The following is the letter that was written in December '99 to attempt to bring DCC on board. Not only did it work, but it shows the earliest ideas behind the project.

Re: Research project in the use of the internet to support pupils/students learning at home.

I am currently setting up a research project for the dissertation that will be the major part of my Masters Degree in On-line Distance Learning. The aim of this project is to explore the benefits - educational, social and economic - of using the internet as a teaching and support mechanism for pupils/students who, for whatever reason, are learning at home with LEA tutor support. It would be especially relevant to those who are unable to make regular visits to the various support centres the county provides. I am writing to you to see if you or your department would like to be a partner in this research, possibly influencing the areas it investigates and certainly benefiting from the results.

The structure of the project would be to take a group of between six and twelve such students who have, or can be provided with, internet-capable computers in the home. They would be equipped with internet based tools that would allow them to communicate with each other and their tutor in a variety of different ways. Some specific questions that will, or could be addressed include:

Educational

• Can existing teaching methods and materials be supported by such a system?
• Can existing teaching methods and materials be enhanced and made more effective by such a system?
• Are the new teaching methods available via the internet of benefit to home learners?
• How will tutors change their style/methods of delivering learning?
• Can learners in this group learn collaboratively?
• Will the use of internet technology of itself increase motivation amongst learners?
• Is there a measurable improvement in the learning taking place within the group?

Social

• Will isolated learners feel a sense of connection with co-learners?
• Will learners use the channels to develop social relationships with other members of the group?
• Does the social connection affect the behaviour of the learner within and beyond the learning situation?
• Will learners support each other in areas outside the learning tasks?

Economic/organisational
What is the relationship between the costs (hardware, software, development of digital resources, phone connections, training for tutors and learners etc.) and potential benefits (less tutor travel, more effective use of tutor time, re-use of digital resources, faster return to mainstream education etc.) ?

I see this project as a great opportunity to explore some of the value-added uses of the internet within the education service. Working in partnership with Derbyshire LEA, or any part of DCC would mean that the benefits of the research could potentially have an rapid and positive impact on the quality of the service delivered.