t-learning - Future Scenarios - From holidays to language learning

Luis and Maria have been trying to decide where to take their holidays during the summer. As they watch the TV Travel Channel, they get inspired to visit the English Lake District. Although they know that they won’t get as much sun as where they live in southern Spain, Maria has always had a love for the poet - William Wordsworth - and Luis likes the idea of being able to go for long mountain walks. So they press the interactive button on the remote control and are guided through various screens that enable them to select their various travel options and make a firm booking using their credit card.

Once all this has been done, they are then invited to learn more about the area and improve their English language skills. Some videos are available free of charge because they are in fact promotional videos supplied by the Lake District Tourist Board. But, there is also an opportunity of subscribing to a distance learning course in English literature supplied by the UK eUniversity based in England and in English or a course on English Poets in Spanish supplied by their local university.

Maria, who already has a good understanding of English, decides to register for the English literature course through her TV set. In fact she only has to enter her personal PIN number and it brings up all her contact details that have been previous entered. She then gives her credit card details to complete her registration to the course. Maria is then asked how she would like to receive the course. If she is using broadband TV, the video components of the course can be made available on demand by entering her PIN number and the course code. This gives her the ability to start the course straight away. If she has a personal digital video recorder (PVR) the first video module can be made available to her the next morning, otherwise she has the option of receiving video-cassettes by post but they can take up to fourteen days to be delivered. Maria also has a choice of receiving text-based materials and assignments by post or via email.

Luis decides that he needs to improve his English so he registers for the English language course in a similar way to Maria. As they do have broadband TV he is able to immediately access some short video clips and text-based questions that are aimed at assessing his English language level. Over the next few weeks he can dip into his language-learning course whenever it is convenient for him. However, he also receives prompts at regular intervals on his TV set - encouraging and reminding him to move to the next module. This is aimed at motivating him to continue with the course. In addition he also has access to a remote tutor via telephone at an appointed time. The combination of the tutor and the TV-based assessment enables Luis to always have access to the learning module that is most appropriate to his learning needs.

Future Scenario - From holidays to language learning