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Distance ed study makes front page news

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September 22, 1999: This message was distributed by Papyrus News, a free e-mail distribution list on the global impact of information technology on language, literacy, and education. Feel free to forward this message to others, but please include this introductory paragraph. For information on subscribing or unsubscribing to Papyrus News see http://www.lll.hawaii.edu/web/faculty/markw/papyrus-news.html.

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The front page of the online edition of the New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com) today (September 22, 1999) had a paragraph and a link to an article about a University of Indiana study on student's frustrations in a Web-based class (http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/99/09/cyber/education/22education.html).

The study followed a Web-based course on technology and language learning and identified sources of frustration (e.g., (technological problems, minimal feedback from the instructor, and ambiguous instructions) that several of the students had. T he study is well-done and worth reading. It can be found online at <http://www.slis.indiana.edu/CSI/wp99_01.html>.

What is utterly fascinating is the coverage of this article. The first author of the study is a graduate student who will soon receive her master's degree in educational psychology and is also in a PhD program in education (the second author is a professor who is the director of the Center for Social Informatics, http://www.slis.indiana.edu/csi/ ). The paper has apparently never been published in a refereed journal or even presented at a conference (though it will be presented soon). The course they investigated included a total of only 6 students (two others dropped out early on). The instructor of the course was a PhD student who had to fill in when the regular professor had health problems. The instructor was apparently over her head, though one of the 6 students did comment that the instructor was the best she had ever met.

Can you imagine a similar study on another topic being on the front page of the New York Times? How about "Study Finds Problems with Lecture Class" based on five students' dissatisfaction with their lecturers, or "Study Finds Problems with Phonics" based on four or five students being upset with how phonics were taught by an inexperienced teacher stepping in at the last minute.

What does the media attention about this tell us?

• There is a tremendous amount of hype about technology. This study itself is not hype; it was a good piece of qualitative research and raises important critical questions. But the media coverage of it certainly is unusual. In any other field it would take research of an entirely different magnitude to make the front page of the New York Times.

• There is pressure in society toward techno-optimism or techno-pessimism. Any slightest evidence one way or the other is seized upon by the media to suggest that "technology works" (or that it doesn't work). This study itself was balanced and critical. But the very fact that it was entitled "Students' Frustrations with a Web-Based Distance Education Course" made it fair game for national media coverage.

• Distance education is going to be a hot topic in the coming years! (Graduate students, take note!)

-- Mark Warschauer

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Last updated: October 12, 1999