THIS IS A PRE-PUBLICATION DRAFT

CHARACTERISTICS OF ONLINE TEACHING IN POST-SECONDARY, FORMAL EDUCATION

Zane Berge, Ph.D.

Director, Training Systems
University of Maryland Baltimore County
1000 Hilltop Circle
Baltimore, MD 21250
410-455-2306

Draft 8/27/96

***** DO NOT CITE WITHOUT THE AUTHOR'S PERMISSION*****

ABSTRACT

This chapter reports the results of a survey exploring the characteristics of online teaching in formal, post-secondary settings from the perspective of teachers. The findings of this survey include that online teachers responding to this survey used a wide range of teaching methods-from lecture to student self-assessment. The teachers responding to this survey used discussion, collaboration, and authentic learning activities as their primary instructional methods, leading to the conclusion that they create a learning environment that is characterized as more student-centered than teacher-center.

CHARACTERISTICS OF ONLINE TEACHING IN POST-SECONDARY, FORMAL EDUCATION

Zane Berge, Ph.D.

INTRODUCTION

For the past several years I have been involved with distance learning using computer-mediated communication and computer conferencing for educational and professional development activities. I have focused on the learners' perceptions or the characteristics of the technological environment (e.g., Berge, in press, 1995, 1994; Berge and Collins, 1995a, 1995b; Collins and Berge, 1994a, 1994b). I have recently turned my attention to investigating how teachers design and deliver online instruction to adults in formal, post-secondary settings. The characteristics of online teaching becomes important in educators' efforts to systematically improve their online teaching. This paper has two purposes: while capturing a snapshot of online teaching today it will attempt to describe the methods and strategies used by online instructors in their day-to-day teaching; and articulate several directions for further research in computer-mediated, online teaching.

My Assumptions On Teaching and Teaching Styles

Most teachers have implicit or explicit personal theories of what constitutes good instruction that describes education under their usual teaching conditions. To learner-centered teachers, part of "teaching well" means to encourage self-direction and learner-control in their students. To do this they use the spectrum of teaching methods. In Figure 1, I have listed selected teaching methods to show a relative relationship

FIGURE 1. TEACHING METHODS CONTINUUM

Teacher-focused

lecture

drill and practice

guided discovery

demonstration/modeling

discussion

collaborative learning activities

authentic learning activities

self-assessment/reflection

Student-focused

along a teacher-centered to student-centered continuum. I believe teachers will select teaching devices, methods, and techniques and communication/media channels that are consistent with the theoretical basis that they hold, when given the choice.

Why I Chose To Use Yelon's Principles

I chose Stephen Yelon's principles from his book, Powerful Principles of Instruction, (1996a) as a device for generating responses from online teachers. As stated earlier, each teacher or designer of instruction has ideas about what constitutes good teaching and learning in specific learning situations. Those ideas, among other factors, whether explicitly stated or not, form guiding principles that form the basis of the learning environment and activities within that particular teacher's classroom. My hypothesis is that online teaching is generally more learner-centered than implied in the wording of Yelon's principles. Yelon stated (1996b):

". . .I believe the principles make sense in any context, however the way they are named and expressed may not jibe with other folks' assumptions. I would bet that there is a way to express these ideas that would fit with computer oriented instruction. But I would also bet there is a better model which would fit their approach and assumptions. Maybe even the principles are different. As I say in the text, 'These are ideas to consider, to argue with and to enhance'." (Personal correspondence)

I believe, as Yelon (1996b) does, that his principles of effective instruction would hold true, regardless of teaching style, but, he has couched them in the terms of expository, teacher-centered instruction. As I also believe that online teachers have chosen to use interactive technologies as an expression of their own learner-centered orientation to teaching.

Presenting these principles to online teachers and soliciting their reactions would, I believe, generate interesting patterns of responses that would speak to the research questions, whether the teachers agreed or disagreed on the transferability of Yelon's principles. As a strategy for eliciting useful responses, I thought there may be as much, if not more, value in the points of departure online teachers found between their practice and Yelon's principles than in the points of agreement. Regardless of whether online teachers responding to this survey agreed or disagreed with Yelon's principles being important to attend to in their teaching, I would find valuable patterns in the synthesis of responses in answering the research questions in this study. My sense was that some modifications to the 10 principles would be needed after analyzing the responses, if only to the way these principles are expressed.

Definitions

The following defines how I am using selected key concepts in this report:

Informatics A general term describing network-accessible information servers. These include data archives most notably the Web and others such as anonymous ftp sites, interactive databases such as library OPACs, and client/server systems such as Gopher and WAIS.

Online Instruction is limited here to computer-mediated online instruction, as opposed to audio or video/TV. Additionally, I limited response to classroom instruction in which the course interaction is conducted completely online, or significantly online (i.e., where at minimum 50% of the graded part of the course is online).

Learner-centered instruction. The central element in a learner-centered approach is trust; while the teacher is always available to help, the teacher trusts students to take responsibility for their own learning. Learning activities are often designed to stress the acquisition of problem-solving skills, to focus on the enhancement of the self-concept, or to foster the development of interpersonal skills. Since learning is a highly personal act, it is best measured by self-evaluation and constructive feedback from the teacher and other learners (Conti, pp.: 81-82)

Teacher-centered instruction. This approach to learning assumes that learners are passive and that they become active by reacting to stimuli in the environment. When implemented in the Learning is defined as a change in behavior. Therefore, acceptable forms of desired behavior are defined in overt and measurable terms in behavioral objectives. Outcomes are often described as competencies which the student must display after completing education activity (pp. 81-82).

What Did I Expect to Find?

I expected to find teacher whose self-reports of their teaching philosophy and their teaching behaviors would be congruent with those who espoused learner-centered instruction. I assumed these teachers would mainly use computer-conferencing rather than presentation technologies as their primary delivery system, because of its 2-way communication capabilities.

Hypotheses

Delivery Technology

From my work in the field of computer-mediated communication and the online classroom, with regard to the technologies in use:

H1: Online classes will be taught in a computer based conference and supported by email, print-based materials and the Web (for informatics); and in mixed mode, (i.e., in combination with face-to-face instruction) rather than completely online.

Yelon's Principles

While the present study is not designed to test Yelon's 10 principles, I did expect online teachers to attend to each principle to some degree, perhaps requiring some rearrangement and rewording of the principles to better articulate online teaching (see Sidebar 1 for the set of hypotheses regarding Yelon's principles).

Teaching Style

As previously stated, I expected online teachers to be more student-centered in their approaches (see Figure 1). My experience suggested that teaching online is done through collaboration, experiential learning, and self-assessment or self-reflection. Collaboration is essentially an approach in which groups of students work together to solve a common problem, or complete a common task or goal. Experiential learning includes using learning activities such as problem-based learning, inquiry, and projects (i.e., authentic learning activities). By self-assessment I mean reflection not only on the learning, but also on the process(es) used during learning.

While this present study was not designed to test a particular theoretical model, given my experience in the field and a review of literature, I hypothesized that:

H3: Teachers will use a teaching style that characterizes a learner-centered approach in their online teaching. More specifically, teachers will use collaborative learning; authentic learning activities such as projects, inquiry, and problem-based activities; and self-assessment/reflection in their online teaching.

THE SURVEY

Methodology

Over a period of several years, I accumulated a file of persons who taught, or who I suspected taught online courses. A cover letter (see Appendix A) and survey was electronically sent to each of the 812 persons whose email addresses were in my file. That initial contact solicited 174 replies, a response rate of 21%.

One hundred eleven (111) respondents said they did not meet the criteria I had established for online teaching. Sixty-three (63) persons completed the survey and returned it. Of those, 19 did not meet the criteria-either they were not using computer systems when teaching the online portion of their course (e.g., TV), or the graded part of at least one of the courses each person taught, was not significantly online. Two of these 44 teachers taught in middle or secondary education. I have based the results reported here on the responses of the 42 post-secondary teachers, who teach in a formal setting. Responses were received between April 16TH and July 10TH, 1996, with subsequent follow-up questions and responses through the summer.

FINDINGS

Descriptive Characteristics of Teachers and What was Taught

The forty two teachers responding to this survey taught adults at the undergraduate and graduate levels or in continuing and professional development, or some combination of these areas (See Table 1). They were an experienced group of teachers, having taught an average of

Table 1

Grade Level Taught by Respondents

Grade Level	Count
Undergraduate	24
Graduate	9
Both Undergraduate and Graduate	6
Professional or Continuing Education	1
Professional and Undergraduate	1
Professional and Graduate	1

17.6 years (range 2 years to 38 years). Nearly half (45.2%) of the teachers listed one or more local, regional, national or international awards (see Table 2), (three teachers listed multiple

Table 2

Awards Received by Respondents

Level of Award	Number of Awards
Local	13
Regional	1
National	8
International	2
Number of respondents listing no awards	23

awards). They had taught online an average of 4.1 years, with a range from having just taught their first online course to a remarkable 16 years experience! The courses taught by these respondents were mainly in applied areas such as education, health services and business (see Table 3). While there is no typical "online classroom," I have included three brief descriptions

Table 3

Course Subjects Taught by Respondents

Subjects Taught	Count
Rhetoric, Composition, Writing, Editing	14
Business, Leadership, Management, Marketing,	12
Computer systems, Computer Science, Information Tech, Internet	10
Online Education, Computer Appl in Ed, Communication in Ed	6
Education, Instructional or Curriculum Design, Ed Research	6
Nursing, Health Care, Medical, Adaptive Technologies	5
Ethics	2
English, Vocabulary	2
Critical Thinking	2
Philosophy	1
Introductory Neuroscience	1
Inquiry and Research	1
Government; Politics; Contemporary. Issues	1
Animal Physiology	1

of how these teachers described the learning environment (See Appendix B ). Half the respondents to this survey were male and half female (n=21 each).

Technology Used in the Online Classrooms

H1: Online classes will be taught in a computer based conference and supported by email, print-based materials and the Web (for informatics); and in mixed mode, (i.e., in combination with face-to-face instruction) rather than completely online.

Generally, these teachers used the Web, computer conferencing, discussion lists (i.e., mailing lists), and bulletin boards systems (BBS) for delivery of their online courses (see Table 4). Half (21 of 42) used some combination of two or more of these, plus email. While no

Table 4

Technologies Used by Respondents

TECHNOLOGIES USED	COUNT
Web	22
CC	13
Discussion List	12
BBS	9
MOO	5
gopher	2
intranet	2
IRC	2
MUD	2
Audiographic	1
Computer. Lab	1
COW (web conferencing.)	1
ftp	1
LAN	1
telnet	1

teacher claimed exclusive use of email, I assumed even when not explicitly stated, that nearly all if not all, teachers and students used email to some extent along with these other systems. Over half the teachers (52%) stated they used the Web, at least in part, for their online teaching. The Web was the technology listed by more respondents than any other technology in use for the courses they taught, with four of the forty-two respondents stating they use the Web exclusively, (presumably along with email). Seven teachers stated they used MUDs or MOOs. The total number of courses all respondents listed as teaching online were 88. Of those, 51 were listed as taught one-hundred percent online (58%).

Summary and Discussion of the Findings for Yelon's 10 Principles

As I reviewed the teachers' responses to each of Yelon's principles, one thing became clear to me-many of these respondents did not "feel comfortable" with the "tone" of the Yelon principles. For instance, one teacher wrote, "the problem with this list is that most of it is framed from the perspective of the teacher helping the students." Dozens of comments, some quite forceful, stated the "expository" tone of the list of principles did not match their educational philosophy or teaching practices.

The process orientation of these teachers, (both of academic and social processes), often places emphasis on the value of experience and reflection upon those experiences, the striving for authentic, "real-life" problems and projects, and their realization that they can not teach all there is to teach while they have contact with any student, combine to form a recognition on their part that a "critical awareness" on the part of the student is necessary. Skills, knowledge and attitudes must be acquired throughout a person's lifetime. To help students realize this, many teachers in this study responded in ways showing they model life-long learning principles themselves. Checkley (1995) states that "rather then helping students develop an ability to memorize facts in a textbook, teachers should teach students metacognitive and self-evaluative skills" (p. 5). She quotes Mary Ellen Verona giving the reason for this, so that students:

can assess what they need to learn in order to solve a problem or complete a project. What's hoped for is that students will become aware when they need certain skills and they'll go off and learn those skills on their own. (p. 5)

Separately, many responses showed an emphasis on shifting the responsibility of learning to each student, rather than continuing the teacher-centered activities that have lead to an over-dependence on the teacher as expert and provider of instruction.

Another thread woven throughout the responses is that of "low structure and high dialog" (Moore, 1993). Statements such as the following indicated this:

Students are taught there is a thread of consistency on how to approach problem solving, but are taught to expect, accept, and not be frustrated by change.

Expanding on this, several teachers' comments supported the notion that learning through discussion, respect for multiple perspectives, and valuing the exploration and reflection of one's own and others' experiences can lead to an unpredictable outcome.

H2a:. Teachers will attend to meaningfulness in their teaching in their online teaching.

Nine teachers (24%) out of a total of 38 who responded to this principle, talked exclusively about what they did as teachers to motivate students. The remaining 29 wrote about what students do with regard to meaningfulness. Either a description was given of students relating their own experiences to the classroom discussion/content (n = 16), or of students self-selecting some aspect/topic (or the course itself) of their lives at home or work for class projects, problem-solving activities, or as a basis for student inquiry (n = 8). Four teachers mentioned both of these two categories pertained to their classrooms. Additionally, one teacher stated that students were motivated by publishing their work online and thereby expanding the audience for their work beyond the teacher.

The more authentic the activities that learners are engaged in--the more closely they resemble real-world problems and tasks--the more likely the possibility for students to pursue their own learning goals. The teacher can provide the student with a problem or project, but if the student perceives it to be "the teacher's problem," the student's performance may be minimal during the process of inquiry. The student must also add a self-awareness, a critical awareness of the important of learning, and the personal meaning in accomplishing the learning activity to sustain the interest to meet the challenge.

Consensus among respondents was high regarding what these teachers' believed about meaningfulness and what motivates students. Phrases about the course, such as "students can use this in the workplace, (to their competitive advantage)," "they can apply this to their own lives," or "students self-select areas of their own experience or interest," indicated that the teachers responding to this principle relied on their students to find their own meaning in the activities they become involved in during learning.

H2b: Teachers will attend to prerequisites in their online teaching.

In analyzing the responses (n = 39) to this principle, I generated the following categories to report and summarize how they characterized their attention to prerequisites. The teachers:

- used a skills-based entrance examination or pre-screening to determine eligibility to enter the class or to homogeneously group within classes (n = 12)

- used one-to-one personal counseling/tutoring concerning problems or assignments (n = 9)

- used feedback from peer groups; or assigned individuals with varying ability to groups (n = 8)

- used quizzes/worksheets/activities for feedback on progress students are making (n = 8)

- used self-paced instruction; or an adjusted time line to meet the needs of the learner (sometimes in the teacher's description, this was associated with competency-based learning) (n = 7)

- inform the students of the nature and level of the class and the expectations before students enroll (n = 4)

- move the whole group at the same pace; or stated it is not the instructor's role to adjust to the students ability (n = 3)

Many of the respondents interpreted this principle to address how to attend to individual differences in a much broader sense than differences in entry-level skills/knowledge. They also saw group feedback as a key to facilitating learning, but noted individual feedback is preferred. Feedback from students to the instructor and instructor to student or through peer critique are all mentioned by at least some of the teachers as essential.

H2c: Teachers will attend to open communication in their online teaching.

The 39 responses to this principle described concepts such as "building trust" (n = 4), "respecting and valuing others opinions" (n = 1), and building a "community of learners" (n = 2). Two wrote about encouraging students to seek help from other students. Three mentioned the ease, convenience, and access email creates. One teacher responded with "nothing done here." Except for these responses, the teachers focused on one group of factors regarding their perception of what open communication involves:

Clearly stating the expectations/evaluation criteria and any structured activities to the students as early as possible, and promoting free discussion of any questions they may have concerning these (n = 34)

H2d: Teachers will attend to organized essential ideas in their online teaching.

Nearly half of the 40 respondents (n = 18) to this principle mentioned detailed syllabi, assignment sheets, notes, or textbooks. Five emphasized the teacher's role in structuring content and setting the pace of instruction, while over three times that number (n = 16) placed emphasis on the students doing these activities for themselves. Five of the online teachers emphasized the need for flexibility and the recursive nature of learning, usually done through a cycle of feedback and discussion, without the teacher setting the structure or details. One teacher commented, "I am not sure how to respond to [this principle]."

It seems that structured content is perceived as less important than the sharing of ideas or discussion, or as a process orientation leading to students constructing their own meaning. Two teachers suggested the way to organize content is to highlight and summarize the online discussion in such a manner as to capture the essential ideas the students present. Two quotes may illustrate the essence of what many of the online teachers said:

"My online course focus on the students rather than on the instructor. There is much interaction between students online and also through group work."

And,

"The essential ideas may be set forth in structured materials, but the realization of their importance, and the necessary attention to them arises through interactive discussion in the learning group."

One teacher responded by debating the structure issue:

I'm not sure we do this very well. One of our tutors thinks we need even more structure in the course, but . . . I feel it is important, especially considering this is at graduate level, that people experience this medium (which the course is all about) in a variety of presentation styles. Admittedly the more structured presentations . . . work best, however.

For the most part, teachers were more inclined to use student focused methods, with an occasional use of more direct instruction Reasons for this vary. The response quoted below expresses thoughts that were echoed several times by other teachers:

"I have learned that I cannot teach 'everything' in the short amount of time allotted to me; thus, I try to introduce a controlled amount of information. Each week I will add to that knowledge base, and by the end of the quarter, the concepts that I wanted to teach have been laid out in an efficient, organized manner. However, there are times when I have had to re-think and re-structure because the class was not sufficiently grounded in basics."

H2e: Teachers will attend to learning aids.

Eighteen of the 39 responses (46%) stated they made little effort to provide learning aids to students, or wrote of teaching methods but not learning aids/devices (e.g., giving feedback). Of those who did consider learning aids important, four listed audio-visual aids for content and especially to help students learn to use computer systems. Nine teachers wrote of themselves or other people as aids in student learning: peer editing groups; one-to-one counseling with students on "problems;" excellent Teaching Assistants; and help desk personnel. Thirteen teachers listed online, context-specific help and templates of one sort or another.

H2f: Teachers will attend to novelty in their online teaching.

Several respondents (n=10) wrote that the technology, and information retrieved from the technology, is still novel in itself. The following ways were mentioned to encourage novelty:

- vary the instructional strategies or methods (e.g., lab sessions, groups activities, individual activities, role play, simulation) (n = 10)

- vary the discussion topics/questions (n = 10)

- vary the projects/problems (n = 10)

- vary the pace (n = 1)

One teacher stated the course was experimental and therefore perceived by that teacher as novel. Another teacher ascribed "having fun" as important in the novelty of online teaching.

H2g: Teachers will attend to modeling in their online teaching.

Modeling took several forms. A summary of the responses follows:

- teachers wrote about modeling content with lecture notes; step-by-step assignments; or making available examples of assignments that students will be working on. (n = 18)

- teachers modeling their thought or problem-solving process (n = 10)

- providing feedback and comments to students (n = 6)

- modeling the norms for online discussion with teachers as active members of the discussion group (n = 7)

- emphasized a reoccurring theme of reliance on peers and group interaction to create the conditions for learning (n = 8)

- demonstration (n = 1)

The teacher whose response is quoted below pointed out several reoccurring themes-e.g., modeling active participation, feedback, and recognizing individual accomplishments and goals:

"Modeling is critical both online and face-to-face. Some of the characteristics I believe are important in terms of modeling are: Being an active member of groups, being available for input, having an opinion and sharing it, reinforcing strengths, building on limitations by asking learners to take their thoughts a step further, being flexible and open to ideas, leaving " time and space" for personal growth, recognizing individual progress, and offering constructive and regular feedback. In other words, living and breathing principles of adult learning."

H2h: Teachers will attend to active appropriate practice in their online teaching.

Of the thirty-six respondents to this principle, twenty-four wrote about their course being applied in nature: i.e., experiential learning, project-based, practice-based, hands-on, or inquiry based, as a way of saying the essence of what they do is practice authentic learning activities (with feedback). Seven teachers' responses mentioned the transfer of skills and knowledge to the workplace or other "real-life" setting. So, arranging the conditions for students to "practice" is in many ways what these teachers believe to be one of their primary functions.

Other aspects of practice that were described:

- students working in groups motivate one another to practice skills or apply a newly learned process, (i.e., peer pressure to practice) (n = 5)

- moved from structured, teacher-directed activities to self-structured, learner-focused activities (n = 2)

- teacher suggested a need for self-improvement on the part of him/herself (n = 3).

One teacher stated the course goals were other than skill practice, i.e., they wanted interaction only, and therefore "practice" didn't apply to their teaching. One teacher stated the course goals were not for student practice, but simply for interaction.

H2i: Teachers will attend to pleasant conditions and consequences in their online teaching.

A majority of the forty-one responses to this principle grouped into two areas. There were responses (n=11) that stated the nature of the tasks were motivating and therefore pleasant to do, or stated that it was intrinsically satisfying to students to be provided the means for group interaction. The second area in which responses were categorized was reflected in a concern by the teachers for personally encouraging students, fostering personal discovery and growth, or in some other way creating an affective component in their online environment (n = 23).

A typical comment from one teacher regarding the natural consequences of the tasks in the course was:

"I allow [students] to work on projects that they are really interested and motivated to work on. For instance, projects that relate to what they do in their current job."

The following comment illustrates the second group of responses to this principle:

"I spend a LOT of time working to create a 'community of learners'. . . that deals with affective stuff and expectations. I think this has a lot to do with the personality of the professor... My philosophy is 'guide on the side' rather than 'sage on the stage' -- and I teach this way. Drives some students crazy -- others love it."

A third, smaller group of responses mentioned the convenience of off-campus access to classwork and of scheduling time when doing coursework, or that they found that students appreciated being able to schedule their own time for study and that less travel time was necessary (n = 6). Additionally, one online teacher commented, "I don't know how to respond [to this question]."

H2j: Teachers will attend to consistency of instructional design elements in their online teaching.

While eight online teachers agreed with all or some of Yelon's principle, the most frequently mentioned (n = 13) emphasis by the 37 respondents to this principle was on making their course consistent with, and relevant to, job or other life-experience. Four teachers presented an alternative model that included all or some of the following elements: partner or group forming, interaction, planning, sharing, reporting, repetition of process, or varying cases/examples. Ten teachers' responses emphasized telling students what was expected of them, or giving examples. And three responses that disagreed with Yelon's idea of consistency of instructional design elements, or found it difficult to practice, based on their philosophy of education. One teacher state when asked how consistency is attended to online:

"Not exactly consistent. In fact, students are continually reminded that nothing is consistent about the internet. What they see today will not necessarily be there tomorrow."

Another teacher agreed, but also sounded a cautionary note:

"Part of my job, I think, is to shape the chaos of my field into a manageable, coherent instructional units for my students. There is no place for confusion of instruction; this is not say cognitive dissonance is absent, as I do try to create that, but not through confusion, rather, the underpinnings of my course are solid and consistent, so . . . most students will feel secure enough to allow dissonance into their lives. From this flows learning."

WHAT ARE THE CHARACTERISTICS OF ONLINE TEACHING IN FORMAL, POST-SECONDARY EDUCATION?

Student-Centered Learning

H3: Teachers will use a teaching style that characterizes a learner-centered approach in their online teaching.

The online teachers responding to this survey mentioned methods that were more student-centered than teacher-centered. Predominant among these were discussion, collaborative learning activities, and authentic learning activities (i.e., inquiry, problem-based activities, case studies, projects, peer critique and support), and self-reflection. For most of these teachers, being able to guide learning by asking the "right questions," is viewed as more important than being able to give students the "right answer"-i.e., that answer which the instructor holds. Taken together, these online teachers used a combination of teaching methods spanning the range along the teacher- to student-focused continuum--from lecture to self-assessment.

There were some conspicuous omissions. For example, I had expected that cooperative learning, in the formal sense (e.g., Slavin, 1987), would be mentioned. Only one teacher indicated they used a formal cooperative learning model. I suspect is because the intense group interactions are difficult to manage especially those called for in the design of, for instance, competitive teams.

Self-Reflection

Eleven of the forty-two respondents to the original survey spoke of strategies, student assignments (e.g., learning journals/logs), or otherwise gave a response indicating students were given opportunity to reflect or to assess their learning experiences, or the learning process in which they were involved. For example:

I integrate reflective assignments into the course designs. Learning episodes (shared online and privately) as well as interactive journals are effective means to make links between past/present and future. Asking critical questions in a timely way and encouraging sharing of ideas and experiences are also strategies which support meaning-making.

Discussion, Collaboration, and Authentic Learning

After receiving the initial responses, I created an electronic text file containing only the teachers' responses (i.e., no email headers, signature files, or any quotes the teachers included in their messages written by me in the original query). I did a simple word count to get a sense of what teaching methods were talked about by these online teachers (see Table 5). While for some

Table 5

Number of Occurrences of Selected Words (Original Survey Only)

Count
Teacher-focused
lecture	24
drill and practice	0
guided discovery	1
demonstration/modeling	28
discussion	69
collaborative learning activities	76
authentic learning activities	75
self-assessment/reflection	19
Student-focused

Italics indicates a teaching method of particular interest for further analysis in this study.

of the categories I searched for a single word, in several of these categories I used multiple constructs. For example, my keyword searches for the concepts of discussion, collaborative learning activities, and authentic learning activities are:

Discussion discussion (69)

Collaborative Learning Activities cooperative (3); collaborat* (5); Groups (50); peer (13); team (5)

Authentic Learning Activities inquir* (4); problem (32); practice-base (2); project (34); case stud* (3)

While this simple technique may give some insight into what teaching methods these teachers use online, it is hardly reliable. Therefore, I sent two follow-up inquiries to the 42 respondents asking them to describe the nature of their online teaching concerning discussion, collaboration, and authentic learning activities.

Teachers Using Online Discussion

Of the 40 persons responding to this follow-up question, only one said they did not use discussion. That teacher stated a philosophical belief in one-to-one, teacher-directed, individual learning:

These issues are addressed this way: 1) My lectures appear on my home page as Lecture 1, 2, and so on. Each lecture has specific cognitive material that I expect the students to learn. 2) To assist the students to develop the skills you describe, they must complete and return Study Sheets, the answers for which are on the correspondingly numbered lecture. Thus, the answers for the questions on SS1 can be found in Lecture 1.... 3) My written lectures are my commitment to the students that the point and intention of my lectures are clear and specific. These lectures are constantly, really, being updated. 4) The study sheets are the proof that the students are actively engaged in my class and are attending to and understanding my lectures.

. . .I do not personally go for group think or group speak. I think the most important thing is to train up the individual on a one-on-one basis as far as possible. Besides, I have found that group work turns the innovative nature of teaching online into something that looks like what has been around for a long time.

Through discussion and interaction with others, the students share their experiences, try out different ways of looking at their own experiences, and explores multiple perspectives and views that often conflict with their own (Brookfield, 1989).

Collaborative Learning Environment

A collaborative learning environment has several key characteristics. First, there is a shared knowledge among teachers and students. While it is recognized that teachers have a wealth of knowledge about content, in a collaborative classroom the knowledge, experiences, language, and culture of the students are valued and brought into the learning situation. Implicit in this is a shared authority among teachers and students.

A second element in a collaborative environment involves students being invited to set specific goals for themselves, within the framework of what is being taught. There are options for projects and other learning activities that capture different students interests and learning goals. Collaboration, by definition, involves people working together. Tinzmann et al. (1990) made a case for the heterogeneous groupings of students in a manner that does not segregate "according to supposed ability, achievement, interests, or any other characteristic." Within the collaborative learning environment, the above elements suggest a sharing of authority that, when implemented, means the teacher is often a learner, and learners are just as often teaching.

To get some indication of how the online teachers responding to this survey implemented a collaborative environment, I analyzed their reports of group activities. Setting aside discussion, which all teachers except one used, I included the use of group inquiry, peer support, or peer review in this analysis. Of the forty-two teachers responding, thirty-six stated they used at least one of these group activities in their online teaching. Three teachers appear not to use much group work of any kind, and three others I could not determine due to incomplete data.

Authentic Learning Activities

The essence of inquiry is a student being personally challenged by being faced with a problem to solve, a project to complete, or a dilemma needing resolved. Joyce and Weil (1996) remind us that this challenge causes the inquiry to be personally meaningful for the student, and through individual or group investigation, curiosity leads to explicit formulation of the topic being investigated and the process that will be used for solving the problem or project. Both the process and the tentative solutions are studied, reflected upon and thereby improved.

To obtain some indication of whether the online teachers responding to this survey promoted authentic learning activities in their classroom, I analyzed the data along several dimension. If the teacher stated they used any of the following activities, I counted him/her as a user of authentic activities: inquiry, problem-based, practice-based, projects, or case studies. Of the forty-two teachers, 37 reported that they were using at least one of these activities. I was not able to determine whether the remaining five used these methods (see Table 6). Thirty-one out

Table 6

Authentic Learning Activities

TYPE OF AUTHENTIC ACTIVITY	COUNT
Use Inquiry	31
Use Projects	19
Use Problem-Based	20
Use Case Study	2
Use Practice-Based	1

of 40 teachers for whom I have data indicated they use inquiry as a teaching method. Six of those 31 teachers using inquiry have students working individually, nine had students work in groups and sixteen had students sometimes working in groups and sometimes individually.

LIMITATIONS

This survey dealt with only a small segment of subject areas. The small, convenience sample means that, while there were commonalties among these 42 teachers, these findings are not generalizable to other courses, teachers, or even within the formal, post-secondary setting. The self-reported data was not tested. No attempt was made to verify what these teachers said was actually what they did (e.g., though observations, or interviews with learners in their courses). Additionally, my own biases regarding online teaching, educational philosophy, and subjectivity when coding and categorizing responses may have influenced the data analyses. Readers interested in more about these limitations can review the survey methodology literature where these various limitations have been thoroughly discussed (see e.g., Alreck and Settle, 1995; Dillman, 1978; Rossi, Wright and Anderson, 1983).

FOR FURTHER RESEARCH

1) While some barriers to online teaching were mentioned incidentally, it would be useful to systematically identify barriers and limitations to online teaching from the teachers' perspective.

2) This survey reported the perceptions of teachers who taught in formal, post-secondary education, and therefore taught only adults. Do the characteristics best promoted by online teaching match only the goals of adult learners? What are the differences, if any, in teaching methods used by elementary and secondary online teachers? I suspect online discussion is more limited in elementary and secondary education because of the physical proximity among the students and instructor. Since a mixed mode of online and face-to-face teaching nearly always exists in K-12, I would hypothesize that when the teacher wants discussion, he/she prefers to lead it in the face-to-face portion of the classroom. (There are exceptions, such as in foreign language learning with online collaboration among students from different countries; other "keypal" projects; etc.)

3) What if a student does not have much experience in life (i.e., young learners), or in the subject area? Will the teaching styles that are most often used online match their needs or learning styles? Similarly, what about persons who are "mainstreamed?"

4) The content areas identified by the online teachers in this survey were generally very applied subjects. Are certain subject areas not compatible with online teaching styles? I suspect there are differences in the effectiveness of online teaching, perhaps due to technical and systems limitations at this time as much as anything else.

5) This survey was limited to online computer-mediated teaching. However, several teachers who use 2-way television or audio-conferencing completed the initial survey. I read all the responses before I dropped those not involved in online computer-mediated teaching. I really could not tell a difference in the types of descriptions that were given among the communication systems without looking specifically at the question asking each teacher to describe the system they were using. I suspect that at this level of analysis, the characteristics I have labeled "student-focused learning" overrides most other factors including the type of delivery system used. That is, provided a system is used that permits effective 2-way interaction among students and between students and instructor, other factors are subordinate. One way to approach this issue is to explore the changing role of the teacher. For instance, research could inquire of online teachers who have taught before beginning their online teaching what it is that has changed, if anything, in their online work compared to their offline work and why.

6) Just because a more student-focused set of teaching methods are utilized this does not mean necessarily that they are used effectively or efficiently. Mere provision for discussion, for instance, doesn't ensure the goals and purposes for that technique, let alone the objectives for the course, are being met. More research is needed to ascertain exactly what is occurring during online activities with regard to the design and implementation of various teaching methods.

CONCLUSIONS

Yelon's principles are perceived by the teachers responding to this survey as being teacher-centered. From the responses, these online teachers were mostly learner-centered. The choice to use particular teaching methods and require specific learning activities may be something internal to the teachers and not an effect of the online environment itself. One important question not asked was, "if you taught off-line before teaching online did you change your style once online and why?" Important because ultimately, it is by understanding the factors in teaching and learning, and the changing roles of teachers and learners, that will precede meaningful improvements in education.

REFERENCES

Alreck, P.L. and Settle, R.B. (1995). The survey research handbook: Guidelines and strategies for conducting a survey. New York: Irwin Professional Publishing.

Berge, Z.L. (in press) The Instructional Technology Train: Why Use Technology in Education. In Z. L. Berge and M. P. Collins (Eds.) Wired Together: The Online Classroom in K-12--Volume I Perspectives and Instructional Design. Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press.

Berge, Z.L. (1995). Facilitating Computer Conferencing: Recommendations From the Field. Educational Technology. 15(1) 22-30.

Berge, Z.L. (1994). Electronic discussion groups. Communication Education, 43(2), 102-111.

Berge, Z.L. & Collins, M.P. (Eds.) (1995a). Computer-Mediated Communication and the Online Classroom, Volumes 1, 2, 3. Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press.

Berge, Z.L. & Collins, M.P. (1995b). Computer-mediated scholarly discussion groups. Computers and Education. 24(3), 183-189.

Brookfield, S. D. (1989). The Skillful Teacher: On Technique, Trust, and Responsiveness in the Classroom. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers.

Checkley, K. (1995). Student-directed learning: Balancing student choice and curriculum goals. ASCD Education Update, 37(9): 1, 4-5, 8.

Collins, M.P. & Berge, Z. L. (1994a). Audiographics used in distance learning. Australian Educational Computing. 9(2): 4-8.

Collins, M.P. & Berge, Z.L. (1994b). Student Evaluation of Computer Conferencing in a (Primarily) Audio-conferencing Distance Education Course. In M.M. Thompson and M.G. Moore (Eds.). Internationalism in Distance Education: A Vision for Higher Education: Selected papers from the first International Distance Education Conference, Penn State University, June 1994. ACSDE Research Monograph Number 10. University Park, PA: The American Center for the Study of Distance Education. 115-129.

Conti, G. J. "Identifying your teaching style." In M. W. Galbraith (ed.), Adult learning methods: A guide for effectinve instruction. Malabar, FL: Krieger, 1990.

Dillman, D.A. (1978). Mail and telephone surveys: The total design method. New York: John Wiley & Sons.

Eastmond, D. V. (1995). Alone but Together: Adult Distance Study through Computer Conferencing. Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press.

Irving, R.H. (1978). Computer assisted communication in a directorate of the Canadian Federal government. A pilot study, In M.C.J. Elton, W.A. Lucas, and D.W. Conrath (Eds.) Evaluating New Telecommunications Services. pp.: 455-469.

Joyce, B. and Weil, M. (1996). Models of teaching (5TH Ed.) Boston: Allyn and Bacon.

Moore, M. G. 1993 . Theory of transactional distance. In D. Keegan Theoretical Principles of Distance Education. New York: Routledge.

Rossi, P.H., Wright, J.D., and Anderson, A.B. (1983). Handbook of survey research. New York: Academic Press.

Santoro, G. M. (1995). What is computer-mediated communication. In Z. L. Berge & M. P. Collins (Eds.), Computer-mediated communication and the online classroom: Vol. 1. Overview and perspectives. (pp. 11-27). Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press.

Slavin, R.E. (1987). Cooperative learning and the cooperative school. Educational Leadership, 45(3), 7-13.

Soby, Transversing distance in education: the PortaCOM experiment. In A.W. Bates (Ed.) Media and Technology in European Distance Education. Netherlands: European Association of Distance Teaching Universities.

Rice, R.E. (1980). Computer Conferencing. In M. Voight and B. Dervin (Eds.) Progress in Communication Science (Volume 2), Norwood, NJ: Ablex.

Vallee, J. (1976). The Forum Project: Network conferencing and its future applications. Computer Networks, 1 (1), 39-52.

van Meurs, C. and Bouhuijs, P. (1989). Tele-education: An experiment on home computing at the Dutch Open University. Open Learning 4(1).

Williams, E. (1978). Teleconferencing: Social and psychological factors. Journal of Communication, 218 (3): 125-131.

Yelon, S. (1996a) Powerful Principles of Instruction. Longman.

Yelon, S. (1996b). Personal Correspondence.

APPENDIX A

Cover Letter to Survey

Over the past year or so, I have been compiling a list of persons teaching online. This has mainly been done from discussion lists I own or in which I participate. I am interested in researching online instruction. Specifically, how online instruction is made effective. I am limiting the context to "computer-mediated online instruction," (as opposed to audio or video/TV). I am also limiting this research to classroom instruction in which the course interaction is conducted completely online, or significantly online (i.e., where at minimum 50% of the GRADED part of the course is online).

I have chosen Steve Yelon's 10 principles of effective instruction to provide structure for this research. Yelon, in his recent book, Powerful Principles of Instruction (1996), identified excellent teachers as defined by such things as winning teacher awards, and peer or student evaluations. He interviewed these teachers and found four common attributes. These teachers: 1) were concerned about their subject matter, 2) were concerned about their students, 3) liked the job of teaching, and 4) put into practice ten powerful instructional principles. He went on to identified those instructional principles.

If you would choose to complete my questionnaire below, I strongly encourage you to be as expansive and specific as you have time to be for each of the principles. You are encouraged to respond to all 10, but if in a specific case one of the principles doesn't seem to apply, please complete the others. I know this may take a significant amount of your time. I don't know how to get at important synthesis of these online techniques and methods without imposing upon you and other colleagues in this way.

If you could respond at your earliest convenience, I would appreciate it. Should this time be especially tight, and you can't respond in the next 2-3 weeks, please let me know that, and let me know when you COULD respond. Individual responses will be kept anonymous-only summary data will be used without the author's permission.

Finally, if you know of someone who teaches using CMC online, either from your institution or another, please let me know. (I would rather contact that person to avoid duplication.) Just send me his/her name and email address.

When the results are available, I will make sure each person contributing to this research receives the results.

Regards,

Zane Berge, Ph.D.

APPENDIX B

What Did the Online Teaching Look Like?

Case 1-Writing

These were online versions of a course then being taught in the evening-certificate stream . . . and all graded work was online; I never met some of the students at all. In the second running, I sometimes called students and discussed their work over the phone, with each of us looking at the assignment on our own computer. (I do something similar when one of my editors and I are going over an article of mine.)

Case 2-Society and the Information Age

The course was taught in a condensed one-week format (with a full 3 hours of undergraduate credit.) We call this our summer "Fast Forward" format. The course was taught through computer conferencing. We created a MUD (multi-user dimension) and had students access it via telnet. All students were expected to attend this online discussion from 9:00 am-11:00 am. . .. Communication among class members and instructor (other than during the online discussion) was through e-mail.

Case 3-Business Course

I use e-mail to send lecture notes and assignments to students. They are required to turn in their assignments, or at least a significant percentage of them (see above) using e-mail. Additionally, I require that students familiarize themselves with subject-appropriate web sites, mailing lists, etc. For the Business Seminar course (a capstone directed-research course requiring a major thesis), students must cite a minimum of 25%, or at least 10, Internet sources for their research papers.

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H2a:. Teachers will attend to meaningfulness in their teaching in their online teaching, (i.e., motivate students by helping them connect the topic to be learned to their past, present, and future).

H2b: Teachers will attend to prerequisites in their online teaching, (i.e., assess students' level of knowledge and skill and adjust instruction carefully, so students are ready to learn the material at the next level).

H2c: Teachers will attend to open communication in their online teaching, (i.e., be sure students find out what they need to know so they can focus on what to learn).

H2d: Teachers will attend to organized essential ideas in their online teaching, (i.e., help students focus on and structure the most important ideas, to be able learn and recall those ideas).

H2e: Teachers will attend to learning aids, (i.e. help students use devices to learn quickly and easily).

H2f: Teachers will attend to novelty in their online teaching (i.e., vary the instructional stimuli to keep students attention).

H2g: Teachers will attend to modeling in their online teaching, (i.e., show students how to recall, think, act, and solve problems so that they are ready to practice).

H2h: Teachers will attend to active appropriate practice in their online teaching, (i.e., provide practice to recalling, thinking, performing, and solving problems so that students apply and perfect their learning).

H2i: Teachers will attend to pleasant conditions and consequences in their online teaching, (i.e., make learning pleasing, so that students associate comfort with what is learned; and make learning satisfying, so that students keep learning and using what is learned).

H2j: Teachers will attend to consistency of instructional design elements in their online teaching, (i.e., make objectives, tests, practice, content, and explanation consistent, so that students will learn what they need and will use what they have learned outside of the instructional setting.

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Mail comments to berge@umbc2.umbc.edu