A Framework for Choosing Technology Mediated Approaches to Instruction

A Paper Presented to the Southern Association of Agricultural Scientists

Agricultural Communications Section

Lexington, KY

January 2000

Specialist; Computer Training

North Carolina State University

BACKGROUND

Technology-Mediated Training (TMT) is any learning experience taking place using learning infrastructures (LIs) supported by technology that result in a change in an individual’s knowledge, attitude, skills, or behavior.While traditional approaches using classrooms and face-to-face instruction are still valued and have a strategic role in education, technology mediated training will play a critical role in agriculture and science education due to the ability of TMT systems to:

Provide flexibility in where and when a participant can learn.
Allow the learner to initiate the learning on demand.
Be scaled to reach large numbers of individuals.
Be more cost effective.

Learning Approaches

Learning systems, supported by digital and analog technologies, allow educators to create learning experiences using a variety of ways.Ideal approaches seek to use a mix of learning systems to address the varied needs of the learners, the context in which learning takes place, and content being taught.The following learning systems are in use today:

“Face to Face” describes learning environments where both the students and instructor meet in the same location.

“Two-way Interactive Video (w/engineer)” refers to facilities where two-way video and audio is transmitted between two sites and engineers are working at both sites to manage the video and sound inputs.

“Two-way Interactive Video (w/software)” refers to facilities where two-way video and audio is transmitted between two sites and software is used to manage video and sound inputs. Instructors may also have limited capabilities in managing video and audio inputs via a console.

“One-way Video/Two way interactive Audio” refers to facilities where one site, usually referred to as the originating site, transmits video to another site, while both sites have the capability to transmit audio. An engineer at the originating site manages video and audio.

“Two-way Interactive audio” refers to a facility where audio can be transmitted between two sites.

“Electronic Collaborative Rooms” refers to electronic working spaces, which provide chat rooms, white boards and other conferencing tools to individuals through their desktop computer using the Internet.

“MUDS & MOOS” refers to multi-user interactive role-playing environments that reside on Internet. Originating in the gaming world, MUDS and MOOS provide an electronic world where learners can take on roles and participate in scenarios that provide insight into real world situations.

“Interactive World Wide Web Space” refers to sites on the Internet that enable the learner to interact with models, individuals, and content on a specific topic. These sites seek to engage the learner in the mastering of a specific skill or concept.

“Online Chat Rooms” refers to sites on the Internet that allow individuals to type messages to a group of participants all logged into the chat room. This enables groups to have a discussion (via typing) with everyone able to participate.

“Electronic Mail” refers to the ability of learners and instructors to send electronic messages to each other and to others involved in the class.

“Electronic Discussion Groups” refers to electronic mailing lists or newsgroups that allow individuals to e-mail a message to a group of individuals.

“One-way video: broadcast” refers to video distributed to other sites by broadcasting across satellite or cable systems.

“One-way video: tape” refers to video distribution to other sites by physical distribution of videotapes.

“Publications” refers to print publication distribution to other sites.These publications are non-personal and written to be read by groups of individuals instead of tailored to a specific individual’s needs.

“Personal Mail” refers to technique of sending physical mail to an individual to address their specific learning needs.

METHODS

A review of the literature yield a number of criteria that might be useful to educators and agricultural scientists interested in using technology mediated learning systems to provide educational programs. Findings were combined and evaluated as to their usefulness and importance. While the literature reports some findings, little research can be found that addresses the complex task of choosing the correct digital and analog technology for each learning experience planned in a formal or non-formal educational program. A model was developed that would provide support to the technology decision process and shared among selected experts from the field of information technologies, agricultural education, adult education, and technology mediated instruction. Experts provided insight allowing several learning systems to be further defined and validated criteria chosen. Experts were also asked to evaluate learning systems using the each criterion. Results were evaluated and a matrix was developed.

Findings from this effort were then provided to the North Carolina Cooperative Extension (NCCE) Blue Ribbon Committee for inclusion in their study of training and development within NCCE. These findings, after further validation by members of this committee, were included in the Blue Ribbon Committee’s recommended actions to the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at North Carolina State University.

FINDINGS

Individuals seeking to design learning opportunities are faced with a host of choices.The following criteria were found to be useful in evaluating which technologies best meet the requirements of a specific learning experience.

Total Cost of Technology

The concept of total cost of owning and operating a piece of technology as a criteria in technology decision making is relatively new to the education community.While the Gartner Group (1999), an independent research firm, has for years examined the total cost of owning technologies like a personal computer and notebook computers, little can be found in the literature that classifies the true cost of many of the learning technologies used today in education. Liebmann (1998) stresses that the concept of total cost of ownership doesn’t just apply to personal computers, it is critical to the operation of every other type of resource. Educators should examine both the fixed and operating costs of technologies before utilizing them in educational environments, there by using each technology when it is most effective and efficient for the learning to take place.Ideally, instructors would then use a host of technologies with the delivery of an educational program with each technology supporting the learning through its most efficient use.The model present in this paper classifies costs in two ways:

Fixed Costs - The cost of building the infrastructure of a learning system (those costs which are expended prior to normal operation) are best analyzed separately from the cost of operating the learning system. In cases where the learning system can be scaled to reach a large number of learners with low operating costs, large investments in fixed costs may be easily justified.

Operating Costs - The cost of operating a TMT may be useful in evaluating which technologies to use. In many cases, a learning system with low operating costs would be useful for specific learning tasks to reduce the overall cost of offering training.

Potential Learner to Instructor Ratio

The potential of a learning system to reach a large number of learners is an important criterion, especially when evaluating learning systems with high fixed and variable costs. One useful ratio is the calculation of the estimated total cost of ownership of a learning system per potential learner. When evaluating several learning systems to get a true comparison of costs, this ratio provides an excellent tool for comparison.

It should be noted that the learner to instructor ratio has been a significant topic among educators concerned with improving the impact of education (Brydolf, 1997).Bracey (1999) reported that initial research suggested that 15 learners per instructor is the ideal ratio, but also stresses that it depends on the socio-economic nature of the learners.The context and the content being taught should also influence what might be an effective learner to instructor ratio. The model presented in this paper attempts to address these concerns by providing the criterions teaching methods, interactivity, and richness for instructors to use when examining this issue.

Teaching Methods

A host of teaching methods exist and are used in instruction today. Ample evidence has been found among the literature to accept multiple teaching methods as a significant principle or concept for education programs (Mustian, Liles, & Pettitt, 1988).In situations where multiple teaching methods are use and learners choose from a battery of activities with which they wish to participate, activities will more closely match the learning style of the learner (Claxton, 1988). Mustian, et al, (1988) suggested that content will also influence selection of methods as well as the context in which the learning takes place. When developers consider the needs of individual learners and examine the demands of teaching a specific content, the flexibility of a learning system to support multiple teaching methods may be critical to successful learning.

Richness

Daft & Lengel (1986) defined information richness as the "ability of information to change understanding within a time interval" as it is passed along from individual to individual. Information technologies vary in their capacity to process rich information. In order of decreasing richness, the media classifications are (1) Face to Face, (2) Interactive Video, (3) Telephone, (4) Chats, (5) E-Mail, (6) Personal Documents [letters, memos], (7) Impersonal written documents. (p. 560).For educators interested in Technology-Mediated learning systems, richness refers to the clarity by which an individual can communicate a message across the learning system to another person or group.Learning systems have varying levels of richness due to their ability to support multi-sensory communication and real-time interaction. Learning activities also require varied levels of communication richness to be successful. Effective and effective use oflearning-mediated technologies is achieved when activities are matched the level of richness needed

Interactivity

Ryder (1999) defined an activity or interactivity as the engagement of a subject toward a certain goal or objective. People tend to learn better, when they are actively involved in the process. This is especially true of TMT where a distance between the learner and the instructor often exists.Knowles (1980) stressed the importance of engaging the learner and implemented four principles of andragogy, one of recommended the need for active learning for adult learners. Since Knowles’ work, a host of research has supported his recommendations.Although interactivity is easier to facilitate in a face-to-face learning system, instructors have devised a variety of ways to build interactivity into many of the learning systems available.Due to the nature of how they work, some learning systems may be more effective when implementing interactive learning techniques in a training session.

Learning Accessibility

Technology mediated training is often put in place to distribute the learning environment to a more convenient location for the intended learner. In addition to extending the reach of the learning to remote locations, many learning systems also extend the flexibility of the learner to use multiple locations to participate in the training.

CONCLUSIONS

In the absence of any decision support tool for evaluating the various choices for TMT, the following matrix has been developed to enable educators to analyze and evaluate the choices for hosting a learning activity via TMT. Educators interested in using TMT should examine specific learning activities against the matrix to determine which TMT or group of TMTs is best suited the specific learning objectives.Educators will need to examine the needs of the content and learners in developing their learning activities so as to insure a good fit once the matrix is used in the decision making process. Since learning activities should vary in their need for interactivity, richness and teaching methods, it is likely that various TMTs will be employed in the delivery of educational program that use this approach. Educational program administrative activities that assist in the delivery of the education program should also be examined using a similar approach. Through this model, educators should be able to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of technology use in the agricultural science education.

Several questions need further study. Content validity was established using an expert model, but further work in establishing the validity of this matrix would be useful. While the model is ground in sound research and has been reviewed by several experts, further assessment of its merit would be useful to the author and the education community. Additionally, further work in evaluating whether this matrix is both useful and effective in assisting educators who are designing TMT programs is necessary.

[1] Room requires an engineer to operate cameras and sound.

[2] Instructor operates cameras and sound via a console.

[3] Electronic collaborative rooms provide online working spaces that include chat rooms, white boards, & other conferencing tools.

[4] MUDs or “Multi-user dungeons” are actually multi-user interactive role-playing games on the Internet.

Matrix of Technology-Mediated Learning Systems and Selected Criteria
	Fixed Costs	Operating Costs	Potential Learner to Instructor ratio	Teaching Methods	Richness	Interactivity	Learner Accessibility
Face to Face	Expensive	Very Expensive	Low	Many	Very High	Very Fast	Difficult
Two-way Interactive Video (w/Engineer)[1]	Very Expensive	Very Expensive	High	Many	High	Very Fast	Difficult
Two-way Interactive Video (w/Software)[2]	Very Expensive	Expensive	High	Some	High	Very Fast	Difficult
One-way Video; Two-way interactive audio	Very Expensive	Very Expensive	High	Some	High	Fast	Difficult
Two-way interactive audio	Inexpensive	Average	Moderate	Limited	Medium	Fast	Easy
Electronic Collaborative Rooms [3]	Expensive	Average	Low	Some	Medium	Fast	Easy
MUDS & MOOS [4]	Expensive	Average	Very High	Limited	Low	Fast	Easy
Interactive WWW Space	Expensive	Expensive	Very High	Many	Medium	Fast	Easy
Online Chat Rooms	Average	Inexpensive	Low	Limited	Low	Fast	Easy
Electronic Mail	Inexpensive	Very Inexpensive	Very High	Limited	Low	Slow to Fast	Easy
Electronic Discussion Groups	Inexpensive	Inexpensive	Very High	Limited	Low	Slow to Fast	Easy
One-way Video: Broadcast	Expensive	Expensive	High	Limited	Low	None	Difficult
One-way Video: Tape	Expensive	Average	High	Limited	Low	None	Easy
Publications	Very Inexpensive	Inexpensive	Very High	Limited	Very Low	None	Easy
Personal Mail	Very Inexpensive	Inexpensive	High	Limited	Low	Slow	Easy