Research Note

Student Perceptions of
Telecommunications Technologies for

Accessing Learning Opportunities in
Two Northern Canadian Schools

The potential of telecommunications
technologies for the education of students in
small schools in rural communities has been
the subject of many studies (Barker and Hall,
1995; Barker, Hall and Wood, 1995; Hughes,
1993; Nevens,1996). In Australia (Lundin,
1994; Stevens, 1994), New Zealand
(Stevens,1995), Canada (Garlie, 1995) and
many of the Nordic countries (Meisalo, 1996;
Stefansdottir, 1993) telecommunications have
been used to provide new opportunities for
rural students. In these countries small rural
schools are increasingly seeking to provide
senior students with increased access to
information and communications
technologies to expand access to learning
opportunities.

Recent research in two small rural schools in
Northern Canada has found that students
value telecommunications technologies
according to the level of access they have to
them. Students with ready access valued
telecommunications technologies to a greater
extent than their peers who had less access.

The study was conducted in the Canadian
province of Newfoundland and Labrador in
two small, isolated centres, identified by the
pseudonyms "North Community" and "South
Community". Both North Community and

DELLA HEALEY AND KEN STEVENS

TELELEARNING AND RuRAL EDUCATION CENTRE

FACULTY OF EDUCATION

MEMORIAL UNIVERSITY OF NEWFOUNDLAND

South Community are located in coastal
Labrador, the northern part of the province,
and in each centre fishing is the basis of the
local economy. N o r t h Community was
described as the centre of government services
to the north coast of Labrador. Accordingly, it
has several federal and provincial agencies.
South Community can be described as the
administrative centre for communities of the
Labrador Straits area. It too has several federal
and provincial agencies. The North
Community population of approximately 1100
people is predominantly Innuit while most of
the 500 people in South Community are of
British descent.

The all-grade school at North Community has
an enrolment of approximately 400 students
and a staff of thirty teachers. Instruction is
provided in both English and the local
language, Inukitut. Enrolment has remained
stable in recent years. Students have some
introductory computer courses available to
them within the school and limited access to
the Internet. Two or three distance education
courses are offered each year within the school
for senior students for whom there is no local
teacher in a particular subject (eg advanced
Chemistry, advanced Mathematics).

The school at South Community serves

journal of Distance Learning, Vol 4 , No 1 , 1998 © Distance Education Association o f New Zealand

students from two other surrounding
communities. This school has a population of
approximately 200 students and 'a teaching
staff of thirtee n. Enrolment has been
decreasing in recent years. The South
Community school has a computer laboratory
which is used to teach introductory courses
in computing. Two or three distance education
courses are offered each year in subjects in
which there is no local teacher. Students do
not have access to the Internet services at this
school. Teachers, but not students, have
limited access to the Internet and there are
many technical difficulties in getting" on line".

Between the two schools 22 participants
were randomly selected for the study (North
Community N= 9; South Community N=13),
which included 20 Level Two and Level Three
students and one school administrator from
each site. (Level Three students are those who
are in their final year of secondary education
while Level Two students are those who are
in their second last year). One administrator
from each school was asked to assist in the
selection of the subjects for the study and to
advise on the categorisation of each student
as "high" or "low" in terms of his or her access
to telecommunications technologies.

Three criteria were used to identify students
as having high or low access to information
technologies:
1. A student who had access to distance

education courses, as opposed to one who
did not have access to distance education
courses, was considered to have high
access to telecommunications technologies.

2. A student who had access to the Internet
as opposed to one who did not have access
or who had very limited access, was
considered t o have high access to
telecommunications technologies.

3. A student who had unlimited access to a
computer (eg at home) compared to one
who could only access a computer at school
in specific time periods, was considered to
have high access to telecommunications
technologies.

Accordingly, 10 high access students (North
Community, N = 4; South Community, N = 6)
and 1 0 low access students (North
Community, N = 4; South Community, N = 6)
were chosen.

The study· found that telecommunications
technologies were valued differently by each
category of student in these isolated Canadian
communities. Both high access and low access
students agreed that technology was vital in
the functioning of their schools. However, the
degree of importance of telecommunications
technologies, (computers, the Internet) varied.
Students who had low access to
telecommunications technologies valued the
computer in pragmatic ways; as a tool for
preparing them for workplaces in which they
expectE!tl to use computers and as a tool for
the preparation of assignments. A low access
student from North Community remarked:

In computer classes, students are taught
how to use and apply computers for
different tasks. Students are more
prepared to enter the workforce where
computers are becoming more widely
used.

Another low access student from South
Community noted: "It is a way for us students
to type up assignments;" while yet another
from South Community said, "Classes in
Micro-computers and Computer Applications
helped me get a grasp on the use of computers
and different programs."

Students who had high access to
telecommunications technologies placed more
emphasis on the opportunities they provided
for learning at a distance. Furthermore, high
access students identified computers with
connections to the Internet and the
"Information Highway" for extending and
enriching their studies rather than as simply
a means of preparing assignments and
answering teacher-prepared tests. The
students in the study expected that those who
had high access to technology would pursue
an academic secondary education. Those who

journal of Distance Leaming, Vol4, No 1, 1998 ©Distance Education Association of New Zealand

had low access to technology were expected
to complete a basic secondary education. A
high access student from South Commtmity
commented:

This year I am in third level Chemistry
at my school. This course would not
normally be offered but it is through
distance learning. Now I will have a
better opportunity to succeed at
Chemistry while pursuing a secondary
education.

Participants who had high access to
telecommunications technologies were more
likely to perceive them as having a positive
impact on their education than their peers who
had low access.

All students in this study were very isolated
in geographical terms through the location of
their homes in small Labrador communities,
but, through the use of telecommunications
technologies in their education, some were less
isolated than others. Students with high access
to telecommunications technologies believed
that they had increased opportunities for post
secondary school education and less difficulty
gaining entry to courses in tertiary educational
institutions. A high access student from North
Community acknowledged:

Current technology in this education
system is valuable to me. With the
Internet open to me, research becomes
a lot easier. Also the Advanced Math
2201 class I'm taking through distance
education has created new
opportunities for me and others.

Another high access student from South
Community pointed out:

The introduction to computer courses
has opened up a new world for me. It
has given me the opportunity of
pursuing a post secondary education in
this field perhaps.

A fellow high access student from South

Community remarked:

Current technology in the education
system is valuable to me. I do third level
chemistry through distance education.
If distance education wasn't available
to this school I wouldn't be able to do
this course because there is no teacher
available with the qualifications to teach
this course effective ly. Distance
Education means a lot to me in this
sense because I'm really interested in
studying chemistry after high school.

Students with high access to tele
communications technologies felt that
they had similar opportunities to their peers
in larger, usually urban schools in other parts
of Canada. A•high access student from South
Community commented: "Distance education
courses allow students to compete with other
students from all over the province."

Another student from South Community
explained:

It gives us a chance to compete with
students in larger centres. Due to our
location, for many years, people felt that
because we were not from a larger
centre our education s y stem was
inferior. With the advancements in
technology, people who felt this way are
beginning to realise that students in
isolated places, such as South
Community, have the opportunity to
receive just as good an education as
others.

Students with low access to
telecommunications technologies did not
express as much optimism about competing
with students in schools in larger communities
as their peers who had high access.

This research study will investigate the extent
to which these perceptions of telecommunic
ati ons technologies influence the post
secondary school educational and vocational
choices of these students.

REFERENCES

BARKER, B. & HALL, R. (1995). Case Studies in
the Current Use of Technology in Education
Rural Research Report, 6, 10,1-12.

BARKER, B., HALL, R. & WOOD, S. (1995). Rural
Schools and the Internet: Providing an 'On/Off
Ramp' to the Information Superhighway of the
21st Century Rural Research Report 6, 4, 3-10.

GARLIE, N. (1995). Teleconferencing to Provide
Group Counselling to Rural At-Risk Students,
Morning Watch, 22 (2-4), 37-46

HUGHE S , C. ( 1 9 93). L e a r n i n g T e c h n o l o g y
Programs in an Isolated Region: Classroom
Applications of Technology. Rural Education
Issues 3, pp.2 -15

LUNDIN, R. (1994). Rural Isolation: Technologies
for the Delivery of Education and Training Issues
Affecting Rural Communities. Proceedings of an
International Conference Held by the Rural
Education Research and Development Centre,
Townsville, pp.157 - 163

MEI S A LO, V. (ed) T h e Integration of Remote
Classrooms, Helsinki, University of Helsinki
Research Report No. 160.

NEVENS, M. (1996). Connecting K-12 Schools to the
Information Superhighway. Washington, D.C.:
McKinsey and Co. Inc.

S T E F A N SDOT T I R, L . ( 1 9 93). T he I c e la n d i c
Educational Network - Ismennt. In G. Davies,
& B. Samways, (Eds). Teleteaching- Proceedings
of the IFIP TC3 Third Teleteaching Conference,
Amsterdam: Elsevier Science Publishers, pp.829-
835

STEVENS, K. (1994). Australian Developments in
Distance Education and Their Implications for
Rural Schools Journal of Research in Rural
Education 10 (1), 78 -83

STEVENS, K. (1995). Geographic Isolation and
Technological Change: A New Vision of Teaching
and Learning in Rural Schools in New Zealand,
The Journal of Distance Learning, 1 (1), 32-38

Della Healey is a research student in the Faculty
of Education at M emorial University of New
foundland, St. Johns, NF, Canada, AIC557.

Ken Stevens is Professor of Education, Chair
of T e l e l e a r n i n g and R u r a l E d u c ation at
Memorial University of Newfoundland, St Johns,
N F , Canada, A I C 5 5 7 . A l l c o r r e s p o n d e n c e
about this paper should be addressed to him.
email: stevensk@morgan.ucs.mun.ca