Discovery

The Virtual Classroom

Vince Dobbs and Dawn Coburn

Whether you consider technology to be applied science or not, it may be unwise to ignore the potential of computers and telecommunications technology to enhance learning. Not only can students gain an understanding of this technology while becoming skilled in its use, they can also expand their horizons by accessing distant information and experts and sharing with fellow learners. Opportunities can occur for regional, national and international data collection, involving students in genuine research projects on a scale hitherto unimagined.

Paradoxically, in a time when small is far from beautiful in the context of New Zealand education, the disadvantages of small rural schools are pushing them to the forefront of telecommunications practice. Following on from the experience of CASAtech and other pioneers, relatively isolated schools are pooling resources to offer audiographic distance education to associate schools. At the same time, other benefits emerge through gaining new perspectives on how technology can be applied and teaching approaches modified within the schools.

Tapawera Area School is one of the TOSItech schools and we would like to share some of the experiences that accompanied our move into the virtual classroom. The journey has been rapid, but we have no fixed destination, only a desire to learn and to help others learn, and this guides our thinking. While we dream about the possibilities inherent in new technologies, we are cautious about plunging forward on a one-way track, driven by, rather than exploiting technological advances.

In the beginning

A two-hour drive to Collingwood Area School on August 18, 1994 saw the beginning of Tapawera Area Schools involvement with audiographic distance education. By the end of that day a network (eventually called TOSItech) was in place. We had received a large amount of technical information, had seen course material and gained a glimmering of what was involved in an audiographic link.

We did not know what it would cost or who would pay, were not familiar with the equipment, had scarcely considered implications for learners and knew of CASAtech's teething problems. Nevertheless, we saw an opportunity for rural schools to share resources and to make better provision for individuals and small groups at senior level. We knew it was a major step, but did not foresee the ways in which it is now changing our schools approach to learning.

Audiographic links

Audiographics uses concurrent computer and telephone connections on two dedicated lines to link people at distant sites. In our case, the audio link (using a sophisticated sound station called a Polycom) enables individuals or groups at two or more sites to talk with each other. The computer links, via modem, permit interaction on a whiteboard which appears on the screen of each connected computer. This is made possible by the Vis-a-Vis communications software package installed in each computer and the physical link to the Digicom bridge in Wellington which redirects the signals to each of the schools joining the conference. This sets up the virtual classroom where a teacher at one school can interact with and deliver a course to students at other schools.

To get started Tapawera purchased a 486 computer complete with a graphics tablet and stylus; a 14,400 bps modem, a Polycom sound station, a colour scanner and a colour printer. Telecom provided the telephone lines directly linked to the equipment, the school provided willing staff prepared to learn how to set up and maintain the new technology and how to use the new medium to plan, prepare and deliver courses.

The equipment arrived at the end of 1994. Just one year later, we are seeing the first five courses expand to 10 and the number of schools increase from 6 to 10.

In 1995, our students received courses in Form 6 Physics, Form 5 Agriculture and Form 5 Geography. Tapawera delivered Form 6 Economics on the network. The physics course was planned and delivered by three teachers from different schools allowing each to utilise their curriculum strengths, while enabling Tapawera to have a viable physics class without a physics teacher on the staff.

The Classroom

What is special about this form of distance education? To answer this, some details of one of our on-line sessions may help. Students are linked to their distant teacher for about 50 minutes of their four-hours-per-week course time.

The link begins with displaying the sequence and objectives for the day's lesson on screen. The teacher has carefully selected key concepts to focus on. These are presented graphically in prepared slides and provide the basis for discussion and shared activity including typing or writing responses, highlighting or underlining and completing or drawing graphs and models. This happens either on the slide or on the blank whiteboard which can be called up on the screen. Up to 14 slides are used in one session and involve a combination of text and graphics, computer generated or scanned. They may present ideas in text, or they can be cartoons, charts, graphs, diagrams and photographs which encourage interaction. The strong visual impact, the accompanying discussion and the opportunity for physical activity producing on-screen changes, caters for a range of learning styles.

The intimacy of the situation allows students to interact with their teacher via the whiteboard in a way that is not possible in the ordinary classroom. In the words of one of our physics students; "The weekly link-up to our teacher made me feel that someone had gone to a special effort to help us, so I put some special effort back into the work."

Not only is there graphic and audio interaction, what is produced on screen can be saved, referred to later and printed in colour. Students can subsequently review any of the lesson material as required.

Obviously the slides on their own are not enough. Course material written for each unit complements the once a week on-line interaction. This provides information and activities which enable the student to work independently for the rest of the week.

As in typical correspondence courses, some of the work is self marking, other parts are faxed or posted to the teacher who may respond by fax, telephone or email. There is opportunity during each on-line session to follow up anything arising from the week's work. Students are encouraged to make contact at any time if they need help.

Initially, Form Six Economics support material referred students frequently to a text book and required note taking. Student feedback highlighted the monotony of this way of working and, in later units, support material was presented in workbook format and involved much more student action such as conducting surveys, carrying out interviews, collecting clippings and group activity. Key ideas were recorded in the form of mind maps.

This emphasises the inherent flexibility of the mode of delivery which, as with conventional teaching, can be modified to suit individual or group needs. Also, care has been taken to present the material in a visually interesting way using quality desktop publishing techniques.

The ability to prepare multi-coloured slides and interesting support booklets was acquired at the cost of many late night and early morning hours of rapid learning and experimentation. Working jointly hastened the process and it became a challenge to find quicker, more effective and dramatic ways of presenting ideas. Simplicity rather than complexity was a guiding principle. It was exciting to see our physics students using the same process to make graphic slides of their physics data and transmitting these to their on-line teacher. For both students and teachers these skills have been applied outside the distance learning environment.

Spin Offs

This is not the only way that TOSItech involvement has had an impact on learning and teaching within our school. We now have a clearer perception of the teacher's role in facilitating learning and the need to identify and manage those aspects where teacher input is of critical importance. It seems that teachers become more focussed and students can accept more responsibility for managing and adding depth to their learning.

Tapawera's 1996 Forms Five to Seven timetable has been modified to reflect this altered perception. Teaching time has been reduced from four to three hours per subject for these classes. The remaining hour from each subject has been pooled to create workshop time three afternoons a week. During that time, students choose which workshop to attend, according to their needs, and teachers act as facilitators.

The new equipment purchased specifically for distance education has been widely used for other purposes. On-line students have open access, while supervised access has been available to any age group. J3 students are communicating with a school in Maine via email. J2 students have collected weather data for a North Island primary school. Form 5 English held an audio conference with the local Member of Parliament, and Form 6 and 7 Computer Studies have established email and audiographic links. Staff have also joined on-line tele-learning seminars with a number of schools and tertiary institutions.

The Future

It may seem that video conferencing is the next logical step in the development of the virtual classroom. Next year, with the installation of our satellite dish, we will be able to receive Correspondence school transmissions in languages and technology. This is still some distance away from video conferencing, as the only interaction is via telephone or fax. The complexities of a virtual classroom combining a number of distant sites, all of which can see each other is rather difficult to picture.

Will seeing the teacher be a distraction, rather than encouraging students to become engaged with the information on screen? Is a video-conferenced demonstration more effective than a prepared video that a student can play and replay? Science teachers may find it valuable to be able to demonstrate techniques and equipment while talking with distant students, but is it equally valuable for delivering Maori or Mandarin?

Each virtual classroom will be different. Their success as learning environments may relate to the transparency of the delivery mode, the quality of student/teacher interactions plus the ability of the teacher to take advantage of the special features of the medium, while managing the constraints of distance. Where face to face teaching is precluded, our feeling is that interactive technologies must be carefully chosen with an emphasis on how students learn rather than on technological wizardry.

Dawn Coburn is on the staff of Tapawera Area School.
Vince Dobbs is on the staff of Tapawera Area School.