In the forward to Online Education: Perspectives on a New Environment Murray Turoff states: @CiteMark(TuroffM90a)
Having observed and participated in the evolution of computer-mediated communications (CMC) since the late 1960s, I am firmly convinced that educational delivery is the key application for this technology as a public form of communication (1990, p. ix).He adds that, "The introduction of CMC into the field of education promises to bring about important changes in the educational process" (p. ix). Turoff then states the underlying reasons for this: asynchronous CMC (i.e., text-based computer conferencing) will alter the educational process because: it is available 24 hours/day, it promotes collaborative learning, students and teachers can participate from anywhere in the world, it supports specialized communication structures, and it is inexpensive relative to other conferencing technologies (p. ix). If it were not for Turoff's previous criticisms of synchronous CMC, CSCW, and multimedia applications, his projections would seem quite prophetic. It is difficult, however, to imagine that the linking of learners would be limited to asynchronous text-based interaction. With the ongoing developments in CSCW, very advanced systems for computer-mediated human-human interaction involving a variety of media and modes will be forthcoming. The tool-box of media resources for online education will continue to grow while the costs decline. As such, the features listed by Turoff will apply equally to multimedia conferencing environments as they would to computer conferencing. The structure of human-human communications within any given technology-mediated environment should be a matter of social design, not technological constraints.
Another perspective on the potential of CMC in education concerns the empowerment and emancipation effects of the medium. Boyd, in "Emancipative Educational Technology" (1987), suggests that @CiteMark(BoydGM87a) if "education has an emancipative meta-objective" then a "rational discourse for positing and criticizing validity claims lies at the heart of educational practise" (p. 171). He indicates that CMC provides the ideal conditions for this rational and liberative discourse because of its potential for reducing dominance factors and for filtering of verbal distractions and rhetorical tricks (p. 168). Boyd's perspective draws heavily on the work of Jurgen Habermas (1984) for the notion of discursive emancipation that, @CiteMark(HabermasJ84a) "emphasizes undominative discourse designed to promote human understanding"@Cite(BoydGM89a ", p. 225").
CMC is particularly emancipative and empowering for the disabled. Coombs (1989) states: @CiteMark(CoombsN89a)
Helping handicapped persons to learn course content is one benefit of these communications systems; another is increasing their independence and self reliance. These distance education technologies contain the possibility of affecting positively the physically disabled person's sense of self confidence. This is their most exciting potential. (p. 185)
A concrete example of this excitement is contained in the the opening note of a computer conference called "TZIPPYS CORNER" which is located in the virtual halls of Connected Education@Cite(BenavrahamTZ91a ", conference note #1"):
1 (of 12) TZIPPORAH BENAVRAHAM Aug. 1, 1991 at 0:47 (1067 chrs) Welcome to my section. We can talk about the empowerment and enablement the new technology for disabled persons gives. By introduction I am blind, in a wheelchair, use a ventilator and have multiple sclerosis. However, I have been here for about 3 years with Connect Ed teaching a class in disability and technology. The computer for a disabled person has been called "The Great Enabler". You have power beyond words when online abilities occur. think of the idea of a college completely online! The wheelchair user can use all their talents learning. They need not have a van or a location to expand their greatest vistas! I may be a blind person. But I am a person with a vision. My Votrax Personal speech system "speaks" the words on the screen to me. I am as equal here as you are. And we are all deaf on a computer. And one need not have legs to go to a campus when online is established. Welcome one and all! Tell me more about yourselves. I am eager to meet all of you. welcome to our little hideaway. Let the magic of disability computing discussion begin!As moderator of the conference, Tzippy maintains the excitement and magic of her "little hideaway" and realizes the potential expressed by Coombs.
As an application of computers in education, CMC is becoming increasingly popular. Even the news media regularly report on advances in the field. For example, "High school without a classroom"@Cite(ToroComp88a ", p.5") describes an introductory law course offered online by the Ontario Ministry of Education's Independent Learning Centre. "Author gives kids tips through electronic mail"@Cite(MingailS89a ", p. H6"), appearing in the Toronto Star, describes how a professional writer becomes an electronic "author-in-residence" for students of English in Grade 7. More recently, "Children find global connection"@Cite(GooderhamM91a ", p. A1"), appearing in the Globe and Mail, describes the linking of classrooms located in countries throughout the world.
Computer conferencing for the delivery of instruction, and as a means of group interaction, is the most common application of asynchronous EdCMC in distance and higher education. In primary and secondary schools, email and computer conferencing are used for language arts, local and global linking of classrooms, and group problem-solving.
The Open University in the United Kingdom has implemented EdCMC on a very large scale. Mason (1990) reports that their first effort in 1988 was to use the medium for tutorial support of over 1300 students @CiteMark(MasonR90b) located throughout the U.K. (p. 56). Use of the conferencing system was optional after an initial period in which students where required to simply familiarize themselves with the technology. This led to an unequal use of the medium and "disappointingly banal" communication (p. 57). Only the conferences which offered practical help were considered very successful. Mason notes that, "The chief drawback to this particular application of computer conferencing was that this very powerful medium had been relegated to a very minor part in the course -- about 10 hours in a total of 400 study hours" (p. 57). Nevertheless, certain advantages became apparent. In particular, students as distance learners felt less isolated (p. 57).
Numerous changes were made for the 1989 offering of the course. Most of these involved organizational and design adjustments such as providing more opportunities and incentives (marks) for student input. Also, the tutor workload was reduced and the overall management of the conferencing system was reorganized in an effort to decrease the chaos that occurred in the first year of the program@Cite(MasonR90b ", pp. 57-58"). These changes had little effect on the basic participation rates and impressions of the students about the medium. One area of improvement, however, involved the amount of interactive discussion of course issues. Mason notes:
On a number of occasions, the conference transcripts show real interactive dialogue, with students commenting on previous arguments, refining their own perspective, interweaving tangential comments from other students and debating conflicting points of view. The emergence of this kind of conferencing, which capitalizes on the text-based, asynchronous aspect of the medium, is the strongest evidence of its value for learning at a distance (p. 60).
Improved interactive discussion as an effect of the asynchronous aspect of the medium is not supported, however. In fact, it is doubtful that the utilization of a synchronous aspect was even considered. Kaye (1989) was involved in the same project at The Open University, and although he can @CiteMark(KayeT89a) speculate about the integration of interactive multimedia and hypermedia, his bottom line is: "the basic principles of non-synchronous text-based group communication, which is a major feature of CMC, will remain the same" (p. 6).
In reality, it is quite unlikely that much will "remain the same" in this developing area of technology, communication, and education. Dede (1990), for example, suggests that a new field is evolving from @CiteMark(DedeCJ90a) the synthesis of distance learning, cooperative learning, and computer supported cooperative work. He refers to this field as: technology-mediated interactive learning (TMIL) (p. 253). However, Dede misses the opportunity to stress the value of cooperative learning through computer networks. He discusses cooperative learning in terms of team learning around an interactive computer-based medium for display and action (p. 254), and he details potential links between CSCW and online education, but he fails to recognize that much of CSCW research and practice involves synchronous modes. Further, he acknowledges the importance of CSCW research on telepresence as an important feature for application to distance learning (p. 259), but the potential of synchronous interaction, even text-based synchronous interaction, as a telepresence enhancer is not explored.
In higher education, the most comprehensive work on the applications of EdCMC has been carried out by Hiltz. She has investigated and promoted the concept of a "Virtual Classroom"6 which is generally compared and contrasted with the traditional classroom@Cite(HiltzSR86a). Hiltz leans toward cooperative learning when she states that, "interactive computer use can lead to greater communication among the members of a learning group or "class," not just between teacher and student" (p. 96). Later, she presents "group" or "collaborative" learning as an important element of the Virtual Classroom because: "Its basic premise is that learning involves the `active construction' of knowledge by putting new ideas into words and receiving the reactions of others to these formulations"@Cite(HiltzSR87a ", p. 8"). Later still, Hiltz seems to drift away from standard themes of cooperative learning in favour of "collaborative learning" as outlined by Whipple (1987). @CiteMark(WhippleWR87a) In her words:
Literally, to collaborate means to work together (co-labor). Teachers and learners are active participants in the learning process; knowledge is not "delivered" to the students, but emerges from active dialogue among those who seek to understand and apply concepts and techniques@Cite(HiltzSR90b ", p. 138").
Hiltz also forged links with the CSCW movement as she presented a paper at the 1988 Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work. She modified her "collaborative learning in a Virtual Classroom" to include: "Teaching and learning in a `class' can be thought of as a type of collaborative or cooperative work process. The task of the work group is to help one another learn a set of concepts and/or skills, ..."@Cite(HiltzSR88a ", p. 282"). Nonetheless, one major distinction between Hitz's Virtual Classroom paradigm and the rest of the CSCW world is revealed in the following statement: "asynchronicity, which may at first seem to be a disadvantage, is the single most important factor in creating a collaborative teaching and learning environment"@Cite(HiltzSR90a ", p. 41").
Another researcher of EdCMC in higher education, Harasim (1987), uses the "active learning" characteristic suggested by Hiltz (1986) as a component of her presentation of findings from two graduate-level courses offered at the Ontario Institute for @CiteMark(HarasimLM87a) Studies in Education in 1986. In terms of a more active and involved style of learning, she provides data on user participation rates and patterns which indicate that more time was spent in the online environment than in traditional educational settings (pp. 122-123). Although "active learning" is not clearly defined in terms of specific learning or cognitive outcomes, it is reasonable to assume that, since the activity is human communication in an educational context, the exchange of ideas, the presentation and defense of arguments, and the integration of and response to feedback are acceptable evidence of a learning process. A less tenable extension, however, is to suggest that learning can be assessed through unclassified measures of participation rates and the volume of individual contributions.
Harasim (1989) uses "new domain", "augmented domain", "online domain" and "new medium" interchangeably when referring to the educational CMC environment. She notes that the key attributes characterizing this environment are: asynchronicity, independence of place, and a many-to-many interaction (p. 50). Unfortunately, this scheme imposes severe limitations on the real potential of what remains an immature medium. It is true that the characteristics she describes are among the most frequently reported positive attributes, but generally, such reports reflect user enthusiasm for novel approaches, without adequate analysis of other possibilities. For example, many-to-many interaction is only one of the ways interaction can be structured in CMC. There are situations where one-to-one is necessary within the online context; special guidance, direction, or support may be needed by some individuals through private messaging. Independence of place is not entirely critical either. Educational activities using computer conferencing or its successors may well prove as beneficial for those who all attend the same institution, as for those more geographically dispersed.
Finally, time independence (asynchronicity) takes into account only one of the possible modes of communication in CMC. The insufficiency of asynchronous interaction has been demonstrated in regard to group problem-solving@Cite(BeckwithD87a). Harasim, as well, alludes to the possible need for a synchronous group communication facility (1989, p. 61). Further, when Davie (1987) discovered that many of the asynchronous messages between learning partners actually clustered within relatively short time spans, he coded those occurring within one day of each other as synchronous and those separated by a day or more as asynchronous.7
The mean ratio of synchronous to asynchronous notes was 23.4 to 8.4 or about three to one. Clearly, one of the successful strategies for writing a paper together is to be on-line at the same time (or at least on the same day). @Cite(DavieLE87a ", p. 16")
Thus, with respect to the new domain, when Harasim (1989) cautions that holding on to the two traditional perspectives of computer conferencing: "as a variant of distance education or as an extension of classroom activities. ... may limit our understanding and realization of the full potential of this new medium" (p. 50), it would be wise to add that holding on to some current perceptions of CMC technology (mostly asynchronous, text-based, and linear, with unimaginative and counter-productive interface designs) may also shade one's view of the potential and direction of developments in this domain.
As noted in the opening paragraph to this subsection, the main applications of asynchronous CMC in the primary and secondary school classroom are to assist in language arts, linking classrooms, and group problem-solving. Owen (1989) established the "Writer in Electronic Residence" @CiteMark(OwenT89b) program for his high school English class with the following rationale:
Like other, more traditional writer-in-residence programs the RCI [Riverdale Collegiate Institute, Toronto] project assumed that the creative writing process could be encouraged in the classroom by the presence of a professional writer working directly with the students. It also assumed that computer-based word processing and on-line communication could be used in this setting by the professional writer to enhance the students' creative writing skills, give students added insights into the craft of writing, and increase their writing productivity (p. 210).
Language arts education may also benefit from the linking of classrooms. Electronic pen-pals can use email to exchange messages, notes, essays, and poems as they learn to form distant relationships, improve their written communication skills, and seek to understand cultural differences. However, when such projects are driven by the existence of the technology rather than by curricular needs, Akins and Schrum (1990) point out that, "what @CiteMark(AkinsK90a) most likely ensues is a fragmented `exchange' of biographical trivia and decontextualized snippets of poetry and stories. ... students probably learn something about the technology and a little bit about someone else, but the promise of telecommunications opening a door to the world goes unfulfilled" (p. 3).
Nevertheless, the door to the world is being wedged open by teachers and students with modems at an ever escalating pace. "The infrastructure is already in place. Massive webs of phone lines, bulletin board systems (BBSs), and international networks can already do for teachers what they have long been doing for business: bring a world of people and information within reach"@Cite(WatsonB90a ", p. 110"). These networks also make possible cooperative learning across classrooms as the "world of people" may represent distributed peer groups. Riel and Labib (1991) describe "Learning Circle" projects that @CiteMark(RielM91a) facilitate group problem-solving through cooperative learning. The increased diversity of perspectives brought to the circle by geographically separated groups is reported to contribute to new ways of cognitive and social skills development in students (p. 270).
Synchronous interaction between users on multi-user mainframe computers has been possible, if not implemented, for at least as long as time-sharing systems have been in operation. Levin and Moore (1977) used transcripts of such interaction in their study @CiteMark(LevinJA77a) of dialogue-games (p. 401). Educational applications of synchronous CMC, however, seems to have awaited the introduction of local area networks (LANs). Whereas the obvious advantage of LANs is for sharing network resources such as printers and fileservers, some planners, designers, and researchers looked beyond that role. Dwyer (1981) saw the potential for interaction and coordination @CiteMark(DwyerTA81a) among several users of the net as they communicated with each other and the computer processes running at each node (p. 104). These multi-participant, LAN-based games could simulate real-life group work scenarios such as air traffic control systems (p. 106). Dwyer suggests that "inventive learning" of the kind that arises from real-life situations can be fostered in these networks because they provide, "supportive-social and supportive-physical environments" (1981, p. 104). He could not have predicted the two main thrusts of CSCW better.
The Ontario Ministry of Education also held the broader view when it prepared specifications for microcomputers for educational use in Ontario schools. McLean (1983) reviewed the Ministry criteria and under the "network environment" specification, he @CiteMark(McLeanRS83a) notes:
In terms of shared resources and direct communication between individual stations, it also provides new opportunities for the sharing and group activities which are held central to Ontario's educational philosophy (p. 439).
The capabilities of this Ministry-specified networked computer system were soon to allow various researchers and developers to implement software that sought to meet the student-student interaction possibilities it provided. Wilton (1988) used an interactive @CiteMark(WiltonJA88a) network game to investigate synchronous group behaviour expressed through text-based messages and messages implied in the moves made in the shared game space. She notes: "Students find the medium of computer communications in real time very exciting and that excitement does not seem to diminish over time. The effect may be tied to the attraction that computers in general have for many people but the universal appeal of networked activities seems to go beyond that simple motivation" (p. 268).
This same network environment has engendered the development of software specifically designed for synchronous text-based interaction among groups of students located at individual nodes in the network. O'Kelly (1991) reports on the the software called @CiteMark(OKellyPJ91a) CO-CO which allows up to six text windows to appear on the screen of each node. Each window presents the textual input of one other member of the group as it is typed. Text-based, real-time interaction in windows such as provided by CO-CO is similar to the synchronous environment used for the present study.
CO-CO has been used with hearing impaired children to provide a computer based medium for interactive written dialogue@Cite(FosterRS91a). This facilitates their language development because they otherwise would not be exposed to language use in real-time as a relative analog to its spoken form. Similar applications at Gallaudet University using Realtime Writer Software8 initially spawned the "English Natural Form Instruction" (ENFI) environment pioneered by Trent Batson in the period of 1984-1987@Cite(BatsonT89a ", pp. 1&6"). ENFI soon became "Electronic Networks For Interaction" after the interactive writing potential of the synchronous text-based mode @CiteMark(PeytonJK89a) was realized. Peyton (1989) states:
Real-time interactive writing on a local area network can narrow the gap between students' speech and their writing, because "writing" can now have the qualities of speech. It can occur in a dialogue, for genuine communication and for intrinsically motivated purposes, and it can have an intimate and casual quality (p. 2).
