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is Virtual Campus?
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Online
learning environments compared
The
first virtual campus Online
Learning The
Future of online learning Why
the Web? The
Economic of online learning Strength
and weakness of online learning A
guide to online education
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INTRODUCTION TO
VIRTUAL CAMPUS
Learning Through the means of online coursework using an
intranet or internet is one of the most rapidly growing means of distributing education. Imagine an
elementary school, high school or college with unlimited floor space to accommodate a
seemingly infinite number of students, sod able to offer courseware from specialists around the world. It is all possible and extremely probable. But why is it not here now? There are a few' compounding obstacles
barely holding back a tsunami of development. To begin on this journey, attention must be paid to a few prerequisites. Online
learning is driven by socio-economic forces, meaning that society is looking for less expensive. more
effective ways to reach many more students. Online learning is not new. but has been
hindered by infra-structural hurdles. which are being systematically overcome. We will examine these
phenomena and explore tools and innovations in the areas of multimedia authoring, and delivery
poised to facilitate online learning at East Carolina University. Today's teachers and schools have a wide variety of
Internet-based tools available lo them for supporting their classes. These tools have become sufficiently sophisticated that many
courses outside formal education institutions are now presented either with an initial in-person
meeting followed by online sessions. or entirely online. As both
instructors and students gain greater access lo sufficiently advanced hardware and
networking connections. an expansion of Internet-based support into all aspects of formal education is proceeding rapidly.
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WHAT IS ONLINE EDUCATION?
Online education refers to any form of learning/teaching hat akes lace a computer
network The network could be a local bulletin oard vstem BBS) r t oultl be the global
internet and world wide web. The network could be a local area network (LAN) or an
intranet within a particular organization, historically. online interaction has been
called "computer mediated communication" CMC), although this term covers applications beyond
instruction (e.g.. decision-making in work teams). The most common function used in online education is electronic mail (email) that allows
students and teachers to send messages to each other. In addition, most networks
also provide conferencing capabilities that let participants conduct multi-person
discussions either in real-time (often called "chats") or on a delayed basis
(asynchronous). There are also more elaborate systems called MUD/MOOs for group interaction as well as many "groupware" programs.
The latter often involve si' multaneous viewing of graphics (slides) and use of a shared writing
space (i.e.. electronic whiteboard). Online education also involves access to databases in the
form of text files or multimedia web pages, as well as the exchange of information
(e.g., assignments. course materials) via file transfers.
It is not the purpose of this guide to describe the various capabilities of networks or
different types of CMC systems, but to focus on the instructional aspects of online
interaction There are many good books that discuss these aspects and you should consult them for such
details.
In most cases, online instruction takes place in the context of distance education,
i.e„ settings in which learners and teachers are located in different places and all or most
interaction takes place via the network.
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WHY THE WEB?
Strength
- Convergence of technologies
Why should the World Wide Web be such an exciting allamative for flexible delivery of
leaming materials? For one. it is a global network with global access to resources in any
number of different areas of expertise. Because it was born out of the convergence of computer technology and telecommunications. it offers all the advantages of a computing environment
(saving, copying. editing) as well as those of an extensive communications network: it
provides contact with actual people. This allows learners not just to have access to expert
knowledge but potentially to the experts themselves. It thus has a potential level of
interactivity that no oilier learning medium can match.
- Integrated services
The Web does not only repiesent a convergence of technologies, but also an increasing
integration of services within those technologies. Thus. the Web offers 'in-house' transfer of
data. for viewing through http (hypertext transfer protocol), for ownership through ftp
(file transfer protocol), for the satisfaction of queries through wais (wide area information
service) and gopher. More recently, browser applications (Netscape 2.0)now allow access to
newsgroups and e-mail without leaving the Web environment.
- Multimedia
Being a multimedia environment, the Web offers a variety of choices for the
conveyance of messages. Certainly there still exist some quite severe restrictions on the efficiency of
this environment in terms of available bandwidth and speed of delivery, but many of these will
be alleviated through new encoding and decoding methods, new compression techniques and also the
realization of ISDN.
- Ease of use
Use of the Web is of a point and click type, that is, it is very direct and easy to learn
and remember. Moreover, its foundation in hypertext whose very philosophy and nature is based
on the concept of associative links makes it very similar to the semantic networks encountered
in human cognition.
- Platform independence
Because the Web's hypertextuality is based on HTML (HyperText Markup Language), which
is intrinsically platform-independent, the Web is not constricted to any one particular hardware
constellation.
- Short development times
Unlike other multimedia environments, developing content for the Web is relatively
easy. HTML does not require a very high learning curve. Moreover, it is possible to copy source
code from another Web site and just personalize the content.
- Flexibility
The Web is a flexible learning environment in a number of ways. Firstly it allows for
synchronous as well as asynchronous learning (real-time human interactivity is synchronous,
all other services are asynchronous. that is, can be accessed any time). Secondly. content on
the Web can easily be changed. updated, added to or deleted.
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Weakness
- Access
There are some potential drawbacks to the Web. One first issue is that of access.
Access to all information on the Web is limited to those who own or have access to computing
equipment with the proper infrastructure. It thus rules out poorer or less technologically
advanced people. Because the Web builds on national and international networking and
communications lines, access to it incurs charges. Moreover, it is entirely computer bound and
all of its information is displayed on screen. This can result in some problems, the most
significant of which is eye-fatigue: extended reading from screens is thus not really desirable.
- Bandwidth
Although the Web offers a multimedia environment (albeit currently fairly limited) and
is relieved of specialization by the platform-independence of HTML. sites designed for
learning, particularly flexible learning, will need to cater for the widest possible range of
access modes and hard- and software constellations on the client or user side. This means that
the design of learning materials will have to happen on a sufficiently low common denominator
and will thus be potentially unable to take advantage of much of the multimedia.
- Loading times
Because the Web has experienced such an explosive growth over the last couple of years,
the amount of content and the number of people wanting to access content are becoming a problem
for its technology: depending on the number of requests, the presentation of content in terms
of media-load and the type of connection used to access the Web. loading times for Web pages
can be quite long.
Apart from the disruptive effect on learning. waiting for files to download can be quite
stressfill. For one. because users will not know what exactly is causing the delay and
whether the desired page is going to show up at all and secondly, because some platforms which
do not allow multitasking will essentially be 'frozen' until the download is
completed. It is hard to say what loading times can be deemed acceptable, but they are likely to dwell
below the ten second mark. While Web novices might be prepared to wait a bit longer for a piece
of information, advanced users may develop a lower tolerance level for waiting about and
increasingly decide to abort a download.
- Disorientation
Since the Web is hypertext based, it is also subject to all its intrinsic drawbacks.
One such drawback is the 'getting lost in cyberspace' scenario, a great potential for
disorientation because a) the Web is too large for users to be able to build a mental map of it
and b) because of its global availability of information, the amount of information can become
so sheer as to be overwhelming and perhaps, ultimately, discouraging. Separating the wheat
from the chaff, that is. information from relevant information is thus a quite involved task.
- Superficial learning
Another drawback of the hypertextuality is the fragmentation of information into
modules. While this could result in a bite sized (no pun intended) digestibility of information
it also means that it is all the harder to come up with a coherent picture of the whole. Not in
vain has the popular vernacular coined the terms 'browsing' and 'surfing' for interaction with
the Web. They do suggest that most interaction is superficial, skimming along for
titbits. Learning as described above, however. would involve a much more immersive approach. The aspect
of interaction now becomes increasingly pressing.
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FUTURE
Today, and for the last centiny. education has been practiced in segregated buildings
by carefully regimented and standardized classes of students led and instructed by teachers
working essentially alone.
In ten years, this model will be seen in many quarters to be obsolete, and a new model. where
education is practiced in the community as a whole, by individuals studying personal curricula
at their own pace, guided and assisted by community facilitators. online instructors and
experts around the world.
The educational experience will be rich and diverse, supported by interesting and engaging
educational software, and enhanced by discussion and collaboration with people from around the
planet.
Some instructors will form personal and supportive relationships with their students, acting
as guides through the wealth of available material. Others will opt to become inasters of their
domain, acting as experts and resources. serving not only students but society as a whole.Everyone who experiences online education realizes that this is the beginning of a new
paradigm for learning and teaching. Welcome to the 21st century! And enjoy your journeys along
the information highway.
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Ada Lovelace
Charles Babbage
George Boole
Blaise Pascal
Admiral Grace Murry Hopper
Niklaus Wirth
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