Distance educators, in theorising their practice, take as a starting point Michael Moore's (1989) typology of learning interactions: learner- teacher, learner-learner and learner-content. Some might accept the suggestion of Hillman, Willis and Gunawardena (1994) that we should also include learner-computer interactions in the typology, though we will argue that in most computer-mediated learning interactions the interface to the content, to their teachers, and to other students, should be as transparent to the learner as the ink on the page, the coating on the audiotape.
Both Moore (1992) and Farnes (1993) have identified the first generation of distance education as being characterised by single-media, correspondence education, and the second generation as being multi-media, in as much as packages of print-based learning materials might be supplemented by videotapes and audiotapes. These were essentially modes of delivery to independent learners; they provided learner-content interaction in the main, for teacher-learner interaction occasionally, and for learner-learner interaction rarely. Both Moore and Farnes envisage that in the next generation of distance education we might see students remote from each other and their teachers interacting with each other in computer-mediated learning environments, characterised by Farnes as the new "networks of opportunity".
Learner-learner interaction has always been a feature of Gippsland style distance education: use of study centres in outreach locations, weekend and residential schools, and, more recently, audioteleconferences. We will describe our use of NetFace, an electronic communications facility developed at Gippsland to facilitate learner-learner and teacher-learner interactions, by looking at the range of online teaching and learning strategies it has empowered us to explore with distance learners studying a number of subjects in humanities, business studies and applied science. We will examine whether or not there is still a place in networked learning for outreach locations, audioconferencing and Weekend Schools.
The session will present the theoretical underpinnings of our approach to online teaching and learning and inform the workshop activity we are proposing.
