VOLUME 4, NUMBER 2, 1990
Editorial
A Market Driven Distance Education System?
Michael G. Moore
Articles (for abstracts,
click here)
Audio-Conferencing in Graduate Education: A Case Study
Elizabeth J. Burge and Joan L. Howard
Evaluation of Distance Education Approach to U.S.
Army Reserve Component Training
S. Delane Keene and James S. Cary
The Instructor's Changing Role in Distance Education
Michael Beaudoin
Ethical Considerations in Distance Education
Diane Reed and Thomas J. Sork
Integrating Video Technology into Independent Study:
The Missouri Experience
Dale D. Huffington and Roger C. Young
Grass Roots
Green Bay Area ITFS System of K-12 School Districts Provides Model for
Wisconsin
Michael Burke
Interview
Speaking Personally with Susan Leslie, Dick Scott, and James Tomsic
Lauren Lukert
Software Review
Selecting Computer Software
Doug Widner
Book Reviews
Post-Secondary Education in Canada: Policies, Practices, and Priorities
Edited by Robert Sweet
Alan Tait
The Computer Revolution in Education: New Technologies
for Distance Teaching
Edited by Ann Jones, Eileen Scanlon, and Tim O'Shea
Farhad Saba
EDITORIAL
A Market Driven Distance Education System?
Michael G. Moore
In a previous editorial (Vol. 3, No. 3) I reported some impressions of the 1989 "think-tank" organized by the Los Alamos National Laboratory. Chief among these was the consensus that fresh thinking is required about the basic infrastructure of education and training as well as the technologies used. At a follow-up seminar in June 1990, representatives from the four main educational/training sectors (universities, corporations, armed forces and public schools) tried to conceive what these new structures might be, and to suggest strategies for reform. Consideration was given to the basic principles that should underlie an integrated, multi-media distance education system, to the barriers that impede the development of such a system-especially the fragmentation of resources-and the strategies that might overcome these barriers.
Asked to think about alternative models of educational delivery, one group turned the challenge on its head and proposed that a distance education system should not be driven by designers and providers, but by learner demand. The idea of a market approach to distance education is a concept that I find challenging, and one I thought I should pass on (with a few ideas of my own added) for readers to think about, perhaps respond to, and maybe even act on.
The success of a market depends on consumers having information. The basis of the distance education market is each potential learner having easy, free access to a real time, interactive data base of information about courses produced locally, in-state, nationally and internationally. The interface of such a system is located in such public places as libraries and community centers, as well as being accessible from home computers by modem. Some of the resources currently spent on content expertise (teachers of history and mathematics, professors of economics, human resource trainers, etc.) are diverted to provide a cadre of readily available expert helpers in accessing and interpreting the data base. In response to any learner's inquiry the system provides information in pyramidal fashion, starting with details of courses that can be accessed locally, perhaps in a distance or face-to-face mode, then if the user desires, information about state and nationally or internationally produced courses. The content of courses offered locally is likely to be more specific to the particular locality, while courses offered nationally are likely to be more generic. It is probable that local and national providers would team up to offer the benefits of both large scale production and local learner support. The system gives feedback to course producers to report unmet demand, which in turn brings new courses into the market.
In a statement that deserves much thought, the report from the group said: "The content of the data base would be determined and driven by market forces and the underlying self-interest of participants . . . (On) the issue of quality . . . the assumption is made that the users filter out what is and is not useful to them. However in the long run quality needs to be addressed. The two issues, how do we organize and how do we develop higher quality products were seen as separate."
In spite of this, the group did indicate a direction they thought the course development process might take. In what was called a "regional project level model" a number of different institutions in a region, which may be as small as counties in a state or as large as a number of states, collaborate to develop and deliver programs and enter them into the data base. The potential of this collaborative approach, as I interpret it, is that it permits individuals and institutions to specialize in such areas as content expertise, course design, contribution of particular media to a multi-media design and the ever-important process of learner support. We already have examples of interinstitutional collaboration in the design and delivery of programs by particular media, but far fewer examples of collaboration across media. In a market for distance education products and services, such collaborative course design and development arrangements would probably be favored since they are likely to produce better courses than single institution or single media efforts.
In most other countries national distance education systems have been set up by central governments with government funding, and courses are designed centrally and delivered nationally. There is very little competition among providers. The cost of a high quality distance education course, using a mix of interactive and recorded media, human, and technology based delivery, is very high and results in a monopoly market for the producer of that course. An unanswered question is whether market forces are able to bring distance educators and communications specialists as well as those who decide policy for education and training, into collaborative arrangements by state planning to design and deliver the same high quality programs as are available to our foreign competitors.
References
Los Alamos National Laboratory. 1990. Distance Learning Conference
Proceedings, Fall 1989. Oaoer KA-11883-C, Los Alamos, NM: Los Alamos
National Laboratory.
Audio-Conferencing in
Graduate Education: A Case Study
Elizabeth J. Burge and Joan L. Howard
The article describes the experiences with courses taught via audio-conferencing at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education. It reports the results of an analysis of 120 questionnaires returned from fourteen courses. Most of the students were school principals, teachers, and administrators. In general, they reported satisfactory experiences with their courses. (12 references)
Evaluation of Distance
Education Approach to U.S. Army Reserve Component Training
S. Delane Keene and James S. Cary
The article describes the experiences from a U.S. Army Reserve Component distance education course. The course chosen for this experiment was "PHASE II, Command and General Staff Officers' Course," and 145 Reserve Army Officers took part in the course. The control group contained eighty-three participants studying the course at Dover, Delaware. The two experimental groups, located at Ft. Dix, New Jersey, and Ft. Knox, Kentucky, used interactive video, audiographics, and computer conferencing. The experiment showed that at the end of the instruction the students who received the distance learning instruction evinced superior knowledge of the subject matter compared with students taught conventionally. (7 references)
The Instructor's Changing
Role in Distance Education
Michael Beaudoin
The likelihood of significant enrollment increases in distance learning courses and external degree programs utilizing new instructional technologies will have a major impact on the roles of many faculty during the next decade. Rather than provide information in person to classroom-based students, many faculty will have to make the adjustment to organizing and evaluating materials transmitted to geographically distant learners. The effective design and delivery of these new learning modes will depend upon the input and involvement of competent and committed faculty. The opportunity for professional development, institutional support, and appropriate rewards will be crucial in promoting faculty receptivity toward, and significant contributions to, distance education programs.
As a profession, distance education has not yet been clearly defined and established. If this is to become a recognized field with expertise that is valued and accomplishments that are rewarded, distance educators must establish stronger linkages with corporate, political, social, and educational entities. Further, they must increase awareness of the philosophy, methods, and efficacy of distance learning and its suitability for diverse segments of the adult population through increased advocacy and articulation of past accomplishments, present efforts, and future goals. (8 references)
Ethical Considerations
in Distance Education
Diane Reed and Thomas J. Sork
This paper identifies ethical considerations associated with distance education. Ethical issues associated with the admission, intake, and retention of students; course development and presentation; marketing; administration; learner/facilitator interaction; and evaluation are highlighted. (29 references)
Integrating Video Technology
into Independent Study: The Missouri Experience
Dale D. Huffington and Roger C. Young
This paper presents a brief history of the
use of videotape in distance learning programs and integration of video
technology at the University of Missouri Center for Independent Study.
Print-based and video courses now share format, planning and design, operations
staff, and promotion and information services. Courses are designed to
meet students' needs for flexibility in scheduling, study times, viewing,
and testing. An expanded curriculum, growing enrollments, and increased
faculty and administration cooperation clearly indicate that instructional
packages that make use of video technology are an accepted and viable
method of teaching. (4 references)
