1. Paul Gorsky a, Avner Caspi a and Samantha Smidt b a Open University of Israel b Open University, UK Students' Utilization of Instructional Resources in a Difficult Distance Education Physics Course

2. Theory of Instructional Dialogue Research Findings and Conclusions

3. Theory of Instructional Dialogue 1. Every element in an instructional system is either a dialogue or a resource which supports dialogue. 2. Certain structural and human resources correlate with the type, amount and duration of interpersonal dialogue that occurs both in-class and out.

4. DIALOGUES INTRAPERSONAL The interaction between student and subject- matter that occurs when (and only when) it is mediated by a given instructional resource. INTERPERSONAL Instructor - Student Student - Student f-2-f or mediated by communications media; if mediated, synchronous or asynchronous.

5. HUMAN RESOURCES -Faculty -Students -(Significant others) STRUCTURAL RESOURCES -Instructional materials -Group size / Instructional design -Teacher / Student Accessibility

6. RESEARCH Participants: 121 students at Open U, UK in an undergraduate Quantum Mechanics course perceived (by them) as difficult or very difficult. Tactical Approaches to Study Questionnaire

7. Structural Resources -Text (intra) -FirstClass conference (intra & inter) -Tutorial sessions (intra & inter) -Face-to-face meetings (inter) -Telephone (inter) -E-mail (inter) -Self-help groups (inter)

8. FINDINGS Profiles Reading TMAs Intrapersonal only 43.8 54.2 Intra to Inter 40.5 33.1 Intra to Inter to Intra 9.9 6.8 Other 5.8 5.9 Totals 100 100

9. FINDINGS Structural resources - intrapersonal dialogue text, alternative texts, FirstClass conf, other Human resources - interpersonal dialogue tutor, outsider, peer 1 st structural resource - interpersonal dialogue Telephone

10. References 1.Gorsky, P. and Caspi, A. (2005). Dialogue: A theoretical framework for distance education instructional systems. British Journal of Educational Technology, 36(2), 137-144. 2. Gorsky, P., Caspi, A. and Chajut, E. (2007). Instructional dialogue: Toward a unified theory of instructional design in the cognitive domain. In R. Zheng and S. Pixy-Ferris (Eds.). Online Instructional Modeling: Theories and Practice. Hershey, PA: Idea Group, Inc. (in press). 3. Gorsky, P., Caspi, A. and Trumper, R. (2004). Dialogue in a distance education physics course. Open Learning, 19(3), 265-277. 4. Gorsky, P., Caspi, A., and Trumper, R. (2006). Campus-based university students’ use of dialogue. Studies in Higher Education, 31(1), 71-87. 5. Gorsky, P., Caspi, A. and Tuvi-Arad I. (2004). Use of instructional dialogue by university students in a distance education chemistry course. Journal of Distance Education, 19(1), 1-19. 6.Caspi, A. and Gorsky, P. (2006). Open university students use of dialogue. Studies in Higher Education, 31(6), 735-752. 7. Gorsky, P., Caspi, A. and Smidt, S. (2007). The dialogic behavior of Open University students in a difficult physics course. Journal of Distance Education, 22(1), (in press).