6.3.6 Online Learning Environments

OLEs are relatively new on the educational scene. Thus beliefs reported in this study represent teachers’ reaction to this phenomenon at a very early stage in its introduction to schools. We can anticipate that, in the future, these beliefs will evolve as OLEs become more common in schools. For now, however, teachers’ beliefs are more likely to rely and draw on impressions, preliminary experiences and on comparisons with the past uses of technology. While we cannot be sure how a given teacher has developed her beliefs about OLEs, one thing about which we can be more certain is that what teachers believe about OLEs or the way in which they conceive them will determine the uses they make of them.

In terms of how we conceive of OLEs or the Internet, many metaphors have evolved: the information highway, the web, global community, global marketplace etc. A metaphor evident in some of the beliefs collected in this study is that of the book, encyclopedia, "another source of realia" or an "immense bibliothèque mondiale". The difference is that the format is digitized, more voluminous and diversified. Conceived in this way, OLEs do not have the potential to transform the learning process because they are simply improving on the primary resource of TLEs - that of the book. Teachers can continue to teach in the same way but with new and improved resources. Those who expressed the belief that books are more helpful or that OLEs provide nothing more than text in a more readily available format or that the information provided online is not conveniently accessible may not be willing to explore the potential of OLEs. More importantly, if the teacher conceives of OLEs as nothing more than a digitized book then she may conclude, as did one teacher in this study, that we are "wasting our time on the emperor’s new clothes".

Teachers’ beliefs related to OLEs also focused significantly on issues related to information. Reference was made to the quantity and quality of the information. In terms of the quantity of information, teachers described suffering from "information overload", and being overwhelmed from there being "too much info to access". In terms of the quality, teachers made reference to the fact that "there is a lot of garbage on the net", that they were "leery of the accuracy of the information", that there were "peu d’informations fiables" and that they disliked the "commercial aspect". Challenges with accessing information were also highlighted in teachers’ beliefs with concerns being expressed about the time required to access information, the fact that the information is changing constantly, and that their searches often sent them on "useless tangents". Finally, beliefs about information available through OLEs focused on the fact that: "The Internet provides information but it does not teach a students (sic) how to use this information".

In TLEs, information is often parceled in discreet chunks, pre-interpreted, carefully controlled and designed for a particular audience. The flow of information is often through transmission from teacher to student who is responsible for absorption, internalization and/or memorization. By contrast, in online learning environments, information is not necessarily preorganized or preselected. Its real-world characteristics mean that it may be complex, constantly changing, and designed for any number of different audiences. Most importantly, it is not always structured or organized in any way that would necessarily make it didactic. In terms of the flow of information, students interact directly with these materials rather than with the teacher’s interpretation and analysis of them. Such information is useful, not for a transmission-absorption mode of instruction but, more so, for individual and collaborative knowledge construction. Those accustomed and trained to transmit didactically-organized materials may not have the skills or strategies necessary to locate online information effectively nor may they necessarily be aware of how to help their students process this information and construct knowledge with it. If their conception of learning emphasizes transmission, depends on a central role for the teacher along with use of didactically organized materials, they will not likely encounter support for such practices in OLES.

Hannafin and Savenye (1993) argue that what may be observed as a resistance to using computers may not be a resistance to technology per se. It may be an uneasiness with the change in the way knowledge and learning are defined: there is no ‘absolute’ knowledge, there may be more than one correct answer and knowledge does not exist in discrete chunks that can be transplanted from the teacher’s head to the learner’s. One teacher’s beliefs on this subject recognized this conflict faced by teachers when she commented that: "This is why giving students information by presenting them the answer is not giving them knowledge. Students must be coached to develop some higher-order thinking skills to process information and to create knowledge of their own".

The reading approach in the teaching of second languages advocated in an early part of the 20^th century in the United States emphasized comprehension of texts from books with short reading passages with vocabulary lists. Such an approach has no doubt left a certain legacy in modern-day language classrooms where teachers may continue to rely on such types of reading materials for their students. These reading materials are graded with carefully chosen and controlled vocabulary selections designed for specific levels of language learners. It is not surprising then that many teachers expressed the belief that, in terms of online materials, the "level is too difficult" that sites are not suitable for students’ "curricular needs" or that sites "are written for francophone kids and the reading level is usually still quite difficult" or that sites are not "kid-friendly". The challenge faced by teachers in this case may relate less to the difficulty of the language and more to the difficulty of adjusting to the demands of working with authentic materials that are not didactically prepared. Use of authentic materials constitutes an important principle of constructivism and is also a basic tenet of Communicative Language Teaching. Nonetheless, teachers may lack specific training in working extensively with authentic online materials.

The primacy accorded to reading in the teaching of FSFL during the early part of the century resulted in somewhat of a backlash in later theories and methods which shifted the focus in language learning on the notion of meaningful communication. Instead of reading and writing, the development of speaking and listening skills became the new goals of language learning. This emphasis on communication in second-language education would have no doubt influenced the beliefs of participants in this study who described the Internet as having "no real value to the teaching of core French since it would not facilitate learning in speaking and listening" or who commented that "oral skills take a back seat to reading". While there do exist online tools to facilitate speaking and listening, many users in school settings may not have access to these tools. It is likely in recognition of this reality that one participant concluded: "Maybe some day, speaking and listening will be as integral to web sites as text and graphics. When that day comes, the Internet will truly be the language learner’s dream".

Beliefs in the importance of communication may be supported by use of OLEs in spite of the fact that they may not provide the necessary support for the development of speaking and listening skills. In fact, one of the prime uses of the Internet is for communication. Through use of e-mail and chat rooms, Internet users can communicate and interact without the restrictions and constraints of time and place. Online communication relies on the skills of reading and writing but these skills are deployed, not as ends in themselves, not for purely didactic purposes, but for exchanging ideas, sharing knowledge, collaborating and questioning. Instead of the passive skills of reading and writing which we traditionally associate with classroom book learning, online reading and writing for communicative purposes become meaningful acts of expression and production - acts which we would normally only associate with listening and speaking.

Teachers’ beliefs such as "The Internet does not develop interaction between students" overlook one of the most essential and important benefits that OLEs offer to learning - that of opportunities for meaningful communication and interaction. One teacher argued that chat rooms "served little purpose" because, in her experience, "the content was superficial". In terms of the communication that occurs between students, teachers may also need to reevaluate what constitutes meaningful and purposeful communication. In this regard, teachers may need to be more conscious of the dichotomy that can often exist between students’ goals on one hand and those of teachers on the other.

Understanding what OLEs offer students in particular and learning in general may prove ultimately to be a starting point for shifting other beliefs. Teachers may need to be made aware of ways in which OLEs can support their efforts as second-language teachers. Otherwise, they may conclude as did some teachers in this study that "the net is an underestimated time eater and an overrated motivator", "a free for all" or "just another teaching tool". Teachers may also need to be made aware of the difference between OLEs and previous generations of computer equipment in order to appreciate their value as a generator of reality unlike many of the technologies which preceded the Internet and which simply served as teaching machines. Beliefs were expressed in this section that machines of today are no different than those of the past and that they have the same limitations. Indeed, today’s machines will do no more than those of yesteryears unless there is recognition of and appreciation for their potential to generate reality and provide access to the real world.