Introduction
New information technologies are seen as the major driving force of the
future economies of countries around the world. In particular these technologies
are seen as both destroyers and creators of jobs: they destroy jobs by replacing
labour with machines, and they create jobs in new industries, such as
telecommunications, software development, software applications, and in service
industries built around the new information technologies, such as financial
services, entertainment, and increasingly education and training.
Another feature of the new economies is that they are global, and
increasingly the best paid jobs require workers who are mobile, and can work on
a global basis. Global trade though requires educational providers to prepare
their students for globalization. Increased migration and immigration, and the
increasing globalization of work and leisure activities, require a better
understanding of multi-cultural issues. Lastly, access to specialized knowledge
is becoming critical for economic, political and social reasons.
All this means, among other things, that educational providers need to
prepare their students for living and working in a global, multi-ethnic and
highly mobile environment.
Furthermore, the new technologies offer the promise of increased educational
effectiveness, by widening access, improving the quality of learning by making
it relevant to the skills and knowledge needed in an information society, and by
improving the cost effectiveness of education, enabling more people to be
educated to similar or higher standards for the same dollar investment.
This paper attempts to explore these issues in more detail, and in particular examines the impact of the increasing globalization of education through the use of new technologies, its importance for national development, and areas where research is needed to guide policy and practice.
The Promise
New computer and telecommunications technologies, and in particular
satellites, wireless technology, telecommunications and computing, offer the
possibilities of open access to education. Students can now, in terms of
technology, access any course they want, at any time, from anywhere in the
world.
This in turn offers the possibility of a truly global classroom, unlimited by
race, religion or nationality, with multi-ethnic courses, students and teachers.
Teachers and students can be drawn from many countries, and study the same
course together at the same time.
For researchers, there is increasing universal on-line access to journals,
libraries and other academic resources, and more importantly on-line
technologies facilitate the global networking of research.
Perhaps most important of all, the new information technologies offer the
potential to empower individual learners, to enable education to be learner
centred, focused on the needs and demands of learners, rather than those of the
providers of education, and to encourage the development of higher order
learning skills, such as critical thinking, knowledge construction, and
collaborative learning.
The promise: three examples
I offer three examples from my own institution of how the promise is becoming
reality. Many more examples could be found both within my own institution, and
also from many other institutions.
Educating teachers to use new information technologies
Monterrey Institute of Technology (ITESM), and the University of British
Columbia (UBC), have entered into a partnership agreement for the development
and delivery of five courses in technology-based
distributed learning, both in Canada and in Mexico. The courses will form part
of ITESM's Masters in Educational Technology, and will be available, subject to
academic approval at UBC, within UBC's Faculty of Education's masters program.
The five courses will also be available in Canada as a graduate certificate
program, for those that do not wish to take a full masters program. Individual
courses within a program will also be available to learners in Canada. The first
course, on the design, development and delivery of technology-based delivery,
opens in September (1997).
The courses will be delivered using a mix of set-books, the World Wide Web,
and compressed video-conferencing/satellite distribution. ITESM has 26 campuses
across Mexico, and one in Colombia, linked by satellite and the Internet. Over
200 students and over 100 faculty will take the Masters program in ITESM, and
UBC will offer the course in Canada to approximately 15 graduate students and
over 30 non-credit students.
The design uses a cascade system of tutoring. There will be four tutorial
groups in Mexico, with tutors appointed by ITESM, and one or two groups in
Canada, with a tutor appointed by UBC. Tutorials will be Web-based, using Web
discussion group software. The ITESM tutors will be bi-lingual. As well as the
five individual tutorial groups, there will be a common, international
discussion group in English. ITESM tutors, and any students from Mexico or
Canada, who wish to post comments in English, will be able to do so in the
common forum. There will also be a private discussion group for tutors and
instructors on the course.
ITESM and UBC are sharing the cost of development. The program will be
self-financing from fees. The cascade model of tutoring enables the course to be
extended to other institutions/countries at minimum cost. ITESM will have all
rights for program delivery in all Spanish speaking countries and UBC will have
world rights elsewhere.
This agreement is the first of what will be many between ITESM and UBC, which
will include exchange of students and faculty, as well as delivery of courses at
a distance. Both parties see this partnership in terms of strategic positioning.
UBC has excellent networks, contacts and contracts in Asian countries; ITESM is
strong in Latin America. As well as sharing costs and gaining international
experience and networking in each other's country, the partnership widens
substantially access to two key world economic regions for each institution.
SEARCA: collaboration in agricultural sciences
A consortium of agricultural universities/faculties consisting of the
Universiti Putra, Malaysia, Kaesartsat University, Thailand, the University of
the Philippines at Los Baños, with UBC and the University of Queensland,
Australia, as associate partners, has been established, to promote joint course
development and collaboration, and exchange of students and faculties.
As part of this consortium, UBC and Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) are
entering into an agreement for the development and delivery of a distance
education program, whereby UPM will provide programs on tropical agriculture and
UBC programs on temperate agriculture. Students at UPM will take their programs
either face-to-face or in distance education format, and UBC programs at a
distance; UBC students will take UBC programs either face-to-face or at a
distance, and UPM programs at a distance. In some cases, an individual course
will be jointly developed; in others, one institution will take responsibility
for a course delivered into the other. If this model is successful, it will be
extended throughout the consortium. As well as course development, UBC will be
assisting UPM to strengthen its distance education unit's capacity in the use of
technology for course delivery.
Post-graduate architecture
Several universities, including UBC, MIT, Hong Kong University, the
University of Sydney, and the University of Washington, have been collaborating
for several years in post-graduate education over the World Wide Web. Research
students in each university post up ideas, questions and suggestions for each
other's work. In particular, students post up their design exercises for
comments by students in other universities. More recently, students in different
universities have been working collaboratively on design projects. The
University of Washington is developing virtual reality software that can be run
over the Web, so students and instructors can get a three-dimensional view of
project design.
Different models of international technology-based distance
delivery
These case-studies illustrate that a number of different models of international technology-based distance delivery are emerging.
1. Direct delivery to individuals in another country
This is perhaps the most common form of international delivery of distance
education, and has been going on for many years. I call this the 'sales'model of
international education: a foreign institution sells its courses directly to
individuals in another country. Both the British Open University and several
Australian universities have been particularly active in this market. It has the
advantage of being market driven and brings in extra revenue for the originating
institution.
However there are a great many difficulties and problems with this approach.
In more recent years, the Open University in Britain has been very successful
with its MBA program overseas, particularly in Eastern Europe, but there are
special circumstances there. Given its size, experience, and the range and
quality of its materials, the British Open University has had surprisingly
little success over the years with the direct marketing model. Despite several
attempts, its impact on the North American market has been neglible, and even in
developing countries, it has been much more successful in consultancy and sales
of materials to other institutions than in the direct marketing of materials to
individuals.
There are several reasons why this is a difficult model to make work. First
of all, there is the issue of marketing. Either one has to use agents or
establish a very expensive marketing network. Accreditation is also an issue.
Many overseas students prefer, rightly or wrongly, accreditation from more
prestigious, conventional universities than from dedicated open universities.
Few dual mode institutions have full degree programs available entirely at a
distance, and admission to programs may be problematic for foreign students for
'prestigious'universities overseas, even at a distance. Transfer of credits from
a foreign institution is a particular problem.
Secondly, access to technology for individual students wanting to access
courses from an overseas provider is still an acute problem in most countries,
even in countries such as Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia. Many students in
these countries do not have their own computer or Internet access, or the
software or standards required by the overseas provider. A related issue is
cost. Foreign students are frankly often seen as a cash cow, and are therefore
charged not only the full cost but also a margin for profit. The costs of
delivery internationally are in any case higher, with shipping and long-distance
costs.
Thirdly, local student support is critical. It is not just a question of
tutorials, which can be done well remotely. It is the issue of motivation,
counselling, and the application of the material to local circumstances. Without
a local partner, local student support is very difficult to provide.
The biggest barrier though is content, in the form of language, relevancy and
cultural issues. Studying at a distance is difficult enough. Studying in a
second or sometimes third language, especially where there is a great deal of
printed material, is even more difficult. Translation costs are high, and
getting good quality translations is not easy. In many cases the materials have
been developed for a different type of learner, with different cultural
assumptions, levels of prior experience, and experience in learning. Materials
may use case studies, examples and forms of language that are unknown in another
country. In particular, foreign students may not have been exposed to
constructivist forms of teaching and learning, or may have had even less
experience in independent study methods.
Lastly, there is the question of the ethics of marketing to individuals. The
Commonwealth of Learning has become so concerned about the activities of some
distance learning institutions in their overseas marketing that it has developed
a code of ethics for international marketing, and a 'buyers'guide for potential
students. For all these reasons, I have tried to avoid direct marketing of our
courses outside British Columbia.
Given the challenges of this model, it is not surprising that in recent years
a number of other approaches have been developed, mainly based on the idea of
partnership.
2. Inter-institutional direct delivery from one country to another
In this model, an institution in one country sells its materials to another
institution in a foreign country, which then adapts and incorporates the
materials as its own. This is sometimes known as a franchise model; instead of a
fixed price for the purchase of rights and/or materials, the local institution
may pay a head 'tax'on every student enrolled.
This model has the advantage of getting courses up and running much more
cheaply than developing them in house, the courses can be more easily adapted to
local culture and markets, and accreditation and student support is the
responsibility of the local institution.
Even this model though has its problems. One reason why the British Open
University has so much difficulty in the North American market is that there are
fundamental differences in the length of degree programs (three year
undergraduate degrees in the UK compared with four years in North America, for
instance), and in the length of courses (32 weeks for a full credit, 16 for a
half credit, compared with 13 week semesters in North America).
Secondly, everyone wants to export (sell) and nobody wants to import (buy) in
distance education. There are several reasons for this. The main one is faculty
control over the curriculum. Buying in courses from elsewhere threatens to make
existing faculty redundant. Also the teaching approach is often not acceptable
to the academics who have to approve the program, because, for instance, it may
not provide the necessary pre-requisites for subsequent courses.
Thirdly curriculum is usually supply rather than demand driven, in the sense
that it reflects what faculty want to teach, rather than the needs of students
in the country buying the courses.
Fourthly, even between countries as culturally similar as Canada and the
United States, there are still some major cultural difficulties in language,
assumptions and examples that need to be overcome. The greater the cultural
difference between countries, the greater the problem this becomes.
Lastly, although it is usually much cheaper to buy in than develop original
materials, financial arrangements may militate against this. Since academics are
already on the pay-roll, bought-in courses tend to be additional programs for
students, and need extra cash up front (even though they may bring in revenues
later). This cash may not be available, and even if it is, in some cases
students may merely move from existing, campus-based courses to the new DE
courses.
Despite these difficulties, there is still a great deal of scope for the
franchising of courses. We are looking at bringing in courses at the EMBA level,
for inter-disciplinary areas (such as environmental studies), and particularly
in non-credit areas, such as certificate and diploma programs, or individual
modules, such as CD-ROM's, aimed at particular target groups, such as workplace
training, where we can meet new markets that are not being served by UBC (or
other institutions in our region) at the moment.
3. Joint partnership between institutions in different countries
This model has already been exemplified by the case-studies discussed
previously. In these partnerships, courses are jointly planned between
institutions, and each plays a significant role in either the development or
delivery of programs, or both. It is hoped in this way to achieve truly
multi-cultural approaches to course design, and to avoid many of the other
problems associated with the previous two models.
Requirements for international partnerships
These new partnerships are proliferating in many different forms, and between
many different organizations, speeded up by the use of new technologies which
know no international boundaries.
Experience suggests a number of lessons have already been learned about what
makes for successful partnerships:
New teaching models
The combination of new technologies and new partnership arrangements will
lead to the development of new models of teaching and learning.
For instance, the British Open University's Knowledge Media Institute has
launched a number of international 'events'over the Internet, using video and
audio as well as text, under what it calls the 'virtual stadium'. These are
presentations by some of the most distinguished academics in their field
delivered on a global basis, with opportunities for interaction and discussion
over the Internet.
As well as whole courses, we have been involved in the delivery of
'guest'lectures from staff at UBC into courses offered by ITESM in Mexico
through video-conferencing. We have been able to offer a course in Plant Science
to UBC students by sharing a lecturer and a course being offered by the
University College of the Fraser Valley, again by video-conferencing.
Gene Rubin at the University of Maryland in the USA and Ulli Bernath at the
University of Oldenberg in Germany went further and offered a whole thirteen
week seminar on the World Wide Web through the use of guest lecturers from
around the world. Each week a guest lecturer posted one or two readings for the
students, who were mainly based at Maryland or Oldenberg, but who also included
students from Australia, Canada, and Eastern European countries. The readings
were accompanied by a week's discussion on-line between the students and with
the guest lecturer. We plan to use up to three guest lecturers on each of our
courses with ITESM.
We are also seeing an increasing number of virtual conferences. Anne Forster
and colleagues at the University of New South Wales organized a world-wide
on-line conference, using a list serve, in parallel with the Telelearning'96
conference; Terry Anderson at the University of Alberta in Canada did the same
for the ICDE conference in 1995. Both these virtual conferences enabled those
unable to attend the 'real'conferences to participate in some way.
Another development will be the growth of international mixed-mode courses,
combining residence in a foreign country with preparation and follow-up at a
distance in one's own country, in most cases using a combination of the Internet
and printed materials.
These are just a few examples of new teaching models that are developing for
international education.
The reality for developing countries
Most of these developments are taking place in relatively wealthy countries.
The reality is that information-technology based distance education depends on a
well developed national information technology infrastructure consisting of:
These are challenging requirements even for most developed countries. Even in
Canada, there are relatively few school classrooms that can meet these
standards.
There is therefore a widening gap between the rich and poor in terms of
access to communications technologies, and a widening gap between rich and poor
nations. In many ways the greatest disparity is not between countries but within
countries. For instance wealthy elites in even the poorest countries can
communicate globally with each other much more easily than they can with people
in the barriadas and ghettoes of their own cities. Johannesburg is better
connected to London than it is to Soweto.
Nelson Mandela (1995) has highlighted the serious consequences of this trend
for developing countries:
'The present reality is that the technology gap between developed and
developing nations is actually widening...most of the developing world has no
experience of what readily accessible communications can do for their society
and their economy'.
Morris Miller (1996) argues that in developing countries:
'work must be found outside the rural sector...the young generation in
rural communities need to acquire competence in the use of modern technology of
the information age...preparing young rural people to work in the world outside
the farm is vital if they are to be employable in the service and manufacturing
industries that are located in towns and large urban centres.'
As Miller recognizes, for this to happen, information technologies have to be
brought to the rural villages. How then can this be done?
There are at least three strategies that can be used. First of all, the
traditional 'mass media', 'second generation' form of distance education, based
on centralised production of materials, use of mass media such as broadcasting,
television and radio, and economies of scale through delivery to very large
numbers, has been very successful in countries where it has been professionally
applied, such as at the Sukhothaithammithirat Open University in Thailand, the
Korean National Open University, the Alama Iqbal Open University in Pakistan,
and the Indira Gandhi National Open University in India. For those countries
wishing to educate very large numbers of relatively poor people, mass media are
still more appropriate technologies than the new information technologies.
A second strategy is to develop low-cost alternatives to or rather variations
on new information technologies that are appropriate to the current level of
development of a particular country. One way of doing this is to by-pass the
energy and terrestrial-based telecommunications networks that have not yet
reached into villages. Miller suggests for instance the development of grid-free
village level energy sources that can provide local power sources, not just for
cooking and heating (thereby saving precious wood), but also for education and
training purposes.
With local sources of energy, students can use computers and CD-ROM
technology for their learning. Networking and hence tutoring and contact with
other students outside the village can be provided by low-cost wireless
technologies and low orbiting satellites. Low orbiting satellites cost in the
order of 100 times less than geo-stationary satellites. They can provide a basic
call and forward data communciations system. They cover most areas of the world
between four to six times a day, collecting messages beamed up by short-wave
radios connected to computers, and delivering messages the same way, through the
use of coded references to messages: only the receivers corresponding to the
codes on the messages can de-encrypt the message. The radio system for this
costs in the order of hundreds of dollars.
The third strategy is not to ignore the privileged elite in developing
countries, but to include them in the process. Most of the prestigious
universities as well as most leading businesses have relatively good Internet
and international telecommunications links, even in the poorest countries. For
these organizations, a high-tech technology hub can be created in each major
centre, providing two-way satellite communications, high-speed international
telecommunications links, multimedia workstations and labs, and high-speed
Internet services. These can become centres of excellence for the development of
new education and training services for the admittedly elite sections of the
country. These centres can link to other regional centres, and can be used to
provide training for the industrial and business sectors within their own
communities. The importance of such hi-tech centres of excellence is that they
could provide the elite within each country with the knowledge and skills needed
to ensure their country does not fall behind, and to emphasise to key
decision-makers the importance of investment in such technologies for the
development of their own country.
None of these strategies diminishes the need for government and private
sector investment in the development of national telecommunications networks
reaching into every town and village within a country. However, this may take
many years - if ever - to accomplish, and in the meantime some intermediate
strategies are needed to bring new technologies quickly into use for education
and training in all developing countries, and especially in rural and ghetto
areas of cities.
The importance of government policies and regulation
The challenge for governments is to find the right balance between private
sector investment and competition in telecommunications, and the need for equity
in access. In the past nationalization or state ownership has been the main
means of regulation and equity in access to telecommunications services. There
are though alternative routes to public ownership that can allow competition and
freedom for the private sector while at the same time encouraging equity of
access to telecommunications services.
For instance a number of state higher education systems in the United States
of America have set up their own private networks through the lease of lines and
services from private sector telecommunications companies. In British Columbia
the provincial government is establishing a Provincial Learning Network that
will link up all government offices, universities, hospitals, colleges and
schools. One of the key criteria for the award of any contract is that all rural
schools will be provided with a minimum level of Internet and telecommunications
services. In essence the government is using its bulk purchasing power to
leverage services and a reduced level of costs from telecommunications providers
(it can only do this if there is genuine competition between telecommunications
carriers).
Research questions
What we are witnessing is a chaotic but rapidly expanding sector of
international distance education using advanced telecommunications and computing
technologies. Educational institutions and governments are having to address as
a result new problems and challenges with little in the way of established
practice or experience to guide them. There is then an urgent need for research
in the area of the international delivery of distance education through the use
of new information technologies. This paper has identified a number of areas
where such research would be particularly valuable.
What the hell is going on here?
First of all a general survey of some of the developments in this area would
be extremely valuable. Different models are being developed; new arrangements
are being made; new partnerships are being formed. Most information in this area
is anectdotal, and many people who are entering this field are totally unaware
of what others are doing. A study that provides a clear and objective
description of a significant number of cases where new information technologies
are being used for the international delivery of courses would of itself provide
an immensely useful document. This in turn would help to define more precisely
the key areas needing further research.
Partnership arrangements
Secondly it is clear that many institutions are now looking to partnership,
collaboration and even consortia to provide international delivery of courses
through telecommunications technologies. What are the requirements for succesful
partnerships? What kind of partnerships seem to be succesful, and which seem to
fail?
The response of learners
How do learners in different countries and in different sectors within a
country respond to international courses delivered through telecommunications?
What are the key cultural and language issues that need to be addressed in such
programs? What kinds of students benefit most from such courses? Do such courses
narrow or widen the gap between the rich and poor?
Ethical issues and student services
What protection do potential students need when courses are delivered from
out of their local jurisdiction? What standards or policies should providers of
international education adhere to? What if any regulatory policies are needed to
protect learners?
Teaching models
What teaching approaches seem to work best in international delivery of
courses via networks? What new models are being developed? How successful are
they?
Appropriate technologies for the poor and developing countries
Is it possible to develop low-cost, alternative technologies that provide the
same or better educational benefits than mainstream information technologies for
low income groups or people in rural areas? How can such technologies be
financed so that they are sustainable?
Government policies
What strategies can governments employ to develop and support an information
technology infrastructure that widens access to information technology based
distance education?
These questions need to be refined and further developed, but it is clear
that the international delivery of courses via new information technologies
provides a rich source for research and investigation.
However, it is already clear that this sector will continue to expand
exponentially, and without some form of systematic research, it will become
increasingly chaotic and high risk.
References
Mandela, N. (1995) 'A deadline for the poor: nations'technological divide
expanding'International Herald Tribune October 10th
Miller, M. (1996) 'An international program for poverty alleviation: a key element of a global security agenda'The Development Aspect of an Integrated Agenda for Global Security Toronto: Pugwash Seminar, 19 September.