Online Flexible Distance Education or Internet Based E-Learning – The Evolutionary Development of the NKI Internet College

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Online Flexible Distance Education or Internet Based E-Learning – The Evolutionary Development of the NKI Internet College

eLearning ProjectExemplo - ElexConference: Rome, December 15th-16th 2005

Torstein Rekkedal

Director Research & Development

NKI Distance Education

Norway

The NKI Case: Overview

NKI Distance Education, E-Learning and Online Education 4 “generations” of development Basic philosophies when developing the system for m-learning Some focal pedagogical challenges Flexibility and cooperative learning Student support Universal accessibility Mobile learning Converting a distance teaching institution into a cost-efficient e-learning

provider

NKI and Online Education

NKI Distance Education/NKI Internet College Online distance teaching since 1987 In continuous operation Integrated research/educational development/technological

development ’Mainstream’ technology

6,600 students in 40 countries

430 courses/70 study programmes

4 phases of development

The Development of NKI Internet College – 4 ’Generations’ of Systems

1987 -1994: 1. Generation – based on the ’EKKO’ conferencing system

1994 -1995: 2. Generation – ’The Open Electronic College’: Philosophy: Constructing a

system as ’open’ as possible in relation to external networks and services, based on the Internet, e-mail and Listserve conferencing system

1996-2000: 3. Generation – ’from small scale to large scale’ and permanent operation based

on the WWW

2001- : 4. Generation – Introduction of a fully integrated system for development and

administration of teaching/learning, logistics, invoices and salaries to handle ten thousands of students in flexible learning on hundreds of courses, programmes and tutors

NKI - Integrated IT Systems

NKI Internet College: Enrolment figures

Number of enrollments in online courses per year at NKI

0

2000

4000

6000

8000

10000

12000

1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005

Q4

Q3

Q2

Q1

Demands on a ‘virtual school’

The Electronic College:

It should emulate all the main tasks of a school: teaching, administrative and social.

It should be generally available concerning geography, technology, economy and student competence.

It should be independent of time, i.e. continuously available and accept asynchronous communication.

It should emulate the different needs of human communication, one-to-one, one-to-many and many-to-many.

Aspects increasing quality

Efficient distribution of updated information Two-way communication between tutor/counsellor/administration

and student A substitute for face-to-face teaching, introduction of group

discussions and project work and cooperative learning The public tutorial Peer counselling and support Free-flow discussion, academic and social meeting places The electronic library Registration, administration, teacher conferences etc. Team development of teaching materials User directory with lists of class members and fellow students

Elements of Internet based learning

The elements of the distribution and communication system of Internet based learning

Flexibility in distance education

Models of teaching and learning Distance Education:

Individualised Flexible Teaching

or Teaching in ’The

Extended Classroom’

Flexibility in distance education

Asynchronous communication offers much individual flexibility in time

Much flexibility:

E-mail Forum

Synchronous communication makes students dependent on each other

Little flexibility: Chat Video conferences Telephone conferences Face-to-face classes

NKI basic philosophies concerning online learning

Student autonomy and flexibility

Flexible and individual distance teaching with the student group as social and academic support for learning

Overall didactical solution:

Individual studies, exercises and emphasis on tutor support Support from the learner group through Forum interaction Social constructivist learning theory? Learning is a socially supported individual process Colleagues, friends, family and other resource persons as support for learning Great need for support and continuous concern for students

Flexibility - Cooperative learning - Collaborative learning

Challenge: How to provide individual flexibility and a community for learning?The hexagon of cooperative freedom (Paulsen 1993, 2003)

Six Dimensions of Flexibility


Learning could be Individual, Cooperative or Collaborative

Individual learning provides much individualflexibility, but little learning community

Cooperative learning provides much individualflexibility and access to a learning community

Collaborative learning requires participation in alearning community, but limits individual flexibility


NKI Distance Education facilitates individual freedom within a learning community in which online students serve as mutual resources without being dependent on each other.

We build on adult education principles and seek to foster benefits from both individual freedom and cooperation in online learning communities.

Cooperative learning is based on voluntary participation in a learning community

Flexibility and cooperation

Different learning environments based on the dimensions of participation in a learning community and individual flexibility (Paulsen 2005)

Learning in cooperative freedom

The three pillars of cooperative learning at NKI (Paulsen 2005)

Learning in cooperative freedom

Main means to facilitate cooperative learning are: Cooperative Forums Student catalogues Cooperative assignments Cooperative assessment/peer assessment Cooperative gating (COG) Cooperative Learner Information Profile (CLIP)

Individual Progressions Schedules

NKI’s LMS supports individual progression plans

Individual Progressions Schedules

NKI’s LMS supports individual progression plans

Information to tutors

Information from teacher’s start page:

Information to tutors

Information from teacher’s start page:

Information on fellow students

Student catalogue with cooperative information aboutnext submission number and planned submission date

Student interface for submission of assignments

Submitted in cooperation with:Ann Andersson,Knut Evensen

NKI’s forum structure for cooperative learning

CLIP - Cooperative Learner Information Profile

Student support

John Bååth:

”We have four categories of students; there are

students who need student support services but don’t want them students who need student support services and want them students who don’t need student support services but want them students who neither need nor want student support services.”

Student Support in the NKI Online Distance Education System

Prospective phase – information/guidance


Start-up phase


Learning phase


Graduation and after graduation

Survey

Needs for and satisfaction with support services

Research methodology:Qualitative and quantitative survey

Data collection

Selection of interviewees

Data processing and interpreting answers

Survey

Needs for and satisfaction with support services

Results: Prospective phase Direct personal contact with advisors important

Registration/start-up phase Technical support services important, but little used, introduction to study techniques important and should be improved

Learning phase Most important quality of feedback/quick turn-around time

Survey - Statistics

Survey - Statistics

Relationship between “Usefulness/Importance” of the support elements and“Satisfaction” with the support elements.

Conclusions

The students find all support services provided to be important, and they are generally satisfied

Recommendations:Priory should be given to:

Close follow up and support during the start-up phase concerning how to get started and how to make personal progression plans.

Introduction to efficient techniques for online learning, specifically for students with little experience from independent learning.

Follow-up and guidance of tutors who do not satisfy requirements concerning turn- around time and quality of comments/feedback to students.

Developing course forums to function better for students who want more interaction with fellow students, without requiring too much participation for students who prefer more individual studies.

Universal Accessibility

Standards for accessibility W3C's Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) (http://www.w3.org/WAI/) Introduction to Web Accessibility (http://www.webaim.org/intro/intro2)

Navigation solutions for people with disabilities

Electronic versions of textbooks

Speech synthesis

All solutions ought to benefit all users

http://www.w3.org/WAI/

http://www.webaim.org/intro/intro2



Speech synthesis

Designing the Environment for Mobile Learners - mLearning 1 & 2

NKI is now starting its 3rd EU project on mobile learning

mLearning 1:

Technology: Content and communication:Pocket PC/PDA Learning content to be downloaded

Mobile phone Online access to forums for reading/writing

Portable keyboard E-mail communication with attachments

mLearning 1: Students’ and tutor’s use of technology when mobile

When mobile the students must be able to:

Study the course materials Make notes Write assignments Access Forum to read Access Forum to submit contributions Send e-mail to fellow students Receive e-mail from fellow students Submit assignments by e-mail including attachments Receive assignments corrected and commented on by the tutor

mLearning 1: Conclusions

Mobile technology may increase the flexibility of distance teaching The technology functioned according to expectations Participants’ views varied – from enthusiastic to quite reserved The students expressed very different views concerning reading from a small screen Institutional challenges for systems development to cater for mobile and not mobile learners Technical problems exist, but are continuously reduced through software and hardware developments Portable keyboard is necessary for efficient use of the PDA as a teaching and learning tool We need better solutions for browsing web pages Mobile communication is still expensive – especially from abroad We are uncertain whether a future solution for mobile learning is solved by

Mobile phone and pda Hybrid (pocket phone/computer) Laptop with mobile connection Other solutions (?)

mLearning 2: Basic assumptions

Continue research on m-learning with PDA Develop generic solutions independent on user-end devices Cost-effectiveness - Same course for mobile and not-mobile students Online access to course materials - “Always online environment” Interactive multi media materials and assignments Graphical materials and multi-media should be included Trying out the environment for future mobile learners who are always

online via wireless networks at affordable and acceptable costs

Second year: Developing the mLMS

Aspects of an always-online solution that would possibly increase the quality of the services for mobile learners:

High bandwidth gives fast downloading of course content and use of audio, video and advanced graphics

Independence of synchronization with desktop PC Access to resources on the Internet at all times Easy access to e-mail at all times Possibilities for online assessment and assignments Options for easier co-operation with fellow students Possibilities for synchronous communication, chat and IP telephony ADSL or free access to WLAN give control over costs

mLearning2: Conclusions The NKI developments and research on mobile learning in

connection with the two EU Leonardo projects have resulted in better solutions for serving distance online learners in general

Cost efficiency considerations do not allow for developing parallel versions of courses

Courses must be developed, presented and distributed in ways that allow both mobile and not mobile learners to participate in the same course

Course materials can be accessed both by standard and mobile technology with acceptable quality of all content elements

Interaction with course content and multi-media materials and communication with tutors and fellow students must also function adequately both through standard and mobile technology

It is still a question of what the “ideal” device and solution for mobile learning really is. Probably is the answer a result of the learner’s individual preferences

Research, evaluation and quality assurance

NKI Research Department established 1970 Media and technology research and development Survey research Course and programme evaluation

NADE Quality Standards Quality Standards for Norwegian Distance Education since 1992

Why have we succeeded?

High Level of Competence in Distance Education and IT Enthusiasts Believing in the Idea Applying Standard Available Technology Flexibility Based on Students’ Needs and Priorities Individualised Start and Progression Schedules Cost-Efficient Teaching and Administration Research/Development – National/International Projects with External

Funding Flexible and Adaptive Organisation Broad and Comprehensive Catalogue of Courses and Study Programmes Collaboration Credibility and Trust by The Educational Market and Legal Authorities Internet Development and Teaching Fully Integrated in an Operative

Distance Teaching Organisation Evolutionary Development of Personnel, Organisation and Administrative

Systems

Thank you!

NKI Internet College: http://www.nettskolen.com/

Torstein Rekkedal home page: http://home.nettskolen.nki.no/~torstein/

Presentation: Slides: http://home.nettskolen.nki.no/~torstein/Rome2005.ppt Document:

http://home.nettskolen.nki.no/~torstein/Rome2005.doc