When the course had been taught as fully classroom-based, scheduling difficulties faced by students from different departments across the university presented ongoing problems. The development of an online learning environment, accessible 24 hours a day, was seen as a viable solution. The course’s first week was classroom-based: the seven students met with the teacher and learned how to use WebCT. The face-to-face orientation was very helpful in enabling students to access and work within the online environment, with the teacher on hand to help with any initial difficulties. Face-to-face meetings at the start of distance courses have been found to be important for motivation, developing a sense of learning community, and in easing access to initial learning events.
However, the constraints of time and distance mean that this is not possible in many contexts. In the Writing Up Research course students accessed materials and completed online tasks early each week using WebCT. They were then required to log on for about an hour – in the university computing labs, in their workplace or from home – on a set afternoon to take part in online discussions.
These were based around questions posed earlier in the week and were designed to mirror classroom-based discussions. The text messages could be read by other students who were in the chat room, and the software kept a record of the entire discussion. The lessons learned included that considerable time and support were required to set up and operate an online course. The response of students to the course was mixed: some appreciated their experience using WebCT, while others preferred ‘more class-based teaching’. Overall the evaluations of the course were very positive in terms of its usefulness and effectiveness.
In conclusion Catterick notes that the text-based nature of WebCT was appropriate for a writing course, but may be less suitable for other English language courses. In addition language proficiency is an important consideration. Based on his experience Catterick argues that learners with less well-developed communicative ability than those in his study – who were described as being high-intermediate language learners – may lack confidence in their communication skills, and therefore be intimidated by the chat function.
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