Audiographic Teleconferencing Project: An Evaluation
One instructor believes that audiographic teleconferencing requires more work than does classroom instruction, and the work must be done well in advance - "months before." This is because the slides and script have be sent to centres and loaded and tested or, in the case of handouts, copied and distributed well before a session.
These features of the audiographics technology have an impact on the instructor- learner relationship. Presentation styles must be adjusted, and the student has to be more responsible for preparation and group work. In addition, because students are learning new technology at the same time as they are learning a new subject, their unfamiliarity with the technology can interfere with their understanding of the subject, causing frustration. During the presentation, rather than discuss their frustration with the technology, the students wanted to "get on with it." However, students need to recognize and discuss these inter-related pieces of the learning experience. The fact that they are learning technology and a subject simultaneously needs to be stated in the timetable.
When asked whether they would use the technology again, four coordinators said "yes." The two who said no did so because of the slowness, time and trouble "to figure out, hook up and get rid of the glitches." One suggested. exploring other options such as video conferencing. This person had wanted the Teleconferencing to be positive and had felt responsible (to her learners) for it not working properly which resulted in her learners being frustrated and "rolling their eyes." The other said, depending on the topic, the information could be presented in another format, such as conference calls or correspondence courses. She would prefer a less troublesome method.
Two who said yes qualified their comments by adding, "if the glitches were taken care of," and "if a good training session could be developed and delivered to greater numbers." One person thought that Audiographic Teleconferencing was ideal because it allowed more scope and more time for training. She would like to use it again with other modules. However, she pointed out that there might be some better technology available, and if so, "let's try it."
All tutor-learners would use Audiographic Teleconferencing Technology again. Two described it as "a good system" for sharing ideas with a broad range of people. Three others qualified their response, however; two saying they would use the technology if they were interested in the topic. The third saw a place for the technology - "with improvements."
Both instructors plan to use the technology again. Both learned from the pilot project and have ideas about adapting their styles to improve their presentations in the future. One now sees more ways of using audiographics technology; for example as a suitable complement to other learning methods such as correspondence. The other instructor wants to try offering a greater number of shorter sessions. She thinks that six one-hour sessions would be more effective than three two-hour sessions because "two hours is too long on the telephone." More frequent sessions would help students become comfortable with the technology quickly.