The Journal of Effective Teaching an online journal devoted to teaching excellence

Journal of Effective Teaching, Vol. 2, No. 2, 1998 PDF Version

by  Chester Goodwin
Fayetteville State University

Abstract

Most of the research on Computer Assisted Instruction has been in the area of technology. This paper details more specific challenges according to the following general categories: technological, management, and pedagogical. Integrating electronic mail (E-Mail) as a teaching tool into the delivery of a course is explained as a challenge for university teachers. The main objective of this paper is to explain how the computer can transforms relationships between university teachers and students. The student population consisted of non traditional military students from Fort Bragg Military Center and both part-time and full-time attendees on the Main Campus. Close attention has been given to the use of computer based technology to enable a communication channel between two or more parties and how it can alter our relation to knowledge and indeed, reshape our notion of knowledge itself as a process of understanding.
 

Key words: E-mail, CAI, Teaching

Introduction

The computer has the impact of an elemental force. Characterized by explosive growth and constant, rapidly accelerating change, it exhibits the self-organizing behavior typical of complex systems such as expert systems (ES). The ES attempts to represent the knowledge of human experts in the form of heuristics. On the other hand, E-Mail is the use of a computer network that allows users to send, store, and receive messages using terminals and storage devices. On the other hand, E-Mail is the use of a computer network that allows users to send, store, and receive messages using terminals and storage devices. Integrating electronic mail (E-Mail) as a teaching tool into the delivery of a course is not a simple task, but it need not be a daunting one. With conscientious planning, coordination with institutional resources, preparation of training materials, and flexible responses to student learning an instructor can readily succeed.

In 1989, the World Wide Web (WWW) was created [1]. However, remarkably, the Web as a public phenomenon isn't quite three years old: it was in September 1993 that an early version of NCSA's Mosaic, the first graphical browser, was released for large-scale public testing. Today the computer can transform relationships between teachers and students; it can alter our relation to knowledge and indeed, reshape our notion of knowledge itself as a process of understanding [2].

The author's research is associated with Management Information Systems courses housed in the School of Business and Economics. The educational terms programmed by the respective institution span sixteen-week semesters and eight-week terms. The students involved in the courses have been undergraduate students, ranging from freshmen to graduating seniors, and were comprised of both part-time and full-time attendees on the Main Campus and The Fort Bragg Military Center.

The sample size was 348. Both male and female participated in the project. Females and non-tradition students represented the largest group in the sample. The compositions of the sample was 74% female and 36 % male. The composition of the type student was non-traditional 65% and tradition 35%.

The author's military experience teaching E-mail to heterogeneous groups on a term basis at Fort Bragg in information technology confirmed research done by Jarveenpaa at Texas-Austin. The author realized that language and culture had an impact on how this group used E-mail. However, the entire sample spoke the English language very well. This experience dealing with soldiers from around the world gives the author experiences in computer based technology course implementation that address heterogeneous groups of people at all levels of undergraduate students under differing media richness and course timelines.

Computer Based Technology Choice

E-mail was the initial computer based technology of choice in the courses. As with many situations relying upon information technology, a number of different configurations in terms of hardware and application software packages were available for use by the students in the courses. The hardware platforms for e-mail access included microcomputers as part of a local area network (LAN) in a university lab, and off-campus microcomputers with modem connections to university computing resources. The most heavily used e-mail software applications included Pegasus, and Eudora.

The researcher used e-mail as part of the course delivery mechanism in management classes (e.g., Management of Data Communications, and Introduction to Management Information Systems). E-mail was used as a means of supporting small group conferences on assigned topics, a vehicle for communication among members of the class, and a mechanism for individual students to communicate with the instructor. The Instructor typically provided introductory training (e.g., hands-on training or help guides) in e-mail application usage to the students during some portion of the first two weeks of the course [3].

Challenge For the Instructor

Changes in course delivery methods can challenge the teaching abilities of even the most experienced instructor [4]. The task of integrating e-mail usage into the author's courses as a supplementary instructional resource was no exception to this rule. Overall, experiences indicated that an instructor's knowledge of the university computer systems and computing infrastructure (e.g., modem settings, dial-up phone numbers, help resources -- documents and people) had a direct bearing on how successfully e-mail usage was integrated into a course [5]. Instructors need to know enough about the university computing resources and infrastructure so that they can understand, explain, and perhaps resolve student problems in a LAN environment [6]. Details about more specific challenges are discussed according to the following general categories: technological, management, and pedagogical.

Technological Problems

These problems tend to greatly influence the outcomes of using e-mail in a course, yet are some of the most difficult for an instructor to address. Instructors can take preventative steps to mitigate some of the technological problems by wisely planning for the use of e-mail in the course. Keeping communication lines open with the area's Information Systems (IS) provider or technical support staff is critical for influencing the amount of technological problems and developing an appropriate response to the problems. Instructors need to rely upon the IS provider or technical support staff for accurate information regarding the use of IS tools and for trouble-shooting expertise [7].

During the fall semester 1996, Hurricane Fran hit our school and Local and widespread network outages that send e-mail messages into a "never-never-land" cause confusion and frustration among students trying to complete computer-based assignments and/or access course information [2]. Unexpected cessation of computer service due to poor backup and security disrupt the ability of students to submit work in a timely fashion. Course usage of e-mail works best in a systems environment that can reliably provide 20-24 hours of access per day, 7 days a week, augmented by on-line help manuals or phone-line help desks.

Lab facilities are usually scattered throughout the campus, dial-in access through phone lines and modem connections is readily available, and at times students may have direct campus network access available in dormitories [2].

Management Problems

Universal access to computer accounts on college campuses is a goal of most IS functions at the institutions, but is rarely the reality [2]. As dollar costs of resource utilization continue to climb, most educational institutions are restricting the privilege of a computer account to currently registered students. Often, at the beginning of a term, there is a mismatch between the students registered in a class and the allocated computer accounts -- in other words, there may be students in the class who for one reason or another do not have a computer account or may already have an account from another class.. Sometimes this can be merely a short time delay where the computer accounts for newly registered students will be created in the first week of the term, but other cases may result in time delays of 2-3 weeks while the details of getting a new account allocated for the special circumstances of the student are worked out. A closely related issue to that of computer accounts is the required password for access to the account. It is a common occurrence for new or infrequent users of computer technology to forget the password required to access the computer resources. Security procedures guiding the establishment of a new password vary by locality, but can take anywhere from 1 day to 1 week to produce a new password. Course usage of e-mail needs to allow for some slack in the beginning of the term for resolution of these types of problems.

Pedagogical problems

The issue of how a student can obtain on-going help while using e-mail for the course should also be addressed during the initial training session. A strategy to consider is to pair more experienced students with less experienced students during the initial stages of e-mail usage. In this way, students can learn from each other about how to use the technology. Short help guides are also invaluable resources to students during the initial training sessions and subsequent use periods. Also, instructors lacking e-mail usage competence or confidence should rectify the situation.

Some students frequently use e-mail as a communication medium and experience no difficulties with the required use during the course. At the opposite end of the continuum are students who do not understand the basic workings of computers nor the concept of electronic Messaging inherent in e-mail applications. A wise instructor will adjust early lessons such that emphasis is placed on encouraging students to use the technology rather than expecting high quality outcomes. Special help sessions or tutorials may need to be held to accommodate the needs of students with less experience. Instructors must make every attempt to raise the comfort level of students using e-mail so that frustrations in use do not prompt overt resistance to course assignments.

Class notes can be posted in a central location or mailed to all students prior to class sessions. Answers to questions raised in class can be distributed within hours of the class session instead of waiting for the next class meeting. E-mail can enable students to easily contact the instructor when concerns in the learning process occur [8].

Conclusion

In all of my classes, a rationale for using e-mail was to provide students with a different forum for discussion than the traditional classroom. The instructor will still have control over that availability. Perhaps the most important lesson is that the e-mail extended the time available for class discussion. In many of my classes, this has resulted in very interesting and insightful issues being raised and addressed by the students, rather than at the initiative of the instructor. In my opinion, these advantages in the learning process far outweigh the disadvantages encountered in using e-mail as a computer based technology tool in the classroom.

References

1. Schultz, B. (1988) The Evolution of ARPANET, Datamation , V 34, pp. 71-74. R

2. Miller, T. (1987) Staying alive in the Jungle, On-line Access, V 12, pp. 47. R

3. Goodwin, C. And Kean, D. (1985) Scholastic Aptitude Test Preparation: The Effect of Computer-Assisted Instruction. Explorations In Education, V 21, pp. 5-8. R

4. Goodwin, C. And Tavakoli, A. (1989) Managing Tech: Effect of Instructional Software,
Proceeding of the North American Conference of the International Business Schools Computer Users Group, July 1989, Hershey, PA, pp. 66-69. R

5. Goodwin, C. (1997) Computer Literacy Laboratory Manual., 2 Ed.
Thomco Inc. Publishing, Columbia, SC. R

6. Goodwin, C. (1994) Computer Assisted Advising: The Effect of Barriers. The Excelsiorgraph. V 1. No. 2 Spring. R

7. Johnson, J. (1996) The Information Superhighway a Worst-case Scenario, Communications of The ACM , V 39, pp. 15-17. R

8. Holmes (gholmes@vt.edu) and Williams-Green (ijwillia@vt.edu) (1998) Virginia Tech Introduction to WEB Based Instruction. R

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