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Support & Costs of Synchronous Communication Software Technologies

Support
For distance learning to be useful, an effective system of communication must be implemented.  This interaction between teacher and students is a "defining feature of formal education" (Garrison and Anderson, 2003).  Today, technology has advanced to the point where "quality teacher-student activities can be supported either among groups or individually, and in…real time (synchronously) even in rural and isolated communities separated by perhaps thousands of miles (Sherry, 1996).  Successful implementation of synchronous communication software must address the types of support and costs.

For distance education to be successful there must be a system of learner support in place.  Most important in this is a "caring, concerned teacher who is confident, experienced, at ease with the equipment, uses the media correctly, and maintains a high level of interactivity with the students".  These teachers must be familiar with the "design and delivery process" and "enable students to establish contact with them as well as interact among themselves".  To facilitate learner support, interactive Chats with teachers and/or other students can replace office hours or phone calls associated with more traditional means of interaction (Sherry, 1996).  The familiarity of most students with IMing their enjoyment using it leads to its adaptability for use in a distance learning environment; “an IM system may enhance support for interaction between students.”  Students in a synchronous environment can help each other by sharing ideas, answering questions, offering advice with difficult assignments, and planning and coordinating group projects (Hrastinski, 2006).  

Learners with disabilities can benefit from synchronous learning.  For example, through the Network for Inclusive Distance Education (NIDE) project, groups of students with disabilities can communicate from various locations through a discussion tool that allows students to "participate equally in learning group discussions" and through a question and answer tool to "support a real-time question and answer dialog between the instructor and students" (Network for Inclusive Distance Education).

Students often require additional support such as tutors or even technical assistance completing online assignments in order to succeed academically.  “Students need tutors and academic planners to help them complete courses on time and to act as a support system when stress becomes a problem… The ‘distance’ aspect of distance learning takes away much of the social interactions that would be present in traditional learning environments. One way to help solve this problem is through the use of tutors that communicate with students” (Galusha, 1998).  Providing such a service with synchronous tools help alleviate such problems. 

One of the problems of learning through the IM or Chat environment is that the communication becomes difficult to follow; "the chronological sequence of messages does not follow a coherent  discourse logic or argumentation schema, and participants have trouble to infer for each message to which previous message(s) it refers.  If learning discourses suffer from these problems, this poses a serious barrier to successful learning" (Stahl, 2002).

Technological support and training is also an issue that should be considered when weighing the pros and cons of videoconferencing.  Guidance is needed for both instructor and student.  Teachers must know how to properly work the technology (dialing the site, working the monitors, plugging the correct cables into the correct ports and outlets, etc.). Students must also understand the limitations of this equipment so that they do not cause unintended disruption and so that they can work the technological gear if the instructor is at a remote site.  Technicians are needed in the event of malfunction or misuse.  Having a technician on hand, however, adds to the cost of the program.

Any educational tool is only as effective as the one implementing it.  So, if the teacher has a rough understanding of how the video-conferencing system works, it may detract from the quality and efficiency of the material being transmitted.

Costs
Synchronous communication cannot occur without the proper technology in place.  “Purchasing and maintaining appropriate equipment, and training teachers and facilitators to use it effectively, are necessary conditions” for a distance learning program.  Administrators must be willing to not only purchase but support new technology.  This often will require the need for a media or technology coordinator and a technical support staff to address maintenance of equipment (Sherry, 1996).  Additionally, students need to learn the technology that will be used in the distance learning environment. "If students are undertaking distance-learning courses that require knowledge of computers, then the students must be taught, at a minimum, the fundamentals of operating the system of choice of the distance-taught course. If distance learning is to be successful, technical barriers must be made a non-issue" (Galusha 1998). This may not be as much of an issue considering this generation has grown up with the technologies we are presenting.

The initial costs of implementing synchronous distance learning are high; "It is important to realize that interactivity costs a lot more than videotape" (Sherry, 1996). Galusha (1998) states, "Technology costs and considerations can be a source of budgeting problems."   Today, there are still many schools that would need to upgrade their technology with “dedicated phone lines and modems, much less several thousand dollars worth of software and proprietary hardware” (Sherry, 1996).  These funds typically come from taxpayer dollars and as such, it may take considerable time to implement.  Compared to the costs of earlier distance learning technologies, the ability to communicate synchronously is much less; "the high cost of travel is propelling the search for ways in which distributed teachers can engage in teacher-teacher interaction . . . a variety of increasingly sophisticated networking tools have been built to support both synchronous and asynchronous forms of teacher-teacher interaction” (Garrison and Anderson 2003). 

When it comes to educating with videoconferencing, cost is definitely somewhat prohibitive, especially when starting from scratch, with little or no equipment.  As a counter to that argument, however, if one considers the cost of flights, lodging, and all other travel expenses, videoconferencing may be more cost-effective.  Costs for both students and schools increase when technology is the medium of choice.  Students will be required to maintain broadband Internet access and up to date computers and software; "these costs can have a major impact on affordability, and hence on access" (Rumble, 2001). Again, equitable access to technology becomes an issue across school districturs. Institutions must install, maintain, and upgrade telecommunication technology.  Additionally, support for technical staff must be provided as well.  "Funding should be provided to create an administrative unit that is to be responsible for managing the program" (Galusha, 1998).

There are broad differences in the costs to implements distance education.  According to Rumble, the costs associated with distance learning depend upon the type of approach used.  "There is some evidence that the lower levels of cost are more likely to be found on synchronous online courses, with asynchronous courses costing more . . . the former required much less development time because they involved fewer media" (Rumble, 2001). 

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Technology Group 4: Abigail Moskovits, Tom Cutonilli, Anne Canale Stalnecker
ETAP 529 Introduction to Distance Learning
Professor Virginia Yonkers
University at Albany
Spring 2008

Updated 01-Mar-2008