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Going the distance - distance education has been greatly aided by distance learning technology

Computer Dealer News - September 17, 1999

Thanks to the Net, distance learning technology is changing the education market

Teaching students who can't make it to a classroom is a practice that has been carried out by Canadian educational institutions for decades. Correspondence courses and programs using basic networking technology have enabled thousands of students to overcome location barriers and earn degrees or credits from the comfort of their own homes.

But with the advent of the Internet, the world of distance learning has gone far beyond the world of snail mail courses. Universities, community colleges, high schools and adult education centres are implementing new technologies that in many cases offer students real-time interaction with professors and other features that attempt to create a virtual classroom.

And the growth is not limited to schools. Corporations are quickly adopting these technologies as a means of training their employees who are located at branch offices around the country and, in some instances, around the world.

As the systems begin to be adopted, resellers are realizing just how important a market distance learning is becoming.

But according to Dan McLean, a networking analyst with International Data Corp. Canada in Toronto, they should be aware of the two sub-markets within this sector.

The first, he says, is made up of the more straightforward multitasking products, which involve non-real-time videos or documents that can be accessed when the student or employee chooses to do so.

The second group contains the more interesting technologies, McLean says, which involve real-time interaction.

"Cisco (Systems) is one of the companies that are touting applications like these as the killer apps for convergence (of voice and data networks)," McLean says. "Any applications that allow real-time interactivity is going to drive convergence."

Kent Bradford, vice-president of sales and marketing for LearnLinc Corp. in Troy, N.Y., agrees. His company produces a product that he classifies as being in the high-end of the market.

"There's a low-end and high-end, and we're in part of the higher end, where we deliver a full-functioned virtual classroom where the teacher can teach anything they would in a real classroom over our technology," says Bradford.

"Lower-end technology will support things such as synchronized PowerPoint presentations, for a very rudimentary distance presentation," he continues. "You could use technology like this to deliver a lecture, for instance, but you can't teach IT skills or engage students in complex course material with it."

The soon-to-be-available LearnLinc version 4.0 features elements that create a more virtual real-time feel, such as whiteboards and text chat features for instantaneous question and answer capabilities, and a handraise option for students to indicate that they have something to contribute to the class discussion.

Campus Manitoba, a consortium body representing Manitoba's three universities (University of Winnipeg, Brandon University and University of Manitoba) has been using LearnLinc since June 1996 and this fall will be offering 34 courses which use the product throughout the three schools.

According to Brent Howard, the co-ordinator of technology for Campus Manitoba, distance learning has been well-received by all involved parties, including students.

"For three consecutive years, a survey for an Introduction to Physics course has been returned with 100 per cent of students who would recommend taking the course again," he says. "I worked on campus for quite some time and I know that that doesn't happen very often."

According to Howard, the professor of the course uses LearnLinc in collaboration with a' Web page he created from which he teaches and to which he talks to his students by means of a synchronized browser.

"He has a teaching page and an asynchronous portion that students can go to on their own," says Howard.

"If he wanted to write anything on those pages he would take a snapshot of the page, put it on the whiteboard and work through that as a question and answering method," he continues. "He also uses Shockwave animation for the students to understand the various aspects of physics."

One reseller that has been extensively involved with distance learning solutions is Canadian Computer Specialists (CCS) in Penetanguishene, Ont.

The firm has installed distance learning systems for Simcoe County's five Adult Learning Centres, where, among other things, people 18 years and older can take courses required to complete their high school diplomas.

CCS president Donna Gordon says that while there is little difference from a reseller point of view in working with schools as opposed to corporate clients, it is a market that she expects to grow across the board.

"I think it's definitely a market that is growing because this kind of equipment always seems to be needed, especially in schools," she says.

Sylvia Barnard, superintendent of schools in Simcoe County, says the self-paced, self-directed courses have received positive feedback.

"Although the student might be sitting in isolation in a room, they are operating in a virtual classroom, so they are interacting with other students that are online, they have assignments that are group assignments, but your partners might be on a sailboat in the Caribbean, another one is in Scotland, while you're sitting in Midland, (Ont.)."

When searching for a reseller in the process of attaining such systems, Barnard stresses that "We are always looking for the person that is not only going to give you the best price but is going to continue to be there, and be behind us.

"You need technical support when things happen," she adds. "The fact that we go with particular people is because they have proven that they are going to be there tomorrow for us."

McLean says that most of the growth in the distance learning market will probably be seen in the corporate world, rather than the academic.

"It's an important and growing application for a lot of businesses because training and education are fundamental to every business, and any application or tool that makes that process easier is going to be in really big demand.

"Large corporations in particular are going to be the ones that really make this fly because they have the financial wherewithal to invest in it," he says. "I don't think the classroom stuff is going to happen quickly just because of the set of financial limitations that are imposed on educational institutions. The corporations will be the groundbreakers."

As Simcoe County and Campus Manitoba relate their tales of overall acceptance of distance learning technologies, others hold reservations about the advent of such solutions.

David Robinson, director of public policy for the Canadian Association of University Teachers, an Ottawa-based organization representing 30,000 academic staff, including professors, librarians, college instructors across the country, says there is much concern amongst members about the role major vendors such as Microsoft and Cisco are playing in the academic arena.

"The concern is that traditionally, universities have had an arm's length relationship with private sector funders and that this may be an area in which the distinctions are blurring a bit," says Robinson, "and that a lot of the companies that are involved are less concerned about improving the quality and accessibility of education than in making some money.

"Certainly some of the software packages that the students are being asked to buy are helping to line the pockets of the Microsofts and the Corels of the world," he adds.

Another irksome aspect of the distance learning market to Robinson is the touting of such programs by vendors as a means to improve overall grade levels, despite the lack, he says, of any proof that this is the case.

"One of the concerns is that it is sold on the wonderful pedagogical effects that distance education can have, and yet there has not been any real serious analysis of how effective virtual education is," says Robinson. "So a lot of this is kind of a leap of faith, one we're being asked to make without any solid reasons for it at this point."

Two reports released earlier this year in the U.S. warned colleges and universities to look at distance learning with some skepticism, arguing that the effectiveness and impact of such infrastructures are unclear.

"We know much less than we need to know" about the effects of changing technologies, said Larry Gladieux, co-author of a report by the College Board, a group representing higher-education leaders.

He said some colleges create expensive programs to stay competitive, but the proliferation of such programs has led to a problem of access, creating a "digital divide" in access between wealthy and needy students.

The report urged policymakers to "strike a balance between traditional and technology-based delivery."

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