J Nevan Wright
Auckland Institute of Technology, New Zealand

MULTI MEDIA FACILITATION IN DISTANCE EDUCATION (OR - OVERCOMING THE LONELINESS OF THE LONG DISTANCE LEARNER)

I am a Business School tutor based in Auckland, New Zealand but the majority of my distance learning students are in Europe. New Zealand is about as far away as you can get from Europe (25 hours actual flying time, but longer with stopovers and delays) and with a time zone difference of 12 hours depending when daylight saving falls. However, with computer conferencing and video conferencing I believe that many of the problems of distance learning ( lack of immediacy and inter activity) can be overcome providing certain conditions can be met.

COMPUTER CONFERENCING VIA LOTUS LEARNING SPACE

Earlier this year I was involved in supporting from New Zealand, for a period of three months, 68 MBA students living and working in various parts of Europe using Lotus 'Learning Space' - a software product of the Lotus corporation. These students, studying in virtual teams followed a structured set of exercises culminating in the writing of individual assignments. The assignments once completed were submitted electronically (how else?) and in turn were assessed and returned in a few days of receipt by the same medium. Fortunately all 68 assignments were not received on the same day!

For these students using Learning Space and being a member of a virtual teams was not an option. It was a necessary part of the programme and marks were awarded for contribution to discussions and for group work. None the less at the end of the three months, despite initial protests at being compelled to be involved in Learning Space, I received twenty (unsolicited) emails from students saying how beneficial this method of facilitation had been for them. The general theme being that by being a member of a virtual team they did not have the same feeling of remoteness as they had experienced with previous distant learning. By being 'forced' into participation they found that had gained significantly. An important benefit being the experience of working as a member of an effective 'virtual' team. Members now had also experienced a sense of 'belonging' which had previously been missing, previously they had felt very isolated and alone. In particular they had valued the ability of being able to 'converse' on a daily basis when required with fellow students and the facilitator. Like me, most of them got into the habit of logging on at a set time each day, and they reported that they had found themselves looking forward to logging on each day, sometimes to observe sometimes to participate.

The lesson I learnt was that successful facilitation requires a prompt reply. Even if there is not the 'need' to reply I would come in with a chatty comment, in my case using rugby or cricket results, to break down formality and to show I was there and that I was interested.

It should be noted that Learning Space was a follow up to a two day face to face workshop held in Belgium, where the subject matter was introduced, the students got to know not only each other but also met me. At this two day workshop the finer points of Learning Space were also demonstrated and operating problems ironed out.

LOTUS NOTES FACILITATION: OR THE LONLINESS OF THE LONG DISTANCE STUDENT.

Prior to the introduction of Learning Space, since 1997, I have been tutor for students in 26 countries around the world using Lotus Notes - a computer groupware product. In our Lotus Notes data bases, (one exists for each subject module), we list discussion topics per discipline subject (mine is Operations Management) and individual distance learning students are invited to comment. Additionally one to one tuition is available using Notes. In some instances students never get to a classroom but this is rare. Lotus Notes is seen for the majority of students as an 'extra' on line resource which is available but which is not essential. For those who avail themselves of this additional resource, I have yet to observe a case where a student has only used Notes once and then not again. For those students who have made the small effort to get 'connected' once is not enough! They find having a tutor and other students on line to be most beneficial. Again it the sense of belonging, and not being alone that seems to be just as important as the direct benefit gained from tuition.

The major difference between Learning Space and Lotus Notes, as used by us, is that Learning Space is almost mandatory for the students, whereas Lotus Notes is voluntary. Also with Lotus Notes students are working independently and not as a member of a team. In many cases with Lotus Notes students will never meet the tutor face to face, and seldom will have met fellow contributors.

MARATHON VIDEO CONFERENCING

Over the last two years from a studio at the Auckland Institute of Technology in New Zealand I have run video conferences for students in Europe which lasted two whole days. For the students the two day sessions began at 9am and finished at 4.40pm. For me the sessions began at 8pm at night and ran through to 3.40 the next morning. I am sure that readers will agree that this was a marathon exercise. This was first done in April 1998 and has been repeated three times since, the last time being in July 1999. Future conferences of a like duration are planned for next year. For these video conferences the students were all gathered together at the one venue, and most had met each other before. Except in one or two cases most had not met me, the presenter, and nor is it likely that they will ever meet me face to face. As Dr.Nothey in her Guest Opinion contribution here ( March 1999) has explained the mechanics of a Video Conference I will therefore not comment further in this regard. I totally agree with her conclusion that 'if deployed properly, it allows students to receive all the benefits of the classroom environment from anywhere in the world'

IMPORTANCE OF FACE TO FACE MEETINGS

Dr.Nothey makes the point that the sense of personal trust among distant video conferencing participants is easiest to build when they get to know each other beforehand. In our case we had achieved this condition for the students but not for the me, the presenter. Additionally as the students were together in the one place they could converse and get to know each other during the breaks for coffee, tea and lunch. The presenter, 12,000 miles away, did not have this benefit and nor did the students have the opportunity to informally relate to the presenter over a cup of coffee. To that extent an important interaction of face to face teaching was missing.

Michael Pitfield, in his guest opinion item here in May 1999 also contends that really good distant learning programmes include significant opportunities for students to participate in face to face workshops, tutorials and residential weekends. The reasons he gives is that skills development and discussion of concepts benefit from face to face communication. I would add that from my experience the practice of team work, net working and shared learning is best gained by face to face contact. To gain these benefits requires the development of mutual trust and understanding between all participants including the facilitator.

CONCLUSION

My conclusion is that Video Conferences, Computer Conferences, and Computer Facilitated learning has considerably eased the difficulty of distance learning and removed some of the loneliness of distance learning, for both student and tutor. However, some face to face meetings are important to build the trust that Dr.Nothey has rightly identified as being so important.