The art of education has been revolutionized by the innovation of vehicles that have been developed to deliver the asynchronous and synchronous communications of instructors and students that compose today's educational system.  The innovation exists in many forms--as a whole, the innovation referred to is telecommunications. The innovation is collaborative in nature and exists in the following forms: electronic mail, chat (IRC, EWGIE, FirstClass groupware), bulletin board systems (WWWBoard), shared workspace (BSCW), text-based virtual reality (MOO), and videoconferencing. These forms are being used in teaching in many applications, and each has its unique pros and cons.  What these forms have in common, however, is a future and a significant role in education today. The following sections address each form of telecommunications with an overview, a description of how they are used in teaching, the pros and cons, and current applications in use.

E-Mail (Electronic Mail and ListServ)

The following paragraphs will discuss the asynchronous communication of email and listserv.

Electronic Mail (e-mail) as defined by Zane L. Berge and Mauri Collins (1997)

Transmitting textual and non-textual messages in machine-readable form using an electronic mail program (like Pine, Elm, or Eudora) from one computer terminal or computer system to another. A message sent from one computer user to another is stored in this recipient’s mailbox. A file on the host machine where that person receives mail.

The Internet contains literally thousands of special interest discussion groups, each individually managed by an Internet server known as a list server (commonly referred to as a Listserv, list processor or a list). ....Most lists can be provided to the user either in a digest form or on a post-by-post basic. ....Any member of a list may take part in a conversation or begin a new topic. Listservers can also distribute electronic journals (e-journals) and newsletters. ....In general, most lists and e-journals can be joined by posting an email to the listserver address, (Carvin, 1998, p. 1).

The URLs for two electronic mailing lists and discussion groups is http://edweb.gsn.org/lists.html and http://www.uwex.edu/index.html.

How used for teaching. Professors use email to communicate with their students, to provide support and information, and to expand their office hours beyond the traditional. K-12 teachers use email to participate in global projects to bring informtion from all over the world into their classrooms. Teachers of younger students may do most of the emailing, but have older students actively involved in using email themselves. E-mail is also helping students with their research. An eighth grade class was assigned a research paper that required them to contact a professional by e-mail and receive a response relating to the research topic. These students are not only learning about the subject of collaboration, but about other countries and its inhabitants. These win-win interactions are becoming more prevalent as the success stories are related to others.

Pros. "With the widespread availability of personal computers, two forms of technology became viable for distance education purposes: multimedia (especially CD-ROM) and computer networks", (Moore & Kearsley, 1997, p. 2). Both methods provide interaction among students and instructors while at the same time allowing large amounts of material and information to be disseminated more cost-effectively than previous technologies, (Moore, et al, 1997). You can access your mail from home, work, hotel or wherever you have a connection to the Internet and browser. Although, e-mail is normally considered asynchronous, it can be almost synchronous if both or all parties are available to receive and respond to the message immediately. An added bonus for communications electronically is a cleaner environment (less trees are cut each time we use electronic mail instead of paper).

Cons. Since e-mail is normally asynchronous, you cannot be sure of who you are communicating with. Also, you have to be very careful about what you type on e-mail because e-mail never goes away. Lawsuits based on e-mail are becoming big money makers for attorneys, (Lefevre, 1998). Another draw back to e-mail is the possibility of receiving unsolicited mail including harassing messages, (Hill, 1997) Addiction to e-mail or Internet is a real possibility, (Hickman, 1997).

E-mail is a quick, efficient way to communicate, but its very ease of use can lead to hasty, thoughtlessly written messages. Consultants Michelle Burke, author of The Valuable Office Professional (AMACOM), and Barbara Hemphill, author of Taming the Office Tiger (Kiplinger), offer the following advice:

• Be careful what you write in an e-mail message. "Never put anything in an e-mail that you wouldn’t want to see on the front page of your morning paper!" E-mail is not a private method of communication. Others can read it – and it can be subpoenaed in the event of a lawsuit,"

 

• Make sure the tone of your message is appropriate. "You’re sending e-mail to another person, not to a computer." ....Don’t take a humorous tone if you’re not very sure of his or her sense of humor." Burke also warns against being too abrupt - a danger because e-mail messages tend to be brief.

 

• "Listen" to your own e-mail message. "I read it out loud to check how it’ll come across to the receiver," says Hemphill. "Writing an e-mail message is such a quick process, it’s easy to be sloppy or too wordy."

 

• ....Never look at it as "just e-mail. "Even if it’s only going to one person, ...your e-mail message is a reflection of you and your work. It’s a written communication, and the receiver will get a certain perception about you when he or she reads it." (Anderson, 1998, p.3).

Future uses. E-mail will take on the form of voice recognition eliminating the necessity to type everything (this is especially great for the slow and non-typist trying to communicate). Check out some of the sci-fi shows communications for future changes. Another place to check out the latest technology available now and the future is http://www.cnet.tv.com .

Bulletin Boards (WWWBoard)

Another telecommunication conferencing tool is a Web Board. A Web Board is a page that lists a few short messages posted by visitors to a site.

How used for teaching. Professors use Web Boards for teaching their courses over the Internet. Students enter a class Web Board to receive and post messages. These messages may include assignments, comments, and questions. The professor and students are also able to respond to messages that others have posted to the Web Board.

Pros. In a Web Board, users can participate using a standard Web Browser. Web Boards allow for maximum readership and are easy to use. Discussion topics are automatically threaded. Security features can also be added.

Cons. When posting to a Web Board, the posting is available immediately without moderation. Documents should be proofread before posting to a Web Board.

Current applications in use. There are many Web Boards on the Internet. Depending on your interests, there is a Web Board specifically for your interest area. By conducting a search for Web Boards, many different sites are found with many different subject areas.

Future uses. With access to Web Boards, students can participate in class discussions and receive and post assignments without even going to class. Web Boards can be very beneficial to distance education classes where the students are at a different site than the professor.

Shared Workspace (Basic Support for Cooperative Work)

A telecommunications conferencing tool that is used by instructors is BSCW. BSCW, Basic Support for Cooperative Work, supports group work over the Internet by providing shared workspaces. A workspace allows storage and retrieval of documents and sharing information within a group of persons. This functionality is integrated with a simple event mechanism to provide each user with an awareness of the activities of others within the workspace. The system is designed primarily to support self-organizing groups. A workspace can be accessed via the World Wide Web, which makes it very useful for cooperation in groups that are geographically distributed and/or work on different platforms.

How used for teaching. BSCW is now used by professors for teaching their courses over the Internet. Students are invited to be members of a BSCW workspace. A workspace can contain information such as documents, images, or links to other Web pages or File Transfer Protocol (FTP) sites, threaded discussions, member contact information and more. The contents of a workspace are represented as information objects arranged in a folder hierarchy. Members can transfer or upload information from their machines to a workspace and set access rights to control the visibility of this information and the operations that can be performed by others. Members can also download, modify and request more details on the information objects by clicking on Hypertext Markup Language links (HTML) links to request workspace operations from the BSCW server. After each operation the server returns a new HTML page showing the new state of the workspace.

Pros. In BSCW, the workspace can be used to share documents across different platforms. Users can access workspaces, browse through folders and retrieve objects just like ordinary WWW pages. Documents can be uploaded via a WWW-Browser. The workspace keeps the user aware of all events. For example, the creating, reading, and changing of objects. The system is under development at GMD, the German National Research Center for Technology. The BSCW software is available free of charge and workspaces can be created on GMD’s server.

Cons. The lack of a standard, accepted method of file upload using Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) and support from Web agents like browsers and servers is the most obvious problem for distributed authoring. In some cases this has led to the situation where vendors support different methods for similar purposes. For example, Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) multipart method in Netscape Navigator for general file upload and HTTP Publishing in Netscape Gold for HTML document publishing. The lack of standard support has required the development of helper applications for BSCW to handle file upload independently of a Web browser. This situation is hardly ideal. A helper has to be installed by every user who does not use Netscape Navigator. In addition the helper has to handle aspects such as authentication and upload via a proxy server, which the browser can already handle using existing functionality.

Current applications in use. BSCW is used is both education and business environments. The most common use is in the area of writing collaborative documents. Since BSCW is accessed over the Internet, documents can be uploaded and retrieved from different locations throughout the world and from different computer platforms.

Future uses. Planned extensions to BSCW include audio and video channels and shared whiteboards. This would allow students to visualize and hear what they are studying. Shared whiteboards would allow for chats within a workspace. The developers of BSCW believe that to find acceptance, their tools must be simple to use, simple to install, and not dependent on proprietary software.

Computer Conferencing

One method of synchronous telecommunications which is very popular is computer conferencing (CC). Through CC, multiple users can connect to a server and "talk" to one another over the internet by typing the words they are "saying" into a designated box. As long as the user has an Internet connection, they can communicate with each other from anywhere in the world. It is possible to chat with many people at one time, or to have private chats.

How used for teaching. Computer conferencing is a popular teaching tool because of its ease of use. Professors use CC to have synchronous conferences with students, both individual and group. CC is an excellent medium for professors and TAs to be available for students’ questions. Also, students use CCs to discuss collaborative projects, for help and support of each other, and to moderate and participate in topic discussions (Cifuentes et al., 1997).

Pros. CC software is easy to learn for most users, even if they are new to telecommunications tools and to the Internet. Also, the software is usually free. Some examples of CC software are First Class and Ewgie The ease of use and the ability to "talk" to anyone, anywhere who has an Internet connection makes this a very popular tool. In addition, some clients also have email features, which expands the use and popularity.

Cons. Although not a problem serious enough in the education environment to discourage its use, one problem with chatting in general is that people do not always know exactly with whom they are "talking". Also, it is discouraging if the designated server is not reliable and the participants cannot stay logged on long enough to make the service worthwhile (Bates,1995).

Current applications in use. CC applications are in use all over the Internet on sites too numerous to mention. One client which you may choose to investigate further is EWGIE (Easy Web Group Interaction Enabler). It is free and is located at: http://foodmark.sju.edu/ewgie. Information on First Class is available at: http://www.softarc.com.

Future uses. As more features are added to CC client software, the possibilities for future uses continue to increase. Some client software now includes a whiteboard for sharing visual ideas so participants can use a draw program for illustration purposes. Other participants can see and manipulate the images on the whiteboard.

Text Based Virtual Reality (Multi-user dimension, Object Oriented. (MOO))

Another telecommunication conferencing tool which has gained in popularity with instructors over the last few years in the MOO. A MOO is actually a MUD, or multi-object oriented multi-user dimension It is usually a text based, synchronous, and allows manipulation of programmed objects as well as interaction with the objects and with other participants.

How used for teaching. Professors now use a MOO environment for teaching their courses over the Internet. Students enter the MOO and have the opportunity to interact with virtual objects and chat with others who are also logged on at the same time. The professor may choose to log in as a leader or as one of the students. Students have the opportunity to practice skills they are learning such as writing, or conversing in another language. MOOs are an excellent environment for problem solving activities either for individuals or teams.

Pros. MOOs are certainly an alternative for a professor who needs to reach many students over a large area (Randolph,1996). The software is free and can be programmed to fit the needs of different subjects, content, and style. A MOO provides interaction of virtual objects as well as synchronous conferencing for many students over a large area. They are appealing to many because of the game-like atmosphere they provide.

Cons. Finding one’s way around a MOO can be very frustrating and intimidating. There are many commands to learn in order to move through the environment which has been programmed for the participants. Also, many times there are other characters already within the environment who may or may not choose to be friendly to new arrivals. MOOs take a great deal of time to program and to maintain, so it is important to have someone who is willing to perform that task.

Current applications in use. There are many MOOs on the Internet for a variety of purposes. Some are private and require a password since they are set up for a particular purpose such as a class. But there are also many others which anyone can enter. Several are available which provide guidance and tutorials for novices. Some of those are:

The MOOring Homepage (http://www.newdream.net/~scully/moo/)

AussieMOO Exercise (http://silo.riv.csu.edu.au/mooex.html)

Future uses. MOOs are now web-based and can be navigated by clicking on links one wishes to follow. By using 3D imaging software and multimedia capabilities, MOOs could be available to provide students opportunities to not only discuss that which they are studying, but also to see and manipulate those things. It has also been suggested that MOOs would be a wonderful environment for second language practice and learning.

Videoconferencing

Videoconferencing is a technology that can be utilized for synchronous communication across great distances. Considering both expense and functionality, videoconferencing covers all spectrums. The Trans-Texas Video Network with more than 100 sites across the state of Texas, encompasses videoconferencing on a grand scale, while, the Connectix QuickCam utilizing White Pine’s CU-SeeMe software which facilitates desktop videoconferencing is probably the least expensive form of videoconferencing, with PictureTel being somewhere in the middle of the road.

How used for teaching. In both higher education and K-12 teaching environments, videoconferencing is being used to facilitate teaching over a distance. With current videoconferencing technology, classes consisting of few to many students have the opportunity to interact with classes that are geographically very distant that may contain one student or many students.

Pros. Videoconferencing is currently being used in teaching atmospheres because it meets three criteria that have been designated as desirable for instruction: effectiveness, efficiency, and appeal (Reigeluth, 1983). Holistically, videoconferencing encompasses an interaction among participants separated geographically via a "video based vehicle."

Videoconferencing typically occurs in a synchronous or real-time manner. Communication through videoconferencing can be limited to a one-way communication; however, videoconferencing is mostly considered to be an interactive technology.

Videoconferencing is effective because it facilitates the delivery of instruction between two or more geographical sites by sending "audio (sound), video (sight), and data (information) over telecommunications lines".(Ehrhard and Schroeder, 1997) Efficiency is another advantage of videoconferencing since it does occur synchronously. The instructor has control of the technology in the classroom, with the capabilities of projecting materials from a computer as well as documents or transparencies.

The appeal of videoconferencing becomes apparent through its efficiency and effectiveness. An additional "plus", however is its ease of use. While large-scale videoconferencing systems are much too expensive for a single user, desktop videoconferencing technologies offer an inexpensive alternative. A QuickCam, which is a racquetball sized video camera, can be purchased from $100 to $200 (Fetterman, 1996) with the CU-SeeMe software available for less than $100. (White Pine, 1998) The CU-SeeMe software actually facilitates the videoconferencing by offering audio, video, and text-based chatting capabilities.

Attributes for any type of videoconferencing include the capability for advanced communication. Communications including verbal and audio connections are possible, as well as the physical communications like body language, hand gestures, and facial expressions that are so important to building and maintaining a personal and interactive virtual classroom. (Fetterman, 1996)

Cons. The most influential strike against videoconferencing is that it is a technology. Technologies inevitably fail at the most inopportune moments. While these failures can occur as a result of user error, more often than not, the glitches are a result of the technologies within the technology—the use of data compression, telecommunications lines, and slow bandwidth. (Fetterman, 1996) An interesting documented drawback of videoconferencing is its "immediacy." According to Fetterman (1996), "videoconferencing of any type requires that participants coordinate their schedules" (p. 25).

An obstacle to overcome with desktop videoconferencing is hardware incompatibility. While one network may use one type of hardware, another user may be using an incompatible system that deters from successful communication. Interaction between Macintosh and Windows operating systems may sometimes be difficult, but future innovations should help abolish this difficulty. (Ehrhard & Schroeder, 1997)

Current applications in use. Videoconferencing is being used for a multitude of applications in the classroom. The ability to reach across the world into a different culture to bring it into the classroom is just one of the wonderful ways that videoconferencing is benefiting the students of today.

But mostly, videoconferencing is offering an opportunity to people who, before this technological innovation, could not have obtained the education they are seeking through videoconferencing.

Future uses. Desktop videoconferencing is potentially being revolutionized by the development of a new software called ClassPoint. ClassPoint is being billed as the "first distance learning software to offer more than simply videoconferencing. It delivers a complete distance learning solution for use over the Internet." (White Pine, 1998a)

According to White Pine (1998a), ClassPoint features:

• Instructor-controlled learning environment
• Multipoint video and audio so everyone can see and hear each other
• Web-based class setup and scheduling
• Instructor-led and narrated Web Tours
• Interactive quizzes
• Web-based materials available before, during, and after class
• Shared interactive whiteboard and chat
• Works over the Internet and intranets
• The spotlight allows the instructor to "call on" one or more students, or allows a student to "raise his hand" and request the spotlight
• Text chat can be directed by the instructor to all students or privately to one student at a time
• Audio and video interactions can occur between the instructor and all students.
• Web Tours allow the instructor to lead the class on narrated tours of Web pages

The canvas of education is undergoing a constant change. Failures and successes are a part of the educational experience (for both the student and the teacher). Innovations that facilitate synchronous or asynchronous communications like electronic mail, shared workspace, chatting, bulletin board systems, text-based virtual reality, and videoconferencing have been developed to improve teaching and education. The use of these media in teaching applications, each with its pros and cons, sound instructional design, and a little determination, the future of education is sure to be effective and successful.

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