Is it sustainable? A comparison of student and tutor online time across three distance-learning courses

Abstract

Distancelearning course providers worldwide are looking to new technology to enhance their course presentations. One of the areas they are beginning to assess is that of integrating Computer Mediated Communication (CMC) into their courses. An important factor to be borne in mind with the adoption of CMC is the amount of time required to be an active participant. It is important therefore to investigate how much time tutors and students spend online, and if this is sustainable in the longer term. This paper discusses tutor and student involvement in the Open University M205 STILE project, and compares these findings with the time spent online by students and tutors on two other Open University courses. Our aim was to see if our findings were atypical. The comparisons are discussed, and recommendations are made about how future online courses can benefit from the findings of this study.