AUC Academic Conference 'From Virtual to Reality' The University of
Queensland 1996AUC Academic Conference 'From Virtual to Reality' The University of
Queensland 1996
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Paper Title:
Australian Studies on-line:
Open learning through the WebPresenter / Author:
Christopher Baker, Monash University
Keywords: Multimedia, humanities
Faculty area: Arts
Publication:
Australian Studies on-line: Open learning through the Web
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Introduction
This paper outlines aspects of a new on-line educational resource, developed in association with Open Learning Australia, by the National Centre for Australian Studies at Monash University, Australia. On-line developments within the Australian educational sector have tended to reflect the policy parameters established by both federal and state governments over recent years. In a number of respects Australian government initiatives have articulated a number of directions for developers in the field of on-line delivery of educational services. Of particular significance was the establishment of the Broadband Services Expert Group (BSG) by the federal government in 1993. In its final report, Networking Australia's Future, the Group identified a series of major challenges for the advocates of the new networked technologies. In its final Report the Group noted that:
"Just introducing new communications technology and services is not enough. To take full advantage of the technologies and services, industry and society will need to integrate them into their activities- a complete re engineering of processes, rather than just using new technology to perform current tasks.
A real commitment to change will be necessary, in professional roles, organisational structures, and social and cultural attitudes. Perhaps the changes will be most intense in the business, health and education sectors. The education sector has a particular role to play: it can build on the talents and enthusiasm of young Australians, offering them a vast array of curriculum choices and enabling them to spread the benefits of new communications networks throughout the community."The BSG report effectively provided a national blueprint for education and other providers of on-line services. Subsequently, the Federal Government reinforced the policy framework with its announcement of a national education network, to be known as Education Network Australia (EdNA). In a ministerial statement outlining the basic premises of the network, the then minister noted that a major aim of the initiative would be to support both a major upgrading of the information technology infrastructure in education systems and the production of significant volumes of high quality educational product relevant to the Australian context. The statement also noted that the basic principles of good teaching should drive the technology and, further, that the network should be so structured as to provide "... universal access for all Australians regardless of whether they live in remote localities or cities for the cost of a local phone call."
This paper outlines one project, conceived within the open learning context, which has been initiated to broadly pursue the directions outlined in the BSG report and the national policy settings which flowed from it. Project Open Learning Australia (POLA) is still in its development phase and it needs to be noted that the commentary which follows should be seen largely as a report on work in progress. It is envisaged that the project will take on a more complete shape once on-line trialling and evaluation has been completed later in 1996.
Project Open Learning Australia
The POLA (Project Open Learning Australia) model, which includes content drawn from the Australian Studies History & Politics unit, Out of Empire, is intended to introduce users to a range of on-line resources considered to be of value in equipping users for the effective use of the Web as an educational tool. It will also convert a variety of Australian studies material, drawn from the Out of Empire print resource, into a series of World Wide Web documents.
The POLA project develops the work already carried out as part of the Open Learning Electronic Support Service (OLESS) project which was designed to provide on-line resourcing of Open Learning programs in 1994-1995 through a small number of providers including the National Centre for Australian Studies.
Essentially the POLA resource comprises a World Wide Web site which has been developed as a generic integrated model for the development of on-line (World Wide Web) resourcing of Open learning units.
In addition to providing a core suite of resources to students and other users, the site introduces open learning provider staff to examples of on-line provision, including the construction of hypertexted documents and structured databases designed for use in an open learning context.
As well, the site is intended to demonstrate a range of interactive teaching and learning strategies employable via on-line delivery. Examples of this include student exploration of opinion poll material and trade statistics using spreadsheet applications. Eventually, it is intended that students and teaching staff will be shown ways of linking sound and video resources to study questions and tasks.
The Web as a learning tool
Given the size and complexity of the WWW, learners and users can benefit from sites which provide a useful structure for the exploration and retrieval of relevant information and data. There are many examples of this on the WWW currently, but surprisingly few which attempt to deliver that cluster of services needed to deliver a fully WWW integrated educational program.
However, by searching a range of existing sites it is possible to assemble resources which, collectively, can fulfil that ideal. As more useful resources become available it is essential that any design should allow for both flexibility and expansion to take account of the rapidly changing technological environment. Site maintenance and continuous development is therefore essential.
Within the open learning environment, this means that regular upgrades should take place, but in such a way that enables students to readily adapt to the new features and resources found in the site.
It is also envisaged that students and other users should participate in the development of the delivery site. Contributions, new links, software, suggestions for improving the Help desk can be posted on the Bulletin Board, or directly emailed, for consideration by the Webmaster and teaching staff.
With this in mind, the project team has attempted to provide a relatively open design for the site, enabling it to be readily modified and upgraded.
Major changes would only be introduced in advance of the particular unit being offered, not during the progress of a particular unit.
The design
The intention was to produce, employing existing materials and web technology, a site which would complement the services currently used to deliver educational programs servicing distance and open learning students. Complementing this was the idea of supporting providers wishing to utilise the web as a means of delivering their existing programs. To this end it is intended to fully develop a teacher tutorial which provides some basic prompts for accommodating programs for Web delivery: either for a partial or comprehensive delivery of services.
The issue of encouraging an exploration of existing or more experimental pedagogies will also be addressed in future development work.
In terms of meeting the needs of students, the project provides nine distinct pages or resource areas which are considered to be essential for the effective provision of units of study within the general social science/humanities areas. Whilst it is recognised that other disciplines would require additional types of resources, it is argued that provision of the following resources would meet the needs of a range of subjects currently being offered within the open learning environment.
Key aspects
We should start by taking a quick look at the content of the POLA homepage, which contains links to the main pages built in to the site.
the bulletin board
The function of the POLA bulletin board is essentially for the posting of general messages for others involved in the course. Each unit would have access to its own specific Bulletin Board with staff involved adding their own material including weekly study tips and study questions for consideration. Our experience during an earlier related project indicated that the bulletin board needed to be reasonably well structured on a week by week basis with regular inclusion of tasks which require use of the site.
subject guide archive
This archive contains both course information pages, which detail introductory student information, assignment and assessable task details together with general student advice, and study guide materials which contain such features as a week by week topic commentary, a collection of readings for each topic, pages outlining a range of relevant study skills and reading lists for the unit.
teleconferencing facility
This facility is primarily included to encourage students (and staff) to access each other as a means of breaking through the social and educational isolation experienced by many distance and open learning students.
At present this page contains access to on-line chat, VDOLive and CU-seeMe. The intention is to enable student to employ at least one of these packages to communicate with other students and staff. Provision to download appropriate communication software is also built into this page.
search facility
The project team has provided an on-line search engine for the purpose of locating Web materials not currently provided in our Links site. Useful links could be posted on the Bulletin board or emailed to particular students or staff.
At present, we provide only one search engine, Infoseek, but links to other useful engines, including a site specific Boolean search engine will also provided from this page.
email facility
Clearly an essential facility on most WWW sites, it is intended that this hypertexted email site will ensure an effective means of communication between students and staff.
Email links between students would be provided on a separate page once student consent has been provided.
help desk
This electronic help desk has been designed to deal with a range of potentially common problems experienced by users relatively unfamiliar with the Web. Currently eight problems are listed, with advice being provided on the sites linked by hypertext. Other problems can be dealt with by the staff email facility built into this page.
links page
The most commonly used links are provided here, enabling direct access to significant sites for students looking for additional resources and support. Through the Monash University site, for example, students can access the National Centres site which contains other useful material for Open Learning students.
Links include access to WWW library search engines, electronic journals on-line newspapers and general information about Australia and Australian studies.
download archive
This site is currently restricted to software specified for the POLA site, including the VDO players for VDO live. Links to selected downloadable software considered to be of use to users will be continually added to this page.
Related to this is the opportunity to download the Netscape browser, plus graphics based advice on setting up the browser for optimum use.
the student homepage
This page serves as a jumping off point for key areas of support and resourcing such as Study guides, email facilities, general resources, the Bulletin board and other links.
The teaching issue
The creation of constructs such as the POLA site raises many issues of significance. It is not the purpose of this paper to pursue any of these issues in detail, however, it is important to at least flag one of these for future discussion.
The whole issue of just what constitutes good teaching practice can be seen to be a critical element in this initiative. Worth examining here is the assumption that the current parameters of sound pedagogy, broadly defined across a range of educational levels, can effectively drive the related processes of conceptualising and implementing good teaching via the new technologies.
An alternative paradigm presents itself here: perhaps the potential of the new technologies requires a recasting of what we understand as effective 'teaching', irrespective of the mode of delivery. Do each of the major modes of delivery including on-campus, Open learning and distance, require a different teaching style, or can their needs be addressed within a common framework?
Clearly, these and other significant issues will need to be resolved before we move too far down the path of investing expensive resources in these new systems.
Even within the Australian university sector, which currently has privileged on-line access through AARNet, little use is now made of interactive networks as an instructional tool as opposed to research uses . Whilst this situation is undergoing change, when viewed from a national perspective, developments seems spasmodic and uneven. A similar picture emerges when the Australian secondary and primary education sectors are considered.
Evaluation
Whilst the POLA project has yet to be evaluated, a number of significant points have emerged from the evaluation of the OLESS stage of the project, conducted during 1995.
This evaluation was carried out by a team of researchers from the University of Melbourne's Centre for the Study of Higher Education. In their findings , the evaluators commented that the provision of electronic support services to Tertiary students through the Open learning framework differed from previous initiatives involving computer mediated support for tertiary students in Australia and overseas. The report noted that, unlike previous projects of this type, students were located nationally and secondly, because of the 'open access' provisions of Open learning, students represented a broad cross section of the population of Australia, in variables such as location, educational levels, previous computer experience, previous experience with Open Learning units, income, age and occupation.
The evaluators found that, from a sample survey, students were generally receptive to the value of on-line support. In particular, students welcomed the opportunity of exposure to computing technology, including both the on-line and PC based aspects. Students also felt that on-line services were a great help in alleviating the isolation felt by many Open Learning students. Email provision also emerged as an important perceived benefit, especially as a means of communicating with teaching staff and other students.
Students were sufficiently encouraged by their experiences in the pilot to state that they would be prepared to use these services again on a user pays basis.
Interestingly, the evaluation team found that students strongly supported the continuation of electronic support services irrespective of the degree to which they had used the service during the pilot. The evaluators recommended that the provision of electronic support services be continued and extended, but found that a series of measures needed to be undertaken to provide support for both providing institutions and students .
Conclusion
It would seem that the emergence of the World Wide Web as a network for the delivery of academic programs is now part of the broader educational agenda. To what extent such a network can be of value to educators, is however, unclear. A major concern is the harnessing of Web based technological developments to the teaching and learning process, particularly within the structures of the Open learning paradigm . Of significance here is the question of how educational providers might effectively benefit from these developments. The development of the POLA site drew on two major sources: the earlier work completed through the OLESS project and its associated evaluation, and the emergence of a range of new related technologies and software which became available on the Web during the period 1995-1996.
The release of the site for on-line use later in 1996 will provide the basis for ongoing evaluation and development work with the open learning sector.
It is evident, however, that in attempting to implement initiatives such as the POLA project, developers will need to be mindful of a range of concerns which are already evident within the tertiary sector, for example
to what extent will on-line resourcing affect and perhaps redefine the existing, more traditional, styles of academic teaching and learning. Further, to what extent will the on-line technology redefine the role of the teacher in the current institutional framework? A significant flow on issue is the degree to which institutional policies concerning electronic modes of teaching is likely to alienate an ageing academic teaching force, especially in a climate of diminishing financial support and general resourcing. These, and other related issues, need to be addressed by further research.
However, on a more positive and concluding note, the experience of the POLA project and its antecedents already suggests that the new on-line technologies can be readily and effectively utilised, at least within an open learning and distance education framework.
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Bibliography
Atkinson, E. et al, Evaluation of the Open Learning Initiative: An Overview of the Final Report, January 1996, Centre for the Study of Higher Education , The University of Melbourne, 1996
Atkinson, E. et al, Evaluation of the Open Learning Initiative: Final Report, January 1996, Centre for the Study of Higher Education, The University of Melbourne, 1996
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Conboy, I. et al, Evaluation of the Open Net Pilot-Phase 2, Centre for the Study of Higher Education,The University of Melbourne, 1995
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Mr. Christopher Baker
The National Centre for Australian Studies,
Monash University
Clayton, Vic. 3168.Tel 03 9905 5233
Fax 03 9905 5238email: cbaker@aurora.cc.monash.edu.au
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