Although technology plays a key role in the delivery of distance education, it is important that educators remain focused on instructional outcomes, not the technology of delivery. The key to effective distance education is focusing on the needs of the learners, the requirements of the content, and the constraints faced by the teacher, before selecting a delivery system. Typically, this systematic approach will result in a mix of media, each serving a specific purpose. For example, a strong print component can provide much of the basic instructional content in the form of a course text, as well as readings, the syllabus, and day-to-day schedule. Interactive audio or video conferencing can provide real time face-to-face (or voice-to-voice) interaction. This is also an excellent and cost-effective way to incorporate guest speakers and content experts. Computer conferencing or electronic mail can be used to send messages, assignment feedback, and other targeted communication to one or more class members. It can also be used to increase interaction among students. Integrated pre-packaged application packages like Lotus' 'LearningSpace' (which includes a web browser, email function and an html text editor) provide a complete software solution. Pre-recorded videotapes can be used to present class lectures and visually oriented content. Fax can be used to distribute assignments, last minute announcements, to receive student assignments, and to provide timely feedback. Even with an optimal mix of technological offerings, the success of 'distance learning' primarily depends on the consistent and integrated efforts of students, faculty, facilitators, support staff, and administrators. Each of a variety of key stakeholders must play their part in making the distance learning experience operate effectively.
Meeting the instructional needs of students is the cornerstone of every effective distance education program, and the test by which all efforts in the field are judged. Regardless of the educational context, the primary role of the student is to learn. This is a daunting task under the best of circumstances, requiring motivation, planning, and an ability to analyze and apply the instructional content being taught. When instruction is delivered at a distance, additional challenges result because students are often separated from others sharing their backgrounds and interests, have few if any opportunities to interact with teachers outside of class, and must rely on technical linkages to bridge the gap separating class participants. In addition, students are faced with the added responsibility of sufficiently understanding the technology to maximize its benefit to them. To date, most students who enroll in distance education courses are over 25 years old, employed, have previous college experience and are highly motivated. Over half are female.
The responsibility for the success of any distance education effort rests squarely on the shoulders of the faculty. In a traditional classroom setting, the instructor's responsibility includes assembling course content and developing an understanding of student needs. Special challenges confront those teaching at a distance. For example, the instructor must develop an understanding of the characteristics and needs of distant students with little first-hand experience and limited, if any, face-to-face contact. In addition, instructors must adapt teaching styles taking into consideration the needs and expectations of multiple, often more diverse audiences. The inherent difficulty associated with distance teaching is developing a working understanding of delivery technology, while remaining focused on your teaching role. For these reasons, veteran teachers facing teaching at a distance for the first time should reexamine their teaching philosophy and strategy before embarking headlong into a distance education program or pilot.
The instructor often finds it beneficial to rely on a site facilitator to act as a bridge between the students and the instructor. To be effective, a facilitator must understand the students being served and the instructor's expectations. Most importantly, the facilitator must be willing to follow the directive established by the teacher. Where budget and logistics permit, the role of on-site facilitators has increased even in classes in which they have little, if any, content expertise. At a minimum, they set up equipment, collect assignments, proctor tests, and act as the instructor's on-site eyes and ears.
Support staff are the silent heroes of the distance education enterprise and ensure that all the details required for program success are dealt with effectively. Most successful distance education programs consolidate support service functions to include student registration, materials duplication and distribution, textbook ordering, securing of copyright clearances, facilities scheduling, processing grade reports, managing technical resources, etc.
Although administrators are typically influential in planning an institution's distance education program, they often lose contact or relinquish control to technical managers once the program is operational. Effective distance education administrators are more than idea people. They are consensus builders, decision makers, and referees. They work closely with technical and support service personnel, ensuring that technological resources are effectively deployed to further the institution's academic mission. Most importantly, they maintain an academic focus, realizing that meeting the instructional needs of distant students is their ultimate responsibility.
Costs
As the public sector is being forced to streamline and become more efficient, the American education system is challenged with providing increased educational opportunities without increased budgets. Cost as well as perceived and proven benefit are vitally important in assessing the viability of distance education, now and in the future.
There are several explicit cost components that factor into the design of a distance education system. 1) The cost of technology which includes hardware (i.e. videotape players, cameras) and software (i.e. computer programs) 2) The cost of transmission, both the present and the on-going expense of leasing transmission access (i.e. T-1, satellite, microwave) 3) The cost of maintenance and tech support which includes repairing and updating equipment, networking that enhances connectivity, and developing systems that evolve to allow use of older equipment during the often lengthy upgrading process 4) The cost to create infrastructure, which includes the foundational network and telecommunications infrastructure located at the originating and receiving campuses 5) The cost of production, which includes technological and personnel support required to develop and adapt teaching materials 6) The cost of support, which includes miscellaneous expenses needed to ensure the system works successfully including administrative costs, registration, advising/counseling, local support costs, facilities, and overhead costs and 7) The cost of personnel. In addition to these explicit costs are potential intangible costs like the fact that institutionalizing distance education could polarize socio-economically disadvantaged groups
Intangible Benefits
Distance learning has both perceived and proven benefits. One substantiated benefit of distance learning includes the fact that achievement on various tests administered by course instructors tends to be higher for distant as opposed to traditional students (Souder, 1993). Distance learning offers accessibility to students in rural areas. NovaNet, for example in Tucson, Arizona provides a distance learning program for the children of migrant workers. Professional students, as a result of new distance learning opportunities may complete their course of study without suffering the loss of salary due to relocation. By allowing schools to make courses accessible to areas where there are no qualified instructors, or where students might otherwise be unreachable due to budget constraints, distance learning levels the playing field for disadvantaged students. One salutary benefit for universities include increasing enrollment by offering courses and programs to students who, because of travel costs, would not otherwise be able to take a course. Distance learning results in a more independent student, who is then forced to take on the responsibility for acquiring information himself. Distance education programs are cost effective to the extent that they make better use of a teachers' time by having one teacher prepare for and teach a class instead of having several teachers prepare and teach in several sections (the concomitant negative effect might be less teaching jobs). Lastly, distance education, allows shy students and students for whom English is a second language to collect their thoughts before they have to actually posit an answer. It encourages more balanced peer participation.
The Future of Distance Learning
The explosion of the internet in the past few years, in addition to providing users with new information and services, has also forced many to ask whether access to enabling technology is available to all students and educators. The following table shows trend data for the last four years on the proliferation of computers and the internet in the American "classroom".
|
year |
schools w/ computers |
classrooms w/ computers |
homes w/ computers |
homes w/ internet |
|---|
|
1994 |
35% |
5% |
36% |
5% |
|
1995 |
50% |
10% |
38% |
10% |
|
1996 |
65% |
15% |
40% |
15% |
|
1997 |
80% |
20% |
42% |
20% |
The future of distance learning depends heavily on the development of the world wide web. It seems quite apparent that through the growth of the world wide web, distance learning can become a reality on a global scale. If this form of education were introduced, "global long distance learning" would be the direct result. "Global long distance learning" refers to a form of education were anyone in any part of the world is able to receive the same type of education as someone in another part of the world.
This century has been a period of radical change: political, economic, and technological. The fall of the "Iron Curtain", Chinaís entrance into the worldís capital markets, peace talks in the middle east, and the European Union, along with massive 20th century technological innovations (telephones, router switches, computers, satellites, fiber optics, and transistors), suggest the following trends as having an enormous effect on both business and society as a whole. Today, the aborigine of Australia is no longer oblivious to the daily life of a Chinese worker, a fifth grader in New York, or a Maasai village dweller in the Serengeti. This curiosity and the continuing dwindling of geographic boundaries will increase the desire to expand global long distance learning.
Take the following anecdote for example:
A graduate student in the laser dermatology department of a medical university in the United States has opted to discuss the construction and operation of a new high-tech laser for his thesis. The laser had been developed in Japan, therefore the instruction manual and construction manual had been written in Japanese. How is the student going to be able to understand the Japanese material in order to incorporate it into his thesis paper? There are several solutions. The student can access the web site of the Japanese university that developed the laser, download the information, and have the material automatically translated into English (through the use of web based translation software that is attached to the browser). Another solution would entail the student cutting and pasting the information from the web site to a translation software package, which would then translate the material into English.
Or perhaps:
A student in northern-rural Kenya (miles from downtown Nairobi), takes part in a class given at the Technological Institute of Munich, Germany. As the professor displays class notes (in German), during his Microsoft PowerPoint presentation, on the projection screen, the student has the notes pop-up on a window in the upper left-hand corner of his computer screen. The window contains translation software, that causes the material to appear in English automatically. As the professor lectures, the student can watch the professor (in real time) on the upper right-hand corner of his screen through video-conferencing. The speech of the professor would be received by the student through headphones, translated into English using a voice recognition/translation system (similar to what might be used in the United Nations). If the student has a question, he can voice it through his microphone, which will be heard on the teacherís computer speakers after it has gone through translation into German. With this powerful computing capability, the Kenyan student receives the same education as a student who is physically present in the class in Munich. In essence, everyone theoretically has access to the best instruction. These examples show how long distance learning facilitates the raising of education standards. If global education standards improve, then possibility of raising living and economic standards may naturally follow. All this having been said, the operative question then becomes, can schools and other learning centers, especially in poor, remote areas make the necessary capital improvements to accommodate critical technology and do they have the means to do it?
Presently, there are many companies that are working on creating global distance learning solutions. AOL Kenya has set up various long distance learning sites throughout Kenya. Harvard University has a program where students in Japan can receive college instruction via the web. The Kumamoto Institute of Computer Software in Japan holds long distance learning seminars. In these seminars, handicapped students from the region can receive instruction on basic computer literacy from professors in Tokyo (using group-share software and real-time video-conferencing). The MIT CETI program connects high schools in China to the internet, teaches web site development technology, and creates "star networks" so that students can participate in web based activities with other high school students of the world. Other countries (France, Canada, Australia, United Kingdom, New Zealand, Ireland, and Spain) have set up long distance learning programs, through their universities, in conjunction with other universities worldwide.
If there is so much long distance learning being carried out (and being planned) presently, why is it still taking so long for this sort of education to become global? The answer, simply put, is barriers. There are two barriers to the spread of global long distance learning, communication and connectivity. The communication barrier is nothing more than a language problem. How is education going to be global when the world does not share a common language? How will a student be able to access another countryís information when he does not understand that countryís language? For example, the Open University in Hong Kong experienced an inordinately high dropout rate for a distance math program it was conducting. They discovered that since mathematics was the discipline of study, and English (the medium of instruction) was not the native language of most of the students, it was difficult for students to understand the topic. This led to an enormous dropout rate among students. Many companies have sought to solve this problem, they include Altavista, Systran, and Alis. These companies have created web based translation software that will translate material after it is manually entered by the user. The Japanese software manufacturer, Fujitsu, took this ideology one step further and is developing a tool called Translingo. Translingo, attached to a web browser (currently Microsoft Internet Explorer), translates material from English to Japanese, or vice versa, automatically as the material is downloading onto the end userís screen. Let us also not forget about the countless number of corporations staking their future in digital communication translation. Still there is a lot to be done to improve the quality of computer-aided translation.
What is the implication of the second barrier, connectivity? There are many areas of the world that still do not have access to a reliable telephone line (for example, only one third of China has access to a telephone). The economic opportunity that this problem creates is extremely stimulating. Telecommunications companies like Lucent Technologies and AT&T are rushing into these emerging areas to set up the necessary infrastructure to allow companies like Cisco and Oracle to lay their network systems for the information super highway. The advent of digital communications (cellular technology), satellite coalitions like Teledesic (Microsoft's broadband-via-satellite affiliate) and RASCOM (third sector organization that was created to bring satellite communication to western Africa), Web TV, cable, and breakthroughs in fiber optics, has made global long distance learning a reality. It is also necessary to remember the advantages that complementary software and hardware have created. Some of these advancements include group-share software (NTT Inperson), video-conferencing ("I see you/you see me" paradigm), black board technology, optical character recognition and manipulation (Apple Newton-style handhelds), ISDN connection, TCP/IP technology, and quantum computing (research designed to improve "bus" communication within a computer).
Wrap-Up
With the previously mentioned examples becoming an every day occurrence, will there be a whole new set of governing laws for international information exchange and publication? This raises the question of universal compatibility. Assuming that distance learning expands, it will become more and more important that systems be built with an open architecture, networking that enhances connectivity, and systems that evolve to allow use of older equipment.
Will we be able to make a connection between long distance learning and web commerce? This is quite interesting (and what connects our possible future expansion of global distance learning to the subject of this course, web commerce). Where could web commerce enter into this area? A possible entrance could be "electronic universities." In an electronic university a student can register, attend class, complete homework and take examinations online. All universities (whether virtual or real) need to raise funding to run their operations. How could an electronic university raise funds or create revenue? Would there be tuition? If so, who would pay for tuition to attend the university? Would the university charge for the use of its information facilities? Would the universities be allowed to sell student information? (Would recruiters receive a charge every time they accessed future graduates' information?) Would these universities receive revenue from internet advertising? How would professors receive pay? Would private grants be issued, or would the government (or even the internet governing body) be forced to pay? Would internet service providers have to give a portion of their revenue, through taxes, towards covering internet education as part of a "good cause" act? Will the main concern of future educational information institutions on the web focus toward business profit and cost savings (as has already occurred at some educational institutions)?
Does the privatization of traditional schools suggest the same direction for their virtual counterparts? Web commerce will play a major role in the future of global long distance learning. Yet if web commerce becomes a dominant factor, then surely this transformation runs counter to the original purpose of the internet, which was to allow for the free exchange of educational information? Does it also not undermine the purpose of distance learning, which was to equalize the acquisition of education?