• A Vision
• The Design of EDIT 611
• Insights: More Students Found a Voice
• Insights: More Powerful Learning
• Insights: Complex Optimization
• Analysis of the Discussion Forum
• Evolution of Distributed Learning
• References
• Printable Text of Article

© Copyright 1998-99 by Chris Dede (cdede@gmu.edu) and Audrey L. Kremer (kremer@mitretek.org) .  The right to make additional exact copies, including this notice, for personal and classroom use, is hereby granted. All other forms of distribution and copying require permission of the author.

Section Three:
Insights: More Students Found a Voice

To better understand distributed learning and teaching via multiple interactive media, Chris has informally analyzed the course along several dimensions. Three sets of findings from this case study were striking. The first finding related to students' discovery of a "voice."

Students exhibited very different preference patterns for the six media utilized in this class. Lively debates ensued among those who liked--and hated--particular instructional media and found their rhetoric either intuitive or cumbersome. Furthermore, even though all agreed the class meetings on campus were valuable, a substantial proportion of students rated face-to-face interaction below some of the virtual means of communication. Beyond convenient access, the reasons these students gave for preferring virtual interaction suggested that they found this type of expression more fulfilling as a medium for learning.

An outcome striking to Chris as instructor was how some students found their "voices" in one of the virtual media. Even the best classroom instructor, expert in facilitating discussion, knows that a substantial percentage of students will "lurk" in face-to-face interactions. These learners are awake and listening, but do not become actively involved unless forced to do so—and then relapse into silent observation. These students may be shy, prefer time to reflect before answering, or feel at a disadvantage because of gender, race, physical appearance, disabilities, or a lack of linguistic fluency. In EDIT 611, some of these "passive" students came alive in the groupware, some in the text-based virtual world, some in asynchronous discussions—but almost all were active and fluent in at least one of the six virtual media. At the same time, those students adept at face-to-face interaction often reported their expressive and communicative abilities diminished in at least one virtual medium—they felt disenfranchised and "lurked" when forced to use that type of rhetoric. All the students were surprised by this outcome and often were unable to predict which media they personally would find empowering, which they would find disabling.

Because the vast majority of class participants found their voice in at least one of the media provided, each student was able to make a full contribution, thus increasing the overall learning experience for everyone. Also, those students who felt hampered by a particular medium could watch others model effective expression and communication. As a result, everyone’s fluency and comfort in all the media improved over time, although distinct preferences remained.

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