DISTANCE EDUCATION
WHAT IS DISTANCE EDUCATION? Distance
education as a generic term used to define the field or
distance learning is a mode of delivering education and instruction,
often on an individual basis, to students who are not physically present in a
traditional setting such as a classroom. Distance learning provides
"access to learning when the source of information and the learners are
separated by time and distance, or both. Distance education courses that
require a physical on-site presence for any reason (excluding taking examinations)
may be referred to as hybrid or
blended
courses of study. Massive
open online courses (MOOCs), aimed at large-scale interactive
participation and open access via the web or other network technologies, are
recent developments in distance education. A number of other terms (distributed
learning, e-learning, online learning, etc.) are used roughly synonymously with
distance education. However distance is the oldest and mostly commonly used
term globally. It is also the broadest term and has the largest collection of
related research articles.
THE CONCEPT AND PRINCIPLES OF OPEN AND DISTANCE LEARNING (ODL)
There are several approaches to defining the term Open and
Distance Learning (ODL). Adebayo (2007a) defined open and distance learning as
the type of education that takes place outside the conventional school system;
it is imparted without necessarily having personal interaction with students or
learners. Creed (2001) defined distance learning as ‘an educational process in
which a significant proportion of the teaching is conducted by someone far
removed in space and /or time from the learners.
According to UNESCO (2002), ODL is one of the most rapidly growing
fields of education, and its potential impact on all education delivery systems
has been greatly accentuated through the development of Internet-based
information technologies, and in particular the World Wide Web presenting
approaches that focus on opening access to education and training provision,
freeing learners from the constraints of time and place and offering flexible
learning opportunities to individuals and groups of learners. To Kaufman,
Watkins and Guerra (2000), distance education means the delivery of useful
learning opportunities at convenient place and time for learners, irrespective
of institution providing the learning opportunity.
The Federal Ministry of education (2002) defines ODL as any form
of learning in which the provider enables individual learners to exercise
choices over any one or more of a number of aspects of learning and distance
learning as an educational process in which a significant proportion of the
teaching is conducted by someone removed in space and/ or in time from the
learner. Alaezi (2005) refers to open and distance learning as educational
patterns, approaches and strategies that permit people to learn with no
barriers in respect of time and space, age and previous educational
qualification – no entry qualification, no age limit, no regard to sex, race,
tribe, state of origin etc. On the other hand, Dodds (2005) in his argument
against the concept defines open learning as an approach which combines the
principles of learner centredness, lifelong learning, flexibility of learner
provision, the removal of barriers to access learning, the recognition for
credit of prior learning experience, the provision of learner support, the
construction of learning programmes in the expectation that learners can
succeed and the maintenance of rigorous quality assurance over the design of
learning materials and support systems.
PRINCIPLES
OF OPEN AND DISTANCE EDUCATION
Universal moral principles:
Ethical principles should guide the
behaviours of professionals in everyday practice. Principles are assumed to be constant
and, therefore, provide consistent guidelines for decision-making. These
universal moral principles include: Respect, Non-malevolence, Benevolence,
Integrity, Justice, and Utility , Responsibility and caring, Wisdom and peace.
In distance education, in addition, following
principal should also be considered.
Principle 1: Commitment to the Student.
- Respecting for the autonomy of student.
- Maintaining a safe and healthy environment,
free from harassment (including sexual harassment), intimidation, abuse and
violence, and discrimination
- Maintaining an appropriate relationship
with distance education students in all settings; not encouraging, soliciting, or
engaging in a sexual or romantic relationship with students, nor touching a
student in an inappropriate way for personal gratification, with intent to
harm, or out of anger.
- Evaluating students and assigning.
. Disciplines students justly and fairly and
does not deliberately embarrass or humiliate them.
- Holding in confidence information learned
in professional practice except for professional reasons or in compliance with
pertinent regulations or statutes.
- Refusing to accept significant gifts,
favors, or additional compensation that might influence or appear to influence professional
decisions or actions.
-The educator shall work to stimulate the
spirit of inquiry, the acquisition of knowledge and understanding, and the thoughtful
formulation of worthy goals.
- The educator shall conduct professional
educational activities in accordance with sound educational practices that are
in the best interest of the student.
- The educator shall keep in confidence
personally identifiable information that has been obtained in the course of professional
service, unless disclosure serves professional purposes, or is required by law.
Principle 2: Commitment to the distance
education System
- Utilizing available resources (Email-
teleconference-mobile-web) to promote learning to the maximum possible extent.
- Acknowledging the diverse views of
students, parents and legal guardians, and colleagues as they work collaboratively
to shape educational goals, policies, and decisions; not proselytizing for
personal viewpoints that are outside the scope of professional practice.
- Signs a contract in good faith and not
abandon contracted professional duties without a substantive reason.
- Participating actively in professional
decision-making processes and supporting the expression of professional opinions
and judgments by colleagues in decision-making processes or due process
proceedings.
- When acting in an administrative capacity.
Act fairly, consistently, and prudently in the exercise of authority with colleagues,
subordinates, students, and parents and legal guardians. Evaluates the work of
other educators using appropriate procedures and established statutes and
regulations. Protects the rights of others in the educational setting, and not
retaliate, coerce, or intentionally intimidate others in the exercise of rights
protected by law.
Recommend persons for employment, promotion,
or transfer according to their professional qualifications, the needs and
policies of the LEA, and according to the law.
PRACTICE AND STRATEGIES OF DISTANCE
EDUCATION
Both subject-matter presentation and
interaction can benefit from this. So-called electronic mail (e-mail) is above
all used for interaction between students and their tutors. Computer
conferences can be used as seminars and for other serious discussions between
several participants. As pointed out in Chapter 1 in the discussion of Keegan’s
characterisation of distance education the last-mentioned application means
that distance education needs no longer to be limited to individual study, but
can also include group work. If students can co-ordinate their time-tables and
join discussions at pre-determined times group work is also possible by means
of tele-conferences.
Computer technology, on the other hand, makes
a-synchronous discussions possible; within the limits of a defined period, a
week or two, for instance, students and tutors can make their contributions to
a seminar or any other discussion at any time that suits them. This and the
possibility students have to contact one another spontaneously for so-called
chats makes group work in distance education acceptable to adults with jobs,
families and various other commitments. It strengthens the flexibility that
from the beginning made distance education a useful tool in adult education and
caters for collaborative learning, which is usually regarded as an advantage.
(Cf. Hannah, 2004, p. 3, on the University of Maryland
University College: ‘All of our master’s
degree and certificate programs are available online, and many are also
available in classroom or combined delivery format’.)
Another valuable characteristic of computer
technology as applied to distance education is the possibility it offers for
search on the World Wide Web (WWW).
This means that practically unlimited
quantities of information can be made available to students and also that
presentation of learning matter need not be sequential but that possibilities
are opened for students to find their own way through learning material, a
procedure that is often far from easy, however. Both the very search for
information and the so-called hypertext approach indicated, on which more under
5.2., can be useful in promoting student independence. Subject-matter
presentation on the Internet is nowadays quite common. From the point of view
of teaching organisations this is evidently a practical and economical
procedure, much more so than printing and sending course materials by post. It
is very doubtful, however, to what extent it is desirable from the points of
view of students. Reading from printed texts is almost universally felt to be
easier than reading from the computer screen, and there can be no doubt that
texts on paper facilitates browsing. When subject matter is presented
electronically, i.e. on the computer screen, students as a rule make their own
printouts to facilitate reading. Nevertheless, it has been found useful to
supplement printed texts online with explanations, references and additions,
this usually as a result of experiences made of students’ achievements as
demonstrated in their assignments.
The technical developments indicated have
inspired not only established distance teaching schools and universities but
also a great number of computer companies and even traditional universities to
teach by computer. In North America some universities seem to regard
distance-education courses relying on computer technology as a financial
necessity to get enough tuition fees. The University of
Phoenix, which is a stock exchange company,
is a large-scale provider of internet courses.
The educational relevance of the online
teaching leading to what is often called e-learning depends on the way it is
applied. In some cases it seems to be limited to texts and tests on the screen
without interaction with a tutor but only with a computer programme, which in
the present writer’s view does not deserve being called distance education. A
large industry for the creation and sale of various learning and testing
materials exists.
It is difficult for many educators to banish
the thought that much of this activity has profit rather than education as its
aim. Amateurish use of this so-called e-learning gave it a bad reputation at
the very beginning of the twenty-first century, as explicitly expressed at the
important German ‘LEARNTEC’ conference in 2002 and in other contexts.
E-learning need not be identical with online learning.
The use of various databases and search on
the Web are not uncomplicated. The advanced student finds it useful constantly
to locate and compile information and discussions of value for his/her research
and other study, but the ordinary distance student, who has a tough time
learning what is required for an examination, cannot always allow
himself/herself lengthy study excursions of this kind (although evidently a lot
of planless zapping is common). He/she is governed by examination requirements
and the time at disposal, the latter usually a great problem to adult students.
This is something a distance educator must be constantly aware of.
Some university students go so far in their
endeavour to keep to a reasonable time-table that they object even to questions
inserted in texts as they slow them down by making them think. Thorpe (1986, p.
39) quotes one student expressly stating ’I don’t want to think, I just want to
get on’. Naturally educators do what they can to make students refrain from
such an instrumental view of learning, but there is a limit to what can be
expected.
Computer technology is, as evident from what
has already been said, an excellent medium for interaction between students and
their tutors as well as for exchanges of views and experiences between
individual students and groups of students, for organised a-synchronous
seminars, for simulation of work processes etc. and for all kinds of contact
between those engaged in a distance-education programme. Further it opens
earlier unknown possibilities for students to search for information and for
tutors to supplement preproduced learning materials, explain and comment on
unforeseen difficulties which crop up in individual students’ work. To be
really useful it has to be embedded in the distance-education process, which is
to some extent an organisational/administrative concern.
Several writers metaphorically speak of a
virtual learning space, among them
Peters who states that in the digital
learning environment it’s as if students had
an opposite number, not just the monitor
screen but also the teaching software,
which can react in different ways to their
activities’ and that behind this are ‘the
network with a tremendous depth of
penetration’ and its links ‘with many virtual
databases, institutions, libraries and
individuals’ (Peters, 2004, p. 61).
All this evidently paves the way both for
collaborative learning and for highly
individualised study and can promote
students’ independence. However, making
full use of what modern technology offers is
a privilege reserved mainly for
advanced students and professional scholars
who unlike the vast majority of
distance students can give first priority to
their study.
METHODS AND PROBLEMS DISTANCE EDUCATION
Distance education is no longer an
exceptional mode of teaching and learning. While up to the 1990s the providers
of this kind of education were almost exclusively either specialised
distance-education institutions basically relying on correspondence teaching or
universities defined as dual-mode institutions teaching some students face to
face and others by distance-education methods, the possibilities opened by
information technology have caused innumerable universities, schools and other
organisations concerned with education and training to offer teaching at a
distance, in some cases full-degree programmes, in other cases courses in
specific subjects and for special target groups. Thus in the USA, for instance,
practically every university offers some teaching at a distance; similar
conditions occur in several European countries and elsewhere.
Providing distance-education courses beside
traditional teaching was originally a typically Australian form of distance
education (Smith, 1979), but is now common in many countries and parts of the
world.
Effective teaching involves acquiring
relevant knowledge about students and using that knowledge to inform our course
design and classroom teaching.
When
we teach, we do not just teach the content, we teach students the content. A
variety of student characteristics can affect learning. For example, students’
cultural and generational backgrounds influence how they see the world;
disciplinary backgrounds lead students to approach problems in different ways;
and students’ prior knowledge (both accurate and inaccurate aspects) shapes new
learning. Although we cannot adequately measure all of these characteristics,
gathering the most relevant information as early as possible in course planning
and continuing to do so during the semester can (a) inform course design (e.g.,
decisions about objectives, pacing, examples, format), (b) help explain student
difficulties (e.g., identification of common misconceptions), and (c) guide
instructional adaptations (e.g., recognition of the need for additional
practice).
Effective teaching involves aligning the three major components of
instruction: learning objectives, assessments, and instructional activities.
Taking
the time to do this upfront saves time in the end and leads to a better course.
Teaching is more effective and student learning is enhanced when (a) we, as
instructors, articulate a clear set of learning objectives (i.e., the knowledge
and skills that we expect students to demonstrate by the end of a course); (b)
the instructional activities (e.g., case studies, labs, discussions, readings)
support these learning objectives by providing goal-oriented practice; and (c)
the assessments (e.g., tests, papers, problem sets, performances) provide
opportunities for students to demonstrate and practice the knowledge and skills
articulated in the objectives, and for instructors to offer targeted feedback
that can guide further learning.
Effective teaching involves articulating explicit expectations
regarding learning objectives and policies.
There
is amazing variation in what is expected of students across American classrooms
and even within a given discipline. For example, what constitutes evidence may
differ greatly across courses; what is permissible collaboration in one course
could be considered cheating in another. As a result, students’ expectations
may not match ours. Thus, being clear about our expectations and communicating
them explicitly helps students learn more and perform better. Articulating our
learning objectives (i.e., the knowledge and skills that we expect students to
demonstrate by the end of a course) gives students a clear target to aim for
and enables them to monitor their progress along the way. Similarly, being
explicit about course policies (e.g., on class participation, laptop use, and
late assignment) in the syllabus and in class allows us to resolve differences
early and tends to reduce conflicts and tensions that may arise. Altogether, being
explicit leads to a more productive learning environment for all students.
PROBLEMS OF DISTANCE EDUCATION
Poor funding: It is common knowledge that education is poorly funded in
Nigeria. Lack of or low level of provision of the facilities for ODL programmes
in the country is one major fallouts of poor funding. Investment in ODL is
therefore low because the soft and hard-wares required are costly. It is very
expensive to get some of the soft wares because they are not developed locally,
they are developed in Europe and other developed countries to suit their own
system and make their own living. This is a major impediment because according
to Yusuf (2006), success in any educational policy is contingent on the
involvement of all stakeholders and the sponsorship of funding agencies.
Power supply: The problem of power instability in Nigeria is perennial and has
been a major setback for our technological development. Most ODL students that
reside in cities and towns are faced with the problem of epileptic supply of
power. Worse still, majority of them live in rural areas that are not connected
to the national grid.
Lack of skills in
Designing Course-wares: Instructional delivery
in ODL is greatly affected by some facilitators’ lack of knowledge and skills
in designing and delivering courses in electronic format. This scenario is a
fall out of the non ICT-compliant status of the facilitators.
Poverty and Poor ICT
Penetration: Statistics reveal that many
Nigerians live in poverty. The result of this is that the cost of computers and
other ICT resources are far beyond their reach. Therefore, like most African
countries basic ICT infrastructures are inadequate. There is still low level of
computer literacy among the Nigerians.
CONCLUSION
The
ethical or moral values must be inculcated since infancy so that it becomes a
part of the behaviour of an individual and when re- introduced at the higher
education (Waston,2006 ,p.2)and distance education system.
Ethics
deserves to be made a component of each and every activity of every individual in
dealing with others or dealing with oneself .After the four decades of
experimentation and utilization of the distance education system in the world,
ethical principles are more highlighted in globalization. A code of conduct
exists to support teachers in their activities in classes working with learner
and supports learner as they work with their teachers. A code affects on
students, parents, colleagues both teaching and non-teaching, and most
importantly, the teacher. For a code to be considered effective, it must be
framed for the distance education users to influence positive behaviours. If
the code is understandable, detailed, and executable, it can be applied in a
more straightforward manner. For developing a moral atmosphere and filling the
gap in distance education, creating an ethical relationship between the learner
,instructor, and institution in distance learning is necessary.
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