Somewhere something has gone terribly terribly wrong

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Somewhere something has gone terribly terribly
wrong!
1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002
Birth of the Internet
Internet comes to TAFE
Online Modules
Web Enhanced Classes
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WHO AM I?

• ESL teacher (12 years)
• 3 years teaching online
• Professional Development Officer (Online
  Learning) TAFE SA
• eLearning Coordinator (Douglas Mawson Institute
  of Technology)

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The Death of Online Education?

• Not really, but it is being transformed
• eLearning (includes ON CAMPUS web enhanced
  instruction)
• 3 day international conference and not one
  session on online education as it was initially
  conceived

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Why the transformation?

• The fully remote model
• is expensive and time (and time money) hungry
  to establish
• requires high degree of technical skill from
  teachers and students
• suits only highly motivated, independent learners
• BUT IN THE CORPORATE WORLD
• they have the money
• saves travel costs
• eg Qantas College Online

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The Dance with the Devil

• Educational institutions have the content, the
  subject expertise, and want the technology
• the corporate world has the money
• sodo we dance with the devil?
• Richard Katz, Educause

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Is Online Education a Capitalist Plot??

• Online Education will be capitals beach-head
  into education.
• - Kit Taylor (American Economics Professor, 1995)

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The Youth Factor

• Grange Primary
• School

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The Youth Factor

• 2004 the first generation of children who have
  never NOT known the Net reach high school
• 13-15 yr olds are the most wired (the baby
  boomer echoes)

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The Youth Factor

• Research on 7,000 children in USA and 1,000 in
  Canada revealed
• Most successful students online are the 13 15
  year old group.
• 78 have used the Internet to do their homework
• 60 have communicated with teachers online
• Forrester research (http//www.forrester.com/Home
  )

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Internet equalled WebCT
1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002
Internet comes to TAFE
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WebCT web course tools

• WebCT is course delivery software
• WebCT has the largest percentage of the market
  worldwide of any course delivery tool
• Butonly 15 of all online courses in North
  America use a course delivery tool

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What is possible in WebCT?

• in principal, whatever you can do on the
  Internet, you can do in WebCT
• if things dont work in WebCT it is more likely
  to be TAFE firewalls (a necessary evil?)

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What is possible in WebCT?

• Online courses (remote, or in conjunction with
  face to face classes)
• storage for course resources, assignments
• Communication Hubs

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WebCT Communication Hubs

• WebCT - not just an online tool (and not everyone
  wants to go online)
• great resource for f2f classes/workgroups
• explosion across TAFE SA

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WebCT Communication Hubs

• WebCT was designed as an online course delivery
  tool
• early adopters designed and delivered content
• how can you use this with f2f classes?
• What if you just use a homepage
• for storing resources/documents?
• plus communication tools and links?

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WebCT Communication Hubs

• And so the concept of hubs was born
• Uses
• f2f delivery and distance delivery
• professional development projects
• workgroup communication across campuses

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WebCT Communication Hubs

• Face to face teaching
• discussion and chat
• class homepage
• student pix and bios
• a sense of place/a home on the Internet
• links to resources

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Multimedia in WebCT?

• Sound (music and voice)
• Flash animation
• sophisticated chat
• webcasts

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What is possible in WebCT?
Can it take you to the tops of mountains?
NO!
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What is possible in WebCT?
Can it give you the peace of a sunset?
NO!
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What is possible in WebCT?

• Can it give you the opportunity to provide an
  educational experience that is
• relevant?
• current?
• potentially inspiring?
• learner focused?

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What is possible in WebCT?

• Can it give you the satisfaction of knowing that
  you have given students the skills they may need
  to take their place in the community as happy,
  successful people?

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YES!!!
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from smoke signals to the Internet

• Man - the compulsive communicator
• (David Attenborough)

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THANK YOU michaelc_at_tafe.sa.edu.au This
presentation on the web at http//www.chariot.net
.au/michaelc/tvikeynote/index.htm