Volume 2, Number 2/3 1996
Internet: Does It Really Bring Added Value to Education?
Guglielmo Trentin 97
A Challenge for the Information Age: Educators and the Internet
Lynne Schrum and Mary Ann Fitzgerald 107
The Virtual Conference: Extending Professional Education in Cyberspace
Terry D. Anderson 121
MIND BRIDGES: A Distributed, Mutimedia Learning Environment for Collaborative Knowledge Building
Yam San Chee 137
Two Archetypes in E-discourse: Lurkers and Virtuosos
Jan Perkins and Kenneth Newman 155
The Participant Structures of TeleNex-A Computer Network for Teacher Development
Amy B.M. Tsui 171
Charles Owusu-Sekyere and Robert C. Maribe Branch 199
GUGLIELMO TRENTIN
Istituto Tecnologie Didattiche Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche Via De Marini 6, 16149 Genova, ItalyThe boom in Internet and its increasingly widespread use in schools has highlighted the need to define the most effective ways of realising its educational potential. In fact, the added value which telematics may bring to educational processes is strictly linked to how it is used. The potential lies not so much in substituting the telephone or mail service, nor even in offering an efficient system for the mass distribution of information, but rather in the capacity to create new forms of interaction and collaborative learning involving both teachers and students.
This paper aims to provide a possible classification of the types of added value that telematics (and hence the Internet) may bring to education, based on the possible uses to which the computer network can be put.
LYNNE SCHRUM AND MARY ANN FITZGERALD"LYNNESCHRUMANDMARYANNFITZGERALD"
The University of Georgia Department of Instructional Technology 607 Aderhold Hall, Athens, GA 30602-7144, USAThe purpose of this research was to document a unique effort to teach practicing educators to use telecommunications and become change agents in their schools. This was accomplished using one graduate seminar in an experimental format that included funding for on-going support, follow-up activities, access, and participants' sharing their new-found information with their colleagues.
The researchers offered an intense summer graduate seminar, which met every day for four weeks, two and a half hours per day. Data collection continued for several months after the course's conclusion. Overwhelmingly these learners were excited and enthusiastic about introducing telecommunications to their colleagues and their students. After returning to their workplaces, however, they identified many obstacles, including lack of time, equipment, administrative support for experimentation, and little encouragement from their colleagues.
This research paper concludes with recommendations for assisting educators. Educators need substantial time to learn, practice, experiment, and explore resources; reasonable access from school and home to various information technology tools; and a variety of staff development opportunities on school time and through activities. Schools must develop Acceptable Use Policies that protect all educators using information technologies. Additionally, collegial interaction, as well as ongoing administrative and community support, are essential.
TERRY D. ANDERSON"TERRYD.ANDERSON"
Faculty of Extension, 112 St. and 83 Ave. University of Alberta Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T6G 2T4This paper describes the use of Internet based tools to support professional interaction and education in a format known as the virtual conference. The paper discusses characteristics of the virtual conference and presents data from a case study in which 550 distance educators from 36 countries participated in a three week virtual conference. Results from a participant survey and their comments illustrate that the virtual conference can provide high quality, interactive professional education. The asynchronous and distributed format of most virtual conference activities allows busy professionals to participate anytime/anyplace. However, the virtual conference does not ameliorate the need for participants to expend scarce resources of time on their professional education.
YAM SAN CHEE"YAMSANCHEE"
Department of Information Systems and Computer Science National University of Singapore, Lower Kent Ridge Road Singapore 119260Recent work in the fields of cognition and education has drawn attention to the benefits of attempting to understand cognition from a social constructivist viewpoint and facilitating students' learning through computer-supported collaboration. This paper outlines the rationale for grounding cognitive and educational research on a social foundation. This rationale, in turn, provides the motivation for developing MIND BRIDGES, a computer-based, distributed, multimedia learning environment for collaborative knowledge building. MIND BRIDGES features media-rich support for students' articulations in both a local area network computing environment as well as a client-server computing environment using TCP/IP. The current version of the system is described by means of an illustrative example so as to suggest the kind of collaborative knowledge building that students can engage in through the use of MIND BRIDGES.
JAN PERKINS AND KENNETH NEWMAN"JANPERKINSANDKENNETHNEWMAN"
McMaster University (Northern Studies Stream) Health Sciences North Lakehead University, 955 Oliver Road Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada P7B 5E1E-discourse is the way in which electronic text is produced, transmitted and consumed using computers. It is also the social relationships and context through which this communication is mediated. This paper provides an overview of some key aspects of e-discourse and of two archetypes in this mode of discourse-the lurker and the virtuoso. It calls for a reevaluation of the role of the lurker, a recognition of lurkers as participants, and an acknowledgement of the functions they perform. The virtuoso is presented as an exemplar of communicative competence in e-discourse. Study of these archetypes is related to the needs of researchers seeking to understand e-discourse, teachers called upon to impart its skills, and participants who must acquire practical proficiency.
AMY B.M. TSUI"AMYB.M.TSUI"
TELEC, Department of Curriculum Studies The University of Hong KongThis paper describes the developments in the first teacher education network set up in Hong Kong, TeleNex. It adopts the notion of "participant structures" proposed by Philips (1972) and modified by Riel and Levin (1990) to examine successful and unsuccessful networks, and discusses how the realisations of the participant structures of TeleNex have evolved over a period of 12 months. It demonstrates how factors such as who the users are, the social, psychological, and cultural context in which they operate and the function of the network have shaped the participant structures of the network.
CHARLES OWUSU-SEKYERE"CHARLESOWUSU-SEKYERE"
Computer Science Department, University of Natal P.O. Box X10, Dalbridge 4014 Durban, South AfricaROBERT C. MARIBE BRANCH"ROBERTC.MARIBEBRANCH"
Department of Instructional Design, Development, and Evaluation 330 Huntinglon Hall, Syracuse University Syracuse, NY 13244-2340, USAThis discussion focuses on the importance of feedback and interaction during instructional episodes conducted at a distance. On-site instruction provides immediate opportunities for interaction and feedback, however time and distance tends to inhibit interaction and feedback in remote learning situations especially for universities in Africa. African universities offering courses at a distance continue to utilize radio broadcast, television broadcast, audio-visual cassettes, slides, printed text, periodic residential sessions, and occasional seminars as primary delivery media. However, the majority of African universities with distance education options possess the capability of using Computer Mediated Communication. This article is about how electronic messaging, Internet Relay Chats, Listservs, Bulletin Board Service, and Object-Oriented Multi-User Domains can be utilized to enhance interaction and feedback for education at a distance.