ONLINE LEARNING
While definitions of online learning abound in the literature (Goodyear, Salmon, Spector, Steeples & Tickner, 2001; Miller & King, 2003; Palloff & Pratt, 2001), it is comprehensively defined by the course authoring software company, Blackboard, as ‘an approach to teaching and learning that utilizes Internet technologies to communicate and collaborate in an educational context. This includes technology that supplements traditional classroom training with web-based components and learning environments where the educational process is experienced online’ (Blackboard, n.d.).

Salmon (2004) uses the term to refer to a full spectrum of distributed learning opportunities, from hybrid to fully online, wherein “the teacher, instructor, tutor, facilitator – or e-moderator- is operating in the electronic environment along with his or her students, the participants” (p. viii). For the purposes of this paper, the term online learning will be used to refer to the full spectrum of learning opportunities which embrace the learner-centered philosophy of distributed learning and employ digital networks to deliver and support learning (Advisory Committee for Online Learning, 2001).

Online learning has the potential to support a rich and effective learning environment for today’s students. For the learner, there are numerous advantages to learning online, including access to a readily available, democratic environment that provides the learner with choice over when to participate, allows time for reflection and shifts authority and control from the teacher to the student (Salmon, 2004).

The growth of K-12 online learning and its potential for the transformation of teaching and learning are enormous. The literature reveals that it has the potential to provide flexible, collaborative, student-centred, multimedia-rich, authentic, quality learning experiences (Miller & King, 2003; Palloff & Pratt, 2001). However, the research also clearly indicates that this potential cannot be realized without a fundamental shift in not only the institution and the learner, but also the pedagogy and the teacher (Miller & King, 2003). Such a shift requires, in turn, new models for training online teachers who embrace innovation and change (Childs, 2004; Crichton & LaBonte, 2003; Kemshal-Bell, 2001).

ONLINE TEACHING
The general consensus among researchers in this field is that, given the potential that online learning represents for the transformation of teaching and learning and the need for online teaching and learning to be collaborative and student-centered, a new e-pedagogy must be conceptualized and implemented (Brennan, 2003; Bonk, 2001; Coppola, Hiltz & Rotter, 2001; Good, 2001; Miller & King, 2003). As Australian researcher Roslin Brennan states in her 2003 study involving more than three hundred online teachers and students, “It is no longer acceptable to assume that the skills developed in face-to-face teaching can be instantly transferred to the online environment with either ease or good results. The practice of teaching has to be re-conceptualized” (p. 24).

This fundamental shift in pedagogical methodology and the re-conceptualization of teaching that Brennan (2003) calls for require “teachers and trainers who are both confident and comfortable with this new way of working” (Brennan et al., 2001, p. 51). Currently, online teacher training is focused on in-service teachers who often have many years of experience in the traditional classroom (Salmon, 2000). However, preparing for online teaching represents a massive shift in theory and practice for many of these teachers. It appears that the time has come for a new model that introduces pre-service teachers, at a formative point in their teaching careers, to the emerging body of knowledge of effective online pedagogical practices.

Currently, online practitioners are almost exclusively drawn from the ranks of experienced, face-to-face teachers (Salmon, 2000). The literature describes a variety of professional development courses and programs, including structured professional development, web-based community building activities, volunteer teaching as well as conferences and mentoring, designed to train in-service teachers to become effective online teachers (Schofield et al., 2001).

In a qualitative case study of online educators from two rural school districts in Alberta, Canada, researchers gleaned information on the issues faced by online teachers, the skills and knowledge required to be effective and the ongoing professional development required to support online teachers (Crichton & Childs, 2003). These include:

• Technology and Support
  • Application knowledge of software and delivery systems
  • Technical knowledge of software and delivery systems
  • Support for and in the online learning environment
• Online Pedagogy
  • Understanding online classroom management techniques
  • Organizational skills
  • Strategies for engaging and motivating learners
• Opportunities to Practice
  • Experience as an online learner before teaching online

In addition, the need for prospective online teachers to immerse themselves, as online learners, in the environment and to learn by doing is critical to an online teaching training program (Childs, 2004; Crichton & LaBonte, 2003; Gold, 2001; Hansen & Salter, 1999; Salmon, 2000). Becoming an online learner allows a teacher to experience the environment firsthand and determine its complexity, benefits and compatibility with his or her own goals and philosophies (Surry, 2002). In terms of innovation adoption, teachers who have an opportunity to try out an innovation, such as online teaching and learning, are more likely to adopt it than those who do not have such an opportunity (Rogers, 1995). Those who begin teaching online without having experienced the environment as online learners, may attempt to re-create the face-to-face classroom and retreat to ways of teaching that are more comfortable and ingrained and, as a result, seriously limit the enormous potential of this innovative learning approach (Zuber-Skerrit, 1992, as cited in Hansen & Salter, 1999).

One innovative model suggested in a number of research studies (Brennan et al., 2001; Childs, 2004; Kemshal-Bell, 2001) promotes the introduction of online teaching experiences into pre-service teacher education programs. This is the model on which the second phase of this research is focused – a course-based distributed learning experience offered to pre-service teachers at the University of Calgary in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. This course was first offered in the winter semester of 2004 and, having gained in popularity, has subsequently been offered in 2005 and 2006. A brief synopsis of the course and a summary of a research study into the impact of the distributed learning experience on the first cadre of students are described in the next sections of this paper.

Distributed Learning Pre-Service Course
The thirteen-week course, offered during the final semester of a two-year Bachelor of Education program at the University of Calgary, involves both an online component and a practicum component in which the pre-service teachers are partnered with experienced online teachers at the Calgary Board of Education’s online high school, CBe-learn . The design of the course is consistent with the philosophy of the University of Calgary’s Bachelor of Education Program or Master of Teaching program in that it is “learner-focused, inquiry-based and field-oriented” (University of Calgary, 2003, p. 2), providing pre-service teachers with technological support, online pedagogy as well as opportunities to practice.The goals of the course are to:

• Immerse pre-service teachers in the online environment, both as students and teachers
• Provide a practicum experience in which pre-service teachers can observe and work alongside experienced online teachers
• Expose pre-service teachers to a new model of learning and teaching in which learning and teaching are not constrained by the traditional barriers of time and place
• Encourage pre-service teachers to examine underlying assumptions about designing and delivering effective learning experiences.

The course provides a hybrid or blended online learning experience as face-to-face sessions are held at the University of Calgary so that the students, as well as their partner teachers, could participate in hands-on technology workshops to supplement their technical knowledge and assist them in the development of learning objects. Synchronous learning opportunities are also provided using Elluminate Live software, so novice teachers can experience what learning at home, alone, is like.

IMPACT ON PRE-SERVICE TEACHER
In order to determine the impact of the course-based distributed learning experience on the first cadre of students to go through the Special Topics course (Phase Two), research was conducted in the form of a qualitative case study. The research focused on a central question:

What was the impact of the online teaching and learning experience in the course Special Topics: Distributed Learning on pre-service teachers’ understandings of the practice of teaching online?
In particular, what was the impact on their understandings of:
a. the unique skills and competencies required of an online teacher?
b. the unique challenges faced by online teachers?

In terms of knowledge, the data revealed that, at the end of their experience in the Special Topics course, the pre-service teachers appeared to understand a great deal about the practice of online teaching, including the changed role of the teacher and various strategies for motivating and establishing rapport with students without the benefit of visual cues. They appeared to recognize the unique nature of electronic communication and the need for an online teacher to provide not only clear and frequent but also positive feedback to online students. They seemed to understand the highly complex role of web-based instructional design, demonstrated by their thoughtful work in designing and developing engaging, student-centered learning objects. Finally, they demonstrated some understanding of the emerging field of e-pedagogy.

In terms of skills, the pre-service teachers, who came to the course with some expertise in electronic communication but little experience with online learning, were greatly affected by their experience as online teachers and learners. Their learning objects illustrated their abilities to create authentic, student-centered tasks with clear instructions and navigational paths as well as their willingness to make mistakes and take risks along the way. Within the thirteen-week time frame of the Special Topics course, the pre-service teacher participants began to learn and had the opportunity to practice the skill of moderating online discussions although the art of online dialogue and online questioning can take years to master. In the process of creating their learning objects, the pre-service teachers demonstrated their newfound abilities to use the web-based tools within the online Blackboard course as well as a variety of multimedia software programs, with which most had previously been unfamiliar.

The pre-service teachers’ attitudes were also impacted by their experience in this course. Many expressed a changed attitude toward the use of graphics and flashy technology in online design. Even those who, at the end of this experience, favoured the hybrid or blended approach over the wholly online approach appeared to be open-minded and positive about the potential of this new learning environment. In designing and developing their learning objects they demonstrated technological fearlessness and risk-taking as they chose to experiment with new instructional strategies and unfamiliar web-based tools. By virtue of the fact that these novice teachers chose to take the Special Topics: Distributed Learning course from among many other choices, it is likely that most of them brought open-minded, risk-taking attitudes with them. However, at least three of the participants who came to the course with great reservations about online learning finished with positive attitudes toward the new learning environment to which they had been introduced.
In terms of online teaching challenges, the pre-service teachers involved in this case study recognized and wrestled with many of the significant challenges faced by online teachers in the field. These include establishing rapport and communicating with students without seeing them face-to-face, monitoring and assessing student progress, keeping technical skills sharp and up-to-date, using technology to effectively enhance student learning, addressing learner diversity online and coping with the amount of time required for the complex and time-consuming task of online design. The Special Topics course provided the pre-service teachers an opportunity to experience some of these challenges and to discuss solutions among themselves as well as with their partner teachers.

This is not to say that the participants learned all that there is to know about the practice of online teaching. Within the timeframe of a thirteen-week course, that would be impossible. However, their professional growth in terms of knowledge, skills and attitudes indicates that they were greatly impacted by their experience as online teachers and learners and in their collaboration with their partner teachers at CBe-learn.

Although it is impossible to predict exactly how this experience will affect the future practices of these novice teachers, they were asked, on the exit survey and in the focus group discussion, about the impact of this experience on their classroom teaching practice and the use of technology in learning in the future. Their comments reveal the significance of this experience in shaping their future teaching practices as well as a sense of confidence and excitement as they anticipated moving from pre-service preparation to the real world of teaching. For most, the Special Topics course experience opened their eyes to learning options and alternatives that they had not known existed.

Following “Them” into the Field

Phase three of this research contacted students from the first two offerings of the course. Thirteen were located and sent consent letters and surveys via email. Nine of those former students agreed to participate.
Seven had fulltime teaching positions (1 in England,1 in Manitoba, rest in Calgary). Two were employed part-time as substitute teachers. Only five reported that their schools had the infrastructure to support technology use in their teaching. The majority of students reported that taking the course had helped them obtain their present jobs, commenting

• “I think that my comfort level with technology made it possible for me to get this job with CBe-learn.”
• “I was hired in the hopes to bring some technology into these classrooms as the students work purely on … modules which are all paper and textbook based lessons.”
• “The knowledge I gained during the course in terms of working with technology gave me an advantage over other applicants. I was told so by the vice-principal.”

Of greater significance was the reoccurring comment that the course had

… introduced me to a new way of thinking about teaching with technology. Prior to my registration in this course I assumed that email was the extent of integrating technology into the classroom. I have gained a greater appreciation and comfort level with using technology in the classroom. The Special Topics Course taught me something very valuable: using technology has to be a deliberate and conscious act. I should not use technology in the classroom for the sake of introducing something new. It has to be integrated in a way that is meaningful for students.

A statement, repeated by the majority of the students, was the degree to which technology was not being used in their schools. They reported limited assess to technology, limited time to develop content, and limited encouragement within the schools to try innovative distributed learning options. It is important to note that these students were placed in traditional schools, those not offering distributed learning or online learning as a curricular option. However, one of the students, who is employed by CBeLearn, stated she is drawing on all the knowledge and skills learned in the course.
As a concluding question in the survey, students were asked for their suggestions about improving the course. The majority stated they had enjoyed it, found the experience invaluable to their subsequent teaching, and were happy with the way it was structured. They added they wished they had had more time to test their learning objects with “real” students, and then to modify it based on that feedback. Of major significance was the comment that they felt all MT students needed exposure to the option of distributed learning and that

… MT students should be introduced to the resources available for them to use in their courses. I think that there should be a section or day focused on teaching the MT students to use the resources available online.

In many ways, the findings from Phase three were not remarkable. The students had self selected the course as their fourth semester option within the MT program, so they were already either interested in Distributed Learning or confident that the course would offer them something of value to their future work. The sad finding was the degree to which novice teachers in 2006 were facing similar barriers to meaningful technology integration as their predecessors.
The last words in this paper belong to the students of the in the MT course.

… I found this course a most worthwhile learning experience, a veritable treasure trove of supremely practical and useful knowledge for a beginning teacher. … I had previously thought of online learning as a completely separate alternative to traditional classroom based instruction. Never had I taught of blending the two in such a way to benefit from both environments, adding further differentiation strategies to my pedagogical knowledge base. … Flexibility is what blended learning offers and I look forward to making it a part of my repertoire in September.

 

REFERENCES
Advisory Committee for Online Learning. (2001). The e-learning e-volution in colleges and universities: a pan Canadian challenge. Retrieved September 15, 2004 from Industry Canada Web Site: http://mig-gam.ic.gc.casitesacol-ccael/em/report/index.html

Blackboard. (n.d.). Retrieved September 6, 04, from http://www.blackboard.com/

Brennan, R. (2003). One Size Doesn't Fit All (ISBN 1 4096 157 9). Retrieved August 12, 04 from http://www.ncver.edu.au

Brennan, R., McFadden, M., & Law, E. (2001). All That Glitters is not Gold. Australia: National Center for Vocational Education Research.

Crichton, S., & Childs, E. (2005). Clipping and Coding Audio Files: A Research Method to Enable Participant Voice.

Crichton, S., & Childs, E. A. (2003). Teachers as Online Educators: Requirements for Distributed Learning and Teacher Preparation. Educational Technology, 44(4), 25-30.

Crichton, S., & Kinash, S. (2003). Virtual Ethnography: Interactive Interviewing Online as Method. Canadian Journal of Learning and Technology, 29(2), . Retrieved November 19, 04, from http://www.cjlt.ca/content/vol29.2/cjlt29-2_art-5.html

Crichton, S., & LaBonte, R. (2003). Innovative Practice for Innovators: Walking the Talk. Education Technology and Society, 6(1) . Retrieved October 15,04 from: http://ifets.ieee.org/periodical/vol_1_2003/crichton.html

Good, M. On the Way to Online Pedagogy. In John Stephenson (Ed.), Teaching & Learning Online (pp. 166-174). London: Kogan Page.

Goodyear, P., Salmon, G., Spector, J. M., Steeples, C., & Tickner, S. (2001). Competencies for Online Teaching: A Special Report. Educational Technology Research and Development, 49(1), 65-72.

Shervey, G. (2005). Pre-Service Teachers and Online Teaching. Unpublished thesis, University of Calgary.

Surry, D. W. (2002, April). A Model for Integrating Instructional Technology into Higher Education. Paper presented at the meeting of the The Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association. New Orleans, LA.

University of Calgary. (2003). Mentoring Student Teachers [Brochure]. Calgary, Alberta: Author. Retrieved January 10, 04, from http://www.educ.ucalgary.ca