网上资料 发展的技术 EvolvingTech.docx

网上资料 发展的技术 EvolvingTech.docx

《网上资料 发展的技术 EvolvingTech.docx》由会员分享，可在线阅读，更多相关《网上资料 发展的技术 EvolvingTech.docx（5页珍藏版）》请在冰点文库上搜索。

网上资料发展的技术EvolvingTech

EvolvingTechnologies

Technologiesevolvethroughrefinementsinnewversionsandupgradestoproducts.Usuallytheenhancementsareminor,buteventuallyoldersystemsorhardwarearenolongercompatibleorsupportedandsoonbecomeunusable.Leadingedgesoftwareoftencontainsbugsorisnotrobustwhenusedoutsidethelaboratory.Laterreleasesbecomeincreasinglystableandappropriatefornoviceusers.Fromthefirsttelephonecalltothemobilephone,telephonyhasevolvedinimperceptiblestepspunctuatedbyafewgrandleaps.Soitiswiththetechnologiesfordistributedlearning.

Oneoftheacknowledgedtruismsofeducationaltechnologyisthattechnologyevolvesmuchmorerapidlythanthewillingnessofteachers,learnersandeducationalinstitutionstoexploitthosetechnologiesforlearning.Inshort,thereisusuallyalonglagtimebetweentheappearanceofanewtechnologyanditseventualwidespreadadoptionforeducationalpurposes.Educationalauthoritiesareoftenreluctanttoinvestinbuyinghardwareandsoftwarethatwillbeoutofdatebeforetheteachershavereallybeguntomakegooduseofit.Aviciouscirclecandevelopwherebyeducatorswaitforthenextevolutionofthesoftwareorhardwaretobecomeavailable,butthenextversionisrapidlyfollowedbyanotherwhichmaybeincompatiblewiththeprevious.Thisisparticularlytruewithrespecttothetechnologiesunderpinningdistributededucation,whereoverthelasttwentyyears,informationandcommunicationtechnologieshaveevolvedveryrapidly.Howeveronthewhole,theearlyadoptersamongsteducatorsatthepost-compulsorylevelhavebeenquicktoapplyeachnewrefinementtoimprovethequalityofdistributedlearning,toincreaseaccessandenhancetheonlinelearningenvironmentforthebenefitofdistributedlearners.

Theevolutionoftechnologiesfordistributedlearningischaracterisedbyconvergence:

stand-alonesystemshaveconvergedontotheweb;thedistincttechnologiesforsynchronousandasynchronouscommunicationhaveblurredintoeachother;theseparateteachingmodesofface-to-faceanddistanceeducationhavealsoconvergedwiththeevolutionofthetechnologysuchthatthemostcommonmodeisnow‘blendedlearning’.

FourTechnologiesforDistributedLearning

Asynchronousthreadeddiscussionsoftware–oftencalledcomputer-mediatedcommunication–allowsdistributedlearnerstodiscusscourseissueswithatutororinstructorandwitheachotheroverthewholeperiodofthecourse.Sinceaboutthemid1980sthesesystemshavebeenusedforvariouskindsofdistributededucation:

K-12studentsnetworkingacrossdifferentschools,remoteandhouseboundstudents,andothertertiaryeducationstudentswantingmoreflexiblelearningthancampuseducationallows,adultswantingcontinuingprofessionaldevelopmentandmanykindsoftrainingthatfitaroundfulltimeemployment.

Thefirstsoftwaretosupportthisformofasynchronousdiscussionwascalled‘commandline’,andrequiredskillandpatiencefromeventhededicateduser,letalonetheintrepidnovice.Aperusalofearlyliteratureoncomputerconferencingproducesalitanyofconcernsabouttrainingmaterials,helpdeskqueries,andfront-endprograms,aswellasdiscussionsabouthowbesttohelpnewusersbecomeactiveparticipants.Thedifficultiesencounteredbyhome-basedstudentsinloggingon,andthetrainingneededtonavigatearoundthesystem,rememberthecorrectterms,andgetamessageintotherightconference,allamountedtoasteeplearningcurveforstudentsbeforetheystartedlearningthecoursematerial.Newerconferencingsystemsbecameavailableintheearlyninetiesandtheseprovideda-graphicalinterfacetomessaging.Traininginthetechnicalitiesofusingsuchsystemsgraduallybecamelessandlessproblematicandnowoccupiesanegligibleamountofthecoursetime.Withtheadventoftheweb,discussionhasbeenintegratedwiththecontentofthecourse.Forexample,commentfunctionscanbelinkedtocoursematerial,andwholedocumentscanhavecommentfunctionsbuiltaroundthem.InstantMessagingisanear-synchronousformofonlineinteractionthathasdevelopedfromthequestfor‘presence’intheonlineenvironment–thesensethatotherusersarepresentandavailableforcommunication.Sowecantraceanevolutioninonlineeducationalinteractionfromseparatesystemse.g.fordeliveringcoursecontentandresourcesandforparticipantinteraction（whichusedtorequireaseparateloginandseparatepassword）tocurrentsystemswhichofferauser-driven,singlesign-onlearningenvironmentprovidingseamlessaccesstoresourcesandotherlearners.

Audiographicstechnologyusedtoprovidemulti-wayaudioandasharedscreen,andwasusedtoconductreal-timetutorialswithremotestudents（usuallyconnectedfromastudycentretothehostinstitution）.Thefirstsystemsrequiredtwotelephonelines:

oneforthesoundandonefortheaudio.Asfewhome-basedlearnershadtwolines,thistechnologywasconfinedtointer-institutionalapplications.WiththegrowthoftheInternet,audiographicsmigratedontothewebandhasbecomeaviablewayofintroducingsmallgroup,synchronouseventsintodistributedlearning.Itisparticularlyusefulforproblemsolvingsessionsinmathematics,languagepracticeinsecondlanguageclasses,syndicateworkinbusinesscoursesandcollaborativeprojectworkamongststudentsinmanysubjectareas.Currentsoftwaresupportsasharedscreenforreal-timeannotation,aswellasdocumentsharingandevenapplicationsharing.Theintegrationofthepersonalcomputerwiththetelephoneandparticularlywiththemobiletelephone,isalreadythefocusofresearchandtrialsinanumberofdistributedlearningcentres.Averyearlyapplicationinvolvesaccesstolibrarydatabasesforfindingandreservingbooks.

Videoconferencing,likeaudiographics,usedtobecarriedoutondedicatedhardware,buthassimilarlyconvergedontotheweb.Distributedlecturescannowbewebcastandstudentscanrespondwithquestionsanddiscussionthroughachatboard.Inaddition,thereal-timelecturecanbe‘canned’andstoredonthewebforstudentstoaccessattheirconvenience.Two-wayvideocommunicationonthewebalsohasmanyapplicationsfordistributedlearning:

forexample,forstudent/tutorcommunicationsandforstudent/studentworkonjointprojects.Multi-wayvideocommunicationonthewebhasnotyetevolvedsufficientlytoberobustforhome-basedlearnersbutthespreadofbroadbandmaysoonmakeadifference.Researchstudieshavequestionedthevalueofvideowhereitisusedmerelytoseetheremotelecturertalking.Audioiscriticalandseeingtheslidesorotherillustrativematerialisalsoimportant.However,evenasmallwindowshowingthelecturerandviewsoftheremotestudentsdoaddtothevitalsenseof‘presence’thathelpstomotivatestudentsandenliventhesubject.

Thedeliveryofcoursecontentindistributedlearninghasbeencarriedoutthroughvideolectures,butalsothroughprintsentthroughthepost.Withthedevelopmentofthepersonalcomputer,multimedialearningmaterialsandparticularlytrainingmaterialscouldbeproducedonCD-ROM.Thisledtoanexplosionofcomputer-basedlearningcourseswherethestudentcouldinteractwiththematerials,practicevarioustechniquesandskills,workthroughlessonsattheirconvenienceandasmanytimesastheyneeded.However,thecostofdevelopingstimulating,interactive,multimediamaterialswasverygreat–infact,stillis,andmuchofthematerialproducedwasnotverystimulatingandinteractiveonlyintheneedforthelearnertopressthe‘next’buttonatthebottomofthescreen.Furthermore,oncetheCD-ROMshadbeenproducedtheyweredifficulttochangeorupdate.Consequently,thewebsoonbecamethepreferredoptionforcontentdelivery,asitofferedthepossibilityofinteractionwithotherstudentsaswellaswiththematerials,andthecontentwaseasyforthedeveloperstoupdate.Furthermore,learnerscouldsupplementthecoursecontentwithanyoftheresourcesoftheweb.

IssuesArisingfromEvolvingTechnologies

Thespeedwithwhichtechnologyhasevolvedraisesanumberofpedagogical,humanandinstitutionalissuesfordistributedlearning.Regardingtheprocessofassessingstudents,newopportunitieshavebeenprovidedbytheweb.Multiplechoicetestinghasbecomemorechallengingwithmatching,sequencingandidentificationquestionsavailableinmultimedia.Collaborativeassignmentsforstudentsatadistance,jointprojectsandpresentationsandstudent-producedwebpageshaveallexpandedtherangeandqualityofassessments.However,thevastresourcesofthewebandtheeaseofaccesstothemhavecreatedamajorproblemsurroundingplagiarismfromunacknowledgeduseofmaterialtowholesalebuyingofcompleteassignments.Concernoverthiskindofcheatinghasledtothedevelopmentofplagiarism-detectionsoftwareandprocessestohelpmarkersidentifyworknotauthoredbythestudent.Arelatedissueisownershipofweb-basedmaterialgenerallyandthecopyrightprotectionofteachingmaterialinparticular.Academicshavebeguntoasserttheirrightsovercoursematerialtheyauthorforweb-basedcourses.Thiscreatesdifficultiesforinstitutionswantingtore-use,updateorre-versionmaterialsforothermarketsandaddsconsiderablecosttothedevelopmentofhighqualitywebbasedcourses.Fromthelearner’sperspective,thereisincreasingevidencethatstudentsarealsobecomingmoredemandingandhavehigherexpectationsaboutthecontentandtheprocessesoflearning.Forexample,inthewholeareaofpost-graduate,continuingprofessionaldevelopmentandlifelonglearning,therearedemandsforjust-in-timelearn