the computer, keeping detailed records on student performance
and using these records in making decisions about what is next to be presented
to the student.
In our
traditional learning environments, some students learn and some do not.
It is this second group of students that we want to help.
problem of almost all modern learning is the lecture, a noninteractive
way of learning
, on a moment-to-moment basis, just what the
student knows and just what learning problems are occurring
It begins immediately with
a question, with no preceding text.
experience the joy of
discovery.
tutorial approach
to learning makes it possible for everyone to learn.
critical factor
is that we can react to individual student problems
key concept for
structuring highly interactive learning experiences is the Benjamin Bloom
concept of mastery learning.
goal is for everyone to learn everything
to the mastery level, grades will no longer be useful
A student who has not learned in one
way probably needs a different approach, rather than another go-round
with the material that was not previously successful in assisting learning.
In such an environment,
learning and evaluation are no longer separate activities but are part
of the same process, intimately blended. So the student is not conscious
of taking tests, and we avoid the problems of cheating.
highly interactive learning is intrinsically motivating.
Motivation is particularly important in a distance-learning environment,
since none of the "threats" of the classroom, such as low grades, are
available.
mastery-based computer
segment could also offer human contact. Small groups could work together,
either locally or remotely via electronic communication.
existing authoring systems. Since they were, and
still are, mostly directed toward supplying information, these were inadequate
for creating highly interactive software.
Bertrand Ibrahim at the University
of Geneva,
omputer stores much of the information as the students
progress through the material.
Teaching
faculty, in the sense that we know them today, may cease to exist, except
for in smaller, advanced courses. But their skills and experiences will
be important in the design of learning modules.
High costs of development
can lead to low costs per student, if many students use the material.
$30,000 per student-hour of high-quality learning
material
highly
effective highly interactive distance-learning courses would have a large
potential market, making them much cheaper per student than current courses,
and if well developed, they will be much superior for almost all students
The typical approach is to give some released time to faculty and to give
limited support for programming and media production. It is unlikely,
almost impossible, that good learning material will be developed this
way.
Universities are
too stuck in their current ways of doing things to be able to compete
with well-developed material from "outside." Most university faculty and
administrators do not appreciate the current problems of learning and
so are not prepared for these future directions.