|
The Third
Generation NKI Electronic College
A Survey
of Student Experiences and Attitudes
An Evaluation Report
Written for the Leonardo Online Training Project http://www.nki.no/eeileo/
Torstein Rekkedal
http://www.nki.no/~torstein/
and
Morten Flate Paulsen
http://www.nki.no/~morten/
October 1997
Table
of Contents
This report presents
an evaluation study of experiences and attitudes within a group
of students enrolled in NKI's Internet based courses or study programmes
during one year from April 1st 1996 to March 31st
1997. The students have studied courses and programmes with large
differences in course content, use of WWW resources, emphasis on
group communication, and individual flexibility such as free starting
time and individual pace of study. A questionnaire was mailed to
all students registered as active students July 1st 1997.
The study was carried
out as a pilot evaluation, related to an European Leonardo da Vinci
project, concerning distance education based on the World Wide Web.
The questionnaire focused on the students' background and their
access to the Internet, the students' views on studying via the
net including aspects such as communication, collaborative learning,
use of WWW and online learning resources, and aspects related to
distance study in general, such as individual flexibility. Furthermore,
the study analyses technical difficulties, gives views and recommendations
for further development of NKI Internet courses and specific advice
concerning content and teaching of individual courses.
The majority of the students
has access to Internet both at home and at work. A large majority
of the students has their studies paid fully or partly by their
employers. It seems clear that the fact that the studies are offered
on the net is an important reason for enrolling. Few of the students
would have enrolled for part-time or full-time study, while quite
a large group indicate that correspondence study could have been
a possible choice.
There is an overwhelming
majority preferring studies with free starting time and un-paced
progression; the preference is (with some few exceptions) independent
of their experience as students. Concerning the learning value of
different didactic aspects, the students emphasise the importance
of aspects well-known from correspondence programmes, such as the
quality of the study guide, reading and studying, working with assignments
for submission, tutors' comments and individual flexibility, while
specific aspects related to group communication seem to be less
valued. Except for writing to the tutor, the students have taken
little advantage of the possibility of taking part in academic and
social conferences by either reading or writing.
Some courses in the programme
have included material presented on the WWW. It did not seem that
course material presented on the WWW was the aspect of study valued
most highly. The availability of external resources including structure
and links to these resources seems to be the aspect most appreciated.
The students are neither specifically positive nor negative to the
conferencing system used (Listserv distribution list). This might
be a result of the relatively little use the students have made
of the conferences.
The students have experienced
some technical and communication related problems. As far as we
can judge, these have generally not been very significant. Most
students have coped rather well with the technical challenges of
Internet studies. There have been sporadic problems, because of
specific faults in software and administrative routines, which have
been solved. The study shows clearly that the turn-around time is
at least as important for Internet students as for correspondence
students. Average turn-around time is approximately 3 days. Some
students report that they have waited longer for their assignments
than we would see as acceptable in an Internet based teaching/learning
system.
It is specifically encouraging
that a large majority of the students say that they would recommend
Internet studies to other people.
NKI is one of the largest
non-governmental educational institutions in Norway. NKI comprises
The Polytechnic College, NKI Distance Education, the Business Training
Centre (NA) and The NKI Publishing House. A further presentation
of NKI is available at URL: http://www.nki.no
NKI Distance Education
offers more than 60 distance education programmes and more than
300 courses, mainly in technical and vocational subjects. It has
about 15,000 students. An extensive network of local partners around
the country is established to offer face-to-face classes to support
the distance students. The distance education tutors are part-time
employees recruited from business, industry, schools and colleges
around the country.
The College of Computer
Science (now incorporated in the Polytechnic College) was established
in 1983. In addition to its ordinary two- and three-year full time
programs, it offers a two-year, part-time program in information
processing, emphasising programming and system analysis. This part-time
program is offered in three modes: face-to-face classes, correspondence
courses, and the Electronic College.
The Electronic College
is designed so that distance students can do all their communication
online. In contrast, many of the internationally renowned implementations
of 'electronic colleges' are actually using computer conferencing
as a supplement to correspondence courses or on-campus teaching.
The philosophy of the NKI Electronic College has always been to
offer programs that are independent of time and space through a
system that facilitates flexible communication for administrative,
social, and teaching purposes.
Since the first courses
were delivered in 1987, one may distinguish between three technological
generations of the NKI Electronic College. The first generation
system, which was based on the 'EKKO computer conferencing' system
developed at NKI, was in operation from 1987 to 1993. The second
generation, which was Internet based, started in January 1994. The
first and second generation experiences are documented in an OECD
report (Paulsen and Rekkedal 1997) and in several articles available
at http://www.nki.no/ekko/for_alle/fagartikler/.
This report will focus
on the third generation that was introduced with the first web-based
courses in 1996.
The first generation
of the NKI Electronic College proved its value through seven years
of operation and 1067 delivered course packages. Of these 1067,
868 course packages have later been completed. The completion rate
is hence 81.3%. Furthermore, some 45 of the 1st generation students
have graduated from the Information Technology Programme. These
graduates have completed a ten course programme - equivalent to
one year's full-time study -via computer conferencing. In addition,
the students have generally obtained better grades than either correspondence
students or on-campus students (Paulsen 1992, 15). Surveys among
the students show that they have a positive perception of the curriculum
and the Electronic College as such. Student feedback also indicates
that a teacher's way of handling communication is of crucial importance
to students' perception of a course.
On January 1st, 1994,
NKI introduced a new generation of the 'open electronic college'
as a further development of the EKKO system. This second generation
system had a philosophy amendment stating that it should be as open
as possible to other networks and services. The second generation
system was accordingly based on Internet, e-mail, and the Listserv
conferencing system. Initially, the second generation user interface
for modem users was text based. In January 1995, NKI started to
offer modem users graphic Internet software developed for MS-Windows
and the Serial Line Internet Protocol (SLIP). In 1995, the number
of online courses was also increased to more than twenty.
The third generation
was introduced with the first web-based courses in 1996. The web-service
could be regarded as a two-level system. The top-level, the NKI
Electronic College homepage http://www.nki.no/ekko/as shown in figure 1,
provides general information about the college such as course descriptions,
prices, contract form, contact information, support information,
and an article library on online and distance education. The graphical
and user-friendly web-interface introduced opportunities such as
hyper linking and multimedia presentations. However, there were
also new challenges such as access control and copyright issues.
Figure 1. The NKI
Electronic College homepage.
The second level, the
course homepages, is passworded and can only be accessed by NKI
employees and paying students. The course homepages are designed
with a set of templates to secure some course conformity. A typical
course homepage provides links to each of the study guide units,
to the tutor's e-mail address, to the class discussion forum, to
external Internet services, to a course evaluation form, and possibly
to multiple choice assignments. The study units are also designed
so that students can benefit from printing out the material.
Figure 2. A typical
course homepage.
NKI has decided to develop
course homepages for all of the courses delivered via the electronic
college. By September 1997, all courses provided access to the college
homepage as well as to computer-mediated communication such as e-mail
and computer conferencing on the Internet. However, only 10 of the
30 courses offered had course homepages as shown in table 1.
Table 1. Programs
and courses offered during the survey period.
| Programmes and courses |
Free starting time and progression
|
Course homepage
|
CMC services
|
| Information Network Programme |
|
|
|
| Internet |
X
|
X
|
X
|
| Data communication |
X
|
X
|
X
|
| Network administration |
X
|
X
|
X
|
| Multimedia network |
X
|
X
|
X
|
|
|
|
|
| Information Technology Programme |
|
|
|
| Introduction to information technology |
|
|
X
|
| Project management and development of information
systems |
|
|
X
|
| Introduction to programming |
|
|
X
|
| Systems analysis |
|
|
X
|
| Object oriented programming |
|
|
X
|
| Project economy |
|
|
X
|
| Databases |
|
|
X
|
| Management of local area networks |
|
|
X
|
| Strategic use of information technology |
|
|
X
|
| Project work |
|
|
X
|
|
|
|
|
| Information Technology for Teachers programme
|
|
|
|
| Internet for teachers |
|
X
|
X
|
| Information technology |
|
X
|
X
|
|
|
|
|
| Courses not included in a programme |
|
|
|
| Java-programming |
X
|
X
|
X
|
| Tutor in distance education |
X
|
X
|
X
|
The Information Network
Programme is designed specially for distance education on the
Internet. The text books are in print form, but the study guides
are only available as web-material. E-mail for one-to-one communication
and Listserv for many-to-many communication are the two main channels
for communication. All courses have individual start-up times and
unpaced progression. Exams are offered twice a year for each of
the courses.
The Information Technology
Programme is available as evening classes, correspondence courses,
and courses on the Internet. Both textbooks and study guides are
in print form. The courses have no course homepages, but the students
have access to the college homepage and e-mail for one-to-one communication
and Listserv for many-to-many communication. All courses follow
a semester plan with start in September and February and have paced
progression. Exams are offered twice a year for each of the courses.
The Information Technology
for Teachers Programme is designed specially for distance education
on the Internet. The text books are in print form, but the study
guides and some of the readings are only available as web-material.
E-mail for one-to-one communication and Listserv for many-to-many
communication are the two main channels for communication. A pilot
group of 21 students working as primary and secondary school teachers
in the Oslo region took part in the programme. The courses followed
a fixed semester plan, had paced progression and two scheduled face-to-face
meetings. Internet access and support was provided by the Oslo School
Authority and the pilot project was funded by the Ministry of Education.
This study is part of
the continuous evaluation process of NKI distance education courses
and programmes. The immediate background to the survey was, as described
above, the participation in the EU project on developing a 'Multi
Media WWW Kernel for Distance Education' and NKI's strategy on developing
infrastructures, didactics and courses/programmes for teaching via
the Internet.
From experiences during
the last ten years, we have changed views and strategies concerning
some important aspects of the delivery of courses on the net, e.
g. based on some expectations concerning student backgrounds, access
to equipment and answers to questions concerning attitudes and preferences
of how, when and where to learn. Our strategies for future developments
have partly been based on subjective experiences of personnel with
varying responsibilities within the organisation; such as developers,
academics, tutors, counsellors, IT support staff and administration,
as well as on formal evaluation studies, discussions with other
institutions, students and tutors. Thus, this study is an attempt
to cover some issues which we felt needed more coherent and updated
analysis before completing the structure and design of the kernel
for distance learning in co-operation with our partners in the project
and the didactic structure and design of courses to be developed
in the near future. The issues are concerned with:
- Equipment and software
requirements (computer specifications, access via modems or local
networks or Internet access via NKI, etc.)
- Place of study (home,
workplace, both or other possibilities)
- Reasons for study
and course/programme preferences
- Internet studies relative
to other choices and possibilities
- Print based materials
versus WWW material
- Didactic aspects (autonomy,
flexibility, learning 'style' or arrangements for learning, communication
preferences, etc.)
- Advantages and disadvantages
of learning on the net
- Technical difficulties,
need for support
- General assessment
of various aspects
This evaluation study
is seen as a 'pilot study' related to the EU project. In
connection with the project similar co-operative evaluation studies
of specific trial courses will be carried out. This survey was meant
to supply information both for the development of the trial courses
(specifically at NKI) and to contribute to the development and refinement
of research questions within the project. Thus, time for both the
development and distribution of the questionnaire and for receiving
replies was restricted. However, with reference to the needs of
the total project it was more important to collect these pilot data
in time, rather than planning a more complete and ideal survey.
We decided to seek information
from all students enrolled in one or more courses offered via the
Internet during the period April 1st 1996 to March 31st
1997. The reason for the choice of time period was the following:
- We preferred students
with recent experiences to be covered by the study - because we
expected the respondents to remember their experiences, and because
of recent developments (such as courses presented on the WWW).
- We normally wish to
cover periods covering periods of whole year(s), because students
can enrol at any time, and there are reasons to expect that students
enrolling at different times of the year may have different characteristics
and preferences.
- The students should
have been registered for some time to gain experiences of interest
to the study.
- The time period seemed
to give an acceptable number of students if all were included.
- We wished to include
students with experiences from different kinds of courses and
programmes concerning both subject matter, presentational forms,
teaching methods and interaction.
Because of a malfunction
in the selection programme, only students who were active at the
time of selection (July 1st 1997) were included. The
mistake was not discovered before the data were processed and the
report nearly completed. The difficulties in the selection process
have at least the following consequences for the representativeness
of the sample:
- We have an over-representation
of students with relatively little experience from Internet learning
- Students who have
cancelled their studies are not included
- Students who have
completed all their courses or their total programme of studies
are not included
There is reason to expect
that the two latter groups could represent 'extreme' views of being
positive or negative concerning their study experiences.
We have over the years
experienced that it becomes more and more difficult to receive acceptable
response rates to postal questionnaire surveys. This seems to be
a result of the fact that people in general receive so many questionnaires
and these vary in quality and are of varying interest to them. Thus,
we have found that telephone interviews often achieve better results
- both quantitatively and qualitatively. Again, because of restrictions
in time, we chose to construct a quite extensive questionnaire.
We hoped that the considerable media and public interest in questions
concerning the Internet would lead to a relatively high response
rate.
We chose to construct
a questionnaire including mainly fixed answers to tick. We aimed
at constructing questions which we considered easy to answer. Some
open-ended questions were also included. It seems clear that fixed
answers produce information that does not go deeply under the surface
of the problems that we wished to examine. On the other hand, we
hoped that the format would motivate answering and give a higher
response rate, and we would have other opportunities to approach
the same or other students using other methods, e.g. telephone interviews
and evaluation of specific courses or aspects of different courses
at a later stage.
The questionnaire was
distributed to 148 students during the first week of July 1997,
regrettably not the best period for a survey, as most Norwegians
start their summer holidays at just that time. An introductory letter
explaining the aims of the survey and a free postage return envelope
was enclosed with the questionnaire.
After 4 weeks we had
received 43 completed questionnaires (and 2 returned with unknown
address). We decided to send a reminder including a extra copy of
the questionnaire. The reminder resulted in another 21 answers during
the next 4 weeks. These 64 respondents are included in the analyses
which follow.
Table 3. Questionnaires
distributed and returned (N=146).
|
Percent |
| Returned without reminder |
29 |
| Returned after reminder |
14 |
| No response |
57 |
| Total |
100 |
We have found that the
response rate of 43 percent is acceptable for our analyses in this
survey as a pilot for following surveys - both in NKI and with our
collaborators in the project. Some few forms have been received
after the data were processed for computer analysis. We have no
specific assumptions whether there are any systematic relationships
between responding to this survey and attitudes and/or experiences
related to the NKI Internet courses or programmes.
The students are enrolled
either for one or more single courses or to a total study programme.
They represent different courses and programmes and are studying
under different conditions. We will try to account for different
categories below:
Table 4. Courses and
programmes represented in the study (N=56).
|
Percent |
| Information Networks courses |
18 |
| Information Technology courses |
13 |
| Tutor in Distance Education |
9 |
| Information Networks Programme |
11 |
| Information Technology Programme |
30 |
| Information Technology for Teachers |
20 |
| Total |
101 |
The programmes and courses
have been described above. The 'Information Networks courses'
cover single courses included in the 'Information Networks Programme'
(½ year of full-time study) plus Java-programming. 'Information
Technology Programme' covers courses on programming, systems
analysis and computer technology. The course 'Tutor in Distance
Education' (Norwegian version) is delivered free of charge to
prospective tutors seeking employment within the NKI distance teaching
system. 'Information technology for teachers', ½ year of
full time study, is offered in co-operation with the Bodø College
of higher education. The students in the survey all come from a
trial group of Oslo teachers. One or two of the single course students
take the Internet course as a special interest subject within the
Technical College distance learning programme. All courses included
in the study represent tertiary level studies.
In addition to types
of courses and programmes they study, the students' background for
answering will vary according to how long they have been active
(or in fact for some inactive) in the system and will also depend
on how many study units or courses they may have completed.
58 respondents have stated
how long they have studied the course or programme in question.
8 respondents (14%) had started less than 4 months ago, 38 (66%)
had studied for between 5 and 10 months, while 12 (21%) had been
studying for more than 10 months.
62 gave information concerning
completion of courses. 32 of these (52%) had yet not completed any
courses at all, 11 (18%) state that they have completed one course,
while 19 (31%) have completed two or more courses. The question
concerning completion of study units (or formal assignments submitted)
was answered by 48 students, of whom 11 (23%) had not completed
any study units. Whether these students actually had started their
studies by studying the material, communicating with their tutor
or fellow students, or accessed WWW learning material or resources
is not really clear. Some few state that they are not able to answer
some of the questions because of lack of experience. 21 (44%) had
completed 1 to 3 study units, 9 (19%) students had completed between
4 and 6 units, while 7 (15%) had completed 7 study units or more.
The courses included
in the study comprise courses with learning material and learning
resources presented on the WWW as well as courses based exclusively
on printed material, courses based on printed material and/or computer
software.
According to the respondents'
answers, 23 (41%) study courses that do not include material presented
on WWW, 25 (45%) study courses with WWW material, while 8 (14%)
study both types of courses. The question is unanswered by 8 students.
Some courses are designed
to encourage group communication more than others, e. g. by fixed
starting points and paced progression during one semester (Information
technology programme and Information technology for teachers).
There is internationally
and nationally research data which illustrate that distance learning
is not specifically chosen because students are living in remote
areas, far from other part-time or full-time educational opportunities.
A majority of distance learners choose their form of learning out
of a need for flexibility and for adapting study requirements to
demands from family, job or social life. What about Internet studies
based on a rather new technology, does the new technology change
this situation? Concerning adaptation of new technologies, are early
use and interest for applying this technology for learning related
to urban or rural living?
Table 5. The distribution
of respondents by county in Norway (N=62).
|
Percent |
| Østfold |
3 |
| Akershus |
11 |
| Oslo |
34 |
| Oppland |
7 |
| Hedmark |
10 |
| Buskerud |
- |
| Vestfold |
3 |
| Telemark |
- |
| Aust-Agder |
- |
| Vest-Agder |
3 |
| Rogaland |
7 |
| Hordaland |
3 |
| Sogn og Fjordane |
- |
| Møre og Romsdal |
- |
| Sør-Trøndelag |
2 |
| Nord-Trøndelag |
3 |
| Nordland |
7 |
| Troms |
5 |
| Finnmark |
- |
| Abroad |
2 |
| Total |
100 |
The respondents represent
13 of 19 counties plus one student communicating from abroad. We
have an overrepresentation from Oslo. To a certain extent this is
a result of the group of teachers taking credit studies as part
of a collaboration between the school authorities of Oslo and NKI.
Table 6. The distribution
of respondents by type of domicile (N=64).
| Percent |
|
| Large city (Oslo, Bergen, Trondheim, Stavanger)
|
44 |
| City |
23 |
| Suburb |
11 |
| Rural areas |
22 |
| Total |
100 |
This categorisation is
based on the students' own ticks of alternatives and are not related
to official categories of the national statistics. Again the question
was included to give some impression of whether the Internet students
were recruited from rural or urban areas. Although we cannot refer
this distribution to demographic statistics, it seems clear that
the cities and suburban areas are over-represented among the NKI
Internet students. One source of error in this conclusion is, of
course, the group of 11 teachers recruited to the specific Oslo
project.
We were interested in
looking at types of occupations represented in the study, with specific
reference to whether Internet studies are chosen by persons working
in IT related occupations. 'Occupation' was included as an open
question and the categorisation undertaken by the researchers before
coding of the data. This kind of categorisation involves many difficulties
and possible sources of errors, and the question could have been
clearer concerning computer or IT related work. We also tried to
differentiate between high and low level occupations defined by
jobs normally requiring higher education or not.
Table 7. Occupation
(N=59).
|
Percent |
| Teacher |
20 |
| High Level Administrative Not IT related |
24 |
| High Level Technical Not IT related |
9 |
| High Level Administrative IT Related |
5 |
| High Level Technical IT Related |
12 |
| Low Level Administrative Not IT Related |
10 |
| Low Level Technical Not IT Related |
9 |
| Low Level Administrative IT Related |
- |
| Low Level Technical IT Related |
3 |
| Students |
3 |
| Unemployed |
3 |
| Retired |
2 |
| Total |
100 |
If we to some extent
can trust the categorisation above, we may conclude that the majority
(70%) have high level occupations (including the teachers),
dominated by not IT related occupations (53%). Only 22% are
categorised as working in low level jobs, and again only a couple
of these are working in IT related jobs. Thus, it seems, with a
reservation for possible errors, that most of the students do not
actually work in IT related jobs. This does not at all mean that
they do not need the competence gained in their present work - look
e.g. on the pressure on school teachers to apply computers for the
benefit of their students' learning.
Among the respondents
there are 50 (79%) men and 13 (21%) women (one unanswered). 6 of
the women were in the group of Oslo teachers studying Information
technology for teachers.
The age distribution
is given below:
Table 8. Age (N=62).
|
Percent |
| 20-24 years |
5 |
| 25-29 years |
21 |
| 30-34 years |
31 |
| 35-39 years |
16 |
| 40 years and over |
27 |
| Total |
100 |
The students were quite
evenly distributed on the three levels of education specified in
the questionnaire. As the study programmes are defined as tertiary
level courses, the participants are generally expected to be qualified
for entrance to university and colleges - with the exception that
one or two students took part in the Internet course as part of
their Technical College distance study, and in principle students
are allowed to take a few of the single courses without examination
even if they are not formally qualified for entrance to higher education.
Table 9. Previous
level of education (N=63).
|
Percent |
| Secondary School 'A' Level |
32 |
| 1-3 years of Higher Education |
32 |
| 4 years or more of Higher Education |
37 |
| Total |
101 |
It is clear that the
students in general have attained a high level of education before
starting their Internet studies at NKI. In the early start of NKI
CMC courses, we found that students choosing electronic communication
had better qualifications than students choosing correspondence
education where both alternatives were offered for similar courses
(Rekkedal 1990). The educational background of the students in this
study is very similar to that found among the CMC students 8 years
ago, and clearly much higher than the average NKI student in other
courses.
17 students (27%) state
that they previously have taken correspondence courses at NKI; 6
(10%) have participated in correspondence education at other institutions.
1 student has previously taken 'electronic' distance education while
1 student has participated in 'distance education' at another institution.
37 (60%) have not been involved with any form of distance education
before.
Different reasons for
enrolling were presented in the questionnaire with possibilities
for ticking one or more. In addition we have presented what we have
called 'most important reason' for respondents who ticked only one
reason (plus a combination of defined reasons stated).
Table 10. Stated reasons
for enrolling in the course/programme.
|
Percent |
| (Percentages below based on 60 respondents) |
|
| 1 Needs the competence in present job |
50 |
| 2 Increase formal competence |
52 |
| 3 To increase possibility of changing job |
32 |
| 4 Interest in the subject |
57 |
| 5 Interest in this form of teaching |
15 |
| 6 Other |
9 |
|
|
| (Percentages below based on 58 respondents) |
|
| Most important reason: |
|
| 1 Needs the competence in present job |
9 |
| 2 Increase formal competence |
13 |
| 3 Increase possibility of changing job |
8 |
| 4 Interest in the subject |
8 |
| 5 Interest in this form of teaching |
- |
|
|
| Two or all 3 of reasons 1, 2, 3 |
13 |
| (4 and 5) |
5 |
| (1 and/or 2 and/or 3 + 4) |
30 |
| (1 and/or 2 and/or 3 + 5) |
- |
| (1 and/or 2 and/or 3 + 4 and 5) |
9 |
| Other |
3 |
| Total |
99 |
Some comments on the
table above on 'the most important reason': It seems clear that
reasons related to needs in present job and formal competence and
interest in the subject are dominating when deciding to enrol for
distance education based on computer communication technologies.
We should note that specific interest in 'this form of teaching'
is ticked only by 9 students (15%) as relevant and never as the
only reason. Among those who have ticked only one alternative, the
most frequent is 'formal competence'.
Access to computers,
modems and networks is one important requisite for opening up the
markets for computer based distance education. During the ten years
since 1987 when the NKI 'Electronic College' was launched, access
has been considered one important barrier for recruitment, specifically
to courses where the academic content or target groups have been
related to computer science.
Table 10. Access to
computers and networks (N=64).
|
N |
Percent |
| PC (only) at home |
16 |
25 |
| PC plus modem at home |
41 |
64 |
| PC at work (no modem or network) |
2 |
3 |
| PC and modem at work |
16 |
25 |
| PC in network at work |
30 |
47 |
All students, who had
no PC at home, had access to a PC either with modem or in a network
at their workplace. Of those 16 who had a PC only without a modem
at home, 13 had access to a modem or network at their workplace.
This means that all the students had access to computers either
at home or at their workplace, and that only three students had
no modem or network access before enrolling. 21 students state that
they had access to a PC and modem at home as well as a PC and modem
and/or network access at their workplace.
E-mail address
50 students (78%) had
an e-mail address before they started. Even so, 22 students (35%)
state they have chosen to accept the offer of Internet access through
NKI.
The use of computers
at home or workplace for study
We also asked the students
where they normally use the computer in connection with their studies.
26 (41%) answered that they used the computer for study only or
mainly at home, 12 (19%) only or mainly at work, while 26 (41%)
said that they used the computer for studies both at home and at
work.
Who pays the fees?
Only 15 students (23%)
say that they are paying their studies completely out of their own
pocket. 36 students (56%) state that their studies are paid fully
by their employer. Note that this applies to all the 20 teachers
in the Oslo group. 9 (14%) students state that their studies are
partly paid by themselves and their employer, while 4 students (6%)
have their courses paid by the offices of employment or rehabilitation.
We have seen that interest
in this method of studying did not seem to be decisive for the enrolment.
In addition to the question concerning reasons for enrolling we
included some questions on whether the Internet had any influence
on the decision to enrol for the course or study programme in question
and about probabilities of enrolling in other forms of study. The
questions were designed as a 5-graded scale, where the extreme 'positive'
counts 1, the middle alternative 3 and the extreme 'negative' 5.
Table 12. Did the
fact that the course was offered over the Internet have any significance
for your decision to enrol? (N=64) .
| Great significance |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
No significance |
|
45 |
23 |
11 |
3 |
17 |
|
M=2.2 Md=1.7
It is clear from the
answers that for a large majority of students the fact that the
course was offered on the Internet (either as e-mail and computer
mediated communication and/or presented on the WWW) did influence
their decision to enrol. It seems that on the 'negative' side few
are indifferent to the question, but 11 (17%) say that this had
no importance.
The following questions
covered the probability of enrolling in an equivalent course if
offered as: full time face-to-face, part time face-to-face or correspondence
based study.
Table 13. Probability
of enrolling in full time (N=60), part time (N=61) or correspondence
study (N=61) (Percentages).
| Very probable |
|
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
Not probable |
M |
Md |
| Full time study |
3 |
- |
7 |
7 |
83 |
|
4.7 |
4.9 |
| Part time study |
10 |
13 |
16 |
15 |
46 |
|
3.7 |
4.2 |
| Correspondence study |
25 |
16 |
20 |
7 |
33 |
|
3.0 |
3.1 |
It is clearly seen that
very few of the students would consider enrolling for an equivalent
full-time course. Some more students would look at a part time course
as a possible choice. Concerning traditional correspondence study,
a quite large proportion would consider this as a possible form
of study. The answers seem to confirm that it is the flexibility
of distance study that is the main argument for their choice of
study form, however it seems clear (from table 8) that the Internet
is a positive aspect when the decision to enrol is taken.
The questionnaire contained
a number of 5-graded scales to assess the students' views on different
aspects of teaching and learning. These are analysed below, and
means and medians of views are calculated. The differences between
these parameters give an impression of relative value judgements.
NKI holds the view that
students generally prefer a large degree of flexibility (or that
our main competitive strength lies in the ability to offer maximum
flexibility). When we first started to offer courses based on computer
mediated communication, we emphasised the aspect of group communication
and social aspect of learning. As a result, computer conferencing
courses were organised on a per semester basis with fixed starting
dates and fixed schedules of progression aiming to facilitate academic
and social communication between students. And - in fact - our early
surveys showed that the 'computer conferencing students' were much
more in favour of organising a fixed progression plan than were
the 'correspondence students' studying the same courses (Rekkedal
1990). It should be noted, actually, that the Information Technology
Programme and Information Technology for Teachers Programme
are organised with fixed starting dates and common progression through
the semester. According to the new strategy, from autumn 1997 all
Internet courses are organised with the same flexibility as the
correspondence based courses, a solution that may have advantages
and disadvantages relative to the students' emphasis on group communication
and possible preference for autonomy concerning time.
In this survey the questions
were put as follows: NKI's distance teaching courses are largely
based on flexibility in the form of free starting time and free
progression. What is your opinion of this?
Table 14. Students'
views on free starting time and free progression (Percentages, N=59).
| Advantage |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
Disadvantage |
M |
Md |
| Free starting time |
71 |
17 |
3 |
3 |
5 |
|
1.5 |
1.2 |
| Free progression |
64 |
17 |
12 |
5 |
2 |
|
1.6 |
1.3 |
It is clearly shown that
the respondents have a clear opinion that both free starting time
and free progression do have more advantages than disadvantages.
The preference for free starting time seems to be a little larger
than preference for free progression plan. This is probably due
to the fact that some students actually experience that they have
a need for a push from the school or some strict requirements to
be able to give priority to their studies. E.g. in an early survey
some students answered "free pace of study" for both 'the largest
advantage' and 'the largest disadvantage' of correspondence
study (Rekkedal 1978). In the previous mentioned study one student
wrote: "If electronic distance studies had been more flexible, it
would have been a superb choice". And our conclusion on this point
was: "...it is a major challenge to develop methods and organizations
in distance education based on computer conferencing systems which
take care of the distance student's need for autonomy and flexibility."
(Rekkedal 1990, p. 92)
There are very small
differences between students studying different types of courses
and programmes concerning their views on freedom from time restrictions
with the exception of the group of Oslo teachers showing a somewhat
lower preference for both free starting time and free progression
(a result which should be judged in relation to the fact that they
started as a group and also took part in an introductory seminar).
However, also in this group the majority prefers freedom of time
measured by both questions.
Concerning the students'
open comments the question on freedom of time is the most commented
one. It seems clear that the majority prefer freedom independent
of what they have experienced themselves. There are some few exceptions.
Some of the teachers in the Oslo group obviously appreciate the
fact that they have belonged to a group. Some comment that they
need some pressure from specific demands on time limits for submitting
assignments to keep a sufficient speed of study.
Table 10 gives an overview
of different didactic elements and the students' attitudes towards
their value for their learning as measured by the question: "The
teaching contains different elements. Try to assess these concerning
value for your learning"
Table 15. Didactic
aspects of the teaching and their value for learning (Percentages,
N=60).
| Very Important |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
Of little importance |
M |
Md |
| Content quality/relevance |
65 |
17 |
8 |
3 |
2 |
|
1.6 |
1.3 |
| Quality of the study guide |
55 |
28 |
15 |
- |
2 |
|
1.7 |
1.4 |
| Quality of assignm. for subm. |
37 |
52 |
10 |
2 |
- |
|
1.8 |
1.8 |
| Reading/studying |
57 |
33 |
10 |
- |
- |
|
1.5 |
1.4 |
| Work with assignm. for subm. |
50 |
42 |
8 |
- |
- |
|
1.6 |
1.5 |
| Tutor's comments |
45 |
28 |
20 |
7 |
- |
|
1.9 |
1.7 |
| Academ. comm. with fellow st. |
17 |
17 |
30 |
27 |
10 |
|
3.0 |
3.1 |
| Social comm. with fellow st. |
8 |
7 |
32 |
25 |
28 |
|
3.6 |
3.6 |
| Individual comm. with tutor |
33 |
33 |
23 |
8 |
2 |
|
2.1 |
2.0 |
| Academic conferences |
9 |
20 |
39 |
20 |
12 |
|
3.1 |
3.1 |
| Social conferences |
3 |
12 |
25 |
27 |
32 |
|
3.7 |
3.8 |
| Collaborative learning |
8 |
23 |
28 |
20 |
20 |
|
3.2 |
3.1 |
| Individual flexibility |
55 |
23 |
15 |
5 |
2 |
|
1.8 |
1.4 |
Interpretation of the
above information is not necessarily easy - as the students answer
with reference to their actual experiences in the NKI Internet courses.
This means that as NKI has chosen to design the Internet courses,
whether based on WWW learning material or not, with great emphasis
on flexibility, courses structured into study units with assignments
for submission to be commented on by a 'personal' tutor, collaboration
and communication with fellow students will receive less attention.
Thus, in a way this can be seen as a 'self-fulfilling prophecy'.
On the other hand, with some few exceptions there seem to be small
differences between students with different experiences, e. g. between
students studying programmes which have emphasised conferences and
group based progression during the semester.
Generally, we may note
that the students emphasise aspects known from individual distance
education, such as quality of the study guide, individual
reading/studying, work with assignments for submission,
tutor's comments, individual communication with their
tutor and individual flexibility as most important for
their learning, while the specific aspects of computer mediated
communication, such as social and academic communication with
fellow students and social and academic conferences as
well as collaborative learning seem to be regarded as less
important. Concerning the first mentioned aspects, it is of course
important to realise that these also can be more efficiently organised
in distance learning systems applying the Internet and WWW for distribution
of material and communication.
Concerning differences
mentioned above between students studying different courses, students
studying Information technology for teachers are more positive
towards the learning effect of 'work with assignments for submission'
and concerning the learning effect of 'individual flexibility'.
(The last point is probably worth noting as just this group of students
actually had less flexibility as they had to adjust to a fixed starting
date and fixed progression schedule, however, with individual flexibility
within these limits). These students together with students in the
Information technology programme were more positive towards
'academic conferences' and 'collaborative learning'.
The electronic or
virtual environment offered to the students may be used or taken
advantage of in different ways. The use may be passive as
when reading or active when writing to fellow students or
tutors or contributing to conferences. Passive use may help the
student in his or her individual learning process, but does not
contribute to the social system of learning, to other students'
learning or to the construction of a social climate. The students
actual participation in the communication was also measured by a
number of different variables.
Table 16. Actual use
of resources/means for learning during the study programmes (Percentages,
N=60/59).
| Very much |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
Very little |
M |
Md |
| Write to the tutor |
15 |
15 |
20 |
40 |
10 |
|
3.2 |
3.7 |
| Write to fellow students |
2 |
2 |
12 |
37 |
48 |
|
4.3 |
4.4 |
| Write to academ. conf. |
2 |
2 |
10 |
27 |
60 |
|
4.4 |
4.7 |
| Write to social conferences |
2 |
- |
12 |
15 |
72 |
|
4.6 |
4.8 |
| Write to the administration |
- |
8 |
17 |
32 |
43 |
|
4.1 |
4.3 |
| Read in academic conf. |
5 |
12 |
13 |
27 |
43 |
|
3.9 |
4.3 |
| Read in social conferences |
- |
2 |
10 |
24 |
64 |
|
4.5 |
4.7 |
It seems very clear that
the students make little use of the communication possibilities
that are organised for them as part of the Internet/computer mediated
communication courses. This fact might either indicate that these
possibilities are of relatively little importance, that the actual
use satisfies the needs they have for communication for efficiently
completing their studies, or that the organisation or content of
conferences is unsatisfactory. Writing to the tutor and to the administration
and reading in academic conferences are the most frequent ways of
using the communication possibilities.
We asked the students
studying courses that did not include material presented on the
WWW whether they would see it as an advantage to have the study
material presented on the WWW. On a 5-graded scale from 'absolutely
an advantage' to 'does not matter' half the students
ticked the middle alternative with the rest distributed on both
sides. In spite of the directions on the form, this question was
also answered by many of the students taking WWW courses.
Table 17. Would you
look upon presenting the learning material/study guide on the WWW
as an advantage (Percentages).
| Absolutely an advantage |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
Does not matter |
M |
Md |
| Students in courses without WWW material (n=29)
|
20 |
7 |
48 |
10 |
14 |
|
2.9 |
3.0 |
| Students in courses with WWW material (n=17) |
29 |
12 |
47 |
6 |
6 |
|
2.5 |
2.7 |
| All students (N=44*) |
22 |
11 |
46 |
9 |
11 |
|
2.8 |
2.9 |
*N less than
the sum of the two groups because two respondents study both type
of courses
Students who are studying
courses involving WWW material are more positive towards presenting
the material on the 'web' than are students of Internet courses
not including this type of course presentation. However, the enthusiasm
is not very large in any of the groups.
Table 18. Would you
see it as an advantage if the course material was distributed in
print (on paper) in addition to the WWW presentation (Percentages,
N=33).
| Materials also on print |
|
|
|
|
|
Absolutely no need |
| an absolute advantage |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
for printed materials |
|
24 |
21 |
18 |
21 |
15 |
|
M=2.6 Md=2.6
We have internally discussed
whether the students would prefer receiving the WWW material also
in printed form. The question might have been misunderstood, as
many of the NKI courses include WWW material as well as text books.
Thus, some students may have understood the question as we actually
were asking about their views on the courses as they are designed
at present. Generally, we may conclude that views differ a lot between
the students. Different views may result from different experiences
and needs in different courses. This question should be further
examined.
Table 19. What is
your opinion of the following aspects of WWW courses based on your
experiences? (Percentages, N=33).
| Very important |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
Of little importance |
M |
Md |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Study material on the WWW |
39 |
18 |
21 |
18 |
3 |
|
2.3 |
2.1 |
| Internal hyper-links |
33 |
30 |
18 |
12 |
6 |
|
2.3 |
2.1 |
| Hyper-links to external resources |
47 |
9 |
31 |
9 |
3 |
|
2.1 |
1.8 |
Most students tick on
the positive side for all three aspects of WWW materials. It seems
that the use of hyper links to external resources is the facility
that is most appreciated by the students.
Concerning open comments,
some students specifically comment that study material should be
on paper, while there are comments that the course is well suited
for WWW applications and that external links are the most valuable
aspect.
Table 20. The actual
use of WWW facilities. (Percentages, N=33).
| Very important |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
Of little importance |
M |
Md |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Use of internal hyper-links |
24 |
15 |
42 |
9 |
9 |
|
2.6 |
2.8 |
| Use of external hyper-links |
24 |
21 |
24 |
15 |
15 |
|
2.8 |
2.7 |
| Search in external resources |
27 |
18 |
36 |
6 |
12 |
|
2.6 |
2.6 |
Again, we may note that
there are large differences in how much the students have actually
used the WWW facilities. Differences in use may, of course, be related
to how much of the course/programme the students have actually completed.
The number of students is a little low to really examine such relationships.
A surface look at these relations does not indicate that the explanation
for the use or lack of use of WWW facilities lies in the amount
of study work completed before answering the questionnaire.
Table 21. Assessment
of the 'Listserv' conferencing system presently used. (Percentages,
N=47).
| Very good |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
Very bad |
|
9 |
19 |
40 |
23 |
9 |
|
M=3.0 Md=3.0
It is very clear that
the students do not express positive attitudes towards the conferencing
system that they have experienced during their Internet studies.
A majority has ticked the middle alternative. In our opinion there
is little reason to be satisfied with this result. Normally, students
seem to be quite positive in general towards their study experiences,
and here there is an overweight on the negative side. Also with
reference to the next question where the students were asked to
indicate preferences between different choices, this is a result
that deserves further examination. In most evaluation surveys of
a similar nature, respondents tend to be generally negative to alternatives
which they have not experienced. Here, the situation is quite opposite.
45 students answered
the question on preferred conferencing system of the given alternatives:
- Listserv
- News
- A WWW based conferencing
system
The low number of answers
is probably due to lack of experience by the other students. Still,
of the three 'Listserv' is the least preferred conferencing system.
Of the 45 students who have given priority to any of the three proposed
conferencing systems, 18 (40%) prefer 'News', 16 (36%) say that
they prefer a 'WWW based system', while only 9 (20%) state that
they prefer 'Listserv', the system most used in their NKI Internet
studies.
Table 22. Experience
of technical/communication problems (Percentages, N=57).
| Very much |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
Very little |
Not at all |
|
9 |
12 |
21 |
14 |
23 |
|
21 |
As far as we can judge
from these answers, it seems that only around 20 percent of the
students tick the negative side of the scale. 21 percent have not
met problems, and 37 percent tick on the side of 'little' or 'very
little'. If the respondents are representative, one should perhaps
be reasonably satisfied with these results. On the other hand, at
present we would expect that the students who have enrolled for
Internet courses are more experienced computer users than the general
public. For computer based distance education to succeed the technical
problems have to be more or less eliminated.
Concerning those who
say that they have had problems related to the technology, 16 students
say that they have used the 'NKI support telephone', 24 say that
they have 'solved the problems themselves', 11 have got 'support
from others' and 12 ticked 'other ways' (answers not mutually exclusive).
When it comes to open
answers on difficulties concerning technology and communication,
it seems that they fall in into three categories:
- Administrative problems
concerning e-mail addresses and passwords
- Periodic difficulties
concerning problems in software received from NKI
- Software problems
related to specific courses
- Difficulties in connecting
to NKI server (lack of server modem capacity/computer not working)
- Difficulties at the
student end (specifically the Oslo group of teachers where school
authorities were responsible for network access)
We asked the students
how long it had taken to receive answers back from their tutor.
The question was answered by only 44 students (as a large group
had not submitted any assignments). Turn-around time has been considered
to be of great importance in determining the quality of correspondence
education. Due to the fact that most distance teaching systems
emphasise the two-way communication process between student and
tutor, it is imperative that the time lag between submission and
feed-back, questions and answers is kept to a minimum. We have in
an early experiment shown that reduced turn-around time may increase
completion rates in correspondence education (Rekkedal 1973, 1983).
Although other researchers have questioned the generality of these
results (e. g. Taylor et al. 1986, Field 1987, Diehl 189a, 1989b),
it is generally seen as one of the advantages of computer mediated
communication that the communication process can go much faster.
Table 23. Turn-around
time (How long has it generally taken to receive answers back from
the tutor? (days). (Percentages, N=44).
|
|
Turn-around time in days |
|
|
|
|
|
| 1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 days or more |
| 34 |
25 |
11 |
5 |
5 |
2 |
5 |
14 |
M=3.1 Md=2.1 (8days or
more counted as 8)
Related to the above
considerations, results showed in Table 23 is not satisfactory.
Compared with our survey 8 years ago when 17 percent answered 1
day, 50 percent 2-3 days, 33 percent 4-7 days and no students reported
more that 7 days, the respondents in this survey report indicate
that the turn-around time has been longer. There is no reason for
students to have to wait more than a week to get feed-back to their
submitted papers.
Table 24. Satisfaction
with turn-around time (Percentages, N=53).
| Very satisfied |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
Very dissatisfied |
|
28 |
34 |
23 |
11 |
4 |
|
M=2.3 Md=2.1
The students are generally
satisfied with the turn-around time. There is naturally a high degree
of correlation between experienced turn-around time and satisfaction
(gamma = .68, p<.001). Those who have received their feedback
within 1 to 3 days are generally positive, when the turn-around
time exceeds 4 days, there is a tendency that the students tick
the middle alternative, and the few students who have experienced
a turn-around time of 6 days or more, tend to be negative. From
the answers to this survey we would conclude that the students studying
Internet courses at NKI seem to be satisfied with a turn-around
time of up to three days.
The open comments clearly
show that there at big differences concerning the different tutors'
response times. Some students have received answers from their tutors
very quickly and are very satisfied, while it is obvious that some
students have received their answers back from the tutor after waiting
much longer than they would expect.
Table 25. The student's
attitudes to prices of courses and programmes (in relation to other
private offers of education (Percentages, N=50).
| Expensive |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
Cheap |
|
4 |
16 |
58 |
16 |
6 |
|
M=3.0 Md=3.0
The students' views centre
around the 'neutral' alternative. A tentative conclusion would be
that the price structures chosen are acceptable. The answers might
be difficult to interpret, however, as many of the respondents have
their studies paid by the employer.
Table 26. Answers
to the question 'Would you recommend studies on the Internet to
other who were qualified and interested in the subject?' (Percentages,
N=61).
| Yes, absolutely |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
No, absolutely not |
|
53 |
30 |
15 |
2 |
3 |
|
M=1.6 Md=1.4
The question is answered
by all except 3 students. These results must be considered to be
extremely satisfactory. Only 3 students (5%) tick the negative side
of the scale. More than 80 percent would recommend Internet studies
to others.
The questionnaire also
included some open questions on the following aspects (answers recorded
in the appendix):
- Specifically positive
about NKI Internet/WWW courses:
The students mention
primarily aspects related to the NKI distance study system in general,
such as freedom and flexibility. Furthermore, it is specifically
mentioned that it is positive that the study programmes are available
on the Internet, the advantages of the WWW and links to resources,
that the courses are interesting and updated, that the tutors are
helpful, inspiring and give good comments, and that it is faster
than e. g. correspondence study.
- Suggestions for
improvements of the actual course:
(See appendix) Comments
concern specific aspects of the different courses, e. g. viewpoints
of skipping Pascal and expanding on C++, That 'The Tutor in Distance
Education' should be presented on the WWW (as it was from May
1997), that material should be on paper as well as on WWW, that
tutors should give more feedback and help.
Presented on the Web,
that the progression is too fast, and that some course content should
be revised and updated.
- Suggestions for
improvements in the use of the WWW:
It is suggested that
the WWW should be used for what it is good at (meaning possibly
links and resources, rather than presenting material) and that 'structure'
should be emphasised more.
- Suggestions for
improvements to the teaching:
Some tutors should be
quicker to return the assignments commented upon, when it takes
some time, at least confirm the reception of the assignment. It
is also mentioned that the quality of the tutors and their work
vary considerably.
- Suggestions for
improvements concerning administrative aspects:
Few comments are given.
One student mentions that NKI should take more responsibility for
administering the exams (as students who wish to sit an examination
locally have to make some arrangements themselves). It is also mentioned
that the NKI study counsellor has been helpful, and that tutors
should be easier to reach by phone.
This report has presented
an evaluation study of a group of students enrolled in one of NKI's
Internet based courses or study programmes in one year (April 1st
1996 to March 31st 1997). The students have studied courses
and programmes with large differences in course content, use of
WWW resources, emphasis on group communication, and on individual
flexibility such as free starting time and individual pace of study.
A questionnaire was mailed to all students registered as active
students on July 1st 1997.
The study was carried
out as a pilot evaluation related to an European Leonardo da Vinci
project concerning developing distance education based on the World
Wide Web. The questionnaire focused on the students' background
(who choose Internet studies?) and their access to the Internet,
the students' views on different aspects of studying via the net,
such as communication, group work, the use of the WWW and the use
of different learning resources, and aspects related to distance
study in general, such as individual flexibility. Furthermore, the
study analyses technical difficulties, views and recommendations
for the further development of NKI Internet courses and specific
advice concerning content and teaching of the individual courses.
The majority of the students
has access to Internet both at home and at work. A large majority
of the students has their studies paid fully or partly by their
employers. It seems clear that the fact that the studies are offered
on the net is an important reason for enrolling. Few of the students
would have enrolled for part-time or full-time study, while quite
a large group indicates that correspondence study could have been
a possible choice.
There is an overwhelming
majority preferring studies with free starting time and un-paced
progression; the preference is (with some few exceptions) independent
of their own experience as students. Concerning the learning value
of different didactic aspects, the students stress the importance
of aspects well-known from correspondence study, such as the quality
of the study guide, reading and studying, working with assignments
for submission, tutors' comments and individual flexibility, while
specific aspects related to group communication seem to be less
valued. With the exception of writing to the tutor, students have
taken little advantage of the possibility of taking part in academic
and social conferences by either reading or writing. Some courses
in the study programmes have included material presented on the
WWW. It did not seem that course material presented on the WWW was
the aspect of study valued most highly. The availability of external
resources including structure and links to these resources seems
to be the aspect most appreciated. The students are neither specifically
positive or negative to the conferencing system used (Listserv distribution
list). This might be a result of the relatively small use the students
have made of the conferences.
The students have experienced
different technical and communications related problems. As far
as we can judge, these have generally not been very significant.
Most students have coped rather well with the technical challenges
of Internet studies. There have been sporadic problems, because
of specific faults in software and administrative routines, which
have now been solved. The study clearly shows that the turn-around
time is at least as important for Internet students as for correspondence
students. Average turn-around time is approximately 3 days. Some
students report that they have waited longer for their assignments
than the time we would see as acceptable in an Internet based teaching/learning
system.
It is specifically encouraging
that a large majority of the students say that they would recommend
Internet studies to other people.
The general impression
from the evaluation study is that the students are reasonably satisfied
with their experiences as Internet students with NKI Distance Education.
It generally seems that the students value the aspects of study
that have been emphasised in distance education systems, such as
material for individual self instruction, two way communication
with enthusiastic tutors supplying individual support and personal
comments and guidance.
The students are not
so concerned about social and academic group communication. The
reason may be either that these aspects are not so necessary for
learning, or that they have taken so little advantage of the possibilities
that they really do not know, or that the possibilities and advantages
are not exploited fully by NKI administration and tutors.
Concerning the use of
the WWW we need to experiment more in different courses to find
out how the Internet resources can be applied in better ways. Presenting
material on the WWW is probably not the most important development.
The big challenge is to use the WWW and its resources for stimulating
meaningful activities including links to external resources based
on a course presentation structure which makes the learning more
interesting, efficient - and effective.
Future evaluation should
focus more on how to use the Internet and WWW for didactic purposes
with an emphasis on the aims, objectives and teaching methods of
each specific course.
Diehl, G. E. (1989a):
The effect of field scoring on time to completion in career development
courses. Alabama: USAF Ext. Course Inst.
Diehl, G. E. (1989b):
Comparison of two post-test feedback modalities on end of course
performance. Alabama: USAF Ext. Course Inst.
Field, J. G. (1987):
Report on proposed new TMA routing procedures. Milton Keynes: British
Open University, EIT. (Internal paper)
Paulsen, M. F. and T.
Rekkedal. 1996. Technology for Adult Learning in Norway Including
a Case Study on the NKI Electronic College. In Adult Learning
and Technology in OECD Countries.
Paulsen, M. F. 1992.
From Bulletin Boards to Electronic Universities: Distance Education,
Computer-mediated Communication, and Online Education. 1992.
University Park, Pennsylvania: The American Centre for the Study
of Distance Education.
Paulsen, M. F. &
Rekkedal, T.(1990): The Electronic College. Selected Articles
from the EKKO Project. Bekkestua: NKI/SEFU.
Rekkedal, T. (1973):
Innsendingsoppgavene i brevundervisningen. Hvilken betydning
har det å redusere omløpstiden? En eksperimentell undersøkelse.
Oslo: NKI.
Rekkedal, T. (1983):
The Written Assignments in Correspondence Education. Effects of
reducing turn-around time. Dist. Ed.,4:2, pp. 231-252.
Taylor, J. C. et al.
(1986): Student persistence in distance educatin: a cross-cultural,
multi-institutional perspective. Dist. Ed., 7:1, pp. 68-91.
Rekkedal, T. (1978):
Tekniske studier. Korrespondanseundervisning og klasseundervisning.
Delrapport 2: Brevskoleelevene. Stabekk: NKI.
Rekkedal, T. (1990):
Recruitment and Study Barriers in the Electronic College. In: Paulsen,
M. F. & Rekkedal, T.: The Electronic College. Selected Articles
from the EKKO Project. Bekkestua: NKI/SEFU.
Taylor, J. C. et al.
(1986): Student persistence in distance educatin: a cross-cultural,
multi-institutional perspective. Dist. Ed., 7:1, pp. 68-91.
Assessment of aspects
of WWW:
- For me the important
point is electronic communication. Study material is best on paper
- books. (Information Technology Programme (No WWW material
at present))
- I find this course
specifically suited for the Internet. One applies the tools directly
and learns (Teacher in the Oslo group)
- It is by following
links you discover new interesting things.
Progression:
-The fixed progression
plan has been conflicting with work pressures (3,3). (Teacher in
the Oslo group with fixed progression plan)
- It is very difficult
to follow the progression plan together with full time work. (1,5)
(Teacher in the Oslo group)
- Some time limits are
good to push you along (1,3) (Teacher in the Oslo group)
- I find that progression
has been a little too fast. Would have preferred, common start with
slower progression, but paced (Teacher in the Oslo group).
- I have good experience
of tight schedules and fixed/common starting time (unanswered) (Teacher
in the Oslo group)
- Sometimes it is difficult
to give priority to studies in busy every day life, it is different
if operating with time limits (2,2)
- Can study when it suits
best (2,2).
- Fine to have free progression,
however it may become difficult to get started/continue without
deadlines.
- Gives more freedom
(1,1).
- To be able to combine
job/studies is for me an absolute condition to have free starting
time/progression plan (1,1).
- Comfortable, practical,
individual (1,1).
- In my situation this
is a necessity, I have to organise my time myself (1,1).
- Can adapt to job, private
life/children (1,1)
- I feel that with fixed
starting times/progression the time to prepare for exams was too
short. With more freedom one could start earlier and distribute
the study over a longer period of time (1,1)
- Much can change concerning
private situations and work and interfere with studies. With flexibility
one can go deeper into the material without being stressed by time
pressures (1,1).
- Now fixed progression
has been changed; I clearly see negative aspects of this, even adults
need to be disciplined. Without fixed time limits, things can easily
be postponed (1,3).
- A certain freedom of
pace is preferable, but it is an advantage to have a (flexible)
time limit to get some pressure (1,3).
- It has made it possible
for me to concentrate on matters of importance for my work situation
without any pressures to spend time to learn the "less useful" content,
which I take when I get time - this is a great advantage (1,1).
- The studies are taken
while working, time for study varies (1,1).
- I dropped out because
of fixed progression, I will take up studies again this autumn (because
of change to unpaced study (1,1).
- In my case (dad with
3 children) it is not easy to adapt to fixed schedules (1,1).
- Can plan and organise
oneself according to private life/work (1,1)
- Work pressures and
family situation demand large flexibility of studies (1,1).
- In the schools situation
there are quite different circumstances to distance study where
most students are working and have an established family situation
(1,1).
- I am an individualist,
I don't play soccer, I am a cyclist (1,1).
- Because of family/work
I am taking the C++ course over a longer time than expected. This
suits me (and the family) very well (1,1).
- Gives increased flexibility
(3,1).
What can NKI do to
increase quality of the conferencing system?
- Try to define the most
necessary conferences, otherwise there is a whole maze of conferences
of interest to only a few (News).
- Arrange 'chat' lines
where students may discuss experiences on-line.
- Work more to make the
participants contribute more actively. Supply more relevant information.
- I find e-mail based
conferencing OK, the conferencing system is satisfactory - I have
little to compare with.
- Give more information,
tell students what is available.
- A WWW based conferencing
system is simpler to use, the browsers come equipped with necessary
software etc. To improve the conferencing system - keep up the good
work
- Introduce IRC with
specific channels for the individual course/programme
- Structuring of content,
follow-up and editing could be improved.
Technical/communication
problems:
- Problems in connecting
to Uninett during the first phase (2). (Teacher in the Oslo group
where connection was part of the employer's responsibility)
- I am connected via
modem. Often had difficulties getting contact. Problems with contact
to the mail server. Time consuming and frustrating (3). (Teacher
in the Oslo group)
- Internet connection
at work was not accessible in the first phase (3). (Teacher in the
Oslo group).
- The computer at the
school has not been available. The computer has been 'empty', the
computer has been out of order etc. (Teacher in the Oslo group).
- I had not enough knowledge
relative to the progression schedule for assignments. Too demanding
a level for me concerning the fast schedule of progression (1).
(Teacher in the Oslo group).
- Files have been missing
on the server in connection with the Unix course (5).
- Sometimes had problems
with connecting to the server (4).
- I did not receive a
user identity and password for the FTP server at NKI. After sending
an e-mail I received the information via e-mail. I find it very
un-professional of NKI to distribute user names and passwords via
e-mail (4).
- Wrong password (4).
- Problems with mail
addresses in the beginning (3).
- Did not get access
to certain pages; it turned up that I had an out of date password.
Extremely slow response from some of the tutors (2-4 weeks) (because
of change of content?) 40% of the assignments of one of the exams
was not included in the new book (Data communication).
- Problems with drawing
programme and file transfer, but I got efficient help from the tutor,
and I think I learned from the problems (3).
- It depends what is
considered to be 'technical problems'. I think the course is somewhat
unstructured. Web-addresses are incorrect and links do not function
as they should. Finding your way through the hypertext takes time.
Exercises and examples are not always correct (JAVA) (No tick).
- When it came closer
to the examination, it took more and more time to get answers and
assignments back from the tutors. The mail and Web server did not
seem to be functioning well at all times. The modems sometimes break
connection (3).
- Logging in problems
to Unix (5).
- Hardly any problems
with communication, had some difficulties with the C++ compiler
(5).
- It takes too long to
receive answers back on mail from the tutor. NKI should perhaps
have more tutors assigned to the course (3).
- I have had continuous
problems getting connected. When connected there are no problems.
- Addresses to the tutors
have in many cases been incorrect, this has caused many problems
concerning receiving e-mail back because of unknown address or lack
of reply because the mail is left at an unused address.
- I had some difficulties
in the beginning transferring the answers to 'Word' attachments
(5).
- Difficulties connecting
to NKI's server, by a mistake I was cancelled by NKI; it took a
long time to correct this mistake.
- It happens that attachments
in e-mail are presented in difficult forms.
- Problems with the software
received from NKI (5).
- Problems with the software
received from NKI (4).
- Received wrong communication
software, got new software by phoning NKI (4).
- Difficulties when changing
from modem to ISDN (2).
- In one of the courses
I could not make the communication function at all (no mail from
Listserv), only mails privately to the tutor (1).
- No support for Mac
users (5).
- The WWW server was
not always accessible from my site, it turned out to be difficulties
at the NKI side (3).
- The server at NKI has
not had the capacity for large traffic or has been 'down' (3).
- Problems with access
rights to areas which should have been accessible for me (2).
- Problems in getting
access to the server (3).
- Problems in mail transfer.
Response from tutor comes with a lot of wrong letters and symbols
(3).
Specifically positive
about NKI Internet/WWW courses:
- Positive and enthusiastic
tutors on the Internet and HTML course.
- Updated and interesting
courses.
- One can be at home
and study undisturbed at one's own pace according to the time available
and your mood for study.
- It has 'forced' me
to think, work independently and to contact the tutor or support
telephone to solve problems.
- The advantage of the
WWW and e-mail generally is what is good. NKI should spend more
resources on maintaining the Web pages.
- The courses and programmes
are updated.
- Study guides on the
WWW and links to external resources
- The progression in
the study programme concerning submissions of assignments towards
examinations (student who have followed a fixed plan in the Information
Technology Programme).
- Exciting and instructive
to study where the content and the computer tools you learn about
are the same as the ones you apply in your own studies. (Information
Technology for Teachers).
- Just that the studies
are available on the Internet is very good. The form of study suits
me perfectly. The flexibility of the study form and the tutors'
positive attitudes I find very good. (The latter is important
to keep up motivation - remember it can be many years since we were
in a similar situation.)
- Excellent feedback
from tutors with much helpful advice.
- I like this form of
teaching very much. I have no background for comparing the quality
of NKI programmes with those of other institutions.
- That it is independent
of place of study.
- Access to resources
through NKI's homepages, guidance, advice and information. I appreciate
the tutors' own homepages and the tutors' continuous follow-up etc.
- Free progression no
fixed classes/evenings.
- Competent and motivating
tutors
- Flexibility
- Fast response from
the tutor, easy to contact tutor.
- Faster than e.g. correspondence
study.
- Gives flexibility which
makes it possible to combine study with work and leisure.
- Easy to use, quick
response from tutors.
- Attractive that assignment
submission takes place via Internet.
Suggestions for improvements
of the actual course:
- Information about suitable
drawing programmes could perhaps have been given to students.
- (JAVA) As mentioned
before, I find it somewhat unstructured. One should have had a study
guide (on paper) at the beginning of the study programme. Web-pages
and exercises and assignments should always be correct.
- (JAVA) It is
difficult to get enough help over Internet. The tutor seems to assume
that you understand. Telephone contact with the tutor - and also
other students - could have been a help.
- (C++) Too extensive
examples/assignments. Many students learn programming via copying
examples. This is difficult when the examples are as complex as
in the C++ course.
- (C++) I would
have preferred to learn the programming language (C++) more in depth,
rather than learning two languages (Pascal). Other than that, the
academic contenct is exactly what I needed to learn.
- (Information Networks)
Some aspects of Internet are becoming outdated, some more emphasis
on new developments.
- Internet and Uninett
in Practice should include more advanced subject matter.
- (Computer Communication)
Where there is English literature, a more extensive study guide
should be developed, preferably a Norwegian language compendium.
- (The Tutor in Distance
Education) Taylor the course more to the individual background
of each participant. As it is today, for me it represents a great
motivational problem.
- (Information Technology
for Teachers) The pace of study was too fast at times. Examination
after summer holidays is not OK. With such extensive requirements
on assignment submission, a formal examination should have been
unnecessary.
- (Information Technology
for Teachers) Some face-to-face seminars should have been organised
during the first phase. Difficult to solve problems alone Not easy
to get help via e-mail when you don't know what to ask about.
- (Information Technology
for Teachers) For teachers working full-time without much experience,
the course is too demanding, it was easy to fall behind, although
I have still not given up. We should have had more face-to-face
seminars.
- (Pascal) I had
difficulties in getting cheap software. A cheap software alternative
should have been included in the course.
- (WWW) Include
programme for HTML documents.
- I had difficulties
in the beginning because I believe that some information was distributed
before I had received an e-mail address.
- Take Pascal out of
the programme and teach more C++
- (The tutor in distance
education) Study material should be presented on the Web.
Suggestions for improvements
in the use of WWW:
- More and smaller assignments.
- WWW should be used
for what it is useful for, namely links to resources and examples.
- More relevant links.
Assignments which demand visits to more pages; more use of the net.
Structure is necessary
to prevent you going astray.
- Presenting the study
guide on the WWW would make it easier to revise according to the
development.
- Better exploitation
of the possibilities of interaction, the teachers should 'lecture'
more, as is the case in other schools.
- Larger distance between
public pages and the student pages.
Suggestions for improvements
of the teaching:
- I think I have learned
a lot, but it has functioned so that one actively has to try out
the system, learn independently, and I believe this is a strength
of this form of teaching.
- Quicker response from
tutors (3 days, 3 on satisfaction).
- I have no suggestions
for improvements after free starting time and free progression was
introduced. I have appreciated the tutor's general comments on assignments,
but I see that this becomes more difficult when the flexible schedules
have been introduced.
- The tutor should confirm
the reception of assignments. It takes so long to get feedback that
you start to wonder whether it has been received by the tutor (10
days for turn-around time).
- It is very important
to have many examples in the teaching material when you are a distance
student, as it is difficult to ask questions while studying. Generally
more extensive comments would help.
- The waiting time to
get response a from the tutor could have been a little shorter (3-14
days turn-around time)
- The quality of the
tutors varies a lot, some perhaps have too much to do?
- Low activity in conferences
by both students and tutors. The tutors should do more to increase
activity.
Suggestions for improvements
concerning administrative aspects:
- NKI should to a larger
degree take responsibility for administering the exams.
- Perhaps it could have
been easier to talk to the tutor on the phone.
- For the first exams
it took too long to receive the results, later on it has gone much
quicker - that's good!
- The NKI study counsellor
has been approachable and very helpful, also NKI's support telephone.
- I pay by instalments.
The balance should be clearer. Use auto giro.
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