1

Logical Communication Structures for

Network-Based Education and Tele-Teaching

Draft of:

Trentin G. (1997). Logical Communication Structures for Network-Based Education and Tele-

Teaching, Educational Technology, 37(4), 19-25.

INTRODUCTION

Study of the dynamics involved in the launch and development of educational telematics projects clearly reveals certain limits in the planning phase, a problem that schools and educational bodies in general rarely manage to overcome. The major difficulties arise when seeking to create complex learning paths based on specific learning strategies (e.g. collaborative learning) that entail considerable effort to plan and manage. If we add to this the need to organise participant interaction and the sharing of information in a network, it is easy to see why schools find it hard to set up a system (educational project + communications structure) designed for network activity, where clear definition and organisation of participant communication is required. The result is that projects are often limited to a narrow range of activities like international correspondence, relatively unrestricted setting up of Web sites, data exchange, discussion on specific topics etc, worthy though these may be. More complex, articulated projects, on the other hand, are almost inevitably devised and managed by non-school organisations like universities, research institutions, etc. The reason for this lies not so much in a lack of teaching or subject area skills, but rather in methodological shortcomings related to the design and running of network-based projects, and to the creation and management of the logical communication structure on which these projects rely. "Logical communication structure" is a rather grandiose term to describe a clear-cut problem: organising basic telematic services (E-mail, file transfer, etc) offered by Internet Service Providers so as to respond to the aims and typical requirements of a group working on the net. Any logical communication structure aimed at collaborative distance learning will involve two vital elements: firstly, mailing lists and electronic boards that allow multi-channel interaction between the members of the work or study group; and secondly, shared information space (Rodden, 1993) which can be accessed by the whole group. This concise definition is unlikely to explain the need to build an additional system on top of already existing basic services. The aim of this paper is to illustrate how the communication requirements of a work or study group may correspond to a variety of methodological-structural approaches to the use of network services. In the first section we shall seek to clarify the concept of a “logical communication structure”, remaining as far as possible within the educational context. In the second section we will explain how utilising the network to access, share and build new knowledge is strictly related to particular uses and structuring of basic telematic services.

2

THE LOGICAL COMMUNICATION STRUCTURE

Anyone who has participated in network activities, even a simple E-mail discussion, will certainly have realised that the flow of communication in this many-to-many form of interaction has to be carefully organised. Let us imagine, for example, that ten people wish to conduct a debate on a particular topic; just because each has an E-mail address it does not necessarily follow that they can engage in many-to-many communication. If this type of exchange is to run smoothly, someone must organise a mailing list, whereby participants can send in their individual contributions which will be automatically passed on (or in jargon "exploded") to all the other members of the discussion group. Similar steps must be taken to manage the flow of communication in electronic boards, which are typical of systems like computer conferencing and bulletin boards (BBS). Hence, even organising a simple on-line discussion entails structuring and managing communication flow. Knowing how to do this becomes absolutely crucial when seeking to organise collaborative activities on the network, whether these be aimed at production or learning. Managing collaboration is not just a matter of setting up a dialogue or a simple data exchange area but rather of creating an infrastructure to promote coordination, co-decision-making, co-production, sharing of draft products etc, functions which are typical of any Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) systems dedicated to collaborative activities. Furthermore, it is also necessary to choose the most suitable telematic services in relation to the group's communication patterns and requirements: synchronous and asynchronous written communication (e.g. computer conferencing), synchronous multimedia interaction (e.g. desktop video conferencing), file transfer, sharing of information spaces, etc. In this light, designing and creating an electronic network for educational applications (as well as other for other purposes) entails at least three logical levels:

- the connection to network services, including both physical link-ups and the software to manage them;

- the set of basic telematic services such as E-mail, file transfer, WWW, etc;

- the logical architecture of the communication structure adopted to meet learning requirements in a network context.

The first two levels are essentially of a technological nature and call on skills related to network services and tools. From an organisational viewpoint they do not usually pose particular problems. The third level however focuses chiefly on how to use and organise network resources given the specific requirements of the work/learning group. The skills called upon here are clearly more methodological in nature.

Levels Skills involved

1 Connectivity

technological skills regarding

3

2 Basic Services

network tools and services

3

Logical Communication

Structure

methodological skills regarding use

of network services

Table 1 Each level in this model can be seen as a "client" of the one that proceeds it (see figure 1): i.e. the logical communication structure (level 3) uses basic network services (level 2), which in turn require a connection (level 1) between user site and provider.

Internet

Service

Provider

Work or

Study Group

1

3

2

Internet

Figure 1 Actually, a fourth level should be added - the telematic literacy of the structure's potential beneficiaries. This does not just mean training in the use of network tools and services but more importantly growing accustomed to working on-line. However, we will not examine this particular aspect here, as our aim is to analyse how to structure communication in a specific learning project.

Connectivity

In our model, connectivity means the physical link between the user's computer and a computer that can provide services for interpersonal communication, file transfer and tele-computing (Rapaport, 1991). In the case of the Internet, the connection is between

4

a PC, situated for example in the user's home or educational institution, and the computer of the nearest provider offering access to the network (Figure 1, Point 1). The level of connectivity therefore involves the hardware and software tools needed to "present" the user on the Internet via a normal telephone connection (as illustrated in Figure 1) or a special channel for data transmission (e.g. ISDN - Integrated Services Digital Network). So we are dealing here with physical and not logical connectivity, which regards dialogue between users or remote interaction with an information source, regardless of the network service used.

Basic Telematic Services

Telematic networks have two main objectives: to put people in touch with one another and to give them access to the wealth of information currently stored on computers throughout the world. With this in mind, we can divide network services into two categories: those for interpersonal communication and those for access to and sharing of information. The former class of services makes it possible, regardless of space and/or time constraints, to reproduce some of the dynamics involved in communication between individuals: one-to-one communication (e.g. dialogue), one-to-many communication (e.g. a lecture), and many-to-many communication (e.g. roundtable discussion). The latter type of services concentrate on access to information sources (databases, libraries of material, etc) and the exchange of material (software, documents, etc) between two or more users. To give specific examples of both types of services, the first group embraces E-mail and computer conferencing, while the second includes the now-famous World Wide Web (WWW). To complete the picture, mention must also be made of telematic services not necessarily available via the Internet. These include desktop video conferencing (DTVC), which allows audio and video interaction, file transfer and the possibility to work together in real time on shared white board. In this case, levels 1 and 2 are closely related because the use of basic DTVC functions is bound to specific physical links (e.g. ISDN), as well as to equally specific software for managing multi-mode communication between users. It is worth noting here that recent experiments are exploring the integrated use of Internet and DTVC technology, the aim being to identify and define the ideal matching of communication needs in education and the potential offered by today's telematic services.

Logical Structure for Educational Communication

Once access has been obtained to basic telematic services (E-mail, News, FTP, Telnet, WAIS, Gopher, WWW, etc), the next step is to define a logical communication structure based on these services. This structure aims to satisfy a number of specific learning requirements: the organisation of shared archives and management of communication flows within a collaborative learning project (Figure 1, Point 3); the use of computer conferencing for distance learning; setting up of Web sites to share information and knowledge, etc. These activities require not only an effective communication structure but also technical, educational and coordination skills.

A Case Study

5

In order to further illustrate the aforementioned ideas we shall now examine a real experiment designed and developed following the logical model described earlier. Called StoryBase, the experiment was carried out jointly by the Italian Research Council's Institute for Educational Technology (ITD) and the “Don Milani” Lower Secondary School, both located in Genoa. The scientific goal was to study a specific methodological approach to the integrated use of information technology (the database) and network communication. Subtitled "Distance Cooperation for the Learning of History", StoryBase involved about twenty lower secondary schools located in various parts of the country, all joined together in a maxi-virtual classroom. The project's specific educational goal was collaborative study of the period from the Second World War to the present day. Activities were based on the gathering of historical recollections and information from the students' families, leading to the collaborative design of a common information form for the collection of this data in a database. This was then used to compare the oral history collected by the virtual class-members with documented history and statistics provided by specialised organisations (e.g. ISTAT, the Italian statistics bureau). The students' communication needs were identified as follows:

- interpersonal interaction (individually or as a group);

- exchange and discussion of the various information form models proposed by the schools;

- access to a common work area where draft products were collected and the project's database was progressively compiled.

Another requirement was the organisation of communication channels between teachers and coordinators to allow them to interact at a distance. Now let us examine how the communication structure was conceived in response to project activities.

Levels 1 and 2 - Connectivity and Basic Services

Schools and project coordinators were linked up in Internet by local providers or via more costly direct links with an ITD computer. In both cases the most commonly used basic services were E-mail and file transfer.

Level 3 - Logical communication structure

A distinction should be made here between interpersonal communication requirements and the need for a common space where project data could be shared.

Interpersonal Communication. Interaction between the participants was divided into three main channels using three mailing lists. These comprised:

- a channel reserved for coordinators and scientific experts involved in the project;

- a communication channel between them and the teachers, used chiefly in the setting up phase of the project;

- a channel reserved for students' collaborative design of the information forms and for their discussion on the data collected.

Sharing of Material. A shared information area was used for the exchange of draft material (local databases) and the building/consultation of global database. This was organised on an ITD server and could be reached via the Internet's file transfer service

6

(FTP). In actual fact, some of the draft material was exchanged via the attach file function typical of many E-mail software packages like Eudora. Apart from the importance of adequately planned communication channels, it is also worth mentioning the vital role played in experiments of this kind by the coordinators, moderators and those who offer technical support to students and teachers. In fact, no matter how well designed, any logical communication structure can become an empty husk unless it is appropriately managed, coordinated and enlivened.

Skills Required

Preliminary examination of factors involved in the creation of a logical model of a network-based communication structure reveals the need to combine a series of skills such as:

- technological knowledge of telematic tools and services;

- methodological knowledge in the use of network services, both regarding the organisation and management of communication flows between participants and for structuring distributed information in relation to a specific learning goal;

- ability to coordinate, facilitate and animate network activities.

It is becoming clear that unless schools or training bodies are adequately equipped in both the technological and methodological senses, the management of telematic activities involving a fair degree of organisation may well be beyond their means. Nevertheless, between the general use of network services in support of learning on the one hand and the use of a logical communication structure for a specific educational project on the other, there is ample room for a range of different possibilities, which we will now proceed to examine. Given the aim of this paper, the analysis will be based on the relationships between a specific learning goal and the corresponding use, whether structured or not, of telematic services.

LEARNING GOALS AND STRUCTURED USE OF NETWORK SERVICES

A host of different interpretations can be given for the use of telematics in education (Trentin, 1996.a). One of the most interesting aspects regards the relationship between the learning goal and the way that network resources are used in its pursuit. In an attempt to unravel this highly complex relationship, we can narrow down the educational use of telematics into four categories : access to knowledge, knowledge sharing, building new knowledge and tele-teaching (Figure 2).

7

Telematics in Network-Based Education and Tele-Teaching

knowledge sharing

access to knowledge

building new knowledge

tele-teaching

unstructured use of te lematic services

structured use of telematic services

structured use of telematic services based on

collaborative learning strategies

structured use of telematic services based on

on-line education strategies

Figure 2

We shall now seek to analyse these four alternatives, while bearing in mind considerations expressed about the three logical levels in Table 1. More specifically, we shall put ourselves in the position of someone who has solved the problems related to levels 1 and 2 and is setting out to design a specific educational project. Hence, when speaking about structured/unstructured use of network services, we do so from the viewpoint of someone who aims to organise a logical communication structure for education.

Access to Knowledge

Widespread telematic networks like the Internet offer access to an amazing wealth of information stored in a huge number of computers linked up by a host of network services. This information ranges from bibliographic material (catalogues, articles, books and documentation in general) through to multimedia and everything that can be transmitted digitally. Telematics, and more particularly electronic message-exchange services, also grant access to the knowledge of experts, specialists, teachers, etc. However, both cases constitute direct and individual use of the network, which does not imply structured use of telematic services; the user accesses knowledge and information that others have organised and made available on-line. Activities that fall into this category include consulting databases, free browsing of the Web (known as "net-surfing"), sending out messages on the network requesting information, and so on. Unstructured use of network services generally means there is no organisation whatsoever of communication flows or of information areas destined for a particular user group seeking to share interests and/or specific objectives. Returning to the three levels in Table 1, unrestricted "surfing" of network information does not involve level three because it utilises structures and organisation conceived and produced by others who may not necessarily share the aims of potential users. Nevertheless, the information structure may well be of interest in acquiring new knowledge. To clarify this point consider the following example. Meteorological data made available on the network by the weather bureau are chiefly designed to inform the public about weather conditions. However, there is nothing to stop someone using the same data to study climate patterns and, say, the relationship between weather

8

conditions and mountain chains in a certain area. Essentially, it is a little like going to the library to look up books and journals on a particular subject in order to gain information and knowledge as part of broader study. Furthermore, net-surfing activities have an intrinsic educational impact in that the user must acquire and use skills to retrieve and select information. This aspect should not be underrated, especially where permanent training and lifelong learning are concerned; in this context, the ability and inclination to cater autonomously for one's own learning needs is fundamental. Given the importance of this factor, a great deal of care should be taken in using the net's wealth of information. While students and teachers may freely seek information and knowledge, using the net sensibly and profitably (at least as far as learning is concerned) means learning how to locate the most appropriate information sources, deciding whether they are authoritative or not and putting the information gained to good use [Trentin, 1994]. Users who lack these abilities risk wasting a good deal of time and energy for little return.

Knowledge Sharing

Knowledge sharing generally concerns a group of people interested in sharing ideas, experience and material. When this is done at a distance via the net it is imperative to set up discussion forums and virtual spaces; in short, a logical communication structure must be provided (Table 1, level 3). Sharing knowledge therefore involves shaping telematic services to suit the group's specific needs; this means creating mailing lists and/or conference areas, setting aside disc space for storing and sharing material, creating information pages (e.g. WWW sites), etc. In contrast with free, individual access to knowledge, here there is a need to build an information and interrelation domain that responds to the interests and aims of a particular group of net users - this is what is meant by structured use of telematic services.

Building New Knowledge

Building new knowledge entails designing an educational project and hence setting a learning objective and defining methods and tools for fulfilling it. Where the project is to take place on the net (see StoryBase), a network-based learning strategy is also required, not so much because learning is to be done via a "computer network", but rather because the project will involve, above all, a "network of interrelationships" between individuals (lone students) or groups (classes of students). One of the most effective strategies to have emerged from experimentation is collaborative learning, which usually centres on group production of material that is easy to transfer via computer network (a database, hypertext, a journal, software, etc). Alternatively, it may involve members of the learning group taking it in turns to assume a leading role. Any cooperative education project on the net must not only incorporate a clear learning plan, but also an appropriate logical communication structure for the participants, for the reasons outlined in the previous section (knowledge sharing). This structure should include:

- management of communication flows (coordination, discussion, etc);

- common work areas for sharing draft products:

- ...

9

which involves

- setting up mailing lists or conferencing systems for the exclusive use of learning group members:

- organising information and draft products on one or more network servers

- ... In short, acquiring knowledge implies structured use of communication services based on suitable on-line education strategies (e.g. collaborative learning). Continuing our analysis of the diagram in Figure 2, it is interesting to note how each of the various alternatives (apart from the first) encompasses characteristics of the previous ones. For example, acquiring new knowledge is not only based on specific network-based learning strategies, but also involves structured use of telematic resources, as well as free access to the wealth of information and knowledge on the net (earlier defined as unstructured use of telematic services).

Tele-Teaching

At first glance, there appears to be little difference between using telematics for acquiring new knowledge (see previous section) or for tele-teaching, but the two applications are actually quite distinct. Acquiring new knowledge via network interaction does not necessarily imply distance education. Let us take collaborative learning as an example: learning generally takes place here because the educational activity is structured in a way that interaction between participants promotes the group's collective growth. In this case there is no division between the role of teacher and that of the student. In a way, the act of teaching crystallises in designing, putting together and running a learning system based on the endeavours of the participants. So the teacher does not perform a direct, clear-cut teaching role, but rather acts as a facilitator for the students. For example, in StoryBase no on-line lessons are held. However, a series of activities (discussions and production of material) are organised and coordinated by the teachers, aimed at collaborative learning through historical research. Now let us look at tele-teaching. Here the act of teaching is expressly conveyed via computer network. The area which will probably benefit most from this type of application is in-service training (Trentin, 1996.b). Communication resources are playing an increasingly vital role in this field, both in reducing costs and in improving and adding continuity to educational projects. One of the most promising methodological approaches to distance learning via computer network is so-called on-line education or third-generation distance education (Harasim, 1989). Based on computer conferencing, on-line education involves intensive interpersonal communication between the various players in the process (course participants, tutors and experts). Thus all those taking part may contribute to discussion on the topics covered within the course, the underlying principle being to share and reappraise individual experience so that new individual knowledge may be acquired. The activities generally presented to course participants include reading articles or chapters from books as starting points for discussion, collaborative document production, organising on-line workshops held by experts, and, in project-based courses, planning projects to be implemented at the end of the course.

10

The success of this approach has already been demonstrated in Italy by experiments like MEDEA

1, an on-line course in Environmental Education, and POLARIS

2, an

experiment in the use of computer networks for in-service teachers training. Let us round up this discussion with an observation similar to the one made at the conclusion of the previous section: tele-teaching via computer network not only requires an appropriate on-line education strategy but also on-line learning approaches (e.g. collaborative learning) via structured and unstructured use of telematic services.

CONCLUSIONS

Structuring a communication environment for both network-based educational activities and tele-teaching does not just require technological know-how but also (and perhaps above all) calls for the capacity to design and plan communication between participants at a logical level. This is an ability possessed chiefly by those who are well-versed in the issues surrounding educational design and management, as opposed to those with greater technical know-how, as important as this contribution may be. All too often, educational projects based on the use of telematics have been approached in a slapdash manner, along the lines that it is sufficient merely to supply schools and educational organisations with suitable technology. The result of this is that these tools often end up being used inappropriately, underused or, what's worse, completely forgotten. Indeed, a number of well-staffed, high-profile projects with substantial funding have suffered, and still are suffering, from problems related to the choice of computer network technology (the latest is not always the most appropriate) and to the application of an efficient logical communication structure for the participants. It is in this sense that this paper has sought to highlight considerations and conclusions arising from various experimental projects. The author's wish is that his work will contribute to a broader understanding of particular aspects related to the planning of network-based educational activities and tele-teaching.

REFERENCES

Harasim, L.M. (1989). Online Education: a New Domain, in Mason, R.D. e Kaye, A.R. (eds) Mindweave: Communication, Computers and Distance Education, Cap. 4, Oxford, Pergamon Press.

Rapaport, M. (1991). Computer Mediated Communications, J. Wiley & Sons Inc., New York.

Rodden, T. (1993). Technological Support for Cooperation, in Dan Diaper e Colston Sanger (Eds.),CSCW in Practice: an Introduction and Case Studie, Springer-Verlag, London.

Trentin, G. (1994). Telematic Resources for Teacher Support, Education in Computing - Computer in Education, vol. 6, n. 1, pp. 5-14.

1) This course was carried out as part of the LABNET project, a collaboration between Italy's Ministry

for the Environment and CNR-ITD in Genoa. 2) The POLARIS project is a collaboration between the Technical Education Board (Division II) of

Italy's Education Ministry and CNR-ITD in Genoa.

11

Trentin, G. (1996.a). Internet: Does It Really Bring Added Value to Education?, International Journal of Educational Telecommunications, vol. 2, N. 2/3, pp. 97-106, Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education.

Trentin, G. (1996.b). On-Line Education and In-Service Training Proceedings of the International Conference “Lifelong Learning for the Information Society”, 24-28

March 1996, Genoa, Theme B, pp. 44-48.