A systems approach to interactive distance teaching: Evaluating the ATM Video Network at National Chung Cheng University
Mei-Sheng Chao
Center for Teacher Education
National Chung Cheng University, Chia-Yi, Taiwan
|  |
The purposes of this study are to analyse systematically the real time interactive distance education developed at National Chung Cheng University (NCCU) and to evaluate students' perceptions toward this new video conferencing technology. The systems model used in this project is proposed by Moore (1996), which consists five important components. Each one is discussed based on the situation of NCCU during the implementation of the distance teaching program.
To evaluate students' perceptions toward this new medium, a questionnaire survey was administered at the end of this semester to analyse the pros and cons of this project. The results indicated that, compared with those in the broadcast classrooms, students in the remote classrooms showed more percentage of being unsatisfied on the following items: the presentation of the learning materials, the learning environment in general, the interaction between students and instructor, the learning achievement, etc. The results also revealed that in the real time interactive distance learning situation, the planning and implementing active learning strategies as well as delivery systems into the instruction is essential to the participants especially for students in the remote classrooms; otherwise, the technology advances can only bring us conveniences, but not effectiveness.
Introduction
The convergence of technologies has made great contributions to people's daily life; interactive distance teaching provides an example. Because telephones, electronic storage, and instructional technology are now integrated in planning and operation, fulfilling users' diversified needs is not hard to achieve. Regarding teaching and learning, it is well-recognised, based on many research findings, that technology itself not only makes learning convenient, but activates it. As learning becomes more active and less authority dependent, network technology can create environments which encourage students to function independently and think critically; asynchronous learning using web-designed materials has accomplished a great deal in this field (Sener, 1996; Terrell, 1996; Sugar, et al. 1995; Newbold, 1993).
On the other hand, due to its high band-width, an ATM network has the capacity to provide simultaneous two-way video and audio transmission with high quality support of multimedia services. Real time interactive distance education adopts the advantages of the ATM video network system to provide users with programs which include interactivity, visuality, and effectivity (Sherry, 1994). This paper will briefly introduce the distance teaching program at National Chung Cheng University (NCCU) and then systematically analyse the real time interactive distance education developed at NCCU. Finally, the evaluation results will be discussed and suggestions proposed for further studies.
Background
In 1992, the government of Taiwan initiated the National Information Infrastructure (NII) establishment throughout the island. One of the purposes for establishing the NII was to bring innovation to the current educational system. Educators realised that providing multiple channels to learning was inevitable and would be in heavy demand in the near future. Thus, the Ministry of Education selected several universities to start distance learning programs including real time interactive distance teaching. National Chung Cheng University joined this team in 1994 and continues to work on this project. The current real time interactive distance teaching system at NCCU comprises six sites including the centre located in a 120-seat broadcast theatre in the Information Units Building, Room 101. This location provides ease of access to graphics, photographic and computer network facilities and support staff.
Systematic analysis of real time interactive distance teaching at NCCU
The major aim of distance education is to extend access to learners, including those who bypassed their formal education at an earlier stage of life as well as those who were unable to gain entrance to a university campus. Recently, distance education has played not only an important role for continuing education but also provided another alternative for learners in formal education. However, sound distance education requires both good technology and effective design strategies. In this case, a systems approach is helpful to an understanding of distance education as a field of study and is essential to its successful practice. The systems approach used to analyse the distance teaching program is based on the model proposed by Moore (1996), which helps us recognise many issues that separate distance education from conventional education. It also helps us distinguish "proper" from "improper" distance education. Generally speaking, a systems model for distance education consists of the following components: sources, design, delivery, interaction, and learning environment. Each component will now be briefly discussed based on the situation of National Chung Cheng University during implementation of the distance teaching program.
Sources
Sources of knowledge or skills to be taught and learned via this special type of teaching were considered first. Decisions concerning what courses should be taught via distance teaching were made of by the faculty of the entire university. Undoubtedly, these decisions reflected not only the characteristics and policies of the university, but also student needs. One of the main advantages of distance teaching is the easy access it provides to learning, so the faculty decided to offer courses which were not available at the remote site (at National Cheng Kung University, our project partner).
National Chung Cheng University is a comprehensive university with an extremely good reputation in the social sciences compared to National Cheng Kung University; therefore, courses in the social sciences were selected as the first priority in this distance teaching program. National Cheng Kung University, also a comprehensive university, is especially known for its medical school; accordingly, it was offering courses in medicine via ATM video network to compensate for the unavailability of such courses on our campus.
Design
Ideally, the production of distance education courses should involve at least two kinds of design expertise, one being content expertise, the other concerning instructional principles and technological techniques. Distance teaching is delivered through media and technology, so the teaching materials must be carefully designed to take full advantage of the media and technology to activate learning . And, of course, it would be better if people with a knowledge of instructional principles and techniques as well as knowledge of the technology could join the team. However, the real situation is that a content expert usually takes responsibility both as instructional designer and content knowledge specialist. It is very difficult, in this phase, to involve all the experts listed in the model--instructional designer, media and program specialists, and evaluator--not only because of inadequate budget but lack of time.
One can, however, get support from administrative units. In our case, the audio-visual centre was in charge of the management and operation of the broadcast/remote classroom and its equipment, the computer centre was responsible for the maintenance and operation of the computer network, and the adult education centre shared responsibility for surveying courses, time and personnel arrangement, etc. At the end of each semester, students who had participated in the distance teaching program would complete a questionnaire, and the results would serve as the evaluation reference for the next semester.
Delivery
In distance education, communication between teachers and learners takes place via a variety of forms of technology as well as media. We should bear in mind that the use of technology to transmit the messages of teachers and learners is what makes distance education so novel and attractive to most people. And each medium presents different characteristics if distributed by different technology. Thus, enhancing the value of media in this special teaching/learning situation is extremely crucial in terms of the degrees of abstractness and concreteness they support.
In the NCCU program, through the technology of a broadband ATM video network system, we were able to distribute text, sound and pictures from point to point or to multipoints. Usually, the support staff took the responsibility of preparing as many forms of media as possible for the instructor. In addition to the preparation of teaching materials, the support staff also provided supplement learning materials in case students would need them for self-directed learning.
Interaction
Achieving sufficient interaction with instructors is the most important goal for distant learners. The immediate exchange of ideas and information is one of the key differences between traditional distance education and real time interactive distance education. In our program, interactions among instructors and students were based on issues and questions determined by the course designers (usually the instructors as well) and conducted immediately by means of ATM video network technologies. While the ATM video network provides very fast interaction, this interaction usually takes place in a group setting. The immediacy of interaction brings about apparent effects such as immediate feedback and attention from the instructor; however, at remote sites, students might still feel strange talking to a "TV" instructor, which would cut down on their questions. This issue will be addressed to some length in a later section of this paper.
Another aspect of interaction, as proposed by Moore, is the administration and management of distance education. In the NCCU program, three administrative units were responsible for the implementation of distance education and made the whole system work. Since the budget was allocated by the government for the first three years, administrators had to arrange many tasks to fit together and make sure the program was operational as soon as the semester started. Another important task for these administrators was to help policy makers recognise the potential and importance of distance education, so they could begin obtaining and re-allocating funding to continue this program once the government financial assistance ended.
Learning environment
Learning environment plays a vital role in any kind of educational organisation; in distance education, it deserves even more attention. In our program, the real time interactive distance teaching took place in a 120-seat lecture theatre. Since the program was delivered via video conferencing, students at two different sites had to attend the class at certain times and fixed locations. To take advantage of such a setting, instructional designers should design activities that involve interaction among the members of each group and with groups at other sites. In addition, mass instruction is another advantage of this distance teaching mode because of its cost-effectiveness; however, this might make interaction even more important, otherwise, such distance teaching would not be any more effective than the one-way televised instruction so popular years ago. To eliminate problems caused by disconnected telephone lines, we made copies of taped class lectures for students whenever they might need them. Students could study them during open hours at the audiovisual centre located near the distance teaching theatre.
Evaluation
To obtain "quality education", instructors must consider the feedback of students. In this program, students' evaluation was taken seriously as feed forward for improving the program next time. In order to understand the pros and cons of the ATM video network system for the delivery of teaching programs between National Chung Cheng University and National Cheng Kung University, we developed a questionnaire and conducted a survey at the end of the semester. The instrument was developed to understand students' perceptions of this medium and improve its use. The subjects consisted of 242 students enrolled in two courses--"Relationships between the Sexes" offered by National Chung Cheng University and "Introduction to Medicine" offered by National Cheng Kung University. There was a total of 131 students in the remote classrooms and 111 were in the broadcast classrooms.
The instrument
The instrument was developed by several members of the research team, sponsored by the Ministry of Education. The set of items designed for this questionnaire was reviewed by all the research team, including members with expertise in questionnaire development and program evaluation. Specifically, there were three parts in this instrument. Part A consisted of 14 items on a five-point Likert scale using "Very Satisfied (5)", "Satisfied (4)", "OK (3)", "Dissatisfied (2)", and "Very Dissatisfied (1)". Part B and Part C requested responses, respectively, to questions about the effectiveness of the ATM video network system and whether students would want to join another real time interactive distance teaching class the next time one is offered (Appendix I).
Results and discussion: Instrument (Part A)
Responses to the perception questionnaire of Part A were grouped according to several basic factors; namely, learning materials (items 1-3), learning environment (items 4 -7), interaction (items 8-12), support staff (item 13), and overall evaluation (item 14). Table 1 lists the factors represented by the items in the perception questionnaire. Each will be discussed separately in the following section.
Table 1: Designation of items to factors relating to items in the perceptions instrument
|
| Factor |
| Item |
|
Learning
materials |
1.
2.
3. | presentation of learning materials
instructors' use of the instructional media
learning materials provided by instructors |
|
Learning
environment |
4.
5.
6.
7. | environment of the distance teaching classroom
quality of video presentation
quality of audio presentation
use of microphone to get instructor's attention |
|
Interaction
Support staff | 8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13. |
interaction between students and instructors
interaction between students of different sites
feedback provided by instructors
more attention given to students in remote sites
after-class contacts provided by instructors
support provided by technicians |
|
| Overall evaluation | 14. | overall evaluation of this program |
|
Learning material factor
Table 2 shows the number and percentage of students who were satisfied/dissatisfied with the learning materials factor in the real time interactive distance teaching program. Regarding the presentation of learning materials, more students in the broadcast classrooms showed higher satisfaction than those in the remote classrooms (14.41:5.34). This phenomenon appeared in the other two items as well. Students in the broadcast classrooms reported a higher degree of satisfaction than those in the remote classrooms concerning issues such as the way instructors used the instructional media and the learning materials provided by instructors. The percentages were 15.32:6.11 and 13.51:3.82, respectively.
Table 2: Results of student responses to the learning materials factor
|
Item\
Scale |
| Strongly
satisfied |
Satisfied | OK | Dissatisfied |
Strongly
dissatisfied |
|
|
| N |
% | N | % | N | % |
N | % | N | % |
|
| 1 | Broadcast
Remote |
16
7 | 14.41
5.34 | 70
70 |
63.06
53.44 | 23
50 | 20.72
38.17 |
2
4 | 1.80
3.05 | 0
0 | 0
0 |
| 2 | Broadcast
Remote |
17
8 | 15.32
6.11 | 65
76 |
58.56
58.02 | 28
44 | 25.23
33.59 |
1
3 | 0.90
2.29 | 0
0 | 0
0 |
| 3 | Broadcast
Remote |
15
5 | 13.51
3.82 | 69
69 |
62.16
52.67 | 25
52 | 22.52
39.69 |
2
5 | 1.80
3.82 | 0
0 | 0
0 |
|
| *N=111 (No. of Students in Broadcast Classrooms), N=131 (No. of Students in Remote Classrooms) |
Learning environment factor
The data shown in Table 3 suggest a big difference between students in the broadcast and remote classrooms. The overall findings are consistent with those in the first factor; that is, students in the broadcast classrooms had a more positive attitude towards the learning environment. Students in the remote classrooms felt that the quality of video and audio (items 5 & 6) was not as good as they expected, indicating that more improvement is needed even though the broadband network permits a large amount of information to be transmitted at a much faster speed compared to an ISDN system.
Table 3: Results of student responses to the learning environment factor
|
Item\
Scale |
| Strongly
satisfied |
Satisfied | OK | Dissatisfied |
Strongly
dissatisfied |
|
|
| N |
% | N | % | N | % |
N | % | N | % |
|
| 4 | Broadcast
Remote |
35
19 | 31.53
14.50 | 60
63 |
54.05
48.10 | 14
47 | 12.61
28.24 |
2
11 | 1.80
8.40 | 0
1 | 0
0.76 |
| 5 | Broadcast
Remote |
12
4 | 10.81
3.05 | 46
33 |
41.44
25.20 | 48
60 | 43.24
45.80 |
5
30 | 4.50
22.90 | 0
3 | 0
2.29 |
| 6 | Broadcast
Remote |
25
6 | 22.52
4.58 | 69
41 |
62.16
31.30 | 16
58 | 14.41
44.27 |
1
24 | 0.90
18.32 | 0
2 | 0
1.53 |
| 7 | Broadcast
Remote |
14
4 | 12.61
3.05 | 54
64 |
48.65
48.85 | 39
55 | 35.14
41.98 | 3
7 |
2.70
5.34 | 1
1 | 0.90
0.76 |
|
| *N=111 (No. of Students in Broadcast Classrooms), N=131 (No. of Students in Remote Classrooms) |
Interaction factor
Generally speaking, in Table 4 we find that most students, including those in the broadcast and remote classrooms, were fairly satisfied with issues concerning interaction with the instructor, feedback provided by the instructor, and attention given to students at the remote sites. On the other hand, students at the remote sites were more likely to feel that interaction with students at different sites and after-class contacts with the instructor (item 9 and 12) were insufficient. This finding may reveal that students at the remote sites felt isolated and insecure in the absence of an on-site instructor, and that they might need more peer interaction and more contacts with the instructor to compensate for what they had lost in the class. This psychological factor needs to be further explored.
Table 4: Results of student responses to the interaction factor
|
Item\
Scale |
| Strongly
satisfied |
Satisfied | OK | Dissatisfied |
Strongly
dissatisfied |
|
|
| N |
% | N | % | N | % |
N | % | N | % |
|
| 8 | Broadcast
Remote |
9
5 | 8.10
3.82 | 44
52 |
39.64
39.69 | 48
62 | 43.24
47.33 |
5
12 | 4.50
9.16 | 5
0 | 4.50
0 |
| 9 | Broadcast
Remote |
6
3 | 5.40
2.29 | 29
35 |
26.13
26.72 | 57
57 | 51.35
43.51 | 8
30 | 7.20
22.90 | 11
6 | 9.91
4.58 |
| 10 | Broadcast
Remote |
18
7 | 16.22
5.34 | 51
61 |
45.95
45.56 | 34
46 | 30.63
35.11 |
2
9 | 1.80
6.87 | 6
8 | 5.40
6.11 |
| 11 | Broadcast
Remote |
6
6 | 5.40
4.58 | 57
52 |
51.35
39.69 | 38
60 | 34.23
45.80 | 7
11 | 6.30
8.40 | 3
2 | 2.70
1.53 |
| 12 | Broadcast
Remote |
3
4 | 2.70
3.05 | 42
33 |
37.84
25.20 | 48
67 | 43.24
51.15 | 7
14 | 6.30
10.69 | 11
13 | 9.91
9.92 |
|
| *N=111 (No. of Students in Broadcast Classrooms), N=131 (No. of Students in Remote Classrooms) |
Support staff and overall evaluation factors
Results in Table 5 indicate that students were satisfied with the support provided by program staff and technicians; while the findings in Table 6 reveal a fairly large discrepancy between students in the broadcast classrooms and those in the remote classrooms. Most students in the broadcast classrooms showed a positive response to the overall evaluation of this program (82.88%), but only about 55 percent of students in the remote classrooms did.
Table 5: Results of student responses to the support staff factor
|
Item\
Scale |
| Strongly
satisfied |
Satisfied | OK | Dissatisfied |
Strongly
dissatisfied |
|
|
| N |
% | N | % | N | % |
N | % | N | % |
|
| 13 | Broadcast
Remote |
14
8 | 12.61
6.11 | 65
76 |
58.56
58.02 | 29
41 | 26.13
31.30 |
2
5 | 1.80
3.82 | 1
1 | 0.90
0.76 |
|
| *N=111 (No. of Students in Broadcast Classrooms), N=131 (No. of Students in Remote Classrooms) |
Table 6: Results of student responses on the overall evaluation
|
Item\
Scale |
| Strongly
satisfied |
Satisfied | OK | Dissatisfied |
Strongly
dissatisfied |
|
|
| N |
% | N | % | N | % |
N | % | N | % |
|
| 14 | Broadcast
Remote |
12
6 | 10.81
4.58 | 80
67 |
72.07
51.15 | 18
54 | 16.22
41.22 |
1
3 | 0.90
2.29 | 0
1 | 0
0.76 |
|
| *N=111 (No. of Students in Broadcast Classrooms), N=131 (No. of Students in Remote Classrooms) |
Results and Discussion: Instrument (Part B and C)
Table 7 lists student responses to the effectiveness of real time interactive distance teaching compared to traditional teaching, and Table 8 shows their response to the
question of whether they would want to join another real time interactive distance teaching class the next time one is offered. According to the data shown in Table 7, more than half of the students felt that traditional learning was as effective as the real time interactive distance teaching; furthermore, about 28 percent of students in the remote classrooms thought that traditional teaching was more effective than real time interactive distance teaching. However, when asked if they would like to attend another real time interactive distance teaching class, most students answered in the affirmative; the percentage is 94.59 (broadcast) and 85.50 (remote). This proportion indicates that students are willing to accept this new type of teaching even though they are not completely satisfied with the factors mentioned above.
Table 7: Results of student responses to the effectiveness of real time
interactive distance teaching compared to traditional learning
Item: Do you think learning via real time interactive distance
teaching is more effective than via traditional teaching?
| Answer: |
Yes | No | Same |
|
| N |
% | N | % | N | % |
|
Broadcast
Remote |
33
24 | 29.73
18.32 | 9
36 |
8.10
27.48 | 69
71 | 62.16
54.20 |
|
| *N=111 (No. of Students in Broadcast Classrooms), N=131 (No. of Students in Remote Classrooms) |
Table 8: Results of student responses to the question of whether they would want to join another real time interactive distance teaching class the next time one is offered.
Item: Will you join another real time interactive distance
teaching program if one becomes available?
| Answer: |
Yes | No |
|
| N |
% | N | % |
|
Broadcast
Remote |
105
112 | 94.59
85.50 | 6
19 |
5.41
14.50 |
|
| *N=111 (No. of Students in Broadcast Classrooms), N=131 (No. of Students in Remote Classrooms) |
Conclusion and further suggestions
As many researchers have suggested, applications of technologies depend on the particular learning context. In the case of a real time interactive distance teaching situation, planning and implementing active learning strategies as well as delivery systems into the instruction is essential to participants. The results mentioned above indicate that, compared with those in the broadcast classrooms, students in the remote classrooms showed a higher percentage of dissatisfaction in the following areas: presentation of learning materials, the learning environment in general, interaction between students and instructor, learning achievement, etc. We all understand that technological advances bring convenience, but what we really need is effectiveness. The ultimate goal of using technology is to change traditional teaching methods and, moreover, to improve the quality of teaching and learning.
While many educators claim that interactive technology is merely a high cost extension of print and television media, we, as one of the institutions employing this technology in distance learning, must carefully review what we have done with it. This review must include analysis of cost-effectiveness as well as student feedback in order to improve our distance teaching strategies. The cost-effectiveness will be carefully and critically analysed in the report of next year, while in this year, the focus is the student feedback.
We have found that students at the remote sites demanded higher standards on most of the items in the survey. From a psychological viewpoint, this phenomenon could be interpreted as that those students might feel isolated and insecure in the absence of an on-site instructor, and that more interaction and contacts with the instructor and other students is urgently needed. If we take this psychological factor into account, what we should do first for the next-year follow up study is to provide even more interaction channels for students, such as adding up the asynchronous learning environment medium - web page, so students will have an alternative to seek assistance. Besides, how to improve the visual content layouts and adjust the image arrangement via the video mixer so that the remote site students can see the instructor all the time will also be seriously considered.
Technology will deeply affect educational institutions. Distance education, as a pioneer in the uses of technology, should not only adapt to the possibilities of advanced technology, but modify its existing structures so as to perform the tasks of lifelong learning. On the other hand, it is obvious that no single educational institution can afford such an investment from a single annual operating budget. Therefore, this technology infrastructure should be financed through a long-term carefully-reviewed plan. Specifically, collaboration within all of public and private higher education and within the public schools, as well as within other large agencies of government or the private sector, will be essential in building and operating the necessary nationwide networks.
Appendix I: Questionnaire
This questionnaire asks you to describe the real time interactive distance teaching program that you have attended this semester. Please read each item carefully and circle one number corresponding to your answer from "Very Satisfied (5)", "Satisfied (4)", "OK (3)", "Dissatisfied (2)", to "Very Dissatisfied (1)".
Part A: How do you feel about the following situations in your video-conference class? Please select a number from "5" to "1" with " " corresponding to your perceptions.
|
|
Strongly
satisfied |
Satisfied | OK |
Dissatisfied |
Strongly
dissatisfied |
|
| 1. | presentation of learning materials |
5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| 2. | instructors use the instructional media |
5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| 3. | learning materials provided by instructors |
5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| 4. | the environment of the real time distance teaching classroom |
5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| 5. | video quality |
5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| 6. | audio quality |
5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| 7. | use of microphone to get instructor's attention |
5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| 8. | interactions between students and instructors |
5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| 9. | interactions between students at different sites |
5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| 10. | feedback provided by instructors |
5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| 11. | attention given students at remote sites |
5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| 12. | after-class contacts provided by instructors |
5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| 13. | support provided by technicians |
5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| 14. | overall evaluation of this program |
5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
|
Part B: Do you think learning via the real time interactive distance teaching system is more effective than traditional learning?
YES NO SAME
Part C: Will you join another real time interactive distance teaching program if available?
YES NO
References
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Moore, M. G. & Kearsley, G. (1996). Distance Education: A Systems View. Wadsworth Publishing Company, Belmont.
Newbold, W. (1993). Strategies for computer-based distance writing courses. Paper presented at the Conference on College Composition and Communication.
Oliver R. G. (1997). Using computer-based learning environments to connect learners: Learning through collaboration, communication and talk.
Sener, J. (1996). Delivering an A. S. Engineering degree program through home study distance education. Reports of Northern Virginia Community College.
Sherry, L. (1994). Issues in Distance Learning.
Sugar, W. A. et al. (1995). World forum communications: Analyses of student and mentor inteactions. Proceedings of the 1995 Annual National Conventions of the Association for Educational Communications and Technology.
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| Author: Mei-Sheng Chao is Professor and Director at the Center for Teacher Education and Audiovisual Center at the National Chung Cheng University, Chia-Yi, Taiwan. He holds degrees from National Taiwan Normal University, Ball State University, USA and Southern Illinois University, USA. Email: ttcmsc@ccunix.ccu.edu.tw
Please cite as: Chao, Mei-Sheng (1998). The impact of a systems approach on interactive distance teaching: The development of the ATM Video Network System at National Chung Cheng University. In C. McBeath, C. McLoughlin and R. Atkinson (Eds), Planning for Progress, Partnership and Profit. Proceedings EdTech'98. Perth: Australian Society for Educational Technology. http://www.aset.org.au/confs/edtech98/pubs/articles/chao.html |
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