Computer Aided Learning (Cal)

CAL consists of software applications which endeavor to teach students, through pre-structured and programmed materials, different concepts and subject matter. This courseware either replaces or supplements material which students are expected to acquire through other media (print, television, audio cassette, and so forth). By and large, CAL software falls into two categories: tutorials and simulation.

Concern with transferring CAL into the distance education environment is based on both epistemological and financial grounds. The first focuses on the reification of knowledge and the perceived incongruity between CAL and what the learning process ought to be concerned with. Bates (1986) recognizes that some of the more routine, time-consuming functions currently being performed by tutors could be effectively handled by CAL, but he expresses severe reservations about the consequences which would flow if CAL were to be introduced as a substitute for tutors:

At the moment, only a "live" tutor can adjust to changes in the learner as knowledge develops or can assist learners to develop new knowledge. CAL provides a very restrictive learning environment; a "live" teacher is needed to create a rich learning environment, and CAL of course does little to encourage the social aspects of learning. (p. 49)

Financial concerns lie at the root of problems associated both with the quality and the accessibility of CAL. Inasmuch as the first is concerned, distance educators (Bates, 1986; Kaufman, 1986; Lampikoski, 1987) repeat the often-heard cry of all educators who have been involved in CAL: top quality CAL is expensive and time-consuming to produce, and much of what is around is rather mediocre as a result of the high development costs. Moreover, the time that is required to develop software of high quality means that the courseware seldom matches the potential which new hardware (which is constantly surfacing) offers.

The problem of accessibility is one which is particular to distance education, at least if home-study access is deemed essential. Sophisticated CAL may require more memory than the average home-computer can provide, and on-line access contributes to institutional costs considerably. One solution to these problems lies in an expanded use of regional centres, but this is impossible in the case of some distance institutions and a major disadvantage in the case of others.

There may well be two other reasons why distance teaching institutions have failed to jump on the CAL bandwagon. First, the promise held out in the past by other new media (television, for example) has never fully materialized and this has left many distance educators skeptical or, at the very least, conservative about new technologies. Second, tele-teaching organizations are heavily committed, both in terms of capital and human investment, to other media (print in the case of the western world, print and television in the case of China, for example) and significant CAL developments would require a shift in resources that cannot be easily entertained.