网上资料 发展的技术 EvolvingTech.docx
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网上资料发展的技术EvolvingTech
EvolvingTechnologies
Technologiesevolvethroughrefinementsinnewversionsandupgradestoproducts.Usuallytheenhancementsareminor,buteventuallyoldersystemsorhardwarearenolongercompatibleorsupportedandsoonbecomeunusable.Leadingedgesoftwareoftencontainsbugsorisnotrobustwhenusedoutsidethelaboratory.Laterreleasesbecomeincreasinglystableandappropriatefornoviceusers.Fromthefirsttelephonecalltothemobilephone,telephonyhasevolvedinimperceptiblestepspunctuatedbyafewgrandleaps.Soitiswiththetechnologiesfordistributedlearning.
Oneoftheacknowledgedtruismsofeducationaltechnologyisthattechnologyevolvesmuchmorerapidlythanthewillingnessofteachers,learnersandeducationalinstitutionstoexploitthosetechnologiesforlearning.Inshort,thereisusuallyalonglagtimebetweentheappearanceofanewtechnologyanditseventualwidespreadadoptionforeducationalpurposes.Educationalauthoritiesareoftenreluctanttoinvestinbuyinghardwareandsoftwarethatwillbeoutofdatebeforetheteachershavereallybeguntomakegooduseofit.Aviciouscirclecandevelopwherebyeducatorswaitforthenextevolutionofthesoftwareorhardwaretobecomeavailable,butthenextversionisrapidlyfollowedbyanotherwhichmaybeincompatiblewiththeprevious.Thisisparticularlytruewithrespecttothetechnologiesunderpinningdistributededucation,whereoverthelasttwentyyears,informationandcommunicationtechnologieshaveevolvedveryrapidly.Howeveronthewhole,theearlyadoptersamongsteducatorsatthepost-compulsorylevelhavebeenquicktoapplyeachnewrefinementtoimprovethequalityofdistributedlearning,toincreaseaccessandenhancetheonlinelearningenvironmentforthebenefitofdistributedlearners.
Theevolutionoftechnologiesfordistributedlearningischaracterisedbyconvergence:
stand-alonesystemshaveconvergedontotheweb;thedistincttechnologiesforsynchronousandasynchronouscommunicationhaveblurredintoeachother;theseparateteachingmodesofface-to-faceanddistanceeducationhavealsoconvergedwiththeevolutionofthetechnologysuchthatthemostcommonmodeisnow‘blendedlearning’.
FourTechnologiesforDistributedLearning
Asynchronousthreadeddiscussionsoftware–oftencalledcomputer-mediatedcommunication–allowsdistributedlearnerstodiscusscourseissueswithatutororinstructorandwitheachotheroverthewholeperiodofthecourse.Sinceaboutthemid1980sthesesystemshavebeenusedforvariouskindsofdistributededucation:
K-12studentsnetworkingacrossdifferentschools,remoteandhouseboundstudents,andothertertiaryeducationstudentswantingmoreflexiblelearningthancampuseducationallows,adultswantingcontinuingprofessionaldevelopmentandmanykindsoftrainingthatfitaroundfulltimeemployment.
Thefirstsoftwaretosupportthisformofasynchronousdiscussionwascalled‘commandline’,andrequiredskillandpatiencefromeventhededicateduser,letalonetheintrepidnovice.Aperusalofearlyliteratureoncomputerconferencingproducesalitanyofconcernsabouttrainingmaterials,helpdeskqueries,andfront-endprograms,aswellasdiscussionsabouthowbesttohelpnewusersbecomeactiveparticipants.Thedifficultiesencounteredbyhome-basedstudentsinloggingon,andthetrainingneededtonavigatearoundthesystem,rememberthecorrectterms,andgetamessageintotherightconference,allamountedtoasteeplearningcurveforstudentsbeforetheystartedlearningthecoursematerial.Newerconferencingsystemsbecameavailableintheearlyninetiesandtheseprovideda-graphicalinterfacetomessaging.Traininginthetechnicalitiesofusingsuchsystemsgraduallybecamelessandlessproblematicandnowoccupiesanegligibleamountofthecoursetime.Withtheadventoftheweb,discussionhasbeenintegratedwiththecontentofthecourse.Forexample,commentfunctionscanbelinkedtocoursematerial,andwholedocumentscanhavecommentfunctionsbuiltaroundthem.InstantMessagingisanear-synchronousformofonlineinteractionthathasdevelopedfromthequestfor‘presence’intheonlineenvironment–thesensethatotherusersarepresentandavailableforcommunication.Sowecantraceanevolutioninonlineeducationalinteractionfromseparatesystemse.g.fordeliveringcoursecontentandresourcesandforparticipantinteraction(whichusedtorequireaseparateloginandseparatepassword)tocurrentsystemswhichofferauser-driven,singlesign-onlearningenvironmentprovidingseamlessaccesstoresourcesandotherlearners.
Audiographicstechnologyusedtoprovidemulti-wayaudioandasharedscreen,andwasusedtoconductreal-timetutorialswithremotestudents(usuallyconnectedfromastudycentretothehostinstitution).Thefirstsystemsrequiredtwotelephonelines:
oneforthesoundandonefortheaudio.Asfewhome-basedlearnershadtwolines,thistechnologywasconfinedtointer-institutionalapplications.WiththegrowthoftheInternet,audiographicsmigratedontothewebandhasbecomeaviablewayofintroducingsmallgroup,synchronouseventsintodistributedlearning.Itisparticularlyusefulforproblemsolvingsessionsinmathematics,languagepracticeinsecondlanguageclasses,syndicateworkinbusinesscoursesandcollaborativeprojectworkamongststudentsinmanysubjectareas.Currentsoftwaresupportsasharedscreenforreal-timeannotation,aswellasdocumentsharingandevenapplicationsharing.Theintegrationofthepersonalcomputerwiththetelephoneandparticularlywiththemobiletelephone,isalreadythefocusofresearchandtrialsinanumberofdistributedlearningcentres.Averyearlyapplicationinvolvesaccesstolibrarydatabasesforfindingandreservingbooks.
Videoconferencing,likeaudiographics,usedtobecarriedoutondedicatedhardware,buthassimilarlyconvergedontotheweb.Distributedlecturescannowbewebcastandstudentscanrespondwithquestionsanddiscussionthroughachatboard.Inaddition,thereal-timelecturecanbe‘canned’andstoredonthewebforstudentstoaccessattheirconvenience.Two-wayvideocommunicationonthewebalsohasmanyapplicationsfordistributedlearning:
forexample,forstudent/tutorcommunicationsandforstudent/studentworkonjointprojects.Multi-wayvideocommunicationonthewebhasnotyetevolvedsufficientlytoberobustforhome-basedlearnersbutthespreadofbroadbandmaysoonmakeadifference.Researchstudieshavequestionedthevalueofvideowhereitisusedmerelytoseetheremotelecturertalking.Audioiscriticalandseeingtheslidesorotherillustrativematerialisalsoimportant.However,evenasmallwindowshowingthelecturerandviewsoftheremotestudentsdoaddtothevitalsenseof‘presence’thathelpstomotivatestudentsandenliventhesubject.
Thedeliveryofcoursecontentindistributedlearninghasbeencarriedoutthroughvideolectures,butalsothroughprintsentthroughthepost.Withthedevelopmentofthepersonalcomputer,multimedialearningmaterialsandparticularlytrainingmaterialscouldbeproducedonCD-ROM.Thisledtoanexplosionofcomputer-basedlearningcourseswherethestudentcouldinteractwiththematerials,practicevarioustechniquesandskills,workthroughlessonsattheirconvenienceandasmanytimesastheyneeded.However,thecostofdevelopingstimulating,interactive,multimediamaterialswasverygreat–infact,stillis,andmuchofthematerialproducedwasnotverystimulatingandinteractiveonlyintheneedforthelearnertopressthe‘next’buttonatthebottomofthescreen.Furthermore,oncetheCD-ROMshadbeenproducedtheyweredifficulttochangeorupdate.Consequently,thewebsoonbecamethepreferredoptionforcontentdelivery,asitofferedthepossibilityofinteractionwithotherstudentsaswellaswiththematerials,andthecontentwaseasyforthedeveloperstoupdate.Furthermore,learnerscouldsupplementthecoursecontentwithanyoftheresourcesoftheweb.
IssuesArisingfromEvolvingTechnologies
Thespeedwithwhichtechnologyhasevolvedraisesanumberofpedagogical,humanandinstitutionalissuesfordistributedlearning.Regardingtheprocessofassessingstudents,newopportunitieshavebeenprovidedbytheweb.Multiplechoicetestinghasbecomemorechallengingwithmatching,sequencingandidentificationquestionsavailableinmultimedia.Collaborativeassignmentsforstudentsatadistance,jointprojectsandpresentationsandstudent-producedwebpageshaveallexpandedtherangeandqualityofassessments.However,thevastresourcesofthewebandtheeaseofaccesstothemhavecreatedamajorproblemsurroundingplagiarismfromunacknowledgeduseofmaterialtowholesalebuyingofcompleteassignments.Concernoverthiskindofcheatinghasledtothedevelopmentofplagiarism-detectionsoftwareandprocessestohelpmarkersidentifyworknotauthoredbythestudent.Arelatedissueisownershipofweb-basedmaterialgenerallyandthecopyrightprotectionofteachingmaterialinparticular.Academicshavebeguntoasserttheirrightsovercoursematerialtheyauthorforweb-basedcourses.Thiscreatesdifficultiesforinstitutionswantingtore-use,updateorre-versionmaterialsforothermarketsandaddsconsiderablecosttothedevelopmentofhighqualitywebbasedcourses.Fromthelearner’sperspective,thereisincreasingevidencethatstudentsarealsobecomingmoredemandingandhavehigherexpectationsaboutthecontentandtheprocessesoflearning.Forexample,inthewholeareaofpost-graduate,continuingprofessionaldevelopmentandlifelonglearning,therearedemandsforjust-in-timelearn