Service From a Distance: The Use of Information Technologies in Support of Off-Campus Students

Introduction

"providing an appropriate array of support services to students studying at a distance (including library services, advisement and counseling, financial aid, and various types of skills assessment) either electronically or through a network of local centers." ⁴

The Project

Technologies Used

Rationale for the Project

The Virtual Library on ArkMOO

nor provide the opportunity for real-time communication or collaboration with a librarian. To overcome this, libraries have experimented with using video and other interactive technologies for instruction and reference.

The Virtual Library on ArkMOO provides services to community college students in Arkansas both asynchronously through provision of general and class-specific resources and email as well as synchronously through the availability of a librarian for reference help via the MOO.




Figure 1. The main library room on ArkMOO

The Library was initially designed to be accessible via the MOO. A main library room (see Figure 1) was built with adjoining rooms (See Figure 2) for each category of resources. D'Angelo consulted with the instructors at Pulaski Technical College and Westark Community College at the beginning of the Spring 1998 semester and built a set of Internet-based resources for each class based on the course syllabi and assignments. Resources were accessible via the MOO through web objects. When viewing an object, the user could access in a browser window a webpage with a set of links for the particular topic while remaining on ArkMOO. Although the webpages were also available to be viewed via the WWW, the intention was for access to be through ArkMOO to take advantage of the display option. This option allows for simultaneous viewing of the same resource by anyone in the same room, a powerful tool for instruction and collaboration. In addition to the resources created for the classes at Pulaski Tech and Westark, a set of more general reference resources were developed for use by anyone.



Figure 2. Pulaski Tech room with class-specific web objects

Based on experiences and observations from the Spring semester, the Virtual Library was redesigned and revamped over Summer 1998. A main webpage (See Figure 3) was created to allow for easier navigation through the Library for those accessing it via the WWW. From this main page, links were created to reference help, tutorials, and the collection of resources. An object was created in the main library room on ArkMOO to allow for connection to the main webpage via the MOO Library as well as through the URL. Now, the library is easily accessible either via ArkMOO or via the WWW.



Figure 3. The ArkMOO Library Webpage

D'Angelo met with the instructors at both Pulaski Tech and Westark to again discuss plans for the semester and created a new set of resources for Pulaski Tech based on the assignments for the Fall 1998 semester. The web objects in each of the rooms were also updated. In addition, a set of tutorials was added to enhance the Library's use, including tutorials on effectively using Internet search engines, creating effective search strategies, and critical analysis skills.

Reference help is available via a link from the main page to an "Ask a Librarian" page for reference help. During the Spring 1998 semester, D'Angelo had scheduled reference hours to be available on ArkMOO for help and consultation. For the Fall 1998 semester, rather than reference hours, students would use email to send a question or to request a time to meet on ArkMOO for help. Direct email access is available via the "Ask a Librarian" page as well as from ArkMOO. The use of email to schedule meetings for help is more in line with the way the cybertutoring program works. In addition, a bulletin board for posting questions on the "Ask a Librarian" page was contemplated and discussed but has not yet been implemented.

The Problems: Technical and Political

Technical

During the initial semester of the Virtual Library Project in Spring 1998, many problems were encountered, some of which were addressed in the redesign and expansion of the Library over the Summer. However, some remain to be solved.

The established way of accessing a MUD/MOO is through telnet or via a text-based client application. However, because the Library's resources are web-based it is necessary to use a java-based client program which allows for a web browser and a text window to be open at the same time. These two windows are not integrated, meaning that the user has to navigate between the two windows in order to communicate on the MOO in the text window and view the resources in the browser window. While not a difficult task, it could be daunting to an inexperienced or new user. Training and follow-up support can solve this problem along with practice using the system. Maid is also exploring the potential of another java-based client program which would integrate the text window and browser window into one.

Since connection to ArkMOO is via the Internet, slow connections or frequent disconnections dampen the enthusiasm of even the most enthusiastic user. These can cause delays, interruptions, and breaks in communication. For example, on the day of training for Pulaski Tech, D'Angelo was disconnected from ArkMOO due to a bad connection and was not able to reconnect during the class session. This happened in the middle of a conversation with a student who was reticent about using the technology and certainly must have been disconcerting to him.

Of prime concern to librarians is the question of database access. Remote access to the databases and online catalogs at the community colleges is problematic. Even though it is technologically possible to create a web object to them to make them accessible via ArkMOO, the legalities of licensing agreements prohibit this. Although remote access to some databases and the online catalog at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock where ArkMOO is based is possible, the community college students are not affiliated with the University and do not have access to them. Also, D'Angelo is not affiliated with either UALR or the community colleges. Therefore, even if remote access were available, she would not be able to link to them due to licensing agreements.

Political

Anytime institutions of higher education, especially state institutions, get involved in working with other institutions political problems are inevitable. This inevitability becomes increased and intensified when the institutions are in different states. We saw this happen with the original Writing Center Consultation Project. We were, therefore, very cognizant that by using a librarian from a Louisiana university to work on a project that is designed to help Arkansas students we would evoke more political issues. While being aware of the problem and attempting to lay the groundwork for successful collaboration, we have not successfully solved all the problems.

Our initial suggestion to resolve this problem was still based on geography. Colleges and universities in both Arkansas and Louisiana are members of the Southern Regional Educational Board (SREB) which has recently developed the Southern Regional Electronic Campus (SREC), a consortium of distant learning courses similar to Western Governor's University. We were hoping that since SREC presently only concerns itself with courses, not academic support services, that we might be seen as filling a necessary niche and could be provided institutional support and resources for a collaboration our institutions and their governing bodies had already committed to. This may prove to be a viable way to solve the problem in the future. However, in conversations Maid has had with the Arkansas representative to the SREC, Maid's sense is that the SREC's current focus is on delivering academic courses and that providing academic support is an issue which they acknowledge will need to be faced in the future.

At a more basic level, however, there exists a real problem in job description and time allocation. As a faculty member, Maid can justify his time and work in the project as research--especially in the area of developing new pedagogies which make use of emerging technologies. On the other hand, D'Angelo is a reference librarian at a different institution in a different state. Although her work on the Virtual Library Project is supported by her library, it is not part of her institution-specific duties. In order for this or future collaborations to succeed, issues of job description and time allocation will have to be resolved at each individual institution. In addition, participating in these kinds of activities must be valued in both yearly evaluation and promotion and tenure decisions.

Timing and Lessons

We have come to believe through our work on this project that despite some obstacles, the technological issues can be mastered and overcome. By using Internet resources such as email, MOO, and the World Wide Web, we can deliver quality academic support services to distant students. We may sometimes become frustrated with the technology, but the technology only provides stumbling blocks not true obstacles.

However, there are real obstacles to the project. Like so much about the Internet, these obstacles have nothing to do with technology but rather have to do with people. Beyond the already cited political issues, we have literally had to cope with issues of life and death-especially with regard to the project's main target campus, Pulaski Technical College in North Little Rock, AR. In Spring 1998 around halfway through the project's first semester, the cooperating instructor at Pulaski Tech, Jackolyn Barnhouse, very unexpectedly died. Her replacement was not comfortable using the technology. During the fall 1998 semester, the new Pulaski Tech instructor, Amy Baldwin, had a baby in late October. This time, however, her replacement is Jayn�e Linkous who is also Maid's graduate assistant on the Cyberspace Project. Linkous has already begun to introduce the Pulaski Tech students to the online tutorials and guides provided by D'Angelo as ArkMOO librarian. We expect to see more use and response from these students during the remainder of the semester.

As a result, we expect to have more substantial information on student usage by mid-December 1998 after the end of the Pulaski Tech semester. However, even during less than one year of the small scale project, we are seeing certain important trends emerge. Using the Internet to provide academic support services for students over distance is already a reality. There may be multiple means of delivery of those services, but it is no longer that difficult nor that costly to accomplish. The more serious problems are the old-fashioned kind. How do we get institutions that are funded by and answer to differing constituencies to make use of the collaboration made possible by emerging technologies? How do we create a broad base of faculty expertise so that we will not have just one or two "techno-savvy" faculty per unit or institution? We realize in many ways these are old questions. Yet, until they get addressed, the potential emerging technologies offer to our teachers and students will go unrealized.

Endnotes