lifelong learning and distance higher education - Asia Pacific Region

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CHAPTER 8THE HIGHER EDUCATIONOPEN AND DISTANCE LEARNINGKNOWLEDGE BASEZeynep VarogluSUMMARYThis article provides an overview of the UNESCO Higher Education Open andDistance Learning Knowledge Base (HEODLKB) project. This project was set up tosupport informed decision-making through information and tools for policy planning,development and management of open and distance learning (ODL) in higher education.The main focus of this project has been the development of decision support tools forquality assurance of distance higher education. This chapter provides background on thequality assurance of distance higher education and an overview of the decision-supporttool in this area developed by the project. The chapter concludes with some policyconsiderations drawn from the experience gained through this project.PROJECT OVERVIEWThe Higher Education Open and Distance Learning Knowledge Base (HEODLKB)addresses the growing interest in the use of open and distance learning to extend accessto higher education in developing countries. This project responds to the need for betterunderstanding on how open and distance learning functions, and addresses concernsregarding the quality of education provided through ODL. In particular it aims toprovide decision makers with access to information that will assist them in ensuringthat the policy, planning and management of ODL are conducted appropriately andefficiently.Concretely, this UNESCO project 1 aims to make available regional databases on openand distance higher education in Africa, Asia and the Pacific and in the Communityof Independent States (CIS) and Baltic States. These databases are linked to a searchtool on the main UNESCO site for the project (www.unesco.odl/unesco) throughThe Commonwealth of Learning (COL) Knowledge Finder. In addition, UNESCO isdeveloping a decision-support tool (DST) that provides key questions concerning quality97
assurance of ODL. This DST will be linked to the three regional databases to providefurther background to the issues it addresses at the regional level.The project aims to support developing countries in elaborating robust national qualityassurance systems for ODL. It responds to the rise in demand for enrolments, often inframeworks characterised by decreasing state funding for higher education. This situationis particularly accentuated in developing countries (see Chapter 1), making access tolifelong learning opportunities of quality increasingly urgent.In this project the definition of lifelong learning is similar to that of open learning,namely: policies and practices that permit entry to learning with no or minimum barrierswith respect to age, gender or time constraints and with the recognition of prior learning.Distance education is defined as learning mediated through technology (e.g. radio, TV,Internet) or with the support of printed material.GLOBALISATION AND QUALITY DISTANCE HIGHEREDUCATIONEnsuring lifelong learning opportunities is becoming critical as individuals needto continually update their skills in an increasingly globalised knowledge society.Furthermore, in developing countries the growing demand for enrolments means thatgovernments have to turn to innovative options to meet these challenges. The quality ofdistance education becomes a priority as new lifelong learners opt for distance educationso that they can study while still meeting their social and professional responsibilities.New challenges to quality higher education arising from the impact of globalisation 2include the proliferation of new providers, cross-border provision 3 and increasedelectronic delivery of higher education. 4Quality assurance is the systematic internal review of educational programmes toensure that acceptable standards of education, scholarship and infrastructure are beingmaintained. 5 UNESCO recognises that quality assurance of distance higher education isintegrally linked to quality assurance of higher education in general. It is understood thatthere are specificities of distance education linked to the change in the learning/teachingdynamic due to the ‘distance’ factor.Middlehurst (2001) provides a concise typology of the variables that should beconsidered when measuring the quality of new providers of higher education — newtypes of providers and provision, delivery modes, media, location, curricula andcontent as well as qualifications and outcomes. Middlehurst highlights the complexityof ODL provisions in this framework by stressing that these provisions not only crossboundaries of space and time in their educational provision, often using informationand communication technologies (ICTs), but that institutions offering ODL maybe cross-border providers and/or cross organisational or sectoral boundaries (e.g.tertiary level courses provided by private companies in fields such as computerprogramming).One example of the challenges of assuring distance higher education would be theissue of learner support. Specifically, in distance education the learner is separatedfrom the instructor and other learners in space and often in time. Unless learning istaking place live in a virtual classroom, the learner is unable to ask for clarificationson the subject matter by engaging directly with the instructor and/or other learners, aswould be possible in a traditional classroom environment. Interactions are often made98
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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
Page 51 and 52: Table 4.2: Fundable elements in dis
Page 53 and 54: sciences in 21 countries of the reg
Page 55 and 56: How a system is funded depends in p
Page 57 and 58: Litto, Fredric M. (2004). Digital l
Page 59 and 60: CHAPTER 5LIFELONG LEARNING IN THE A
Page 61 and 62: education, which was initiated by C
Page 63 and 64: So the virtual classroom acted as a
Page 65 and 66: In June 2002, when the course came
Page 67 and 68: RELEVANT INTERNET SITESFORCIIR proj
Page 69 and 70: 11. The approximate rate for 1€ w
Page 71 and 72: The term modern distance education
Page 73 and 74: the National Networked Consortium f
Page 75 and 76: important resource for undeveloped
Page 77 and 78: standards have been proposed for th
Page 79 and 80: The development of e-learning withi
Page 81 and 82: RELEVANT INTERNET SITESCCRTVU Onlin
Page 83 and 84: MoE (2004b) The Notice on Running N
Page 85 and 86: CHAPTER 7QUALITY ASSURANCE SURVEYOF
Page 87 and 88: (Paris, France, 28-29 June 2004) in
Page 89 and 90: Examples of elaborated QA policies:
Page 91 and 92: plans and produces its conventional
Page 93 and 94: SHTVU (China)• Teaching• Teachi
Page 95 and 96: offers its programmes to Turkish ci
Page 97 and 98: mega universities apply a set of st
Page 99 and 100: RELEVANT INTERNET SITESThe Commonwe
Page 101: 2. QA initiatives or publications b
Page 105 and 106: Educational Planning has been respo
Page 107 and 108: A system of weighting of the key qu
Page 109 and 110: RELEVANT INTERNET SITESHigher Educa
Page 111 and 112: CHAPTER 9THE FINNISH VIRTUAL UNIVER
Page 113 and 114: foreign providers. In Finland, the
Page 115 and 116: to make the best use of new educati
Page 117 and 118: The foremost task for the Service U
Page 119 and 120: part of quality management. The aim
Page 121 and 122: online courses; an educational tech
Page 123 and 124: polytechnics, research institutions
Page 125 and 126: CHAPTER 10PROMOTING CROSS-BORDERREC
Page 127 and 128: The Bologna Declaration was followe
Page 129 and 130: indicators currently being used for
Page 131 and 132: the qualification resulting from th
Page 133 and 134: Table 9.1: Outline of the portfolio
Page 135 and 136: • Make sure that incoming student
Page 137 and 138: CHAPTER 11CHARTING THE EVOLUTIONOF
Page 139 and 140: Another common characteristic was t
Page 141 and 142: the current capacity of the educati
Page 143 and 144: conditions for success. Conditions
Page 145 and 146: Cultural and ethical issues in inte
Page 147 and 148: the cost and maintenance of learnin
Page 149 and 150: Research can be a useful tool for c
Page 151 and 152: REFERENCESBates, A. (1995). Technol
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Twigg, C. (2001). Quality Assurance
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y, for example, entering into partn
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and even greater steps, and the dec
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lifelong learning and distance higher education - Asia Pacific Region

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