DL Johnston Question 6

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QUESTION: What are some emerging technologies that may make distance learning more accessible to adult learners?

I think accessibility may be helped more by improvements in existing technologies than by the introduction of new technologies. For learners, the important technologies are those that give inexpensive access to computers and the Web-technologies that are utilized by existing "distance curricula" such as GED Connection, GED Interactive (McGraw Hill Contemporary), GED Illinois, English for All, etc. When GED Connection was introduced in the late 1990s the video clips used in the online activities were available on CD-ROM for learners with Internet connections that were too slow to download video easily. Today there is little demand for the CD because most learners have access to faster Internet connections. The improvement was in the speed of connections available to adult learners.

Improvements in audio technologies (personal digital players such as iPod) might improve the distribution of audio files important to ESL learners, but these technologies would need to be in widespread use among ESL students before they could provide marginal improvement to learners who would otherwise listen to clips on a CD, DVD, videotape, audiotape, or listening to a mp3 clip online. Improvements in voice recognition hardware/software, coupled with AI, could provide ESL learners with frequent opportunities to get feedback on their language production. This would be a big help.

There is another important arena: technologies that connect distance learners with teachers who are supporting learners at a distance. Shared whiteboards might make it easier for teachers to provide remedial instruction when they recognize that a distance learner is having a problem with a concept. Technology that makes it easier for teachers to annotate the work that students submit online would help too.

We encourage teachers to consider setting up a virtual classroom using tools such as Nicenet (www.nicenet.org). This tool provides some of the features of a regular classroom. But many teachers report that studying alone is what attracted their students to distance in the first place, so a virtual classroom is not perceived as a benefit to them. However, because learning in a group (social learning) has been shown to be helpful in K-12 research I continue to think we need to try harder with adult learners.

The issue may be somewhat different if your distance program is already technology based. Many programs we work with are using a pre-packaged curricula (e.g., McGraw-Hill GED Interactive, Workplace Essential Skills, SkillsTutor, etc.). If you add another technology on top of the one associated with the curriculum you may overwhelm the learner.

What do you think? Do you see some new technologies that have some potential to improve access? Do you agree with my concern that too much technology can overload the learner.

J E R O M E J O H N S T O N
Director, Project IDEAL Support Center
Institute for Social Research - University of Michigan
734/763-3079 (734) 615-6638 (fax) jerej@umich.edu

This question and Jerome Johnston's reply were posted in the context of a July, 2005 discussion on the NIFL-Technology electronic list. The whole discussion will be found at http://wiki.literacytent.org/index.php/DistanceLearning