- Kato Hidetoshi's Data Base -
HIGHER EDUCATION AND TELECOMMUNICATION - A PERSONAL OBSERVATIONS -
Publication Date: IIC Working Paper, Mexico City, September 22, 1993
Publisher: Unpublished
After spending almost ten years for the study and practice of distance education, I am now confident that this new mode of higher education is extremely effective innovation. I know, of course, that there exist certain skepticism and even negative attitude among educators on this issue, and that distance education as of today has many problems, but I believe its tremendous potentials in foreseeable future, where communication technology is expected to make immense advancement.
In order to identify the problems and their solutions, however, we need to take a closer look at several "types" of distance education. As a matter of fact, "distance education" cannot be discussed in generalized terms. As a matter of fact we have studied some 30 countries in Asia and the Pacific as well as in Europe and North America, where distance education is practiced, to discover amazing diversities. In this connection first of all, let me make tentative classification of distance education in various countries and institutions.
It seems to me that there are three types of delivery systems of instruction.
If distance education is to gibe equal opportunity for the masses of people, conventional broadcasting may be the best solution. Especially in the societies where every household has radio/TV receivers, educational programs can reach to general public, either for formal education combined with credits or diplomas, or for the support of spontaneous continuing education. Of course, broadcasting alone is not able to perform most effective educational function, and this system must be accompanied by textbooks and face-to-face classroom instruction at "study centers".
The prototype of such combination was set by Open University of U. K. in 1970s, and this delivery system was followed by many countries. In Asia, China, Korea, Thailand, and Japan are examples. In Japan, the University of the Air is an extreme operation in the sense that the university itself has its own broadcasting station which runs 18 hours a day continuously, while others usually buy or lease several hours a day form already established broadcasters.
Broadcast-based system is ideal for those institutions of which mission is partly public service,
Disadvantage, or at least problems of this mode are as follows:
i)Capital investment as well as running cost is high.
ii)Since geographical area
covered by broadcasting is "broad" by definition, ground facilities (study centers,
tutors, etc...) must be well organized, and they are costly, too.
iii)Interaction between instructors and students is extremely difficult especially when the
number of learners are tens of thousands, if not millions.
iv)Students are tied by time table, and forced to sit in front of television set.
With the progress of communication technologies, especially communication satellite and ISDN, now instruction can be delivered to specified receivers, or registered students. Combined with university network, this method can be used for credit transfer and other inter-university activities.
Also, by nature of the media, instructor-student interaction (Q and A) is possible, and with
good coordination, the "classroom" can be the place for teleconferencing. This system is getting
popular remarkably in North America as represented by NTU and other institutions.
This system has many other advantages. In first place, the cost of transmission is quite
inexpensive in comparison with broadcasting. In the second place, telecommunication within a
closed group has practically no legal restriction in terms of contents of messages exchanged,
while broadcasting is licensed enterprise to which, in most of the nations of the world, legal
constraints are imposed this may conflict with the spirit of "academic freedom". Most
importantly, again by nature of the media, distance education in this system can be international.
For example, DELTA project of EC has been rigorously working to connect universities of EC
nations, such as U. K., Germany, France, and Spain. In the Pacific, USP (University of south
Pacific) established satellite link among many Pacific island countries, having its headquarter
in Fiji.
Disadvantages are:
i)Learners must be at the place where communication satellite antenna is. They cannot receive lectures at home. After all, telecommunication is not mass communication.
ii)At present stage, for economic reasons mostly, transmission of pictures is often compressed, an voice delay, back echo, and other technical factors tend to make both voice and picture unclear.
iii)Another version of telecommunication, of course, involves computer-based transmission. In this case, each learner must have minimum skill to manipulate his/her computer terminal, and also such terminal is still expensive.
iv)The system, both social and technical, often tends to be unstable and fragile.
As a natural extension of traditional "correspondence school", which used to send out textbooks by mail, some universities began their "off campus" program by sending out audio tapes and VTR to the students directly. These tapes are accompanied by textbooks so that learners can study at home at their own disposal. Deakin University of Australia is one successful example.
As a matter of fact, nobody 30 years ago anticipated such a rapid diffusion of audio-visual replay machine for home use as well as the dramatic decline of price of tapes. "Package" does not have anything to do with telecommunication except that the "programs" are produced in similar studio with broadcasting stations. But final product, i.e. tapes, are duplicated and mailed to each learner's home. Great advantage of this method is that learners can watch or listen tapes repeatedly until he/she reaches complete understanding. In terms of cost, this system is simple and inexpensive. Traditional postal service is reliable and reasonable. The number of tapes to be duplicated is exactly calculated by the number of registered students. In some developing countries, where telecommunication infrastructure is not mature and per capita income is low, duplicated tapes are deposited to each "study center" so that students can utilize these instructional materials there when such study centers are equipped with library and excellent human resources, such as tutors, "package" can be extremely comprehensive and effective way.
Moreover, in addition to traditional audio-visual "tapes", there have been a significant
development in computer-based package, such as CDI (Compact Disk Interactive). Utilizing
huge memory of CD, computer specialists have been working to produce "interactive" teaching
materials, and sooner or later, LD (laser disk) will be used so that students can interact with more
sophisticated programs, with full motion pictures. In this sense, "package" method has
unpredictable potentialities, and should not be ignored as a promising medium of education.
Some disadvantages and problems are:
i)Clearance of copyright issues is crucial. To "tape" broadcasting program for personal use is legal in most of the countries, but legal interpretation of distribution of packaged material is usually extremely complex.
ii)Students tend to be isolated from each other and they lack the sense of being a part of network, unless careful measures are taken by university administration and study centers.These three categorization is tentative, and most of institutions engaged in higher distance education, proper "mix" and interpenetration are planned and conducted. For example, at Korean Air and Correspondence University, audio tapes are duplicated for students at each study center with nominal charge. Open University of the Netherlands is trying to introduce CDI as a part of instructional materials.
According to our survey, as for as Asia and the Pacific region is concerned, every country has
distance education institutions. But the aims of such establishment differ from one country to
another, depending on educational policy and socio-cultural conditions of each nation state.
A)In developing countries, within my observation, the priority of higher distance education
is teacher training. In Malaysia, I learned that the country was facing with serious shortage
of elementary school teachers. To be exact, as of 1990, the country needed at least 3000
qualified teachers. In order to achieve the goal, Science University of Malaysia in Penang,
decided to take "off campus" students to meet with this particular social needs. Training
for engineers is another important mission for these open learning agencies. Indira Gandhi
National Open University of India, for instance, has been giving heavy emphasis in
science and technology in order to streng then the country's manpower for the years to
come.
B)Distance learning in some countries which are consisted of various ethnic groups has
another important mission. That is to say integration, if not standardization, of national
culture. For example, in China, where more than a dozen of ethnic groups with their
respective dialects coexist, instructions delivered by Mandarin encourage people to
understand standard Chinese language, while keeping each local culture. Chinese
Broadcasting University has its headquarter in Beijin, and each state university receives
50% of teaching materials from the central headquarter and produce the rest locally so that
centralization and discentralization in education can be well balanced.
Same efforts are clearly seen in the operation of University Terbuka of Indonesia.
Utilizing Parapa broadcasting satellite, Terbuka has been encouraging its students to speak
Malaysian standard language. Being consisted of 7000 island, Indonesia have had
linguistic and cultural difficulties in past few decades, but thanks to Parapa, linguistic
integration is in progress, not only in educational channel but also in general entertainment
channel.
C)Distance education stimulates aspiration for those who are employed, especially in public
sector. For example, civil servants and military soldiers in Thailand, whose educational
backgrounds are usually high school level, are encouraged to register as students of
Sukhothai Thammatirat Open University. After completion of their bachelor's degree, they
are promised to be promoted higher position in government status classification. That is
one of the reasons shy STOU attracted 370,000 students throughout Thailand.
D)"One-the-job" training for employed people, especially in area of science and technology
is vital in rapidly changing societies. The knowledge and skill which were acquired ten
years ago are already obsolete today. Those science, and engineers engaged in biotechnol
ogy, computer science, and many other "hi-tec" related fields are looking for the
opportunities to update their knowledge. They cannot, and their employers cannot permit
them to, attend graduate school as full-time students. In order to solve this problem, our
Institute, in collaboration with several universities, inaugurated "Refresh Education"
project since 1992.
Speakers are top experts from universities, and their lectures are delivered through
communication satellite. In a series of lectures on optical fiber engineering, more than
5000 engineers working at major electronic industries throughout Japan watched the
program, and Q & A sessions were conducted by fax and electronic mail. Such
instructions are practiced in various parts of the world, notably in North America.
E)In a society like Japan, where aging is a serious problem, distance education often serve
for social welfare. Among thousands of students of the University of the Air in Japan,
there are huge number of retired people who wish to learn, for instance, Chinese classics
just to satisfy their curiosity and pure interest. With the increase of leisure time, hundreds
of housewives are interested in learning foreign language, fine arts and other subjects. In
both cases, their academic achievements do not contribute to GNP, but such use of
distance education certainly contribute for the establishment of welfare society where
every citizen can appreciate joy of life.
Kato Hidetoshi's Data Base
Document ID Number:2621