CLASS™ Project Research Study Summary
Evaluation of CLASS Courses Addendum: Virtual Teacher

IRB #99-03-235 (Virtual Teacher - 1997 – 2000)

One of the challenges of on-line course design for distance learning is designing realistic, enriching messages to bridge the distance between teacher and learner. This challenge is compounded in the independent study environment, where the learner is physically remote from the teacher, not linked to a cohort of learners within a learning community, and has individual characteristics that influence how knowledge is created. In an effort to bridge teacher-learner distance, researchers designed the Virtual Teacher study to explore ways to extend teacher presence in the web-based, independent study learning environment.

CLASS™ on-line courses provide opportunity for students to interact with technology-based instructional multimedia, delivered through a hybrid Internet and CD-ROM-based system. ISHS teachers, working in a distance-learning environment, communicate electronically with students, providing feedback on homework and guiding their progress. Because the student to teacher ratio is high, ISHS teachers are allocated less time per student to interact and grade homework. Virtual Teacher programming was designed to provide an electronic means of extending the teachers' presence. It consists of comments and helpful suggestions by the teacher inserted at strategic locations in the course, and other learning supports.

The Virtual Teacher study, implemented in four phases over two years, measured several levels of student response to an extended teacher presence within an on-line course. Field study results suggested that the Virtual Teacher offer messages that
(a) maintain focus on course goals,
(b) organize and relate materials, and
(c) offer encouragement and engagement.

Organizational and encouraging messages were then programmed into the Virtual Teacher dialogue. One experimental classroom worked through an on-line course section with the Virtual Teacher presence and a second classroom worked through the same section without the Virtual Teacher.

Students in both experiment classrooms completed a pre-test and post-test Attitudes About Learning self-efficacy survey, kept a learning log, submitted homework assignments, and completed the section exam. Section exam scores did not indicate a significant difference between the two classes. Students testing the Virtual Teacher experienced a positive influence in terms of hope and success expectation regarding their personal goals and life situations. The Virtual Teacher technology appeared to negatively influenced attribution, goals, and epistemologies. Focus groups allowed students to verbally express how they experienced the on-line course.

The classroom teacher reported fewer discipline problems, increased problem-solving skills, and increased patience in the class during and after experiencing the Virtual Teacher. The class without the Virtual Teacher continued to have students who encountered difficulty with minor problem solving. Learning logs provided additional comments that the students would like a Virtual Teacher to say in future programming.

A broad conclusion of this study is that messages from teachers influence student success and how students perceive themselves and their performance. Future iterations of this study could examine the effect of different message categories on students.