Conceiving Student Development in Terms of Online Skills

Having a feel for where your students are in terms of the internalization of online skills can help make instructional decisions.

According to Hiltz and Turoff (1993) there are four identifiable stages to learning online skills:

• Uncertainty
• Insight
• Incorporation
• Saturation

The way in which students respond during an online course is in part a function of the stage that they are in. Hence having an idea of what stage individual students are going through can sometimes help in making instructional decisions.

At the first stage the students often experience self-doubt and self-deprecation as to whether they will be able to master the basic computer skills. A very shallow understanding of the potential benefits is common at this stage, though there is the general impression that there are advantages. For the individual at the "uncertainty" stage, it is important to keep the instructional tasks very simple with a mastery learning format. The student will only invest so much time in getting through this stage before withdrawing. Easily obtainable objectives are necessary to build confidence, as well as encouraging messages whenever possible. Anxiety and related ego-protecting excuses are strongest at this stage.

At the "insight" phase the student accepts that telecommunications skills are not beyond reach and begins to see an increasing number of ways in which he or she might benefit. Promises of regular use are common. Often this is a plateau of learning and some students find their old habits pull them away from incorporating online skills into their daily routines.

The "incorporation" stage is when, through regular use, the student begins to view the online skills as merely an extension of one's self. At this point "being online" is no more awesome than making a voice telephone call. Usage falls into a pattern of purposeful use. This is a subtle, yet crucial step: when the external promises of telecommunications become part of one's internal reality. The student is now hooked and comes to depend on the system.

After a student incorporates the online experience and becomes a regular, even casual user, there is an acceptance that this medium has even greater potential benefits and the fourth stage, "saturation", begins. Now the real potential begins to percolate deep down in the student's consciousness and serious questions as to what else is possible begin to arise. Hence, an alternative phrase for this stage might be "enlightened expectation". Whatever the name, at this stage the student begins to make an internal commitment to fully pursue the potential of the online mode. It may be a year or more after initially going online. Willingness to serve as an online resource person, to tutor others online, or even to create and teach classes online for other teachers, is common at this ultimate stage. However, a danger during this stage is that the system cannot evolve to satisfy the new needs of the student. If this is the case, the student will seek out better and more advanced environments in which to operate.