ACTIONS Model

One of the frameworks for selecting technology most familiar to the MDE community is Tony
Bates' (1995) ACTIONS model. Spelled out, the acronym ACTIONS refers to: Accessibility,
Cost, Teaching and learning, Interactivity and user-friendliness, Organizational issues, Novelty,
and Speed.

While ACTIONS can provide an excellent checklist by which to select technology, not all of the
items have equal weight when applied to Web 2.0 technology.

Access. "... how accessible is a particular technology for learners? How flexible is it for a
particular target group?" (Bates, 1995, p. 1).

Access to blogs, wikis, and social bookmarks remains long after the WebTycho virtual
classroom is closed, taken offline and archived. "UMUC has control over WebTycho" reminds
Thies (2008), "including the backups and archives created for classes. Students who create their
own accounts for blogging, social writing and bookmarking, and other Web 2.0 features maintain
control over those activities and will likely continue using the accounts beyond the dates of the
class" (p. 3).

Costs. "... what is the cost structure of each technology? What is the unit cost per learner?"
(Bates, 1995, p. 1).

Purchasing commercially hosted premium services is the cost consideration, but there are
alternatives. The cost structure of Web 2.0 technology in cost-per-learner should not be an issue
if use of no-cost commercially hosted platforms supported by advertising are employed (Adkins,
2007). Students may purchase 'premium' services to obtain more storage and advertisement-free
use, but that is a personal decision. If the institution decides to host blogs or wikis on its
networks, there are many no-cost open source software solutions.

A downside is that training is necessary for support staff to learn to administer and maintain
them. On a more positive note, using social software may reduce the amount of time instructors
spend answering student questions.

Teaching and learning. "... what kinds of learning are needed? What instructional approaches
will best meet these needs? What are the best technologies for supporting this teaching and
learning?" (Bates, 1995, pp. 1-2).

Increased connectivity with others, or (Siemens, 2004) "connectivisim," is the best way to
describe Web 2.0 technology in terms of instructional approach. Mason and Rennie (2008) write
"Experience has long been considered the best teacher of knowledge. Since we cannot
experience everything, other people's experiences, and hence other people, become the surrogate
for knowledge" (p. 10).

Interactivity and user friendliness. "... what kind of interaction does this technology enable? How
easy is it to use?" (Bates, 1995, p. 2).
Moore and Kearsley (1996) identify three types of interaction required in distance education:
learner-content, learner-instructor, and learner-learner. The authors state that employing all of
these will provide the best results, and indicate that the flaw of many distance education
programs is having a single communications medium, (Moore & Kearsley, 1996) and "when
there is only one medium, it is probable that only one kind of interaction is done well" (p. 132).

Organizational issues. "... what are the organisational requirements, and the barriers to be
removed, before this technology can be used successfully? What changes in organisation need to
be made?" (Bates, 1995, p. 2).

In discussing organizational requirements, Bates (2000) lists several organizational barriers to

Novelty. "... how new is this technology?" (Bates, 1995, p. 2).

While the newest technologies attract the most funding dollars, "novelty," says Bates (1995),
"should be the least important of all the criteria" (p. 11).

It is interesting to note here, that at one time, Twitter (2008), the free short social mass text
messaging service was novel. Skype (2008), the free Voice over Internet Protocol application
was also considered novel. Blogs were novel. Wikis were novel. Even WebTycho was novel at
one time. Novelty should be least important, but it is also difficult to determine today, and
"novel" social software can co-exist quietly with WebTycho without the need for demanding the
most funding dollars.

Speed. "... how quickly can courses be mounted with this technology? How quickly can
materials be changed?" (Bates, 1995, p. 2).

Speed depends on several factors. If the software is to be hosted on the institution's networks it
will require training the IT staff to install, administer, and maintain it. Then instructors must be
trained to use it and work it into learning activities in their courses. It is not as simple as saying
"go blog," or "do a wiki."