Distance and E-learning in Transition

Learning Innovation, Technology and Social Challenges

András Szücs, Alan Tait, Martine Vidal, Ulrich Bernath, András Szücs, Alan Tait, Martine Vidal, Ulrich Bernath

• Publisher: Wiley-ISTE
• Year: 2013
• Print ISBN: 9781848211322
• eBook ISBN: 9781118618721
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Inclusive Education

The rushed development of information and communication technologies and their impact on the world of learning in the last decade have profoundly changed the paradigms, scenarios and values at all levels of education.

The professionalization of tools and practices, in addition to the consolidation of academic and practical knowledge, has been a major continuing issue throughout these years. The annual conferences of the largest European professional community in distance and e-learning have been setting the landmarks in this process. The selection from this unique knowledge pool demonstrates the deepening and consolidation of knowledge and experience.

This book presents the developments in the field of open, distance and e-learning, through new technologies, methodologies and tools, which have profoundly changed the paradigms, scenarios and values at all levels of education over the last decade.

PART 1

THE DEVELOPMENT OF DISTANCE EDUCATION AND E-LEARNING

PART 1.1

SYSTEMS DEVELOPMENT

Chapter 1

Challenges Facing Distance Education in the 21^st Century: Policy and Research Implications ¹

1.1. Introduction

For over 150 years the role of distance education at the higher education level was clear: to enable second-chance students to pursue academic and professional studies (Bell & Tight, 1993; Guri-Rosenblit, 1999, 2005). Second-chance students were defined according to various parameters: lack of formal qualifications for admission to conventional higher education institutions; living in remote areas; work or family constraints; health limitations; serving in the army; being in prison; being a woman, etc. Distance teaching providers have always aimed to broaden access to higher education and to promote equity by enabling populations that, for various reasons, were excluded from mainstream universities to achieve academic or professional qualifications. Most of the distance education institutions viewed themselves as unique and distinct from conventional campus-based universities. When the British Open University was established in 1969, for instance, the only access restriction it defined related to the entry age of its students. Only students of 21 years and older were allowed to enroll. In spite of its open access policy, it decided to restrict the age of its students in order to emphasize that it did not cater to the conventional age cohorts of high school graduates and it did not compete with traditional universities. This restriction was abolished in 1986, but it reflects the distinct role which most distance teaching universities assumed in the context of the higher education systems in which they have operated.

The distinct status of distance teaching universities also shaped the nature of research which was conducted by many academics on distance education. Typical research themes dealt with: impact studies comparing students outcomes in distance education frameworks with those of students in conventional settings; perseverance in studies (and, most particularly, trying to explain the relatively high drop out rates in distance education); the use of diverse technologies in distance teaching environments; the importance of various types of support systems in distance teaching; the economies-of-scale provided by distance teaching, and so on. Until the last decade, most of the researchers of distance education purported to prove two major things: that distance teaching at university level can be considered on a par with conventional teaching at a campus university (Bernard et al., 2004), and that the operation of distance teaching universities, most particularly the large scale distance teaching universities, provides economies-of-scale and is considerably cheaper than conventional university teaching Thus, distance teaching universities are able to enroll large numbers of students at a lower cost (Daniel, 1996; Guri-Rosenblit, 1999; Hülsmann, 2004), and as such contribute greatly to the broadening of access to higher education.

The clear and distinct role of distance education providers for over 150 years is not clear and distinct anymore. Current influential trends, such as mass provision of of higher education, globalization, marketization, and the emergence of the digital technologies have blurred the boundaries between distance education providers and conventional universities. Nowadays, many campus-based universities, both public and private, have opened their gates to second-chance students, and offer their courses and programs to students at a distance by harnessing the new technologies. Many off-shore university operations, particularly from developed and English-speaking countries, are offered today by conventional universities.

Clarification of their mission is immensely important for distance education providers for setting their future operation and their future research agenda. This chapter examines 10 crucial issues which both policy makers and researchers in distance education institutions have to relate to: institutional orientation towards teaching and research; scope of operation; size and mode of operation; spectrum of curricula; support mechanisms; employment of digital technologies; public-private operation; the role of distance teaching universities as academic publishing houses versus the open source movement; collaboration and competition; and the language of instruction.

1.2. Teaching/research orientation

From the very outset, the large scale distance teaching universities have assigned top priority to teaching and student learning in their mission goals and practical operation. By paying particular attention to teaching, they have gone beyond the practices of most campus universities, which are heavily dominated by research. By emphasizing their role as teaching universities, they have revived a long-established tradition of universities since medieval times. For over 800 years, until the birth of the ideal of the Humboldtian research university, teaching was the most important task of academics. Distance teaching universities invested great efforts in developing quality assurance procedures to monitor teaching and provide students with learning at a high level. Since the early 1970s they have tried out various types of teaching methods and scattered their efforts over several domains, in an attempt to find appropriate ways of accommodating different styles of learning and different needs of students coming from many different backgrounds, with different study behaviors. The high quality self-study materials which they produced have been used to this date not only by their students, but by students of most universities in any given national jurisdiction, and even beyond national boundaries.

However, we live today in a world in which universities are ranked in a variety of league tables. Research productivity plays a crucial role in most of these rankings. There is a noticeable trend in the last decade in many countries to establish world class universities based mainly on their research achievements (Altbach & Balan, 2007). In relation to research reputation, many distance teaching universities are in a most vulnerable situation, which often affects their academic status in many countries. So far, the British Open University is the only large scale distance teaching university which is included among the 500 leading research universities in the Shanghai Jiao Tong University ranking.

Distance education providers should decide whether they want to stay mainly teaching universities or also be research oriented. If they decide to be research oriented, the major question is — should research in distance teaching institutions be conducted mainly on various parameters related to distance education, or should research be performed by distance educators in different disciplines? This question relates mainly to institutional policy. It is clear that individual professors in distance teaching institutions conduct research in their fields of expertise, and publish in peer-reviewed journals in a plethora of domains. But when the leaders of a distance teaching university consider the establishment of research institutes, they have to decide whether to focus on distance education related issues, such as a technology institute focusing on the instructional design of self-study materials, or construct research institutes in various disciplines, such as an institute of cognitive science research exploring the intricate meanings of knowing. The institutional orientation towards the appropriate mix of teaching and research constitutes a crucial policy issue for the future academic status of distance teaching universities. It also affects the setting of the future research agenda of distance education providers.

1.3. Scope of operation

Distance education has always carried the inherent ability to transcend national borders. However, until the last decade, most of the large distance teaching universities were set mainly by national governments to cater to the needs of students in national or local contexts. For instance, Athabasca University was founded in Alberta in Canada, and the FernUniversität was established in North Rhine Westphalia in Germany. Gradually they have expanded their operation throughout Canada and Germany. The British Open University, UNED in Spain and the Israeli Open University have until recently operated mainly in their national jurisdictions, as have most other national distance teaching universities. The globalization and internationalization trends in the last decade have pushed many distance education providers to expand their operation beyond their national boundaries (Enders & Fulton, 2002; Guri-Rosenblit, 2009a; OECD, 2004, 2005; World Bank, 2002).

Broadening the operation beyond national borders carries advantages and promises, but also encounters inevitable obstacles and problems. The broader the operation of any given university, the more difficult it is to assure the quality of the studies which it offers, particularly if the international students do not have command of the English language (or any other taught language), and the academic cultures in the foreign countries differ meaningfully from that of the teaching institution (Clancy et al., 2007). The University of Maryland University College (UMUC) is the largest public distance teaching university in the US. Obviously, it has to employ different logistics when it reaches out to American soldiers scattered all over the world as compared to teaching non-English speaking populations in countries which lack an appropriate technological infrastructure. At the Open University of Israel, for instance, there are currently over 8,000 students studying Judaic studies in around 100 cities in the former Soviet Union. The taught courses were translated into Russian, and huge efforts were invested in finding appropriate course coordinators and tutors fluent in Russian, and in establishing special quality assurance mechanisms for ensuring the quality of the teaching/learning process in the Russian language.

Information and communication technologies provide a very convenient platform for teaching in global settings, but nowadays the digital divide between the developed and developing countries, and between rich and poor in any given country, is huge, creating immense gaps in existing infrastructures (Guri-Rosenblit, 2009a; Perraton, 2000; World Bank, 2002). NGOs, international bodies and distance education providers should play a prominent role in planning strategies to diminish the existing gaps.

The decision of any distance teaching university to broaden its operation to international markets has a huge impact on the composition of its student population, the scope of its curricula, the role of its academic faculty, the nature of the support systems which it is able to provide, its overall budget, and the language of instruction. The scope of the operation also affects the research agenda of distance education researchers. Some of the interesting dilemmas that have not yet been resolved by appropriate research findings are: What kind of effective quality assurance mechanisms should be used by distance education providers in global, national, and local contexts? What are the optimal uses of the digital technologies in global, national and local contexts?

1.4. Size and mode of operation

Universities offering studies through distance teaching methods vary enormously in how they were initiated, the clienteles they aim to serve, how they are funded, and the kinds of programs they offer (Guri-Rosenblit, 2009b). The most prominent modes of distance teaching institutions until the last decade were: the single-mode distance teaching universities, the dual-mode universities (most notably in Australia and Canada), and the extensions in US universities. All of these modes were designed specifically for distant students, and a lot of effort was invested in setting appropriate support systems to accommodate the unique needs of working adults, part-time students and lifelong learners according to various criteria.

Size was crucially important for the operation of the large scale distance teaching universities, based on the industrial model. Many of the distance teaching universities teach dozens of thousands, and even hundreds of thousands of students (Daniel, 1996; ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Foreword
• Introduction
• PART 1. THE DEVELOPMENT OF DISTANCE EDUCATION AND E-LEARNING
• PART 2. TEACHING AND LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS IN THE MAKING
• List of Authors
• Institution Index
• Name Index
• Index