From electronic mail to Internet - where doesit take us?
Article in Telektronikk 3, 1996. Oslo: Telenor

Introduction

This article discusses the theoretical background and practical reasonsbehind the decision of one specific institution, NKI, to research on anddevelop distance education based on computer mediated communication, andreports experiences from teaching through electronic communication fornearly 10 years . Thus, perhaps a more correct title of this article couldhave been 'From correspondence teaching to organising individual and grouplearning on the Internet', as our decision to direct our efforts to developa distance education system based on electronic communication, was takenas a result of our continuous experiments on developing the NKI distanceeducation system. Computer mediated communication was in this connectionconsidered to be a medium qualitatively different from all other technologicaldevelopments of media for distance education because of its flexibilityand its potential of integrating presentation of learning material in differentforms and capacity for individual, small group and large group communication.

NKI is a multiform teaching institution offering full-time and part-timeprogrammes on secondary and tertiary level. NKI courses and programmesare offered on-campus, by distance education or as decentralised courses.The distance education programmes may be supplemented by local face-to-faceclasses or seminars. NKI Distance Education offers a number of programmesat university and college level. Some of these are organised in co-operationwith Norwegian universities or our own "Polytechnic College"(Den Polytekniske høgskolen). The majority of the NKI distance educationprogrammes are secondary level studies preparing for public or internalexams.

Distance Education and New Media

During the last 25 years distance education nationally and internationallyhas generally changed from organising individual learning based on printedmaterial and two-way communication via the ordinary postal system to multi-medialearning based on an integration of print based media and new media andcommunication technology. NKI has followed these developments closely andtried to develop and modernise the distance education system along differentlines:

1 Student support and counselling

The individual adult learner has generally great need for support tobe able to cope with the studies normally in competition with other demandsfrom job and/or family responsibilities. Research has shown that distanceeducation systems should develop administrative and teaching support systemsto help the students adapt to the demands of part-time studies to succeedand complete. In this connection we have researched on follow-up systems,initial and continuous counselling, training in distance learning studytechniques, turn-round time involved in two-way communication and specifictraining for distance tutors (see e.g. Rekkedal 1985).

2 Media research

The correspondence teaching system of the 60ies has gradually been changedinto a multi-media distance teaching system by the introduction of videotapes(both video-taped lectures and complete learning programmes) audio-tapes,computer soft-ware and laboratory kits, as well as, in some cases, video-conferences,radio and TV-programmes. Some of our research projects in this area havebeen carried out in co-operation with other distance teaching institutionsand Telenor. Supported by and in co-operation with Telenor we have carriedout experiments on telephone tutoring (Rekkedal 1989), telefax as a mediumfor individual tutoring and guidance (Rekkedal 1992), audiographics (Rekkedal& Vigander 1990), video, local cable television, satellite distributionand video conferencing (Holden 1992, 1993).

3 Computer mediated communication

Computer mediated communication has been one specific priority branchof the media research since 1986. NKI launched the so-called "EKKOProject" in 1986. The acronym, EKKO, denoted "Electronic CombinedEducation" (in Norwegian the combination of distance education andlocal face-to-face classes) a name that signified that the computer softwareshould constitute a virtual school or classroom substituting the need forphysical presence in a local class. The aim was to develop what we calledthe "Electronic College", a teaching system offering study programmesindependent of time and space and facilitating flexible communication foradministrative, social and teaching/learning purposes. Our understandingwas that the developments within computer communication would constituteteaching and learning possibilities which really could change distanceeducation dramatically. This article accounts mainly for this research,experiences and achievements (see e.g. Paulsen 1990, 1992, Paulsen &Rekkedal 1990, 1996).

Technology and competitiveness of distance educationinstitutions

The rapid developments concerning new media and communication technologiesconstitute both new possibilities and possible dangers for distance teachinginstitutions. The new media create, at least in theory, new possibilitiesfor preparing better and more cost-effective learning. At the same timethese developments have resulted in new types of institutions enteringthe market of education, and have incited traditional schools, collegesand universities to offer media based teaching. Thus, distance teachinginstitutions and universities have encountered, sometimes unexpected, competitionon the educational market. This situation was stated in extreme form byTony Bates in an introductory article in an issue of "Open Praxis"focusing on technology under the title: "Hello technology! Goodbye,distance teaching institutions?" (Bates 1994). The changes in distanceeducation caused by the emerging technologies has made some writers describethe new initiatives as 'third generation' distance education (Nipper 1989),the first being correspondence education and the second multi-media teaching.Bates foresee that the technological developments require new types oforganisations, these new types can either develop from distance educationinstitutions, universities and colleges or new institutions created fromscratch. Until now, it seems that distance education institutions havenot changed dramatically concerning the organisation of their teachingand their application of new media. For instance, Bates (1990, p. 20) states:

"There is more talk than action about the use of technologyin distance education. Even in the most technologically advanced of ourmember (EADTU) institutions, print, correspondence and face-to-face teachingstill predominate. For most European distance learners, these are stillthe only media currently that really matter."

There is reason to believe that this is the situation also today, evenafter the explosion of interest in the Internet since 1993. According toBates (Ibid.) there are good reasons why the technological developmenthas been so slow in the distance education institutions. One is, obviously,that distance teaching institutions have long traditions and investmentsbound up in the 'old' technologies and the natural inertia of large institutionsacts against rapid changes. However, there are also rational reasons forthe slow technological developments. Print, correspondence and face-to-faceare well tried methods. As Bates (Ibid. p. 21) puts it:

"The use of more advanced technology can be justified only ifit meets one or more of the following criteria: lower costs; greater teachingeffectiveness; increased accessibility to students. These are proving hardcriteria to meet, so it is not surprising that there is still major academicand management resistance to the use of new technologies in most of ourmember institutions."

We shall briefly comment on two other writers who have discussed theoptions available for distance education providers to be able to competein the new technological environments, one representing the distance teachinguniversities, the other representing secondary education. John S. Daniel(1995), vice-chancellor of the British Open University, concluded in hisanalysis of the competitive advantages of the 'mega-universities' that:

"...networking students from their home computers should reinforcethe competitive advantage of the mega-universities. Distance educationhas already evolved through two generations, correspondence courses andmulti-media packages. The knowledge media ('the coming together of telecommunications,television and computing is producing a media environment for distanceeducation that is more than the sum of its component elements' (p. 11))represent a third generation of supported open learning that enriches distanceeducation by giving students rapid communication with the people and learningresources of the academic community." (Daniel 1995)

Margaret Gamlin (1995) of the New Zealand Correspondence School discussesthe transition of distance teaching institutions from print and postal-baseddelivery of traditional correspondence education to a more immediate interactivetechnology-based delivery. She points out that the drive in many countriestoday to a competitive education system encourage conventional providersto use technology for innovative delivery of courses. However, most currenttechnologies (such as audio and video conferencing, including audio graphics)tend to support the replication of the conventional classroom - the extendedclassroom model. She stresses the 'openness' of the correspondence educationmodel and stimulated among others by Bates' (1994) article, she foreseesa development in her institution, which builds on this openness and flexibilityand learner centred focus, and changes the school's teaching into a 'multi-media'model.

The above considerations are the reasons behind NKI's decision to goin for the development of computer-based communication and the developmentof 'The Electronic College'.

NKI Electronic College - 10 years experienceof computer mediated communication in distance education

In one of our early papers on computer conferencing titled 'Computerconferencing - A breakthrough in distance learning or just another technologicalgadget?' (Paulsen & Rekkedal 1988) we discussed developments of mediaand technology and concluded that computer conferencing or computer-mediatedcommunication constituted a development qualitatively different from allother media with exceptional possibilities for developing flexible andopen distance teaching of high quality. After 10 years of experiences webelieve that we may conclude that computer mediated communication in someform will become an important technology in distance teaching and learningand over time change the whole concept of what distance education is. Onthe other hand, this has not at all happened so far.

The virtual school

The basis of our ideas for establishing the 'electronic college' waslargely taken from Hilz (1986) as introducing computer conferencing asa means to establish a 'virtual classroom' with computer-based communicationstructures similar to those normally taking place in the normal classroom.The 'virtual school' as, we conceived our aim, should not only emulatethe classroom activities, but all other places and activities within theschool system.

Morten F. Paulsen (1989), the manager of the EKKO project, pointed outthe following requirements for the virtual school:

1 It should emulate all the main tasks of a school: teaching, administrativeand social.
2 It should be generally available concerning geography, technology,economy and student competence.
3 It should be independent of time, i.e. continuously available andaccept asynchronous communication.
4 It should emulate the different needs of human communication, one-to-one,one-to-many and many-to-many.

Some important functions of computer conferencingin distance education

Based on NKI experiences and information from other sources (e.g. McCrearyand Van Duren 1987) some important functions for the computer conferencingsystem in distance education was identified:

Distribution of information: Distance teaching systems have alarge need for increased efficiency in updating and distributing informationto the students, full-time and part-time teachers and administrators.

Examples: Information about courses, seminars, student associations,examinations and updating of learning material.

Two-way communication between tutor/counsellor/administration andstudent: In most distance teaching systems, submission of assignmentsfor correction and comments, is an important element. It has been demonstratedthat long turn-around times may have destructive effects on course completion(Rekkedal 1983). It also takes a long time for students to receive answersfrom their tutors when they really encounter problems in their studies.To some extent, the telephone has been applied as a means of communication.Electronic mail is independent of both time and space.

Examples: The student may ask questions at any time, without the timedelay of mail services. In principle, draft solutions may be submittedand commented on, thus introducing a more flexible organisation of tutoringand assessment. If desired, student answers may be made available to otherstudents, before or after the submission of their work. Included in thesystem can also be on-line computer-scored tests, as a substitute for off-linetesting which we have seen in some distance learning systems. On a higherlevel, the two-way communication may serve as a guidance for individualstudent projects.

A substitute for face-to-face teaching, introduction of group discussionsand project work: A number of distance learning systems include thepossibility of face-to-face meetings with tutors and/or fellow students.For many distance learners, the possibilities of taking part in such activitiesare restricted. Some theorists have argued that direct teaching may havedisruptive results on student autonomy and ability for self-study.

Examples: While face-to-face teaching in distance learning systems oftenseems to have developed into lecturing/presentation of subject matter,computer conferencing concerns information exchange and discussion. Discussionstaking place in the classroom can develop into exciting experiences ofgroup learning. The discussion is time and space independent, the mediumseems to foster equality of status between students, and between studentsand tutor. Specifically designed group learning methods may be applied,such as group submission of assignments, group learning and presentations,group seminars and project work.

The public tutorial: Student questions of a general academicor administrative nature may be accessible to all students, as a questionfrom one student normally will be of interest to others. Pre-produced commentson general aspects of a course can now be distributed on-line, and thetutor is given an opportunity to expand on the pre-produced learning material.

Peer counselling: As peer counselling and informal co-operationis a natural part of the on-campus activities of any teaching institution,the possibilities in computer conferencing are obvious. It has been demonstratedthat computer conferencing in general may give peer help in solving problems- often from an "unknown friend". In large-scale systems, wherehundreds of students are studying the same subject, peer help may be ofparticular importance.

Free-flow discussion: A number of educational conferencing systemshas formally established informal meeting places for continuing discussionssuch as the "Cafeteria", or "Local Pub". Through thecomputer, informal discussions and student association activities may beincluded.

The Library: A collective database can be developed within theconferencing system, to facilitate the availability of relevant articles,short lectures etc. to the distance learner.

Registration, administration, teacher conferences etc.: Moderndistance learning systems have developed complex administrative systemsfor student monitoring. These systems can and should be integrated withthe conferencing facilities.

Development of teaching material: The system may efficientlybe used for co-operative development of printed material - both withinthe institution and between institutions.

User directory: The system contains information on its users,e.g. where one may find fellow students with common interests. Phone numbersand addresses can be made available. The information actually increasespossibilities for direct communication and via other media.

Initial stages of the EKKO Project

The aim of the project was to: Develop a computer based conferencingsystem for distance learning and apply the system for experiments in differentcontexts to gain pedagogical and administrative/organisational experienceswithin distance education based on computer conferencing - in order toinstall conferencing as a standard option for NKI distance students.

The project followed these stages:

The First Generation: 1986-1993

The first version of EKKO - the computer conferencing software emulatingthe 'Electronic College' - was designed and implemented during 1986. Duringautumn 1986 we carried out the first pilot experiments with on-campus students,autumn 1987 the first distance education course was delivered to a smallgroup of 4 students. The next semester, spring 1987 two additional courseswere offered. From the spring semester 1990 NKI Distance Education hasoffered a complete college programme (equivalent to one year of full-timestudies) based on computer mediated communication. This programme in 'Administrativecomputing' includes 10 different courses totally. In addition, from thesame semester, NKI offered its distance training programme for distancetutors through the same system.

During its most intensive period EKKO served more that 3000 users, includingon-campus students, prospective students, active distance students, formerstudents, tutors and administrative staff. The system included an e-mailsystem, closed and open conferences for administrative, teaching and socialpurposes, and bulletin boards. During the first generation period the 'ElectronicCollege' delivered more than 1000 courses with an average completion rateof above 80%.

The following were some of the effects and experiences of the firstgeneration of the 'Electronic College' at NKI:

From 1990 NKI was one of few institutions world wide delivering a completestudy programme based on electronic communication. Prospective distancetutors could qualify for their work through distance education based oncomputer communication. The system was applied also for administrativecommunication and discussions. Full-time staff members had been qualifiedto teach through the conferencing system, and a part-time staff of competentcomputer conferencing tutors has been built up.

Computer conferencing had been applied in subjects with different didacticsolutions; subjects emphasising individual study, subjects with emphasison group discussion and in project work. To be able to exploit the possibilitiesfor discussion, group learning and peer support, most of the initial coursesrequired the students to start at the same time and follow a fixed commonprogression during the semester towards the exams. This made the computerconferencing courses less 'open and flexible' than the 'correspondencetype distance courses'. Many students express clearly that they prefer- or demand - the freedom known from un-paced individual study. Thus, courseswhere the students can start whenever they wish and study at their ownpace has also been offered. The students who have experienced this individualfreedom in their studies have also been generally positive, and we seea great challenge in developing didactic arrangements combining the flexibilityof individual un-paced study with the possibilities for social interactionin the virtual school environment.

We also learned during the first generation experiments that teachingvia computer conferencing often becomes "labour intensive" onthe part of the tutor. Originally we had a hypothesis that the supposedincrease in learning quality in the "virtual school" could becompensated by less emphasis on the development of learning material. Sofar, our experiences have not supported this assumption. Thus, it seemsthat investments in preproduced learning material will be approximatelythe same as in other large scale systems if the total quality is to besatisfying.

The tutors have reported that teaching via EKKO has been very stimulating,however, very demanding concerning the number of hours used and the "continuous"attention needed. We see a challenge in developing teaching/learning strategiesthat stimulates student-student communication without putting unrealisticdemands on tutor resources.

Concerning student participation, NKI experiences and experiences inother settings, such as the British OU (Mason 1990), prove that conferencesmay become too small or too large. The users fall into groups of 'active','less active' and 'passive users'. There must be a sufficient number, or'a critical mass' of active users to make the conferences attractive.

It seems necessary to have an active conference moderator in the conference.The tutor (or another person) must take the role as organiser, active contributor,and/or social integrator. After we formally engaged one student as hostof the 'on-line cafe', the social activity and student satisfaction andmotivation seemed to increase considerably.

The teaching/learning and administrative functions which can be handledby the system, and the quality and quantity of contributions depend onwhether participation in the system is voluntary or obligatory. Voluntaryparticipation may result in low activity which may become a self-fulfillingcircle of diminishing interest.

In our computer conferencing courses we have experienced a somewhathigher number of non-starters than in comparable correspondence courses,probably due to initial technical difficulties, and higher completion ratesamong the starters. Students having completed courses based on computerconferencing, achieved better at exams than both correspondence studentsand face-to-face students. We do not have data to make certain whetherthese differences are a result of characteristics of the media/methodsor by differences in recruitment.

In general, the students report favourable attitudes to computer conferencingas a form of study. They seem to be more active in the social conferencesthan in the academic conferences. This may be a result of the fact thatmost NKI courses depend highly on individual work and assignments for submissionrather than group discussions. Most students state that the mail systemis the most important subsystem of the first generation of EKKO. This mayindicate that the optimal way of organising the studies is not found sofar. On the other hand, it seems that many part-time distance learnershave to find time efficient study strategies to be able to cope with thedemands of study beside job and family demands. This means that many wouldnot give priority to social or academic interaction relative to individualstudy and exercises in preparation for their exams. These experiences seemto be in line with other findings indicating that part-time distance learnersoften adopt time saving techniques in their approach to learning to survivethe demands of study beside job, family and society pressures (Lockwood1992, Marland et al. 1990).

The Second Generation: From 1994

NKI considered the first generation of the electronic college to bequite a success - both as a computer system, as such, and also concerninghow we managed to organise the distance learning system. We continuouslyfollowed other developments in teaching/learning methods and software onthe market and examined different products, such as CoSy, PortaCom andFirstClass, with the aim of developing an improved 'second generation'system. When we had to introduce new solutions because of retirement ofthe old host computer, the requirements were that the system should:

- be based on standard software;
- provide access to the Internet;
- be attractive to all NKI departments and available from any computer network within NKI;
- be attractive to possible collaborators;
- be as user friendly as possible.

From January 1st 1994 the new 'open' Electronic College was introduced.This second generation system was based on a philosophy of being as openas possible to other networks and services. Accordingly, it was based onInternet, e-mail and the Listserv conferencing system. From the beginningthe user interface for modem users was text-based. From January 1995 modemusers were offered communication software developed for MS-Windows andSLIP (Serial Line Internet Protocol). The second generation stimulatedthe development of many new courses and study programmes, such as a completeprogramme on Information Networks and courses in the use of Internet, WWW-presentations,Java-programming etc.

All the courses and programmes developed after the introduction of thesecond generation system are unpaced and put no limits on times for enrolment.This solution has been chosen as a consequence of our conclusions froman interview survey among EKKO students on recruitment and study barriers:

"...it is a major challenge to develop methods and organisationsin distance education based on computer conferencing systems which takecare of the students' need for autonomy and flexibility." (Rekkedal1990, p 92)

As mentioned, for the second generation system NKI decided to use Internetfocusing on SLIP, e-mail and ListProcessor (a Unix version of the Listservconferencing system). Listserv offers an advanced distribution system,that may be explained as a conferencing system based on e-mail. Such systemscan support more users than any other conferencing system because theycommunicate with the system via e-mail. The lists can be configured asopen or closed, for instance open to members of the whole electronic college(such as the 'on-line cafe'), a class or a specific group (such as teachers).Lists can further be configured as one-to-many (information and bulletinboards) or many-to-many (conferences/class discussions) lists. Each listis managed by a 'list owner' via e-mail. In addition to the lists directlyrelated to teaching, social and administrative purposes of the electroniccollege, the system includes some international lists: 'Andrea', an openone-to-many list for distance educators in Europe, 'Norwaves' an open,one-to-many list for distribution of 'News from Norway', and 'Norweave',open, many-to-many list for 'International friends of Norway'.

The first semester with the new generation was marked by transitionsand adjustments to the new system. In some ways, the old system was feltmore to emulate an 'image' of a virtual school. The open system introducednew problems due to lack of standard interpretations among e-mail systems.However, students and staff seem to have adjusted and become familiar withthe new system. The general access to Internet resources outside the NKIrealm seems to be an advantage appreciated by the students. Access to Internetis offered to all students at tertiary level and at the NKI Technical Collegeand consequently application of Internet resources can be integrated insome of the study programmes.

Recently, NKI introduced the first course based completely on electronicdistribution and communication, Java programming. We have just startedto adapt the course for distance tutors for presentation on the World WideWeb with links to internal and external national and international resources.

Some conclusions

We consider the decision to base the electronic college on Internet,public available software and with 'open' solutions, to be a sound conclusion.There is reason to believe that more efficient and user friendly softwareadapted for teaching and learning will be introduced and available forour purposes.

Access to Internet and use of Internet are appreciated by students andtutors and open opportunities for sharing of experiences, learning fromothers and new possibilities for arranging effective learning situations.

Designing attractive and effective learning is no easy task. To repeatwhat we have said many times, there is a long way to go before we knowhow to design for learning adapted to the ever changing possibilities ofcomputer mediated presentation and communication.

Adapting organisational and administrative procedures and systems tothe activities of the electronic college is not a trivial matter. It mayinclude major changes in organisational systems, working styles and administrativecomputer systems.

Computer based communication is demanding and time consuming both foradministrators, student counsellors and tutors.

There are still many questions that remain unanswered or that are onlypartially answered. For instance, how will students generally accept electroniccommunication in distance education? Today, after nearly 10 years of deliveringthe NKI computer science programme via computer mediated communicationand the same study by correspondence methods, two thirds of the students(who study computer science, who have to apply computers and software aspart of their studies) prefer correspondence education rather than computermediated communication. One reason might, of course, be the differencesbetween these two options concerning flexibility and freedom.

An important question remains: How can this technology be applied torepresent a more attractive and efficient learning environment for distancestudents, and how can we design the courses and tutoring and administrativesystems to make distance education based on computer mediated communicationreally cost-effective?

Sometimes it seems that educators believe that presenting the studentsto Internet as a resource of information and means of communication solvesthe problem of offering effective and efficient education at a distance.Our conclusion is that this is not at all the situation. The challengefor distance teaching institutions is to find ways of planning, organisingand carrying out teaching in ways who help students learn according toindividual needs independent of time and place restrictions. This meansthat the medium itself does not solve any problems (Clark 1994). We mustlearn how to design instructional programmes including student learningactivities based on this new medium to achieve optimal outcomes for differentkinds of learners in different subjects having different aims and objectives.

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