“E-learning is not a substitute for face-to-face communication”

The vice-rector of Research of the Open University of Catalonia (UOC), Eduard Aibar, and the director of the Oxford Internet Institute, William Dutton, signed a collaboration agreement in the first half of June. This agreement will allow for the setting up of a distance PhD course to be given by Dutton and professor Manuel Castells, with student exchanges and joint research projects.

The vice-rector of Research of the Open University of Catalonia (UOC), Eduard Aibar, and the director of the Oxford Internet Institute, William Dutton, signed a collaboration agreement in the first half of June. This agreement will allow for the setting up of a distance PhD course to be given by Dutton and professor Manuel Castells, with student exchanges and joint research projects.

The Oxford Internet Institute's field of study focuses on the impact of the internet on society. The institute is characterised for having a multi-disciplinary team of sociologists, political and computer experts, and psychologists. "We want to carry out research that goes beyond that seen at the moment: analysing specific problems, stimulating debate and influencing policy and practice", said William Dutton on his visit to the UOC. Because we are two of the world's leading multi-disciplinary organisations and because we both study the impact of technology on society. We are united by this shared view and, for this reason, the agreement we signed in June 2006 is a valuable initiative. The UOC and the Oxford Internet Institute share aspects, but there are also many clear differences: the UOC has elements of a traditional university immersed in a wholly innovative institution, whereas we do not have the social mandate to provide e-learning, as the UOC does. If we look at the multi-disciplinary institutes dedicated to the internet, the UOC is a very different reality. The most interesting for me is the idea of an online PhD course. Professor Manuel Castells and I will offer a course for PhD students at the Oxford Internet Institute and the UOC, which is to start in the autumn of 2006. Both of us will work simultaneously from a distance, me from Oxford and him from here. It will be as virtual as possible and we will supervise the work of students at both institutions. It will offer the chance not just to exchange professors, but also students in the same class.
It represents an added challenge, because it provides certain difficulties. And it will be very interesting as an experience: a course of this type requires three times the effort of a standard course. It is an example of how distance education is not a substitute but complementary. A much more valuable training is possible using distance education resources. We would like to start with different activities and see how they evolve and how the students react. We have in mind organising a workshop each year, the first taking place in Barcelona and the second in Oxford. And our hope is that this activity can act as a catalyst for the synergy we are starting now and that it will help us to reach agreements for research and teaching.
One of the possibilities for collaboration, for example, is the project on Catalonia and the information society led by professor Manuel Castells together with other colleagues (Project Internet Catalonia). Collaboration with the UOC could be very interesting for the Oxford Internet Institute and for many other institutions with whom we can share the experience of practical cases from a comparative perspective, especially in analysing the differential characteristics of Catalonia as opposed to the UK or USA. We could invite IN3 professionals and people who have studied relationships with the internet in other countries, such as, Finland. Yes, it is another possible country. This, obviously, offers the chance to work together on e-government and e-learning. With regard to the case study of Catalonia (PIC), we can establish collaboration between two or three colleagues from the Oxford Internet Institute in order to learn more on how work is carried out at the UOC. Our experience at Oxford is that, when you create teams with people with different professional backgrounds, you get unexpected results. The idea is to set up multi-disciplinary groups, to let them get to know each other and let the design of new projects spring up. I probably shouldn't say as it is not sure yet, but at the Oxford Internet Institute we are thinking about applying for a grant to study the Scottish parliament. A study on e-consultation is underway: how can the internet be used for citizens' parliamentary consultation. And this would be an ideal case to be transferred to Catalonia. Should we apply, we would think about doing so together with the UOC, as it has professors working on these subjects; and, likewise, because the local Catalan government is aware of these questions.
It would be interesting to determine the differentiating characteristics in Scotland and compare them to those in Catalonia. Professor Manuel Castells and I have talked on occasions of the possibility of carrying out a joint research project on the global trends in the information society. Yes. It would involve professors supervising students' progress and in their being involved in a range of activities and seminars. Students may well find it enriching to be able to share different knowledge areas. And I believe that both the UOC and the Oxford Internet Institute are flexible institutions and can get people involved as much as we feel apt. And I don't just mean the students, but also the researchers working on e-learning or those who have just finished their theses, who would find it very interesting to get to know new realities, and senior researchers as well. E-learning is often linked just to distance education, but I try to convince my colleagues of the degree to which the internet changes the way students and professors work. E-learning affects the campus environment in far-reaching ways. Everything that takes place in the class, campus and teaching changes simultaneously. And I firmly believe that e-learning is not a substitute for face-to-face communication, but instead it makes it more important, more transcendental. It is in this direction that we are trying to develop the IN3's PhD programme.