ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries C&RL News October 1998 683 C O N F E R E N C E C I R C U I T From black-and-white TV to rich interactive learning environments The 14th Annual Conference on Distance Teaching and Learning by Lisa Janicke Hinchliffe M o re th a n 1 ,0 0 0 a tte n d e e s from countries across the globe gathered to learn, discuss, and debate the rapidly evolv­ ing field of distance education at Distance Learning ’98, the 14th Annual Conference on Distance Teaching and Learning, held Au­ gust 5 -7 at the Marriott Madison West in Madison, Wisconsin. Conference participants included representatives from education, business, industry, and government—creat­ ing opportunities, dialogue, and networking not easily found in the course of daily work. In previous years the conference has fo­ cused on a particular element of distance teaching and learning, e.g., active learning. Distance Learning ’98 broke with this tradi­ tion and explored the multiple aspects o f a successful distance education system from planning and funding to professional devel­ opment, learner support services, and pro­ gram evaluation.1 The resulting conference program was rich and varied offering useful information for everyone, be they new to distance education or a veteran in the field. C racker barrel sessions The conference began with informal “Cracker Barrel,” sessions named in the spirit of the conversations that occurred in the country stores o f yesteryear around the cracker bar­ rels. Discussion topics included combining traditional and distance education delivery methods, evaluating Web-based courseware, affect and impression management, and fac­ ulty training. Workshops offered opportunities for in- depth investigation of specific distance edu­ cation issues. The majority of the workshops fo cu sed on issues related to o n lin e or Internet-based delivery of distance educa­ tion; however, sessions focusing on issues related to interactive television and instruc- tional design were also offered. Participants in “Teaching Information Lit­ eracy Skills in Online Courses” explored dif­ ferent ways of approaching information lit­ eracy and developing appropriate research assignments for online students. The work­ shop group concluded that the most diffi­ cult information literacy skill to teach is rec­ ognizing the need for information, whereas the possibilities for teaching information- gathering are numerous. “Converting Training Materials to a Dy­ namic Learning Environment” led participants through the process of creating a flexible electronic repository of learning materials from already existing instructional materials— a welcome change from other design mod­ els that require recreating materials each time new technological tools becom e avail­ able. About the author Lisa Janicke Hinchliffe is library instructor c oordinator at Illinois State University, e-mail: Iisa@exchange1.mlb.ilstu.edu ■ / mailto:Iisa@exchange1.mlb.ilstu.edu 684 / C&RL News ■ October 1998 . . . in addition to traditional standards of educational quality, issues of learner isolation, aca­ dem ic support services, learning outcomes, and the q uality of instructional m aterials are particu­ larly im portant when ju d g in g distance education quality. New tech n ologies The highlight of the conference was the key­ note speech, “Learning in the Digital Age," by Elliott Masie, president o f The MASIE Cen­ ter. With refreshing and energetic enthusi­ asm, Masie engaged hundreds in a fast-paced, interactive reflection on the changes that technology is creating in education, train­ ing, and personal relationships. Likening the use of current technologies to the beginning of black-and-white televi­ sion, Masie called for trainers and educators to move beyond merely replicating existing practices, e.g., virtualizing the classroom, to inventing new learning processes through imagination and rapid experim entation. These new processes will be the legacy of this generation o f distance educators and trainers. All conference attendees received Masie’s “Continuing My Presentation” CD-ROM with resources, articles, audio and video clips, and Web sites for further exploration. Keynote speaker Christopher Dede, pro­ fessor of Education and Information Tech­ nology at George Mason University, and Spotlight presenter Ellen Wagner, vice presi­ dent of Informania, Inc., also challenged con­ ference attendees to think about the impli­ cations of new technologies. Wagner argued that new strategies for interaction are needed to create quality distance education. Asking what kinds and how many transactions are needed for interaction, Wagner reviewed and critiqued existing models o f interaction. Wagner then presented new outcomes-based design strategies, which particularly attend to cost-justification and effectiveness mea­ sures. Dede explained that because the media employed impact the types of messages cre­ ated in that media, creators o f new virtual environments must attend to appropriate bal­ ance if they intend to develop high-quality distributed learning environments. Based on his teaching experience, Dede encouraged development o f hybrid learning environments that include both synchronous and asynchronous computer-mediated com­ munication, as well as face-to-face sessions. Dede concluded with a Web tour o f shared synthetic environments and virtual commu­ nities such as WorldsAway2 and Active Worlds3 to demonstrate the application of technology in building relationships and to provoke thought as to the potential educa­ tional applications of the same technologies. Q u ality standards The 80 concurrent sessions comprised the bulk o f the conference. In a thought-pro­ voking presentation, Gwen Hillesheim of Walden University discussed distance edu­ cation quality standards. She asserted that, in addition to traditional standards of edu­ cational quality, issues of learner isolation, academic support services, learning out­ comes, and the quality of instructional ma­ terials are particularly important when judg­ ing distance education quality. Hillesheim said online programs must also attend par­ ticularly to managing the learning environ­ ment, technological resources and function­ ality, and learner/instructor relationships. Libraries were well-represented in the concurrent sessions. Sessions such as “Sup­ porting Distance Learners and Academic Faculty Teaching at a Distance,” “The Aca­ demic Library’s Role in Distance Learning Support Services: What Your Library Can Do for You,” and “Web-Based Learning: Elec­ tronic Library Resources and Instruction” dis­ cussed the opportunities and challenges in providing access to library services and re­ sources for remote users and illustrated strat­ egies currently being used. In most cases, libraries have created Web pages designed specifically for distance edu­ cation students but have not received addi­ tional funding to provide additional services to those students. The sessions were positively received not only by the librarians at the conference but C&RL News ■ October 1998 / 685 also by faculty members and trainers from business and industry. More than 50 exhibitors provided infor­ mation about their products and services for distance education and training including First Tier Books,4 which offered an amazing selection of current materials on distance learning and Web-based instruction. Though the irony o f bringing people to­ gether to discuss distance learning was noted more than once, the energy created during Masie’s keynote and the other presentation is perhaps evidence that the hybrid design of both computer-mediated and face-to-face interaction is the most effective approach to developing meaningful human relations. If the exchange o f business cards, elec­ tronic mail addresses, and Web sites is any indication, this face-to-face conference was only the beginning of many future profes­ s io n a l re la tio n sh ip s and c o lla b o ra tiv e projects. Most o f the concurrent sessions and some o f the workshops are represented in the con­ ference proceedings.5 The 15th Annual Con­ ference on Distance Teaching and Learning is scheduled for August 4-6, 1999, in Madi­ son, Wisconsin. Notes 1. Christine Olgren, 14th Annual Confer­ ence on Distance Teaching and Learning. In Proceedings o f Distance Learning ’9 8 (Madi­ son: University o f Wisconsin System, 1998), i. 2. http://www.worldsaway.com. 3. http://www.activeworlds.com. 4. kvanwye@silicon-desert.com. 5. The Conference Proceedings are avail­ able for purchase though the Distance Teach­ ing & Learning Conference Manager, Uni­ versity of Wisconsin-Madison (http://www. uwex.edu/disted/distanceconf/form.htm). ■ ( Washington‚ D.C. continued from p ag e 681) Collecting the publications that document this changing world poses special challenges. Carolyn Brown, Library of Congress Area Stud­ ies Section, noted that traditional country-based acquisitions programs are insufficient when faced with colonial and postcolonial writings, publications of nongovernmental and intergov­ ernmental organizations, and ephemeral docu­ ments of refugee and immigrant life. As Brown observed, “Embedded in these publications are important keys to the fu­ ture.”— Kristin Nielsen, University o f Georgia Libraries, knielsen@arches.uga.edu ■ http://www.worldsaway.com http://www.activeworlds.com mailto:kvanwye@silicon-desert.com http://www mailto:knielsen@arches.uga.edu