[LINK] World Education

[Jan Whitaker]

At 08:47 AM 30/01/2013, Tom Worthington wrote:
>Using telecommunications for mass distance education is not exactly a
>new idea. In 2009 Professor Uma Kanjilal, Director of the School of
>Social Sciences, Indira Gandhi Open University (IGNOU) gave a talk in
>Canberra:
>http://blog.tomw.net.au/2009/05/research-intensive-distance-education.html

I always chuckle when I read articles about the 'latest and greatest 
and FIRST!' distance ed program on blah blah blah medium. Open 
learning, distance ed, telecourses, 'alternative' education, 
correspondence study -- call it whatever you will, has a long history 
(some trace back to the 1700s). The form has changed as the 
technology options have developed and are made available for lower 
cost and have been interconnected across better telecommunications 
systems. The base components haven't changed all that much, just 
delivered/conducted with different tools.

This is an evolution rather than a revolution, with a lot of research 
and development preceding the current efforts.

http://www.seniornet.org/edu/art/history.html
A brief history of distance education 1997.
What is unfortunate is that this article focuses on US universities 
and ignores the millions of community college learners, school 
education, Australia's 'school of the air', the International Council 
on Distance Education ( http://www.icde.org/ )

http://www.cdlponline.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=whatis&pg=3
has a bit more about the various programs (a trip down memory lane 
for me), with what is going on in California at several levels and 
across a range of delivery methods. - 2011
The growth in the last decade for basic Adult Education (means basic 
skills development, adults developing reading/writing/high school 
subjects, not advanced courses) in this one state is amazing - 50,000 
individuals in one year in one small-ish program.

I'm not saying the US experience is the main one; in fact I would 
suggest it's been a worldwide phenomenon where the facilities, need 
and emphasis on education is high.

Jan
(PS: I was doing international programs myself back in the 1980s, so 
even the multi-country aspect isn't new)


Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
jwhit at janwhitaker.com
blog: http://janwhitaker.com/jansblog/
business: http://www.janwhitaker.com

Our truest response to the irrationality of the world is to paint or 
sing or write, for only in such response do we find truth.
~Madeline L'Engle, writer

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