Part of the set up to my thesis was establishing the shift towards Internet enabled education and the shifts toward using technology. The rapid growth of connections has had a huge impact on the ways we interact with one another. Also, as noted below, broadband access was not commonly available while I was doing my research. This needs to be accounted for within some of my assumptions. But the rapidity with which these changes have occurred and the effects of them are telling.
{Begin extract}
Perhaps the most significant change in the provision of Australian higher education in recent years has been the integration of the Internet and related technologies into the teaching-learning process. These technologies have had a significant impact on how education is implemented (Jefferies and Hussain, 1998). The high rate of uptake and ownership of personal computers, the relatively low (and decreasing) cost of obtaining the technology and the short period in which they have been available have resulted in radical, sudden changes (Hilton, 1999). To elaborate on this impact, the following sections discuss some key features of these changes, which are now significantly influencing contemporary educational practices. In particular, this discussion highlights how rapidly these changes have occurred and been incorporated into education practice.
In 1982, the protocol, Transmission Control Protocol over Internet Protocol – TCP/IP which allows different computers to communicate, and on which the Internet is based, was developed (Howe, 1993). In 1984, the total number of nodes (i.e. individual servers which act in a similar way to telephone exchanges) on the newly forming Internet numbered around 1000 (Hardy, 1993). Today {2004}, this is less than the number of individuals who are often involved in a single email discussion list hosted on a single node of the Internet. In the same year, William Gibson coined the term ‘cyberspace’ in his novel Neuromancer (Gibson, 1984). This word now pervades our language when speaking of the Internet.
In 1989, the first commercial electronic mail carriers (MCI Mail and Compuserve) appeared on the Internet. Also in 1989, Australia joined the National Science Foundation Network (NSFNET) after having established a permanent email link with the United States of America (USA). In 1992, database searches were still being performed via dial-up calls to the USA. These searches are now performed routinely by individuals around the globe, using a computer connected to the Internet.
{Digression}
It’s now just 20 years since Australia joined the network. I could never find the date when we first had an email link. It seems lost in the dimness of time – like the first email (which contained something like ‘qwerty’). The reference to 1992 database searches was my own experience of trying to do a literature review from Bendigo. There was so much planning before a search – what keywords do I want to use, how should they be combined, how many years do we search, how many records do we retrieve. All this done before the search was initiated and then we just plugged them in, retrieved the set and disconnected. The mindset was totally different. I think I was allowed a maximum of four searches. I do that many (at least) a day now.
{End digression}
Over the last 15 years, there has been phenomenal growth in the use of internet technologies. One of these technologies, electronic mail (email), has probably had the most far-reaching consequences for students and the ways in which their learning is supported. The introduction of the LISTSERV application in 1986 (Hardy, 1993) and the release of Majordomo software in 1992 (Chapman, 1992) allowed a single individual to send a message to multiple recipients. By 1995, many universities were providing students with university email addresses, thereby ensuring that all students had access to email. With such universal provision, email became a part of the repertoire of technologies available to support student learning, culminating in an almost ubiquitous provision of online learning environments in one form or another. Thus, according to Nunan (1996 online)
New ground rules for education are being created by the convergence of low-cost, high-speed computing, high-band-width/low-cost telecommunications and high-capacity low-cost mass-storage that transform both information flow and personal communications.
These technological changes were paralleled by changes in the cost of computers that allow ownership by most people. The rate of ownership among students and the general public is increasing each year. Table 1.1 shows the increasing level of ownership of computers and access to the Internet in Australian households for the past five years. The number of households with computers is approximately two thirds, while the over 16 years of age population with Internet access in any location (for instance, home, work and elsewhere) is higher, having reached three quarters of the population. These levels of ownership and access are among the highest in the world (National Office for the Information Economy (NOIE), 2002), and indicate a level of acceptance within Australia of the Internet which provides the basis for online learning support to become mainstream.
| 1999 (1) | 2000 (2) | 2001 (3) | 2002 (4) | 2003 (4) | |
| Households with PCs | 25 | 56 | 67 | 64 | 66 |
| People 16+ with Internet access – any location | 36 | 50 | 72 | 73 | 75 |
| Males 16+ with Internet access | 48 | 53 | 73 | 72 | 73 |
| Females 16+ with Internet access | 39 | 47 | 72 | 73 | 76 |
| People 16+ with Internet access who used Internet | NA | 65 | 64 | 72 | 72 |
Table 1.1 Computer and Internet Access in Australia (Source (1) (NOIE, 2000) (2) (NOIE, 2001), (3) (NOIE, 2002) (4) (NOIE, 2003))
{Digression}
Try though I might, I have been unable to locate similar statistics beyond these. NOIE no longer exists, but some of the pages do exist in the Internet Archive.
I did manage to find the following graph in the ABS site and you can see the full range of information here.
Household Use of Information Technology, Australia (Source ABS: 8146.0 - Household Use of Information Technology, Australia, 2008-09)
The most striking thing about this graph is the appearance of broadband connections while I was writing my thesis (2003-4). That change, alone, means that some of my insights may no longer apply, but I need to address them later.
I also like how I state that these stats ‘indicate a level of acceptance within Australia of the Internet’. That acceptance is now conditional, so it would seem.
{End Digression}
According to NOIE’s data, males and females have access to the Internet in nearly the same proportion of the population, while slightly less than three quarters of those with access actually having used it. In the period covered by Table 1.1, the difference between the proportion of males and females accessing the Internet has decreased as both have taken up the opportunities provided. Based on this data, females, however, have made up more ground and are now on a par with males in terms of Internet usage. This research was undertaken during the rapid rise of the general population, but particularly females gaining access to the Internet. This is important because these rapid changes in use reflect the uptake of these technologies within tertiary education (Hassan, 2001).
{Digression}
While looking for the updated stats, above, I came across data from 2008 in which there was some discussion of those not having access. The reason with the highest proportion was ‘no use for the Internet at home’ at 24%. That’s roughly 10% of Australian households. (See Internet Access at Home towards the bottom of the page.)
{End digression}
This short history introduces the basis for contextualising the use of the Internet in education, particularly in Australia. In other words, the advent of the Internet in Australia within the last 20 years has rapidly reshaped the options for communicating, teaching and learning and where these can occur. However, it is less clear whether these options are being enacted in ways that best address the pedagogic properties of what is available. This is because these properties remain to be fully understood. As Scribner (1985 p138) proposed,
… hardly have we approached the problem of understanding the intellectual impact of the printing press than we are urged to confront the psychological implications of computerisation.
This dissertation seeks to contribute to this goal of confronting the impact and implications of computerisation on education, particularly through the use of Internet enabled learning, via the technology of email.
{End extract}
While most of my research concerns the implications for computerisation, internetworking and interaction for learning, there is the wider scope of how these shifts are impinging up at least 80% of Australians. The report mentioned above, indicates that 3% of children with Internet access (approximately 72,000 children) report some kind of personal safety or security problem on the internet. This needs investigation because ‘some kind’ could be concern about being bullied to actually being bullied among other things. I think this needs to be contextualised with the offline rates of ‘problems’. That raw information cannot really provide a good indication of what needs to be done and whatever proposals are enacted means that we may not have an opportunity to elaborate these issues.
References
Chapman, D. B. (1992) Majordomo: How I manage 17 Mailing Lists Without Answering “-request” Mail, 1992 LISA VI, Long Beach CA
Gibson, W. (1984) Neuromancer, Ace Books, New York.
Hardy, H. E. (1993) Usenet: The History of the Net In School of Communications, Grand Valley State University, Allendale, MI.
Hassan, R. (2001) Net results: knowledge, information and learning on the Internet, Journal of Educational Enquiry, 2:2, pp 44-57.
Hilton, T. S. E. (1999) A model for Internet-enhanced education systems derived from history and experiment, Journal of Computer Information Systems, 39:3, pp 6-17.
Howe, D. (Ed.) (1993) The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing, http://www.foldoc.org.
Jefferies, P. and Hussain, F. (1998) Using the Internet as a teaching resource, Education and Training, 40:8, pp 359-365.
NOIE (2000) Current State of Play – November 2000, National Office for the Information Economy, http://www2.dcita.gov.au/ie/publications/2001/06/csop Accessed: April 7 2004.
NOIE (2001) Current State of Play – November 2001, http://www2.dcita.gov.au/ie/publications/2001/06/csop, Accessed: April 7 2004. [Note: could not find in Internet Archive.]
NOIE (2002) Current State of Play – November 2002, http://www2.dcita.gov.au/ie/publications/2001/06/csop, Accessed: April 7 2004. [Note: web address is wrong and could not find in Internet Archive]
NOIE (2003) Pocket Statistics, http://www2.dcita.gov.au/ie/publications/2003/07/pocket_stats, Accessed: April 7 2004. (Archived)
Nunan, T. (1996) Flexible Delivery – What is it and Why is it a part of the current educational debate?, In Different Approaches: Theory and Practice in Higher Education Higher Education Research and Development Society of Australasia, Perth, Western Australia http://www.lgu.ac.uk/deliberations/flex.learning/nunan_content.html.
Scribner, S. (1985) Vygotsky’s use of history, In Culture, Communication and Cognition: Vygotskian perspectives, Wertsch, J. V. (Ed) Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 119-145.