8.1. Models of open universities
8.2. Single mode institutions of distance education
8.3. Dual mode institutions
8.4. Mixed mode institutions
8.5. Models for collaboration
8.6. Forms of collaboration
8.7. Donor strategies
8.8. Benefits of cooperation
8.9. Importance of a local point of contact
8.10. Meeting local needs
Most developing countries recognise that distance learning provides the only credible and economically possible method of providing sustainable education and training for their mass population of educationally disadvantaged.
Many, perhaps the majority, seek to achieve this objective through the establishment of their own open universities. The alternative to in-country production and delivery is the import of pre-prepared and proven materials, some models of which involve a varying degree of collaboration between the originating and the delivery institution.
Of the three countries in this study, Sri Lanka established an Open University in 1981, and both the Czech Republic and Zimbabwe are in the process of creating organisations for the production and/or delivery of distance education.
For centuries, traditional higher education has relied totally upon placing a requirement on students to attend at predetermined times and places to allow direct interaction between tutor and student. In all these campus-focused institutions, physical plant and organisational infrastructures place constraints upon the delivery of teaching and upon the educational process.
The establishment of the Open University in the UK provided the first alternative to this traditional approach. Its success has generated not only a massive awareness of flexible and distance forms of student learning but also a large number of institutions either solely or partly involved in the production and delivery of distance education. These institutions can be broadly grouped in the following three classifications:
· single mode
· dual mode
· mixed mode
In this form the teachers and students are separated by both distance and time. Learning materials are produced and are used repeatedly over several years in order to recoup the initial high cost of development. These open universities avoid the structural constraints of traditional higher education but in doing so place significant demands upon those responsible for the development and quality assurance of the learning materials. This distance learning model also places a high expectation upon students who must be highly motivated, self-learners.
The UK Open University is the prime example of this model and there are many institutions which have sought to replicate their success including, for example, the Indira Gandhi National University in Delhi and the institution included in this study, the Open University of Sri Lanka in Colombo.
Despite the massive investment required to establish an open university ab initio, many developing countries aspire to have their own single mode institution of this type. Zimbabwe is an example, where this option is under active consideration by a specially formed Presidential Commission.
Many developing countries would be better advised to consider alternative, and less resource intensive, models for the provision of distance education.
Traditional teaching and distance teaching have come together in many universities around the world. In this model, on-campus students continue to be taught by conventional methods whilst off-campus students study separate and often different programmes using distance methodologies. Some examples of this model show a university-wide strategy to deliver distance education, others merely a single departmental or single course initiative. All examples evolve from conventional universities who recognise the opportunities that distance education courses provide for them and for their students.
In some cases there is minimal synergy between on-campus and distance courses, often because staff focus on only one mode of delivery.
There are several examples of this model in the developed countries; Australia and New Zealand have well established dual-mode institutions. In emerging and developing countries this mode can operate in one of two ways:
· the institution develops its own materials
· the institution imports materials whilst providing student support and course administration.
The University of Zimbabwe exhibits both these modes in two separate subject disciplines: education and agriculture. Similarly, the newly established National Centre of Distance Education in the Technical University of Brno in the Czech Republic aims to establish distance education initially through co-operation with other providers and ultimately through its own resources.
A newly emergent model which is establishing itself, and growing out of the dual mode approach, can be described as mixed mode. In this model, learning materials, and often educational methods originally created for distance education, are also used by on-campus students. This mode has been developed by Universities who can see the economic advantages of using high quality distance materials to deliver on-campus education. It requires a modular course structure and in a modest way is allowing new learning methodologies to challenge the established and entrenched approaches to university teaching. Good examples of this approach in the UK are the Universities of Bath and Luton (15).
An alternative mixed mode model applies when a traditional university incorporates imported learning materials within its on-campus programmes. This variant on the mixed mode model was explored with universities and polytechnic institutions in the three countries of this study and gained some initial and enthusiastic support. It is clearly worth further consideration for developing countries where the assured standards and accuracy of subject content implicit in pre-prepared materials can go some way to alleviate the profound problems caused by the low quality and low morale of teachers in some institutions of higher education, most notably in this study, in Zimbabwe. There are also benefits in using this approach for engineering courses, where the practical and 'hands-on' course components can be covered on-campus in short, intensive modules. This allows more student cohorts through the system, thus increasing the total number of students in training through better utilisation of plant and facilities. This approach found particular favour in the Bulawayo Polytechnic in Zimbabwe, where it could be used as a solution to both the problem of training large numbers of engineers and also the under-utilisation of laboratory and practical facilities.
Thus a mixed mode approach could not only allow for an expansion of student numbers by providing distance learning courses but could also benefit the education of conventional students in the system.
The establishment of a distance education capability in a developing country through either a single or dual mode institution requires both subject expertise and distance learning expertise. Collaborative models which involve the importing of materials or expertise can be far more attractive both economically and pedagogically.
In a briefing paper for UNESCO, Timmers (1988) (16) identified four different forms of collaboration in distance education:
· local
· bilateral
· multilateral
· knowledge industry.
Local collaborations can produce some remarkable projects. As an example, local government funds and involvement in planning created the Open Learning Institute in Hong Kong. Interestingly the Institute then adopted a policy of importing existing distance learning material from providing institutions, particularly the UK Open University. Timmers finds that bilateral institutional collaboration is the most common. This is also the view of an early report on Commonwealth co-operation (Coffey et al., 1988) (17).
Successful bilateral collaboration frequently seeds multi-lateral models. The Commonwealth of Learning is a high profile example of this model. Daniel (1987) indicates that the costs of collaboration (both monetary and non monetary) are exponentially, rather than linearly, related to the number of partners (18).
'Knowledge industry' is used to describe entrepreneurial and sometimes opportunistic provision of learning opportunities (19) Examples include larger-scale providers such as the National Technological University in the US. It might also include speculative single course entry into overseas markets without the involvement of a 'local' partner, although this latter mode would almost certainly fail to satisfy any of the criteria for effectiveness for either provider, student or employer.
The three most common forms of collaboration (Coffey et al.) are described as:
· consultancy model - where expertise is transferred in order for the recipient institution to develop its own capability in production or delivery· joint development - of course or service by equal partners
· fully devolved approach - where there is parallel development by the partners of similar schemes. As distinct from the consultancy model, this is facilitated through the exchange of information and staff.
This has been alternatively analysed as four levels and twelve kinds of institutional collaboration (Feasley, 1995) (19) as follows:
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Level 1:
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Passive cooperation
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- exchange of information and experience |
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- personal contact |
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Level 2:
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Active cooperation
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- staff exchange |
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- exchange of learning materials |
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- exchange of experience (e.g. through workshops) |
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- advice to students and referral to other providers |
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Level 3:
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Transfer
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- use of or, where necessary, adaptation of learning materials |
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- use of physical plant |
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Level 4:
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Pooling
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- co-production of learning materials |
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- joint curriculum planning and credit transfer |
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- student exchange |
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- joint provision of technical and physical support. |
The development of distance education opportunities in some developing countries has been substantial. Even so, this impressive quantity of provision has only scratched the surface in terms of demand and need. Furthermore, there are some developing countries which have yet to benefit.
The development of distance education for and in developing countries has been heavily influenced by donor countries. Most, if not all, development projects receive some form of initial funding.
Laaser (1995) identifies a number of lessons that should be learnt from past donor policies, notably:
· a criterion for choosing distance learning projects should be that they support on-going national projects· they should provide administrative and organisational support for a considerable period rather than short-term translation of existing materials
· local staff should be trained in materials development
· priority should be given to projects which address local needs related to labour market demand
· low cost technology should be used
· the use of mass media can serve to motivate and provide publicity for programmes
· projects should emphasize self-organised group learning
· projects should respect cultural patterns of learning
· projects should foster co-operation between distance teaching institutions and local conventional educational institutions. (4)
In view of the high costs of developing distance learning it is essential to achieve economies of scale by attracting large student numbers to course programmes. The research indicated that a severe impediment to achieving economies of scale can be caused by non-communication between institutions. The result of this is that materials and/or courses are often produced competitively, markets are split, resources are not shared and the costs increase as a consequence. Whereas this free market philosophy may be the norm in developing countries it is clearly inappropriate and wasteful for developing and emerging economies, or in circumstances where limited aid programmes would be better focused on development projects where the resulting courses have wide utility. The value of cooperation is particularly obvious in Sri Lanka where the technical and vocational education sector is extremely fragmented and lacks coordination. The Czech Republic and Zimbabwe would also benefit significantly from increased cooperation and coordination between institutions and from links between industry and academia.
There are many engineering subject areas which might have only relatively small markets in single countries, but where cooperation amongst providers and other agencies would allow major economies of scale to be achieved through making them available to a number of recipient countries. It is clear that a more detailed study is required of the opportunity that this level of cooperation would provide for engineering training.
The establishment of a local collaborative partner is invaluable, not only for developmental purposes but also in the delivery and the provision of local systems for student support. Such a partner will provide assistance in certain crucial areas such as:
· pricing the course realistically in accordance with the means of the population· targeting the right market at a suitable level
· ensuring that the materials are accurately translated if necessary
· advising on an appropriate presentation of the materials
· advising on the use of existing networks to support the infrastructure of the course or helping to set up a new network for that purpose.
The three country case studies indicate instances in which some of the above could be applied:
· The introduction of a distance learning programme into any country would need to take careful account of the local availability, reliability and useability of the appropriate media of transmission. For example, the use of modern educational technology would be extremely useful in helping to 'sell' the idea of distance learning to the Czechs, and the country certainly has the infrastructure for distance learning. More investment would be required in Zimbabwe and to a lesser extent in Sri Lanka with regard to implementing the use of modern technology.· In all three countries, there are networks which could profitably and cost-effectively be used to help support the infrastructure necessary for any successful distance learning course. Moreover, the networks often provide existing facilities which could be used for the practical instruction, thereby increasing the cost-effectiveness of the course. Imaginative rescheduling of traditional courses would free up practical engineering facilities in existing universities and polytechnics for use by distance learning students, thereby optimising the use of expensive plant and facilities that are typically in short supply in developing countries. Realistically, however, gaining the necessary agreement from all the institutional and governmental vested interests might be an insurmountable hurdle for this visionary solution.
· With the exception of courses aimed at senior management, materials would probably have to be translated for the Czech Republic.
When a programme is being launched in a specific country, it is therefore essential for the UK institution to have a local point of contact and/or a liaison officer who can smooth the way and give advice on in-country matters. In most cases, this is currently achieved by working in collaboration with a local academic organisation.
A potentially effective approach to establishing a distance learning programme overseas may perhaps be summarised in the maxim:
'Think global, act local.'
In many cases an existing course will have to be modified to be made attractive and relevant to an overseas market. As a result the materials should be tailored and delivered according to local requirements. This is especially relevant at lower educational levels, although less so at the postgraduate level.
