Adult distance study through computer conferencing

The use of computer conferencing by higher education institutions offering distance education courses has expanded rapidly since 1987. Despite a parallel growth in the academic scholarship, few studies examined students' experience of learning in an on‐line course. Using unstructured interviews and observations at adultstudents' homes or worksites, thestudy investigated adult student perspectives of distance study by computer conferencing. It found theseadults actively engaged in social relationships outside their distance studies which sustain their educational pursuits. The students provided insights into aspects of the on‐line environment: asynchronicity, interactivity, textual communications, and collaboration. Their learning orientation suggested the value they placed on conference activities. They incidentally transferred or invented learning strategies to deal with the different dynamics of this instructional environment. The computer conference brought together widely dissimilar students and encouraged them to ‘talk’ with one another, while unaware of each others' physical attributes. On‐line relationships served meaningful purposes, but rarely continued beyond the course. Based on these findings, the study presents an Adult Distance Study Through Computer Conferencing Model to guide understanding of the student experience with this medium.     

Computer conferencing with access to a 'guest expert' in the professional development of special educational needs coordinators

This article describes and outlines the implications of a one‐year case study of students’ use of the computer conferencing facility of a postgraduate module for special educational needs coordinators (SENCOs) at a distance‐learning institution. This facility incorporates a virtual space for a ‘guest expert’. The aim of the study was to inform future development of courses at a time when computer conferencing was just becoming widespread in the university concerned. Quantitative data associated with the volume and patterns of individual participation in the computer conference were collected as well as interview material from students, tutors and the ‘guest expert’. Findings from the study indicate that computer conferencing has the potential to facilitate the professional development of teachers as reflective practitioners and researchers. However, they also point to a number of barriers to student participation that must be addressed. These include access issues related to time constraints, unfamiliarity with the medium, and lack of confidence in expressing personal views in a public arena. A major conclusion drawn from this study is that it may be appropriate to consider future developments which incorporate the assumption that, in computer conferences of large professional development courses, students are much more likely to participate through reading rather than making personal contributions to conference discussions. This opens the possibility of reconceptualising the role of the ‘guest expert’ as two or more discussants with relevant expertise dialoguing with each other while students follow a threaded discussion and/or make personal contributions.     

Bridging the Gap: probationer educational psychologists' use of computer-mediated conferencing

Twelve educational psychologists in training on the M.Sc. course at the University of Strathclyde were provided with e-mail and on-line computer conferencing facilities with the aim of developing critical thinking and transferable information technology skills. A follow-up 6 months after the end of the course revealed that the use of computer-mediated conferencing increased the amount of and improved the structure of exchanges between educational psychologists in training, which helped them to bridge the gap between the course and the commencement of their probationary period. The findings from this case study highlight the importance of computer-mediated conferencing for the training of educational psychologists. The implications for educational psychology services are also discussed.     

Patterns of debate in tertiary level asynchronous text-based conferencing

Argumentation can be defined at different levels and serve different purposes, but its role in knowledge understanding and construction has given it a central place in education, particularly at tertiary level. The advent of computer-supported text-based conferences has created new sites where such educational dialogues can take place, but the quality of the interaction and whether it is serving its educational purpose is still uncertain. This paper reports on a framework of analysis that has been developed to illuminate the arguing process within an asynchronous electronic conferencing environment, showing how it is both similar to, and different from, argumentation in the more traditional forums of multi-party, face-to-face discussion and traditional written essays. The framework develops earlier work by the authors and is applied to two electronic conferences within the same postgraduate course, comparing overall patterns of argumentation. Findings are presented on the extent to which the technology of electronic conferencing shapes and supports students’ participation in academic literacy practices relating to argumentation, proposing, at the same time, that the teaching strategy adopted by the lecturer is also an important variable.     

Shared time,shared problems? Exploring the dynamics of paired writing conferences

The teacher–student writing conference has long been recognized as being able to provide personalized instruction and contribute to learners’ writing development. However, teachers often find it time-consuming to conference with individual students on a regular basis. Conferencing with pairs of students, therefore, may become a more pragmatic option. While a promising approach, so far the practice of paired conferencing has received scant research attention. This exploratory case study investigated the dynamics of paired conferences held between 1 writing instructor and 23 Chinese-speaking undergraduates learning English as a foreign language, as well as students’ perceptions of paired conferencing. Data collected included 11 videotaped conferences, audiotaped interviews with the instructor and students, and a student questionnaire. Through a discourse analysis performed on the conference data, this study found that to justify and facilitate paired conferencing, the instructor employed strategies such as assigning pre-conference peer review, identifying shared problems, and involving the other tutee in problem solving. Results also indicated that peer interaction during the conference was limited, but the pre-conference peer review seemed to contribute to learners’ awareness of their own strengths and weaknesses. Overall, this study showed that students held favorable opinions about paired conferencing although sharing teacher time and attention might still be a concern with some students.     

Mirror, mirror, on my screen≡ Exploring online reflections

This paper suggests that, through the provision of opportunities for reflection–in–action at critical learning stages and with the support of a trained e–moderator, the participants in computer mediated conferencing (CMC) can be encouraged to engage in reflecting about their onscreen experiences. Such reflection aids the building of a productive online community of practice. In addition, by encouraging participants to reflect on later stages of their online training experiences, a reflection–on–action record can be built up. Participants' reflective processes can be captured through analysis of their on screen text messages and so be available for research purposes. Examples of conference text message reflections are given throughout the paper, drawn from the on screen reflections of Open University Business School (OUBS) Associate Lecturers who were working online through the medium of computer mediated conferencing for the first time. The conclusion is that reflection–on–practice in the online environment is beneficial for helping the participants to learn from online conferencing and can provide an excellent tool for qualitative research. Opportunities for reflection need to be built into the design of online conferences and facilitated by a trained e–moderator.     

Using Web-Based Cases to Enhance,Extend, and Transform Pre-Service Teacher Training

Abstract

This study was part of a two-year review regarding the use of Web-based case conferencing to enhance, extend, and transform the learning of pre-service teachers in an introductory educational psychology course. First, Web conferencing enhanced the learning opportunities within educational psychology by providing an electronically shared space for hundreds of students to share, discuss, and reflect on case situations common in K-12 school settings. Second, this environment extended learning by including students from other universities and countries. Finally, instead of strictly relying on instructor cases and commentary, the Web transformed the learning process by allowing students to generate cases online and provide timely and relevant peer feedback. Across the two years of this study, students generated more than a thousand case situations that tended to focus on classroom management, motivation, and controversial issues or hot topics. Within these case situations, students were extremely task focused and offered each other extensive peer feedback. Despite many positive findings, various problems were encountered such as procrastination, limited text referencing, and few justified statements. Several future directions and recommendations are outlined.     

Three Yardsticks

At the closing ceremony of the national educational work conference, Vice Premier Li Ranqing made a point of saying the following: "Nongovernmental schools of all types must implement the educational policy in an overall way and persevere in the socialist direction. … They must not have as their aim the making of profit or money." The Regulations on Nongovernmental Schools (Draft), which it is hoped will soon be made public, stipulate: "Nongovernmental schools are educational institutions for the public good; their aim should not be to make profits." This stipulation defines the nature and aim of nongovernmental schools and is consistent with that stated by Vice Premier Li.     

A navy video teletraining project: Lessons learned

Abstract

This paper discusses two modifications to the conduct of computer‐conference‐based master's degree courses: a maximum length for conference messages was suggested and, more importantly, conference moderators, or topic leaders, were appointed from among the student cohort. Drawing on previous work on conference moderation, it is argued that the differing power relationships between student and student and between instructor and student result in a context in which instructor and student moderators can perform complementary functions to ensure a more productive conferencing environment.     

Open Learning,Electronic Communications and Beginning Teachers

The largest post graduate initial teacher education course in the UK was introduced by the Open University in February 1994. The course is innovative in a number of ways: it is the first large scale distance taught pre‐service course in the UK; all students are loaned a computer for the duration of the course; and computer conferencing is used extensively for communication between students, part‐time tutors and the course team. In this paper the use of the computer conferencing element is described and evaluated, and ways in which electronic communications can be developed for this to be a truly effective medium for supporting the development of beginning teachers’ competence and confidence are discussed.     

Considering teaching's consequences

The development of reflection is a concern to many teacher educators and the consideration of consequences is an important aspect of critical reflection. In this paper we report the results of a study that looked at if and how computer conferencing can be used to help prospective teachers become aware of the consequences of action. The findings indicate that as students of teaching discuss diverse educational issues within a structured computer conferencing activity they explore, explain, and justify their positions and interpretations by considering the consequences of action. Four ‘levels’ of consequences were apparent in the students' discussions. In addition, questions framing the discussions influence the consequences addressed.     

English Teachers 'On-line': Developing a New Community of Discourse

This article presents the case study of an on-line conference for students of English studying on an initial teacher education course. It is argued that electronic conferencing reveals the inadequacy of the concept of the ‘reflective practitioner’ both to describe and analyse the complex process of teacher development. Whilst the primary focus of reflective practice is the individual, this on-line community demonstrates the essentially social character of learning, highlighting the place of joint practice in the process of becoming a teacher.     

Computer conferencing for guidance and support in the OU

This article describes the UK Open University's FirstClass™ Computer conferencing system and its role in student support taking as an example the particular the way it is used for course choice. It suggests that whilst there are students who use it freely and apparently derive benefit from it, there are also substantial issues to be addressed about its relative unpopularity with students as a support medium. Institutions using computer conferencing may need to address issues about student antipathy towards it     

Making friends in the ‘electronic student lounge’

An important characteristic of computer conferencing in the context of distance teaching is that there is no requirement for all participants to interact at the same time. Individual users can participate at times which suit them. In an educational context, computer conferencing can provide for a variety of interactions between students, and between students and teaching staff. The .’electronic student lounge’ is a conference for socialising, for making friends, and for forming special interest groups. The 1989 extramural telecommunications (EXTEL) project at Massey University, New Zealand, provided a group of Computer Science students with such a facility. The project was based on an innovative, cheap, easy‐to‐use electronic messaging system developed at Massey.

This paper describes the EXTEL project, including the messaging system employed and the data gathering methods used to evaluate it. An analysis is presented of a sample of the more than 2000 messages exchanged over the trial period. The results of surveys of the participating students both before and after the trial are also presented. A significant proportion of the interactions were found to consist of ‘general chat’ thus supporting the notion that this type of facility helps reduce the isolation often experienced in distance teaching.     

西北勘测设计研究院视频会议系统

针对西北勘测设计研究院现有情况建成视频会议系统,主会场采用TANDBERG 6000 MXP视频会议终端,分会场采用TANDBERG2 500 MXP视频会议终端,实现主会场、兰州工勘院、工地、水电公司等分会场视频会议系统的连接,并在音频系统、视频显示系统、摄像系统、视频会议系统等多方面充分满足标准化、多功能的特点。     

Computer-Mediated Communication Environments in Teacher Education: Computer Conferencing and the Supervision of Student Teachers

The use of computer conferencing environments with student teachers and their supervisors was implemented during teaching practice and evaluated for four teacher education programs. Computer conferencing can be contrasted with the more common supervision methods, such as face-to-face conferences between the student teacher and the cooperating teacher, or between a group of student teachers and their supervisor at the teacher education institute. In our evaluation, we focused on participants' opinions of computer conferencing and their participation, activities and educational outcomes. During their field experiences, student teachers used computer conferencing primarily to exchange emotional support when they recognised similar experiences among their peers. It was less used for reflecting on their teaching and exchanging pedagogical content knowledge, including instructional methods and designs, classroom management strategies, general and instructional theories, and aspects of the teaching profession. This finding led to the conclusion that more attention should be paid to the structure of student teachers' learning environment, because more coaching and instruction of student teachers in their systematic and reflective use of computer conferencing leads to more varied and extensive communication     

The negotiation and co‐construction of meaning and understanding within a postgraduate online learning community

There is an increasing development of courses and course components taught through teaching and learning dialogues online yet there is little secure knowledge regarding the educational quality of these dialogues. Drawing on contemporary sociocultural research, this paper adapts a well‐established analytical framework (see Mercer, 1995 Mercer N (1995) The guided construction of knowledge: talk amongst teachers and learners Clevedon Multilingual matters  [Google Scholar]) that has been developed to understand face‐to‐face educational dialogues to the context of asynchronous electronic conferencing. The work reported is derived from an in‐depth case study of a tutorial group of 11 students enrolled on a course within the Open University's MA in Open and Distance Education. The course was taught online to an international cohort of students from wide‐ranging academic backgrounds. The analyses of electronic conference archives presented here focus on understanding the students' online collaborative work and the ways in which they constructed meaning, negotiated shared understanding and supported each other in the process of learning at a distance. The implications of the findings for educational practice are considered.     

教育实践课程在培养高学历小学教师中的定位及其模式

教育实践课程是高学历小学教师专业化培养模式中的重要环节,具有形成个人化教师专业知识的功能.立足于教育专业素养的培养,教育实践课程在课程体系中必须明确定位于教育专业教育课程,在专业训练中应是学术有效性与职业有效性的融合,以教育科学理论为支撑,突出教育实践的理性成分,在目标、内容、组织形式等方面进行课程开发.