Been There, Done That: Reaching Teachers Through Distance Education [*].

Technology has become ubiquitous everywhere, except in schools. Although many schools are now acquiring the technology, not enough money is being set aside for professional development of teachers in the use of technology. Consequently, teachers do not feel adequately prepared to integrate technology into their daily practice. The purpose of this study was to examine the use of the World Wide Web (Web) and e-mail as a viable option for the professional development of K12 educators. Two classes were investigated: one delivered using the Web and another one in a face-to-face environment. Quantitative and qualitative methods were used in this investigation. The researchers concluded that distance learning is not an education of inferior quality to those university courses taught on campus, and that classes delivered on the Web provide a viable option for professional development of K-12 teachers.

TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY

The latter part of the 20th century has been marked by technology changes that are increasingly affecting every aspect of human life: surgical operations that take place while the surgeon is a thousand miles apart from the patient, immediate voice and image transmission from one side of the world to the other, and instantaneous dissemination of news. In a few words, we have left the industrial age behind and are now in the midst of the information/communication age. Niederhauser (1996) defines the information society as "one in which the quality of life, as well as the prospects for social change and economic development, depend increasingly on information and its exploitation" (p. 416). The source of power in the information/communication age is knowledge (Drucker, 1994; Toffler, 1990). Drucker (1994), who coined the term "knowledge society," states that in such a society more knowledge, and especially advanced knowledge, will be acquired well past the age of formal schooling through processes that do not c enter on the traditional school. Moursund (1999) also discusses that traditional schooling worked fine when technological and societal changes were not as fast as in the times we live now. In this new century, educated people will not be judged only for what they have learned, but for what they can do to contribute to the common good. They will be required to constantly organize and use information to create new knowledge (McClintock, & Taipale, 1994). In these terms, citizens of this millennium must become, out of necessity, a society of lifelong learners.

Internationally, the United States plays a key role in scientific advancements. Yet, for this country to remain competitive in the 21st century, a workforce that is highly skilled, especially in the use of technology, will be critical (U. S. Department of Labor Secretary's Commission on the Achieving Necessary Skills (SCANS) Report, 1991). It is increasingly clear that those who do not learn to think and work with technology today will be disadvantaged tomorrow. Despite the need for preparing technology-competent graduates, four in 10 teachers still report that their students do not use technology at all in a typical week, and three in 10 state that their students use technology only one hour per week (Trotter, 1999). Then, it seems fair to say that many schools continue preparing citizens to function in an industrial age, rather than in a technology-rich information age.

On the other hand, in fairness to the federal and school districts' efforts, it is necessary to mention that technology is steadily finding its way into the American classroom. Jerald and Orlofsky (1999) reported that 49% of instructional computers in the public and private schools in the U.S. are Power Macs or PCs with Pentium processors, and that the number of students per multimedia computer dropped from 21.2 in 1997 to 9.8 in 1999. However, the newest technology will not be a replacement for a skilled teacher, and the benefits that new technologies can bring to the students will increasingly depend on the teacher's ability to use these new tools (Trotter, 1999). As the Office of Technology Assessment (1995a) reports, helping teachers use technology effectively may be one of the most important steps in assuring that the technology investment will be fully utilized. If teachers are to be held accountable for how technology will be used in their classrooms, and the impact that it may have on the students' l earning, then they need to experience technology, first-hand, by having sufficient professional development opportunities that deal with technology use and technology integration into their teaching. As a consequence, professional development opportunities of quality in the use of technology and its integration into the curriculum are very much needed. The following section discusses what is considered good professional development practices.

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

To achieve the changes that society needs, schools will need to prepare students to be technology literate and become lifelong learners. A key piece to achieve the desired student profile is the classroom teacher. It is the teachers who play a prime role in facilitating the use of technology as an integral part of everyday school life and instill the learning desire in their students. Unfortunately, many teachers feel unprepared to take on this technology task (Office of Technology Assessment, 1995a). Teachers report that they feel more prepared to take on other tasks, such as incorporating standards into the curriculum. In fact, as little as 20% of teachers report feeling very well prepared to integrate technology into the curriculum (Jerald & Orofsky, 1999).

The U.S. Department of Education (1996) defined professional development as "the rigorous and relevant content, strategies, and organizational supports that ensure the preparation and career-long development of teachers and others whose competence, expectations, and actions influence the teaching and learning environment." Grant (1996) included "support for teachers as they encounter new challenges and implement technology use to support learning" (p. 95) in the professional development definition. However, the educational system has fallen short in providing such opportunities.

According to the 1999 edition of Technology Counts, 31% of teachers reported having only one to five hours of professional development in skills-based training, and 36% had the same number of hours in curriculum-integration training in the 1998-1999 school year (Trotter, 1999). The bad news comes when the same percentage, 36%, report not having a single hour of training in curriculum integration, and as many as 27% of teachers report not having even skills-based training in the same school year. On the other side of the continuum, only 8% of teachers report having more than 20 hours of curriculum-integration training, and 14% report having the same number of hours in skills-based training. The same report contends that teachers who receive professional development in the integration of technology into the curriculum are more likely to feel prepared and use digital content into their teaching. This contrasts with the reports of teachers who received only "basic-skills training" in the use of technology. Such teachers were as likely to use digital content in their teaching as teachers who did not receive any training at all. The same report notes that teachers who received training in both technology integration into the curriculum and skills-based training feel more confident and better prepared to integrate technology into their teaching (Jerald & Orofsky, 1999; Trotter, 1999). In summary, professional development opportunities in the use of technology need to meet at least two characteristics to be effective: (a) to be curriculum-integration training while covering technology skills (Trotter, 1999), and (b) have expert support available for teachers who undergo technology training (Grant, 1996; Jerald & Orofsky, 1999).

Traditionally, little attention was paid by districts to professional development needs of teachers, and colleges of education have not modeled its use for preservice teachers (Cuban, 1998). Although this pattern has been slowly changing in the recent years, many teachers still do not feel adequately prepared to integrate technology into their daily practice, as noted above. This situation is aggravated by the one-time, one-size-fits-all workshops offered to teachers by school districts. This practice has been increasingly recognized as inappropriate and ineffective, especially for technology integration (Fulton, 1996). The low percentage of teachers who feel prepared to integrate technology into the curriculum implies that not enough successful professional development opportunities have been provided. As already discussed, OTA (1995) noted that it is the teacher who will ensure that classroom technologies are utilized to their capacity. Obviously, designs of professional development opportunities of qualit y in the K-12 classroom are a scarce commodity in the American education system.

Grant (1996) offered the following principles of successful professional development opportunities: (a) extending a vision of technology as an empowering tool, (b) stimulating reflective practice grounded in the teaching context, (c) exemplifying the beliefs on learning: inquiry, collaboration, and discourse, (d) recognizing the interplay in learning between activity and belief, (e) valuing and cultivating a culture of collegiality, (f) providing continual contexts for formal and informal learning, (g) providing opportunities for meaningful leadership roles to emerge, and (h) enabling teachers to shape their own learning. This article argues that web-based university courses may provide effective and successful professional development practices, especially in the integration of technology into the curriculum.

DISTANCE EDUCATION

The diversity of today's learners call for many forms of education, such as distance education, evening and day classes, and online classes, that cater to the needs of a diverse population (Office of Technology Assessment, 1993). In support of this, Secretary Riley, in a speech delivered at the National Conference of the U.S. Distance Learning Association (November 5, 1997), said that "...technologies also are important for providing opportunities in higher education at a time when college is becoming more crucial....making courses available at convenient locations; reducing time constraints for course-taking; making educational opportunities more affordable; and increasing institutions' access to new audiences." Honey and Henriquez (1993) reported that there are three major incentives for using telecommunications as a professional resource. These incentives are: (a) communicating with other educators, (b) accessing information, and (c) combating the professional isolation. Furthermore, Honey, and McMillan ( 1994) reported that practicing teachers who were involved in extensive training from experts, and who received consistent support from colleagues, were the ones who felt more positive about the use of the Internet as a teaching tool, regardless of their level of expertise. Recognizing the importance of distance education in the expansion of educational opportunities, the study reported in this article investigated the feasibility for professional development of an already-existent resource in many classrooms: the Web.

Web-Based Instruction

The Web is an exciting new medium for the development of classroom activities. Web-based instruction and hypermedia can be effectively developed as instructional tools based on the information processing theory and cognitive flexibility theory (Jones, 1997). Goldberg (1997) reported that the value of the Web as a learning resource lies in its ability to bring students together through communication and collaboration. Web-CT, a web-based authoring tool to create online courses, was utilized for this study. Some of the salient features of Web-CT for course delivery are the use of bulletin boards, chat rooms, and presentation areas. The advantage of using this type of authoring tool is that it enables learners to explore non-linear relationships in a potentially rich graphic environment. This non-linear relationship allows for more than one way to explore topics, with the advantage that they can meet individual learning styles and needs (Jones, 1997). One way of approaching web-based instruction is through the constructivist paradigm, and a good exercise, which is supported by such a paradigm, is the WebQuest.

A WebQuest is an inquiry-based learning activity in which learners interact with information that comes partially or completely from the Web (Dodge, 1995). WebQuests are designed to make the best use of the learner's time by providing a structured experience when using the Web. One of the advantages of using WebQuests is that students have a stake in the learning process and focus their mental efforts in a positive direction. That is, this highly structured practice provides the learners with a clear task and resources for browsing the Web, and aids them in developing their own goals (Jones, 1997). In summary, the most remarkable features of a WebQuest is that it promotes the use of higher-order thinking skills, and supports group work and interaction in either face-to-face or online settings.

PURPOSE

The purpose of this study was to examine the use of the Web and e-mail as a viable option for the professional development of K-12 educators. To accomplish that end, two classes were investigated: one delivered using the Web, and another in a face-to-face environment. The uniqueness of this study was that the two classes shared the same professor, syllabus, and textbooks, but differed on the medium of delivery. By keeping the former variables reasonably constant, it was possible to look into the interaction that the students might have had with the medium of delivery. This investigation also attempted to answer some of the theoretical questions pertaining to distance education. For instance, Harasim (1990) suggested that there is a critical need for research that informs and guides future applications of the distance education field to make this promise a viable reality. Levinson (1990) stated the need to investigate and research some qualities of electronic text, such as its revisability, interactivity, dup licability, transmissibility, storage, and promotion of cognitive skills. Levin, Kim, and Riel (1990) proposed more research in the commonalities and differences of electronic networks and face-to-face interaction in the following areas: (a) group organization, (b) task organization, (c) interaction, and (d) evaluation and coordination. The results presented in this article shed light on the use of Internet-based telecommunications to support both professional development and lifelong learning in a constructivist environment, and attempted to answer some of the questions posed by previous research studies.

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

Constructivist theory is based on work in the psychology and anthropology disciplines. Fosnot (1996) described constructivism as knowledge that is "temporary, developmental, non-objective, internally constructed, and socially and culturally mediated" (p. ix). Constructivism builds upon the experiences that learners bring to the learning situation. In this sense, learning is a constructive process in which the learner is building an internal representation of knowledge based on personal experiences and social cultural contexts. Fosnot (1992) suggested as learners interact with the environment, they are always growing, developing, and evolving in an organizing and adapting process called construction. The process of construction is more like the process of reinventing; it requires the reorganization of old data and the building of new models. It is through this reorganization that the gaps, insufficiencies, or contradictions become apparent to the learner, facilitating reflection and accommodation. In the cons tructivist classroom, learning is posed as problems and questions, rather than as isolated facts (Sprague & Dede, 1999). Constructivist teachers are those who: (a) support learning, not control it, (b) evaluate themselves, their students, and the system where they stand, (c) collaborate with their students and promote learner-learner collaboration, not competition, and (d) become planners, models, guides, observers, and challengers of the learner's conceptions of the world (Gould, 1996). The use of Internet-based telecommunications supports a constructivist approach to learning because it provides the tools to increase the information available in the classroom in a frame of reflection and social learning (Perkins, 1992). However, if teachers are to support students to become reflective thinkers through the use of technology, the teachers must also have opportunities for engaging in experiences that promote a constructivist kind of learning (Wasser, 1996). Furthermore, for knowledge to transfer to other situa tions beyond the classroom, learning must be situated in a rich context that is conducive to reflection (Bednar, Cunningham, Duffy, & Perry, 1992).

Every activity in which knowledge is developed and used is an integral part of what is learned, and situations are said to co-produce knowledge through activity. Therefore, learning and cognition are fundamentally situated, and conceptual knowledge can be considered to be similar to a set of tools. Situated cognition has important implications for learning through technology use (Norton & Wiburg, 1998) because, by changing information tools, mental activity is usually altered and restructured. However, tools are generally used differently by children than by adults. Merriam and Caffarella (1991) stated that even though adult learning cannot be adequately explained by a single theory, four components of adult learning can be extracted from all the existing adult learning theories. Those components are: (a) adult learning has a goal or characteristic of being self-directed or autonomous, (b) the content or triggers to learning are based on breadth and depth of life experiences, (c) reflection or self-conscious ness monitors changes that take place, and (d) action or some other expression of the learning evidently occurs. Adult learning theory emphasizes the importance of participation, choice, experience, critical reflection, and critical thinking (Froman, 1994). Constructivism and adult learning theories share the characteristic of being learner-centered. Thanks to the advancement of telecommunications and computer technologies, new tools can be used to facilitate the development of a curriculum that fits the needs of diverse learners, including adult learners. To understand the dynamics that are present in these types of communications, computer-mediated communication has been widely researched in the last decade.

Computer mediated communication (CMC) is an umbrella term that covers computer-based instruction, informatics, and human-to-human communication in the form of e-mail, bulletin boards, the Internet, and computer conferences (Collins & Berge, 1996; Cuskelly & Gregor, 1993; Harasim, 1993). Harasim (1990) described CMC as having five attributes: (a) many-to-many communication, (b) place independent, (c) time independent, (d) text-based, and (e) computer-mediated interaction. Internet-based telecommunications, a form of computer-mediated communication, can be successfully used in education, as some research studies have shown (Bellman, Tindimubona, and Arias, 1993; Center of Applied Special Technology, 1996). Harris (1994) reported that CMC provides the opportunity for dialogue, debate, and conversational learning, giving a real sense of community and affiliation. Lenert and Harris (1994) discussed that the rationale for an open dialogue in CMC interactions is that computer conferencing comes without the external cues of face-to-face interaction such as status determiners, race, gender, ability, or age. Without the prejudice of all those cues, the communication tends to be more democratic. The individual contributions are the focus of the communication and are valued only on their own merit, leading to an ideal situation for the development of tools for critical thinking. Also, Jonassen, Davidson, Collins, Campbell, and Haag (1995) pointed out that online computer conferencing reduces instructor contributions from 80% of verbal interactions to 10%-15% of electronic message volume, thus removing the instructor from the stage and encouraging a contructivist role of guide and facilitator. Having CMC as a pedagogical informant, the Web was selected as a method of delivery for the researched distance learning class.

METHODS AND DATA SOURCES

The main research question that guided this study was: Is the use of Internet-based telecommunications a viable option for university courses to address professional development practices for K-12 educators? To collect information and to understand how the participant (student) teachers constructed their knowledge and realities in both the online and the face-to-face classes, quantitative and qualitative methods were used. Table 1 summarizes each instrument used in this investigation, its originating paradigm, and the administration dates.

For the quantitative part, a pretest-posttest, quasi-experimental design proposed to use the face-to-face class as a control group, and the online class as an experimental unit. The instrument used, the Participants' Questionnaire, consisted of four parts. The first part collected demographic information and computer use. The second part was the Instructional Strategies Frequency and Effectiveness Inventory (ISFEI), developed by Alexander (1988) and modified by Harvey (1991). This Likert-scale instrument investigated the (student) teachers' perceived frequency and effectiveness of teacher-oriented, student-oriented, and technology-oriented instructional strategies. The third part, the Stages of Concern about the Innovation Questionnaire (SoCQ) developed by Hall, George, and Rutherford (1977), gathered data on the level of teacher concerns about technology integration as a change or innovation. These changes are monitored when the innovation user moves through seven hypothesized stages: (0) awareness, (1) inf ormational, (2) personal, (3) management, (4) consequence, (5) collaboration, and (6) refocusing. The fourth part of this instrument consisted of open-ended questions. Also, as part of the quantitative research, a rubric based on a five-point scale from "poor" to "excellent" was used to evaluate (student) teacher-produced WebQuests as final class products.

For the qualitative part of the study, three sources of data collection were used. The first source was a modified version of the Middle and End of the Semester Course Analysis, an e-mail-delivered, open-ended questionnaire originally developed by Weber (1996). This questionnaire investigated the participant (student) teachers' class perceptions, and the perceived level of class satisfaction. The questionnaire was administered twice during the semester. A full version of the questionnaire can be found in Appendix

A. The second data source consisted of in-depth interviews with a purposeful sample (Guba & Lincoln, 1989) of participants from each class. These interviews were conducted using traditional face-to-face methods and online chat rooms. The third data source was the participant (student) teachers' electronic journals.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Participants' Questionnaire

A two-sample t-test was used to analyze change in the ISFEI self-reported frequency and effectiveness of instructional strategies. Also, because of the small size of the sample in the face-to-face class (n = 7) and in the online class (n = 15), a non parametric rank-sum procedure, the Mann-Whitney U Test (Popham & Sirotnik, 1967; Lehmann, 1975), was used to analyze the data. While no significant difference (p = .05) was found in the use of teacher-oriented and student-oriented strategies, a slight increment was shown in the use of technology strategies. Such an increment is not statistically supported. However, the themes that emerged from the qualitative data, and which will be discussed below, support the researcher's belief that participants in this research study increased their use of technology-oriented strategies. The analysis of this part of the survey, as a whole, showed no significant difference in the use of teacher, student, or technology-oriented strategies between the two investigated settings. These results reaffirm the notion that online courses' curriculum may provide as much benefit for the distance-education student as the benefits that a face-to-face student may get from a traditionally delivered course. In addition, it can be said that online courses are a viable alternative to continuing education and a useful tool for professional development purposes.

The third part of the Participants' Questionnaire, the Stages of Concern about the Innovation Questionnaire, was analyzed using the non-parametric procedure Mann-Whitney U Test. After performing such ranking test, results showed that the only stage at which both groups were statistically different at p = .05 were the Management Stage (face-to-face mean = 4.143, online mean = -0.400). These results suggest that while the face-to-face participants increased their concerns about the processes and tasks of using technology, as well as the best use of technology-generated information and technology resources, the online learners decreased their concerns about the same matter. One plausible reason is that the online students needed to be more dependent on the use of technology to take the class, leading them to feel more comfortable with the use of technology as a tool for teaching and learning.

WebQuests Rubrics

A panel of three experts composed of in-service K-12 teachers and a graduate student rated the class products, WebQuests, from both investigated classes. The face-to-face class produced six WebQuests, while the online class produced four WebQuests. For consistency purposes, all 10 WebQuests were rated by each of the three experts. Data collected were analyzed using the Wilcoxon rank-sum procedure for blocked comparisons as described in Lehmann (1975). No significant difference was found in the quality of (student) teacher-produced WebQuests. Two of the WebQuests from the online class were rated as the best in the two classes, but another product in this same group was rated as one of the worst in both. All of the WebQuests produced in the face-to-face class were rated as being low-medium to medium-high in quality. At best, this is a very mixed result and it cannot be concluded that the online class leads students to produce projects of better quality. However, these results suggest that a distance education class can be as rigorous as one conducted in a face-to-face setting.

Qualitative Data

As with most inquiries, qualitative methods provided useful insights in understanding the dynamics and differences between face-to-face and online classes. The results from the Middle and End of the Semester Course Analysis will be thoroughly discussed in this article, while the results of the other instruments will be reported somewhere else.

Data gathered from the Middle and End of the Semester Course Analysis was analyzed using content analysis and analysis of emerging themes. From this analysis, four major categories emerged: (a) class perceptions, (b) technology, (c) self, and (d) professor. Each category will be briefly discussed.

Class Perceptions. Two major themes emerged in this category: Group work and Hands-on. The online students mentioned Group work as many as three times more than the face-to-face participants. Although there were some responses that complained about groups that did not work together, most of the responses expressed positive perceptions about this theme. The following quote serves as an example:

I (We) had a chance to socially discuss the value of the class. I found that we agreed on many of the same issues. This made it easier to work on the assignments because we learned about each others strengths [sic] and tapped into them to get the assignments completed.

This statement supports the Smith & McNelis (1993) and Harasim (1990) findings that online education is distinguished by its collaborative nature where a collective intelligence is formed, joining its members in a community of learners.

The second theme in this category was Hands-on. While both classes used a hands-on approach to teaching and learning, the researcher expected that this theme would be mentioned more times by the online students, since the class was based on doing everything on the computer. However, the face-to-face participants mentioned this theme almost four times more than their online counterparts. One explanation for these results might be that, unfortunately, face-to-face classes at the upper educational level are distinguished by their long lectures and an almost nonexistent use of technology in a hands-on approach (Cuban, 1998). In this way, attending a class that actually used a hands-on approach was worth mentioning. The following is a response from a face-to-face participant: "I enjoy being in this class because [of] the hands-on experience. The structure of the class is great--less lecture and more work on assignments."

Technology. Two main themes that emerged in this category were Improved technical skills and Technology integration. The first theme, Improved technical skills, was the most mentioned theme by participants in both classes. Most of the responses pointed out the usefulness of taking the researched classes to increase their technical skills. As mentioned by Merriam and Caffarella (1991), adults self-consciously monitor the changes that take place while engaging in a learning experience, and an action or other expression of learning usually takes place. The fact that these themes were the most mentioned by participants of both classes suggests that an online course is as useful as a face-to-face course to acquire a certain set of tools and/or knowledge.

The second most mentioned theme in this category was Technology integration. Online students mentioned this theme almost twice as much as the face-to-face students. The following quote exemplifies the general online students' perceptions about this theme:

This class has pushed me to look at the uses of technology in the classroom closer than I have previously done. At this point in time, I have changed some of the plans I have been making to use technology in the classroom. I feel the changes (that) I am making and will continue to make will be beneficial to my students.

Aligned with the results of the third part of the Participants' Questionnaire, the Stages of Concern, the online students seemed to be more preoccupied with the impact that technology integration would have on their students. One possible reason is that online students may be more savvy users of technology since they are adventuring in taking a course that utilizes technology as the interface.

Self. In this category, the two major themes that emerged were Problem solving and Frustration. After the theme Improved technical skills, Problem solving was the second most mentioned topic by the online participants. In fact, online students mentioned the theme four times as much as the face-to-face students did. The following quote, taken from an online student's responses, serves as an example for this theme.

My technology skills have improved because of this class. There are no professors to help as soon as a wall appears, or (when) a problem manifests itself. The solutions to your questions must, for the most part, be the solutions you find, or you discover...classes such as this push the student [to] find their own solutions, their own answers.

This result does not come as a surprise. Several researchers (Allen, Hartman, & Truman, 1997; Bonk & Reynolds, 1997) have already pointed out that problem solving is one of the likely characteristics that drive distance learning.

The second theme in this category, Frustration, was mentioned eight times as much in the online responses as the face-to-face responses. With no surprise, technical problems were the main cause of frustration among the online participants. Some students felt that they did not have the background knowledge necessary to take this class, especially at the beginning of the class. After several weeks, they were more accustomed to the medium and enjoyed the class more. A quote from this theme will exemplify the frustration experienced by the online students.

Learning about and using today's technology effectively remains an exciting topic [for] me to pursue. But I do not like it when technology is not cooperating with me. It is very frustrating when you can finally sit down to do work, and the system is down or a program is not working.

Professor. Interaction is a critical predictor of satisfaction in distance learning (Fulford & Zhang, 1993). Teaching from a constructivist perspective, the class professor believed that social interaction was an important factor in the construction of knowledge, and she was always careful in maintaining high interaction in both classes. The main themes that emerged in this category were Professor support and Professor as a mentor. Interestingly, both themes were mentioned almost the same number of times by participants in both face-to-face and online classes, leading the researcher to believe that both groups perceived their interaction with the professor in a very similar way.

In the theme Professor support, participants in both classes expressed the importance of receiving feedback and guidance from the professor. The next two quotes, the first from the face-to-face class, and the second from the online course, provide an insight into the students' perceptions.

[The professor] has been very helpful. It has been good to have the time to work in class when we could ask questions and work through problems with the guidance of the professor.

It was easy to see that even in cyber class help can still be obtained from the Professor quickly. The chat room, the e-mail were all avenues of availability. In regular class, e-mail is not answered as quickly. The information provided by the professor always arrived in a timely manner. The professor was there to guide and assist.

In the Professor as a mentor theme, students in both classes expressed similar perceptions about the professor. The next two quotes from the face-to-face class and the online class, respectively, support the previous assertion.

I really like the fact that the professor is a very flexible, open-minded person who solicits feedback from the class and supports the students' learning without setting rigid parameters

I depended on [the professor] for constructivist feedback and guidance. I mean, aren't we suppose[d] to be collaborators of sorts, with [the professor] being the facilitator? Isn't [the professor] modeling the kind of teacher-student relationship [for which] we are aiming in our classrooms? I appreciate the fact that I was part of a group of peers and my ideas and initiative were as worthy as the next person's, even the professor.

Indepth Interviews and Online Journals

In-depth interviews were conducted in both face-to-face and online settings. Face-to-face interviews were conducted in a setting selected by the participant. On the other hand, online interviews were conducted synchronously (in real time) in the chat rooms at times selected by the participants. While in a face-to-face setting, the interviewee could expand on a topic, online interviews were succinct but very informative, supporting previous findings of electronically-collected data (Synodinos & Brennan, 1988). That is, quantity of data was substituted by reflective and to-the-point answers. One possible reason is that the participants could reflect more on the questions and their answers because they were available on the computer screen. Synodinos and Brennan (1988) also discussed the honesty involved when using an electronic interface to collect data. They noted that participants seemed to provide answers that are more honest because they did not need to confront somebody in a face-to-face setting when disc ussing sensitive issues.

Using electronic journals was another strategy for data collection utilized in this study. Online participants wrote longer and more reflective journals than the face-to-face ones. One reason may be that for distance education students, electronic journals were a way of keeping in touch with the professor and building the feeling of "being in a class," while the face-to-face students counted on the physical presence and interaction with the class professor.

CONCLUSION

In the midst of the information age, society needs more technology-qualified teachers to prepare its workforce. In this study, distance learning was not found to be an education of inferior quality to those university courses taught on campus. Class products created by face-to-face students were not superior in quality to those created by online students, and the opposite was also true. The researcher observed that online students tended to be more risk takers in terms of technology use and technology integration. This is only a logical consequence of taking an online course on technology integration. Distance education students become their own teachers when they need to put to practice what they learn in an online course to "see" the demonstration of a lesson.

Even though this course was constructivist and student-centered in nature, the class professor still plays a key role in the success or failure of an online course. For the investigated courses, the professor provided continuing support to online students by keeping close contact with them through e-mail, and making them feel like they were part of a real class. However, successful face-to-face professors do not necessarily make successful online instructors, and vice versa. Professional development at the university level is needed to provide distance learners with the quality that post-secondary courses require and demand. Classes delivered on the Web provide a viable option for professional development, especially for those whose access to institutions of higher education is difficult or inconvenient. Also, additional research is necessary to compare and evaluate the viability of online synchronous interaction for in-depth interviewing.

(*.) Award Winning SITE Conference Paper

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                      Data Sources, Their Originating
                    Paradigm, and Their Administration
                                   Times
Semester
Instrument    Quantitative Qualitative Beginning Middle End Ongoing
Participants'
Questionnaire      X                       X             X
WebQuest
Rubric             X                                     X
Course
Analysis                        X                  X     X
Journals                        X                           Weekly
In-depth
Interviews                      X                              X