A critical look at web based training efforts

(Paper appears in the proceedings of ICCE 98) $EVWUDFW In this paper we take a look at the plethora of attempts to use the Web (i.e. World Wide Web technology in Internet or Intranet environments) to suport training, teaching and learning applications. We first look at "standard attempts" and argue that most of them are futile efforts: we show how common misconceptions will prevent many efforts to be successful; we discuss some important issus in more detail and summarize what future Web Based Training (WBT) systems will have to provide to have a chance to be successful. Agriculture is often considered one of the more traditional and conservative areas of human endeavors. However, if you did put a peasant of around 1900 into a modern tractor which-completely computerized and helped by GPS-will e.g. be able to plow a huge field with centimeter accuracy with little human effort such peasant would be at a complete loss and would feel almost like being in a nightmare. On the other hand, if you took a university professor of around 1900 and put him into a lecture room of a typical today's university, he might find the control of electrical lights a bit more elaborate but would be quite at home even in the (percentage-wise) few cases where blackboards have been replaced by whiteboards. Surely, there are exceptions. But the basic message of above comparison is clear: educational technology has not moved forward at anything close to the rate of other developments. It is this fact combined with the knowledge that "training kids from 6 to 16 or 26 so that they are prepared for the rest of their life" just does not work any more in a society where knowledge increases at an incredible rate, and where the average person is likely to start a job in one area but to end up in a rather different one that has convinced society, that our educational systems have to change, and that such change will also involve the use new technologies. This conviction is definitely justified. Yes, we have to shift to a system of lifelong learning on demand, training on the job, adult education, distance learning-you name your favorite buzz word-and computers and networks will play a major role. Yet, most efforts that are visible today are fueled by the enthusiasm of the growing web but are "blue eyed" approaches to a difficult …