E-mail: philip.uys@globe-online.com
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homepage: http://www.globe-online.com/philip.uys
Invitation
If you need assistance in the
strategic implementation of e-Learning (networked education/distributed
learning) in your institute, you are welcome to contact philip.uys@globe-online.com
to discuss your needs.
ABSTRACT
This paper
will emphasise the new educational media eg the Internet, hypermedia,
distributed on-line learning etc. and the possibilities and challenges it
creates for tertiary educational institutes especially in the area of the
globalisation of education.
The
research question being addressed in this paper is: In moving towards the
virtual class, what are some of the key management issues in higher educational
institutes and how should they be addressed?
The
globalisation of education which calls for the establishment of the virtual
class (an electronic meeting place of students and lecturers for the purpose of
learning and teaching), requires new management approaches on the strategic,
tactical and operational levels of management.
However,
the transition to the virtual class in traditional settings must be carefully
managed to succeed.
Since
September 1995, the
In this
paper, some of the key management issues on these levels of management are
discussed.
On the
strategic management level, issues like strategic planning in moving towards
the virtual class, effective promotion of the virtual class, change strategies,
traditional management structures and its interaction with progressive projects
and technologies will be discussed. On the tactical level, suitable development
methodologies, realistic new workload formulas, project management approaches,
role of technologies and in particular the Internet, will be dealt with.
Aspects like effective hypermedia learning environments,
appropriate learning support systems, addressing social needs of students and
staff, will be explored on the operational management level.
"Reality isn't what it used
to be."
Steinar Kvale
This paper
will emphasise the new educational media eg the Internet, hypermedia,
distributed on-line learning etc. and the possibilities and challenges it
creates for tertiary educational institutes especially in the area of the
globalisation of education.
This move
towards the virtual class (an electronic meeting place of students and
lecturers for the purpose of learning and teaching), requires new management
approaches on the strategic (long terms issues), tactical (dealing with
allocation of resources) and operational (day to day operations) levels of
management.
The research
question explored in this paper is: In moving towards the virtual class, what
are some of the key management issues in higher educational
institutes and how should they be addressed? This paper also argues that the
transition to the virtual class in traditional settings must be carefully
managed to succeed.
In Luke
5:37-39 in the Bible we read that "....new wine should not be poured into
old wineskins, because the old wineskins will break and the new wine will spill
out. Those who are used to the old wine will not want the new wine because they
say: "the old wine is better"." This passage originally
obviously did not deal with the virtual class, but it may be applicable to the
emergence of the virtual class and the management approaches this requires. The
question is whether the virtual class is "new wine" or just another
type of wine? If it is the former, it may have serious consequences for
educational institutes wishing to progress towards the virtual class without
simultaneously adjusting the management of their institutes, as Thomas, Carswell, Price and Petre (1998)
argues: "transformation of practices (both teaching and administrative) to
take advantage of technology in order to provide needed functions, rather than
superficial translation of existing practices".
One thing is
certain, the momentum and pace of virtual class developments internationally as
well as within organisations is faster than and has a more dynamic nature than
the conventional operations of traditional tertiary educational institutes.
In this
paper, some of the key management issues on the various levels of
management are discussed within two frameworks. Firstly within the current transition
in higher educational institutes from traditional learning to virtual class
learning - also called "telelearning"(Tiffin
& Rajasingham, 1995) and "distributed
on-line education" (Uys, 1998). The second framework is the action
research findings of the hydi Educational New Media
Centre (Uys, March 1998) in implementing the virtual class since September
1995. The growth of the centre has underscored the words of Prof Robert Spence
(Professor of Information Engineering,
"Hypermedia"
is defined as multi-media (which includes text,
movement, sound, pictures, colour) with hyper-links, which seamlessly
transports the reader to other hypermedia materials.
The virtual
class is seen as an electronic meeting place of students and lecturers for the
purpose of learning and teaching: an educational experience of real people in a
virtual dimension. In the virtual class the activities of the traditional
educational institute is performed mostly without the movement of physical
objects (eg getting students and lecturers into a physical venue); this
includes the challenge of providing social interaction and a "campus
experience" to on-line students.
The virtual
class can take many forms, it might for example be on-line education using the
Internet or an intranet, or meeting in virtual reality as telepresences,
or combining these methods with traditional educational modes. Moving towards
the virtual class for some higher educational institutes mean to move all
education from traditional education to virtual class methods,
or it might mean to incorporate the virtual class as one of their key
educational strategies.
The reasons
why higher educational institutes are considering moving towards the virtual
class include the need for life long learning. Education is becoming more of a
lifelong endeavour than a few years stint after school because most careers
require continued training to keep up with the growing body of relevant
knowledge and also because of the modern tendency to develop more than one
career during a person’s working life. Distributed on-line education is
attractive to those already in the work force because of its open and flexible
nature.
Emerging as a
strong rationale for using distributed on-line education is that it can greatly
enhance the quality of learning - also of on-campus students. It bridges the
boundaries and limitations of time and space, provide for a variety of learning
styles as well as for different navigational preferences. Students can also
take more control of their learning and can develop "life" skills
like time management and research skills, by students having to set there own
study plans, find additional Web resources, having to evaluate its validity and
then drawing sound conclusions.
It can also
lessen two huge problems in traditional distance education ie
decrease in personal motivation and a sense of isolation. Both asynchronous
(e-mail, message boards) and real time on-line communication facilities (voice,
video, Internet Relay Chat and shared whiteboards over the Net) can be used
very effectively in this area.
It also makes
sense to use the tools of the emerging information society as the educational
tools. In modern countries there is a transition from an industrialised
society, where physical production technologies strongly influenced the forms
of service and way of living, to an information society where information technology
plays a key role in the forms of service and way of living, and where
information becomes a key building stone. In the information society the new
communication technologies are being used; in preparing our students for this
society, it seems sensible therefore to use these technologies in facilitating
their learning.
The following
key management issues as higher educational institutes
progress towards the virtual class are discussed in this paper:
This is due
to the key new educational technology, the Internet, being a global and
expanding phenomena, and secondly because of the ease of publishing on-line.
2.1
The central medium, the Internet, is a global and expanding phenomena.
The
Internet currently links nearly 300 countries around the globe, and is still
growing exponentially at a rate of about 40 to 50 percent according to the
latest data from the longest-running survey of Internet hosts, or machines
physically connected to the network. (Glave,
1998). In February 1998, there were 29,670,000 "advertised"
connected computers in 240 countries and territories. (The host count does not
correspond to the total number of end users.)
Projecting
out with the current trend, there will likely be 90 million hosts on the Net by
the turn of the century.
(See http://www.mids.org/mapsale/world/matrworld.gif
for a map of how Internet servers cover the globe, and for more details see http://www.nw.com/zone/WWW/report.html
and http://www.ngi.org/trends.htm)
The Net
is here to stay. It has been robust enough to survive this exponential growth
which has seen it doubling each year since 1974! Looking back at its history,
it started out as ARPANET, a
As the
Internet is a global and expanding phenomena, any on-line hypermedia course
materials on the Net is immediately available to any student, locally or
internationally, who has access to the Net.
2.2 Ease
of on-line publishing
Web
(World Wide Web) browsers used on the Net as well as on an intranet, interpret
and display documents which are in the HTML (hypertext mark up language)
language. Not only is this language very simple and easy to learn, but a
variety of software packages exist to convert
documents in other formats into HTML with ease.
All that
is required to publish on the Web, besides having to have documents in HTML
format, is an Internet account! (This is because Internet Service Providers (ISP’s)
generally also include hosting space for Web pages as part of their package for
account holders. )
The Net
seems to be levelling the playing field between large or great institutes and
others that are not - all (with Internet access) can participate in on-line
education, as illustrated by the story of the two dogs that were surfing the
Web; one dog said to the other: "You know, what I like about the Web is
that nobody knows you’re a dog!"
2.3
Some implications
A few
implications of the increasing globalisation of education are:
2.3.1 An
exponential increase in the globalisation of education.
2.3.2
The establishment of global partnerships for the local support of on-line
students.
2.3.3
The importance of establishing niches in the international educational market.
2.3.4
The minefield for students in selecting from an increasing number and variety
(both in discipline and quality) of on-line courses and/or virtual institutes.
2.3.5
The threat of obsolescence of institutes who do not prepare properly for courses
of a high academic standing being offered on-line in their city or town by
other local or international institutes.
2.3.6
Credits transfer and certification needs to be addressed, but issues like
status, the basis for transfer of credits, and industry expectations
complicates this. However, models are emerging which could translate to global
education eg Open Learning Australia (OLA) where more than 20 Australian
Universities collaborate in distance education and the qualification is awarded
by the institute in which the student did a third of their studies.
2.3.7
Appreciating the importance of culture as a key determinant in how students want
to learn, how the content should be structured and how the learning experience
should be facilitated.
Both the
Internet and an intranet, is based not on a centralised or decentralised model,
but on a distributed, non-hierarchical model where control and processing is
distributed among the nodes.
3.1
Distributed on-line education
This
allows for the distribution of the control of learning as well as on-line
learning and teaching materials. Hence the term
"distributed on-line education", coined by the author, which is being
used throughout this paper to denote learning in the virtual class.
3.2 Strenghtening of cultural diversity
The
distributed model of global education is by no means a mono-cultural or elitist
cultural expression, although local cultures can feel threatened by other more
dominant cultures as education is globalised
The
Internet however, facilitates diversity and provides opportunities of
expression for any culture and languages, no matter how small or local it is.
This is due to the Net’s distributed nature and ease of on-line
publishing (as discussed above). The range of cultures expressing themselves
via the Net is in fact growing rapidly.
Where an
institute offers their courses internationally in the hope of signing up
students from other cultures, it is vital to appreciate the importance of the
role of culture as a key determinant in how students want to learn, how
the content should be structured and how the learning experience should be
facilitated. This appreciation is often lacking in mono-cultural countries.
Countries with a true multi-cultural reality of life, might find themselves
therefore advantaged to move into international education.
3.3
The emergence of the distributed educational institute
Institutes
which actively progress towards the virtual class,
will find that the distributed nature of the new educational technologies
(specifically the Internet and an intranet), facilitate and encourage the
distribution of its objectives, control, power and resources throughout the
institute, and indeed even among its clientele: the students and industry.
Furthermore,
it might find itself physically and/or logically distributed through
partnerships and collaboration with other national and international
institutes.
The above calls for the implementation of more horizontal and flexible
management approaches of higher educational institutes.
Corporate
Universities are emerging which do not have the same academic philosophies or
handicaps of traditional higher educational institutes (Microsoft, Andersons
and Macdonald’s for example is active in this area). These proprietary
institutions often focus on what makes money (eg courses like MBA, ESL,
certificating teachers) following an industrial model of education ie through an intermediate process, inputs deliver outputs
which can be marketed and sold.
Education and
entertainment is getting closer too! Hollywood Studios are also getting
involved in partnerships (there is currently a project at Warner Bros to
identify how each student learn and what they need to learn, and then matching
it up with specific computer mediated learning systems). Another example is
from the
Will we soon
see "The Ultimate Consortium" delivering the same quality of
education, at the same cost or less, but in a more entertaining way, and taking
shorter for degreeing students? A
consortium consisting of a huge financial sponsor, a computer giant (eg MS) and
a prominent company in the film industry drawing on the "best
professors" available for the content and educational process? Will
free academic discourse, critique and research be valued, encouraged and
supported when the bottom-line becomes achieving a target profit margin?
Higher
educational institutes will need to rethink mission, objectives and strategies
to turn threats into opportunities in this competitive and dynamic environment.
The concept
of the virtual class is new to most higher educational institutes and
introduces organizational change; this was also the case at our institute where
an On-line Campus has been created while traditional educational strategies
have also continued.
Our on-line
campus is part of the vision to combine hypermedia on the World Wide
Web, as an on-line education medium, with other educational strategies to
provide education to both overseas, national and local
students in an open and flexible manner.
The main aims
of the centre - through research, international and national consulting,
development and teaching - are to increase
A key factor
in the success of the on-line campus project at our institute was that the
vision of on-line delivery was a shared one between the President and the
Project Director. This assisted tremendously in introducing this new concept.
For acceptance of the "virtual class" concept ,
it has been important though to create a general awareness following both a
top-down and bottom-up approach.
Overall, the
seven stages of Lewin and Schein’s model for
organizational change (Stair, 1992) were followed. These stages are listed with
a description of how each step was applied in this project:
a. Scouting:
Identify potential areas or systems that may need change: educational planning,
development and delivery
b. Entry:
Stating the problems and the goals: included and described in the initial
proposal document
c. Diagnosis:
Gathering data and determining resources required: described in the initial
proposal document and further developed during the pilot project and the
development of the Sampler course
d. Planning:
Examining alternatives and making decisions: some early decisions were
contained in the initial proposal document eg that the Web is to be used as key
delivery medium; others were made by using the prototype and Sampler concepts
where a large degree of exploration, discovery and experimentation was allowed
for in all areas : educational, technical and design.
e. Action:
Implementing the decisions: decisions were followed through in a consistent
manner. A key aspect in developing distributed on-line courses is the selection
of an appropriate systems development life cycle methodology. A prototyping
(spiral) development model has proved to be very useful. Another issue is to
achieve a balance in educational purpose, graphic design and the capabilities
of information technology when developing on-line courses which call for the
use of a multi-disciplinary project team (Uys, 1997, 1).
f. Evaluation:
Determining whether the changes satisfied the initial objectives and solved the
problems identified: this process has been carried out continuously in weekly
and later fort-nightly project meetings, informal and open discussions, feedback by students who were asked to
"test-drive" the courses and by enrolled students. Valuable feedback from trusted colleagues at other higher educational
institutes were also obtained. It is essential that continual student
feedback is sought and also that ongoing technical evaluation occurs to ensure
that the most appropriate technologies are being used in an effective way.
g. Termination:
Transferring the ownership of the new / changed system to the users and
ensuring efficient operation: if the content providers (as clients) are
intimately involved from start to implementation, this transition should take
place in a fluent and satisfactory way.
The above
model seems to work well if the seven stages are not seen as consecutive, but
as dynamic dimensions of a process. Flexibility and giving a high priority to
people-issues proved to be essential ingredients in the success of introducing
the virtual class at our institute.
With the
advent of intranets, the ease and feasibility of offering the same facilities
to local students that are being offered to distance students have increased
extensively. With the same interface (ie a Web
browser), on-line education and teaching materials are available to both local
and distance students.
Traditionally,
centres for distance education were often "the minority" who
understood and used information technology in education out of necessity
because of its ease of distribution, ease of
maintenance and later because of its potential to increase the quality of
learning and teaching. At the same time their colleagues carried on with
face-to-face education with workload formulas based on contact hours as a key
component and lecturing in bigger and bigger lecture halls.
On the other
hand, some educational institutes have the majority of their on-line materials
solely for the use of local students.
Scenarios
like these indicate that the possibility and reality of convergence of both
local and distance education modes is a paradigm shift which is currently being
made by only a small number of higher educational institutes.
What does
this convergence look like in reality? It means that teaching and learning
materials are available on-line and that it is used by academic staff as well
as local and distance students in a creative way. Local students may
have all their lecture notes on-line as well-designed hypermedia courseware which include on-line communication facilities,
different navigation paths, catering for different learning styles, access and
pointers to other Web resources and exercises. The local students may also have
face-to-face tutorials to work through exercises and sit tests and exams in a
physical building. Distance students may also have all their lecture notes
on-line, have on-line real-time tutorials, attend workshops on the physical
campus, and do their assignments on-line. However the synergy of this
convergence is that local and distance students can meet on-line as well as
physically, evaluate each other’s on-line published materials, do group
assignments together, form informal study groups etc!
Instead of
trying to meet traditional workload formulas and extend often ineffective class
room and distance education techniques, this convergence rather look at
creating the best possible learning scenarios for both local and
distance students in a more flexible way.
This
convergence of learning modes which traditionally have been called
"distance education" and "on-campus education" means that
both learning control as well as on-line learning and teaching materials are
distributed to both local and distance students using the same interface (ie a Web browser). Hence the term "distributed on-line
education".
The
convergence of traditional on-campus education and distance education means
that instead of spending on capital projects to increase the number or size of
lecturing theatres, on-campus students can access on-line hypermedia courseware
instead of attending lectures; this can naturally also be done in combination
with tutorials (whether on-line or face-to-face).
Managing this
convergence is a key aspect in the transition towards the virtual class.
Summarised
below are some of the management issues in creating effective hypermedia
learning environments.
7.1
Navigational preferences
Hypermedia
assists the instructional designer in catering for different learning styles
and ways of navigating a course. Mediated individualised
instruction is a sound educational goal and supported by educationalists like Romiszowski (1984).
Two
basic navigational preferences are being addressed in the our
on-line courses: sequential and random navigation, as well as whether the
student would like to study independently in a more flexible mode or as part of
a group in a more structured manner.
Let’s
first look at sequential and random navigation.
The Web
and intranets cater very naturally through hyperlinks for the random learner.
No strict sequence is built into the courses, although some suggestions of a
sequential progression are made. The learner can thus take any route through
the content and activities; the only fixed requirement is that the assessments
need to be completed before credit can be obtained!
For the
sequential learner, special measures need to be taken in an on-line course. In
some courses we have used clickable navigational "course maps", which
is a graphical presentation of the proposed sequence of the main sections in a
course, and is presented at the start of the course. One of the standard
hyperlinks at the bottom of each page within a course is a link to this
"map" to help students orientate themselves whenever required.
From the
page that contains the "course map", students can also access an
"Index" page which contains an extensive list of most of the
hyperlinks within the course. The inherent capability of Web browsers to change
the colour of all followed links are used on this "Index" page, so
that a student can access this page and see exactly which parts of the course
have been visited and which parts not (this is a crude method and needs to be
developed further).
Another
issue is whether a student would like to study independently in a more flexible
mode or as part of a group in a more structured manner. When the student wants
to study as part of a group, the time lines within a course needs to be adhered
to, and group assessment techniques can be used. The message boards can also
play a key part in such a learning approach. If a student choose to study
independently however, start and finish times for a course becomes less
important. Assessments are then structured for an individual approach and the
student might or might not want to participate in on-line communications. One
of the benefits of on-lined education is that certain types of asynchronous
communications like hypermail boards and newsgroups,
allow the independent student to see what communications have been occurring on
course topics and also provides contact information o fother students who have
done or are doing the same course and in such a way break the isolation often
experienced by the independent student.
7.2
Different learning styles
Other
facilities in the On-line Campus are included to support specific learning
styles. One learning style inventory describes four learning styles namely that
of being a pragmatist, activist, reflector and theorist. (It is recognized that
every student has a blend of these learning styles and approaches, and also
that this is one of about twenty possible learning style inventories!).
Pragmatist : learning best by
understanding / seeing and actively engaging in a practical application of the
content - a "Gymnasium" section is a standard hyperlink at the bottom
of each Web page within some courses where students are provided with exercises
of both a practical and theoretical nature
Activist: learning best when
the content contains a large number of activities and concrete experiences,
when learning is an exciting experience and when there are a variety of
"discoveries" - the "Gymnasium" section in some courses
also assists this learning style. The Web also naturally lends itself to
"discoveries" through hyperlinks - within the course or to external
sources. Students can experience excitement in their learning through
- random navigation
- high level of inter-activity through e-mail, message boards,
on-line feedback on assignments
- the use of multi-media ie graphics,
colours, sounds and movement.
Reflector: learning best by
reflective observation - a "Reflection" section is a standard
hyperlink at the bottom of each Web page within some courses where students are
provided with "thinking" exercises - often more advanced questions or
points to ponder on. The "Gymnasium" section also assists this
learning style. Since a large proportion of on-line communication in hypermedia
courses on the Web is asynchronous, the student has the opportunity to reflect
before responding to students, lecturers, the content
or to assessments.
Theorist: learning best by
abstract conceptualisation ie by understanding the
principles of theory - a large percentage of some of our courses are the
narrative elements (ie the instructional pages which
consist largely of direct information-giving).
7.3
Designing for a constructivist learning approach
The
concepts of "constructivism" and "discovery learning" are
often confused (
"Discovery
learning" centers around
the concept that a strong narrative is not provided and that the student
"discovers" knowledge / meaning through various self-directed
activities such as working through a case study, having debates, answering a
set of questions, being provided with references to resources. The Web lends
itself very powerfully to this kind of learning through linking to various Web
sites and through the use of both asynchronous and synchronous on-line
communications.
"Constructivism"
however, is a philosophical educational approach in which it is argued that
since knowledge is socially and culturally constructed (
Hypermedia
systems can also facilitate this approach very well as Landow
(1992) for instance writes:
"Hypermedia
technology is enabling rather than directive; learners browsing hypertext
documents can construct their own knowledge according to associations in their
own cognitive structures ... This emphasis on an active, constructivist learner
means that hypermedia systems should be viewed as learning rather than teaching
tools."
The
implications for instructional design is well summarised by Boyle (1996) who suggests
that it should focus on:
·
construction of knowledge rather than instruction
·
developing contextually authentic rather than
artificial learning tasks;
·
setting collaborative tasks within clearly defined
social contexts;
·
giving students voice and ownership within the
learning process;
·
enabling students to construct knowledge from their
own life experiences;
·
awakening students to their
part in the knowledge construction process.
Adding
to this should be an expectation on the part of the lecturer of receiving
different expressions of meaning in assessments.
The
on-line student can also with ease be on-line providers / publishers themselves
by using facilities like hypermail threaded
discussion boards and newsgroups (Uys, 1997, 2).
7.4
Providing both synchronous and asynchronous on-line communication facilities
On-line
asynchronous as well as real-time communications over the Internet is
exponentially growing. On-line video and voice conferencing, Internet Relay
Chat (IRC), shared whiteboard facilities and other real-time interactive
applications are being explored in education and commerce, while asynchronous
facilities like e-mail and hypermail threaded message
boards are often being used extensively.
"Distance"
is no longer defined in terms of physical proximity but in response time! (comment made by Nicholas Negroponte at the 18th World
International Council for Distance Education Conference in June 1997).
It will
become an essential and normal part in on-line courses to provide these
extremely cost-effective ways of communication among students, and between
students and lecturers.
The
educational value of synchronous on-line communication facilities include
·
immediate feedback
·
addressing social aspects (voices, faces, body language)
in on-line communication
·
adding an element of accountability
·
provides a "somebody
cares for me" message!
One of
the problems with traditional distance education courses is the isolation that
these students often experience. They often don’t know who their fellow
students, previous students or even their lecturers are!
A clear
distinction should be made between students-only boards and ones on which the
facilitator may participate.
The
degree and benefits of public access to internal course communications, as well
as whether to leave all or some messages on the on-line boards for future (or
continuous) course occurrences, are issues to be considered by each on-line
educator.
7.5
Database support for on-line course generation
It is
quite astounding to see how many computer products for the development of
on-line courses take the notion for granted that course elements ("course
objects") are to be stored in flat directory structures.
Often
the html files, media elements and scripts are being stored on servers in an
organised flat directory structure which is reminiscent of how data was stored
before the 1980’s! Since then relational databases and object oriented
databases have emerged as effective, sound and popular ways of storing
information in computer systems.
There
are a few comprehensive and specialised databases for on-line course
generation, but they often need strong maintenance support of technical staff.
The hydi Educational New Media Centre is currently developing a
flexible, low-end educator’s tool for on-line course generation using the
"Filemaker" relational database because it
is a cross-platform (Mac and PC) product, can generate HTML on the fly, is a
fully relational database, is an inexpensive product and has sufficient
security and access features.
This
tool allows the lecturer to input from their office directly into the database
text in paragraphs, selects from a range of pre-designed media elements
(graphics, movies, audio clips) via key word queries, create internal and
external links, and doing all of this without any knowledge of HTML, Java or
other technical coding languages. This tool is highly flexible and does not
have the characteristics of a "shell" type product.
At any
stage the content provider can generate the course for transfer to the web
server or deliver html on the fly through a pre-designed template script.
We see
the advantages of this tool in
·
the course convenor being able to enter a course
without having to have comprehensive technical knowledge
·
storing all elements of a course in a fully
relational way in a database
·
being able to treat all elements as objects which can
then be analysed and amended separate from each other eg all hyperlinks can be
tested for validity as a separate action
·
acknowledging the role of people and serious
preparation in developing an on-line course
·
being a low end, friendly
and focussed tool for developing distributed on-line courses.
"The single most frequent
failure in the history of forecasting
has been grossly
underestimating the impact of technologies"
Anon
In this paper
the following key management issues as higher educational institutes progress
towards the virtual class, were highlighted:
Returning to
the question of whether the virtual class is "new wine" or
just another type of wine..... It would now be clear to you that I am
suggesting that we are dealing with "new wine", and that just as new
wine should not be poured into old wineskins at the risk of losing both, that
the progression toward the virtual class should go hand in hand with a
transformation of management approaches on the strategic, tactical and
operational level, and that the transition to the virtual class in traditional
settings needs to be carefully managed to succeed.
There is no
doubt that the discussion in this paper is preliminary and that it will be
enhanced and expanded as the movement in higher educational institutes towards
the virtual class gain increasing momentum. In this field we should acknowledge
that expertise is short lived, and that the only appropriate approach is that
of being a continual learner, because:
"In a time of drastic change it is the learners
who survive;
the "learned"
find themselves fully equipped
to live in a world that
no longer exists"
Eric Hoffer
