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instructors and students. This chapter presents an analysis of interaction and awareness in distance
learning contexts, and concludes with design principles suggesting that designers of future systems fo-
cus on: (1) developing novel displays and visualizations for presenting information about students, (2)
reducing inequalities between modes of participation by making it clearer when, say, questions are asked
by text or who is speaking when there are multiple images displayed, and (3) accommodate a range of
student preferences and capabilities by supporting multiple modes of presentation.
INTRODUCTION
participating from home or other remote locations
- the content need only be captured and streamed.
Serif et al. (2009) describe a range of strategies
for delivering e-learning content to geographically
distributed groups, including scenarios where
small groups of participants gather in a shared
physical space to join a larger remote group, as
well as those where participants join in from home.
The authors suggest that content can be delivered
to these types of participants via webcasting and
conferencing technologies, but treat these largely
independent of one another.
Webcasting uses media streaming technolo-
gies to allow for live one-way audio and/or video
presentations to large, geographically distributed
audiences (Baecker, 2003). One-way streaming
means easy scaling to accommodate very large
audiences (Weinstein, 2005), and that barriers to
access are low - only a PC with a dial-up modem
and a web browser is required for basic perfor-
mance. One drawback, however, is that most
current webcasting technologies (e.g., Accordant,
Adobe Connect Virtual Classroom, etc.) do not
facilitate natural two-way interaction between the
presenter and remote audience members during
a webcast. Instead, systems treat webcasting as a
one-way presentation that is distinct from a more
interactive format.
In this regard, webcasting stands in contrast
to videoconferencing, which allows for real-time
interaction via rich media. While this is useful in
facilitating interaction, multi-point conferencing
requires substantial bandwidth and does not easily
scale to accommodate large numbers of simulta-
neous remote participants using basic hardware
Lifelong learning presents many challenges to
both curriculum and technology developers (de
Freitas, et al., 2006). Namely, lifelong learners are
different from traditional students in that they often
have many career and family responsibilities, so
cannot relocate or focus on education full-time.
Moreover, they are often at varied life stages and
have varying levels of educational background.
As such, there is utility in exploring novel ways
to deliver educational content to geographically
distributed groups of diverse individuals.
One way to achieve this is to broaden access
to existing educational opportunities to include
lifelong learners who might not otherwise benefit
from them. Indeed, there is considerable interest
in the use of e-learning technologies to increase
access to education (Serif, et al., 2009; Shea,
Picket, & Li, 2005). While some universities have
invested in the reshaping of existing courses and
curricula for novel online learning environments
(Bourne, 1998; Hazemi, Hailes, & Hailes, 2002),
many have also sought to leverage existing re-
sources by broadening access to courses already
being offered on campus (Anderson, et al., 2000;
Cogburn, Zhang, & Khothule, 2002; Shea, et al.,
2005). Lecture-style presentations are common
on university campuses (McKeachie, 2002; Bligh,
2000) and it has been said that they “serve good
students well and can function as effective learn-
ing events for many” (Allert, 2004). Given that
they are already being presented to large audi-
ences, lectures are an easy opportunity to make
educational content available to lifelong learners
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