lifelong learning and distance higher education - Asia Pacific Region

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and policy-makers will continue to be faced with the challenge of harmonising nationaland global standards.A similar challenge in reconciling the global and national dimensions is manifest in thearea of quality assurance (QA). Here Insung Jung’s chapter on the Quality AssuranceSurvey of Mega Universities is illuminating. The survey reveals varying notions aboutthe criteria for judging quality and about the methods for assuring it. “The surveyresults,” she reports “show that the mega universities have often focused exclusively onassuring the quality of their own programmes and services delivered in their country.Increased cross-border distance education and e-learning activities present challengesfor the existing QA policies.” Prof. Jung, like a number of other contributors, alsoexpresses concern about the quality implications arising from the growing number ofprivate, for-profit e-learning providers. The emergence of these, she writes, “is pressingon the existing QA structure of distance education institutions”. Speaking of the needfor an international dimension to QA, Prof. Jung says: “QA in distance education is notan institutional or a national issue anymore because distance education reaches beyondlocal and regional boundaries and new forms of DE provision are increasing. Distanceeducation in a globalised context requires new QA mechanisms.”Clearly, therefore, international mechanisms and instruments are of great importance forthe future of quality assurance in distance higher education. One such instrument is theUNESCO Higher Education Open and Distance Learning Knowledge Base (HEODLKB),a decision-support tool for policy-makers, which is described in the chapter by ZeynepVaroglu. This project again provides an illustration of the challenge of striking a balancebetween universality and diversity. Through careful testing, the tool was developed so asnot to be a “one size fits all” model, but rather one that takes account of the heterogeneityof specific national and institutional situations.A related area where the international dimension is becoming increasingly importantis that of the recognition of qualifications. At the global level there are initiatives suchas UNESCO’s Global Forum for Quality Assurance, Accreditation and Recognition ofQualifications. At the regional level initiatives include the Bologna process to establish anintegrated European system of qualifications. At the bilateral level, many valuable policylessons can be gained from the work of the Netherlands Organization for InternationalCooperation in Higher Education (Nuffic), described in the chapter by Jindra Divis,Astrid Scholten and Anne Marie Mak. While urging the full use of existing instrumentsand mechanisms to achieve transparency in the field of quality assurance and recognitionof qualifications, they recommend that “quality assurance and accreditation systems …should open themselves to all providers and all forms of educational provision includinge-learning studies and cross-border provision” and that prior learning should be givendue recognition. As a way of helping people to present their qualifications for a job or auniversity programme, the portfolio system used by Nuffic is proving to be a valuabletool and a good way of striking a balance between the standardised approach and the needto capture each individual’s own special qualification profile.A further message that stands out from the contributions to this volume is that the fieldin question has reached a critical stage, as one can see when looking back at the earlierphases. In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries we saw the development of adulteducation, evening classes and correspondence courses. From the 1970s onwards camethe great development of open universities and distance higher education, making useof radio and television. Then came the digital revolution, multimedia technology, theInternet and the virtual classroom, while at the same time globalisation took on a newmomentum. We now stand at the confluence of these developments, poised to take further153
and even greater steps, and the decisions we make will have profound consequences forthe educational world of the future.In such a situation, it is essential for decision makers to have maps and compasses to helpthem their chart the course forward. Here the article by Tony Bates on research providesmany useful insights. Educational research, as Dr. Bates shows, is not an abstract, ivorytower pursuit, but something that provides essential knowledge for policy making. Oneof the things that emerges from his article (and is confirmed by other contributors) is thatonline education is not a miraculous panacea and that it is not enough simply to create anonline learning environment. Rather, “research has indicated that that very careful coursedesign and moderation are needed”. Another important research finding is that “distanceeducation is not a good substitute for conventional higher education for students straightfrom school” since these students usually lack sufficient independent learning skills.On the other hand “it is a powerful mechanism for supporting lifelong learning”. Dr.Bates also points out that “there is an undue emphasis on funding research into distanceeducation technologies; more funding needs to be devoted to the ‘softer’ areas of researchin distance education, such as policy research, cost-benefit analysis, instructional design,and learner support”. Thus, in addition to highlighting some significant research findings,his chapter also contains important pointers for the researchers themselves.A further general point that can be drawn from the contributions as a whole is that e-learning technology is not an end in itself, but a tool for conveying educational content.The tool is more appropriate in some situations than others, and often works better whencombined with other, more traditional tools. Furthermore, we should never become somesmerised by the tool that we forget the content. Nevertheless, ICT-based learning hasopened up enormous new vistas for distance higher education and has brought specialbenefits for the lifelong learner. The experience, insights and guidance gathered togetherin this volume will hopefully assist its readers in using the tool to the maximum benefit oflearners.154
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PERSPECTIVES ONDISTANCE EDUCATIONLi
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The Commonwealth of Learning (COL)
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTSIn addition to the
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These are some of the issues that a
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What are the trends and issues in l
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of policy implications relating to
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evince important differences that c
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inequitable regulations governing t
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associations and groups of countrie
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THE CONTRIBUTORChristopher McIntosh
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INTRODUCTIONIn his 1996 report to U
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Lastly, our analysis of the situati
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diploma or similar certificates of
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force of the undertaking. Here agai
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RELEVANT INTERNET SITESUNESCO Task
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Notes1. This phrasing has been used
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goals (Daniel, 1996). Lifelong lear
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eported that group activity had red
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NEW AREAS FOR DISTANCE EDUCATION:WO
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targets systematically for the use
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Rausch, A.S. (2003). A case study o
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correspondence teaching systems tha
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significant differences between syn
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In distance flexible- and blended-e
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STATE-FUNDED DUAL-MODE SYSTEMS ATUN
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Table 4.2: Fundable elements in dis
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sciences in 21 countries of the reg
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How a system is funded depends in p
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Litto, Fredric M. (2004). Digital l
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CHAPTER 5LIFELONG LEARNING IN THE A
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education, which was initiated by C
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So the virtual classroom acted as a
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In June 2002, when the course came
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RELEVANT INTERNET SITESFORCIIR proj
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11. The approximate rate for 1€ w
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The term modern distance education
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the National Networked Consortium f
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important resource for undeveloped
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standards have been proposed for th
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The development of e-learning withi
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RELEVANT INTERNET SITESCCRTVU Onlin
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MoE (2004b) The Notice on Running N
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CHAPTER 7QUALITY ASSURANCE SURVEYOF
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(Paris, France, 28-29 June 2004) in
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Examples of elaborated QA policies:
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plans and produces its conventional
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SHTVU (China)• Teaching• Teachi
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offers its programmes to Turkish ci
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mega universities apply a set of st
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RELEVANT INTERNET SITESThe Commonwe
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2. QA initiatives or publications b
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assurance of ODL. This DST will be
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Page 113 and 114: foreign providers. In Finland, the
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Page 125 and 126: CHAPTER 10PROMOTING CROSS-BORDERREC
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Page 129 and 130: indicators currently being used for
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Page 133 and 134: Table 9.1: Outline of the portfolio
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Page 137 and 138: CHAPTER 11CHARTING THE EVOLUTIONOF
Page 139 and 140: Another common characteristic was t
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Page 145 and 146: Cultural and ethical issues in inte
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Page 149 and 150: Research can be a useful tool for c
Page 151 and 152: REFERENCESBates, A. (1995). Technol
Page 153 and 154: Twigg, C. (2001). Quality Assurance
Page 155: y, for example, entering into partn
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