Editorial

History can be characterised as the overestimation of what can be accomplished immediately
and the underestimation of long term consequences. (Strassman, 1984)

My first encounter with computer-based learning was in 1975 when I trialled packages
produced by the Chelsea Science Simulation Project while on teaching practice. Access to
the minicomputer running the packages was via modem and teletype, and response times
were measured in minutes rather than seconds. Three of the four packages were little more
than computer-based lookup tables but the fourth, despite the severe limitations of the
technology, inspired me to take computers seriously as tools for learning. The application
was a simulation of crossing different strains of fruit fly, a technique beloved of geneticists
but impractical for school biology. I was impressed by the use of a computer to achieve
something highly educational that was impractical by any other means.

There have been many significant advances in computing since 1975: the advent of the
eight-bit microcomputer, hypertext, graphical user interfaces, object technology, CD-
ROMs, the Internet and the World Wide Web. Prophets of what the latest technological
developments will achieve for education have been many, and by and large false. Progress
in the short term has appeared painfully slow. Pioneers have felt hurt by the failure of their
colleagues to embrace the computer-based learning materials they have worked so hard to
perfect, but perhaps they failed to recognize the extent to which they had embedded their
own idiosyncratic approach to teaching into their products.

The Association for Learning Technology was founded by a group who believed that the
long-term consequences of technology applied to education would be profound. They were
keen to create a forum for learning technology practitioners as a way of identifying and
sharing good practice. The annual ALT conference has reflected a growing maturity among
both technologists and teachers as they gain insight through shared experiences.

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Aa-J Volume 7 Number I

The theme of the fifth ALT conference, Lifelong learning on a connected planet, was a
challenge to delegates to think through the implications for education of a connected
planet; one where all points on the global Internet are equally accessible to all other points.

Five years ago the concept of the online course did not exist. Now it is coming to be seen as
the growth sector for tertiary education. Many new online courses are conventional courses
that have been 'ported' to the new medium. If it is done well the pedagogic qualities that
made it a sound conventional course will also benefit the online version, but many
inappropriate assumptions will also have been carried over. To be as good as, or better
than, an equivalent conventional course, an online course needs to be rebuilt from the
ground up. The course needs to integrate student interactions with the materials, with
tutors and with fellow students, and the learning environment has to be flexible enough to
recognize and support a diversity of student needs. The same fundamental pedagogic
principles apply to all types of course but the peculiar strengths and weaknesses of the
Internet as a delivery and support medium require a wholesale reassessment of teaching
methods.

A consensus on effective online education has yet to emerge. In this journal you will find
documented a rich vein of innovation, experimentation and research. There is imagination
aplenty. Not all approaches will prove to be successful but all are helping, to develop a
better understanding of how to use technology to create more and better educational
opportunities for more people.

Reference
Strassman, P. (1984), Information Payoff, Cambridge Mass: MIT Press.

Jonathan Darby

Learning technology is inherently eclectic. Professionals from many areas are involved:
managers, courseware developers, teachers in universities and schools, trainers in industry,
and, of course, learners. The range of the papers presented at ALT-C98 bears witness to this
diversity, and to the way in which the ALT membership represents the UK learning
technology constituency. Likewise the papers in this special issue reflect the diversity of
this constituency, with papers on the management and implementation of learning
technology, discussions of the future role and impact of learning technology and reports of
research studies. I think it is essential that ALT-J continues to publish high-quality papers in
these areas. The founding editor, Gabriel Jacobs, has established an excellent foundation
for developing the journal's profile in all three areas. With Grainne Conole's help I look
forward to working with you to continue this development.

David Squires

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