Tools for Distance Education: Towards Convergence and Integration

Interest in the remote delivery of language instruction has increased significantly in recent years. As the Internet has displaced synchronous video as the preferred platform for distance education, the dramatically lower cost and more modest technical requirements of Web delivery make it a feasible option for a much broader range of educational institutions. More broadband connections along with the widespread availability of DVD players allow for incorporation of high-quality video into distance ed courses, while new Internet audio tools make two-way voice communications possible. The power and flexibility of the XML programming environment, now widely deployed on the Internet, make new convergences of educational and entertainment environments possible. New Web Options Web environments for distance learning can be custom-created from scratch or built using an interface supplied by a Learning Management System (LMS). A custom-built project offers the greatest amount of flexibility while avoiding the temptation to follow a pre-conceived plan for the structure of the course. On the other hand, this route makes higher demands on design and programming and thus increases cost and development time. A good number of course sites use Macromedia Director or Authorware to create content and Flash for delivery of animations and multimedia. Dreamweaver (Macromedia) and FrontPage (Microsoft) facilitate not only the creation of Web pages, but also enable addition of JavaScript interactivity through pull-down menus. To be used effectively, these tools need not just programming skill (to varying degrees) but--just as importantly--an understanding of Web design and user interface issues. A key advantage of using an LMS is the built-in course framework, a template-based system into which content is added. For distance learning, an LMS can supply crucial communication and management tools, as well as assessment builders and gradebook functionality. Although the most widely used LMS are Blackboard and WebCT, new less-expensive but still highly effective options exist. ETUDES, from Foothill College offers an easy-to-use interface for distance learning and has features comparable to Blackboard (and scores higher in Web accessibility). The Manila environment, part of Userland Frontier, is innovative and powerful groupware which excels at creating a multi-user writing environment. It allows new information to be easily posted to a weblog. For some purposes Manila may work better than WebCT. One of the most welcome Web products for language learning is Wimba, which allows for creation of a variety of voice-enabled Web pages, including voice boards which use the familiar format of threaded discussion forums for the exchange of recorded messages. Wimba is being widely used in the US in language learning, for example, at the University of Arizona to supplement use of a MOO in teaching Mohave. Its use as an "online language lab" is especially useful for less commonly taught languages, with scarce local availability of native speakers. The variety of functions available in Wimba's WebLab could be used together as the core functions of a Web-delivered language class. LMS excel at course and user management but they are not strong in content creation. Course developers often create structured content outside the LMS using a mainstream multimedia authoring program or programming environment, then link to that content from inside the LMS shell. The disadvantage of this approach is the lack of functional and interface integration with the LMS. Recently, both Blackboard and WebCT have opened up their proprietary systems to plug-ins and add-ons, which extend the system functionality while retaining the familiar user interface and authoring conventions. One of the more powerful content creation tools, available for both of the leading LMS, is Lectora from Trivantis. Lectora enables creation of sophisticated learning modules which incorporate multimedia, branching, and assessments. …