Distance Education in Developing Countries

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Distance Education in Developing Countries

• Initiatives at the
• Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg
• Thomas Hülsmannthomas.huelsmann_at_uni-oldenburg.De
• Center for Distance Education (ZEF), Carl von
  Ossietzky University of Oldenburg
• Technology with a human face African youth
  foundation, Bonn, June 06 - 07, 2002

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Content of This Presentation

• Part I introductionA short notice about ZEF,
  the center for distance education at Carl von
  Ossietzky University Oldenburg
• Part II background The online master of
  distance education (OMDE) offered in cooperation
  with UMUC (university of Maryland university
  college) USA
• Part III The certificateThe certificate
  distance education in developing countries being
  one of the certificate options within the OMDE
  program
• Part IV The professional seminarThe ZEF
  initiatives and course offerings through the
  global development learning network (GDLN) of the
  world bank institute

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Part IThe Center for Distance Education (ZEF)
at Oldenburg University

• Initial mission of ZEF
• Is to support students of the FernUniversität,
  and
• To promote distance learning at its host
  university
• Since then ZEF extended its range of activities
• Cooperation with UMUC for the OMDE this is the
  context within which the certificate distance
  education in developing countries has been
  launched
• The presentation will focus here because it
  is here where the initiatives DE in developing
  countries are located.
• Http//www.uni-oldenburg.de/zef/

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Part IThe Center for Distance Education (ZEF)
at Oldenburg University

• Establishing an online learning infrastructure
  In cooperation with distance learning centers at
  the universities of Hildesheim and Lüneburg ZEF
  has established a lotus domino application (LDA)
  competence center
• Cooperation with GDLNZEF is at the heart of
  launching various initiatives of cooperation with
  the world banks global development learning
  network (GDLN)
• The presentation will focus here because it is
  here where the initiatives DE in developing
  countries are located.
• Http//www.uni-oldenburg.de/zef/

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Part IIMission of the OMDE

• The mission statement includes
• The master of distance education qualifies the
  present and future managers of distance
  education. Given that distance education - and
  e-learning - have expanded so radically in the
  past few years, in both the public and private
  education, as well as training sectors, the
  program needs to train a multitude of new
  managers and future leaders required in this
  field.
• Http//www.umuc.edu/mde
• Http//zefnotes.uni-oldenburg.de/asf/asf.nsf

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Part IIHistory of the OMDE

• The development of OMDE began in 1996/97 with the
  virtual seminar for professional development in
  distance education led by U. Bernath (director of
  the ZEF) and E. Rubin (now program director at
  UMUC)
• In 1999 a full graduate program was developed and
  proposed to the Maryland higher education
  commission.
• The OMDE is a degree of UMUC and Oldenburg
  contributes 6 courses to the entire program (6
  out of 19).
• The first course (foundations of DE) was started
  in spring 2000 with 60 students.
• As of spring 2002, over 500 students from North
  America, Europe, and Asia are enrolled and more
  than 1000 courses taken.

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Part IIAn International Team of Faculty

• Faculty are spread over four continents and eight
  countries
• Australia Som Naidu
• Canada Tony Bates, Jane Brindley, Judy Roberts
• Germany Ulrich Bernath, Joachim Hasebrook,
  Thomas Hülsmann, Otto Peters
• Great Britain Hilary Perraton, Greville Rumble
• Israel Gila Kurtz
• Mexico Yolanda Gayol
• Sweden Börje Holmberg
• USA Michael Beaudoin, Kimberley Bonner, Ilene
  Frank, Jim Gelatt, Inez Giles, Greg Kearsley,
  Michael Moore, Gene Rubin

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Part IIThe OMDE Program and Course Options

• The masters program (36 credits) contains 12
  courses 7 core courses, 4 electives, and a
  final distance education project.
• The core courses are foundations of distance
  education distance education systems technology
  in distance education The management of distance
  education economics of distance education
  student support in distance education
  instructional design and course development in
  DE
• Seven certificate programs (12 credits) are
  embedded in the masters program and combine four
  courses each.

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Part IIThe Certificate Options

• The center of distance education at the
  university of Oldenburg offers two certificate
  options
• Certificate in foundations of distance education
• Foundations of distance education economics
  of distance education student support in
  distance education new and emerging media in
  distance education
• Certificate distance education in developing
  countries
• University of Maryland university college offers
  further four certificate options distance
  education technology library services in
  distance education teaching at a distance
  training at a distance

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Part IIIThe Certificate Distance Education in
Developing Countries

• Certificate distance education in developing
  countries
• Shares two courses with the foundations
  certificate, i.E. 1. Foundations of distance
  education (OMDE 601) 2. Economics of distance
  education (OMDE 606)
• And two courses specially addressing DE in
  developing countries 3. Policies for distance
  education in developing countries (OMDE 625) 4.
  Educational technologies for distance education
  in developing countries (OMDE 625)

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Part IIIPolicies for Distance Education in
Developing Countries (OMDE 625)

• The course policies for distance education in
  developing countries extends over 15 weeks and
  consists of six modules
• Module 1 distance education and development-
  examines general issues of development
  especially the role of education for development
• Module 2 national policies of distance
  education- analyzes policies of national
  governments with respect to distance education
• Module 3 international rationales and policies
  of of national for distance education - examines
  the role of international agencies in relation to
  distance education

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Part IIIPolicies for Distance Education in
Developing Countries (OMDE 625)

• Continued
• Module 4 organizational models- reviews the
  organizational models for distance education
  developed for
• Basic education,
• Alternative routes to formal education,
• Teacher training and
• Higher education
• Module 5 outcomes - summarizes the findings on
  cost-effectiveness in the various contexts of
  application

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Part IIIPolicies for Distance Education in
Developing Countries (OMDE 625)

• Continued module 6 projectstudent performance
  is assessed on the basis of a project. Project
  work includes
• Choice of area of research early on in the course
• Preparation an annotated bibliography
• Conduction an short online conference where they
• Present their annotated bibliography
• Outline a draft of their work in progress in
  form of a series of main topics
• Defend their theses in a discussion with their
  peers and faculty

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Part IIIEducational Technologies for Distance
Education in Developing Countries (OMDE 626)

• The last course of the certificate distance
  education in developing countries is educational
  technologies for distance education in developing
  countries. This course, which will be taught the
  first time fall 2002, extends over 15 weeks and
  consists of eight modules
• Module 1 introduces into the setup of the course
  
• Module 2 knowledge society develops an
  understanding of the context in which distance
  education has to operate

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Part IIIEducational Technologies for Distance
Education in Developing Countries (OMDE 626)

• Module 3 technology primer reviews the basic
  technical vocabulary to understand the emerging
  global information infrastructure
• Module 4 The digital divide maps the uneven
  integration of the developing country in the new
  global informational society
• Module 5 educational technologies for basic
  education at a distance reviews case studies of
  the application of ICTs to support basic
  education at a distance

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Part IIIEducational Technologies for Distance
Education in Developing Countries (OMDE 626)

• Module 6 educational technologies to support
  secondary level education at a distance analyses
  the cost-effectiveness of using computer
  supported resource-based learning in secondary
  schools
• Module 7 educational technologies for teacher
  training and higher education at a distance
  identifies opportunities and difficulties of
  managing technological change in higher education
  
• Module 8 completing the project guides students
  to complete their projects

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Part IVThe Professional Seminar Distance
Education in Developing Countries

• Apart from the certificate program distance
  education in developing countries ZEF is
  spearheading various initiatives in relations
  with the global development learning network of
  the world bank institute.
• These initiatives are
• Professional seminar distance education in
  developing countriesprovided by the center for
  distance education
• Professional seminar on energy economicsprovided
  in collaboration with postgraduate program
  renewable energy (PPRE) at Oldenburg university
• Professional seminar on sustainable town planning
  and development
• Http//www.gdln.org/programtools.html

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Part IVThe Professional Seminar Distance
Education in Developing Countries

• The professional seminar distance education in
  developing countries will be delivered through
  the global development learning network (GDLN) of
  the world bank.
• The global development learning network (GDLN) is
  an initiative of the world bank institute (WBI),
  the learning arm of the world bank. The GDLN
  mission is
• To harness modern technology ... in a
  cost-effective way, so that people who know are
  brought together with those who need to know, to
  learn with and from each other about the full
  range of development issues.
• Http//www.gdln.org/

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Part IVThe Professional Seminar Distance
Education in Developing Countries

• The core of GDLN comprises of an expanding
  network of distance learning centers (DLC). The
  present number of 31 DLC will be expanded to 50
  by 2002 and 80 by2003. If secondary sites are
  included the number of locations involved by 2003
  will be approximately 160.
• The DLCs have a double function
• Providing technical infrastructure and
  servicesinfrastructure ranges from satellite to
  online capabilities
• A brokerage and marketing functionbringing
  learners and providers together

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Part IVThe Professional Seminar Distance
Education in Developing Countries

• The professional seminar is delivered on lotus
  learning space (LLS) as the learning platform.
  ZEF has developed into a competence center for
  lotus domino applications (LDA) including a
  server capability which can host many courses.
• The seminar can be accessed via the browser or
  via a client. We have opted for the client view
  because
• The replication software feature of LLS reduces
  online time requirements. Participants log on,
  replicate, log off, and work most of the time off
  line.
• Most of the hand library of the course is
  delivered together with the installation software
  on CD-ROM. This reduces further download time.

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Part IVThe Professional Seminar Distance
Education in Developing Countries

• The seminar starts from the premise that there is
  a need to understand all aspects of distance
  education
• aspects of pedagogy and instructional design
• aspects of cost and cost-effectiveness and
• aspects of technology
• The seminar extends over six weeks and invites
  professionals involved in distance education,
  educational planning or educational technology.
• The seminar will be conducted entirely online (as
  asynchronous text-based computer mediated
  communication) but includes two optional
  videoconference sessions, one at the beginning,
  one at the end of the course.

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Part IVThe Professional Seminar Distance
Education in Developing Countries

• The seminar is free of charge what ZEF is
  concerned. However, the local DLCs will charge a
  fee for their services
• There is no certificate or diploma involved.
• The seminar will be evaluated. If it is felt that
  the seminar responds to a need organizational
  models to repeat it in cooperation with
  interested local partners will be developed.

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Part VProblems and perspectives

• We have reported on two sets of initiatives
• Courses leading to a Certificate Distance
  Education in Developing Countries which is a
  Certificate within the Online Master of Distance
  Education offered jointly by UMUC and Carl von
  Ossietzky University Oldenburg
• Online seminars offered by Oldenburg university
  through the GDLN channels of the World Bank
  Institute. They include the Professional Seminar
  Distance Education in Developing Countries.
• From the perspectives of potential participants
  from developing countries both options have their
  problems.

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Part VProblems and perspectives The
certificate program

• The Online Master of Distance Education is one of
  few such programs combining the flexibility of
  the online delivery format with a curriculum
  which is especially at this juncture in the
  process of re-engineering educational provision
  in high demand.
• This applies also for professionals in developing
  countries who urgently need to develop the skills
  to respond to the challenges of the new and
  emerging technologies in distance education.
• This is the reason why the Commonwealth of
  Learning (COL) expressed an interest to make the
  certificate program more widely available to
  close the gap of such training and professional
  development courses.
• However, the main barrier are costs. Course fees
  for learners from developing countries are
  prohibitive.

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Part V The main barrier to the certificate costs

• Costs of the program to learner
• The basic unit is the cost per credit hour
  of US 379. A course consists of 3 credit
  hours US 379 x 3 US 1137 A
  Certificate comprises 4 courses US 1137 x
  4 US 4548 The Master degree consists of 12
  courses US 1137 x 12 US 13644
• Converted into Euro this means1237 Euro for a
  course, 4946 Euro for a certificate and 14839
  Euro for the Master degree.
• This applies also for the Certificate Distance
  Education in Developing countries. Its costs of
  US 4548 or 4946 Euro excludes most learners from
  developing countries to subscribe.

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Part VPerspectives alternative delivery options

• How to overcome the cost barrier? Note
• The Certificate program was developed by the
  Center for Distance Education at Oldenburg
  university who owns it.
• Having developed into a Lotus Domino Applications
  (LDA) competence center, Oldenburg is both
  permitted and capable to deliver the program
  outside the OMDE program cooperation with UMUC.
• Given that the course development was completed
  within the UMUC cooperation ZEF may consider
  development costs as sunk costs and charge
  marginal costs of delivery only.
• ZEF will examine the options of cooperation with
  universities of the Commonwealth which are
  capable to carry such a program together.
• This university would be expected to share the
  teaching load and to be responsible for the
  accreditation of the certificate.

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Part VProblems and perspectives The
Professional Seminar

• The Professional Seminar distance Education in
  Developing Countries is an experiment. It does
  not lead to any certificate or diploma. It will
  be conducted for the first time in Fall 2002 in
  cooperation with a DLC (Distance Learning Center)
  in Uganda.
• Costs to participants are set by the local DLC
  which operates on a cost recovery basis. However,
  since ZEF does not charge anything for the first
  time of delivery and only minimal use is made of
  the DLC infrastructure participation costs will
  be low.

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Conclusion and personal note

• I lived and taught for more than ten years in
  various parts of Africa (Sudan, Zimbabwe and
  Madagaskar) where I enjoyed the hospitality of
  many Africans.
• I believe that distance education can contribute
  and enrich the educational landscape in Africa.
• I will try to make our offerings accessible to
  participants from within developing countries.
• Only when participants from developing countries
  participate in our programs they can develop
  their full and vibrant potential.

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Questions or comments?

• Thank you for attending the session!
• This presentation is available on the web at
• http//www.uni-oldenburg.de/zef/huelsmann/ayf.ppt
• Thomas Hülsmann
• Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg
• Center for Distance Education ZEF
• thomas.huelsmann_at_uni-oldenburg.de

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