by Gerald Newton January 28, 1999

Before developing an online distant learning program we need to know something about how to teach and how we learn. After this is accomplished we can attempt to apply our knowledge within the limitations of a web page, browser, and server for the internet. In 1956 a group of psychologists headed by Benjamin Bloom identified three domains of intellectual behavior important in learning. These were cognitive, psychomotor, and affective. Little can be accomplished in teaching affective learning that is characterized by such verbs as accepts, attempts, challenges, defends, disputes, joins, judges, praises, questions, shares, supports, and volunteers. Psychomotor learning is also outside the domain of online distant learning. Verbs applicable to psychomotor learning are grasp, bend, handle, operate, reach, relax, climb, shorten, stretch, write and perform skillfully. However cognitive learning as classified below is a domain that can be accomplished using online distant learning. Knowledge: arrange, define, duplicate, label, list, memorize, name, order, recognize, relate, recall, repeat, reproduce state. Comprehension: classify, describe, discuss, explain, express, identify, indicate, locate, recognize, report, restate, review, select, translate Application: apply, choose, demonstrate, dramatize, employ, illustrate, interpret, operate, practice, schedule, sketch, solve, use, write. Analysis: analyze, appraise, calculate, categorize, compare, contrast, criticize, differentiate, discriminate, distinguish, examine, experiment, question, test. Synthesis: arrange, assemble, collect, compose, construct, create, design, develop, formulate, manage, organize, plan, prepare, propose, set up, write. Evaluation: appraise, argue, assess, attach, choose compare, defend estimate, judge, predict, rate, core, select, support, value, evaluate. So how do we apply techniques to accomplish cognitive learning over the internet? First we need to recognize the limitations of the present internet for most people, especially those that have home computers. Most of the telephone modems connected to the internet receive at 28.8k to 56k bandwidth. This bandwidth is not practical for audio or video. I have tried MPEG-1 video/audio, Net show video/audio, and Vox ware audio and have examined the Shockwave plug in environment. The internet is just too slow for these methods to be practical. These plug ins may be used to excite or supplement the main material on a web page, but as practical teaching devices, they simply cannot deliver the necessary video and audio information within the allotted bandwidth, time, and budget. Consider the fact that a television signal that is received by an electronic package designed solely to receive and demodulate the television signal is made up of 30 frames per second. In Computer terms that is about 30 megabytes of information per second. In 5 minutes a television video signal requires about 9 gigabytes of computer information. Delivering that much information over a telephone line that can only handle 56,000 bytes per second means that the television signal has 535 times more information than the internet can deliver per unit of time. Voxware, one of the most intense audio compression engines, only compresses 51 to 1, and the decompression plug in for the browser only approximates the original audio at this compression rate. A 535 to 1 compression ratio is not achievable with present software. Another problem is using the latest technologies for developing online distant learning materials. Often new products and product support become obsolete in a matter of months. I have used Visual Component's Formula One to develop interactive tests and several complex computer calculator programs only to find that Visual Components was sold to Sybase who decided to change Formula One to a Java based spreadsheet, discontinuing support for the Formula One plugin. Voxware also appears to have discontinued support for the Voxware plugin. Many hours of developing training software using state of the art plugins and new products can be wasted in a matter of months in this fast paced technology. Even the browser war takes its toll by the incompatibility between Java Script in Microsoft's Explorer and Netscape, not to mention the incompatibility between one version of a browser and a later version. Sometimes we seem like a dog chasing its tail in this rapidly emerging technological evolution. So how do we teach without audio and video and use reliable products? There are some excellent methods still available. They include graphics, text, online computer programs, email, bulletin boards, and interactive tests using the hypretex mark up language(HTML), Java Script, and Perl. Present day analog television using the composite FM/AM signal cannot deliver interactive tests, support email or user friendly bulletin boards, or run computer programs, not even a simple Java Script program. In distant learning we can maximize the shortcomings of television and add to the traditional classroom environment using a web based training program. There are better methods, for sure, using video tapes, workbooks, and a teacher student relationship. However, a web based system can be delivered on demand to any computer connected to the internet anywhere in the world. This advantage cannot be matched by any other method known today. There are several software packages available to produce online distant learning materials. Top Class is being used by several schools, but for individuals, Top Class is far too expensive at several thousand dollars. Power Point presentations with audio added are acceptable, however, some of the Power Point backgrounds have extremely large file sizes and convey no messages other than add imagery at the expense of bandwidth. I have found that small diagrams with text and an additional comment button present the material in the most usable form. Additionally, interactive review quizzes created using Quiz Please Software can provide an economical recall method. Quiz Please software costs only $150, and $350 for the server version. I am convinced after reviewing tests developed using TopClass that Quiz Please does a much better job in both versions. However, for a large number of courses and students, Top Class makes the job much more manageable, for sure. A bulletin board and email are also necessary ingredients for online course ware. Excellent Perl scripts for creating a threaded bulletin board are available free of charge from Matt Wright’s site. Top Class comes with its own bulletin board, if you want to pay the price. Additionally, some fancy JavaScript, forms, and extras such as selectable background midi music and background color change buttons make the learning process more enjoyable. Some States require 16 hours of continuing education on each new edition of the National Electrical Code before journeyman electricians can renew their licenses. Also, some States require continuing education before they will renew a master electrician's or an electrical administrator's license. Most governing boards and administrators require that they approve these educational programs, and, in some cases, the instructors. The approval process can take several months. Also, the approval of online distant learning continuing education courses is new to many boards and regulators. The question that is asked repeatedly is,"How do we verify that an individual completed the required hours learning the course material?" Online tests that are administered by a server that records the date, time, students identity, and score of the test can provide convincing evidence. In addition to this, convincing evidence can be an affidavit attesting to the facts that the student did engage in the learning of the material for the required hours. We must realize that when participants attend classroom seminars there are, in most cases, no tests, and no required feedback to insure that participants learned anything. In this respect, an online course is far superior to attending a classroom seminar.