Decisions in implementing tertiary distance education

Countries and institutions interested in developing tertiary distance education need to formulate comprehensive strategic policies, choose an institutional model, and make management choices.

The following questions to be addressed in particular have been adapted from article Implementation of Tertiary Distance Education - Choices and Decisions.

Should distance learning be a separate or an integrated part of the tertiary system?
Experience teaches the value of integrating distance education fully within the existing formal education system. Where this is not accomplished, the danger is that distance education will remain at the periphery of the educational system, under-valued and under-used. Full integration helps to reduce inevitable resistance to innovation within existing tertiary institutions and does much to overcome the perception that distance education is somehow an inferior product when compared with residential instruction.

Should access be open or conditional?
The multitude of aspirants to tertiary education in developing countries, when coupled with reports of widely varying quality in educational preparation at the secondary level, suggest that admission to tertiary distance education programmes should be selective, at least for the near term. Selectivity based on student qualifications or assessment of ability will make student numbers more manageable and enable higher pass rates, thereby contributing to the cost-effectiveness of these programmes. In the interest of fairness and equity, however, governments may wish to consider offsetting selective admissions with fully open entry (i.e., no requirements) to a qualifying or bridging course, which must be passed as a requirement for admission to the tertiary distance education programme.

What technology should be employed?
How the media are used has proven to be more important than which medium is selected. Multiple media appear to be more effective than a single medium. Technology cost and maintenance are important decision factors.

What instructional materials to use?
Purchase of existing course materials from another distance education institution can be a good initial strategy. However, transporting a course from one cultural context to another usually requires re-tooling and adjusting. In the longer run, local production of course materials is generally the best approach. In addition to possible cost savings, it is a good way to promote local staff ownership of the distance education programme.

How to build local capacities?
Capacities for planning and for management are more important in distance learning than in traditional face-to-face education. This is because communications with a geographically dispersed student body are more expensive and time-consuming than in the classroom, and mistakes are therefore more difficult to correct. In most cases, several months of intensive instruction for academic staff with prior teaching experience are sufficient. In addition, Internet-based courses in distance education techniques are increasingly available.

How can distance education be financed?
There is a general assumption that distance education students are employed and can therefore afford to pay a portion of tuition costs. Usually, there is at least some degree of cost-sharing between students and the government. However, experience indicates that both governments and tertiary institutions tend to under-fund distance education, especially in the provision of critical student support services, and in staff training and professional development. One deterrent is that distance education normally requires considerable up-front investment to train staff, design curriculum, prepare materials, and acquire the selected technology. Once this hurdle is passed, the comparatively modest recurrent costs of the programme can usually be covered to a great extent by student fees.

What institutional model to choose?
There are four possibilities: dual-mode, single-mode, franchised international programme, and direct un-franchised international provision. In practice, however, these models are blurred.

A dual-mode institution offers both classroom instruction and distance education programmes. It may be best suited for enrolments in the 10,000 to 20,000 range. The numerous advantages of the dual-mode approach include the fact that it makes use of and is supported by an existing academic community and research capacity; classroom and distance instruction are based on common materials and performance is evaluated using common standards; and it can be gradually introduced as resources permit. Where an academic credit system is employed, students can move back and forth between distance and classroom study, or pursue a combination of the two. The main disadvantage is that efforts to introduce distance learning approaches within a traditional tertiary institution are likely to encounter stiff resistance among the existing academic and administrative staff.

The single-mode institution is a wholly dedicated distance learning institution. Where student admissions are not selective, this model is usually called an "Open University." Its advantages include a strong specialist staff, the absence of institutional resistance to a new and different form of pedagogy, and the institution's potential to serve students from more than one country. Its main drawbacks are that it requires a sizable initial investment to be properly established and that its graduates may be viewed as inferior to graduates from residential institutions.

Under a franchised international programme, a foreign provider of distance education programmes enters into partnership with a local tertiary institution to offer distance education on a joint basis. The local institution uses course materials developed and copyrighted by the foreign provider, but takes responsibility for local logistics, student support, and management. Fee income is shared between the two institutions. Advantages of this approach are that local knowledge and expertise in distance education are pooled from the start; the course content may be more attuned to international trends and requirements and therefore easier to get accredited; and it can be supported by international technical and financial assistance. Among its disadvantages are that it may be less adapted to local needs, it may not be very accountable to local quality assurance mechanisms, and it may be more expensive than locally developed programmes.

Direct un-franchised international provision is only just beginning to emerge. In this case, an established distance learning facility or "virtual university" offers courses internationally, generally using the Internet and interactive e-mail. Master's programmes in engineering transmitted to North American and Asian students via satellite by the National Technological University in the United States are another such example. The African Virtual University, can be reached by anyone on the African continent with an Internet connection. The range of directly provided international distance education courses is expected to expand rapidly over the next several years.

The advantages of this model are that little or no action is required by local governments or institutions, and that students can study without leaving home or job, and without having to raise the funds necessary to study abroad. Its disadvantages are its possible lack of quality control and the associated risk of disreputable providers, the absence of local tutorial support, and high tuition fees.

In the long run, the risk of un-franchised international provision is that tertiary education may become another entrenched commodity that developing countries must import from the developed world, thus creating a new and more effective form of cultural imperialism. This could be an incentive for developing countries to cultivate distance education capacities, and to work together in doing so.

Since distance education requires a significant up-front investment in the development of course materials and tutorial support, market analysis is important to maximise the success of initial strategic choices and to reduce the possibility of misguided educational initiatives. The Bangladesh Open University, for example, interviewed 16,000 persons before finalizing its plans for course offerings.