Distance Education International, Ireland

The Open University of the United Kingdom

NKI, Norway

TecMinho, Portugal

Educational interest in the web is very high amongst educators, learners and educational institutions, and this interest is proliferating rapidly and globally. One of the main objectives of the CISAER project is to determine the nature and extent of European educational exploitation of the web, and to assess the results against that of other countries, particularly North America. Through the CISEAR database of web courses and through the analysis of existing practice, we have provided a snapshot of European use of the web for non-campus based courses. This section will concentrate on meeting our main objective in other ways:

• by analysing institutional readiness for web teaching in Europe

• by comparing initiatives in web-based teaching in the UK and North America

• by evaluating a range of courses using a common framework

• by comparing specific web courses

• by evaluating techniques and methods used in web courses both in Europe and North America.

The conclusion will indicate the strengths and weaknesses of European readiness for using the web, and present the challenges for policy makers, institutions and educators faced with the competition from the west.

European higher education is characterised by a diverse range of over 1000 institutions and a further array of university level technical high schools, polytechnics and the equivalent. There are very large traditional universities as well as mega virtual or distance players; there are research universities, classical comprehensive universities, technical universities, monotechnic universities and those based on Humboldtian/Anglo-Saxon and other models.

Europe is also of course characterised by a mix of languages. While campus based education remains essentially a national phenomenon, this multiplicity of languages is relatively unproblematic: courses are by and large taught in the national language. However, as web-based courses are essentially geographically neutral, the linguistic diversity of Europe becomes more problematic for the widespread exploitation of the medium.

European higher education is largely state funded (unlike the situation in North America), and for the most part, government funding is guaranteed year on year (subject to the market place for various curriculum areas). "This does tend to constitute a recipe for the maintenance of the status quo or at least may be a disincentive to experiment with new paradigms and processes. " (Middlehurst et al; 2000).

The deregulation of communications in various European countries also plays a significant part in the extent to which institutions can exploit the web as a distance learning medium. For example, call charges for online provision, the robustness of the telephone infrastructure, home-based access to the Internet all affect the conditions for implementing web-based teaching.

Finally, the management structure within European universities may also be a hindrance to the spread of web-based teaching. The character of the European university has been described as:

Davies (1998) endorses this view and concludes that European universities are often difficult organisations to move to innovative domains of activity, especially those domains involving external perspectives.

There are at least three factors which distinguish the US from Europe in terms of institutional readiness to exploit the technology of the web for teaching. First of all, there has always been a strong tradition of private higher education in the US, and examples include both major research universities as well as small liberal arts colleges. These private institutions are often well placed to develop a strong web-based teaching initiative because:

• they are often well-endowed in terms of finances and resources

• their private status has allowed a certain freedom of action.

A second factor in the competitive advantage of the US is the tradition of relatively high student fees at even mainstream institutions. This situation has made possible the rise of a for-profit sector of new non traditional educational providers. To date, most of the for-profit web courses operate within a relatively narrow range of the curriculum e.g. business studies and IT. Nevertheless, this has led to claims that education is to be the boom industry of this century.

Finally, the long tradition of credit transfer amongst North American universities has meant that the practice of taking courses from other institutions and getting credit towards a degree is well established. Web-based courses merely continue this tradition, so providing a ready market for individual courses offered nationally or internationally for credit by credit transfer.

Despite this negative assessment of institutional readiness for web based teaching in Europe, there are a range of initiatives that are already in place, and they can be compared with similar programmes in North America.

1. The first comparison is between government sponsored initiatives in various countries to promote telelearning.

The TeleLearning Network of Centres of Excellence (TL·NCE) is a national collaboration linking Canadian researchers and client communities involved in the development, application, and evaluation of advanced education technologies based on collaborative learning and knowledge building. Over 130 researchers from education, the social sciences, computer science and engineering from 30 universities are working with client communities to achieve the Network's mission.

Its mission is to research, develop, and demonstrate the learning models, methods, technologies, and social practices which will enable telelearning -the use of networked computer environments and tools for education and training - to support the development of a knowledge economy and learning society in Canada. A further component of the mission is to transfer the resulting knowledge to Canadian organizations and institutions of learning and to support a leadership role in the worldwide development of telelearning.

The following goals elaborate on the nature and considerable scope of the project, which has been funded to the tune of many millions of Canadian dollars:

1. To develop new models of learning, learning environments, and pedagogies to better meet the needs of the workplace and the nation.

2. To develop and transfer new technologies that can manage, sustain and constructively direct networked learning.

3. To understand the nature of effective telelearning communities at all levels.

4. To support a shift to these new methods in the educational practices in schools and the workplace by involving educators and trainers in the use of these technologies for their own knowledge building.

Seven research themes have been established and currently 56 projects are underway. The first three themes focus on learning models, socio-economic models, and systems architecture and networks. They cut across and integrate with four themes dealing with innovative application of telelearning in the education and training sectors. Examples of the work under these themes include the following projects:

CSILE: A novel approach to learning and a novel supporting technology. CSILE (Computer Supported Intentional Learning Environments) is a networked system built around a hypermedia database constructed by the learners. The development of CSILE began at the Centre for Applied Cognitive Science at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education in 1986. A new Web-based version of CSILE is currently in beta testing. CSILE web site: http://csile.oise.on.ca/

VIRTUAL-U : An online learning environment for design, delivery, and enhancement of courses at the post-secondary level. Developed at Simon Fraser University, the system encourages active learning through creative construction of knowledge both by individuals and groups. At the heart of Virtual-U is a World Wide Web software tool for group collaboration over networks. The Virtual-U Toolset includes tools for course design and facilitation, class discussion and presentation, course resource handling, assignment uploading, and class management and evaluation. Virtual-U is currently being field tested at over a dozen universities, colleges, and workplaces across Canada. VIRTUAL-U web site: http://virtual-u.cs.sfu.ca/vuweb/

TELEFORM A set of tools for the delivery of telelearning in the workplace and at home. Three complementary technologies – cognitive modelling, interactive multimedia, and telecommunications – are closely integrated to provide coherent learning environments for the workplace. TELEFORM builds on the work of the LICEF laboratory at Québec's Télé-université. This work is also complemented by technologies from Ontario's Telepresence project, as well as research at the Ottawa MCR Laboratory. TELEFORM web site: http://206.167.88.162/telelearn/default.htm

CADRETEL A set of design and authoring tools and a methodology for creating learning support systems. The methodology is designed to support the complex collaborative processes that start with learning needs analysis, proceed through instructional design of learning activities and materials, and end with the development of a TeleLearning environment. CADRETEL is targeted for both custom-built interactive learning environments and for integration of learning support with performance support systems. CADRETEL web site: http://www.telelearn.ca/cadretel

The UK government has two funding programmes in the area of Internet–based teaching in higher education: JISC, the Joint Information Systems Committee, and TLTP, the Teaching and Learning with Technology Programme. The many projects funded under these prgrammes are not as coherent or as focussed as the TeleLearning Network Centres of Excellence Programme in Canada, however, the scope is broadly similar. Two projects, one from each funding stream are outlined below.

This project is funded by the Joint Information Systems Committee and is housed at Lancaster University. The project is designed to create a coherent picture of students’ experiences of networked learning in UK higher education, and to provide an analysis of relationships between:

• students’ approaches to networked learning

• salient features of networked learning environments

• learning outcomes.

The aim is to understand the factors influencing educational outcomes of networked learning, including the role of different media, the different types of interaction and the importance of specific study methods. The project will analyse the kinds of educational need that can be served by networked learning approaches.

The project will provide a national advice and information service on networked learning in higher education through workshops, consultancy and the production of online and paper based briefings, newsletters and guidelines. The project will also provide pointers to examples of good and innovatory practice, and training materials.

The focus of students’ approaches to and experiences of networked learning is being explored through in-situ field studies to improve collective understanding of networked learning, and to refine methods of analysing the needs of remote and campus-based networked learners.

In addition a broader but shallower study of students’ approaches to learning in networked learning environments is underway. A sample of 300 students on courses making significant use of networked learning is being used. This survey study will examine connections between variables such as study skills, student characteristics, features of networked learning environments etc, process variables such as qualities of the course, approach to learning etc. and outcome variables such as assessment scores, student satisfaction measures.

Finally, a telephone survey is being carried out to interview 90 staff samples from nine academic subject groupings, through which data about current and planned uses of networked learning can be elicited.

The project offers a programme of staff, educational and oranisational development activities for Networked Learning to teams of UK HE teachers, managers and support staff.

This project is funded by the TLTP programme and is housed at the University of Sheffield. The aim of this project is to implement generic on-line teaching and learning strategies through the medium of Computer Based Collaborative Group Work (CBCGW). The focus will be the University's provision in distance learning postgraduate continuing professional development (CPD), but with consideration of implementation at other levels. The emphasis is on:

• educational strategies to make use of learning technologies, rather than just on the learning technologies themselves

• implementation and evaluation of a range of CBCGW approaches

• establishment of a national dissemination and strategic advice centre for the higher education community

• implementation and evaluation of a variety of CBCGW groupware /authorware systems, such as Lotus Notes, Domino and Learning Space; First Class; Web CT; Virtual U

CBCGW approaches to be implemented and evaluated will include: seminars, tutorials, problem solving scenarios, role play scenarios, action research projects, peer teaching, group work

The project outcomes are:

• Establishment of a national support centre for Computer Based Collaborative Group Work in higher education, based at the University of Sheffield. This centre will be largely "virtual" and will use expertise accumulated by the project, will support the inclusion of high quality, research evaluated CBCGW teaching and learning strategies and advise on HE strategy

• An educational evaluation study of generic on-line teaching and learning strategies in CPD providing information on implementation strategies at institutional, departmental and course levels, educational effectiveness of the implementation of individual, learning/teaching strategies, cost efficiency analyses in a range of CPD course contexts and institutional settings, student/tutor responses and strategies to develop and maintain positive student orientation to CBCGW

It is evident from a close reading of the two UK funded projects how much they overlap and replicate each others’ work. This is one of the limitations of having many initiatives and funding bodies, rather than the integrated approach of the Canadian initiative. The fact that the two projects have begun to collaborate in order to reduce duplication only reinforces the shortcomings of the ‘scatter gun’ approach to funding.

2. The second comparison is in the area of corporate initiatives in teaching via the Internet.

Microsoft is one of the world’s largest IT firms. Overall, the stance the company has taken to traditional higher education is one of partnership rather than competition. Currently there is no ‘Microsoft University’ and no evidence that such an institution or idea is under development.

The Public Broadcasting Service has a long tradition of working with US higher education and is now complementing its TV-based provision with web resources and options. PBS has in fact committed itself to providing a national information service on distance learning. Through Project Access, students will be able to contact a web site for advice and guidance about choosing Internet based education which best meets their needs.

Most recently, PBS is working with Microsoft to use the Microsoft Web TV Network Service. This enables web-based material to be transmitted to television sets. Connection to WebTV requires only an analog telephone line and an inexpensive WebTV Internet Unit.

PBS Online, the Internet channel of PBS, operates as a business within PBS's non-profit mission of advancing education, culture and citizenship. PBS is active in the market for syndication of Web content.

One application of the concept is at Kansas City Public Television which delivers content derived from local universities and colleges to adult learners who do not have Internet access at home and who could not attend regular classes.

Launched in 1997, this initiative is largely web based. Deutsche Telecom began with the assumption that today’s telecommunication companies could be more than mere carriers; they could be intelligent purveyors of information. Individualised learning rather than corporate cultural development is one of the hallmarks of the approach and it manifests as:

• a virtual faculty consisting of experts from across the globe

• a Global Learning Institute to help transfer conventional training to new learning systems

• personal feedback from tutors through email

• trainee choice, flexibility and network based methods.

Through an initiative called T•Mart, Deutsche Telecom offers a service to educational providers including the systems and technology to deliver training materials and courses, a gateway web site on which to host the course, and advice and consultancy in developing a web course. The system has been designed for maximum flexibility to deliver training to the workplace, the home or to the learner on the move.

The US provides the widest range of examples of corporate universities, with estimates of about 1600, including 40% of Fortune 500 companies. While not all of these make use of the Internet, increasing numbers do or have plans to transfer at least part of their training to the Internet.

The essence of the Internet based provision is flexibility and ease of access for today’s busy employees. The Global Learning initiative is a prime example of this new approach. The US example illustrates the way in which private enterprise is capturing the lifelong learning market through ease of access. Both examples illustrate ways in which traditional university’s are being undercut by the more flexible, more adaptable, more customer oriented approach to meeting the needs of adult learners.

The University of Illinois is a significant research university and is a leader in computer and networking research. For example, the National Science Foundation named its Center for Supercomputing Applications as one of the two lead sites for the Partnership for Advanced Computational Infrastructure program. Faculty at the Urbana-Champaign campus were among the first in the US to experiment with the Internet to improve learning through the Sloan Center for Asynchronous Learning Environments. To date, the University has received a total of $4 million from the Sloan Foundation to support development of online degrees.

University of Illinois Online was created in 1997 to provide coordination and support to the various campuses in transforming their offerings to online formats. The focus is on the development of entire online degrees and certificate programmes targeted at adult learners. While University of Illinois Online coordinates and funds faculties and departments to develop online courses, it does not impose a single format. All details and support services are left to the individual departments to organise. Funding is available for faculty release time, summer salaries, salaries for student assistants and technical staff and the purchase of hardware and software.

The Illinois Virtual Campus will provide a searchable web catalogue for all online courses available through recognised public and private colleges in the state. In addition, it will add value to existing virtual university models by incorporating the strong outreach and support features of the community college network.

New York University Online is a for-profit subsidiary of New York University’s School of Continuing and Professional Studies (CPS). The CPS has always been pitched to meet the education and training needs of corporations, but NYU Online takes this mission a step further. It will specialise in non-credit provision for corporate training through the development of more than 2000 courses in management, communications, financial services, information technology etc. NYU is currently forging partnerships with publishers and other media companies to aid course development.

This for-profit status is giving NYU the opportunity to partner with companies and respond much faster than a traditional university to market demands. NYU Online intends to combine the speed and flexibility of a company with the academic rigour and status of a great university in order to develop a new market which may even generate enough revenue to subsidise some of the on-campus courses.

The University of Economics in Vienna is a 100 year old university, yet its development in recent years is an example of a coherent response to new technology for teaching. In the face of growing pressures to become international, the university added languages as compulsory studies, for example. The provision of online virtual education was seen as an additional stream of activity to an already eminent business school with a high class reputation and a comprehensive coverage of the world’s main business languages. It has thus been enabled to move into new distributed markets appropriate to its stature and positioning.

Online virtual education is thus essentially a central part of the university and is subject to the normal funding and regulation regime that operates in Austrian universities. Unlike some other traditional universities, comparatively little organisational differentiation of online education occurs. Whilst teaching and learning strategies are delivered through multimedia means, online education is provided by the normal academic staffing of the university, working through a sophisticated state of the art IT infrastructure of computer centres, language laboratories and with every computer integrated into both the university net and the Internet.

The Finnish Ministry of Education has just prepared a new national strategy 2000-2004 called Education, Training and Research in the Information Society’. One focus is on learning networks with an emphasis on the virtual university, with a strong international dimension and closely related are five virtual projects:

• the Finnish Virtual Open University

• the Finnish Virtual University

• a Nokia-Siemens-IBM Learning consortium

• the Virtual Campus of Humanistic Polytechnic

• and the Campus Futurum at the University of Oulu.

The University of Helsinki, the largest university in Finland has been supported in its move to the Internet by the enlightened attitude and active involvement of the Finnish government in C&IT policy for higher education. Helsinki thus acts as the central point for the development of courses through collecting onto one database on the web, a listing of all open, distance or virtual university courses. The site also acts as a place for students to obtain guidance, hold conversations with peers as well as to access their course materials.

In contrast to the many American examples, Europe has been typified by the development of virtual provision firmly located in the public sector of higher education. "This stems from a strong interest from the European Union through its various research and development funding initiatives, but also through the strategic endeavours of ministries" (Middlehurst et al., 2000). The most extensive example is that of the Finnish Ministry of Education

Other examples which could have been described, have taken place at the Fern Universitat .Geesamthoschschule in Hagen, the Universitat Obert de Catalunya in Spain, and NKI in Oslo, all of which have developed innovative Internet based strategies for teaching. Whilst these initiatives in total are small in comparison to comparable initiatives in the US, nevertheless they indicate that Europe has the ability, the insight and the interest to respond to the potential the Internet offers for higher education, given the resources to do so.

TeleEducation NB is a province-wide distributed learning network that assists education institutions and private sector companies in delivering distance education in New Brunswick, a small maritime province on the east coast of Canada. TeleEducation NB provides a network of distance learning centres, knowledgeable advisors, technical support, and site facilitators to help students, instructors and administrators. Over six years, the network has facilitated the delivery of more than 600 courses, most of which make some use of the Internet to over 12,000 students. As an example of a province-wide distributed learning network, TeleEducation NB is an outstanding example of a regional initiative which brings the Internet to remote learners.

The University of the Highlands and Islands has been set up with funding from the UK Millennium Commission and a number of Scottish funding agencies in order to develop locally, nationally and internationally the contemporary indigenous languages and cultures of the Highlands and Islands of Scotland. The aim is to strengthen the cultural identity and cohesion of the discrete indigenous linguistic communities and, by means of creative fusion of education, language, culture and community, to establish an identity which is projected and recognised everywhere as a mark of quality and innovation.

UHI has grown out of a partnership agreement amongst 13 existing educational providers in the Highlands and Islands region with links to commercial organisations and to academic institutions outside the region. The commitment of the University of the Highlands and Islands to student centred learning has led to significant use of innovative Information and Communications Technologies. The project to establish a high speed data network in the Highlands and Islands has already led to recognition at the UK Network Industry Awards in 1999 with UHI gaining the ‘Network Project of the Year 1999’ for its suppliers, Workplace Technologies.

The National School Network is a nationwide group of educators collaborating to advance educational reforms through Internet working at local, state and national levels. Funded by the National Science Foundation, the network is now situated at Boston College. The network has over 500 participating members and includes museums, libraries, research institutions, small businesses and corporations. The NSN web site includes a library assembled from three years of funded research and practice. It includes papers, surveys and an Exchange Desk – resources and know-how on networking, professional development, assessment and standards.

Ufi is a new kind of public-private partnership which aims to boost the competitiveness of business and the employability of individuals. Working with businesses and education and training providers, it will use modern technologies to make learning available at a time and place to suit the learner - at home, in the workplace and through a national network of learning centres.

Learndirect is the name of Ufi’s network of learning centres that are to be developed nation-wide from November 1999. Sixty-eight learndirect development centres across England, have started working with Ufi to develop a new approach to the delivery of flexible learning. They are in friendly, easy-access locations such as sports and shopping centres, football and rugby clubs, community centres, churches, railway stations and libraries. Some centres are based with employers.

Interestingly, a decision has been taken recently that the primary learning medium for Ifi courses will be the web.

These initiatives give a flavour of the kinds of projects currently receiving extensive funding in North America and Europe. Regional initiatives are usually centred on underdeveloped areas with remote populations; national initiatives usually target a specific need arising from one sector of the nation. What is significant about all of these examples is the strategic, high level response to the need identified, and the way in which solutions have built on existing organisations or expertise.

This review has the following structure:

Section 1 – Technology Reviews

Section 2 – Best Practice in Web Courses

While it is undoubtedly the case that software for use on the web to design, tutor and administer courses is an important issue in the exploitation of the web, the evaluation of this software has not been a particular focus of the CISAER project. Consequently, the list below, given for the sake of comprehensiveness, is a range of web sites which contain excellent evaluations of existing software.

Choosing Web Conferencing Software

Article By David R. Woolley

http://thinkofit.com/webconf/wcchoice.htm

Conferencing Software Product Reviews

Resource list by David R. Woolley

http://thinkofit.com/webconf/wcreview.htm

Overview of different technologies in John December's CMC Magazine

http://www.december.com/cmc/mag/1997/may/lalib.html

List of Companies/Suppliers

http://www.usabilityfirst.com/cscw.html#Products/Companies

Another annotated list of technologies

http://ritdl.rit.edu/Research/tools.htm

Same from Indiana

http://cee.indiana.edu/oncourse/systools.html

Collaborative Strategies list of links

http://www.collaborate.com/resources/coolsites.html

Groupware Central

http://www.cba.uga.edu/groupware/groupware.html

Conferencing Systems

http://www.hypernews.org/HyperNews/get/www/collab/conferencing.html

Review/Comparison of major systems

http://www.ctt.bc.ca/landonline/choices.html

Review of Conferencing systems from Arizona

http://ag.arizona.edu/~caldwell/cmc.html/cmcmgmt.html

Listing of lesser-known products

http://ag.arizona.edu/~caldwell/cmcdiscards.html

Various reports and surveys of various tools

Outstanding collection from Central Queensland University, Australia

http://webclass.cqu.edu.au/Tools/Comparisons/index.txt.html

Some examples of case studies using these technologies

http://snow.utoronto.ca/best/crsreview.html

Desktop Video Conferencing

http://www3.ncsu.edu/dox/video/survey.htm

Product survey by Kathy Hewitt

SAVIE -Videoconferencing Atlas

http://www.savie.com/

This section examines exemplary features of on-line courses. Courses in the collection are analyzed according to five basic elements:

1 Instruction: Tutorials, readings, interactivity, structure, goals and outline

2. Testing: Self-tests, exams, quizzes

3. Assignments:

4. References: Resources, both web-based and otherwise

5. Communications: Conferencing, mail

In addition, an overall analysis for completeness, consistency, and aesthetics is included. Any additional features of the course which warrant praise or criticism will also be mentioned.

This list contains nine examples from the USA and Canada, and compares these to one outstanding example from Europe.

(Montclair State University, USA)

1. Instruction:. Primary learning includes analysis, interpretation, and argumentation around specific works. Provides good outline of the procedures in each type of learning, with practical examples. Provides review questions for each work studied. Provides calendar of all important dates. Online discussion provides interactivity.

2. Testing: Online essay exams. Students submit responses to 3 of 5 essay question online.

3. Assignments: Writing totalling 8000 words, half through essays and the other half through posted messages.

4. References: All works used in this course are available online. Additional e-text resources are also included.

5. Communications: Uses private email and a listserve. Virtual office Java chat.

Final Analysis: Message postings as a course requirement ensures rich discussions on the listserv. Class photos are a nice touch for an online course,

putting faces to the messages posted. Consistent design through the three courses reviewed provide students continuing beyond the first course, with a course context and structure they already know, reducing the initial burden of learning to use a course site. The Java navigation bar down the left side is inaccessible to persons using a screen reader (the blind), so navigation would be difficult for these people. Some sections, not included in the text links, would be invisible to a blind student. A set of alternative text links at the bottom of the page would correct this. The Calendar will also be difficult to navigate with a screen reader. A text alternative of important dates would correct this. Exam submission online gives students the opportunity to submit other's work (eg. have someone else take the exam for them). One approach to avoid this problem is to have students submit papers instead of completing an exam. After choosing topics early in the course, and providing periodic progress reports, it is more difficult to use others work for paper submissions. The alternative 2000 word essay provided is preferred over the online exam. Overall, a very well structured and documented set of course supplements. Some additional attention should be given to accessibility issues.

(College of St. Benedict/ Saint John's University, Canada)

1. Instruction: Good use of tools to provide access to major areas of the course; good explanation of the goals, success criteria, and use of the web portion of the course; makes good use of hyperlinks between related components, flow charts within class notes, and the small set of visual cues to indicate activities and additional information; focus on behaviourism,

2. Testing: Final exam not online. Self tests placed randomly throughout the resources.

3. Assignments: Participation, 3 case studies, experiment, journal, uploadable weekly integrative assignments (UGLIs).

4. References: Access to a collection of shared resources, weekly readings, glossary of major ideas, use of off-line text book, small collection of links to Internet resources (well-researched collection).

5. Communications: Use of community-based comunications with computer conferencing, personal messaging, document and resource sharing (NiceNet).

Final Analysis: The course is an on-line version of a classroom based course, but demonstrates good structure and many features which enhance learning. Lacks a list of deadlines and test dates and also lacks a table of contents. Focuses on personalizing the learning experience, collaborative projects, virtual mentors. In terms of accessibility, requires a frames capable browser and lacks descriptive ALT text for images. Good use of internal links.

(Maricopa Community College, USA)

1. Instruction: This course is created using WebCT. The course gives students the opportunity to learn about sports psychology theories and how to apply them to practical real life situations. Application of the physiological, behavioral, social, cognitive and humanistic perspectives in psychology to sport. Includes topics such as optimal performance, correlation, motivation, co-action effect, self-actualization, psycho-behavioral techniques, self efficacy, and the general health benefits of sport participation. Applied exercises are given and lectures are tailored to meet the needs of the subject matter to the students enrolled.

2. Testing: Two open book online quizes, a mix of multiple choice and short answer. Tests are timed and regulated by the WebCT software. Instructions are a little confusing.

3. Assignments: Five worksheets (self-assessments, fill in the blank with terms and theories), one article analysis, one observational project

4. References: Assigned text book accompanied with chapter overviews

5. Communications: WebCT bulletin board and chat. email

Final analysis: This course is well organized with relatively clear instructions for using the course, completing exercises, and completing assignments, and the content formatted well for presentation on the Web. Uniquely, students may proceed at their own pace and complete the course in 8 to 15 weeks. Using the chat feature of the course, the instructor has set up office hours, where students can communicate with the instructor in real time. Several draw backs, traced to WebCT, are the extensive use of frames, which can be a difficulty for a student using a screen reader or text browser. An alternate frames free version is recommended. In addition the chat feature is a Java applet, again inaccessible with a screen reader or text browser. A small number of web resources are available. They could be expanded, and gathered in a central location in addition to topic related links accompanying content pages.

(University of New Brunswick, Canada)

1. Instruction: Clear set of goals and prerequisite assumptions, marks, grade criteria, and due dates clearly indicated, good small set of navigational features for both within and between pages. Content focuses on using the Internet in education, covering the various tools and resources available. Access to on-line HTML page tester, most discussion of assignment criteria and help takes place in discussion forums between students, and between students and instructor.

2. Testing: None

3. Assignments: Propose, research, write, and web publish an online magazine article, help peers, peer review and participation in discussion. Clear set of assignment goals and criteria.

4. References: Link to CNET virtual library (excellent resource with links to other virtual libraries), 10 module virtual text book, the Net Resource Room a collaborative collection of resources from past students available through forum page (password), linear and web mode text with visuals covering all major aspects of using the Web (excellent resource). Most resources are accessible through forums.

5. Communications: Virtual Classroom asynchronous "WebBoard" is a multi-threaded bulletin board with HTML and email capability, good navigational and search features within forums and an extensive help facility. Other features include: listing who is logged on, reading new messages and today's messages, tracking who has logged on the most, HTML help forum, synchronous Javascript CHAT rooms which correspond to the course forums, weekly discussions on assignments.

Final Analysis: Well structured with accessible features for all browsers. A full set of notes. Many features to facilitate learning through primarily static exercises and help resources. An exceptional on-line course

(OISE/University of Toronto, Canada)

1. Instruction: Student centered, focus on creating self awareness and awareness of others through a wide range of interactive thinking exercises and through discussion of thinking in the forums. Full set of help pages for using the site, with the goals, content, and course completion criteria clearly stated. Instructions are in RealAudio format and content pages are accompanied with a text-to-speech program for reading page aloud.

2. Testing: Self administered Multiple Intelligence Inventory, and Thinking Styles Inventory

3. Assignments: Several assignment options: create a web page, do a self-evaluation, create a model of learning, or write a paper on learning. Forum participation. Assignments submitted via ftp/email.

4. References: Very large collection of Internet resources, on-line text available. Recommended text.

5. Communications: HTML enabled bulletin board, email, and CHAT facility.

Final Analysis: Primarily web mode with linear exercises and lessons attached. Has a large collection of interactive exercises used to develop awareness through hands on experience with thinking types, accompanied by discussion of the processes experienced through the forums. Both frames and non-frames versions. Frames version easier to navigate than the non-frames. Data from students, as well as results from exercises, tracking and time spent on site is collected on MI Inventory and stored in a database for selective instructor and student access. Includes web and site search tools. Good use of public domain CGI scripts to create an interactive experience for learners complete with a very large collection of Internet resources covering a full range of topics related to thinking about thinking. Course is currently under development using the WebCT course framework.

(Indiana University, Purdue University, USA)

1. Instruction: Series of live broadcast lectures stored in an archive, real audio notes and quizzes, large collection of course notes, good course outline, good access to all main areas of the course from the main page

2. Testing: Two quizzes, midterm and final exams

3. Assignments: Subscribe to a listserv, use FTP, create personal home page.

4. References: Small collection of on-line resources

5. Communications: Uses a MOO

Final Analysis: Page layout could be improved and include height and width tags for images, and centering of navigation buttons, Real-audio links not all working properly. Good use of alternate text links for navigation buttons but several links

are broken.

(University of Waterloo, Canada)

1. Instruction: Clear and comprehensive set of instructions for using the course including general computer operation and Internet features, and a discussion of on-line learning. Includes an on-line glossary, bibliography, and table of contents. Clear description of course dates, course marking, and assignment submission process.

2. Testing: None indicated

3. Assignments: Business letter, resumé, manual (draft and final versions), technical report. Each has a clear description and set of requirements, assignments posted for viewing

4. References: Series of on-line texts available through the bookcase, which includes a list of required and recommended readings, and supplemental HTML guides and reference books. A small set of links to relevant Internet resources.

5. Communications: Direct email (with listing of student email addresses), chat rooms, course news group (multi-threaded bulletin board)

Final Analysis: Good use of image maps and alternate text links for navigation. Guided tour for guests available. Excellent navigation between sections of the course and within them. Primarily Web mode delivery with the option to proceed through materials in a linear fashion. Overall a very well designed course. A highly recommended template for course designers.

(Mount Royal College, Calgary, Alberta)

1. Instruction: Advanced course for upgrading practicing nurses understanding of physiology. Many Shockwave presentations with audio explanation clips. Each section has a well laid out table of contents with name anchors throughout course notes for easy access the specific information. Clear set of learning goals. Includes a help resource for optimizing use of the course, the browser, and plug-ins.

2. Testing: Four multiple choice/short answer proctored exams make up full marks for the course. Student must find a proctor for approval, then exam emailed to proctor then faxed or mailed to instructor. Short CGI driven multiple choice or T/F self-test and a challenge question included with each section of the course.

3. Assignments: None indicated

4. References: Small set of relevant Internet resources for each section.

5. Communications: PowWow used for synchronous audio chat, including synchronous text chat and whiteboard. Course office hours via PowWow or phone. Private email and discussion listserv. Includes four scheduled synchronous conferences.

Final analysis: Runs in frames. Includes links to software required for the course (Shockwave, ToolVox, PowWow) with accompanying explanations of each. Very

clean presentation with well structured navigation tools. Many well placed informative graphics and tables. Students have access to their own records. Students are provided with a copy of the course on floppys for reference after course completion.

(Okanagan University College British Columbia, Canada)

1. Instruction: On-line resources for ESL and TOEFL students includes a wide variety of multi-media presentations. Large collection of images of Canada and many other countries. Courses include a wide range of practical activities to familiarise students with life in Canada such as curling, skiing, Halloween, golf and more.

2. Testing: Self tests within Shockwave presentations, links provided to self tests on other sites

3. Assignments: none indicated

4. References: Includes a small set of links to other ESL sites. Heinemann TOEFL practice tests.

5. Communications: none indicated

Final analysis: Excellent site demonstrating a wide range of interactive audio and video activities. Uses Quicktime, and Shockwave. Site is difficult to navigate through. Could use a site map of comprehensive table of contents. Very impressive collection nevertheless.

(University of Twente Netherlands)

1. Instruction:"ISM-1" is a course for first-year students in the Faculty of Educational Science and Technology at the University of Twente to learn how to design and develop multimedia products for learning-related use. Theory and practice are combined, as students work in groups to carry out three collaborative projects. The site also includes tutorials on using the various aspects of the WWW, including browsers, search engines, HTML and Javascript, and includes a glossary of Internet terms.

2. Testing: None

3. Assignments: Creating an information resource on the World Wide Web, Creating a learning resource with linear and interactive multimedia in a WWW environment, Conducting a public education campaign with video, audio,desktop-published brochures, and the WWW. Detailed outlines of project requirements are provided.

4. References: Design guidlines, and web development tools and references are available through the Specialists' Centre. Includes a link to the University's library. Includes a archive of projects from previous years for reference (an impressive collection).

5. Communications: E-mail, addresses gathered in the "e-mail centre".

Final analysis: This course provides students with the opportunity to work in groups. Each group is provided with a study guide to aid in their completion of the course assignments. The course is well laid out with consistant use of navigation tools, graphics, and page design. Group members are assigned a "specialty" which they are responsible for completion of toward their group projects. The course is presented in frames so it may present accessibility problems for some. The course does lack a general discussion forum or chat facility for students to interact as a class. Overall, an excellent example of an online learning environment.

For the detailed comparison, two courses have been chosen which are very similar: one has been developed by the Distance Education and Technology unit of the University of British Columbia, led by a noted and international expert in the field, Professor Tony Bates. The other has been developed by the Institute of Educational Technology at the UK Open University. Both courses are on similar topics: the use of technology in distributed learning.

‘Developing, Designing and Delivering Technology-based Distributed Learning’ is the title of an online course created by the Department of Distance Education and Technology in partnership with the Monterrey Institute of Technology located in Mexico. The course is the first of five to be developed toward a post graduate certificate in technology based distributed learning.

The course consisted of two set books and a collection of articles alone with associated web pages containing teaching material and links to the online forums in which discussion amongst the students took place. Other features included guest tutors who were available for discussion for one week periods, an online resource section of links to relevant urls, and videoconferences for the Mexican students.

The students were for the most part, experienced IT users working or expecting to work with technology in education. The pedagogical approach of the course was that students learn best through collaborative activities, through discussions and through co-constructing knowledge rather than being instructed by an expert.

An extensive survey questionnaire of students and interviews with the tutors was carried out by the University. This evaluation identified the following benefits:

• there was access to international experts and students

• the web facilitated easy access by students and instructors

• the web facilitated a flexible study pattern for students.

The course tutors were very satisfied with the learning that took place on the course, pointing out that the greater opportunities for interaction in online courses, led to more individualised learning than is possible in face-to-face courses.

Nevertheless, the course was not without its difficulties. Initially the ‘architecture’ of the online conferences was poor and the discussion groups were too large for effective interaction. The guest lecture conferences did not work well and one of the set books was considered unhelpful and was subsequently dropped. The course was overloaded and sections were omitted, and the University, being new to distance education, did not have in place appropriate distribution mechanisms for purchase of set books, and other administrative matters. Feedback from students indicated the following limitations of web-based courses with a constructivist approach to learning:

• collaborative discussions reduced the flexibility of the course

• technology problems can interrupt the learning process

• online collaborative work is very time consuming for both students and tutors.

The course was developed within ten weeks and due to funding from the Mexican university, will eventually recover full costs and perhaps make a modest profit. The course attempted a very challenging assessment process: the use of collaborative assignments with students from three or more countries working together online.

The evaluators consider their most important finding was the higher than anticipated cost of innovation. The importance of putting in place appropriate administrative systems for innovative courses cannot be stressed too highly. The course raised a number of major policy issues for the university, such as pricing of graduate courses, the need to provide a different service for lifelong learners compared with on campus full time students. Finally, while the technology itself was not without problems, it was a relatively minor consideration compared with the administrative difficulties and issues of instructional design.

The three courses which make up the MA in ODE, developed by the Institute of Educational Technology, are very similar in scope (global), delivery medium (the web plus set books) and pedagogical approach (constructivist with emphasis on collaborative work). The MA courses have also been extensively evaluated by a range of methods including student surveys and tutor interviews. Given the basic similarities in the nature of the two programmes, it is not surprising that the limitations are similar to those identified by the University of British Columbia approach:

• the lack of flexibility which collaborative work causes for busy professional students who are fitting the course into the margins of their time

• the time-consuming nature of online interaction

• the difficulties caused by shortcomings of the web itself (slow, unreliable and subject to inexplicable breakdowns).

The advantages are also similar:

• a personalised and intimate medium for students’ developing understanding of the course content

• in-depth and intense discussions amongst small groups which inspire and challenge students

• opportunities to explore a wide range of resources and to offer students choice in topics on which to concentrate.

Because the UK Open University has extensive experience in delivering courses at a distance and to a global market, the UK course had none of the difficulties reported by British Columbia. The Institute of Educational Technology also has long experience in running online courses. While there were details of the workings of each of the MA courses which have been improved with each presentation of the course, on the whole, the original ‘architecture’ of the conferences has not been altered. The small group activities, the layout of conferences and the numbers of students in each were design features refined from many presentations of similar courses.

One of the innovative features of the UK programme was the use of conference messages in the student assignments. The course designers wanted to integrate the assessment of the course with the collaborative activities and discussions. Consequently for most of the assignments, up to one third of the marks were allocated to students’ use of their own and other students’ messages. Whilst this did have the desired effect of encouraging participation in the online discussions, a reasonable minority of students chose to lose these marks rather than engage actively with their peers. Furthermore, other students incorporate messages in a rather clumsy fashion just in order to gain marks. The course teams are currently developing a set of online resources to help students understand how to use extracts from messages and these will include examples of best practice from previous students’ assignments.

The question of tutor workload in online courses is not one which is peculiar to the UBC and OU experience. This issue arises in much of the literature about web-based courses and is frequently discussed at academic conferences. As such, there are no ‘solutions’, although there are techniques and approaches which help to minimise the problem. For example, greater focus on student self-help and peer learning; ‘message templates’ which can be offered to tutors to tweak for their own use, and the use of specialist support staff to manage the technical and plenary conferences, thus reducing the responsibilities of the main tutors.

For all of the problems and limitations, the student feedback from both courses indicates that by far the majority of participants were very satisfied with the courses and found the material and the methods produced a rich and varied learning environment.

The final focus in this evaluation is to consider a number of innovative devices both technical and methodological, which institutions in North America and Europe now use to exploit the educational potential of the web. Two examples are given from the US and two from Europe.

The Stanford Center for Professional Development has been offering engineering education via its Instructional Television systems for over 30 years. Recently the Center has moved significantly into the area of online delivery and instruction. A subset of the 75 courses offered by the Center are now available as videotaped lectures, streamed to student desktops via the Internet and supplemented by additional graphics and text displayed on the web site. This approach has enabled Stanford to leverage its existing investments in instructional television.

The courses available via the Online and Instructional Television networks are the same courses that are being taught on campus. These classes are captured on video and delivered to clients via online technologies. About 28 courses are currently being offered online to working adults, specifically engineers and professionals, primarily in California’s Silicon Valley. Online courses are also available to Stanford on-campus students. These students are permitted to log onto a server to view a lecture online instead of attending an on-campus class.

The pedagogical model is one of self-paced, asynchronous learning. While students can view the lectures at the time of their choice, the courses must still be completed according to standard on-campus term schedules. Efforts are underway to encourage student-to-student interaction with the use of video field trips and online chat rooms. There are plans to experiment with a format that enables students to view a lecture off-line and subsequently log into an online synchronous session for discussion.

Stanford uses streaming video technology from Microsoft’s NetShow. Video and audio are integrated in a framework which features a table of contents and related graphics. Lectures are broadcast live and made available on demand within 2-3 hours of actual delivery. Students require Microsoft’s MediaPlayer to view the videos on their desktop.

This organisation focuses its web site primarily on health professionals and medical students, but the layman is not excluded from access. At regularly scheduled intervals, via real-time video streaming, users can watch an operation as it is occurring and hear the comments being made by the medical team as they carry out the operation. Following this, the operation segments in edited form are available as asynchronous streaming video segments via the web. These are accompanied by interviews with the patients, their doctors, and discussions among medical specialists.

In the area of continuing professional development the University of Lancaster now uses video in innovative ways. The technology falls into two main areas:

• tools for creating video clips, audio clips, text and graphics (that is, the 'objects' that are placed in the Asynchronous Multimedia Conferencing (AMC) database

• the AMC database and database management tools (that is, tools for creating links between multimedia objects in the database, for providing the user with different views of the database, etc.).

Participants in the continuing professional development programme take part in an asynchronous multimedia conference to discuss and develop knowledge about working practice. The starting point for discussion is a set of one or more short video clips representing some aspect of working practice. These clips are created by experienced practitioners. In the case of continuing professional development, these practitioners are also the participants in the AMC. In the case of undergraduate teaching, most of the participation in the AMC is by students and their teachers, though it can also be valuable to have contributions from some experienced practitioners.

The AMC discussion itself can consist of audio, video, and/or textual annotations to the original video clips. By participating in the AMC, learners, teachers and practitioners collaborate in constructing a communal hypermedia resource whose content focuses on a set of real-world working practices. Both the process of constructing the resource, and the end product itself, are important in promoting everyone's learning.

The course Tele-Learning in the Faculty of Educational Science and Technology has developed another use of streaming video. Students work in groups on a project for a real context and audience. Collis describes one particular example of how the course works:

These examples of the use of video are all from leading edge developers in both the technology and pedagogy of using the web. They provide a taste of where technology-based education is heading. Continuing professional development, interestingly, is involved in all four examples.

It is the conclusion from this investigation that Europe is a serious player in the educational web game. It should be clear from this range of evaluations how Europe can and does compete with North America on a case-by-case basis. The problem is that North American cases are simply much more numerous than European ones. The most significant implication of this is that North American recruitment of overseas students may soon begin to cut into even the European home market, to say nothing of the international market. The web knows few boundaries, and those which undoubtedly do exist (e.g. access to the equipment) could mean that North America walks away with the most IT literate, most professionally developed and most lucrative part of the European higher education market. If current predictions are to be believed that education will be the boom industry of this century, then it is even more critical that Europe is a significant player in the field.

As indicated, traditional European universities in general are most in danger of being left out of the lifelong learning market. New for-profit providers are already making inroads in this area. Traditional universities can be transformed as has been shown, but they need a ‘wake-up call’ to see that major initiatives are needed to begin the transformation process.

Collis, B. and Peters, O. (1999). ‘At the frontier: Asynchronous video and the WWW for new forms of learning’. In: Mélanges (eds. G. Weidenfeld and D. Keegan), Centre National d’Enseignement å Distance, France.

Davies, J. (1989). The Dialogue of University with their Regional Stakeholders. Comparisons between Different Regions of Europe, CRE Geneva.

Middlehurst, R. et al. (2000) The Business of Borderless Education. CVCP, London. In press.