PROGRESSIO The impact of video conferencing on distance education courses: A University of Namibia case study

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1 PROGRESSIO The impact of video conferencing on distance education courses: A University of Namibia case study T. Frindt Centre for External Studies University of Namibia Windhoek, Namibia tfrindt@unam.na Abstract Recently, there has been explosive growth in the array of distance learning delivery modes and information technologies. Interactive video and audio conferencing as well as telephone tutoring and the use of the Internet have made it possible for distance education to move into the forefront of course delivery. The University of Namibia (UNAM) at its Centre for External Studies (CES) has been using interactive video conferencing and teleconferencing techniques to enhance learning amongst its distance education students during the past few years. This research is unique in Namibia, since no similar research has ever been carried out to determine the effectiveness and impact of video conferencing and other interactive technologies on the performances of a group of distance education students. Thirty-eight students enrolled for a course in teaching methods of Economics and Business Studies, but owing to the absence of distance education study material, these students received intensive interactive video conferencing in preparing them for the end-of-the year examination. Their examination results were also compared with those of traditional full-time students, who also enrolled for the same courses. This study therefore supports the use of interactive distance education to complement, enhance, and expand education options as it study proved that distance education can be expected to result in achievement at least comparable to their counterpart, traditional face-to-face instruction. Progressio 29 (1 & 2) 2007 Unisa Press ISSN pp progre29-1&2-07.indd Sec1: /03/17 09:39:40 AM

2 The impact of video conferencing on distance education courses... INTRODUCTION It is true that the demand for distance education in Namibia has been amply demonstrated over the years. Throughout the years, many Namibian citizens have enrolled at the University of South Africa (UNISA) and at various vocational colleges where they were offered school certificates by commercial South African correspondence colleges. When the Academy was established in 1980, it was realised that the demand for education in Namibia was increasing; and educationalists called for renewed commitment to expand educational efforts in Namibia. In 1984 the Distance Teaching section was established. It started with the Primary Education Certificate, with an enrolment number of 51 students. In 1986 the Higher Primary Education certificate was introduced, an the numberf of enrolled students was 191. In 1989 the Distance Teaching section was extended and new courses were introduced. With the establishment of the University of Namibia (1993), the Academy as an institution ceased to operate. After the University of Namibia came into operation, distance education was reformed and restructured to offer education at tertiary level. In the restructuring process, the Department of Distance Education, together with the newly established Department of Continuing Education became the Centre for External Studies (Beukes 1998, 93). Student support at the Centre for External Studies (CES) is provided through 9 regional Centres that handle registration and fees, academic counselling, face-to-face tutorials, library resources, examinations, and local advertising. The Northern Campus, which is the largest regional centre, is located at Oshakati and predominantly serves the four northern regions Omusati, Ohangwena, Oshana and Oshikoto. According to the official statistics of 2001, the total population of Namibia in 2001 was 1,830,330, of which 780,149 lived in the four northern regions. This equals 42,6% of the total population. Nearly half of the Namibian population is thus potentially served by the Northern Campus, which was established in 1998). At this point it expanded UNAM s programmes offered in the North beyond those offered by CES by open and distance learning and the full-time training programme for nurses offered by UNAM s Faculty of Medical and Health Services. One of the main reasons for the establishment of the campus was to support UNAM distance education students who reside in the four northern regions. Apart from providing a registration point and place for students to write examination, nearly half of the population lives 700 km or more from the capital city of Windhoek. Furthermore, apart from the main campus, the Northern Campus is also the only regional campus in Namibia, which employs a video conferencing facility. The Ford Foundation sponsored this facility. (See the distribution of UNAM centres in appendix A). In the mission statement of the University of Namibia (UNAM), it is stated that learning throughout Namibia should be encouraged and promoted. In the light of this, CES caters for the needs of persons who, for a variety of reasons, cannot attend residential classes at UNAM. CES therefore, helps UNAM to fulfil its larger mission in terms of providing accessible and quality higher education through flexible and mixed 57 progre29-1&2-07.indd Sec1: /03/17 09:39:40 AM

3 T. Frindt mode approaches to the people, wherever they may be located. In providing an enabling environment and leadership through innovative teaching methods, CES has enabled the University to increase the percentage of distance education students to 45% of the total number of UNAM students, making UNAM a dual mode institution (CES policy document, 2005). The focus of this case study is to see whether the introduction of video conferencing as a delivery mode could provide sufficient learning experiences and interactivity to enable distance education students to study successfully, while allowing for different learning styles. Thirty-eightg distance education students at the Oshakati Northern Campus had to rely on interactive video conferencing to prepare them for their-endof-the year examinations. These students enrolled for their final year course in one of the two teaching methods subjects; viz., Teaching Methods of Business Studies and Teaching Methods of Economics. This research had its origin in 2005 when the above-mentioned students were informed that there was no study material available for the two subjects they had enrolled for. This implied that the students would not be able to sit for their final examinations in November Knowing what effect that could have on student performances, CES sought help from the full-time lecturers on the main campus, but soon discovered that the full-time students only made use of handouts and class notes, which obviously was not suited for distance education learning. The CES student support staff then decided to try and find out where students were located. As it was clear that the majority of the students resided in the northern region of the country, CES was then confronted with three options the first option was to ask students to attend full-time classes at the main campus, but this was rejected almost right away, as staff realised that it was unrealistic to expect distance education students to travel every week to the main campus. The second option was to send a lecturer to the Northern Campus on specified dates, also became a problem as it was costly to travel to Oshakati, not to mention the financial implications of receiving allowances and having accommodation. The next best thing was to concentrate on video conferencing. As the majority of students lived close enough to the Northern Campus, it was possible to negotiate with the students to attend a three-hour video conferencing twice a week, stretched over a period of one month. The choice to make use of video conferencing was therefore, in line with what Cavanaugh (2001, 75) and others are advocating with regard to the delivery of distance education. They claim that distance acquisition of knowledge is often an expensive and time-consuming process to institute and maintain, and that it is important to know whether distance education actually improves student performance, and which distance education delivery methods and techniques are more effective, so students get maximum benefit from society s investment in distance learning technology. This study will therefore, discuss the effectiveness and interactivity of video conferencing on a group of distance education students at the Oshakati Northern Campus, who had to rely on interactive video conferencing to prepare them for their-end-of-the year examinations. 58 progre29-1&2-07.indd Sec1: /03/17 09:39:40 AM

4 The impact of video conferencing on distance education courses... CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK While research on technology-enhanced learning dates back to the beginning of the last century (De Vaney and Butler 1996), research on video conferencing in Namibia is still in its infancy, as very little has been reported on the effectiveness of video conferencing in Namibia. In addition to the work done by Sherry (1996), Alhalabi, Anadaptuam and Hamza, (1998), Heath and Holznagel, (2002) and Amirian, (2002) are all in agreement that video conferencing has a unique ability to promote interaction in the classroom. If the course encourages interactions, active learning models that follow the social constructivist model of Vygotsky (1978) predict that successful learning is likely to result. These learning models require students to construct their own knowledge in a self-directing manner, and to take on more responsibility for their own learning. In the well-known theory of distance teaching, conceptualised by Holmberg (1985), the notion that distance teaching will support student motivation and promote learning pleasure and effectiveness if learners are engaged in discussions and decisions is stressed, and that the programme should provide for real and simulated communication to and from the students. This means that distance education is believed to work well, and produce results as effective as traditional classroom instruction (Kearsley 1996, 55 58). However, the distance education currently offered has the potential to provide more effective learning with updated pedagogy, more experience, and greater understanding and knowledge of methods. Wagner (1998, 417) reported that distance learning practitioners tend to view interaction as the single most significant attribute that defines a contemporary distance learning experience. Moore and Thompson (1990) suggest that improved distance education practices have the potential to enhance educational outcomes, especially when the amount and kind of learner interaction is increased and there is student-to-student interaction and teacher to student feedback. The above findings resonate with those of Sherry (1996), who claims that interactivity represents the connectivity the students feel with the distance education lecturer, the facilitators and their peers. Sherry (1996) states that without connectivity, distance learning degenerates into the old correspondence course model of independent study. The student becomes autonomous and might experience feelings of increased isolation. In the worst situation, such students might drop out. In a well-researched literature review on video conferencing, Amirian (2002) found that interaction is critical to any video conferencing-based learning situation. She argues that video conferencing should be used in ways that make full use of its unique qualities. Specifically, she says, interaction is the key component of this use of the technology to support a more social learning, negotiating meaning through interaction. From research conducted by Irele (1999) on how video conferencing enables remote learners to be part of a social and socialising environment, it is evident that there is a greater awareness that in a video conferencing-based learning situation, a combination of media increases the chances of positive learning outcomes by increasing the range of learning styles that can be accommodated. Additional findings from Irele suggest that by using several 59 progre29-1&2-07.indd Sec1: /03/17 09:39:40 AM

5 T. Frindt technologies to meet different instructional needs and learning styles will result in a richer, more effective instructional experience, not only for the lecturer, but also for the student. PURPOSE OF THE STUDY The purpose of the study was to see whether the introduction of video conferencing as a delivery mode could provide sufficient learning experiences and interactivity to enable distance education students to study successfully, while allowing for different learning styles. As mentioned earlier, this case study focused on thirty-eight students, who enrolled for a course in teaching methods of Economics and Business Studies, but owing to the absence of distance education study material, they received intensive interactive video conferencing in preparing them for the end-of-the-year examination. Although it was not the purpose of the research to compare the examination results of the two distance education groups with those of the full-time students on campus, the researcher saw it as a further opportunity to prove what impact video conferencing had on the performance of distance students when comparing them to their full-time counterparts, since both groups had different lecturers, but sat for the same examination paper, which was compiled by the full-time lecturers at the main campus. DESIGN AND METHOD For the purpose of this Case study, a qualitative method was employed. Results of the design are outlined below: (a) A literature review with particular reference to the interactivity of video conferencing was conducted. (b) Data Collection: Personal interviews were conducted with the student support staff at CES, while several interviews were conducted over the phone with the tutor who was responsible for the video conferencing. End-of-the-year examination results of distance education, as well of as fulltime students were obtained and compared to support the study. (c) Data Processing: The research design followed a qualitative approach, where descriptive statistics were applied. (d) Sampling: The sample considered in this study consisted of 38 distance education students, 16 of whom were enrolled for the course in Teaching Methods of Economics and 22 for the Teaching Methods in Business Studies. The language of instruction was English and this was a second language for all the students 60 progre29-1&2-07.indd Sec1: /03/17 09:39:40 AM

6 The impact of video conferencing on distance education courses... (e) The instrument: The study was done by means of personal interviews with the student support staff at CES, while several interviews were conducted over the phone with the tutor who was responsible for the video conferencing. PROCEDURE As mentioned earlier, it was decided to use interactive video conferencing on a group of 38 undergraduate distance education students who enrolled for the course in Teaching Methods in Economic and Teaching Methods in Business Studies, when CES student support staff realised that these students were not going to have their study material in time to prepare them for the end-of-the year examinations. Student support staff at the main campus traced the students and informed them about the video conferencing classes that were going to be held over a period of one month in order to assist them with their studies, and thus eliminate the problem of the non-delivery of their learning materials. Since 32 of the students resided in the northern regions, it was possible to organise video conferencing classes because it was much closer for the students to go to the northern campus than to travel to Windhoek. The remaining 6 students lived close to the main campus, and were able to travel to Windhoek every Tuesday and Thursday. A survey was therefore, conducted to determine how many students had access to , facsimile, cellphone or telephone facilities. As the majority of the students are teachers, it was possible to or fax class notes to those schools which were equipped with a fax or facility. Those students who had no access to fax or could collect copies from the northern campus when they came for their classes. The CES student support staff was also faced with a further problem of finding a suitable tutor for the video conferencing teaching, since this subject was not offered before. After long discussions and many hours of interviewing various teachers and lecturers, it was decided to appoint a very dynamic teacher from one of the local senior secondary schools who is teaching these two subjects at her school. When the teacher who was responsible for the tutoring was interviewed, she mentioned that she felt somewhat overwhelmed at first, but felt that she could cope because of the simplicity of using the video conferencing system. She devoted much more time in preparing for the video conferencing classes than for her normal teaching at school. Rather than being a mere substitute for face-to-face interaction, she stated that a readjustment of teaching style and methodology was necessary. According to her, the greatest challenge of video conferencing was to make sure that the students received their handouts well in advance and remained involved in the course. She would forward handouts to those students who had access to the Internet and notes to the student support staff at CES to be distributed to those who had access to fax facilities. Staff would also contact students and remind them about classes and inform them where to pick up their class notes to prepare them for their next video conference class. During this one month 61 progre29-1&2-07.indd Sec1:61

7 T. Frindt period students wrote class tests, which were invigilated by staff from the northern campus, and were collected and posted the following morning to the main campus. Assignments were faxed, forwarded by or brought to the northern campus to be posted to CES. The following quotation provides something of the flavour of the personal involvement that the tutor had with the students: I spent a lot of time on the telephone with the students. I told them to phone me if they had a problem. If they were not sure about their assignments, I told them to send me what they ve got, and I would tell them if they re on the right track. Some of my students travelled more than 50 km to come to class; so, it was very important to make them feel part of a group and wanted (Interview with lecturer, July 2006). When asked how she ensured interaction between her and the students and also amongst the students themselves, she said that she encouraged them to work in groups, and to have them reporting back in groups. She also mentioned that it was difficult to read the students due to the fact that the picture was not always clear, so she had to make sure that the presentation was lively to ensure that students did not loose interest. The greatest challenge was to get the handouts to the students before each session so that students could prepare well in advance, so that we did not waste any time on lecturing, but rather to concentrate on what they did not understand from the notes. Although the tutor mentioned that tutoring demands lots of planning and hard work from her side, she was convinced that the high achievement rate scored by the distance education students came as a result of their determination and self motivation to complete the course. She said that the students took responsibility of their own learning. They knew what they wanted; and nothing could stop them from achieving their goal. The end-of-the year results of this one-month interactive video conferencing and other technology-based support for the two distance education groups was satisfactory, to say the least. When the researcher discovered that the distance education students and the full-time students wrote the same examination paper at the end of the year, she saw it as a further opportunity to prove what impact video conferencing had on the performance of distance students, when comparing their examination results with those of their full-time counterparts. RESULTS Teaching methods in Economics When comparing the examination results of the distance education students with those of full-time students, it was surprising to find that the distance education students scored much higher in the examination than their full-time counterparts. Their highest score 62 progre29-1&2-07.indd Sec1:62

8 The impact of video conferencing on distance education courses... was 83% with an average of 72%, while the highest score of full-time students was 71% with an average of 65,2%. Figure 1 illustrates the distribution of academic performances of distance and full-time students. It is also worth mentioning that all 16 distance education students passed five obtained distinctions, whereas three of the full-time students failed. Figure 1: Distribution of academic performances of distance and full-time studens Teaching methods in Business Studies When looking at the course in Teaching Methods in Business Studies, we found that of the 22 distance education students who enrolled for the course, only 2 were male, while the remaining 20 were female. Their ages ranged from 32 to 58, with the average age being 42. Strange enough, the same number of full-time students enrolled for the course. Their ages ranged from 22 to 30 with the average age being 26. Five of the 22 students were male while 17 were females. Figure 2 illustrates the academic performances of the two groups of students. As with the previous subject, all distance education students passed while 7 students obtained 80% and higher. Although there were two full-time students who obtained 80% and higher, 4 of the 22 students failed the course. DISCUSSION A major conclusion from this case study is that video conferencing requires a different teaching methodology from any that the tutor in this case study have used before. The technology itself necessitates different ways of interacting, different ways of presenting information and different ways of judging the meaning of the messages going in both directions. 63 progre29-1&2-07.indd Sec1:63

9 T. Frindt Figure 2: Distribution of academic performances of distance and fulltime students At first impression, video conferencing appears to be a substitute for the usual classroom interaction and is, therefore, appealing as a teaching medium; as it promises face-to-face experiences for teaching at a distance. The aim is for the technology to be clear so that interaction takes place as it would if the individuals were in the same room. When video conferencing is used effectively, a high level interaction will occur between people who may be separated by many kilometres. Considerable preparation time is required for a video conferencing session. An interview with the tutor responsible for the video conferencing revealed that preparation for video conferencing sessions required additional efforts for her to acquire and develop skills in the preparation of the teaching materials. Many of these skills relate to the preparation of distance education material such as print and non-print resources to support a video conferencing session. Video conferencing is not merely another version of face-to-face teaching; major modification of teaching strategies is essential so that focus is on interaction. First, video conferencing involves simultaneous teaching of two or more classes at different sites through the use of technology. Considerable effort is required to maximise interaction between the sites. Second, just as with all types of teaching, there is a need for variety of presentation techniques within video conferencing sessions. If a lecture strategy is necessary, the talking component of the lecture should be kept short, it should be supplemented by graphics or other visual material to emphasise and illustrate, and questions should be asked frequently to challenge the students and to check whether they are still on the same level of understanding. Third, the capability of transmitting close up images of small, two and three dimensional objects via the graphics camera at each site, enables video conferencing 64 progre29-1&2-07.indd Sec1:64

10 The impact of video conferencing on distance education courses... to contribute a unique element to teaching and learning. For example, disclosure of the points being made during a lecture adds variety to a presentation, as well as give a conceptual overview. Finally, while teaching in a face-to-face mode requires particular teaching competencies and presentation skills, teaching in a distance education mode requires equally demanding but different skills in which interaction takes places via printed material, which has to be prepared in advance of the student working on it. In video conferencing, both modes of interaction are used. In addition to being an effective presenter, a video conferencing lecturer has to be highly organised ahead of time, as they cannot send teaching materials to the other members of the class at other sites during the session itself. Prior planning is therefore, essential so that materials are prepared and distributed well in advance of the session (Mitchell 1993). CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS OF THIS STUDY The traditional distance education student within the Namibian context has been that of a remote student, an independent learner, with a stand-alone package of study material. The findings of this case study concurs with the general body of knowledge that distance education can be as effective as traditional face-to-face instruction, since the methods and technologies used were appropriate to the instructional tasks, and there have been numerous occasions of interaction between student and lecturer as well as between the students themselves. However, there were significant differences between the two groups with regard to age and the final examination scores. Distance education students scored higher in both subjects. Yet, this is not sufficient evidence to conclude that distance education is superior to traditional education. Other factors may have contributed to these results. For example, the fact that the age of the distance education students may make up for motivation, determination and life experience. This study also proved that instruction can be successful if lecturers identify themselves with the needs of the students, and when they are empathic to their students. A major implication of this study is that the use of video conferencing needs to be carefully planned; and the rationale for its use clearly identified. Video conferencing is not merely an electronic means of transmitting lectures to another site. When used as one of a range of mixed mode strategies and techniques, including the use of intensive face-to-face workshops, distance education print packages, , telephone tutoring, and other means of teaching and learning at a distance, video conferencing becomes a powerful medium for interacting at a distance. Through new technologies, video conferencing enables the use of familiar faceto-face teaching/learning strategies with students at other locations. However, video conferencing also necessitates variations in teaching style and methodology to accommodate the characteristics of the technology. Therefore, initial use needs careful planning and considerable support. Owing to the need to restructure existing material, 65 progre29-1&2-07.indd Sec1:65

11 T. Frindt to learn new techniques and to change one s approach to teaching when using video conferencing, an emphasis on staff development is critical. Video conferencing confronts staff and challenges teaching methodologies. It demands a reassessment of the way the lecturer interacts with students and poses different limitations on students interacting with students at the other end. Techniques such as the use of a graphics camera to show summaries of notes, close-ups of pictures, diagrams etc, and the need to vary the length and pace of the video conferencing session can all be essentials in an induction workshop as lecturers will have initial anxieties about its use. These workshops should focus on the actual operation of the video conferencing system, with an emphasis on hands on operation, and should highlight the major, essential teaching strategies for effective initial use. According to Mitchell (1993, 55) Information overload at this initial stage sometimes occurs when experienced users of video conferencing try to alert the new user of all the variations and even the pitfalls of video conferencing they have experienced, sometimes forgetting that the beginner user s needs are quite basic as they focus on survival strategies in initial use. Finally, development of any new subject in which video conferencing should be a component should be developed as a mixed mode subject in that a variety of distance education techniques should be planned and implemented. Video conferencing should be used in those elements of the subject in which interaction is important. Different distance education strategies should be used for other components of a subject. REFERENCES Alhalabi, B., S. Anadaptuam and M. Hamza Real laboratories: An innovative rejoinder to the complexities of distance learning. Journal of Open Praxis: Amirian, S Pedagogy and video conferencing: A review of recent literature. In Navigating the sea of research on video conferencing-based distance education, ed. A. Greenberg. Wainhouse Research, Polycom, Inc. February Beukes, H The Centre for External Studies (CES) at the University of Namibia. In Learner support services: Case studies of DEASA member institutions. UNISA Press. Pretoria. Cavanaugh, C. S The effectiveness of interactive distance education technologies in K-12 learning. International Journal of Educational Telecommunications 7 (1): De Vaney, A. and R. O. Butler Voices of the founders: Early discourse in technology. In Handbook of research for educational communications and technology, ed. D. H. Jonassen. Simon and Schuster Macmillan, New York. Gilbert, L. and D. R. Moore Building interactivity into web courses: Tools for social and instructional interaction. Educational Technology 38 (3): Heath, M. J. and D. Holznagel Interactive video conferencing: A literature review. NECC June Irele, Modupe Relative effectiveness of distance learning systems. Lucent Technologies and the World Campus, Pennsylvania State University Press. Kearsley, G Education as usual: Comments on Chris Dede s article. The American Journal of Distance Education 10 (2): progre29-1&2-07.indd Sec1:66

12 The impact of video conferencing on distance education courses... Mitchell, J Interacting at a distance: Staff and student perceptions of teaching and learning via video conferencing. Australian Journal of Educational Technology 9 (1): Moore, M. G. and M. M. Thompson The effects of distance learning: A summary of literature. Research Monograph No. 2. University Park, PA: American Center for the Study of Distance Education. Rekkedal, T Quality assessment and evaluation: Basic philosophies, concepts and practices at NKI, Norway. In Evaluation concepts and practice in selected distance education institutions, eds. H. Rathmore and R. Schuemer. Hagen, Norway: Fern Universitat. Sherry, L Issues in distance learning. Available at: education/edschool/issues.html. Accessed during July Vygotsky, L. S Mind in society. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Wagner, E Interaction strategies for online training designs. Paper presented at the Annual Conference on Distance Teaching & Learning, Madison, WI. 67 progre29-1&2-07.indd Sec1:67

13 T. Frindt Appendix A: Distribution of University centres in Namibia. 68 progre29-1&2-07.indd Sec1:68