Education

Computer Mediated Conferencing (CMC) provides the opportunity for interaction in distance education courses. Successful asynchronous text-based conferencing overcomes transactional distance (Moore, 1991), permitting student-student as well as instructor-student communication. This interaction is thought to foster the development of an on-line learning community. Strategic initial messages, triggers, in asynchronous text conferencing can lead to rich cognitive discussions. Such initiating messages or triggers have been reported in previous literature, defined either in relation to their effects (number of actual responses received), or their intentions (the writer's evident purpose of evoking responses by being in some way provocative). In Zhu's (1996) study, a good student starter usually pointed to a few major discussion themes for a weekly discussion. Fahy (2001) defined "response triggers" as messages that generated large numbers of subsequent postings. Triggers in the Community of Inquiry model are defined more in the latter sense, as messages that are intended by the writer to evoke discussion, whether or not they actually succeed in doing so (Garrison, 2002; Garrison, Anderson, and Archer, 2000; Garrison, Anderson, and Archer, 2001). The characteristics of postings which succeed in triggering responses, as compared with those which fail to do so, was the focus of this inquiry.

No topic raises more contentious debate among educators than the role of interaction as a crucial component of the education process. This debate is fueled by surface problems of definition and vested interests of professional educators, but is more deeply marked by epistemological assumptions relative to the role of humans and human interaction in education and learning. The seminal article by Daniel and Marquis (1979) challenged distance educators to get the mixture right between independent study and interactive learning strategies and activities. They quite rightly pointed out that these two primary forms of education have differing economic, pedagogical, and social characteristics, and that we are unlikely to find a "perfect" mix that meets all learner and institutional needs across all curricula and content. Nonetheless, hard decisions have to be made.

This report summarizes major polling design principles and practices, with particular emphasis on those affecting the integrity of online polls in distance education (DE). Specific consideration is given to the statement of polling objectives, the design of good questions and response options, online poll format, motivation of the respondents, and poll pre-testing.

This is the first in a series of two reports discussing the use of open source software (OSS) and free software (FS) in online education as an alternative to expensive proprietary software. It details the steps taken in a Canadian community college to download and install the Linux Operating System in order to support an OSS FS learning management system (LMS).

This report is the second in a two-part series about open source (OSS) and free software (FS) systems in online education. These are rapidly emerging as alternatives to costly proprietary learning management systems (LMS) and content management systems (CMS). This report reviews two LMS systems and one CMS system, all developed on the OSS FS principle and available to users free of charge

This report highlights trends that have emerged from the evaluation of 100 online collaborative tools in this series of reports so far (2001-03). Emphasis is placed upon the special requirements of distance education (DE) users of collaborative tools, in the selection of online text audio video-conferencing, polling and whiteboard methods, and integrated course delivery systems combining all of these features. The technical and didactic skills for using collaborative tools effectively are illustrated in relation to a standard freeware for online audio-conferencing.

This meta-analysis research estimated and compared the differences between the academic performance of students enrolled in distance education courses relative to those enrolled in traditional settings, as demonstrated by their final course grades scores within the 1990-2002 period. Eighty-six experimental and quasi-experimental studies met the established inclusion criteria for the meta-analysis (including data from over 15,000 participating students), and provided effect sizes, clearly demonstrating that: (1) in two thirds of the cases, students taking courses by distance education outperformed their student counterparts enrolled in traditionally instructed courses; (2) the overall effect size d+ was calculated as 0.37 standard deviation units (0.33 less than 95% confidence interval less than 0.40); and (3) this effect size of 0.37 indicates the mean percentile standing of the DE group is at the 65th percentile of the traditional group (mean defined as the 50th percentile).

The idea of an online learning network for members of the Canadian Department of National Defence (DND) has surfaced several times over the past decade and a half, but has never reached the level of development seen in the current Defence Learning Network (DLN) initiative. Past attempts at creating a learning network failed primarily because of the lack of a champion within DND's senior leadership, and the ability of traditional residential learning to meet the training and education needs of the Department. Recently, however, the rising cost of residential learning, coupled with recognition of the benefits afforded by distance learning, particularly learning flexibility and the ability of learners to engaged in requisite learning at their home base rather than at dispersed locations across Canada, have greatly enhanced the attractiveness of distance learning as a viable learning delivery option.

The widespread diffusion of e-Learning in organizations has encouraged the discovery of more effective ways for conveying digital information to learners, for instance, via the commonly called Learning Management Systems (LMS). A problem that we have identified is that cognitive variables and pedagogical processes are rarely taken into consideration and sometimes are confused with the mere use by learners of "diversified" hypermedia resources. Within the context of widespread dissemination of multimedia content that has followed the emergence of massive information resources, we discuss the need for more powerful and effective learner-centered tools capable of handling all kinds of design configurations and learning objects.

Book Review: Action learning: Images and pathways

Moore and Kearsley (1996) maintain distance educators should provide for three types of interaction: (a) learner-content, (b) learner-instructor, and (c) learner-learner. According to interactionist second language acquisition (SLA) theories that reflect Krashen's theory (1994) that comprehensible input is critical for second language acquisition, interaction can enhance second language acquisition and fluency. Effective output is necessary as well. We reviewed the research on distance learning for second language learners and concluded that SLA theories can, and should, be the framework that drives the development of courses for students seeking to learn languages by distance technology. This article delineates issues to consider in support of combining SLA theories and research literature as a guide in creating distance language learning courses.

This report provides an introduction to online polling in its various forms (questionnaires, quizzes, surveys, assessment products, etc.), and discusses its advantages and problems in online education.

Book Review - Handbook of Distance Education

The present paper (a) outlines the basic features of the Personalized System of Instruction (PSI); (b) provides a brief history of PSI; and (c) describes the application of PSI to distance education. Some common misconceptions about PSI are also addressed. PSI is presented as a helpful universally applicable set of instructional practices that are well suited to distance teaching and learning. Key Terms: Personalized System of Instruction, distance learning, computer-based instruction, mastery-learning, self-pacing, higher-order objectives, scholarship of teaching, proctors, tutoring.

This is a very interesting moment to reflect on Student Support in Open and Distance Learning (ODL). After some 10 years of the radical intrusion of a range of technologies, principally those grouped around what has been broadly termed ICT, we have the chance to see if and how the world of ODL has qualitatively changed. I suggest that those of us who began our careers more than a decade ago are like those survivors in a landscape painting of a battle, peering about the field while some wisps of smoke still hang in the air from earlier cannon barrage. But the battle that the picture represents is over. There are new authorities in place, and of course there are losers: those who have lost power if not their lives. We look to see who has died, which amongst the wounded can be given help, while those who walk away wonder if the world has really changed. Have we just substituted one set of powerful rulers for another? Or has the way we live our lives been altered forever?

This paper discusses the aspect of student support that emerged as a key component of a longitudinal study into the experiences of nurses studying through open learning in the UK. Students engaged in this study were mature learners who were practicing nurses and predominantly, but not exclusively, women. Participants perceived entering higher education as a considerable challenge. Key Terms: Longitudinal research; constant comparative analysis; social, professional and academic networks

A critical component of an effective retention program for online students is a learner support services program. While many factors contribute to attrition, at the top of the list are level of interaction and support. To this end, some students in distance learning programs and courses report feelings of isolation, lack of self-direction and management, and eventual decrease in motivation levels. This article describes the types of learner support services strategies that can effectively address these retention challenges. Examples from Western Governors University (WGU) are provided to describe these strategies in action. Key terms: learner support, online learning, scaffolding, self-directed learning, isolation, learning community, advising

This study identifies and explores a range of themes, issues and questions that commonly confront adults contemplating enrolment in university, and why they persist. The study focuses particularly on issues facing prospective adult distance education learners. From a range of interviews, six themes were identified including fears, motivation, support from home, academic preparedness, suitability of programs, and identity change. It is argued that the more effective we become at information provision, guidance and preparation of adult pre-entry open and distance learners, the more likely students will experience a smooth transition to study, thus improving both student satisfaction and retention rates. Successful intervention with prospective distance education learners at this early point should aim to assist the process of informed decision making, which could result equally in an individual deciding not to pursue university study. The findings in this study should be particularly useful for those academics, course advisors, student counsellors, teachers in preparatory programs, and university information and support officers, and others who provide adult distance students, with pre-enrolment information and advice.

Peer-to-peer interaction using computer-mediated communication (CMC) would appear to be a promising source of timely and cost-effective student support, but little empirical evidence regarding actual participant support behaviour has been presented (Lee, 2000). This paper reports a study of the occurrence of 13 online strategies defined as "supportive," according to the categorizations found in an instrument called the Transcript Analysis Tool (TAT). The corpus used in the study consisted of three transcripts produced by students (graduate degree and professional development diploma candidates) engaged in course-related CMC conferencing. Analysis of the transcripts generated by the three groups showed the following: The support strategies most frequently used by the three groups were referential statements (statements which made reference to others' previous comments; TAT type 2B), signatures, greetings, and horizontal questions (open-ended questions which invited negotiation of a plausible answer; TAT type 1B). There was some variability among the groups in the frequency of use of referential statements, horizontal questions, emoticons, and invitations to others. High- and low-support groups differed from each other in their use of referential statements, signatures, greetings, horizontal questions, rhetorical questions, and humour. As an examination of the social element of three communities of inquiry, the study described how members of these groups attempted to connect with one another interpersonally, using asynchronous conferencing, on topics related to the conceptual content of the courses. The paper concludes that while in this case the above behaviours were the means most often used to support and encourage interaction, further examination of online support behaviours and strategies is needed, especially in relation to valued outcomes such as persistence, greater motivation, less stress, and, ultimately, enhanced learning.

Book Review - The Strategic Use of Learning Technologies