The electronic learning revolution', questions we should be asking* Mary Alice White

As is widely known, we are facing a technological expansion of communications that is so large and so influential that some feel we are actually facing a revolution. Given these changes, what should our research agenda be? Which research questions demand priority? Which questions will have long-term significance? Imagine that the year is 1455 and we have just been told that the priming press is going to be invented next year. Knowing that an enormous technological revolution is about to come upon us, what would be the research questions we shouId have addressed in 1456? With the advantage of historical hindsight, the first thing we should have done in 1455, as we should be doing in 1984, is to establish a base-line before everything is changed. This opportunity was missed when television arrived in the I95OS. Today we lack the basis for making the kinds of comparisons we would like to make. So my first priority for major research questions would be as follows. First, we must establish a base-line. We need to know today, before everything is changed, and it is already changing, how children and adults spend their time with the currently existing technology; what kind of information they receive from each of the technological sources, including such things as news, historical information, practical skills, culture and leisure. We need to know how children and adults communicate with each other at present with our existing technology before it changes, and what they communicate about. We need to know what information is not accessible to them today. We shouId put all these base-line data into very safe storage and use M a r y Alice W h i t e ( U n i t e d States). Director of the Electronic Learning Laboratory,

Teachers College, Columbia University, New York. A n earlier version of this article was presented as a paper at the Unesco meeting of National Co-ordinators for the Study of Educational Technology held at the University of South Carolina, in October i982.

Prospects, Vol, XIVj No. I, x984

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them as a comparison for the studies that we shall be doing two, five, t e n and twenty-five years from now. In doing so, I would feel that we had made an important historical benchmark by which we could measure the change in all our societies. I f I had to guess what we would find in the United States from such base-line data~ I would say that school-age children under i8 get almost all their news electronically; almost all their entertainment electronically (television, video-games, computer games, cassette players, etc.) and a substantial amount of their historical information in the form of television dramas. In the recent showing of The Winds of War on American commercial television, a programme about the events leading up to the Second W o r l d War, more people were reported to have watched the programme than took part in the war itself. The second major question we should address would be: What are the learner characteristics necessary to learn from the new technologies? I am going to lump all the new technologies under the term 'electronic learning'. Electronic learning encompasses all of the technologies that can be used for learning, ranging from television to cable, videodisc, teletext, videotext, computers, and to all the other technological novelties on the horizon. What are the necessary characteristics of a learner in order to use these technologies profitably? The first characteristic that strikes me is money. The learner has to have money to buy a television set; he has to have money to pay the monthly cable bill; he will need money to pay for the telephone line that will bring those computer data bases and services that we hear so much about. He has to have money to buy software and he certainly has to have quite a good deal of money to buy hardware. The next thing that the learner needs besides money is the ability to learn programming if he wants to use present-day computer technology. This may change quite rapidly, but at the present time hehas to learn a certain amount of programming techniques in order to use a microcomputer effectively. That leads us to define the characteristics of the learner that are correlated with success in computer programming. Studies in the United States so far suggest that success in schoolrelated tests is correlated with learning to program, which is not surprising. But success as an experienced programmer seems to be a different matter. Some studies suggest that an expert programmer is like an expert chess,pla37e~ in his or her ability to recognize a large number of patterns in a program which are held in m e m o r y . M y third question is: What information is or will be available from the new technologies that can be communicated better or faster or more uniquely than through the printed word? This questio~is

The electroniclearningrevolution:questionswe should be asking

important because it defines the new technologies in terms of their special mission. For example, it is clear to most of us that news information communicated by television is very different from that transmitted by print through a newspaper. Some people feel that this makes a considerable difference to what the general public knows about current events. When we ask which information is better or faster or uniquely available through the new technologies as compared with print, we should then go on to ask the related question: Who learns better from which information source? It is very likely that just as there is a certain percentage of the population that finds learning through print a difficult task, there will be a certain number of children who will find learning from computers difficult. It seems 11nlikely that any large percentage of children will find learning from television difficult. We shall still have the printed word with us on the computer, on teletext and videotext, so that learning f r o m print will remain an integral part of learning. It seems likely that in the future the interactive technologies will provide us with more data bases than were easily available to us in print; computer graphics are a unique way of conveying information, which we may be using increasingly in a visual mode; and the ability to make long-term projections is one capacity of the computer that I find very much underestimated. One of the computer's more positive aspects is its ability to help us to think in a long-term time-frame, which could lead us to more concern about the longterm effects of some of our behaviour. Currently we are aware that the ability to produce video-games and game formats on the computer means that this kind of information is more available than it has been in print, at least in a popular form. We shall have to reckon with the instant accessibility of information from the electronic learning technologies. The fourth major question to be addressed has particular theoretical significance: How does electronic learning differ from print learning? Are these two radically different modes of learning? I have divided electronic learning into two types. One type is receptive and the other interactive. By 'receptive' I am thinking in terms of television and cable; b y qnteractive' I am considering interactive cable, computers and videodiscs. I have compared receptive electronic learning and interactive electronic learning with each other, and with print learning, in a n attempt to see where we might identify differences between electronic learning and print learning, which is demonstrated in Table I. If one goes through the eight learner characteristics in this table, one can see that there are some important differences between print learning and electronic learning, involving

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TABLE I. Comparison of electronic learning with print learning

Characteristic

Receptive

Interactive

electronic

electronlc learning

learning

(interactive

(television,

cable, computer, videodisc, videotext, etc.)

cable, teletext, etc.)

Print learning

LeaFReY Accessibility to learner

Immediate

Level of learner attention High Level of learner motivation High Level of learner control None Level of mental activity required of learner Learner memory process Level of interaction required Level of peer interaction

Content Level of entertainment Level of print usage Level of image usage Level of sound usage Technical aspects o f the medium Levelof game format usage

Immediate; or if type commands or text, reading required High High High to variable

Must learn to read

?

?

Variable Variable Pace and sequence under user control, not text Variable

? None

? High

Low

None

Variable

Low to none

High

Variable High

High High Complex

High Variable High Variable Complex

Variable

High

Low to none

Low

Conflicting theories

Low

None Simple

such concepts as accessibility, attention, motivation, learner control, mental activity, learner memory, interaction and peer interaction. All of these, in my opinion, deserve further study. When we look at the six content characteristics that can be applied to receptive electronic learning, to interactive electronic learning or to print, we see that there are differences that will be found in the variables of entertainment, image usage, print usage, sound usage, technical aspects of each medium and game format. This analysis helps us to focus on very profound differences between electronic learning and print learning. Just as I consider that learning was revolutionized by the invention of printing, changing its orientation from the spoken to the written word, so I think that the new technologies are very likely to orientate us towards a form of learning, which I have referred to as electronic learning, that will be radically different from print in many ways. We shall be raising all kinds of basic questions about learning such as: What is the potential of imagery for learning? What is the potential of

The electronic learning revolution: questions we should be asking

graphics for learning? How do we store and retrieve images? How are images associated in our memory with print? Which lasts longer in our memory, the image or the written word? Which has the most impact on our behaviour, the image or the written word? What happens when the image and the written word and the graphics are combined into one delivery system? What impact does this have on our memory and behaviour? A comparison such as that presented in Table I leads us to ask a number of other related questions: What is the role of play in learning? How much information can be taught in an entertaining way, and taught effectively? By increasing the entertainment value of what is taught, are we losing certain kinds of information and skill? What is the appeal of the learner's ability to control a machine? Is there something fundamental about our ability to control technology that makes the use of it very motivating? What is the role of interaction in learning? Is there a maximum and minimum level of interaction that is necessary for effective learning? As we begin to understand the differences between electronic learning and print learning, what will be some of these implications for changes in learning and teaching and for our educational systems? Currently, in those American schools that have provided computer hardware and software, an abundance of anecdotes report that pupils are highly motivated to learn from computer software. Children seem to be attracted by the technology itself, and they enjoy learning in a game format. A debate has already started among educators in the United States about the pros and cons of learning in a game format. Some educators are opposed to it; they feel that there is a division between entertainment and learning. Other educators feel that the game format should be used in teaching just because it is so motivating. What we do not know yet is whether everything in the traditional curriculum can be taught honestly and well in a game format, or whether it should be confined to certain subjects and skills that lend themselves to the game approach. At the moment, video-games are extremely popular with all types of pupils in the United States. Most of them consist of war-like manoeuvres in space, called 'shoot-'era-ups' by critics of video-games. Many educators are concerned about the aggressive characteristics of these games, feeling that they may inculcate aggression in children. So far, there is no evidence either way on this question. Video-games are becoming more complex and perhaps more educational as a result. Among the more demanding games now available for the home computer are those that involve a mystery format in which the player must use and remember a large amount of information. Even though the object of the game may not be anything more than

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a search for treasure in a highly fantasized and graphic computergame context, t h e amount of mental effort required for that search is probably equal to that demanded by certain school subjects. This leads us to the fifth major question: What are the necessary conditions for successful teaching in electronic learning? There is much talk in computer circles about teachers becoming consultants, tutors and coaches when they work with the new technologies. Is it true that teachers' didactic role: for transmitting information will change as the new technologies make information easily accessible? I suspect that teaching will undergo a fundamental change if the technologies deliver even half of what they are promising, and that teachers will take on more of a resource and consultation role as their didactic role is supplanted. I see print and electronic learning as complementary rather than competitive. Teaching will have to encompass the ability to augment both types o f learning. This suggests to me that we need to begin studies now, probably of an exploratory nature, to provide us with examples of how teachers can work effectively with students in the use of new technologies. In the same vein, I think student/teacher interactions will change. In our electronic learning laboratory at Teachers College, we are finding that students ask a lot more questions when they are working with the computer than they do in the classroom. We find that children socialize more around the computer t h a n they do in the classroom and that this socialization is learning-centred. As has been widely reported, their attention level vis-d,vis the computer is higher than in the classroom. Whether or not this is a novelty effect remains to be seen. What teachers do daily in directing, talking, answering, measuring, assessing and inquiring with their students is going to be very different with the new technologies than when they relied primarily on print and the voice. We need case-studies now of what teachers are discovering to be their new teaching roles and the new learning roles of their students as we incorporate the new technologies into schools. Just as I think teaching will change, and learning is already changing, so do I think that classrooms and what we call 'schools' will change. Schools need to reconceptualize themselves if they are to make maximum use o f t h e n e w technologies. It is going to require a fundamental shift in basic assumptions about teaching and learning if we~are t o make the transition from a print-learning frame of reference to an electronic-learning one. Let me mention just two of the assumptions we are going to have to revise. ' I f a child doesn't learn it from reading, it's not worth knowing.' We will have to replace this assumption with 'We want children

The electroniclearningrevolution:questionswe should be ask/ng

to learn and we don't care whether they learn via print or electronicaUy, as long as they learn.' ~A pupil's achievement must be measured using print measures or it is not real achievement.' This will have to be replaced with a new statement: 'There is print achievement and there is electronic achievement and they each need to be measured to arrive at the combined sum of achievement drawn from both sources.' This brings me to an assumption about measurement, I would like to draw attention to the danger of measuring electronic learning using print measures. Let us examine the opposite statement for a moment. How could we measure what a child has learned from books by the graphics he produces on a computer screen? It is essential to recognize that the measurement of electronic learning using print measures is based on an erroneous assumption. Electronic learning must be measured electronically, that is to say that if a child is absorbing information from a screen and that information is being delivered graphically or with images and sound, then that learning has t o be measured within its own frame of reference. I f we try to measure the learning from these new technologies, i.e. electronic learning, through the medium of print, we are going to miss a great deal that is significant about electronic learning. I do not accept the assumption that learning from television or from a computer terminal is best measured by tests that use the printed word. Research that measures whether or not children profit from computer-assisted learning, which is based upon results on standard print tests, is not, to m y mind, an adequate measure of that learning. T h e new technologies will make more effective use of their technological capacity, this being not simply displaying text on a screen. T h e y will use sound, music, graphics, game formats and much more. As the new technologies exploit their unique characteristics, there is no other course but to find some way of measuring electronic learning through the very methods used by these technologies. I f we want to measure the effects of game formats, we are going to have to measure them with games. I f we want to measure what is learned from moving images, we are going to have to use moving images. I f we want to know what is learned through graphics, particularly user-generated graphics, then we are going to have to measure this through usergenerated graphics. It simply will not do to use outdated print techniques to measure revolutionary new ways of learning. All these new technologies are going to affect our lives. What will happen to us as we find information and communication available to us through all these different electronic means? (This is another reason why we need a base-line on how we learn and communicate today so that we can make historical comparisons as our society

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changes.) There are a host of questions here about the impact on our lives. These include: What will be the role of learning at home? WiU we be life-long learners using a variety of teclmologies? How will this affect colleges and universities? WiU we suffer from an information deluge? Will our political behaviour be affected? Will the role of entertainment take on even a more significant part of our lives? A recent study (Broadcasting, I8 October I982), reported that 45 per cent of all home-computer use in the United States in I982 was for entertainment, Bo per cent for educational activities, I5 per cent for accessing data bases and to per cent for personal finance. How will these percentages change as the technologies are more widely used and their content changes? One of the educational changes that may come about is not too hard to imagine. I f electronic teaching technology can provide text, pictures, sound, graphics, and the ability to interact, then clearly we have approached the day when learning will be in the hands of the learner, not in the hands of the educational system. What does this imply? It implies that the day may soon dawn when a learner can purchase or rent a software package to use on his home computer (which will shortly become inexpensive). He will be able to learn almost anything if the software is designed appropriately as an educational tool. This means that the learner no longer needs to go to a particular place to learn, such as school or university, or to a classroom, or even to a live teacher. T h e learner can learn at home, or in his office, and if he encounters trouble, can connect, via his computer terminal, to a tutor or a tutorial software package. True, the technology has not arrived as yet, neither have the software packages, but the potential is there. Educational institutions should be feeling a hot electronic breath on their necks! American public schools will soon be faced with some very real competition. Children coming to school will be learning at home, through software packages bought by their parents to use on the home computer. T h e teacher will be teaching a class some of whom have already learned what she is teaching; in fact, they may be two or three years in advance of the curriculum. The variation in learning levels in the classroom will double or triple. Our grade-by-age notions will look very much out of place, when the school is no longer the controller of what is to be learned or when. Television was the first competitive educational system that American public schools encountered. In retrospect, it was very unwise that the American public school system failed to recognize that television was not only a teacher, but a very entertaining one, and something very difficult for the schools to compete with successfully. We now have a second competitor, the computer, for which all

The electronic learning revolution: questions we should be asking

types of family learning packages will be soon available--business, hobby, career and self-growth packages for parents; hobby and school-learning packages for children, with a wide range of software programs for both parents and children that combine entertainment and education. What competition this will be for the school! Institutionalized learning may become secondary to individualized learning. The seventh question is: What are the characteristics of good instruction in electronic learning? Again we must be very careful because most, if not all, of our ideas about good instruction have come from print. As a psychologist I have to acknowledge that our theories of human learning come from print. If electronic learning is as revolutionary as I think it is, then we are going to have to develop a whole new theory of instruction and of learning based on electronic learning, not on print learning. It is commonplace to remark on the poor quality of software available at present, but I would suggest that we are being historically shortsighted. Software for the microcomputer has only been written over the last five or six years and is still in its infancy. It would be like asking in I459, 'Why aren't any good novels being written for the printing press?' (The printing press turned out copies of the Bible and the Psalter as its first efforts, and these were hardly original.) We are going to have to learn a great deal about what good software needs to be. One of our problems in this respect has been the assumption that good software should be written like books. Much software today has been taken from texts or workbooks, and it simply does not work. Books are books and electronic software is software and they are different. One of our research questions might be to ask, when we do obtain good software, 'What are the characteristics that contribute to learning?' and then build an instructional model for the new technologies. My final major question addresses the impact on society of all the new electronic learning and asks: What public policy issues will arise because of the impact of these new technologies? The predominant question in public policy seems to me to be equity, and by this I mean, first, equality of access. Who is to use the new technologies? Who within a society and who across the world is to learn programming, have cable, videotext and access to information and data bases? As I said earlier, access depends upon money because it costs a fair amount at the present time to gain access. Access to computers depends upon the ability, in part at least, to learn computer programming. So that leads me to a second question about equity, which is not just who would have access, but what equity will there be in learning

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from these new technologies? Do we assume all children and all adults will learn equally well from the new technologies? Or do we assume that certain characteristics accelerate learning on the computer or on videotext? To the degree that print is involved, we already have some answers because we are aware that the ability to learn from print seems to be related to certain learner characteristics, including measures of intelligence. What will be the characteristics of those who are successful in using the new technologies? What will be the characteristics of those who are not? T h i s leads to a different public-policy question of equity. Who will be technologically disenfranchised? What will disenfranchisement from the new technologies mean in the coming information age? Does it mean that a person could be cut off from access from critically important information? I foresee the invention of user-responsive machines, located like public telephones, that will be able to help anyone with minimal reading skills to find information essential to protect that person's rights as a citizen and consumer. It could happen, but the opposite could also happen, which would mean that those who can afford the services and have access to sophisticated programming skills will be those with superior access to the new information. As communication becomes easier and as the delivery of these technologies will no longer be bound by geography, being transmitted through the atmosphere, we are likely to see changes in our personal identities as national boundaries disappear. Already it has been reported that there is concern in Canada about Canadians becoming part of American culture because they watch a great deal of American television. There is no fence along the border that prohibits the transmission of American television to Canadian homes. I do not think there will be any fences to stop information and entertainment being transmitted through the atmosphere. This could have some very interesting and constructive effects, and could lead to making all of us world citizens, but I also anticipate that it will have its problems. That is another reason for establishing a base-line today so we can see how our personal identities change with the ability to communicate from our homes and otfices with people from all over the world. What I have tried to do in this article is to raise what I think are some of the important questionsmimportant in the sense of a long-term view of the future. I have not once used the phrase Ccomputer literacy' neither have I mentioned the need to educate for a technological society. I am much more concerned with what I see as longrange questions. I have suggested that we need to establish a base-line

The electronic learning revolution: questions we should be asking

today so that we can: (a) make comparisons for the future; (b) determine the conditions necessary for learning effectively from the new technologies; (c) ascertain what information will be better or faster or uniquely presented by the new technologies; (d) establish how electronic learning differs from print learning; (e) decide what the conditions are for successful teaching with the new technologies; (f) examine how our lives will be changed as a result of the new information in communication; (g) evaluate what is good instruction in electronic learning; and (h) ascertain what public policy issues are likely to arise from the answers to these questions. I think the challenge is very exciting indeed. I cannot think of anything more fascinating than the opportunity to study what I consider to be the revolution in electronic learning. 9

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