An Experimental Study of Social and Psychological Aspects of Teleworking: The Implications for Tele-Education

The last few years have seen a growth in interest in the concept of distance-learning in the field of education and in the use of teleworking to provide a way of conducting work from home. Current predictions suggest that these could become very significant ways of learning and working in the future. The contention of this paper is that distance learning will continue its early adoption of many of the existing techniques and technologies used for teleworking. It therefore starts by describing an investigation into the working environment of teleworking, examining the currently debated issues associated with it, and laying out the potential advantages and drawbacks. Views solicited from workers currently operating within a teleworking regime in a large United Kingdom organization are presented. A small-scale experimental study of the psychological and sociological effects associated with teleworking is then described, and the results discussed. Finally, the implications for tele-education are considered. (Author) ******************************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. ******************************************************************************** cI An Experimental Study of Social and Psychological Aspects of Teleworking: The Implications for Tele-Education Dr Dave Hobbs, James Armstrong School of Computing, Leeds Metropolitan University, UK; email: [email protected] Abstract: The last few years have seen a growth in interest in the concept of distance-learning in the field of education and in the use of teleworking to provide a way of conducting work from home. Current predictions suggest that these could become very significant ways of learning and working in future. The last few years have seen a growth in interest in the concept of distance-learning in the field of education and in the use of teleworking to provide a way of conducting work from home. Current predictions suggest that these could become very significant ways of learning and working in future. The contention of this paper is that distance learning will continue its early adoption of many of the existing techniques and technologies used for teleworking. It therefore starts by describing an investigation into the working environment of teleworking, examining the currently debated issues associated with it, and laying out the potential advantages and drawbacks. Views solicited from workers currently operating within a teleworking regime in a large UK organisation are presented. A small-scale experimental study of the psychological and sociological effects associated with teleworking is then described, and the results discussed. Finally, the implications for tele-education are considered.