Paper to the AECS Conference: Re-Thinking Distance Learning for the Next Millennium, Vienna, 24-26 June 1999
NKI is one of the largest non-governmental educational institutions in Norway. NKI comprises The Polytechnic College, NKI Distance Education, the Business Training Centre (NA) and The NKI Publishing House. A further presentation of NKI is available at URL: http://www.nki.no
NKI Distance Education offers more than 60 distance education programmes and more than 300 courses, mainly in technical and vocational subjects. It has about 15,000 students. An extensive network of local partners around the country is established to offer face-to-face classes to support the distance students. The distance education tutors are part-time employees recruited from business, industry, schools and colleges around the country. 'The Electronic College' (in Norwegian 'Nettskolen') is the metaphor and registered brand name for the Internet based courses and study programmes offered by NKI Distance Education.
The Polytechnic College was established in 1995 as a merger between to two NKI colleges, The NKI College of Engineering and the College of Computer Science. In addition to its ordinary two- and three-year full time programmes, it offers three one-year, part-time programmes in information processing, 'Administrative Computing', 'Programming and system analysis' and 'Information Networks'. These part-time programmes have been offered in three modes: face-to-face classes, correspondence courses and/or as Internet studies by the Electronic College (Nettskolen). From 1999 NKI Distance Education has decided to stop enrolling students for the correspondence study alternative of these programmes. The decision was taken because of evident success in enrolling students to Internet based learning rather than correspondence study based learning and the students' favourable attitudes towards studying on the Internet.
The Electronic College is designed so that distance students can do all their communication online. In contrast, many of the internationally renowned implementations of 'electronic colleges' are actually using computer conferencing as a supplement to correspondence courses or on-campus teaching. The philosophy of the NKI Electronic College has always been to offer programmes that are independent of time and space through a system that facilitates flexible communication for administrative, social, and teaching purposes
Since the first courses were delivered in 1987, we have distinguished between three technological generations of the NKI Electronic College. The first generation system, which was based on the 'EKKO computer conferencing' system developed at NKI (Paulsen & Rekkedal 1990), was in operation from 1987 to 1993. The second generation, which was Internet based, started in January 1994. The first and second generation experiences are documented in an OECD report (Paulsen and Rekkedal 1996) and in several articles available at http://www.nettskolen.com/alle/forskning/
The third generation comprises web-based courses introduced in 1996.
"There is little doubt that the Web is the most phenomenally successful educational tool to have appeared in a long time" (Mason 1998). Keegan (1999) cites Mason's statement and also argues that web based education is a subset of distance education and that skills, literature and management decisions developed within distance education are applicable to web based education. Today, web based education is growing faster than any other educational technology (Crossman 1997), specifically at tertiary level. There is good reason that NKI, as a dedicated distance teaching institution, has been strongly involved in developing and researching on computer mediated communication. Recently, efforts have been concentrated on developing courses and didactics for Internet/WWW based education at both secondary and tertiary level (see e.g. Rekkedal 1990, Paulsen 1992, Paulsen 1998, Paulsen & Rekkedal 1990, Paulsen & Rekkedal 1996, Rekkedal & Paulsen 1997).
During a quite long phase of transition from a 2nd generation to a 3rd generation distance teaching institution (to use an often applied metaphor of distance education based on print and audio visual media changing to apply computer based multi-media communication technologies (Garrison 1986, Nipper 1989)), strategic policy research (Bates 1993) may constitute one basis for decisions on how and when to introduce changes in the teaching and learning system. This research may focus on market developments concerning attitudes and access to technology, as well as research on faculty and administration attitudes, perceptions and skills.
The project reported here focused on perceptions of and access to computers and the Internet, experiences in using the technology among active distance students taking courses not applying the WWW, and prospective distance students.
Although NKI has offered distance education via computer mediated communication for more that 10 years, it seems that the market has been ready mainly for courses and study programmes in information technology - specifically at college and university level. This project aimed at examining attitudes to Internet courses among distance students in general and among people interested in further education and training.
Two groups were selected for the survey, a group of newly enrolled distance students and a group of prospective students who had approached NKI for information on distance learning possibilities.
As in most other industrial countries there is in Norway a broad political consensus on the need for life-long learning and continuous competence development of the total population. The Competence Reform Report No. 42 to the Storting (1997-98) (KUF 1997, KUF 1998) presents the principles and challenges of life long learning for the total population. Some focal principles of the reform involve specific challenges for distance education institutions. Among other points of interest, it is stressed that: "The enormous possibilities of the new information and communication technologies should be exploited to a maximum in the competency reform."
Thus, this study was designed to look into barriers to distance learning, with main emphasis on attitudes towards the new technologies, specifically towards computing and the Internet, access to technology, and experience in using the technology.
Statistics on access to technology do exist, which indicates that Norway is a world leader concerning access to and application of the Internet. Norsk Gallup believes that the number of Internet users will pass 1.4 million during 1999. It is estimated that 600,000 households will have Internet connections in December 1999. It is supposed that Norway will have 2 million Internet users in December 2001. At that time 'the late majority' will be connected to the Internet (Norsk Gallup 1999).
Related to the above considerations, we decided that prospective distance students and active distance students would constitute important sources for information on barriers to enrolment in distance study, generally, and motivation and/or barriers concerning enrolment in Internet-based distance study, specifically. Thus, the respondents of the surveys represent two different groups, people who actually have taken the decision of embarking on distance study (involvement in distance study) and people who have approached NKI for information on distance study (interest in distance study).
We decided to carry out surveys based on questionnaires sent by mail. In designing the questionnaire we applied a stepwise procedure. The research group discussed the research problems and focus of the research to decide on possible questions to include. Some questions were taken from previous surveys among Internet students at NKI (see e.g. Rekkedal 1998a, 1998b). We also carried out a semi-structured group interview with a small group of correspondence students on reasons for not choosing Internet-based distance study. The results from the group interview have been published on the NKI public Internet pages (Rekkedal 1998c, Rekkedal et al. 1998). The questionnaires were distributed in the beginning of December 1998.
Concerning the student survey, the main aim was to cover a broad group of active distance students taking courses not on the Internet. A questionnaire was distributed to 1472 students. A parallel survey was carried out by distributing a questionnaire to 1000 prospective students.
Both surveys gave a total response rate of approximately 30%. There is no doubt that these quite low response rates may lead to serious difficulties in deciding to which extent the respondents really are representative for the groups that we wished to examine. One way of checking whether the respondents represent a biased group is to interview a randomly selected number of non-respondents. Borg & Gall (1989) recommend that 20 case interviews would constitute a good basis for judging possible biases. In our case, we found that the pre-survey group interview to some extent has supported that there is reason to believe that the survey results are not necessarily especially biased.
In this paper the results from the two surveys among students and prospective students are presented together.
Table 1. Access to a PC and the Internet (Percentages)
The results show clearly that distance students and prospective students differ from the population as a whole concerning access the Internet and access rate is at a similar level in the two groups (although, in fact somewhat higher in the prospective student group).
We consider this to be a quite surprising finding. More than 60% of the prospective students have access from home or work or both, 39% have access to the Internet at work (among students, 33%), and 40% have access at home (among students, 37%). 40% access rate to the Internet from home is significantly higher than in the Norwegian population. As more men than women have access, and women were, in fact, over-represented in the survey, the real difference could probably be even larger than indicated by the sheer numbers.
Table 2. Do you use a PC?
The figures on rate of PC use show clearly that some of the respondents in both groups having access to a PC do not actually use it. The general impression from the analyses is that there are some students, specifically women 35 years and older, who might have both PC and access to the Internet at home, which is used mainly by the spouse or perhaps more often by the teenager child. The use of PCs at work and/or at home is also very similar among the students and the prospective students. Only around 20% of the respondents in both groups state that they do not use a PC either at work or at home.
The frequency of use also seems to be very similar in the two groups. Only 11-12 % say that they never use a PC, a large majority uses the PC frequently, 65% in both groups use a PC weekly or daily. It seems that for the large majority of both distance students and prospective distance students a possible lack of experience in using a PC, is not a major barrier to studies on the Internet. When discussing PC use and the Internet, we have been concerned that many students and prospective students are not used to use a keyboard and prefer handwriting. The answers in both groups show a large majority (65% of the students and 72% of the prospective students) prefers to use a PC when writing.
The survey among prospective students included some general questions on barriers to enrolment in distance education and specific questions on knowledge about, interest in and the suitability of studies on the Internet. The active students were asked whether they would have enrolled in and Internet-based learning programme if that had been the only choice, and possible reasons for not considering Internet based learning.
Generally, we found that both the active students and prospective students valued the same aspects of distance study, that the studies are part time, at they can start at any time and choose their own pace.
We also found that nearly 60% of the students said that they "absolutely certain or probably" would have enrolled if the programme required use of a PC and communication on the Internet. Those, who are negative, mainly emphasise that they do not have access to a PC and the Internet at home (and cannot afford to buy a PC in the near future), and, in fact also, that "correspondence study functions just fine for me".
The majority of the prospective students (60%) answer that when making contact with NKI, they were interested in correspondence study, while 27% were interested in studies on the Internet (possibility of ticking both alternatives). It also seemed clear that many of the prospective students do not really know enough about what Internet studies are and what it demands from them. It should be noted that more than 80 percent said that correspondence study "suits me fine". More than 50% said the same about Internet-based learning. A large majority of those who said that Internet studies were suitable were equally positive towards correspondence study.
One main part of the surveys and the analyses was to look into interrelationships between demographic variables, such as age, gender, previous educational level and domestic background, and access to personal computing and to the Internet, and attitudes and experiences concerning the use of PCs and preference for using a PC when writing. Among the active students we also looked at relationships between study programme and access, attitudes to and experiences with computers and the Internet.
The correlations gave generally clear and statistical significant relationships. Firstly, in the student survey we found that access to a PC and the Internet and frequency and preference of use varied greatly between different study programmes. However, it is also clear that these relationships follow the recruitment patterns to different types of study programmes. Students in technical subject programmes and programmes recruiting an overrepresentation of well educated men, have a larger percentage of PC use and access to the Internet than have students in more social related subjects, and programmes with an overrepresentation of women, and lower educated young people.
Secondly, and in line with the conclusions above, there are significant correlations between gender, age and educational level, and the access and PC use variables. Women and lower educated persons are disadvantaged concerning technology access and use. Concerning gender, there are significant differences between men and women measured by all the variables of access to technology, experience in using computers and preference for technology when writing. These findings support information reported elsewhere (see e.g. Kirkup & von Prümmer 1997). Consequently, while distance education may function as a compensatory possibility for competence development for women (von Prümmer 1993), it seems quite clear that women are at some disadvantage when it comes to access and use of technology. This fact should be carefully taken into account when introducing courses depending on access to and use of computers and the Internet. However, as familiarity with information technology seems to be a general goal and also parts of aims and objectives of many educational programmes and official governmental policy, one should examine possibilities of support for women as well as for other groups with special needs.
There are also some relationships, which perhaps are not evident or immediately thought of. Access to PCs and the Internet is higher in the medium and upper age groups, probably due to the financial situation of people in a more established family and career situation, and perhaps also because they have teenage children who are active PC and Internet users. The younger age groups, both among students and prospective students, and also the lower educated persons, have the lowest access to personal computing and the Internet. Respondents with higher previous education have the highest rate of access to the Internet at work. On the other hand, this is perhaps the reason for their lower access from home than people having previously a medium level of education (student exam level or equivalent). There was practically no relationship between domestic background (measured in terms of urban/central or rural periphery) and access to and use of technology.
Thus, when planning and developing distance study programmes, whether to apply the Internet should presently be decided on a consideration of subject area, age, gender and educational level of the potential students. Concerning access, it should be considered whether access from home or at work is necessary or preferred by the students. It is not necessarily the same group of people who have access from home and from work.
This project has focused on perceptions of computers and communication technologies in distance education and on access to computers and the Internet. For different reasons the survey approached active distance students in 'low technology' courses and prospective distance students. Through a number previous of surveys and evaluation studies involving Internet students we have looked into similar questions. Technology use and access have continuously been examined among the general population. For our study we selected a sample of active distance students and a sample of prospective students when trying to examine problems concerning recruitment to distance study based on the Internet and communication technologies. The questions related to market readiness for Internet studies are of pivotal importance when deciding strategies for transforming a 'traditional' distance teaching system into a complete and coherent 'Internet-based teaching and learning system' for the 21st century.
The large majority of respondents in both samples have access to PCs either at home or at work - or both. No access is reported by less than 20%. A large percentage prefers to use a PC for writing, rather than writing by hand. More than 65% in both samples use a PC weekly or daily. Access to the Internet is much higher than in the population as a whole.
Nearly 60% of the distance students say that they certainly or probably would enrol in Internet-based studies if that were their only choice. More than 50% of the prospective students say that Internet study are suited to their needs.
Thus, concerning questions to which degree the market of distance learners is technologically prepared for study on the Internet, it seems that there is a higher proportion of distance students and prospective students with access to the Internet than among the general public in 1998/99. Other studies have also shown that access to technology seems to be higher among distance students than in the population as a whole (see e.g. Kirkwood (1997) on access to computers among the British Open University distance students).
These answers do not, however, mean than Internet studies are preferred before more traditional 'low technology' distance study. It is clear that both groups favour aspects of distance study concerned with individual freedom, non-pacing and flexibility, which can be implemented in both Internet-based and 'correspondence' based distance study. The students put less emphasis on the value of group learning and communication with fellow students relative to the aspects of individual autonomy and flexibility. The distance students indicate clearly that they are quite satisfied with correspondence study experiences.
It is indicated by many, also by written answers to the open questions, that access to the Internet from home is seen as a necessary condition for enrolling in Internet-based distance study programmes.
There are large differences in experience of using technology, access to technology and interest for studying on the Internet between men and women, between different age groups, between persons with different educational backgrounds and between persons studying different types of courses.
Concerning technology interest, experience and access, women are disadvantaged relative to men, the youngest age groups are disadvantaged relative to older students and prospective students. Lower educated persons are disadvantaged relative to higher educated persons. These findings are, of course, not at all unexpected.
As repeatedly pointed out in official policy, equal access to education is a main challenge for society (see e.g. Samferdselsdepartementet 1996, KUF 1995). Thus, it is important that the authorities through regulations and financial measures lay foundations for equal opportunities so that disadvantaged groups are not falling increasingly behind. This is perhaps specifically important in adult and distance education, that in many cases constitute compensatory possibilities for groups that for a variety of reasons do need a second chance for catching up with others who have been more successful in traditional schools and colleges. It is also a responsibility for the institutions to plan studies and choose technologies for different courses and programmes that do not raise additional barriers for prospective students with low access to learning technologies (Rekkedal & Møystad 1999).
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Torstein Rekkedal is Director of Research and Development at NKI. He has worked as a developer and researcher in distance education for more than 25 years. His work has covered survey research, experimental research and evaluation studies. He has chaired the ICDE Research Committee and the Research and Development Committee of the AECS. He is presently chair of the Norwegian Standing Committee on Quality in Distance Education and member of the Steering Committee of the Network of academic and Professionals of EDEN. |
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Elisabeth Møystad is Marketing Director at NKI Distance Education. She has a Master's degree in business and economics. She has been in charge of marketing at two major companies in Norway, a consumer goods company and a firm of publishers. She has been responsible for marketing strategies and activities at NKI Distance Education for more than 10 years. In recent years she has focused on developing the marketing and sales activities on the Internet. |