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Volume 7 No 1 2003 - Abstracts

DELANEY, J., & WENMOTH, D. (2003). Empowering an indigenous rural community: Local teachers for local schools.
Journal of Distance Learning, 7(1),5-17.
POLO is the name given by the Christchurch College of Education to the distance delivery of three-year primary teacher education to students all over New Zealand. These are students who wish to train for teaching but are prevented from doing so because of where they live. POLO also involves others who wish to train without having to attend on-campus as a full-time face-to-face student. The innovative nature of this programme includes the establishment' of a group of students, mainly indigenous New Zealanders, in the Hokianga, one of New Zealand's most isolated and economically disadvantaged areas. The four-year programme, from which students graduated at the end of 2000, uses mainly print-based courses combined with communications technologies. This paper explores how the programme was adapted to meet specific local needs relating to Maori language and culture, and culture, and describes how particular features of the programme have become a catalyst for the empowerment of individuals, the local community, and beyond.

KEAN, J. (2003). Early childhood students' perceptions of studying by distance learning for the Diploma of Teaching (ECE).
Journal of Distance Learning, 7(1), 18-29.
Traditionally, tertiary teacher education has been delivered in New Zealand through face-to-face teaching courses with students listening and taking notes while receiving instruction from a lecturer. Interaction between lecturer and students in a classroom setting has been considered a vital component in this process.

Today, political and public interest in distance learning has increased in countries where students seeking access to tertiary teacher education are geographically widely dispersed. There has also been a noticeable change in the composition of the student population. No longer largely restricted to schoolleavers, there has been an increase in mature and employed applicants seeking access to tertiary teacher education programmes. At the same time distance education technologies have expanded very rapidly. Advances in information and computer technology have provided impetus to the growth in distance learning (DL) and have prompted the rapid growth in a new mode of delivery, online learning (OL).

Distance learning instruction can be delivered in a manner as similar as possible to traditional face-to-face teaching. This can be achieved through a classroom with two-way audiovisual interaction. This is the basis of the Iowa model which provides distance learners with experiences that mirror traditional face-to-face teaching, via a normal classroom setting, and live, tow-way audiovisual interaction. On the other hand, the Norwegian model combines negotiated distance teaching with local face-to face teaching (Schlosser & Anderson, 1994). This model could be said to be reflected in the approach adopted by several New Zealand teacher education providers, whereby distance learning students who are considered to be self motivated are supplied with printed course material by post, some form of teleconferencing, access to further relevant literature via a Website and use of the institution's library resources. Ongoing support for their studies is provided by phone/email contact by distance. On-campus or regionally located face-to-face study weeks (contact courses) are provided on a regualr basis to allow for peer/staff contact and interaction.

This paper is structured as follows: Background information is provided on the tertiary institution in which the study was conducted. The major purpose of the study is outlined. The aspects of DL receptivity as contained in the questionnaire are indicated. A dexcription of the sample follows. The results of the survey are reported and then discussed in terms of recent literature. The limitations of the study are indicated. Issues and factors that have influenced the perceptions of students are analysed and future directions are considered in the delivery of this distance learning mode for early childhood teacher education.

LOCKWOOD. F. (2003). Learning and teaching in a chnaging world.
Journal of Distance Learning, 7(1), 30-39.
In early 1995, thirty-seven scholars from around the world pooled their ideas and assembled the book Open and Distance Learning Today (Lockwood, 1995); it was the basis for a pre-conference workshop at the International Council for Distance Education World Conference, Birmingham, 1995
(Sewart, 1995). Eight of the contributors, key figures in the field of Open and Distance Learning, each considered the content of the book and, drawing upon their own insights, assembled an initial agenda (on audio tape) for discussion, one that would develop during the workshop. The first agenda offered, Trends and Directions, was provided by David Hawkridge (1995), in which he speculated on likely developments in the field. He identified five topics as worthy of consideration and termed them globalisation, electronification, commodification, domination, and liberation. Seven years later these topics are revisited and an assessment made as to what changes have occurred and what new trends and directions can be identified.

MCKAY, E. (2003). The metatmorphosis of eLearning.
Journal of Distance Learning, 7(1), 40-51.
The scope of eLearning is more comprehensive than the commonly accepted issue of technological instructional/learning materials. Confusion abounds. Which voice is believable? Is there any common ground? This paper illustrates how wise use of the technologies can provide the leverage human beings require for expanding their horizons for lifelong learning.

WOODS, R. & EBERSOLE, S. (2003) Becoming a "communal architect" in the online classroom: Integrating cognitive and affective learning for maximum effect in Web-based education.
Journal of Distance Learning, 7(1), 52-67.
The authors discuss several online and offline community-building strategies that may be used to foster a positive social dynamic in online courses. Before presenting specific strategies, they begin by introducing readers to what they refer to as “communal scaffolding.” The communal scaffold lets instructors conceptualize how affective and cognitive learning are inextricably intertwined in the online learning process. It also provides a theoretical base and sets pedagogical guidelines for fostering a supportive communication climate in the online setting. As presented herein, the communal scaffold is consistent with the assumptions embedded in climate theory (popular in community and social psychology literature), which assumes that psycho-social climates vary with different settings; climates are a product of environmental and individuals characteristics; and the relationships between climate, setting, and individuals are reciprocally influential (Pargament, et al., 1983).