Introducing online teaching in Humanities : A case study about the acceptance of online activities by the academic staff of classical languages

The purpose of this paper is to show the perceptions of the academic staff of classical languages (ancient Greek and Latin) concerning use of online activities during their courses. The study was carried out in three countries: Greece (three major Universities), Spain (University of Barcelona) and the United States (University of California, Berkeley) with the participation of thirty-three academic instructors. Depending on the level of use and acceptance of the ICT and following G. Moore’s classification, we separated the participating academics in three groups: the conservatives, the mainstream and the early adopters. The fact that the smallest group is the third clearly shows the necessity for teachers’ preparation and training before introducing innovative projects in the classroom. Since the starting point for the application of innovation in the classroom is the teacher, policy makers should focus on helping them become conscious of changes in teaching methods and include their opinion during the design of innovative projects.


Introduction
In the last decades there has been a growing interest among universities in the use of the internet for teaching and learning.In addition, new technologies have changed the nature of open and distance education by providing learning communities for teachers and students where they can interact with each other even if they are situated in different geographical locations.The importance of interaction in forms of flexible, online and distance education has been researched and described at length -whether learners interacting with individualized computer programs or learner-toteacher or learner-to-learner interaction that at a distance requires the mediation of technology (Moore, 1989;Garrison et al., 1998).Online learning in university language departments is used mostly in order to support face-to-face teaching and learning and its application has offered some very important benefits to both instructors and students.
In spite of the above advantages of the use of ICT in learning activities, when we talk about online course delivery in Classics departments, the situation gets more complicated.One reason is that there are often limited funds available.Another is that the diverse skills and knowledge required for the above roles are not formally described.Finally, the tradition of these departments has kept them far from the technology, which began to influence education and course delivery in recent decades.
Until now, we have not been able to find any department of Classics that applies a complete online language course in its curriculum.Universities that are open to innovation and technology have designed online activities, online exercises, quizzes, surveys and online theoretical feedback for students, but there is no complete course delivery with periodic and stable interaction between the members of a virtual community/classroom.

Research methodology
This study took place in three countries: Greece, Spain and the United States (California).More analytically, a total of thirtythree academic instructors with various specialties in the sector of Classics participated.Their general characteristics (gender, university and specialty) and their institutions' policy concerning the use and application of ICT in learning activities are shown in the table below: This general information about the participating academic staff shows that they all belong to institutions with interesting research activity and their opinion about the issue of introducing information technology in Classics can be very useful for policy makers and administration in order to improve the conditions in humanities for innovation and online course delivery.
In the first phase of the study, participating instructors answered a survey, which contained three basic parts: In the first part, apart from the standard demographic questions, they had to provide information about their "digital profile" (personal use of ICT, preferences, etc.) and their knowledge concerning the use of ICT (studies in computer science, in-class activities with ICT).In the second part of the survey, they were asked to evaluate the introduction of ICT in Classics and to answer whether they believe that they and their students have sufficient knowledge to participate in such innovation.Finally, in the third part, the instructors had to discuss the most important problems they face regarding the use of ICT for online course delivery, advantages and disadvantages of such courses and propose possible solutions.
The second phase of the study contained face-to-face interviews with almost half of the participants (42%).The interviews were planned after data analysis of the survey in order to collect more information about topics that weren't developed in depth in the survey.More analytically, from the interviews we had the opportunity to collect additional information about the teaching activity of participants in relation to ICT.Instructors were asked about the structure of their courses, their content and the possibilities of developing an online course with the existing conditions in their departments.Finally, they were asked to propose groups of courses for which they could develop online delivery easier than others.It is important to mention that the academic staff that was interviewed expressed a general preoccupation about the future of their departments and the funding they receive every year from their universities.It was a common belief that new strategies need to be designed in order to attract more students every year and to offer them more job opportunities.
The data analysis of these two phases was based on G. Moore's classification of teaching staff according to their attitude toward new technologies and to innovation.Applying Moore's (1989) concept in our study, we can distinguish three general categories of Classics instructors, a) the conservatives, who are not open to innovation and do not trust ICT for their course delivery; b) the mainstream, who, even if they are in favor of an evolutionary change in teaching, are risk averters and face ICT usability problems; and, c) the early adopters, who are open to innovation in their courses, are risk takers and have strong capability in the use of ICT.The table below shows a comparative description of the characteristics (also approached by Zayim et al., 2006;Gillard, 2004) of the three categories.

Case study results
According to Rogers (2003), individuals in a social system do not adopt an innovation at the same time; a certain percentage of individuals are relatively earlier or later in adopting a new idea.The characteristics mentioned in the previous paragraph determine the instructors' willingness to adopt an innovation and their leadership functions.The general results of the study showed that the majority of the instructors belong to the mainstream category (46%), followed by the conservative group with 30%, while only 24% of the participating instructors were identified as early adopters.The following diagram offers a schematic representation of the study results.It is important to mention that the gender and age of instructors didn't play an important role in their categorization since we had almost the same number of both senior and younger instructors, and men and women in all three groups.
The crucial issue for decision makers and those who design innovation projects is to bridge the "chasm" (as it was described by Moore, 1991) between the mainstream category (which is the biggest) and the early adopters.A study conducted in Canada (Anderson, et al., 1998) concluded that "comprehensive adoption strategies cannot be based on support of early adopters, but must be designed to appeal to the mainstream faculty", staff who are "better integrated into the traditional administrative and social norms of faculty culture" (p.94), drawing from mainstream faculty the role models that are essential for the diffusion of innovation.Moore also developed the same idea by saying that many technologies initially get pulled into the market by enthusiasts, but later fail to attain wider adoption.So, the designers of innovative projects for education should come up with strategies that will help them build a bridge across that gap and attract a bigger mass of individuals.Also, it is much more difficult to convince and collaborate with the conservative category because, as can be seen from the results, they deny taking any risk or trying new teaching methodologies in their courses.Therefore, the best practice would be having as the main target group the mainstream category, which is bigger and more flexible.If the mainstream category believes in change and innovation, then it would be easier to approach the conservatives, focusing on the change and activities of the (ex) mainstream category.Even if this attempt fails, it would not be of great importance since it is not obligatory for everyone 46% mainstream 30% conservative 24% early adopters

Critical Mass
Figure1.Instructors' categorization on the basis of their acceptance of innovation.
to participate in change.The fundamental goal of innovation is to convince the majority of the teaching stuff, which consists of the early adopters and the mainstream faculty (70% of the total).
The following results concerning the characteristics of the three categories can serve as an important pillar for decision makers and project designers, which can help their attempts to bridge the "chasm."

characteristic 1: Attitude towards change in teaching (in general)
Only 20% of participating instructors were in favor of revolutionary change and were characterized as early adopters, while 50% (mainstream faculty) was also in favor of change but with limitations, since they believe that revolutionary changes can lead to less effective teaching and learning.On the other hand, three out of ten instructors (conservative) mentioned that the teaching methods and structure of Classics departments do not need any changes because they have functioned for many years without changes and without significant problems.

characteristic 2: Attitude towards risk and main teaching focus
As far as the second characteristic is concerned, 40% of participating instructors belong to the mainstream group.They said that they try to introduce innovation in their courses when possible, but at the same time they are risk averters, since they do not trust many of the new teaching models.Three out of ten instructors were identified as risk takers who try to create new roles (for both students and instructors) in their courses.

characteristic 3: Skills in using ict for learning activities
Only 15% of the instructors can be identified as early adopters concerning their skills in using ICT for learning activities.These individuals have studied computer science for personal use and use ICT every day in their personal life and almost every class they give.
The majority of the instructors (55%) belong to the mainstream category since they haven't studied computer science and use ICT occasionally at home.In their classes they often use simple ICT applications, such as PowerPoint presentations, email and internet.traditional teaching methods with ICT.Half of them (35%) believe that it is possible to combine tradition and ICT, but that there are many problems to be solved.

characteristic 5: open to experiments
The majority of participants do not have a problem experimenting with new teaching projects, but only 30% can be characterized as real "experimenters" (early adopters).The majority said that they are open to evaluating new projects and teaching methods, but need to be proven applications of recognized value in order to introduce them in their courses.

characteristic 6: need of technical support while using ict
Only five out of the thirty three participating instructors (early adopters) consider themselves to be self-sufficient and do not need technical support while using ICT applications in learning activities.Even these five instructors seem insecure when faced with complicated ICT applications.The majority of instructors (55%) said that they need significant support during the application of a learning activity with the use of ICT, as they are self-sufficient only when using very simple applications (use of internet, email, PowerPoint, chat).
After this data analysis, and in order to give a title to each of the three groups of instructors, we can say that the early adopters have a clear visionary attitude for teaching Classics, the mainstream category a more pragmatic attitude and the conservatives a restricted and conservative vision of their profession.A schematic representation of the above analysis is shown in the following graphic.

Conclusions
After analyzing the results of this study, a general conclusion is that administration, policy makers and innovation designers should take into consideration the idiosyncrasy of Classical Studies before introducing any new teaching methods involving the use of ICT.Simply because an innovative pedagogical project has been successful in science departments or in engineering doesn't mean that it will have the same acceptance or efficiency in departments of Classics, which have been working for many decades with almost the same structure and teaching methods.It is very important to make clear the fact that, because of their tradition, these departments need additional information, training and resources in order to be able to follow the rest of the sciences in this growing interest in the use of ICT in teaching and learning.
This study does open a window for facing this issue, but this is an area that needs further research.
More analytically, one of the most important parameters for successful application of an innovative ICT teaching project in Classics is the need to convince the instructor of its efficiency.As stated by Bates (2000), "because of the central role that faculty members play in the work of Universities, any change in core activities, such as teaching and research, is completely dependent on their support".In this context, administration and project designers should begin a dialogue with the teaching staff (Wilson et al., 2004) about: a) the project's advantage (does the innovation represent an advantage over current ways of teaching?);b) the project's compatibility (is the innovation compatible with existing needs and expectations?);c) the project's complexity (does the innovation make life simpler or at least not contribute more complexity to teaching duties?); d) the project's trialability (can the innovation be tried without a commitment to completely change current practices?);and, finally, e) the project's observability (is the innovation visible to potential adopters?).
It would be fruitful to build this dialogue on the work of the early adopters and diffuse their knowledge, skills and experience, showing, at the same time, that the majority of the rest of the faculty (mainstream category) is very close to reaching that level.
Another important issue is the need for technology training, not only for teaching staff, but for students as well.It is obvious that the majority of the instructors in Classics departments do not have the necessary knowledge of ICT.Accredited training courses should be used for teaching staff as a vehicle for dissemination of staff development in ICT.Until now, there are no reported official courses for Classics instructors, but it has been proven in other science specialties (Edwards, et al., 2000;Littlejohn, 2002) that the majority of mainstream instructors show a significant improvement in understanding and managing the new technologies after attending these courses and come closer to the early adopters' category.As far as students are concerned, our research showed that they have a higher level of understanding and use of ICT than their teachers, but still need more training in order to participate actively in innovative ICT projects.
Finally, it must be made clear that online course delivery approaches do not attempt to replace face-to-face teaching and learning.The majority of the instructors in Classics departments believe that these innovative teaching methods will eliminate the role of the teacher as a physical presence and the tradition of the Classics departments, which has been based, until now, on the instructor's transmission of knowledge to students through face-to-face teaching.In this context, it should be clear that the main objective of ICT activities is to empower traditional teaching methods and provide students with easier and more attractive ways of learning.Thus, an emphasis on innovation rather than on technology should be adopted by explaining to instructors that the new learning environments created are an opportunity for them to try new teaching methods without requiring a high level of ICT knowledge   12.What would you add to the teaching of morphology? 13.What do you believe to be the most difficult topics of morphology for students?Which grammatical areas does the professor have to focus on the most?14.How would you assess the approach to syntax of the ancient Greek language?15.Are there enough hours of class, in the curriculum, for the teaching of syntax?16.What would you add to the teaching of syntax?17.What are the most difficult topics of syntax for students?
Which areas of syntax does the professor have to focus on the most?18. Are the hours devoted to teaching methodology of translation, in the curriculum, of ancient Greek texts, sufficient for students to learn to translate on their own?19.What would you add to the teaching of texts and translation?
20. How would you assess students' results in ancient Greek language subjects?21.Compare the level of difficulty of ancient Greek language subjects with others in Greek Philology: mythology, literature, Greek thought.22. How would you assess the idea of the existence of an online course -with the same content, structure and objectives -for your subject as a support for on-site learning?23.How do imagine this course: its structure, the roles of faculty and students, class schedules, homework, etc.? 24.What additional comment would you add on the topic of teaching of the ancient Greek language that you believe to be important and that hasn't been mentioned in the previous questions?

characteristic 4 :
combination of traditional teaching methods with the use of ict This characteristic is the most accepted by the instructors of Classics, since 70% believe that it is possible to combine current http://digithum.uoc.eduUniversitat Oberta de Catalunya the Humanities in the Digital era Iss.11 | May 2009 iSSn 1575-2275

Figure
Figure 2. Instructors' categorization in every characteristic The objective of this questionnaire is to obtain information regarding the attitude of Classics faculty on the use of ICTs in learning activities.The questionnaire is part of a PhD thesis aimed at improving learning of ancient Greek in higher education, carried out in the Department of Methods of Research and Diagnostics in Education at the University of Barcelona.Respond honestly and read the questions carefully before answering.

table 1 .
The general characteristics of the participating instructors and their departments' policy on ICT http://digithum.uoc.eduUniversitat Oberta de Catalunya the Humanities in the Digital era Iss.11 | May 2009 iSSn 1575-2275

table 2 .
The characteristics of the three categories of instructors according to their attitude towards ICT http://digithum.uoc.eduUniversitat Oberta de Catalunya the Humanities in the Digital era Iss.11 | May 2009 iSSn 1575-2275