April 2002 — Features
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Digital Multimedia & Distance Education: Can They Effectively Be Combined?
Overall Perspectives
For me, as an instructional technologist, it was exciting to experiment with such a potentially dynamic system. Being able to communicate with so many students at a distance was satisfying. However, I also found the experience challenging. At times, there were four or five windows open on my screen at once, many partially obscuring one another. I also found it difficult to multitask, given so many options and so many stimuli. One potential problem associated with combining all these capabilities in one system is that it can be taxing for the teacher to orchestrate all of these different features. Another problem is the bandwidth one can generate. The compressed video signals and the Toolbook files were especially problematic. When I used several features at once, the system tended to slow down and sometimes even crashed.
On the survey, students at the remote sites rated the class more positively than those in my classroom, which somewhat surprised me. However, I think the students appreciated the fact that they did not have to drive all the way to the main campus to take the course. Also, they truly experienced "distance" learning. Like most experiences with new technologies, there were pros and cons. While students appreciated the uniqueness of such a class and the capability of the technology, the ongoing technical difficulties we encountered were annoying.
For the majority of the class, the levels of computer expertise developed in this course seemed generally comparable to levels attained by students to whom I had previously taught the same skills in self-contained lab classes. However, a few of the students at the remote sites had difficulties that were harder for me to address, given some of the limitations associated with working one-on-one at a distance. These individuals struggled, and they probably would have been better off taking the class in a more traditional way.
Future Potential of Distributive Learning
Simpler applications, such as presentation software or a Web development tool, could have been used to provide much of the material used in this microcomputer course; then the assistance of a programmer would not have been necessary. In fact, since I taught my course, LearnLinc software has now been upgraded to support the transmission of PowerPoint slides. While somewhat less dynamic than Toolbook materials, PowerPoint presentations are far easier for instructors to prepare.
Another limitation of this approach to distance education was its restricted accessibility. The videoconferencing and Toolbook data, in particular, required too much bandwidth to work effectively on the Internet, so those with only modem connections at home could not participate. But now a scaled-down, lower-bandwidth version of LearnLinc is available. It relies on Internet protocol-based audioconferencing rather than videoconferencing for telecommunications, and upon PowerPoint rather than Toolbook for lesson material. In addition, users at home can now download the LearnLinc software and connect to a group session.
If this system can continue to upgrade its capabilities, especially those associated with screen sharing, it will become more widely available and better able to support all kinds of courses, including hands-on laboratory-based courses.
