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General Statement of Problem In the past few years,
the application of advanced computer technology to educational activities has expanded. The predominate technological focus of the present is the use of the World Wide Web ("Web"). This very recent innovation, a part of
the more encompassing "Internet," is expanding almost exponentially, and its popularity, as well as its potential to support instructional experiences, has caused a flurry of activities in academic institutions. Web-based instruction (Khan, 1997) is a unique instructional delivery system with which educators are beginning to experiment. The resulting potential for change and innovation in approaches to
delivery of instruction is astounding and continually expanding (Harasim, 1995; Collis, 1996), in both distance education and traditional education. To compound the possibilities for change, the separation between
traditional and distance education is not that clear anymore, as schools from elementary to universities are using the Web and Internet to supplement classroom instruction and to give learners the ability to connect to
information (organizational, instructional, and other resources). Older technology-based terms like "distance-learning," "computer-mediated-communication," and "computer conferencing" from the 70's and '80's are merging
with newer ones like "Web" and "Internet" and "online learning communities." This is reorganizing our approaches to education. It is altering communication patterns in our society, as well as society itself (Martin,
1997), and thus, affecting our educational system. Innovative uses of the Web and related tools are emerging at all levels of instructional design, from elementary to higher education and to other areas of
adult learning such as corporate training. Technological sophistication in the area of utilizing the Web increases rapidly, yet the cost continues to decrease. Access to these technologies for the average citizen is
widespread and convenient. The writing is on the wall, or more appropriately on the screen, according to Secretary of Commerce William M. Daley: "When President Clinton took office, there were only 50
Web sites. Now 65,000 are being added -- every hour...Last year [1997] 100 million people logged on the Internet, up from 40 million the year before...." (PC Magazine, June 9, 1998, p. 10).
The Web has become ubiquitous in our society. This hypermedia-based platform exists on the Internet, a network of hundreds of millions of people connected through computers: homes, businesses, databases, schools
and universities linked together over phone lines. It is a more sophisticated form of computer-mediated-communication ("CMC") that has the capability of creating online learning communities that have quick access to
vast amounts of information on the Internet. It is becoming clear that the educational applications that are possible through this new medium are going to impact our national education system. Already, the
Web has forced and facilitated intense professional change in the field of education in the following ways:
(1) the development of pedagogical roles and methods for teaching online (Harasim, et al., 1995);
(2) a change in perceptions of the future of educational settings (Collis, 1996); and, (3) the application of innovative uses of computer technology to enhance
educational environments, and as well, create virtual educational worlds (Solis, 1997).
The increase in instructional utilization of the Web requires that education researchers assess the effectiveness of the Web as an instructional delivery system. In higher education, the
Web is being used as a supplement to traditional instruction, and in some cases the mode of delivery. In a practical sense, considering the changes ignited by the "information age," and the recent explosion of the Web,
it is logical for higher education to accept the integration of Web-based technology (Collis, 1996). Research is needed to study the effects that this advanced CMC technology may have on the instructional environments
(learning processes, learner and instructor behaviors, pedagogical issues) in higher education settings (Khan, 1997). The more specific research issue is that CMC instructional environments, such as the Web,
need to be linked to theoretical models of learning (Bannan & Milheim, 1997). One recently popular theoretical approach to instruction and learning that is widespread in education technology literature is
constructivism. Under this epistemology, theoretical models of learning explain the learning process as the construction of knowledge (Duffy & Cunningham, 1996). That is, learners, through interaction with others,
construct their own reality, and therefore their own learning. Language, through dialogue, is considered to be the mediating tool (Vygotsky, 1978). Educational technologists and constructivists have advocated that such
constructivist learning principles are a good match for CMC environments (Jonassen, 1991; Lebow, 1995). Constructivist principles in education have become increasingly popular, and the field of instructional technology
has many proponents of using technology as a mediator of learning to support such principles (Duffy, Lowyck, & Jonassen, 1993). Particularly, computer-mediated-communication (CMC) and more recently,
Web-based online learning environments, have shown promise for more sophisticated group-based learning strategies, such as those found under the wide epistemology of constructivism (e.g., collaborative learning; Kaye
1992). The key issue is that online interaction is not fully understood in terms of the processes of learning. Online CMC instructional environments need to be linked to the constructs associated with theoretical models
of learning in order to gain accountability and credibility (Harasim, 1990). Also, analysis of the content of online interaction in CMC instructional environments has been avoided (Mason, 1992; Henri, 1992). Gonzales
(1995) suggests that research has failed to describe what CMC is doing in theoretical terms, and that there needs to be more analysis in reference to particular teaching-learning models. Given the newness of the Web as
the latest evolution of CMC tools, these research issues are even more crucial. Therefore, research is needed to examine the nature of online communication in Web-based instructional environments in terms
of theory. Further, in that education technologists have been advocating a merger of constructivist principles and technology-mediated learning, research is also needed to assess to what degree and how this advanced
technology-based instructional environment supports constructivist theoretical models of learning. |
