only connect - progress - SUMMARY

Now that the whole thing is over and I've been awarded the M.ED (HOORAY!) I'm going to sum up the findings of the study here. Keep in mind that this was based on a small sample of students and tutors and it aimed to be a pilot study. However, it also set out to look at genuinely sustainable approaches and it's in that area that I feel it has most to offer. What we did wasn't all that exciting, but it did actually produce results for the students.

			Tutors

Tutors have a right to expect training - not just in the use of the technology, which is the easy bit, but in the use of the net as a communications tool. They need to understand many of the concepts and practices behind distance learning along with the use of both synchronous and asynchronous net-based channels. Tutors have a right to be paid for the work they do - employers must not underestimate the time and effort that delivering work this way entails. The idea that such work can simply be tacked on to a tutor/teacher's existing responsibilities is simply a non-starter. Tutors need a wide variety of support. Not only technical but in terms of materials and equipment. One area in need of exploration is the creation of posts that concentrate entirely on on-line tuition - at this point there seem to be advantages to this, thus far untested, approach.

			Students

Students require technical training in the use desktops and filing systems. They should be able to organise their work on their machines so they can find it easily. Training also needs to cover ideas in the use of attachments in e-mail and some basic nettiquette. Given this grounding, many students are able to learn further skills by experiment if they are encouraged to do so. Students need access to technical helplines - these are probably best worked into deals with various hardware and software suppliers to keep the bulk of technical problems away from the tutors. Students need to be, or become autonomous learners. Any course design should provide 'scaffolding' to assist this. Students need help with time management; the setting of regular deadlines can help this and there seems to be an argument for keeping these, the delivery of materials, time tabling of live sessions etc., within the notionally school day. On-line Distance Learning (ODL) will not suit all students for a variety of reasons. Students, in this study at least, seem to have been fully capable of dealing with the seamier side of the internet. It's important in this respect to at least start from a position of trust.

			Technical resources

Students do not require state-of-the-art equipment in the home. Machines need to be multimedia capable, have CD drives, reasonable monitors capable of 800x600 display. They should be able to run generation 5+ browsers and related software. While this is bound to change over time, spending on high-specification machines seems to be actually counter productive - tested and embedded systems are what's needed. Printers are essential for students - those without them more frequently lost track of work and there are motivational issues bound up with being able to take work beyond the screen. Internet monitoring software intended to censor net content is far more trouble than it's worth. The use of a 'walled garden' holds more promise if it is felt that students can not be trusted. A fully integrated form of net access (in this case AOL) has many advantages over a 'vanilla' connection with a bundle of disparate clients. However, there are flexibility issues to the integrated approach. There needs to be some standardisation of the applications used - certainly everyone needs to be on the same word processor.

			Curriculum

While, ultimately, it's going to be possible to deliver the majority of the curriculum via ODL it seems sensible to start with a narrow focus. Initial subjects must not cut across what is being delivered by face to face tutors. Some obvious initial areas include PSE and creative work There is the opportunity to provide subject expertise via ODL if a weakness in existing provision is identified; but the disparate needs of students and skills of tutors will make this difficult to organise. The use of an ILS (Integrated Learning System) shows some potential for providing background basic skills work. It can also provide a 'quick-start' function that gives students immediate materials to work on while individual programmes are formulated.

			Methodology

Simple, formal worksheets delivered as word processor files and returned in the same form seem dull, but they provide a solid starting point for getting students engaged with the system. Setting up mailing lists for the students (or individual groups) creates a useful channel of communication for administrative messages as well as the delivery of learning materials. Tutorials run via live chat can help further engage students with the work and each other, but these need to be run with specific objectives in mind. Using the web as a resource requires some serious planning and needs to be approached in a step-wise fashion; e.g. sending students to a specific page offering them several pages to choose from suggesting specific search terms on specific engines suggesting specific search terms on any engine finally letting them search for themselves. Collaborative working is certainly possible, it may even arise spontaneously, and students will get a lot out of it. Keeping this in mind as an aim during planning will make it more likely to work; it's something to aim for rather than a starting point. Comments on work should be seen as a major communications channel. They (can) create a dialogue between students and tutors that goes some way to offsetting the lack of face to face contact.

			Social elements

Most students listed the lack of social contact as one of the drawbacks of home tuition. Most students felt that socialising on-line was one of the main benefits of the system. Students had free access to direct social channels and there was no evidence of abuse of that system. It was not possible to explore the cost/benefit implications of the social channels. However, they took no time out of training (use of chat and mail was part of the educational side anyway) and were run entirely by the students themselves without need for tutor intervention. The cost to DCC was relatively high for those students who had their line time paid for - the introduction of flat-rate scheme remove this factor entirely. In considering setting up an ODL scheme for home-tutored students LEAs should attempt to factor in social issues. At the very least, the project suggested that there was a slowdown in de-socialisation which probably contributes to the likelihood of students returning to school.