IIIIIhl[lllll[I [lllll Distance Education Global DL Gordon Davies Computing Department Faculty of Mathematics and Computing The Open University Milton Keynes MK7 6AA UK g.davies@open.ac.uk last of I described, by way of introduction, some of the activities at my own university. I also m e n t i o n e d the variety of distance learning that is available world-wide, and it is this aspect of distance education that I want to concentrate on in this column. Put very simply if you can deliver a course by distance learning in your own country why c a n ' t you deliver it worldwide? Of course you can; but in practice there are very few examples of this happening. That isn't to say that courses aren't being offered world-wide, they are, or at least they are offered in countries other than that of the host university. Many universities now offer courses in other countries but they are mainly face-to-face courses using local staff or staff whom are flown out to those countries. In the U K and in Australia, courses presented in the Far East are now a normal part of a university's offerings with partnership schemes and franchises available in several countries as more universities seek alternative ways to boost their income. One of the main problems with such arrangements is ensuring that the quality of the education provided overseas is of the same quality as that provided by the home institution. In England the Higher Education Quality Council has issued a Code of Practice to assist institutions who engage in overseas partnerships. But to return to my original theme of world-wide offerings, Robin Mason, a colleague at the Open University, has recently published a book [1] on globalising education and in it she lists criteria by which a claim to be offering global education can be tested. 1. Students in more than two continents able to communicate with each other and with their teacher. 2. A n express aim on the part of the teacher or institution to attract international participation. 3. Course content specifically devised for trans-national participation. 4. Support structures- both institutional and technological- to administer to a global student body. 5. Operations on a large scale of more than one programme and more than one curriculum area, with more than 100 students. In fact, there are few courses that satisfy all these criteria and can thus be considered as world-wide offerings. This is disappointing when one considers that distance learning is supposed to be able to overcome such mere things as distance. Of course, it isn't as simple as just overcoming distance, there come into play many other aspects which prevent the offering of course across national frontiers and the list of criteria above brings into focus many of the aspects of such offerings that have to be added on to a more local offering. In her book Robin goes on to look at some of the many issues that a university must consider if it wishes to become a global institution. She refers to reengineering the traditional campus and how some institutions are adapting themselves in order to be able to operate on a global scale. For the distance l e a r n i n g provider two of the most important issues are the quality of the teaching and the quality of support provided to the student. I hear of many examples of so called distance learning where the teaching materials appear to consist only of the lecture notes of the teacher. If they are converted into web pages there is then a claim that the course is a web based course, is making use of technology, and therefore by definition it must be good. We all know that this is nonsense, but it does happen, and students print out the web pages so they can read them at their leisure and in more comfortable surroundings. The technology is being used as a delivery medium, but of teaching material is of dubious quality. Our experience suggests that distance learners require specially created material and that preferably it is delivered on paper. That is not say that there are some parts of a course that cannot be taught, and maybe should be taught using other media, but until we find a medium as flexible and user f r i e n d l y as paper, then we stay with paper as the major delivery medium. Fortunately, current communications technology is making the other issue, student support, much easier. Students can now have contact with teaching staff and fellow students in away that was not previously possible. However, there is still some resistance to the use of technology, some students still preferring telephone and paper to email and electronic assignments. The reason is obvious. U n d e r l y i n g all these aspects o f distance learning is the cost of provision of high quality materials, the appropriate student support and the infrastructure to deliver the university to students at a distance. None of these are cheap to provide, and large numbers are essential to keep the per capita costs low. Bear this m i n d , when you e m b a r k on a distance learning provision. Finally, if any of you have been involved in distance learning and would like to share your experiences, particularly of how you ensured the quality of the students' learning experience then I would be delighted to include your contribution in this column. Reference [1] Mason, Robin, Globalising Education, trends and applications, Routledge Studies in Distance Education, 1998 ISBN 0-415-18688-9. Vol 31. No. 2 June 1999 ~.......... ~ ~o~2~2~ S I G C S E B u l l e t i n

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