Details are provided here of the technologies used in the companies studied. It should, however, be borne in mind that such a division in terms of technologies - natural as it may seem - should be taken with precaution. As Daniel Peraya points out[17], it can be misleading to think in terms of individualtechnologies when it comes to considering the role they play in mediated educational communication. Each technological tool interacts with all other tools. Consequently, rather than considering technology globally or, on the contrary, as a number of separate entities, Daniel Peraya suggests that it would be more pertinent to consider technological tools as a number of separate but interacting variables.
In reading the following list, it should also be borne in mind that a particular sort of technology is rarely used on its own, but in a combination with other technologies as well as with a non-technology mediated approach.
The CD-ROM provides a fixed multimedia content for training in a more or less interactive context. It is used by a number of companies (MIGROS, Federal Personnel Office). Silicon Graphics have just introduced a CD-ROM containing standardised office software for generalised use including an on-line instruction book.
Computer based business simulation uses a software model to simulate business processes allowing certain variables to be modified depending on the profile of those taking part in the simulation and how the simulation evolves. Development can be quite long and requires considerable testing as Rolando Rosato-Rossi of the Nestl Training Centre pointed out. In addition to Nestl, MIGROS also use such business simulation.
Computer Based Training (CBT) is probably the most widely used learning technology in the companies we questioned (Digital, Hewlett Packard, Oracle, Silicon Graphics, UBS). CBT is software used to provide information, simulate situations and processes, and interact with the learner, including testing his or her knowledge on a particular subject.
Videoconferencing involves transmitting video and sound in real-time from one location to one or more others using high band networks or satellite links. As full videoconferencing can be a costly solution not only because of the bandwidth requirements but also the necessary infrastructure, intermediary solutions have been devised. One-way high-band transmission can be used with a low-band return via computer networks or the telephone lines (Hewlett Packard) or transmission can be two-way using ISDN networks linked to PCs but with lower definition pictures (Oracle, Global Teach).
The World Wide Web - the fastest developing Internet protocol - permits relatively inexpensive wide-spread provision of and access to structured multimedia information using hypertext links. The Web or a similar technology - whether it be via Internet or privately - is used by a number of firms to provide up-to-date knowledge in-house about products and market conditions (Hewlett Packard, Oracle, Digital, Silicon Graphics).
The essentially one-way delivery of such information involves paying attention to questions of filtering and structuring the mass of information available and providing a quality service including readability, layout, speed of access, coherence, accuracy, up-to-dateness.
Networks are also used in the delivery of CBT material for distance learning. Global Teach, for example, uses a high speed PTT network to down load working units to learners. Oracle are also preparing a distance learning system called the "Oracle Learning Architecture". Silicon Graphics enhance Web use by adding short audio and audio-visual sequences. They consider that the Web will progressively replace CBT.
Michael Schrage in his book "Shared Minds - The New Technologies of Collaboration"[18] says: We have telephones, videocassettes, satellites, fibre optics, facsimile machines, paper, audiocassettes, overhead projectors, whiteboards, blackboards and so on - we live in an environment rich with tools that make it easier to communicate with each other. But where are the tools for collaboration? Computer Supported Collaborative Working (CSCW)[19] is an attempt to provide those tools by enabling people to work together at a distance, either one-to-one of many-to-many. (cf. 4.2 for a hierarchy of different categories of user interaction)
Amongst the companies studied here, only two use CSCW technologies in training (KITE/JITOL, Global Teach). Both involve the use of specially designed interfaces, amongst other things to support collective working.
KITE uses the JITOL four-window interface to enable the on-going development of knowledge between peers. Users are connected to each other via a central data-base and each of the four windows on the learner's machine correspond to a different activity: an evolving knowledge base; electronic debates; e-mail; personal note-taking.
In the initial JITOL project no satisfactory automation of the complex process of sifting out knowledge and consolidating was found. The process was carried out by the JITOL researchers with a group of experts related to the topic treated. In the current service-providing context using JITOL, a much simpler process has been evolved so that users, after initial training, are able to carry out the process themselves.
Christine Gardiol of KITE points out however that JITOL is not just a tool but above all a methodology aimed at improving group management, information exchange and learning in the context of collaborative working.
The Global Teach interface allows a group of learners and a teacher to work together in virtual classroom set-up using screen-sharing, white-boards and videoconferencing.
[17] Peraya D., Educational Mediated Communication, Distance Learning and Communication Technologies. A position Paper, in Journal in Research in Education Media, I & II, 3, 2, 11-24 &,3,3,27-48.
[18] Shared Minds - The New Technologies of Collaboration, Schrage M., Random House, New York, 1990.
[19] For a discussion of the definition of CSCW see Lubich H. Op Cit.