Vol. 13, No. 4, December 1997

An Activity Theory framework to explore distributed communities

R. Lewis

Information Systems Services, Lancaster University

Email: r.lewis@lancaster.ac.uk

Technology-mediated communication is having an influence on the working, learning and leisure activities of everyone. This paper looks at work and learning which have many features in common and yet remain different in many ways as the intentions are distinct. Research into computer support for working and computer support for learning emphasise the differences through rather traditional perspectives but it may be possible that each research domain can offer insights into the other. This paper attempts to draw on both research cultures and makes tentative steps in creating a framework for the new insights which are required if there is to be a better understanding of the ways that communications technology may be able to add new opportunities for distributed communities of learners.

Keywords: Activity Theory; Cognition; Computer-mediated communication; Distributed communities; Learning; Working

Accepted: 1 June 1997

Computer-mediated communication as a learning resource

E. McAteer, A. Tolmie*, C. Duffyå & J. Corbettí

Teaching and Learning Service, University of Glasgow

*Department of Psychology, University of Strathclyde

åDepartment of Music, University of Glasgow

íDepartment of English Language, University of Glasgow

Email: e.mcateer@udcf.gla.ac.uk

Evaluative studies of CMC can produce misleading or even contradictory results due to an (understandable) focus on how the characteristics of the medium affect usage, ignoring the dialectic between technology and culture, of mutual adaptation over time. CMC exchanges in Higher Education take place within a broad teaching and learning system, of which most participants already have extensive experience. This system provides the context within which participants make sense of, and adapt to, the use of on-line communications. Thus interpretations of the processes shaping Higher Education CMC exchanges and their outcomes have to take into account: who participants see themselves as communicating with and why, how this serves longer-term learning goals, and what past experience of engaging with both task and audience they have had; what kinds of exchange are facilitated, both by the medium itself and how the task is organised, and how such affordances are honed over time; and also, how these interactions impact on other aspects of teaching and on learning outcomes.

Keywords: Computer-mediated communication; Evaluation; Higher Education; Music; Language studies; On-line seminars

Contribution to Special Issue

Computer mediated tutorial support for conventional university courses

P. Light, C. Colbourn* & V. Light

Bournemouth University, *Southampton Institute

Email: plight@bournemouth.ac.uk

In an effort to restore quality and flexibility to the tutorial provision on some undergraduate courses, first, second and third year psychology students at the University of Southampton have been inducted into the use of 'skywriting' as a medium for learning support. Email messages from students and tutors, primarily focussed on issues arising from the course content, are directed to a course list so that all participants receive them; both tutors and students may reply to these. The course tutor maintains a Web-based archive of threaded discussions by the occasional modification of message subject lines. Within this archive, the exchanges can be searched and read by theme, by participant, or by date. This provision is in addition to the usual lectures and face-to-face tutorial meetings. This paper examines students' participation in skywriting on three courses. Participation is examined in relation to gender, and to attitudes and experience with computers. Levels of contribution to face-to-face tutorials and to skywriting are compared, and their relation to students' learning styles is explored.

Keywords: Computer-mediated communication; Email; Higher Education; Learning; Tutorial

Contribution to Special Issue

Making hypertext lecture notes more interactive: undergraduate reactions

C.K. Crook

Department of Human Sciences, Loughborough University

Email: c.k.crook@lboro.ac.uk

One hundred and eighty five undergraduates were resourced with hypertext lecture support documents that were readable with Internet browsers located throughout their campus. The materials included both a bulletin board facility and an email launcher. These features offered learners a more interactive engagement. Usage patterns and student attitudes to this resource were derived from system logs, questionnaires and focus group discussions. The materials were very popular but their study was assimilated to traditional patterns of paper-based learning. No significant use was made of the interactive features. Findings are interpreted in relation to the resilience of established cultures of communication and study within higher education.

Keywords: Hypertext; Internet; Psychology; Undergraduates; University

Contribution to Special Issue

Evaluating a virtual summer school

K. Issroff & M. Eisenstadt*

University College London & *The Open University

Email: k.issroff@ucl.ac.uk

The Open University's Virtual Summer School took place in 1994 and was an experimental project which aimed to use technology to support students who were unable to attend a conventional campus-based summer school. Students on many courses at the Open University are expected to attend summer school, but for some students this is impossible. In the Virtual Summer School, 12 students used a wide range of software to communicate with tutors and each other, attend lectures and tutorials, access resources and complete projects in groups. The students were studying Cognitive Psychology and the work involved a range of activities including programming, carrying out experiments and statistical analysis. The evaluation used a series of questionnaires to the students, which were compared with those of students at conventional summer school. This paper provides an overview of the Virtual Summer School, presents a selection of the results of the evaluation and discusses the issues which arose out of the evaluation.

Keywords: Collaboration; Distance learning; Evaluation

Contribution to Special Issue

Monitoring a CMC environment created for distance learning

T. Wilson & D. Whitelock*

Centre for Educational Software and *Institute of Educational Technology, The Open University

Email: M.E.Wilson@open.ac.uk

Projects using Computer Mediated Communication (CMC) are becoming of interest to all academic institutions World-wide. STILE (Students' and Teachers' Integrated Learning Environment) is one such project which included four universities in the United Kingdom. The Open University implementation of the project was called M205-STILE and it used a CMC environment with 110 students and nine tutors nationwide and in Europe. The participants were on-line from February to October 1995 and the provision of these facilities allowed distance learning students to avail themselves of better communication with both their tutor and with fellow students. This paper discusses, from both the tutor and student perspective, how computer science students made use of a CMC environment created especially for them. It illustrates that students used the system to learn more about the subject area and about each other, and to sustain or motivate themselves throughout the learning period.

Keywords: Computer-mediated communication; Computer science; Distance learning; Monitoring students

Contribution to Special Issue

Telematics and on-line teacher training: the Polaris Project

G. Trentin

Institute for Educational Technology, National Research Council, Italy

Email: trentin@itd.ge.cnr.it

The link between distance learning and telematics is becoming ever stronger, yielding new solutions to old problems, innovative educational resources and new teaching/learning models. One of the most innovative and promising fruits of this relationship is on-line education, notably a process whereby all the participants (teachers, tutors and students) are linked up in a computer network; the effect of this is the creation of a fully-fledged learning community in which all individuals take an active part and make a valuable contribution to the group. The aim of the paper is firstly to outline the distinctive characteristics of on-line education methodology and secondly to examine the POLARIS project, which proposes an experimental approach for in-service teacher training based on intensive use of computer mediated communication according to the principles of on-line education.

Keywords: Computer-mediated communication; POLARIS; Teacher training;

Contribution to Special Issue

Inter-university cooperative learning: an exploratory study

A. Calvani*, P. Sorzio** & B.M. Varisco**

*Università degli Studi di Firenze, Dip. di Scienze dell'Educazione

**Università degli Studi di Padova, Dip. di Scienze dell'Educazione

E-mail: calvani@cesit1.unifi.it

This paper presents some preliminary findings from continuing action research involving university students of Education and examines the creation of a community of learners through the use of electronic media for remote collaboration. The main goal of this community was the design and implementation of a Web site about the curicula content of two parallel courses. The research focussed on the evaluation of the impact of technologies on communication processes among local peers and remote peers, and on the role of experts in the learning process. Qualitative analyses were conducted on information gathered from videorecordings of local interactions, personal portfolios, and cognitive maps. Students also completed rating scales on their perceptions of desired and actual function fulfilment (direct instruction, cognitive scaffolding, and affective scaffolding) by local and remote peers and tutors in the accomplishment of goals.

Keywords: Computer-mediated communication; Cooperative learning; Higher education; World-wide Web

Contribution to Special Issue

Gender, Identity and CMC

S.J. Yates

Faculty of Social Sciences, Open University, UK.

Email: s.j.yates@open.ac.uk

This paper re-examines a number of recent discussions of computer-mediated communication (CMC) in the light of debates concerning gender, identity and inequality. There have been many claims made by disparate groups and institutions, from educators and technologists, through to the advertising of communications companies, which have claimed that CMC-based interactions lack the overt structures of inequality found in other communicative situations. This ideology of 'on-line equality' is partly based upon a number of research findings, as well as popularised accounts of 'life on the screen'. Set against this is a growing body of research into CMC and gender, as well as other structures of inequality, which has made apparent the differences in access and practice across gender. By re-examining the various claims underlying both positions, as well as deploying recent research into the cultural aspects of gender identities, this paper aims to make clear the centrality of gender to CMC interactions.

Keywords: Computer-mediated interactions; Gender; Identities

Contribution to Special Issue