DTIC ADA423532: Program Planning of Asynchronous On-Line Courses: Design Complexities and Ethics

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Program Planning of Asynchronous On-Line Courses: Design
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Complexities and Ethics
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Jay W. /Gould
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Standard Form 298 (Rev. 8-98)
Prescribed by ANSI Std Z39-18
Program Planning oRfE SSyEnAchRrCoHnous On-line Courses
PROGRAM PLANNING OF
ASYNCHRONOUS ON-LINE COURSES
DESIGN COMPLEXITIES
AND ETHICS
Jay W. Gould III
The advent of the World Wide Web provided the feasibility of instant feedback
between student and instructor analogous to the teaching methodology of
ancient Greece. However, modern lecture halls or classrooms notably diminish
the student’s knowledge expectancy, suggesting a normal distribution curve.
Research results affirm that learning is the sole responsibility of the student.
However, unless the design team responsible for developing the distance
education course addresses on-line variances and the instructors acknowledge
their responsibility to provide motivation by putting a personal instructional touch
into the “tube,” the attainable two-sigma shift to the right will not be achieved.
Therefore, has the Web’s distance asynchronous on-line instruction defined a
solution for the long-held dilemma of finding an educational methodology that
will achieve results analogous to tutorial education and, if so, under what
conditions would those similar results be achieved?
A
ccording to Joel Barker (1997), During the 7th Hong Kong Web sym-
“When a paradigm shift occurs posium, panel moderators Nigel J. French
everyone is set back to zero.” Digi- and W. F. Massy (2001) conducted an
tal age technology has affected every international virtual panel discussion, an
stakeholder in adult education and added interchange of ideas, on how to face the
some new players never before involved on-line educational challenges of the 21st
in the process. Software technologists, ser- century. The primary challenge was to
vice technicians, on-line mentors, learn- provide access to a wider range of stu-
ing specialists, and possibly psychologists dents from varying educational and ethnic
have been added as stakeholders, a group backgrounds and afford them the oppor-
that already includes teachers, students, tunity to perform on an even playing field,
and institutional administrators. while at the same time reducing student
63
Acquisition Review Quarterly — Winter 2003
costs. The conference featured a simula- of Teacher’s [1999] ad campaign about
tion game for program planners to com- the ‘Five Minute University,’ the break-
pete on methods for handling the shrink- down-in-community argument; and the
ing resident course and campus infra- no-proof argument — ‘no one has
structure needs while expanding cam- shown that technology can improve
pus Internet technology and security. A learning.’ Since education is a human
significant part of a program planner’s or social practice, and it has primarily
design is to resolve issues pertaining to been practiced in face-to-face settings,
the technological net, servers, security, physical contact becomes the primary
Web support, hosts, and operating sys- enabler of learning” (Twigg, 1999, p.
tems (French & Massy, 2001). 5). But do these thoughts support be-
Not everyone agrees that on-line dis- liefs that asynchronous learning may be
tance learning is the freight train coming less effective?
down the track. A February 2001 broad- For instance, the efficacy of asynchro-
cast of the news show 60 Minutes con- nous on-line education has been chal-
trasted traditional universities such as lenged. Research conducted at the Uni-
Harvard, Yale, and versity of Central Florida by Dr. Charles
Stanford with profit uni- Dziuban and Patsy Moskal (2001) indi-
“Not everyone versities such as Univer- cates there is no significant difference be-
agrees that
sity of Phoenix, Jones tween face-to-face and on-line distance
on-line distance
University, and Capella learning.
learning is the
University. Dr. Carole Kristin Hasselbrack presented a paper
freight train
Fungaroli-Sargent, at the 2001 Interservice/Industrial Train-
coming down
Georgetown University ing, Simulation and Educational Confer-
the track.”
professor of English, ence suggesting that if an on-line course
gained her 15 minutes of was facilitated in a manner defined in
fame in her interview by proclaiming, Benjamin S. Bloom’s (1984) research, the
“[Your education] is the same as sex on average student could be moved a possible
the Internet. You can get it on-line, but it’s two sigma to the right of the mean
a lot better in person” (Hartman, 2001). (Hasselbrack, personal communication,
Although Fungaroli-Sargent’s comments December 3, 2001). Program planning for
addressed growing concerns regarding on- on-line courses is changing dramatically
line distance learning in a more humor- — precipitated by the impact of technol-
ous light, there are general beliefs that ogy, a population of students growing as-
stem from fear that information technol- ymptotically, teacher fear, and institutional
ogy (IT) usage for educational purposes resistance to change.
will result in the loss or replacement of
human contact. Subsequently, the increase PARADIGM SHIFT IN EDUCATION
in the use of adjunct professors and teach-
ing assistants could result in the laying off For centuries, teachers trained in the
of traditional faculty. tutorial educational methods of Socrates
“This fear [is] expressed in a variety of and Plato had a significant emotional event
ways [through] the American Federation when Gutenberg’s textbooks expanded the
64
Program Planning of Synchronous On-line Courses
educational system. The oldest guild in predicting the walls will “come tum-
Europe saw its educational precepts bling down” to the clarion call of the
change from tutoring one-on-one to World Wide Web’s trumpet of asynchro-
teaching groups of students in the class- nous on-line learning. The Sloan
room lecture halls. Learning shifted Foundation’s philanthropic interest in
from being experiential — learning from funding family’s efforts to move up the
the master, to the students learning from economic scale and the technology of
each other, to the sage on the stage — the digital age were melded together
where much of the responsibility for providing the structure for this dramatic
student learning was placed upon the change in educational instruction
capability of the lecturer. Learning in (Mayadas, 1997).
this format required the presence of the
student in the lecture hall. Great learn-
ing institutions, “ivy towers of intellect,” CAUSE AND EFFECT
were built and worshipped as hallowed
institutions. Stanford University formed the back-
Those who could not attend became part drop for the creation of the World Wide
of the uneducated masses. Various attempts Web. Tim Berners-Lee and Robert Cail-
were made to broaden the field and pro- liau, Conseil Européen pour la Recherche
vide access to a greater population of learn- Nucleaire (CERN) engineers searching for
ers by utilizing media different than the a way to exchange information and data
human voice in the lecture hall or class- between nuclear scientists, documented in
room. Some of these adventures were cor- detail a “hypertext” project proposing a de-
respondence schools, radio lectures, tele- scriptive catch word,
vision broadcasts, and closed-loop televi- World Wide Web, com-
“Great learning
sion hookups. Cassette tapes, videotapes, plete with a uniform re-
institutions, “ivy
and CD ROMs added to the milieu, but source locator (URL),
towers of intel-
nothing really provided that paradigm shift hypertext transfer proto-
lect,” were built
that would and could bring about world- col (HTTP), and hypertext
and worshipped
wide education by expanding educational markup language (HTML)
as hallowed
availability to large numbers of people dis- standards with prototype institutions.”
tant from the subject matter experts. Unix-based servers and
To understand the impact on educa- browsers (Gromov,
tional program planning, the series of 1995). These events defined the invention
events that gave life to on-line education of the Internet, the foundational base of
must be examined. The inability of edu- asynchronous on-line education.
cational institutions to fulfill the needs of New enterprises require money. The de-
a worldwide student population remained tails of the Sloan Foundation’s granting
in a static condition until a change of of seed money are defined in the Sheffield
events occurred at the opposite end of the Lecture series. In January 2000, Dr. Ralph
country. The paradigm shift in education E. Gomory (2000), president of the Sloan
would cause the ivy towers of intellect to Foundation gave the Sheffield Lecture
crack and lose mortar where some are at Yale entitled, “Internet Learning: Is
65
Acquisition Review Quarterly — Winter 2003
It Real and What Does It Mean for Uni- Since then, over 100,000 students have
versities?” Gomory cited the lessons enrolled for the ALN experience with
learned in the following statement: more than 4,000 faculty-semester hours
While the Asynchronous Learning Net- invested. Pennsylvania State University
work (ALN) is an attempt to reproduce (PSU) was given seed money for its ALN
the basic elements of classroom teaching, adventure in 1994.
it is certainly not the same as classroom The Sloan Foundation was not alone in
teaching. For those who teach ALN the philanthropic movement for greater
classes, teaching will be different…. access to education. The Pew Symposia
We have learned that if sponsors “an on going national conver-
homework is constructed sation about issues related to the inter-
“In on-line to be instantly electroni- section of learning and technology that
courses, the
cally corrected and re- places the discussion in the context of
subject matter
turned it can be an impor- student learning and ways to achieve this
expert is part of
tant learning tool; we have learning cost effectively” (Twigg, 2001).
a team comprised
also learned that inad- The Olin Foundation provided funding
of an experienced
equate training on the fun- for Vanderbilt University to develop a pro-
on-line faculty
program planner, damentals of the underly- gram-planning guide for on-line courses.
Web technician, ing software can lead to Drs. John Crocetti and John Borne, in con-
software pro- the disappearance of a junction with Dr. Eric McMaster of Wild
grammer, editor, large portion of a class, Dog Technology LLC, presented their
copyright expert, before learning about the work at the Sloan-C6 International Con-
and an indepen-
course material itself has ference on Asynchronous Learning Net-
dent evaluator.”
even begun…. It is the works at the University of Maryland on
pedagogy that counts…. November 3, 2000. Their work was pre-
Often the current providers are much sented as a pre-conference workshop,
slower to react, due to internal organiza- “Strategic Planning for On-line Courses.”
tional and personal reasons, the fear of The workshop cited an absolute require-
cannibalizing their own business, or vari- ment for immediate student electronic feed-
ous forms of denial…. By making learn- back and covered every aspect associated
ing outside the classroom heroic, we can with program planning for an on-line course.
make it what it ought to be, an ongoing In resident lecture-hall courses, the
part of ordinary life (Gomory, 2000). subject matter expert is the professor de-
The experience utilized for the citation livering the lecture. In on-line courses,
of the lessons learned were based upon the subject matter expert is part of a team
the experiences of Dr. Frank Mayadas comprised of an experienced on-line fac-
(1997), hired by the Sloan Foundation ulty program planner, Web technician,
after retiring from IBM in 1992. Dr. software programmer, editor, copyright
Mayadas became the program manager expert, and an independent evaluator.
for the birth of asynchronous distance The conversion of the traditional 30-hour
learning on the Internet, and the Univer- quarter, three-hour resident course
sity of California at Berkley received the requires 200 to 300 total team hours
first seed money to launch ALN in 1993. to obtain an asynchronous on-line
66
Program Planning of Synchronous On-line Courses
student-centered virtual learning com- on-line course on the path to noteworthy
munity. In turn, the hours required for success. The older models carried over
the initial development of a new course, from the resident course days, unfortu-
not previously given, is estimated to be nately, do not adequately address the sig-
480 hours of faculty time. However, by nificant number of nuances, idiosyncra-
the second year the course is offered, sies, and changes in paradigms on-line
other than the on-line mentor time, the education carries with it.
course will require approximately 20 The field is populated with specialists
hours of faculty maintenance excluding examining different ways to enhance and
other members of the team (Bourne, better their own educational or techno-
Campbell, & McMaster, 2000). logical nitch. Some books are the result
of an aggressive editor who collects pub-
lished papers from many authors to
WEB-BASED ASYNCHRONOUS ON-LINE
present views on the changing education
MOTIVATIONAL PROGRAM PLANNING paradigm. One such text
is Web Based Instruction,
“The field is
The literature, whether it is a published edited by Badrul H.
populated with
book, referred journal, seminar/sympo- Khan (1997). Chapter 11
specialists exam-
sium proceedings, or a published paper by Richard Cornell and
ining different
available through the Web or Educational Barbara L. Martin ways to enhance
Resources Information Center (ERIC), (1997), “The Role of and better their
supports the consideration that on-line Motivation in Web-Based own educational
educational programs are significantly Instruction” states, “As or technological
different from resident courses. Re- many as 30–50 percent nitch.”
sultantly, the program planning tech- of all students who start
niques suggested for achieving satisfac- a distance education course drop out
tory results are also significantly differ- before finishing” (Moore & Kearsley,
ent than the time-honored models some- 1996, p. 93). To counter the high drop-
times utilized by resident course authors. out rate, they posit the Keller Motiva-
However, there is a significant caveat. Ivy tional Design Model originally developed
towers of intellect have existed for over in 1983 and later adapted to Web-based
650 years. In that time frame, there has courses in 1993 by Keller and Burkman
been sufficient opportunity to perfect the as a method of continuous motivational
program planning process. reinforcement throughout. This respon-
From its birth in 1993 at Berkley, on- sibility is assigned to the course devel-
line asynchronous education is only eight oper of the program plan. Key motiva-
or more years old at the most, a total in- tional principles and course design strat-
fant by comparison. The pioneers of this egies for Web-based courses are “Varia-
new methodology of dispersing educa- tion and Curiosity, Relevance, Challenge
tion to the population as a whole are Level, Positive Outcomes, Positive Impres-
brimming with different ideas as to the sion, Readable Style, and Early Interest” (See
model that might be used to place the con- Appendix for details; Keller & Burkman,
verted resident course or newly conceived 1993, pp. 96–98).
67
Acquisition Review Quarterly — Winter 2003
Student motivational program plan- with the time spent in the traditional
ning cannot be overstated. For a Web- classroom.
based course to be successful, at any in-
4. Use this new teaching assignment as
stitution, the Keller and Burkman Moti-
a means to obtain a new computer
vational Design Model should be fol-
to conduct class via the Web….
lowed.
Cornell and Martin offer some sound
5. Identify who among the students is
thoughts for the instructor converting a
skilled in using the Web for other pur-
course from residency lecture to an asyn-
poses and let them assist. Admit a
chronous on-line status:
learning deficit (related to technol-
ogy) to the class as, together, we will
1. Re-tooling establishes the wrong
all learn how to use this new method
mind-set. The possibili-
of instruction.
ties and constraints of
“Student teaching via the Web 6. Find others who have been asked to
motivational are quite different from teach via the Web. Join with them as
program planning
those used in traditional they learn the techniques, or ask for
cannot be over-
classroom delivery. If their insights if they have prior Web-
stated.”
the class is destined for based teaching experience.
Web delivery, consider
it an opportunity to rethink the en- 7. If the institution has asked you to
tire class from beginning to end, ad- teach via the Web, it is likely that the
dressing not only the methods to be agency has a faculty development
employed but also the content. center or office of instructional re-
sources. Within these facilities is a
2. Seek the opportunity to redesign the team of experts able to assist (Cornell
course well ahead of the time it is & Martin, 1997, p. 99).
due to be taught. Teaching a Web-
based course is not just a re-do of Colin McCormack and David Jones
what has been taught in the past. hold, “The greatest benefits of Web-based
Suggest to the department chair that classrooms occur via a pedagogy that
using the Web will require the ac- most effectively uses the characteristics of
quisition of a new set of teaching the technology to increase quality of the
skills, including sufficient time to learning experience” (McCormack &
search for sources on the Web, lo- Jones, 1998, p. 23). The responsibility for
cate those not on the Web, and inte- learning in Web-based courses shifts from
grate them into the course design. the instructor to the learner. With the stu-
dent motivational methodology suggested
3. Realize that using the Web to deliver by Keller and Burkman and program plan-
instruction will, at least initially, take ning team following the suggestions of
far more time, not less; that the time Cornell and Martin, a course quality in-
communicating with students will in- crease is assured as well as a motivated
crease disproportionately as compared enrolled student.
68
Program Planning of Synchronous On-line Courses
STUDENT POPULATION SERVED this question for the most part has al-
ways been the same — no significant
“There are at least three typical global difference.
higher education student profiles. One is Thomas L. Russell has been track-
Asian as its dominant trait; another is over ing the “No Significance Phenomenon”
23 years of age; and the third holds an from 1928. Russell lists
associate-equivalent or bachelor’s degree a significant number of
“Whether it was
and either has been or is about to be research studies where
a correspondence
‘downsized’ from a job” (Jones, 1997, p. the phenomenon is
course, radio
4). The author goes on to remark, “We are true. Companion to this broadcast, video,
coming to understand the concept of ‘life- site is a lesser listing of television broad-
long learning.’ Indeed, lifelong learning research studies where cast or closed-
has moved from the category of ‘discre- there is a significant loop activity, CD
tionary’ personal investment to ‘essential’ difference. The major- Rom, or E-learn-
as people scramble to bolster their creden- ity of these research ing, the answer
tials in a volatile global market place” studies found that on- to this question
for the most part
(Jones, 1997, p. 5). line education is better
has always been
Rena M. Palloff and Keith Pratt have than face-to-face. In a
the same — no
observed, “Much of the research done on very few cases the op-
significant
successful students in distance education posite is true (Russell, difference.”
programs suggests that students who are 2002). The research ef-
attracted to this form of education share fort is turned to how to
certain characteristics, including that they develop an on-line educational system
voluntarily seek further education, are that achieves the coveted goal of a two
motivated, have higher expectations, and sigma shift to the right.
are more self-disciplined” (Palloff & Pratt, Benjamin S. Bloom (1984) raised the
2001, p. 109). Learners assuming control two sigma question in his paper, “The
over their learning encourages indepen- Sigma Problem: The Search for Methods
dent thinking, it “is a combination of of Group Instruction as Effective as One-
computer mediation, platform, and geo- to-One Tutoring.” Bloom accomplished a
graphic and temporal independence” critical analysis of completed dissertations
(McCormack & Jones, 1998, p. 22). of two students at the University of Chi-
cago. The conditions of instruction
were compared — conventional, mas-
THE 2 SIGMA QUESTION
tery learning, and tutoring. Striking
differences in final achievement were
Since the advent of distance learn-
measured. “It was typically found that
ing, research has been done to deter-
the average student under tutoring was
mine whether or not students were learn-
about two standard deviations above the
ing. Whether it was a correspondence
average control class.” Further, “mas-
course, radio broadcast, video, televi-
tery learning was about one standard
sion broadcast or closed-loop activity,
deviation above the control class”
CD Rom, or E-learning, the answer to
(Bloom, 1984, pp. 4–16).
69
Acquisition Review Quarterly — Winter 2003
From a very negative view teaching ence,” Carol A. Twigg (2001) cites dif-
a positive solution, Edward L. Vockell ferences between the old paradigm com-
(1994) published a paper entitled, “The munity investments of time and energy
Minus Two-Sigma Problem: Defective in old rules and the paradigm shifters
Instruction.” Reviewing the poor teach- she calls the “new providers.” Case af-
ing methods of a ninth-grade English ter case is presented defining how
teacher, Vockell defined selected alter- “ground breaking” occurs as some col-
able variables that influence student leges and universities become “pace
achievement. setters” toward greater individualization
At the 2001 Interservice/Industry Train- of students.
ing, Simulation, and Education Confer- Of particular note was a small Ari-
ence, Kristin Hasselbrack’s presentation zona college, Rio Salado at Tempe. In
suggested the achievement of a two sigma personal emails, Karen Mills provided
shift was most probable with asynchro- aspects of Rio Salado’s approach.
nous on-line learning where the program The goal is to show that it’s not pro-
planning and implementation aided cog- viding student service on-line; it’s how
nitive development and critical thinking you provide student services on-line.
(Hasselback, personal interview, The faculty service department (26
December 3, 2001). people) recruits, trains, and assigns 750
In “Innovations in On-line Learning: adjunct faculty to work with full time
Moving Beyond No Significant Differ- faculty. A student who needs an on-line
Figure 1.
Achievement Comparison of Classroom Students vs. Tutored Students
70
Program Planning of Synchronous On-line Courses
tutor informs the service department, the 3. Individualized study plans.
tutor is beeped and within two hours of
the page, seven days a week, fourteen 4. Built-in, continuous assessment to
hours a day, the student has a tutor an- provide instantaneous feedback.
swering his/her need. Information ser-
vices have voice mail boxes complete 5. Appropriate, varied kinds of human
with 800 numbers for students and interaction when needed.
faculty. Under certain conditions it is pos-
sible for tech services to actually take con-
trol of the distant learner’s computer key CONCLUSION
board to help solve problems” (Mills, per-
sonal communication, March 2002). The Pew Grant Program in Course De-
On-line learning is an infant industry sign (Program Planning) is fully endorsed
that was born weighing in at 800 pounds. and embraced. Rio Salado College is
The axiom of new business ventures is, openly commended for breaking new
“Find a need and fill it.” The world popu- ground in program planning, recogniz-
lation needs education that is ethical, ing student’s tutor needs and answering
practical, and timely. On-line education the beeper within two hours, seven days
can fill that need if program planning like a week, and 14 hours a day with a staff
that conducted at Rio Salado College is of 750 adjunct faculty. If the standards
accomplished. Rio Salado recognized of Socrates and Plato are to be obtained,
that the student is the customer not the they are only achievable when students
sponsoring institution, educational are responsible for their own learning and
course, or professor, by embracing the the on-line educational system is struc-
quality vigorously espoused by the late tured to aid their quest.
Dr. W. Edwards Deming (1986) in his The literature supports the consideration
book, “Out of the Crisis.” that adult students are willing and able to
The university and college educational learn. The caveat is unless the motivational
system in the United States and in the aspects outlined by Keller and Burkman
world is in a crisis. The Pew Grant Pro- are followed, the isolated student will feel
gram in Course Redesign defines five key abandoned and, suffering anaclitic depres-
features that can improve the quality and sion, will most likely quit the course. The
ethics in student learning: Program Planning team must also be mo-
tivated along the lines offered by Cornell
1. An initial assessment of each and Martin. If the Program Planning team
student’s knowledge/skill level and does not satisfactorily accomplish its ef-
preferred learning style. fort in course redesign, asynchronous on-
line students will gravitate to those colleges
2. An array of high-quality, interactive and universities who practice setting the
learning materials and activities. paradigm back to zero.
71