E-Learning Synthesis: Milieu - Cultural and Organizational Context

Terms or concepts that are unfamiliar may be the best place to start exploring findings and conclusions from NCREL's review of the e-learning literature. Please use the list of terms below to review critical e-learning vocabulary and concepts. Each concept has an active link: After the term or phrase, there is a description that identifies one of the best online resources available outside of the NETRO Web site. The key vocabulary offered here are included to help each user build a working knowledge of online learning that is understandable to and appropriate for K-20 educators and educational leaders--anywhere, anytime.

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• Groupware (What Is Groupware? / Usabilityfirst.com).
• Netiquette and Online Community Standards (Internet Guidelines and Culture / Arlene Rinaldi, Florida Atlantic University).
• Critical Policy Issues (Distance Learning Policy Laboratory: Priority Issues / Southern Regional Educational Board [SREB]).
• A Future Vision of E-Learning (A Vision of E-Learning for America's Workforce / National Governors Association [NGA] Center for Best Practices).

Milieu factors and the sociocultural dimensions of technological innovation and change are often the most paradoxical, bewildering, and fascinating dimensions of technological change and innovation. Collingridge (1980) supports his case by clarifying two conditions necessary for avoiding the undesired consequences of a technology: "It must be known that a technology has, or will have, harmful effects, and it must be possible to change the technology in some way to avoid the effects" (p.16).

Regrettably, one or both conditions are frequently lacking, and attempts to control technology seldom succeed. Collingridge expresses this by articulating a dilemma that seriously threatens our ability to control technology. This dilemma of control is clearly stated by Collingridge (1980) as follows:

"Attempting to control a technology is difficult, and not rarely impossible, because during its early stages, when it can be controlled, not enough can be known about its harmful social consequences to warrant controlling its development; but by the time these consequences are apparent, control has become costly and slow" (p. 19).

This dilemma of control is not unlike some of the problems facing e-learning pioneers who are hard at work creating the first virtual high schools. Presently, there are estimates on the numbers of state-sanctioned virtual high school projects in approximately 14 states.

A study commissioned by the Distance Learning Resource Network at WestEd offers an analysis of trends based on an online survey of state-approved or regionally accredited schools conducted from July through August 2001. A peer group of 44 virtual schools was identified and surveyed using e-mail and telephone follow-up to reach a response rate of 75 percent [N=33]. Highlights of this study (Clark, 2001) are as follows:

• The trend from conversion of virtual high schools to virtual K-12 schools continues.
• The most-reported tuition was $300 per semester, but prices varied greatly.
• Calculus AB was the online AP course offered most by the schools.

Based on data from this survey, as many as 40,000 to 50,000 students may be enrolled in state-sanctioned online high-school courses in the current school year (2001-2002). Following the logic of Collingridge's dilemma of control, this number may not be large enough to see any substantial evidence, other than collateral, possibly destabilizing, outcomes for our nation's educational system. In fact, at the second annual Center for Internet Technology in Education (CiTE) Virtual High School Symposium held in October 2001, there was little evidence that any of the groups involved is very interested in slowing down the rate of growth shown by individual projects to allow more flexibility for possible course corrections later.

An active and growing group of "first-comers" to the virtual high school movement presently exhibits most of the characteristics attributed to successful virtual communities. Rheingold (1998), who created one of the first major Internet communities, defines virtual communities as social aggregations that emerge when enough people carry on public discussions long enough and with sufficient human feeling to form webs of personal relationships in cyberspace.

Strong affinities and an ethos emphasizing mutual support were evident among virtual high school first-comers at the CiTE Virtual High School Symposium. Although the group is relatively small in numbers, participants are enthusiastic and optimistic about prospects for the immediate future. This growing and active online community of practice clearly displays characteristics associated with the important and final Development Phase in the Open University five-part model for the development of computer-mediated communication: Participants reflect and examine benefits from the system of interactions that help them achieve personal or course-related goals, explore how to integrate CMC into other learning, and generally reflect on the learning process (Salmon, 2000).

Another subject of discussion among attendees at the conference was netiquette, or practices that promote developing and enforcing acceptable standards for online discourse. Civil discourse is at the very heart of developing and nurturing group membership and a sense of belonging in any cultural or social group, whether it is virtual or face-to-face.

Rinaldi (1998) elaborates her views on and provides a mature and well-established set of standards to guide the conduct of online interactions in both social and educational forums:

"The Internet is rapidly developing its own unique culture formed by a diverse group of people of various religions, nationalities, genders, and experiences. The Internet, commonly referred to as 'Cyberspace,' is a worldwide melting pot of opinions and ideas. The people using the resources on the Internet have been known to call themselves 'netizens' (network citizens) which qualifies them into a whole different social and cultural evolution of a new community of people."

Rinaldi goes on to advocate the development and maintenance of uniform standards for netiquette governing the civility of all online interactions.

Another ongoing issue discussed by symposium attendees in planned sessions and in informal discussions involved the evolution of a consensus among the practitioners regarding critical policy issues that the online learning community is currently facing. In his keynote address, John Bailey, Director of the Office of Educational Technology, U. S. Department of Education, shared the following general beliefs about technology, which he believes are needed to successfully achieve beneficial outcomes regarding e-learning (Bailey, 2001):

    "In order for us to make any progress on technology in education and e-learning, we need to change our minds about five beliefs how we approach education and technology:

1. We need to move beyond the notion that education is about school buildings, school days, and classrooms. For us to move forward with not just e-learning, but learning in general, we must accept the reality that education can now be delivered to students wherever they are located.
2. Schools need to become education centers. With distance education, schools become access points to a whole range of educational opportunities. Until schools recognize that their mission is fundamentally changing as a result of e-learning, we're only going to make incremental progress toward this important objective.
3. Every educational program is a technology opportunity and every technology program is an educational opportunity. While our investment in technology does help schools purchase computers and networks, it is also fundamentally about purchasing math courses and additional online resources and distance education classes for their students. It isn't about the boxes and the wires. It is about teaching and learning. It is the instructional content and its applications that should drive technology, not the other way around.
4. Online assessment, particularly online assessment with e-learning technologies, is one of the next generation "killer applications" that is waiting for us out there. When online assessment results are tied into e-learning systems, the potential benefits become very significant. The result should be more effective use of class time and a system of education that isn't based on mass production, but is instead based on mass customization.
5. Finally, together as industry and as government, we need to be relentless in measuring and assessing the impact that technology has on education and on academic achievement. We need evidence that teaching and learning are improved as the result of technology. Using technology to teach using traditional methods will only lead to traditional results."

In final analysis, online learning or e-learning isn't about digital technologies any more than classroom teaching is about blackboards. E-Learning should be about creating and deploying technology systems that enable constructive human interaction and support the improvement of all teaching and learning. Computers and other technologies will certainly play an increasing role. A desirable goal may be that every student has and routinely uses his or her own notebook computer. Books and other more traditional technologies will also continue to be important, along with telephones, satellites, compressed videos, and audio and VHS tape. Today's newest technologies, like e-learning, are destined to become tomorrow's stable and established media that will become commonplace for people in all walks of life and throughout our global, cultural, political, and economic systems.

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