1 / 30

Sarah Guri-Rosenblit EDEN, Fifth Research Workshop Paris, 20 October, 2008

Challenges Facing Distance Education in the 21 st Century : Implications for Setting the Research Agenda. Sarah Guri-Rosenblit EDEN, Fifth Research Workshop Paris, 20 October, 2008. Distance delivery in higher education – Clear mission for over 150 years.

gabi
Download Presentation

Sarah Guri-Rosenblit EDEN, Fifth Research Workshop Paris, 20 October, 2008

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Challenges Facing Distance Education in the 21st Century:Implications for Setting the Research Agenda Sarah Guri-Rosenblit EDEN, Fifth Research Workshop Paris, 20 October, 2008 sarah guri-rosenblit

  2. Distance delivery in higher education – Clear mission for over 150 years Providing second-chance students the opportunity to pursue academic or professional studies sarah guri-rosenblit

  3. Second-chance parameters • Lack of entry qualifications • Work/family/health constraints • Remote location • Being a woman • …….. sarah guri-rosenblit

  4. Distance Education Promoted • Broadening of access • Equity • Quality ??? (depends…) sarah guri-rosenblit

  5. Typical Research Topics • Comparison with outcomes in conventional education settings • Perseverance in studies • Explanations of drop-out rates • Use of diverse technologies • Impact of support systems • Economies-of-scale…. • …….. sarah guri-rosenblit

  6. Current Influential Trends • Growing access to higher education • Globalization • Emergence of the ICT • Marketization • Blurring of boundaries between DE and conventional universities sarah guri-rosenblit

  7. Teaching and Research • Are DTUs only/mainly teaching universities? • If research oriented – what kind of research? (DE related or general and broad?) • Relevance of league tables (Opting to a ‘world-class university’ status?) sarah guri-rosenblit

  8. The Grand Question: • Should research be doneON distance education or • Should research be performed BY distance educators in different disciplines sarah guri-rosenblit

  9. Scope of Operation(Global, National, Local?) • Target populations • Curricula • Role of academic faculty • Nature of support systems • Budgeting • Language of instruction sarah guri-rosenblit

  10. Scope of Operation (2) • The wider the scope of operation, the more challenging it is to set effective quality assurance mechanisms • The application of ICT is most instrumental in designing a global network, but national infrastructures vary enormously sarah guri-rosenblit

  11. Scope of Operation (3) • What kind of effective quality assurance mechanisms are to be used by DE providers in global, national and local contexts? • What are the optimal ICT uses in global, national and local contexts? sarah guri-rosenblit

  12. Size & Mode of Operation • Single-mode • Dual-mode • Blended-mode • Consortia ----------------------------------- • Teaching style • Costs • Flexibility sarah guri-rosenblit

  13. Size & Mode of Operation (2) • Size was most crucial in the industrial mode, but not in the e-learning model • Is there an optimal size for DE delivery online? • What are the future leading models of DE? sarah guri-rosenblit

  14. Size & Mode of Operation (3) • Are there still cost-effectiveness advantages to DE delivery in the digital age? • How can the large DTUs restructure their overall operation and underlying premises? sarah guri-rosenblit

  15. Spectrum of Curricula • Unique or the same as in conventional universities? • Broad/comprehensive or in niche areas? • Academic degrees? Professional and continuing education? • Undergraduate or graduate focus? sarah guri-rosenblit

  16. Spectrum of Curricula (2) • Should DE providers widen access mainly in market-demanded areas or in nationally-needed domains? • Should DE providers broaden access to undergraduate studies? Graduate studies? Professional development? Personal development? sarah guri-rosenblit

  17. Distance Education Providers:Enabling or Supporting Institutions? • DE- more demanding than F-2-F • Novices in academia need more guidance • Students of disadvantaged backgrounds need even more support sarah guri-rosenblit

  18. Distance Education Providers:Enabling or Supporting Institutions? (2) • How to design most effective support systems in multiple contexts? • Who is to budget the appropriate support mechanisms (state governments, NGOs, philanthropic donors, students themselves)? sarah guri-rosenblit

  19. Public vs. Private Institutions in Distance Education • Large DTUs – governments’ initiation • Market initiatives- danger of ‘diploma mills’ • Private operation within public institutions • Quality control mechanisms sarah guri-rosenblit

  20. Public vs. Private Institutions in Distance Education (2) • Whose responsibility it is to impose quality assurance mechanisms in private DE institutions? • How to design effective DE private endeavors within public universities? sarah guri-rosenblit

  21. Employment of Digital Technologies • Challenging the industrial mode of DE • Digital divide (developed vs. developing countries, rich vs. poor) • Role of NGOs in setting appropriate infrastructures • Potential of mobile technologies sarah guri-rosenblit

  22. Employment of Digital Technologies (2) • Acknowledging that DE and e-learning are not the same thing • How various-type DE providers harness the ICT to serve their goals? • What are the appropriate measures to overcome the digital divide among nations and within nations? • Consolidation of research findings on ICT sarah guri-rosenblit

  23. “When it comes to technology, most people overestimate it in the short term, and underestimate it in the long term”. Sir Arthur Clarke sarah guri-rosenblit

  24. Guri-Rosenblit, S. (2009). Digital Technologies in Higher Education: Sweeping Expectations and Actual Effects. New York: Nova Science. ISBN – 978-1-60692-238-5 sarah guri-rosenblit

  25. Competition vs. Collaboration • Identification of competitors(DE institutions or conventional universities?) • Identification of cooperating parties (In academia and the corporate world, within national boundaries and beyond, both in teaching and research) sarah guri-rosenblit

  26. Competition vs. Collaboration (2) • How fruitful collaboration promotes widening of access? • How fruitful collaboration enhances quality assurance mechanisms? • How fruitful collaboration promotes the creation of research networks on DE and other fields (and contributes to the status of DTUs)? sarah guri-rosenblit

  27. Intellectual Propertyvs. Intellectual Philanthropy • DE institutions as leading academic publishing houses ------------------------------------------------------ • Defining the role of DE providers in the Open Source movement sarah guri-rosenblit

  28. Intellectual Propertyvs. Intellectual Philanthropy (2) • To what extent does the open source movement influence the revenues of DTUs as publishing houses? • How to mobilize the open source movement to widen access to higher education and professional development? sarah guri-rosenblit

  29. Language of Instruction • Serving national needs (academic textbooks in national languages) • English as the academic lingua franca sarah guri-rosenblit

  30. Language of Instruction (2) To what extent does the knowledge of languages (and particularly English) influence: • Access to higher education? • Equity in higher education? • Effective use of the Internet and digital technologies’ potential? sarah guri-rosenblit

More Related