Professional Identity in Distance Education

1. Forster: CIDER_19Jan07 Professional Identity in Distance Education Anne Forster CIDER Session, January 19, 2007, 12pm Mountain (5am-Australia)

2. Forster: CIDER_19Jan07 Overview Part 1: Some background Professions and identity in ODL Part 2: In the interest of others Global, institutional and individual dilemmas Part 3: Becoming a professional in ODL Professional development qualifications The research agenda

3. Forster: CIDER_19Jan07 My professional path in DE Institute of Educational Technology UKOU Post-graduate programs in DE in Australia (UniSouth Australia) DE Certificate Program UWis (Madison) MDE UMUC/Oldenberg Post-graduate global higher education industry (focus on management): UNSW, USyd, KPMG & NextEd DE and development President of ODLAA 2003-2006

4. Forster: CIDER_19Jan07 A question of identity ODLAA 1973-2003: a time to quit? A consultation: industry and researchers Personal commitment to professional development The role of a professional association What would be lost?

5. Forster: CIDER_19Jan07 Built to last: successful habits of visionary companiesBuilt to last: successful habits of visionary companies

6. Forster: CIDER_19Jan07 Do we share core values? Elements of DE (Keegan) The separation of teacher and learner The influence of an educational organisation The use of technical media The provision of two way communication The possibility of occasional meetings The participation in an industrialised form of education Elements of Openness Open as to pace, place, time and prior learning. A focus on the learner’s requirements rather than the institution’s. Elements of DE (Keegan) The separation of teacher and learner The influence of an educational organisation The use of technical media The provision of two way communication The possibility of occasional meetings The participation in an industrialised form of education Elements of Openness Open as to pace, place, time and prior learning. A focus on the learner’s requirements rather than the institution’s.

7. Forster: CIDER_19Jan07 How significant is the word “Open”? Open Universities and Open Schooling eg UKOU mission: “open as to people, places, methods and ideas”. Open in particular to people who do not have traditional entry qualifications Free/Libre Open Source Software movement (FLOSS) Open Education Resources eg MIT, UKOU’s OpenLearn Initiative Open Knowledge: creative commons & patents

8. Forster: CIDER_19Jan07 Professional Associations

9. Forster: CIDER_19Jan07 Professional Associations: Codes of Ethics: Centre for Computing and Social Responsibility www.ccsr.cse.dmu.ac.uk/about Australian College of Educators www.austcolled.com.au National Society of Professional Engineers, www.nspe.org National Education Association: 1. Commitment to the student, 2. Commitment to the profession www.nea.org/aboutnea

10. Forster: CIDER_19Jan07 Is there a profession of DE or ODL? Accrediting/licensing professions eg. Medicine, Engineering, Law Non- Accrediting professions eg Computing Sciences, Library, Counselling and Education A relatively homogeneous community whose members share identity, values, definitions of role and interests (Bucher & Strauss, 1961)

11. Forster: CIDER_19Jan07 PROFESSIONALS

12. Forster: CIDER_19Jan07 “In the interest of others”

13. Forster: CIDER_19Jan07

14. Forster: CIDER_19Jan07 Power & differentiating segments within professions (Bucher & Strauss, 1961) Occupational unity? Colleagueship? Established associations subject to emerging segments Codes of ethics, public relations/advocacy and procedures of certification reflect the ideology of the segment in power at a point in time in the life of an association

15. Forster: CIDER_19Jan07 Communities of interest in ODL. Differentiating segments? Rapid expansion in online, web-based and eLearning; campus based domination Proliferation of new journals Renaming and merging of professional associations Conceptual confusion in the field (Saba, 2005) Reductionist definition of DE based on physical science paradigm including attributes of media Social science paradigm: transactional distance Technology mediated learning that takes place at a distance (CIDER brochure) ODL tools in the service of humanity and development

16. Forster: CIDER_19Jan07 Evolution of DE: Addressing barriers to participation 1890s Access for rural and remote: dual mode universities and correspondence schools Australia - UQ 1911 Canada - Saskatchewan 1907, extension program USA- International Correspondence Schools (ICS) 1891 mining and railroad workers; Ticknor home studies for women (1873-1896) 1970s Increasing participation: The Open Universities Canada: Athabasca, BCOU, Teleuniversite du Quebec;Australia: Deakin, OUA Developing world: IGNOU, UniSA

17. Forster: CIDER_19Jan07 2000s: Barriers to participation in the knowledge economy World-wide flow and integration of people, knowledge and money Access and affordability, Lifelong learning and earning a living Developed and developing world issues of access Requires ICT connectivity Digital literacies and collaboration skills Elite and mass education divide Inequitable distribution of resources Commercial vs open access

18. Forster: CIDER_19Jan07 Defining “others”? Those who experience barriers to participation in mainstream education & training? Geographic, social, and psychological distance Gender, poverty, age, language, health, incarceration Institutional & systemic - opportunities, cultures and preferences Those who want more convenience and flexibility of choice given the pace of modern life? Career & family commitments, mobility, timing, choice Those who would otherwise be without livelihood, and the capacity to participate in civil and economic freedom

19. Forster: CIDER_19Jan07 Global dilemmas: Who is identifying emerging communities in need? Emerging student markets and financial restructuring of HE sector driving supply towards for-profit sectors Developing economies and non-profit sectors abandoned/neglected Median age in developing countries between 20 and 25. See COL database of papers www.col.org

20. Forster: CIDER_19Jan07 Development vs Trade

21. Forster: CIDER_19Jan07 Institutional dilemmas: self interest for survival International education as aid or trade Exporting curriculum, transnational issues Cost and quality of local support DE for some is now flexible delivery for all Investment in one delivery platform, common services External QA audits: Competing on brand & rankings vs meeting demand & satisfying needs Ref: Bradley D, 2005

22. Forster: CIDER_19Jan07 Individual dilemmasself interest for survival Career dependency: research discipline, teaching, community QA of student support: Academic autonomy vs managerialism Professional stance; applied ethics Utilitarianism: ends based: the best outcome for the majority Deontology: guided by duties and responsibilities Contract: rules, formally implemented Aristotelian Character: self guided goodness Ref Forster & Dean, 2007, work in progress

23. Forster: CIDER_19Jan07

24. Forster: CIDER_19Jan07 Continuing professional education

25. Forster: CIDER_19Jan07 Professional development in DE Community with multiple professional backgrounds and disciplines Formal qualifications DE eg Athabasca, UMUC, Deakin, UKOU eLearning, Cognitive Sciences, Instructional Media Continuing professional education and training, informal and short courses Do these programs forge professional identity including ethical/moral dimensions?

26. Forster: CIDER_19Jan07 The role of research in professional development Santosh Panda,(2000)  Action research: immediate decision making, practice and quality Basic research in DE Partner with other disciplines System vs discipline based research Role of incentives Scaffolding and mentoring approaches

27. Forster: CIDER_19Jan07

28. Forster: CIDER_19Jan07 Defining topics for discovery A systems approach and value chain analysis: reductionist frameworks for defining topics for discovery But what about ? The philosophy of approach Core values The moral dilemmas of professional practice The characteristics of demand Advocacy on behalf of “non profitable” students

29. Forster: CIDER_19Jan07 More topics for research: Influencing change

30. Forster: CIDER_19Jan07 “In the interest of others”

31. Forster: CIDER_19Jan07

32. Forster: CIDER_19Jan07 REFERENCES

33. Forster: CIDER_19Jan07 References BucherR & Strauss A, 1961, Professions in Process in The American Journal of Sociology, 66:4, pp 325-334 (accessed 30/6/06 from http://www.jstor.org) Moore M & Kearsley G ( 1996) Distance Education, a Systems View, Wadsworth, USA Bradley D, 2005, Setting the agenda in odl in Tulloch et al Breaking Down Boundaries, Selected Papers ODLAA Conference, Adelaide, 2005. Dhanarajan, 2001 as quoted in Hawkridge, D, 2003, Globalisation, education and distance education, IRFOL Guide, COL, Vancouver. Forster A & Dean, A, 2007, Institutional survival and self: applying ethical theory, an Australian perspective , (work in progress) Panda,S (2000) Research as professional identity, Keynote paper to First International Conference on Research in Distance Adult Learning in Asia, Open University of Hong Kong.

34. Forster: CIDER_19Jan07 Thank you, Anne Forster Immediate Past President Open & Distance Learning Association of Australia www.odlaa.org Adjunct Associate Professor, MDE program, UMUC www.umuc.edu Director: Forster & Gibson Pty Ltd Sydney, Australia www.forgib.com Aforster@forgib.com