Trends and Challenges in Distance Education (Mail and Guardian 17-23 November 2001 under title: Distance Education: Brave New World)

Trends and Challenges in Distance Education (Mail and Guardian
17-23 November 2001 under title: Distance Education: Brave New
World)

Jennifer Glennie – Director, South African Institute for Distance Education

Converging Conceptions of Education
For years the image of distance education was of lonely students in the depths of the night
faced with an inaccessible text, waiting for months for desultory feedback on assignments.
Indeed, as recently as 1994, an International Commission into Distance Education in South
Africa stated
       Leaving aside a few recent productions, the typical study guide is uninviting, dull and impersonal ……
       Little if any scope is provided for students to interact with the ideas they are meeting ….. Students are
       considered to be subservient and the text ensures they will be.
This image was contrasted starkly with the supportive and interactive educational experience
supposed enjoyed by face-to-face or “contact” students – a myth, as many of us will know.

This contrast between contact and distance provision was always exaggerated. It has now
been replaced by an evident converging of teaching and learning approaches as well as
increasing use of different technologies.

Currently, in both traditionally face-to-face and distance education institutions, there are a
growing number of students interacting with well-designed learning resources (available in
print, on-line or on video), listening to lectures on satellite broadcasts, participating in
conventional or virtual groups, joining residential sessions, and communicating with
educators via the e-mail.

It becomes now impossible to define programmes as distance or contact education. Instead,
providers call them by a diversity of names: “mixed mode”, “telematic education”, “flexible
learning”, “reduced contact” and so on. Commentors speak of a continuum of provision. The
reality is that some programmes are clearly towards the “distance” end of the continuum
spectrum, that increasingly provision clusters around the centre, and that very few
programmes can be said to be purely contact.

New Challenges
The advantage of the resulting blurring between distance and contact is that, whatever the
institution, educators can now concentrate on designing quality programmes using teaching
and learning strategies appropriate to the learners’ context and the educational goals. Many
educators are doing so in reaction to new challenges, particularly the economic and political
imperative of lifelong learning. As institutions see the shift in their student bodies towards
older students, working students, poorer students and students from remote areas, they are
compelled to devise programmes that do not require regular attendance at set times at a
central venue. Freed from the restrictive notion that most learning takes place within the
walls of a classroom, providers apply more flexible and often more pedagogically sound
strategies, including the extensive use of information communication technologies.

In the higher education sector, we now see a notable increase in the number of such
programmes at traditionally contact institutions. In a recent survey conducted by SAIDE we
found that most programmes using “distance education” strategies are aimed at relatively
small numbers of post-graduate students. The large scale programmes are generally confined
to a couple of sectors – notably nursing and teacher education. The numbers are not as great
as they might appear, given that headcount numbers are usually provided and these can
translate into as little as one fifth the number of full time equivalent students.

With the increasing convergence between contact and distance education what then are the
important issues?

Quality

First and foremost must be the scrutiny of quality. Some providers have exploited the new
markets. They have established low cost, but seemingly accessible, programmes that are
actually of poor quality. Either so little support is given to students that only a tiny minority
pass, or that the value of the qualification is of dubious worth.

For this reason, the Centre for Educational Technology and Distance Education (CETDE) at
the national Department of Education convened a process to determine a set of quality criteria
for distance education (see box), each containing a set of defining elements.

SAIDE’s view is that these criteria of quality should and can be applied to traditionally face-
to-face provision. Few people who complain about the quality of distance education seem to
see this. Happily the criteria are currently being drawn upon by SAQA(the South African
Qualifications Authority). Under its auspices, a number of quality assurance bodies are
currently being established. These, we trust, will protect the public from exploitative
educational providers of whatever kind.

Funding

A second key issue is one of funding. In higher education, public distance education courses
are funded by the state at a lesser rate than contact ones. We have already seen the obvious
difficulty the state will have in determining exactly what falls under the category of distance
education, but in addition it seems the differentiation has no rationale. Extensive financial
planning work at SAIDE has demonstrated that distance education is actually not intrinsically
cheaper.

A lot depends on how the programmes are constructed and on how many students enrol.
Where huge resource has been expended on curriculum design and learning resource
development for a handful of students, per capita costs can be considerably higher than a
more traditionally face-to-face programme. By contrast, a programme with a large number of
students can afford huge development costs and can provide extensive support to learners
while retaining lower per capita costs than a contact equivalent.

The issue therefore becomes one of removing the distinction between contact funding and
distance, and finding ways to phase in non-discriminatory funding with appropriate
accountabilty mechanisms.

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Co-ordination

Thirdly, co-ordination needs to ensure that the resources available to education are spent cost-
effectively and facilitate access to quality programmes even for the poor and the
marginalised. Intelligent co-ordination is required in at least two areas: development of
learning resources, and provision of learning centres.

Regarding resource development, in 1995 SAIDE conducted an audit of teacher education at
a distance. One of the distressing findings was that in five or six areas of the country, lone
individuals were producing nearly identical courseware. Lacking a process of critical
engagement and adequate financing at any one site, the resulting materials were generally
poor. Yet across the sites considerable resources had been used. There is a wealth of
courseware development expertise in the country which needs to be co-ordinated. Some of it
resides inside dedicated distance institutions. However, as the recent courseware awards of
NADEOSA (National Association of Distance Education Organizations of South Africa )
demonstrate, some of the best resides in traditionally contact institutions.

Learning Centres are another critical area. These are for students who simply cannot access
the headquarters of providers. Such centres can provide a range of services, from simply
being a place where learners can meet or pick up their assignments to having more advanced
services like accessing the Internet or participating in an on-line tutorial. It is now
theoretically possible for every potential student in any remote area of our country to be
connected to providers and tutors. No single provider can organize or resource such a system
of centres. This requires imaginative co-ordination of the many, many initiatives currently
underway.

In addition, ICT networks have significantly expanded the potential for providers to increase
their sphere of operations beyond their traditional geographical boundaries. It is now
conceivable that students in the Eastern Cape can enrol, without taking up residence away
from home, for programmes at the University of Natal, University of Stellenbosch, UNISA,
RAU, Potchefstroom, University of Pretoria, to name a few. It becomes incumbent on the
national Department to ensure that this potential translates into a real choice for students of
useful programmes rather than a duplication of irrelevant ones!

Access

And finally, we turn to access to educational opportunity. Many practitioners are motivated
by the potential of distance education strategies for marginalized communities. In particular
the new technologies hold out great promise for reaching people in their homes, in their
communities and in remote corners of the country. In South Africa, our highly developed
centres have the capacity to “reach” the under-developed periphery. But this is no easy task.
Talk of quickly erecting telecentres has been proven to be glib and ineffective. Rather we
require massive political will to redirect substantial resources to the careful construction and
support of a digital educational network. Only then will the new technologies assist in
diminishing inequalities rather than exacerbating them.

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Criteria for Quality Distance Education in South Africa – an
                                extract

1.       POLICY AND PLANNING
The educational provider has a clear sense of purpose and direction, which is informed by national priorities as
well as by the quality demands of cost-effective educational provision.

2        LEARNERS
There is a system for updating detailed information about past, present and potential learners and using the
information to inform policy and planning of programme development, course design and materials
development, learner support, and other relevant aspects of educational provision.

3.       PROGRAMME DEVELOPMENT
Programmes are flexible and designed with national needs as well as the needs of prospective learners and
employers in mind; their form and structure encourage access and are responsive to changing environments;
learning and assessment methods are appropriate to the aims and purposes of the programmes.
The course curriculum is well-researched, with aims and learning outcomes appropriate to the level of study;
content, teaching and learning and assessment methods facilitate the achievement of the aims and learning
outcomes; there is an identified process of development and evaluation of courses.

4.       COURSE DESIGN
The course curriculum is well researched, with aims and learning outcomes appropriate to the level of study’
content, teaching and learning and assessment method facilitate the achievement of the aims and learning
outcomes; there is an identified process of development and evaluation process

5.      COURSE MATERIALS
The content, assessment and teaching and learning approaches in the course materials support the aims and
learning outcomes: the materials are accessibly presented: there is an identified process of development and
evaluation of course materials.

6.       ASSESSMENT
Assessment is an essential feature of the teaching and learning process, is properly managed, and meets the
requirements of accreditation bodies and employers.

7.      LEARNER SUPPORT
Learners are supported to a considerable extent to become independent learners through the use of various
communication systems; the need of learners for physical facilities and study resources and participation in
decision-making is also taken into account.

8.       QUALITY ASSURANCE
A continuous review of the quality system ensures that learners’ and staff needs as well as the needs
of other clients are met.

9       RESULTS
The programme achieves valid teaching and learning goals in cost-effective ways that have a positive impact on
society and meet the needs of clients and national priorities.

Other Criteria exist for Human Resources Strategy, Information and Marketing, collaborative Arrangementsand
Management and administration

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