Dr. Terry Murphy
June MacDonald
Chris Smith
New Brunswick Community College

In April of 1996, the New Brunswick Community College - Saint John began delivery of a full-time Nursing Assistant (Licensed Practical Nurse) Program, entirely at a distance. The program utilized a variety of technologies to deliver content and provided clinical and lab components as near as possible to the learners’ own communities. The program was first delivered to a group of 23 students, predominantly women, who resided largely in rural communities in the province of New Brunswick.

In 1996 and 1997, the pilot delivery was closely monitored by an evaluation committee composed of college and student representatives, as well as representatives of the union, nursing homes, and the Association of New Brunswick Registered Nursing Assistants. The evaluation committee supervised the creation of survey instruments that were distributed to all program students, lab and clinical instructors, employing facilities, and clinical hosts. The committee reviewed the survey results and made recommendations for improvement of the program. Results of the survey and the evaluation committee interpretation of the data and recommendations were included in a final Evaluation Report (see ).

This experience, however, raised significant questions that remained unanswered: What is the level of acceptance and use of educational technologies among women in rural communities? What social, cultural, and economic issues are faced by women who do not have easy access to on-college programming? In light of these issues, how effective are different learning technologies in providing a supportive learning environment?

In 1998, the New Brunswick Community College - Saint John applied for funding from the Office of Learning Technologies, expressing our intention to address these issues through a naturalistic evaluation process. We believed that the results of this two year investigation would inform the development and delivery of future distance education courses, both at the New Brunswick Community College - Saint John and other institutions, in order to better meet the needs of women in rural communities.

To minimize possibilities of bias in conducting research among our own client group, a Project Evaluation Committee was formed of members from within and beyond New Brunswick with an interest in women in distance learning. The role of the committee was to monitor the progress of the project to ensure quality in the development and administration of the methodology and the interpretation of data. Further, the college engaged the services of a research team composed of post-graduate students and faculty members at the University of New Brunswick’s faculty of adult and vocational education to construct and conduct the study under the direction of the evaluation committee. The role of community college researchers in the project was project management, research into existing literature regarding women in distance learning, information management, and the synthesis of qualitative data resulting from this study with quantitative data gathered through the previous program evaluation.

The study conducted by the UNB research team was not an evaluation of the program itself but focused on the experience of the learners, using qualitative research methods to examine the impact of distance learning on the lives of New Brunswick women who were (or are presently) students in the DENA Program. Semi-structured, in-depth interviews (Interview protocol available at ) were conducted with a total of 19 women learners: nine students were selected from among the 23 who completed DENA I; seven were selected from among the 14 who completed DENA II; and three were selected from among the 32 students then registered in DENA III. The interviews were tape-recorded (with permission) and later transcribed with potentially identifying information removed. Twelve interviews were conducted face-to-face and seven by telephone.

The transcribed interviews were then reviewed to develop codes which identified a range of meanings. This coding process resulted in the selection of segments from each interview which were then entered into a computer file to provide an audit trail for interested readers (available at ). Interview segments were grouped into the following categories, reflecting the technologies that were used and the women’s experience of studying at a distance:

Textbooks and Study Guides

Cable TV Broadcasts/Videos

Audio-conferenced/ audio-graphics Tutorials

Computers

1-800-helpline

CD-Rom

Clinical Experiences

Weekly Skill Labs

How do you learn best

How do you know when you have learned something

What did you do when things didn’t go so well in the program

How have you changed

Could you have taken the program in Saint John

What supports did you have

Advice I would give to someone coming into the DENA Program

Advice I would give to the people who designed and administered the program

In this presentation, presenters will offer the final report of this project, which synthesizes data gathered in both the quantitative program evaluation and the qualitative study, interpreted in light of current research. Analysis of the data has enabled the college to draw conclusions in key areas, including

Access to Training - does the distance training program offer a viable alternative to reduce the perceived barriers of access to training?

Acceptance of Technology - is technology itself a barrier to learning or is it a transparent medium through which content delivery takes place?

Learning Styles - does the use of multiple media enable students, whether consciously or unconsciously, to adapt the learning experience to meet their own personal learning preferences?

Interactivity - What is the role and nature of interaction in the distance program and whether and how students create opportunities for interaction?

Hidden barriers - What, if any, are the hidden barriers to training through this distance program?

Personal and social impact - What, if any, was the personal and social impact of participation in this distance program?

Throughout the qualitative analysis process information was shared and managed using an online website and conference forum (). This site, which contains the audit trail, programme evaluation, final report, and links to web resources and a discussion forum, will be opened to the public and demonstrated during the presentation. We hope that it will provide valuable information and opportunities for discussion to those interested in issues of women in distance learning.

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