I have taken you on a journey through a variety of conferencing systems which represent my progress online since the fall of 1994. I am happy to say that the options for communicating and collaborating online are getting better all the time.

Character Profile

Generally, I find that my messages tend to be upbeat, positive and to the point.  They are very brief when responding to others statements or ideas unless making suggestions.  I am usually supportive and sometimes humorous.  In "teacher" mode, I find I am well organized and offer helpful information: URLs, reference materials and instructions. I realize this could come across as "smartie pants" but so far, the responses I get back are consistently grateful messages.

I notice that there are colleagues who send more stroking, nurturing notes than I do. I plan to make more effort in this direction though I find it can be overdone.  I do reply to every message from students to make sure they know that their messages have been received and are valued.  What irritates me most are correspondents who don't snip away unnecessary parts of the message they are responding to.

parti

Initially, with parti1, the process of submitting messages online was intimidating and uninspiring. Much of this feeling I experienced had to do with adjusting to so many new things at once - the PC platform, with a conferencing system, with a course essentially done at the computer online, and not least, with adjusting to the academic community in graduate school  This is not to fault the facilitators - they were as new to the way of working as the participants. We all struggled together to get things done within the limitations of the system.
Startup was quite difficult - getting oriented and mastering the tools. I  never felt I had the full range of mastery.  I experienced sensitivity to word usage - I was called a "word weasel" in a note and found this incendiary; I became defensive.  I was aware of a competitive attitude among participants rather than supportive behavior.

I have since learned that, "when a student is driving a computer it is a tool for creativity and discovery. Only when computers drive students, as they do in CAI, do they risk becoming tools for the mindless rote of acquisition of 'knowledge'." (Simpson 84) At this stage I was just learning to drive and much of the creativity and discovery came when I was able to move from a text based system to one with a graphical interface.
Those two F2F drop ins for parti1 users were very popular even for those who had a long drive to get there.

With parti2, the course had been conducted in this format previously and things were fairly organized.  There was a technical assistant to help those who were unfamiliar with the system - a true bonus that relieved the Professor of having to deal with this part of the process. Additionally, the professor was careful to set up small group conferences for most topics which cut down on the overall crush of messages. Citation dropping and wind bagging by some was annoying. E-mail friendships developed through the Cafe Conference helped me through the negative parts and my temptation to withdrawn faded.  Again, I never felt fully in charge of the system features. I have mentioned my recommendations for improvement in the example of the message to that Professor. The course is no longer delivered on that system.

To be sure, learning took place in the courses using the parti system. It was the best thing going at the time and it enabled students at a distance to take courses. Although I haven't delved into the history of the development of that system, I believe that groupware can only be exploited when it is actually in use. "when the matching between the plasticity of the artifact and the multiform practices of the actors involved takes place". (Ciborra 96) It is easy to criticize travel by covered wagon when whizzing around in a 20th century vehicle. One has only to look at the development of the automobile, radio, television, among other artifacts to quickly see how one stage of development makes the next tool possible.

e-mail, HyperNews, Virtual U

The e-mail with major domo created an endless stream of messages to deal with. Subject line clarity was essential to identify threads until late in the course when the web version with threads for date, author and topic helped sort  things out. Creating e-mail lists for small group work was also helpful. We wanted to use IRC but weren't experienced enough to pull it off.  One evening we scheduled a marathon e-mail session amongst the members of our small group to get some key planning accomplished. Approximately 50 messages flew around during this session.

HyperNews was especially useful for the organization of the group project.  The threads were easy to follow and we could choose emoticon-like symbols to give the tone of response.  The greatest drawback was the download time. If there had been regular archiving, messages could have been batched. I was disappointed that the class as a whole did not use the other whole class conferences more fully.  With F2F meetings, there was no real pressure to do so.

I have already noted the troublesome nature of Virtual U but to be fair, it was the first run for this system at OISE/UT.  I feel certain that improvements were made.  One of the great mysteries for me was how to create a conference - I spent a lot of time trying to follow the instructions but never was successful in setting up a new conference. I like the fact that I can go back even now, two years later and review the messages in those conferences where URLs were posted. Unfortunately, server space is limited and archiving courses is not being practiced as far as I know.

WCB, Netscape News, WebKF

I have been using Web Course in a Box (WCB) as a a support virtual classroom.  I have one for each section I teach in the F2F classes which means students have Forums that are only available to their class. The students can't delete error messages but they know they can e-mail me and I will do this for them. In using it with teachers, I find it makes a good model for the course curriculum modules they will create for their final project.
The greatest problem has been in getting a programmer to help me with getting the later version to work on our server. I am being encouraged to use another tool (WebCT). I'll surrender rather than fight (I've been trying to get WCB, version 2.3 working properly for a year now.) The system has a number of features I greatly appreciate - I like the ease of use, the simple access to modification of interface features, the closely monitored help forums for administrators and teachers.

I have no choice about using the Netscape News in Communicator 4 for discussion groups in my online course. This is a team decision and all courses in this certificate program have the same template.
What I continue to do is to create auxiliary experiences for my online learners. It is important for users to spell check messages before sending as there is no recall - once sent a message cannot be changed. Accidental multiple postings also have to be lived with.  If I had only one wish to do with this system, it would be for someone to discover how these messages could be batch saved to a zip drive rather than one at a time.

WebKF is, to date, the easiest system I have used. It gives easy access to edit, to include URLs and graphics.  It is a very comfortable environment.  I can compose on the spot and easily review what I've written, changing it, enhancing it without concern about mistakes or unclear thinking. It is so simple to delete the message or to revise it. It requires no special setup in the browser (as Netscape News does) but can be accessed equally easily in either browser or platform. I congratulate the team that has developed this system and hope they will continue to make improvements.

Moving On

There were more things I liked about the various systems as I progressed, often because the next one was better than the predecessor. It is not uncommon to want to cling to the old when it has become a familiar and trusted tool. I felt that way when moving from HyperNews to Virtual U. I found the slow loading of all those threaded messages in HyperNews friendlier than a system that was inconstant and unpredictable. Yet, there were elements of Virtual U I also came to appreciate in time -notably the function of having only the unread messages appear rather than the whole mass of correspondence accumulated through the conferences.

With each system, there is a break-in period of adjustment, and happily, as new systems emerge, they seem to have been created with a more user-friendly interface. Less time needs to be spent on the technical and more on the course content.

Community

When a course had a F2F aspect, the need to communicate online was much less important unless the Professor set up special  group conferences for participants to use in their construction of projects. The resulting virtual meeting places were quite helpful for organizing ideas and building on them. Another aspect was that community feeling. "The culture of mutual support is very powerful and in an uncertain world this culture grows in strength as people band together in their daily lives.  In a curious way, groupware sustains this concept and facilitates the membership of an individual in his/her peer group.  The technology reinforces this mutual interdependence by emphasizing the share nature of the data and the operating tools being used." (Lloyd 93)

Relationships

As was evident from the content of the messages sent in parti, the interaction between participants in a class can be enhanced with the use of a communication tool, even in asides from the actual content of the course.
I continue to network with classmates from each of the courses where there has been online interaction through a conferencing system.  We communicate with e-mail now. I'm not sure these friendships would have developed and been sustained if we had only had face to face contact in a classroom. "Relationships among people and groups develop over time through interaction.  Technologies that provide new media for interaction have been leading edge drivers of change throughout the ages.  New technologies provide new opportunities for new interactions that, over time, enable new relationships and organizations." (Lipnack and Stamps 94)

Team Work

For me, both as a teacher and as a learner, the best part of conferencing systems is the usefulness for team work. In my F2F classes in the computer lab, I am quick to move students into groups or teams to begin working on projects. These students are on the way to learning not only how to collaborate and construct but how to use the technology to serve this process. The first thing they have to decide is what they want to do together.
"People who work together usually either know what they have to do and how they are going to do it, or they agree goals and procedures between themselves.  Even when procedures are not formally agreed individuals constantly strive to establish 'next steps'  and to ascertain their role in the group.  This organisation and common understanding of the work process is an essential prerequisite to progress being made.  Meeting this need is a three-part process: first goals must be established; second procedures must be established and agreed; and third, the procedures must be visible and carried out. " (Wilson 91) Being able to carry on this process - to conduct discussions beyond the classroom, using conferencing, greatly enhances the learning.

"The key to a successful team is to have clear goals and a commitment to achieving these goals" (Lloyd 93) By using Forums in my courses, I am able to create interest in topics that support the development of clear goals. I can ascertain from the responses posted how well this process is developing. It is much easier to coach when I can see all of the plays being made.

Best Yet

I am convinced, from this journey through conferencing systems, that WebKF is the best tool yet for collaborating and constructing knowledge. It is easy for me to follow the best of the attributes in the four stages of development when I examine the notes in the Diamond Group messages. What are these stages?
"1. Collection: cautious, guarded, wondering, little visible disagreement, lack of identity, little investment in group, watching for norms to see what is ok or expected
2. developing identity and purpose, interest, taking risks, getting to know one another, conflict in fits and starts, nonproductive, high level of frustration and/or confusion, pairing and cliques.
3. developing goals, roles, relationships, learning to appreciate differences in people, conflict re issues not egos, open and clear communication, sense of belonging, sense of progress, enjoying work.
4. acting on common goals with synergy, high morale, high productivity, easy shifting of roles from one to another, differences are valued, looking out for another's interests, spontaneous, collaborative efforts, sharing of all relevant information, conflict frequent often looks like problem-solving" (Hensey 92)

I can say that I enjoyed all the best of these elements and none of the negative conflict. I give a lot of the credit to the system - though without a good coach (our Professor) to set the tone and challenge and support, I'm not sure it would have all gone so smoothly. At any rate, our group suffered little of the cautious stage and quickly moved into identifying what we were to do  and the development of goals.  There were many nurturing, supportive messages sent along the way, appreciation for the work that spurred us on to more and better productivity. Differences were valued, we looked out for each other. And I feel confident in saying that we were greatly aided by a system that so easily allowed us to send web based resources to each other, and to enhance the work with visuals in the form of graphics.

Looking Ahead

Based on the progress I have seen in the past few years, I feel confident when I believe that conferencing will only get better. Now that I am using conferencing to teach as well as to learn, the two ways of communicating enhance each other. I discover as a learner what I need to get from my teachers and as a teacher, I have a better understanding of what it is like for my learners. The conferencing systems support and are beneficial to learning. There can be a downside to the cooperative model as with all modes for learning. There is a condition called the sucker effect: "Group members who perceive free-riding within their group may reduce their individual effort." (Hooper 91) I have worked in groups where not everyone does their fair share. With the monitoring of group work  possible through online systems like WebKF, some of these damaging attitudes can be headed off and the facilitator can aid better interaction.

Ideally, "learners must be able to monitor both the directions that others are taking and the ways in which mutual interests overlap" (Hewitt 97) This monitoring helps create building blocks for higher level work. From my experience, I can agree that conferencing systems can aid in preparing students for life in a knowledge society.
If education should foster "flexibility, creativity, problem-solving ability, technical literacy, information-finding skills and above all a lifelong readiness to learn" (Scardamalia and Bereiter) then from my experience, I can promote the use of systems like WebKF and the new and improved systems that will be built in future.

 References

Ciborra, Cllaudio ed (1996). Groupware & Teamwork; Invisible Aid or Technical Hindrance?,(8-9), Toronto:John Wiley & Sons

Hensey, Mel (1992). Collective Excellence; Building Effective Teams, (p 22), New York:American Society of Civil Engineers

Hewitt, Jim (1997).Beyond Threaded Discourse, WebNet presentation http://csile.oise.utoronto..ca/abstracts/ThreadedDiscourse.html,

Hooper, Simon, (1991). Cooperative Learning and Computer-Based Instruction, Educational Technology Research and Development, 40(3),  21-38

Lipnack, Jessica and Stamps, Jeffrey (1994). The Age of the Network; Organizing Principles for the 21st Century, (p69), Toronto:John Wiley & Sons Inc.

Lloyd, Peter, ed.,  (1993). Groupware in the 21st Century; Computer supported Co-operative Working Toward the Millennium ( p173), London: Adamantine Press Limited,

Ryan, Hugh W. (1995) Building Computing Solutions with the Team Metaphor. In Coleman, David and Khanna, Raman, eds, Groupware Technology and Applications, (p 478) Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall

Scardamalia, Marlene and Bereiter, Carl,
http://csile.oise.utoronto.ca/abstracts/ciar-understanding.html OISE/UT

Simpson, Brian (1984). Heading for the Ha-Ha. In Sloan, Douglas (ed.), The Computer in Education; A Critical Perspective ( p87)  New York: Teachers College Press,

Wilson, Paul,(1991). Computer Supported Cooperative Work (p27), London:Intellect Books

skarsten@oise.utoronto.ca
Submitted for CTL 1602
Professor Lynn Davie
August 16, 1998