Papers Presented at the 2nd National NADEOSA Conference
Held 21-22 August 2000

Author:
Carol Bertram

Title:
A mixed mode distance education model for teacher education: Rationale, student experiences and quality

Abstract:
Pressures of globalization, demands of new legislative and education policy frameworks, and shifts in student profiles in South African higher education institutions are some issues to which public providers of higher education have to strategically and innovatively respond. One innovative response at the University of Natal has been a shift from a purely contact mode for teacher education to a mixed mode materials-based distance education model.

The paper examines the rationale and the model of delivery used by the Bachelor of Education programme for teachers, presents results of a recent qualitative study of student experiences of the module, and discusses implications of these findings for the quality of learning on the programme.

Recent interviews with students attempted to unravel students perceptions and experience of our mode of delivery in a more detailed and qualitative way. The paper explores student experiences of working through the materials and of attending the formal tutorial sessions, as well as the important role played by informal study groups. The paper reflects on the two parallel processes of informal and formal support groups, as well as the implications of the mixed mode delivery for the quality of the learning experience. It also recommends possible ways of improving the quality of learning within the mixed mode model.

Introduction

Teacher education in South Africa is in a state of fluid transition. The Norms and Standards for Teacher Education, gazetted in February 2000, give substance to the competences which teachers are expected to have. Teacher education is moving from a provincial to a national competence, to be lodged with Universities and technikons rather than colleges. In the context of an outcomes-based curriculum policy, the need for quality teacher education is more vital than ever. This paper discusses a mixed mode teacher education programme. It has three sections: the first provides a rationale for a mixed mode delivery, the second explores the findings from focus group interviews with some students, and the third section discusses the implications of these findings for the quality of learning.

Why use distance education for teacher education?

Using distance education is a viable mode to reach the in-service teachers in the country, as it enables teachers to continue working while studying, and also opens access to teachers in rural areas. It obviously also enables the University to enrol more students than it would on a face-to-face programme. The University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, in partnership with the South African College for Teacher Education, offers a dual mode Bachelor of Education (B.Ed) to teachers who have a four-year teaching qualification.

The aim of this B.Ed is to prepare teachers for a new era in education through the development of a broader understanding of current educational policies and debates, a deeper understanding of teaching practice and of better critical thinking, problem-solving and communication skills. There is a strong focus on applying theoretical concepts to practice and on encouraging teachers to reflect on their own practice in the light of what they are learning (Bertram, 1999:2).

A mixed mode delivery

The B.Ed programme combines both printed material and four tutorial sessions per module. The material consists of a Learning Guide which is the primary "teacher", and a Reader consisting of key readings for the module. The material is written is a style that aims to relate learning to students’ school experiences and to encourage them to work actively with the material, by reading, thinking and writing responses to activities. The main purpose of the tutorial session is to give students the opportunity to apply, discuss and debate the theories and concepts they have learned through the Learning Guide. New material is not introduced at tutorial sessions. Rather tutors facilitate small group tasks and discussions where students articulate and apply their understanding. The delivery mode demands that students work through a Unit of the Learning Guide, completing all the in-text activities and the assignment at home, before attending the contact tutorial session

Students (who are full-time teachers) complete 8 self-contained courses or modules, usually over a period of 2 years, studying part-time. Most students take two modules per semester. Each module is structured into three study Units. Every month on a Saturday, there is a 6-hour contact session dedicated to one of the three Units, as well as a 3 hour session at the end of the module for exam preparation, and to wrap up the course.

Why have a mixed mode delivery model?

a) Tutorials are a key component of a quality programme

The quality of distance education in South Africa was questioned by an International Commission in 1994, as well as the SAIDE Teacher Education Audit of 1996. The International Commission was concerned by the low through-put rates and high drop-out rates caused in part by the almost total lack of student support facilities, such as tutorials and by inaccessible materials. The SAIDE Audit reported that teacher education at a distance was characterised by poor quality print materials designed in a didactic, content-centred manner, with a lack of face-to-face tutorial support for students (Butcher, 1996:10).

A major step towards developing a quality programme is to ensure that materials are well-structured, interactive, written in a problem-centred style, and that tutorial support is provided. Perraton states that "the measures we need to take to raise the quality of a process of distance education all increase interaction between students and tutors or amongst students..." (1995:182). Thus the key reason for offering a dual mode B.Ed is the belief that it would enhance the quality of the students’ learning experience and provide support for students, the vast majority of whom do not have English as their home language, nor have previously studied at a University.

b) Supports different learning interactions

Moore (1989) suggests that a number of different learning interactions occur in distance learning. One is learner-content interaction - the interaction between the learner and the subject of study, which hopefully results in understanding, and not merely in rote memorisation of text. Another is learner-teacher interaction - the interaction between the learner and the ‘expert’ who prepared the materials, or a person with some expertise who is acting as instructor or tutor. In this situation the teacher stimulates interest and motivation and organises activities which would deepen understanding. This teacher role can be embedded in the text, creating what Holmberg (1986) calls a ‘guided didactic conversation’. Another interaction is student-student interaction, where students talk to one another about what they are learning.

A dual delivery mode affords students all three of these levels of interaction.

c. Provides opportunity for application and "deep" learning

For the B.Ed programme to be successful, students must be able to move beyond simply knowing information (surface learning) to being able to understand and use that information (deep learning). Deep learning and understanding is encouraged when students have to use the theories or concepts they have learned and apply them in different situations and when they have the opportunity to talk about the ideas and see other peoples’ perspectives. Garrison (1989) says that information can be easily transmitted through one way communication, but that to develop knowledge requires two-way communication.

d. Provides a supportive learning environment

Distance education can be a lonely and isolating experience, which is one of the reasons for the high drop-out and failure rate of distance courses. Tutorial sessions give students the opportunity to meet with other students, for motivation and support as well as to learn from one another.

The tutorial sessions also serve as a "marker" for the submission of completed in-text activities and assignments. This helps to give structure to the students’ learning experience, although it also means that the learning experience is less open and less flexible. Attending tutorial sessions obviously anchors a portion of the learning experience in a specific time and space, leaving only the individual study component as open and flexible in students’ own time and space. There is the reality that the more structured student support in a programme, the less open it can be. Tutorials do mean that rural students still have to travel a fair distance to their nearest Learning Centre.

Does the mixed-mode delivery add value?

Obviously a mixed-mode delivery is more expensive than a purely print-based programme and requires a complex process of selecting, training and monitoring tutors, and managing a number of Regional Learning Centres around the country. So it is important to know whether the tutorial sessions indeed add significant value or quality to the learning experience. We asked students what they think about the mode of delivery and whether they find the approach valuable. The paper now turns to the methodology of these interviews, and the findings. It will end with a discussion of the implications of these findings for the B.Ed programme.

Methodology

The purpose of the study was to get a more detailed understanding of students’ experience of the B.Ed programme, with a focus on how the delivery mode aids (or hinders) their learning. We proposed to interview approximately 30 students in five focus groups. Ultimately we interviewed 16 students in five focus groups, because there were often fewer students present in a group than we had expected.

Tutors in Durban, Greytown, Kokstad and Pietermartizburg asked their students to volunteer to be interviewed. The researchers followed up on the names given and set up a time and venue which suited the group of students. Four of the five groups were students who studied together in informal groups. This was essentially for the ease of logistical arrangements, since we could arrange the focus interview at a time and place where the study group usually met. The role of the informal study group thus became a major focus of the study.

One researcher conducted the interview, which was a semi-structured schedule comprising 13 questions, which the other researcher made detailed notes. Each focus group was recorded, and the written notes were fleshed out later, while listening to the recording.

The following table shows the number and profile of the students who were interviewed.

Table 1: Profile of students interviewed

Students' experiences of a mixed mode model

The B.Ed delivery model is based on the premise that there are two key sites of learning - individual study of Learning Guides and Reader at home and learning in the formal tutorial groups. The importance of another site of learning was clarified by the student interviews - that of the informal, student-initiated study group. The findings will therefore be organised around student’s experiences of individual study and of group study (both formal tut groups and informal groups). It becomes clear that for most students these "sites of learning" complement and strengthen one another.

Individual learning

One definition of distance education is that the teacher and learner are separated in time and space and the learning material plays the role of the teacher. Learning happens when students interact with their learning material on an individual basis, at a time and in a space which suits them, before finding support from fellow students, tutors or lecturers (this support may be face-to-face, or over the phone or via email). Thus it is interesting that for eight students who are part of three of the informal study groups interviewed, their first interaction with the material is in their informal study group. The individual study that these students do takes place after group discussion, when they "write the activities in their own words, from the discussions".

A student who attended the Umlazi study group on Saturdays, was also part of a study group in Highflats where she works during the week. She said that she did not interact with the material at all on her own. All interaction with the material was in the informal study group, which meets for three afternoons a week, depending on how many activities there are. This practice does raise the question of how much these students are internalising the material, since they are not engaging with it at all as an individual. The worst case scenario is that the weaker students simply copy the activity answers from the others, without real understanding.

The responses from students about how much time they spent studying each module at home, were enormously varied. The Greytown and Pietermaritzburg students who already spend two hours per day studying in their informal group said that they spent an additional hour at home every evening. This amounts to 12 - 15 hours per week This seems to be on track, in that the notional learning hours per module is 150 - 160 hours, or 600 notional leaning hours per year. To complete 600 hours per year, students would need to study for15 hours per week for 40 weeks a year.

This time is similar to a Pinetown student who said he spent "probably 3 - 4 days a week working from 8 -12pm. I’m slow, I read and read and read again. Doing the activities takes time. Upwards of 12 hours per week" In contrast, another Pinetown student said that she can get through all the activities of one Unit in an afternoon, if she has read the Unit and readings previously. Another said that the time he spends is not structured, but he generally allows one week for activities and one week for the assignment.

One primary school teacher said that she did very little work at home because she did it during school hours. She simply introduces a topic to her learners, and then goes to her desk to read through the materials and answer the activities and assignments. She acknowledges that she is "stealing the Department’s time" but feels that this is justified if she keeps up to date with her school work. In this situation, the B.Ed is sadly having a negative impact on practice!

Learning in formal tutorial groups

Among students from the five focus group interviews there emerged two distinct opinions on the usefulness of the formal tutorial sessions. Twelve students (from four groups) said that the tutorials were very useful - primarily for clarifying concepts, as well as for sharing ideas with other students. They said that the course could not be successful without them. One student said that "I came running to this B.Ed because there were tut sessions".

The following quotes from students illustrate their appreciation of the tutorials:

"Very useful. They emphasise the module and then the tutor can explain something, the concepts. They are challenging. There are some questions, you have to answer them honestly and you can tackle the problem and other students can help you."

"I would struggle if there were no tut session. It makes it more user-friendly when you know that this day I will sit with somebody who has an idea, who will guide us and give direction. Otherwise it would be more like XXXX, it is just a correspondence course."

For these students the tutorial sessions were very important for academic reasons - that concepts could be clarified and problems discussed. Often it was the tutor who was seen as the important person who would "sort out our confusions for us". Only one person mentioned that tutorials were useful for the benefit of learning from other colleagues. So even though the co-ordinators of the B.Ed see the tutorials as a place where students learn from one another, for students it seems like the tutor plays a key role in the tut session.

A different view from one focus group of four students was that the tutorial sessions were useful in terms of seeing other people’s views and experiences, but academically, the tutorials were not necessary. They found the tutorials an often frustrating experience, particularly when many students have not completed the work on which the discussions are based.

The following quote summed up this viewpoint:

"Not for the actual academic information, but it has been useful, as a teacher, seeing other peoples' views and other people's experiences, and actually growing as person, but as far as passing the exam, we can do without it. Academically, we can do without the tutorial sessions, but for personal growth and ... to realise the hardships that some teachers are experiencing and sharing it is very valuable."

Thus these students recognised the value of learning as a social activity, and the importance of seeing other teachers’ experiences. But they did not find that the tutorials were necessary or useful in terms of clarifying or deepening concepts - the material was sufficient to do this. These students have English as a first language. They were probably more autonomous learners who are confident of their ability to learn concepts only from print.

Informal study groups

Fourteen of the sixteen students interviewed were part of an informal study group. One woman was involved with two groups - both the Umlazi study group which meets every second Saturday, and a group in Highflats which is where she works during the week. Thus six informal study groups were represented by the students we interviewed

All six informal study groups represented (Pietermaritzburg, Umlazi, Pinetown, Highflats, Lusikisiki, Greytown) said that the group had begun as a result of teachers meeting one another at the formal contact sessions. The study groups demand varying commitments from their members. Some groups meet every weekday, while others meet more sporadically. The Greytown, Highflats and Pietermaritzburg group each consists of four to six women who meet every weekday for two to three hours. According to the 2000 B.Ed Student Evaluation, a quarter of the informal study groups meet every weekday.

The Umlazi group comprises about 12 women, but not all would attend any one meeting. They meet every second Saturday (when there is no formal contact session). The Pinetown group meet two or three times per module, usually to prepare for the exams. The Lusikisiki group also meets less regularly, but particularly when assignments are due.

Role of the informal group

The role of the informal group also differs. All three groups which meet three to four times a week "work through the workbook activities together and then go home and write them in our words from the discussion." Thus their initial interaction with the material is in a group, and not as an individual. The other groups who meet twice a month or less, do all the activities and readings individually first and use the group as a place for discussing assignment tasks, and not for doing all the in-text activities. The Pinetown group meets once or twice per module to prepare for the exams together.

The way the informal group is structured is obviously dependent on the amount of time available to students, as well as their perceived ability to deal competently with the material on their own.

Benefits of the informal study group

For all the informal groups, the benefits of belonging to such a group are that the groups provide encouragement and support, as well as a sense of motivation due to peer pressure.

"It provides a forum for competition and encouragement - I can see how much other people have done for the activities."

The study groups also provide self-made deadlines for students which keep them on track with their work. "The informal groups are a motivator - we try to be prepared when we meet"

The groups that do all the activities and reading together find it a help to do so within the group.

"By reading together we gain understanding from others. I was reading things over again (on my own), and I just didn't get it, but if we read together...."

The groups are clear about the academic benefits of belonging to an informal study group. One teacher from the Greytown group said that she failed her first semester because she was working on her own, but passed the second semester because she began working with the study group. A student from Umlazi said that the informal group helped her to pass her exams.

Together with the academic benefits, the Pietermaritzburg group also mentioned that their study group provided emotional support for one another.

"We meet Monday to Thursday evening from 6 - 9pm. Our families have to sacrifice. We usually get high marks in our assignments because we discuss the assignments together and the activities and then go back home and write them on our own. We are now all friends. If one person has a problem we go to her and help her - we have become friends and family. Just recently one of us lost her brother - we have been there, helping her."

Student’s perceptions of the impact of the B.Ed

One way to measure the quality of a teacher education programme, and its mode of delivery is to attempt to measure the impact it has on teacher practice or attitudes. The B.Ed does not have as an explicit aim to change practice for two reasons: it is presently framed as an academic and not a professional qualification; and because we don’t have the capacity to verify whether practice has changed, or improved. At an implicit level, however, the writers and co-ordinators of the B.Ed believe that what students learn in the realm of knowledge, skills and beliefs will impact their practice for the better. We hope the B.Ed will open students to new ways of thinking about and understanding their own practice. Many of the assignment tasks are classroom based, requiring students to use their learning in an authentic context. At this stage we can only rely on student perceptions of how their learning has impacted on their professional lives, as we do not have the empirical evidence which a baseline study would provide.

All students acknowledged that the B.Ed had had a positive impact on their lives as teachers and principals. We have already mentioned the one case where this is clearly untrue - the student who studies during class time, instead of teaching! We will examine the impact with regard to: knowledge, development of skills and values and beliefs.

Knowledge

Most students highlighted the impact of gaining knowledge, particularly about new education policies in the Education Law and Classroom Studies modules.

"The B.Ed has impacted well - management (of my school) asked me to provide them with the material so that they can draft school policy, like the Code of Conduct."

"Working with the Inspectorate, it helps me to understand the laws and policies which I use to guide the schools."

"I did not understand OBE before, but now I understand it well."
"In Education Law I learned that a learner should not be expelled by an HOD or a teacher, this should be done by the Department"

Development of skills leading to a change in practice

A few teachers gave some indication that they had developed new skills which in turn meant that their practice had been impacted in some way.

"This B.Ed is very relevant to our teaching. The theories I learned in Classroom Studies are useful. In fact, all the modules are more relevant and are useful to our classroom practice. I gained some skills in developing the school. There was a boundary between the school and the community where I work. I talked to the School management team about new skills - I am the HOD. We didn't have a school policy, and now have a school policy. It was School Organisation and Change."

Values and beliefs

The B.Ed has been based on the assumption that a person’s values and beliefs about education (together with school culture, context, management/leadership styles, resources etc.) inform the way in which he or she teaches. Thus a change in beliefs should impact positively on practice. Only one teacher articulated very clearly how this had happened. The Teaching and Learning module had impacted at a deep level, causing her to evaluate her beliefs and as a result, also her teaching practice. Her experience is framed in words that echo a religious conversion.

"After studying Learning and Teaching I am now a new person. I used to believe in the corporal punishment. I knew that the corporal punishment was outlawed but I was still using it because I believed in it. I used to believe that the black child needs the stick, because we are brought up by the stick. The government...when abolishing this corporal punishment, is talking about the white children, not the black children. But now I have seen the disadvantages of corporal punishment. I have seen how I abused the children. I have now learned new skills to discipline my children and am learning to use positive reinforcements. Even my children - they expect me to punish them in the way that I used to be, but now there are no more sticks. I have done away with the stick. The change is working bit by bit. ... I am a new person."

Discussion of key themes emerging from the interviews

Formal tutorial sessions

For the majority of learners, the tutorial session is a useful component of the B.Ed learning process. It gives students an opportunity to clarify concepts they did not fully understand, as well as an opportunity to interact with other students. However, for the minority of students (most of whom have English as their home language) who read competently and are confident, autonomous learners, the tutorial sessions can be tedious. This is particularly so when tutors feel obliged to lecture material because some students have not prepared and thus do not have even an initial understanding of the key concepts and theories. In this situation, the tutorial sessions take the role of delivering information, rather than developing understanding.

The mixed mode delivery is designed to work when all students work thoroughly through the Learning Guide material and in-text activities before coming to the tutorial sessions. In practice this does not always work. The B.Ed has very different requirements from most other distance courses students have studied on before, and students need to adjust to the structure and begin to take responsibility for their own learning.

Implications of informal study groups

The enormous number of students who are part of informal study groups, and who are very diligent about meeting in these groups, shows that students are making an effort to take responsibility for their own learning. Informal study groups, which are driven by students, seem to epitomise collaborative learning principles.

However, these study groups may not necessarily be fostering individual responsibility and autonomy. Depending on how the learning process takes place, the groups may in fact be hindering students from becoming independent and self-reliant learners. This may be particularly so when students substitute individual learning with learning in their informal group. The B.Ed aims to develop reflective practictioners who are able to think about their own practice. If students do not engage with the material at all as individuals, the possibility of them using their understanding to think about their own practice seems remote.

There also may be situations where students are simply sharing their ignorance and misconceptions about a particular concept or theory, yet are under the impression that they have understood it. In bigger groups, some students may be left behind and have the mistaken impression that because the group has understood a particular theory or concept, they too have understood it. However, these potential group misconceptions can be cleared up in the formal tutor-led sessions. As one student put it "the tut groups give us the way forward - if we are wrong, we can find out."

There also may be disadvantages when it comes to assessing students. A tutor who is confronted with a number of assignments which look very similar, may assume that students have copied from one another, while students say that the similarities arise from these ideas being discussed in their informal groups. While we do want to encourage collaborative learning, students still need to receive individual grades in order to pass a module. Preparation for assignments in groups may mean that some students have not thought through a problem or idea at all themselves, but are simply writing down what the group decided.

This is speculation at present, because we do not really know how learning happens within the informal tut groups. We need to observe these informal groups in progress to understand better the learning process within these groups. Perhaps the next step is for an in-depth study which tracks a few students to examine more closely how the different sites of learning (individual interacting with the material, informal peer group interacting with the material, and peer group with a tutor) add to and develop students’ understanding of the course material.

Conclusion

This paper has explored students’ experiences of a mixed-mode delivery B.Ed programme, with a particular emphasis on their experiences of learning. Their perceptions seem to indicate that the mixed mode delivery of the B.Ed is adding quality to the course. Certainly most students seemed to indicate that the course would not be successful without the tutorial sessions.

In addition to the learning material and formal tutorial sessions, there are a large number of students who are part of informal study groups, which obviously improve the quality of their learning experience. It is interesting to note that historically distance education emphasises a very Western and individual way of learning: that of the single student interacting with the learning material (often text). Many of the B.Ed students are rejecting this model by setting up informal study groups, where they interact with the material as a group. Possible reasons for this are that students come from a more collaborative culture, and because they lack the competence and confidence to read well, and to gain meaning and understanding from text alone.

It seems to suggest that South African models of distance education will be less successful if students have no opportunity to learn with other students.

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Dr Fred Barasa for interviewing students with me, and to Vijay Reddy, John Aitchison, Lampies Cornelius and Carol Thomson for their helpful comments on drafts of this paper.

References

Bertram, C. (1999) Delivering a quality B.Ed - reflecting on the UN/SACTE experience, Paper delivered at the First NADEOSA National Conference, August 1999, Pretoria.

Bertram, C. (2000) Student Evaluation of the UN/SACTE B.Ed: June 2000, Unpublished report, School of Education, Training and Development, UNP.

Butcher, N. (1996) The investigation of teacher education at a distance in South Africa, Open Learning through Distance Education, 2 (1).

Fraser, W.J. and van Staden, C.J.S. (1996) Students’ opinions on factors influencing drop out rates and performance at distance education institutions, South African Journal of Education, 16 (4).

Garrison, R. (1989) Understanding distance education: a framework for the future. New York: Routledge

Holmberg, B. (1986) The growth and structure of distance education London: Croom Helm

Hodgson, B. (1993) Key terms and issues in open and distance learning, London: Kogan Page

Moore, M.G. (1989) Three types of interaction. American Journal of Distance Education 3(2)

Perraton, H.D. (1995) Quality in Distance Education. In One World, Many Voices: Quality in Open and Distance Learning. Selected papers from the 17^th World Conference of the International Council for Distance Education, Birmingham, United Kingdom, June 1995, ed. D. Stewart. Milton Keynes, UK: The Open University

SAIDE (1995) Open Learning and Distance Education in South Africa: Report of an International Commission, January - April 1994. Manzini: MacMillan

SAIDE (1996) Teacher Education offered at a distance in South Africa: summary of the report for the National Audit by the South African Institute of Distance Education. Braamfontein: SAIDE/Juta

Sparkes, J.J. (1992) The Quest for Quality in Distance Education in G. Ortner, K.Graaf, and H. Wilmersdorfer (Eds) (1992) Distance Education as two-way communication: essays in honour of Borje Holmborg. Frankfurt-am-Main: Peter Lang.

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