Press Room

Long Distance Education
by Donna Morrison

The story of distance education in the Early Childhood Department at Red Deer College is one of a dynamic process that grew and changed in response to the evolving needs of students and the field, and to an widespread increased focus on technology. I have retraced our steps, to consider and share what we have learned.

The first distance education plans began more than twelve years ago. The department began an outreach program to serve individuals in communities within a two hour driving radius of Red Deer. Although the idea of meeting student's training needs in their home communities was new to us, courses were taught in a traditional manner – one three-hour class a week, held in the evenings to accommodate working students. Because we also made practicum courses available to students in their work places, they were able to complete the early childhood program without leaving their communities.

Decreasing student funding opportunities, increasing tuition fees and travel costs, and low child care wages resulted in reduced class sizes in the outreach program. We were faced with new financial and logistical challenges. Simultaneously, there was growing excitement about the potential of using technology for course delivery. We were tempted to jump right in with computer-assisted learning. Fortunately, we engaged our college research department to conduct a survey to discover what our students wanted. The survey results indicated that only a handful of students had access to computers and the majority had no interest in using one!

Our next step involved a multi-faceted distance learning approach in which we incorporated full-day Saturday seminars at the college, audio conferencing sessions in local community sites between seminars and print-based home study modules. Although there have been ongoing changes in the design and number of modules and seminars, as well as the move from group teleconferences to home-based telephone audio conferencing, this program continues to effectively meet the learning needs of students.

ECD working students enjoy the classroom interaction in three seminars each term. They tell us they need some face-to-face instruction, but also appreciate less evening travel after a busy day at work, and more independence in planning around their busy lives. In recent years, we have seen an increase in full-time on-campus students in these classes, who also benefit from the flexibility of the delivery.

Although many students continued to be comfortable with this distance learning approach, the promise of better delivery by using more technology captured the faculty’s imagination – the college was becoming increasingly technological and our department was eager to get involved with new delivery options. In retrospect, we were wise to begin with option courses available to both our second year on-campus students and to off-campus part-time students.

We developed educationally sound print-based modules, supported by an introductory and a mid-term seminar. We established weekly communication between instructors and students, including student to student dialogue, through a college USENET system. We incorporated web-based research and set up tasks to increase student comfort levels with using the Internet as a resource. In the alternate delivery outreach program for second year students, we replaced teleconference communication with weekly Internet communications. This move created few ripples, as more distance students now owned personal computers, were more computer literate and were less computer phobic. We are now beginning to phase in Internet communication in first year outreach courses.

Computer-assisted learning increased student interest. After a good deal of experimentation, the institution adopted the college-wide use of WebCT as software to support alternate delivery and distance education. The transition was relatively easy for both instructors and students, because web-based technology was much easier to use than USENET. The college created a technology lab with staff and equipment to assist instructors; however, the major course design using WebCT rests with the instructors. ECD faculty experience challenges in designing courses, so we are proceeding slowly. Last fall we put all our first and second year on-campus courses on WebCT. We used the program to post grades, and to begin experimenting with online tasks and communication tools to support regular on-campus face-to-face course work. WebCT has lots of expansion potential in our delivery system and the department is open to seeking those possibilities and including students from all over the world to join us.

As enthralled as we may be with alternate delivery using technology, we remain vigilant to ensure that delivery systems match the courses we deliver and match the audiences we serve. For example, we deliver an option course called Aboriginal Children and Families. It was developed following an in-depth needs assessment in which we interviewed individuals involved in delivering such programs both on and off the surrounding First Nations reserves. Feedback clearly indicated that computer technology would not be helpful in delivering this course at this time. Therefore, we designed print-based modules, supported by bi-weekly teleconference communication. The course is taught to students from across the country by an instructor who lives in Vancouver.

We have also offer to teach the ECD program to the day care staff in two different First Nations communities. The child care centres operate four days a week and the staff become students in full-day Friday classes each week. There is a great need in these communities for trained staff and we are currently in negotiations with other reserves to deliver courses in programs that will meet their unique needs. These are exciting outreach projects in which instruction and learning are integrated with the Aboriginal communities and directly relevant to both children and families.

Six Lessons Learned
We learned the following lessons through our distance education experiences.
1. Move slowly and carefully. This has been the most important aspect of our alternate delivery distance program. We have tried to keep a gentle learning curve for students, helping them to build on their successes and moving them forward with new technological strategies as they are ready for the next steps. Although we try hard to keep up with the speed of technological change, we take time for a thoughtful review of the issues, as they relate to our situation, before we act. Student "buy-in" is essential to this process.
2. Remain committed to the basic tenets of student-teacher relationships. Although we may be tempted to get caught up in the glamour and allure of technology, we must use technology to serve the needs of students, rather than make our students fit our technological vision. There are many appropriate forms of distance education, some very traditional in delivery and still highly effective. Interpersonal relationships between instructors and students are fundamental to effective learning and can be successfully facilitated in all types of distance learning environments.
3. Seize new opportunities and seek out appropriate resources. Although we don't want to overwhelm students, we do want to take advantage of new technology and keep our program dynamic. We encourage faculty to embrace new ways of doing things and to do so with passion. Our department is encouraged and supported by a college system with similar goals and values and by many resources – workshops, conferences and Internet resources. We need to learn to use these resources effectively and efficiently.
4. Involve on-campus students in alternate delivery experiences. In this age of technology, it is beneficial for everyone to engage in the newest forms of educational delivery, because they will become increasingly important in the future. By designing courses to include on-campus students, we can track their progress. In the pilot programs, it has been helpful to problem-solve with them, face-to-face, when they experience glitches. It has also been effective to provide interaction opportunities to both full-time, on-campus students and part-time, off-campus students.
5. Be prepared to live with ambiguity. We continually learn the importance of hands-on discovery from children. This is also the case with distance education. Although it is important to consider which pathway we will take before we forge onward, we cannot allow ourselves to become immobilized by fear of technology or by worry that we may make mistakes. We will make mistakes, but we will learn from them and improve.
6. Gather feedback on an ongoing basis. To be responsive to our students, we must continue to seek their input on what works and what does not. We need to make revisions in our delivery systems to meet their changing needs and to address child care needs in individual communities. Students have to trust that we will make adjustments based on their feedback, and we must trust them to give us their honest opinions.

Implementing an effective distance learning program involves balancing the tensions – moving forward slowly, but fast enough to keep up to the pace of technological change; being responsive to students and prepared to make changes, while not totally eliminating traditional delivery systems. My best advice for getting ready for the journey is to remain flexible and open-minded about the possibilities, while still being reflective about the learning needs of individual students. Although it is a bumpy journey for most of us, it is worth the struggles along the way. We look forward to continuing down this road and invite those on a similar one to share their experiences.

Dr. Donna Morrison is an instructor and the chair of the Early Childhood Development Department at Red Deer College in Red Deer, Alberta.