Interactive Distance Learning Technology and Connectedness
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.47381/aijre.v18i2.559Keywords:
distance education, e-learning, remote communities, interactive learningAbstract
This three-part paper discusses how the contemporary use of computers in distance education is helping to connect students from our rural communities, whether they are located at pastoral stations, remote community schools or are on the road, travelling with parents or carers. The paper is in a sense organised like a sandwich, with technical detail functioning like pieces of bread at either end of the paper and some comments by parents and teachers providing the filling in the middle. The first section of the paper provides an overview, from the perspective of Optus, of the satellite-based infrastructure that underpins interactive distance learning (IDL) services in the NT and comparable Interactive Distance e-Learning (IDeL) programs, such as the Satellite Education Program (SEP), which are managed through the Dubbo Rural and Technologies Centre in New South Wales. The second section then briefly explains how the infrastructure is being used, drawing on the research we are conducting into this form of e-learning as part of a broader Australian Research Council Linkage (ARCL) project. This research uses a mixed-methods approach that incorporates quantitative analysis of system-level data and qualitative investigations of data obtained from interviews, observations and surveys. While brief reference will be made to such notions as interactivity and interaction in distance learning, our focus will be on an analysis of some practical issues, which will be illustrated with an exemplary video clip of online teaching. The concluding section of our paper summarises some likely infrastructure improvements, while at the same time asking whether teachers and administrators are well positioned to take advantage of the new possibilities. Please note that, in place of the correct but cumbersome acronym IDL/IDeL, we have referred to IDL throughout. The codes in brackets (such as KTI-8) following some quotations cross refer to the transcripts of interviews in our dataset.
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