The Infoshare Module: Using Collaborative Asynchronous Training to Improve Web Search skills

(Journal of Educational Media International)

Lucio Teles & Julia Rylands
Simon Fraser University & Pace Technologies & Industrial Research Assistance Program.

This paper discusses the design, development, and implementation of a collaborative learning environment for online training. "Infoshare on the Web" was designed to teach participants how to use and/or improve their use of Web search engines to access information on the Web. Participants collaborated in completing group tasks using asynchronous communication provided by Simon Fraser’s Virtual-U, a Web-based environment that supports distance education, information sharing, and training. The module was delivered in four weeks, and participants found both advantages and limitations in the use of asynchronous environments for training.

Introduction: The Knowledge-Based Economy

As societies move into a knowledge-based economy, the skills and knowledge required to work, to learn, and to communicate are changing. The impact of information technology on society and education is profound, and it will have long-term effects. New concepts such as intellective skills (Zuboff, 1988), online learning (Harasim, 1990), and groupware (Johnson-Lenz, P. & T., 1986) have been coined to describe tools, behaviours, and processes unique to the emergent knowledge-based economy.

This economy is being built upon a broadband telecommunication infrastructure, the "information highway," which supports interactive video, voice, and text and allows access to a wide range of Internet resources and advanced computing operations for banking, shopping, communicating, learning, and finding information. Those who operate using this infrastructure are called knowledge workers. This infrastructure also makes it possible to develop unique environments for learning and training based on networking and the creation of communities of learners.

The knowledge-based economy increases the production of knowledge at a rapid pace, and new information becomes available every day. In 1982, the volume of information (scientific, corporate, and technical) was doubling every 5 years. By 1988, it was doubling every 2.2 years; in 1992, every 1.6 years. To keep up with the expanding flow, knowledge workers need to know how to access information quickly.

Collaborative Asynchronous Training

It has been noted that students no longer go to universities just to acquire a finite body of knowledge; they now want to “learn how to learn,” how to renew themselves continuously intellectually in order to keep pace with the demands that will be placed on the knowledge worker of the twenty first century. It is predicted that for a person to remain gainfully employed in the emerging knowledge economy an equivalent of 30 credit hours will be required every seven years. (Lick, 1996).

Online asynchronous training allows participants to have access to information and engage in collaborative tasks and ongoing discussions at times that fit their own schedules. Collaborative learning may also give participants multiple perspectives on a topic (Harasim, 1997; Langer, 1997) and so foster the development of their problem-solving skills as they undertake learning tasks. Online classrooms are being used in many subject areas to offer credit courses and to facilitate knowledge sharing (Richards et al., 1997). Recently, online environments have also been customized for corporate training.

The InfoShare Module

The Infoshare Module was offered from mid-September to mid-October 1996. It had 24 active participants, members of the National Research Council’s Industrial Research Assistance Program in British Columbia. They were located mainly in the Lower Mainland, but some were in other cities in British Columbia and one was in Ottawa.

Participants were split into two online groups of 12 members each. The Infoshare Module includes a topic and a task for each week. In the introductory face-to-face session, participants were trained in the use of Virtual-U and provided with course materials and module requirements. The following three sessions were held entirely online and focused on introducing participants to Web search engines and having them generate a Web resource list containing sites relevant to patents, intellectual property, marketing, and financial planning for their professional needs.

Web Search Engines

Search engines on the Web (such as Excite, Infoseek, Alta Vista, Yahoo!, and others) are software packages that facilitate information access and retrieval, and they are supported by extensive databases of information collected through indexing tools, new service announcements, and user input. These databases are continuously updated. They use a wide variety of search methodologies, but search words are typically written in natural English and they may use keyword control and Boolean options. Search engines examine the Web database of indexed documents, extract those related to user's choice, and return a list of found documents. In this module, we focused on one search engine, Alta Vista.

Course Design

Each participant had access to four conferences, as shown in the diagram below.

Figure 1: Structure of the Infoshare Module

The Cafe was for informal discussion; Resources, for sharing information; Help, for technical help; and either Group A or B for collaborative tasks. Participants also had a group email list, and they could reach the instructor via email or conference messages.

At the introductory face-to-face session participants were given print material containing information about course objectives and topics for each session, which was also available online. Additional readings included online articles from other sites, which could be reached by pointers from the online course.

The course sessions began on Monday mornings with an electronic lecture, which was followed by individual and group tasks. Since the objective was to learn how to use Alta Vista, participants were given tasks that required them to use the instructions in Alta Vista’s Manual for Short and Advanced Commands. For group tasks, participants used the two group conferences. In a typical module task (week three), participants had to identify a Website using an Internet search engine (preferably Alta Vista). In the fourth week, they were expected to generate a list of Websites relevant to their work. Participants generated a list of 33 Web sites relevant to their work in areas such as intellectual property, patent, global market , and others.

Course Activities and Patterns of Interaction

A total of 226 messages were generated in the four-week period, with an average of 9.5 messages per participant.

Figure 2: Number of Online Messages per Conference

Participants contributed to all of the conferences. The most active conference was Module 1B where 58 messages were generated, followed by the CafŽ with 57 messages. Most of the messages were of the collaborative type with participants asking a question, addressing a colleague, or responding to someone else's question or comment.

Figure 3 summarizes the interaction patterns of one conference, Module 1B, with a total of 75 messages, of which the instructor produced 17 and participants generated 58.

The category “Participants' responses to course topic” includes messages that were students’ responses to the weekly topic; “Participant-to-participant messaging” refers to messages participants sent to one another; “Instructor’s responses to participants” are the instructor’s replies to participants’ questions or comments on participants’ tasks.

Figure 3: Interaction patterns

Conference messages were also analyzed to identify what type of messages participants used to communicate (text only, text + hyperlinks, text + multimedia, text + hyperlinks + multimedia) and to identify communication patterns, as shown in Figure 4.

Figure 4: Message type

What we have learned

In the four-week period during which the module was delivered, we learned a great deal about offering a training module online. In a survey conducted as part of the module, participants identified six sources of information they routinely used for their professional needs in counseling industries on various matters, from financial planning to marketing and intellectual property. These sources of information were identified and ranked as follows: 1. workplace colleague, 2. network of professional colleagues, 3. a database called CISTI, housed in a server in the company’s headquarters, 4. various journal and magazines, 5. certain Websites, 6. the Web.

The survey information was combined with the analysis of course information shown in the tables to investigate why the Web was the lowest ranked resource for information access. One factor was obviously the lack of appropriate skills among some participants. Clearly, the limitations of existing search engines also affected whether or not they chose the Web as a source of information. (For certain scientific areas, for example, Astronomy, Information Science, and others, the Web is known for being the best and most up-to-date source of information.)

Another factor that may have contributed to the low ranking of the Web as a source of information is familiarity with traditional sources of information. Although the Web provides much up-to-date information on various areas, information that cannot be found anywhere else, many still see it as difficult to use. Using it to find information requires dedicated time commitment because existing search engines are still limited in their efficiency.

Other items we have learned about include the impact of technical problems, the heterogeneity of the group, institutional commitment, and evaluation mechanisms to assess employees’ participation in the online training. These are discussed next.

Issues Affecting Optimal Performance

Many issues affected the delivery of the online module, mainly technical problems, interface design, and time commitment required for learning how to use existing Web search engines.

Network operations problems affected the project, particularly in the first week, which slowed down participants' connections to the course. The usability of the interface itself also generated a number of messages, especially in the CafŽ and Resource section. Most messages addressed the issue whether or not to use frames in the Web page presentation. With frames, different layers of texts can be shown in the Web window at the same time.

Some participants found that the experience of conducting a search via Web engines was useful but said that having the technical skills alone could not have taken them to desired results. They stated that they needed to use problem-solving strategies and to have persistence to find sites. Others felt that Boolean operators have no value on the Web. In addition, a number noted that the use of sources of information outside the Web, such as the Information Specialist, the collegial network, and personal contacts, can be very useful to identify resources. Most agreed that more powerful Web search engines are needed.

Other Challenges

1. The group was very heterogeneous in terms of participants' Web search skills and familiarity with online environments: some could be considered advanced users, while others were beginners.

2. Participants were used to face-to-face learning approaches that combined a presentation with a question and answer period. Collaboration with peers was seen as an activity normally conducted face-to-face or through a telephone calls. Online collaboration on the Web was a new concept, and there was a learning curve in this regard.

3. Having to learn a new software application that was in development and dealing with a changing interface also affected the use of the module.

4. The time it took to connect and download using a modem, especially where course material included diagrams and multimedia, was substantial and contributed to feelings of frustration in regard to network speed;

5. Motivation and commitment to learning the task are required. In face-to-face training workshops, participants have to "show up and stay," and a similar concept needs to be implemented for online environments that do not rely on physical attendance. Usage statistics should be kept to show participants’ logon times and to monitor task completion monitoring. Commitment to the course is shown by regular logon and student contribution to group tasks.

Conclusions

The total number of messages generated in three weeks is significant and shows active participation. In some cases, a particular topic of discussion led to a thread of discussion containing three or four messages.

Most of the messages were from peer to peer, which shows a high level of interaction and collaboration. As the message type chart shows, most messages were text only, but hyperlinks were frequently used, and some multimedia effects were added to messages, such as pictures, diagrams, and so on. Multimedia effects, however, have the disadvantage of slowing the system because downloading pictures, videos, and diagrams takes a considerable amount of time.

More research on the system features that best support collaborative work and which training techniques work best in asynchronous environments is still needed. In addition, although this particular topic can be taught using an asynchronous environment, it is clear from follow on modules presented to this same group that not all content matter can be taught in this manner.

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