Student-Directed Learning: Hong Kong Experiences
Doug Vogel
Chris Wagner
Louis Ma
Department of
Department of
Department of
Information Systems
Information Systems
Information Systems
City University of Hong Kong
City University of Hong Kong
City University of Hong Kong
Kowloon, Hong Kong
Kowloon, Hong Kong
Kowloon, Hong Kong
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
Tel: +852-2788-7560
Tel: +852-2788-7546
Tel: +852-2788-7541
Fax: +852-2788-8694
Fax: +852-2788-8694
Fax: +852-2788-8694
Abstract Education is facing multiple challenges as we approach the next century. As faculties broaden the range of instructional methods and approaches, increased attention is being given to ‘student-directed’ learning and effective use of technology in the learning process. This paper explains and explores the concept of studentdirected learning through development and use of a prototype environment for a graduate course at the City University of Hong Kong. Experiences and student feedback data are reported. The paper concludes with a discussion of learning environment domain factors and future directions.
1
Introduction
1.1 Learning to learn Education is facing a challenge as we enter the next century. Content is changing so rapidly, especially in technologically oriented fields, that content knowledge provided to students is outdated almost as rapidly as they graduate. As such, education needs to shift in focus from content based to process based - focusing on providing students with creative problem solving skills and the ability to enable them to adapt as world circumstances dictate. It becomes more important to give students
1
the skills to identify content, from all that increasingly exists around them, that most appropriately serves the need at hand and to identify new relevant content as situations dictate. Further, students at all levels must learn to identify outdated assumptions, and then critique, challenge, and replace them with new ones.
1.2
Technology changes learning roles
In the latter part of the twentieth century we have seen rapid developments in approaches to learning with one of the greatest being the relinquishment of teacher control (Cotterall, 1995; Little, 1995; Victori & Lockhart, 1995). As teachers have become willing to re-evaluate instructional methods and have considered broadening the range of instructional methods and approaches, the emphasis has shifted to ‘student-centered’
learning.
This
has
resulted
in
flexible
and
innovative
teaching/learning technology, which involves the integration of the use of computerbased learning, multimedia materials, network and communication systems into teaching, rather than just being made available to students. For university faculty, it involves the need to alter the mode and style of teaching so that teaching/learning technologies are an integral part of their academic programmes. Traditional teaching methods that assume a single language and shared homogeneity of proficiencies, learning styles and motivational systems are increasingly inadequate and inappropriate.
1.3
Stakeholder demands
The need for changing teaching methods has come about partly due to the demands of employers. Graduates are now expected to be versatile in the world of communications via email, conferencing systems and the World Wide Web. Graduates are also expected to apply higher cognitive skills, such as analyzing, summarizing and synthesizing information or thinking creatively and also critically. The universities in Hong Kong and the government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) share the goals of assuring that teaching, learning and assessment are adjusted to take maximum advantage of new technologies, and making student-directed learning a more important component in programme design. A variety of interactive learning environment elements extending out beyond the bounds of traditional classrooms are being created and evaluated. 2
Based on the above three factors, this paper identifies and explores four strategies for innovative learning environments. Examples and experiences associated with the application of these learning environment elements are presented. The paper concludes with a discussion of learning environment domain factors and future directions including plans underway to operationalize the studentdirected learning concept.
2
Background and Setting
In interactive learning environments, knowledge is actively constructed, transformed, and extended by students while faculty efforts are aimed at developing students’ competencies and talents recognizing a wide variety of learning styles and abilities. Education becomes a personal transaction among students and between faculty and students as they work together. Teaching becomes a complex application of theory and research in enhancing student learning through process innovation. Technology becomes an enabling factor for process effectiveness and efficiency and removal of historical time and space constraints. Student-driven learning is a perspective on education that focuses attention on the ability of students to better select the mode of delivery and timing of course material. As such, students can elect to attend class sessions and participate in a face-to-face mode in a traditional fashion or they can be connected remotely to the class (participating at the same time but at a different location) or they can access class session material and recorded video of class lectures/interactions (different time and different location) after the class has actually occurred. In this fashion, the student selects the type of learning environment characteristics that best fit with his/her needs and constraints. This flexibility in availability serves a variety of student needs. Students increasingly have work related situations that make it difficult for them to always attend class. Students also exhibit a variety of learning styles and experiences that may require multiple exposures to material that can be accomplished off-line without absorbing class time.
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3
Teaching and Learning Strategies
This section discusses four strategies which drove the use of information technologies to support teaching and learning in and out of the classroom. The strategies are not mutually exclusive, nor are they the only ones that were pursued during the course.
3.1
Knowledge Management (Paperless Learning)
Traditionally, learning is very much paper oriented. Students receive or acquire course materials such as photocopies of instructor overheads, printed assignments, or books. In addition, they may write their own course notes. Whether in print or hand-written, these notes are not easily maintained, shared, updated, or re-used in different contexts. Especially in the Hong Kong environment, course materials then become a means to prepare for the exam, with little further use for improving the students’ ability to build on that knowledge or use it in different contexts. Hence, one change strategy for our learning space was to create a paperless environment where all materials, from presentation slides to student class notes were available and processable in machine readable form.
3.2
Anytime/Many-place Learning
Anytime and anyplace are well understood capabilities in customer support. In our goal to enable more student-directed learning, we had to recognize that our student cohort consisted of part-time students with very demanding work related travel schedules, and long office hours (including frequent Saturday morning work). Consequently, there was a great need for anytime and anyplace learning. Given that most computer related communication technologies are wire-based, we did not attempt to provide anyplace capability, but many-place access, namely wherever students had basic Internet access (e.g., via 28.8 modem).
3.3
Community of Learners
Traditional learning models, which rely on the instructor as the sole provider of expertise, do not fit well with the goal “learning to learn”. Instead, we wanted to instill in the students an understanding of being a part of a community of learners. Every
4
course participant was to take an active role in searching for course related information, filtering that information, eliminating less relevant parts, processing the essential elements, and presenting them to the other course participants in the most appropriate form. To realize this goal, students were asked to complete two assignments, each of which culminated in a class presentation. In addition, students were asked repeatedly throughout the course to inform fellow students about interesting course related materials they had seen in the press, in books, or on the Web, or elsewhere.
3.4
Interaction in the Classroom
Classrooms exhibit many of the characteristics described as hindrances to group work (Nunamaker et al., 1997). There is frequently domination of the discussion (by the instructor), there is attention blocking, the relative large number of course participants afford each individual relatively small amounts of “air time”, and less extrovert participants often do not speak up out of fear to make a less than important contribution. This is especially true in the Hong Kong classroom, where the instructor (or superior in one’s company) frequently is perceived as the person from whom most ideas should originate. Part of our objectives was to overcome these traditional weaknesses of lecture style learning, and thus, we needed to also provide the appropriate infrastructure for it. A prototype environment was designed to explore the concept of student-driven learning. Key components of the environment are FaBWeb and FaBStudio. •
FaBWeb combines a Learning Resource with a Meeting Space and Play to Learn facility on the Internet. The Learner’s Resource offers a variety of teaching materials to the learner at any time and any place. Teaching materials for every lecture or tutorial are kept here, in their native format such as presentation (e.g., Powerpoint), written document, or spreadsheet. Furthermore, video recordings of past classes are kept here, in highly compressed, web browser accessible format (RealVideo). Finally, links to other WWW based resources complement the set of information resources. With these resources, the student can watch a lecture video on-line (via a normal 28.8 modem), and at the same time review the corresponding lecture materials. The Meeting Space is the social center of the
5
FaBWeb. It is where students meet other students and instructors. But this is not an “accidental” meeting place. Instead, it is (at least in part) an organized society, with scheduled programs and events. Play to Learn is the third component of FaBWeb, an interactive game playing environment where students measure their skills against those of others, playing business games. •
Just like TV productions that are broadcast to a large viewer group, yet are held in front of a small studio audience, FaBWeb needs a studio where small classes are held to be broadcast simultaneously to a larger web audience. However, the design principle for the FaBStudio is not that of a broadcast facility, but of a multi-cast facility. Classrooms are typically designed to enable one individual to speak or be active (usually the teacher), while students passively observe and occasionally participate. FaBStudio is different. It can serve as a broadcast studio, but is better pictured as a communication center, a “war room”, where every station is the central node of a communication network. Thus, it can serve as a classroom in which each student can at the same time maintain communication with team members, and where members of other teams can be deliberately brought into the meeting via video conference when necessary or useful.
4
IT Environment for Learning Support
To aid in the implementation of all our learning strategies, we made use of a technology infrastructure that gave users a number of familiar (and not so familiar) tools. Many of the technology features had been only recently set up as part of the Faculty of Business’ FaBWeb/FaBStudio project, and so our course became the pilot for the application of the features. Table 1 lists the features and their fit with the previously outlined learning strategies. An MBA elective course (Global Information Systems Strategies) was selected as a pilot in the use of the virtual classroom technologies in a studentdirected fashion. This course was chosen because both the course contents and the student community were very appropriate for this pilot. The aim of this course is to examine the role of information systems in assisting managers in the achievement of corporate objectives, and to consider methods for strategic planning of information
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systems in a global setting. Twenty students were enrolled in the course, the majority with a background in Information Technology (IT) development or IT management. Thus, students were by-and-large very technology literate and comfortable in the use of information technology. Table 1: Teaching / Learning strategies and their technology implementations. Teaching / Learning Strategy
Supporting Information Technology
Knowledge Management /
Web site PowerPoint slides
Paperless Learning Anytime / Many-place Learning
Web site PowerPoint slides Web site live video Web site class session video playback
Community of Learners
Web site on-line conference board E-mail
Interaction in / out of the
GroupSystems
Classroom
Internet chat software (ICQ) Web site on-line conference board E-mail
The course was team-taught by two instructors, each of them with many years of experience in the IT business and in teaching. A third instructor, also with many years of IT experience, focused solely on planning and managing technological support for the distributed aspects of the course. The main teaching philosophy was to treat all students as if they were present in the classroom. In other words, this was not distance education, but localized instruction that bridged distance gaps. Remote students had the ability to send in their comments and were asked from time to time to provide answers to questions. When students in the classroom were working on in-class assignments, remote students were given similar assignments. A second driver underlying the course delivery was to treat IT not as a tool to be switched on and off from time to time during class, but as an environment that was always available, 24 hours per day, seven days per week throughout the entire course. To create such an environment, nearly 100% of the course materials were
7
made available in computer based form and placed on a course server for downloading anytime and any place through the Internet along FaBWeb designs illustrated in Figure 1. A classroom environment was created to embody FaBStudio notions around the concept of an electronic meeting room (as shown in the Figure 2 below) modelled after a similar facility at the University of Arizona (Nunamaker, et al, 1991). Figure 3 shows use of the environment with both remote and local classroom participation. Students learned in a technology “saturated” teaching environment. Each student was able to access a Pentium PC during class, running software such as the MS Office suite, plus a groupware product, GroupSystems, developed at the University of Arizona and commercialized by Ventana Corp. Similar hardware and software was used by the instructors. In addition, two Pentium II computers were installed in the classroom to provide interactive video-on-demand capability. One of these auxiliary computers ran RealEncoder 5.0, a popular video streaming encoder, generating a 20 kbps video signal that was broadcast over the Internet. The second auxiliary computer ran CU-Seeme 2.1, a popular multi-cast desktop video conferencing software. That machine also ran Mirabilis ICQ, an interactive chat software. Figure 1. FaBWeb
FaBWeb
8
Figure 2: Classroom Environment
Figure 3: Use of the environment with both remote and local classroom participation ITR with Virtual Classroom Enhancements
All class materials were placed on a web site that was known to students from the first class on. The course was propagated as a “course on the net”. All materials used in the course were expected to be produced in computer based form (mostly MS Office document formats), and then placed on the web site. Instructor notes and slides appeared there a day before class, materials that students wanted to share appeared within one or two days after receipt. For even faster turnaround, a shared e-mail site was set up where students could send an e-mail to one address called ALL which then forwarded the e-mail to all registered participants. After half the course had passed, we added another facility, a web based conference board, open for everyone to read and leave messages. Thus, students had several different facilities at their command to share information and were able to use whatever facility they liked best to communicate with others. Use of these technologies gave students and staff the following capabilities:
9
•
Viewing of class presentation slides (PowerPoint) during class, plus the ability to add on-line annotations.
•
Brainstorming and discussion of lecture topics through GroupSystems, with subsequent categorization, prioritization, and voting.
•
Remote viewing of live lecture video files (RealVideo) combined with the ability to respond live through text based chat software.
•
Desktop videoconferencing with the classroom, including live response with video and audio.
•
Off-line dialog with instructors and fellow students through e-mail and a conference (bulletin) board.
•
Off-line watching of past course lectures (complete with Powerpoint presentation slides) available from an Internet video archive.
5
Results
Apart from the formal teaching assessment, three evaluations were carried out during the course (twelve three-hour sessions compressed into two months). The first two evaluations were conducted during the course in order to determine the perceived usefulness of technologies after one month (mid way through the course) and two months respectively (Table 2). The third evaluation was conducted at the end of the course right after students had completed their final examination to determine learning effectiveness (Table3), the achievement of objectives (Table 4), and to collect qualitative feedback.
5.1
Perceived Technology Usefulness
As noted in Table 2, all of the technologies used in the class rated positively at both points of measurement. Interestingly, however, six of the ten technologies in use had significantly different ratings in the two measurement periods. Web site Powerpoint slides increased significantly in terms of perceived usefulness for learning, especially as the students became more comfortable with note-taking on the slides at their individual workstations. The perceived usefulness of web site live video as well as ICQ (used for in-class question and participation in group discussions by remote students) and the web site on-line conference board also
10
increased significantly as more students experienced those forms of remote support. Only videotapes decreased significantly in terms of perceived usefulness. Powerpoint slides projected in class, E-mail, GroupSystems and web site class session video playback showed no significant difference in perceived usefulness for learning between the two measurement periods as illustrated in Table 2.
Table 2: Perceived Usefulness of Technologies available to Students How useful for learning are the following technologies?
April
May April May
t
Sig.
Mean Mean Rank Rank value (2-tailed)
(1=Poor and 10=Excellent) Web site powerpoint slides
7.79
8.57
3
1
-2.35
0.035
Powerpoint slides with note-taking on
7.36
8.29
5
2
-3.79
0.002
Powerpoint slides projected in class
8.00
8.21
2
3
-1.00
0.336
E-Mail
8.29
7.93
1
4
1.79
0.096
GroupSystems
7.71
7.50
4
5
1.38
0.189
Web site live video
5.93
6.79
8
6
-3.38
0.005
Web site class session video playback
6.43
6.71
7
7
-0.89
0.391
Web site on-line conference board
5.85
6.43
9
8
-2.51
0.027
ICQ
5.54
6.36
10
9
-2.69
0.020
Videotapes
6.71
6.14
6
10
3.31
0.006
individual workstations
5.2
Learning Effectiveness
As noted in Table 3, lectures were rated by the students as more effective than case analysis and project presentations in terms of learning effectiveness. Lectures were done using projected Powerpoint slides with students having the ability at individual workstations to personally annotate individual copies. A variety of cooperative learning techniques were used to engage the students in structured discussion (Johnson and Johnson, 1975; Kagan, 1994). GroupSystems was also used during lectures to generate ideas and provide an opportunity for students to provide anonymous feedback and opinions on a variety of topics. In some cases, all
11
students would work individually while at other times, small group discussions in Cantonese within their assigned groups would be encouraged with typically one group member acting as scribe for the group to record results in English. Case analyses were done in small groups (5 members each) and project presentations were a mix of individual and team presentations using Powerpoint slides.
Table 3: Learning Effectiveness Mean Score (1=Poor and 10=Excellent)
Std. Deviation
•
Lecture
7.68
1.11
•
Case Analysis
7.16
1.21
•
Project Presentations
7.21
1.75
Table 4: Achievement of Objectives in IS8602 and Other MBA Courses Mean Score (1=Poor to
Std.
Sig.
N Deviation t-value (2-tailed)
10=Excellent) Pair 1: Meeting Course Objectives •
IS8602
7.68
19
1.49
•
Other MBA courses
6.63
19
1.07
3.75
0.001
5.18
0.000
Pair 2: Meeting Students' Expectations •
IS8602
7.63
19
1.16
•
Other MBA courses
6.32
19
1.16
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5.3
Achievement of Objectives
At the conclusion of their final exam, the students were asked to compare the student-directed course to other more traditional MBA courses that they had taken as a part of their program. As noted in Table 4, students rated the class as significantly better in meeting course objectives and meeting student expectations. Both instructors also felt that, indeed, course objectives had been met. Additional data were collected at the end of the final exam to identify advantages and disadvantages of the interactive use of information technology in the course. •
Advantages listed tended to focus on the opportunity to experience and use the latest technology with attention to accessibility, immediacy, flexibility, and efficiency. This was seen as generating interest, stimulating creative thinking and encouraging high class attendance. GroupSystems was seen as useful for generating ideas, encouraging class sharing, and having more time to use for class discussion. Video and course materials on the web site were noted as especially helpful in preparing for the final examination and generally keeping resources always available. As one student noted, “At least I won’t worry that I might miss some notes.”
•
Disadvantages listed tended to focus on the time it took to set up the broad spectrum of audio, video, and data technologies used in the class, and the information overload that could occur when many ideas were generated using technologies such as GroupSystems as well as diversion of attention. Web video was noted as slow, especially when accessed from homes. Only one student felt that the disadvantages outweighed the advantages.
That student reported, “softcopy handout created in a too new version (office 97). Some people may not able to read. Some people may not easy to access internet to download handout.” That same student responded to the question on advantages as “impressive, easier to communicate with each other.”
6
Discussion
It would appear (as recorded in Table 1) that students initially tended to rate those technologies they were most familiar with as useful for learning.
13
•
Midway through the course, e-mail was rated in first place followed by Powerpoint slides projected in class. Students had become familiarized with these technologies during the course of their studies in previous classes along with traditional forms of in-class support, e.g., video tapes. The students had little prior exposure to use of web sites, particularly with the inclusion of video and interactive text, and no exposure to the use of in-class groupware, e.g., GroupSystems, used to generate and capture discussion and indicate degree of consensus.
•
By the end of the course, the students had begun to integrate a much wider variety of technology into their learning experience. This tended to have two effects. Some technologies used in the classroom, (e.g., direct note-taking on powerpoint slides) or remote but during class time, (e.g. live video and ICQ) and especially web-site facilities (e.g., powerpoint slides and on-line conference board) increased significantly in terms of perceived usefulness for learning. Other traditional technologies, however, fell significantly. As noted in Table 1, email slid from first to fourth (albeit only at a p= .096 level of significance in difference in means) but videotapes slid from sixth to last (p=.0006). This shift in ratings reinforces the importance of familiarizing students over a
sufficient period of time so that they are able to assimilate technologies to fit their learning styles and not to base their reaction on historical familiarity (or lack thereof) when queried about usefulness in learning. For example, it would appear that e-mail and videotapes (which were historically common artifacts to students), were rated significantly lower in terms of usefulness for learning when put into perspective with other technologies that initially were less familiar but made the transition over time to becoming familiar through use, not just exposure. Note, though, that all technologies continued to be viewed positively as illustrated in Table 2, just some more positively than others. Although an objective of the project was to provide a relatively seamless interface across time and space, use tended to cluster around two themes or domains. We focus the remainder of this discussion on these two general domains in the learning environment.
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6.1
Dynamics in the classroom
The classroom dynamic definitely changes as technology becomes increasingly available. For example, in previous electronic classroom experiences (Alavi, Yoo, and Vogel, 1997; Nunamaker, et al., 1997), we learned that participation increases dramatically and that anonymity reduces apprehension to surfacing issues when using group support systems (GSS). GSS-based generation, recording and organizing efficiency also tends to promote richer discussion. Hong Kong circumstances gave us additional experience that warrants recognition. •
Hong Kong in-class interaction was not limited to a single site or two sites. Students at multiple remote sites could see live video from the class and participate in remote discussion. This tends to require additional attention on the part of the instructor to recognize and effectively include remote participants without losing the thread of discussion within the class. There is a need for faculty to get familiar with the technology – not to be distracted, but learn to leverage the technology to reinforce their personal teaching style. It also helps to have in-class assistance to manage camera angles as well as monitor remote connectivity.
•
In Hong Kong, English is not typically the first language of the students and English skills varied widely among the students. Group support technology was useful in enabling students to contribute without being overly concerned about verbal abilities and to participate without “losing face.” Technology was thus able to overcome some of the dynamic of poor class participation in discussion often historically encountered.
•
A particularly successful form of combined verbal and group support system modeled after cooperative learning techniques (e.g., Kagan, 1994) emerged as students were encouraged to discuss topics verbally in small groups (which typically was done in Cantonese) and have a designated scribe record key points into the group support technology in English to be shared with the class at large. At that point, additional verbal discussion would typically commence. The overall dynamic in the classroom was enthusiastic and positive, with
students particularly appreciative of not always having to be in the classroom to participate. This becomes especially important in life-long learning situations where
15
students are working full time in addition to attending university and occasionally away on business trips or otherwise unable to be physically present in class. This is not only common in Hong Kong but increasingly common worldwide.
6.2
Dynamics outside the classroom
Although e-mail continued to be a popular form of communication between instructors and students (e.g., for turning in projects), the learning environment outside the classroom was predominantly web-centric. The web site became the point of focus and exhibited high use (an average of four accesses per student per class session). Several observations can be made. •
Internet based video-on-demand and chat software which received little early attention during the course were considered more valuable than traditional video tapes by the end of the course.
•
Use of interactive course TV was highly popular with a small number of students. One student almost exclusively attended classes by watching them through the Internet and communicating through chat software.
•
RealVideo, compared to CU-Seeme provided a more stable video delivery platform. RealVideo uses the entire bandwidth available to it for one audio and video signal, compared to the shared use in CU-Seeme. The “dedicated” bandwidth brings higher reliability and better audio and video quality. Course broadcasts via RealVideo were watched reliably by participants as far away as Germany.
•
Remote viewers experimented with both CU-Seeme and RealVideo, and often watched both media at the same time. RealVideo gave better picture and sound quality, CU-Seeme better motion in the picture. Also, users preferred CUSeeme’s chat facility over ICQ.
•
Course participants felt comfortable in using interactive “off-line” software, here in the form of a conference (bulletin) board to read messages. However, they used the conference board almost exclusively to read messages, not to write them.
•
Students judged downloadable course documents and use of PowerPoint during class as the most valuable IT components of the course.
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The positive reaction to the web site was particularly gratifying given current technological limitations imposed and limited bandwidth (i.e., 28.8k modem) available to most of the students. The web video by nature was quite poor in terms of resolution, and audio quality was a continual problem, especially for classroom discussion. Given lack of video resolution and clarity, powerpoint slides had to be viewed in a separate window but then were not synchronized with the video. Further, the degree of structured multi-student interaction through use the conference board was limited with respect to that achievable through GroupSystem use in the classroom. Overall, however, the dynamic outside the classroom was conducive to providing students with additional options in directing learning and has high future promise. The dynamics in the classroom and the dynamics outside the classroom combine to create a learning environment that neither alone cannot support. The dynamics are complementary and reinforce each other. The dynamics in the classroom encourage continuation outside the classroom while the dynamics outside the classroom sustain interaction and makes time spent in the classroom more productive. Overall, students have the opportunity to direct their own education in conjunction with the role and timing they choose in the learning environment. The course attracted considerable attention both within and external to the university. This was best illustrated in a story on May 21, 1998 in the South China Morning Post (the most widely read English language newspaper in Hong Kong) that headlined “CityU’s ‘virtual classroom’ now the real thing.”
7
Future Directions
FaBWeb capabilities are currently being upgraded to support more users and services including desktop videoconferencing. A new virtual teaching and broadcast studio (FaBStudio) facility is scheduled to come on-line in September, 1998 at which time all first year undergraduate core courses will be supported with video-ondemand. The success of the student-directed learning environment created at City University of Hong Kong has led to discussions for formulating a partnership with Hongkong Telecom, the region’s provider of Interactive Television (iTV) and wide bandwidth Internet connectivity. Hongkong Telecom has fibre optic cable laid to
17
most major buildings and housing units in Hong Kong. Thus a unique infrastructure is provided to enable operationalization of the student-directed learning concept with special attention to interactivity in an expanded learning environment. Discussions are currently underway towards formalizing a relationship to provide a virtual MBA program as the initialization of a virtual learning center. We feel that our success in bringing together technology and education with a focus on outreach is generalizable. We began our work with a facility retrofitted to serve our technological needs, using COTS (commercial off-the-shelf) products. Our facility was located in traditional space in the business faculty with no special attention to technology needs. No special programming or development effort was undertaken, only integration. Although Hong Kong is currently advanced in use of fibre optics, most of our activity was disseminated over standard internet configurations with students accessing material over 28.8k modems. In fact, one of our design parameters was to enable students to watch a lecture video on-line (via a normal 28.8 modem), and at the same time review the corresponding lecture materials. As general technology infrastructure increases, our focus will change accordingly. Ultimately, the degree to which the university of the future is webcentric or campus centric will be addressed.
8
Conclusion
This paper explains and explores the concept of student-directed learning through development and use of a prototype environment for a graduate course at the City University of Hong Kong. Several conclusions can be drawn. •
First, information technologies can be used to significantly improve the student experience and to support anytime and anyplace course delivery even over narrow-band Internet (28.8 kbps). However, as with any new technology, technology adoption is a gradual process.
•
Second, as technology learning takes place, “traditional” technologies such as email and use of regular video lose relatively in popularity to tools that either enable higher levels of interactivity, more functionality, or more time and space independence.
18
•
Third, future classrooms (or better, learning spaces) will likely become highly technology saturated, thus enabling students to take advantage of a variety of technologies in and out of the classroom, and enabling students to record and process all information in computer readable form.
•
Fourth, usefulness of any particular technology cannot be easily judged a-priori. For example, students used groupware very much in class, which supported interactivity in an on-line environment, but used a conference board very little which supported interactivity in an off-line mode.
•
Finally, use of information technology in the classroom may improve efficiency and effectiveness of students, but can place a significantly higher burden on instructors. We were able to create a high technology class environment for students, but engaged three instructors, a research assistant, and other technical staff in the process. These are indeed exciting times as we look forward to the future with learning
and research coming together in a synergistic fashion to create interactive learning environments. We are seeing increased flexibility offered through combinations of process and technology innovation that enables students to have more choice in learning and the ability to better fit a wider variety of learning styles. We are seeing a transition in teaching from the sage on the stage to the guide by the side through use of cooperative learning techniques supported by technology. Overall, there is a general transition in education from a passive one-site one-instructor paradigm to an interactive learning environment with value-added partnerships enabled by technology. Educators become designers in creating these learning environments as we look towards the challenges of the 21st century.
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