Assessing the Costs and Benefits of Telelearning: A Case Study ...
Assessing the Costs and Benefits of Telelearning: A Case Study ...
Assessing the Costs and Benefits of Telelearning: A Case Study ...
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Some <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> non-credit courses designed to introduce <strong>the</strong> use <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong><br />
internet format should be <strong>of</strong>fered over a single week instead <strong>of</strong> spread<br />
over weeks. This would allow out <strong>of</strong> town full time workers to attend.<br />
(student 9)<br />
As one student mentions below, one <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> course instructors created such a guide for<br />
his/her students which <strong>the</strong> students found helpful:<br />
One <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> things that <strong>the</strong> instructor did was develop an instructional<br />
manual or sheet <strong>of</strong> instructions for using WebCSILE. And it was quite<br />
user friendly. This was <strong>the</strong> first time for me so I was quite nervous about<br />
how I was going to do this [course] <strong>and</strong> found it easy. (student A)<br />
Registration. Registration for this course was done through <strong>the</strong> mail, not online<br />
as is <strong>the</strong> case with many o<strong>the</strong>r OISE/UT courses. Because <strong>the</strong>re was a mail strike during<br />
<strong>the</strong> fall <strong>of</strong> 1997 this caused some confusion for students at a distance who had to register<br />
by mail:<br />
There is limited to nil use in communicating problems <strong>and</strong> actual<br />
registering for <strong>the</strong> program. When <strong>the</strong> mail strike was on it did seem<br />
ridiculous to say <strong>the</strong> least to be taking programs in this mode <strong>and</strong> yet not<br />
be able to register. If I had not paid my total tuition in September <strong>and</strong><br />
communicated with my January pr<strong>of</strong>essor early I am not sure what would<br />
have happened. (student 10)<br />
Allow students to enroll online as with all o<strong>the</strong>r OISE courses. The<br />
‘<strong>of</strong>fline’ OISE method is both inefficient <strong>and</strong> error prone. (student 11)<br />
Library Operations. Students registered for this course had access to OISE/UT’s<br />
library through <strong>the</strong>ir electronic library system. As is indicated from <strong>the</strong> comments below,<br />
this system worked well for <strong>the</strong> students in this class. The majority <strong>of</strong> students however<br />
still felt more comfortable in doing <strong>the</strong>ir own library searches <strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong>refore distance<br />
students used a library in <strong>the</strong>ir own neighborhood ra<strong>the</strong>r than OISE/UT’s library<br />
electronically.<br />
I only used library assistants <strong>and</strong> I found <strong>the</strong>m to be helpful <strong>and</strong> prompt.<br />
(student 5)<br />
Getting books, getting resources, copies <strong>of</strong> journal articles, <strong>and</strong> even<br />
doing a search, a literature search ... most people were able to get to a<br />
library. Most <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> students were able to get to a library not too far from<br />
<strong>the</strong>m <strong>and</strong> do that work <strong>the</strong>mselves, but a couple <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>m needed some help<br />
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