Volume 2, numéro 2, janvier 2002

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Institutions of higher education in Brazil are seriously behind in their development of approaches which make use of distance education techniques, in part due to widespread lack of credibility of these approaches both inside and outside academic communities, but even more so because of the highly centralized control over all aspects of higher education on the part of the country’s Ministry of Education. Despite the country’s capacity and need to do so, the rigid and pedagogically conservative attitude of this Ministry over the last three decades, combined with the equally intransigent and politically-motivated decisions of the National Congress, have discouraged practically all attempts by educational institutions, public and private, to invest significantly in the development of innovative and far-reaching initiatives employing distance learning methods. Hybridization, or the combination, in the same course, of face-to-face situations for learning with those carried out using distance learning techniques, represents in Brazil is not an option motivated by pedagogical choice, but rather the only avenue legally permitted in the field of formal, degree-granting higher education.

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Before the creation of the United Kingdom Open University (UKOU) - its Charter was given in 1969 and the first students were admitted in 1971 - the full-time residential model of higher education was pervasive, with part-time and distance modes of study seen as separate and inferior. The UKOU demonstrated the effectiveness of distance learning but also, because of its success, in some ways inhibited change in the mainstream tertiary sector. As social and political pressures on the sector grew, higher education providers were forced to innovate and models of “open learning” offered ways forward. As a result, the distinction between “distance” and “face-to-face” delivery rapidly eroded during the 1990s. However, barriers still remain to a more radical approach to provision as a whole.

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Canada's postsecondary institutions are becoming increasingly involved with technology enhanced learning, generally under the rubric of distance education. Growth and activity in distance education stems from rapid developments in communication and information technologies such as videoconferencing and the Internet. This case study focuses on the use of new technologies, primarily within the context of higher education institutions operating in Canada's English speaking provinces. Capitalising on the interactive capabilities of "new" learning technologies, some distance education providers are starting to behave more like conventional educational institutions in terms of forming study groups and student cohorts. Conversely, new telecommunications technologies are having a reverse impact on traditional classroom settings, and as a result conventional universities are beginning to establish administrative structures reflective of those used by distance education providers. When viewed in tandem, these trends reflect growing convergence between conventional and distance learning modes, leading to the hybridisation of higher education in Canada.

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With advances in information and communication technology (ICT), Web-based education has become an increasingly popular instructional mode all over the world. In recent years, the Chinese government has authorized a total of 45 universities to offer Web-based educational programs. One is China Central Radio and Television University, the Open University in China. The other 44 universities are all leading conventional universities. This case study is intended to provide a descriptive analysis of Web-based educational practices at the 44 leading conventional universities, by focusing on the current state of Web-based education in China and its discernible trends for the future. It is hoped this analysis of Web-based educational efforts in China will provide some insight for other countries.

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Germany’s educational system has undergone a series of transformations during the last 40 years. In recent years, marked increases in enrolment have occurred. In response, admission requirements have been relaxed and new universities have been established.

Academic distance education in the former Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) was ushered in by the educational radio broadcasts around the end of the 1960s. Aside from the formation of the FernUniversität (Open University) in West Germany in 1975, there were significant developments in distance education occurring at the major universities in the German Democratic Republic (East Germany). After German reunification in 1990, the new unitary state launched programs to advance the development of distance education programs at conventional universities.

Germany’s campus-based universities (Präsenzuniversitäten) created various entities, including central units and consortia of universities to design and market distance education programs. Hybridisation provides the necessary prerequisites for dual mode delivery, such as basic and continuing education programs, as well as for the combination of distance and campus-based education (Präsenzstudium). Hybridisation also has also opened the door for the creation of new programs.

Following an initial phase in which distance education research is expected to centralize a trend towards decentralisation is likely to follow. The German Association for Distance Education (AG-F) offers a viable research network in distance education. Two dual mode case studies are also be surveyed: The Master of Arts degree, offered by the University of Koblenz-Landau, with Library Science as the second major, and the University of Kaiserslautern, where basic education will continue to be captured within the domain of the Präsenzstudium or campus-based education.

The area in which distance education is flourishing most is within the field of academic continuing education, where external experts and authors are broadening the horizon of the campus. Multimedia networks will comprise the third generation of distance education.

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This article examines the integration of the new information technologies (IT) into Israeli higher education, and most particularly its research universities through a top-down strategy, initiated by the Israeli Council for Higher Education since the end of 1999. This top-down strategy has created a systemic change that will affect the many layers of university activities rather than in a random, sporadic manner undertaken by enthusiastic individuals. This article discusses the built-in contradictions and dilemmas in the process of adapting distance teaching methods by conventional universities in Israel (as well as in other higher education systems). It examines the merits of a top-down strategy aimed to implement the IT through a macro-level, systemic approach, and analyses the differential uses of the IT in Israeli higher education institutions, relating to variables of: access-outreach; teaching-learning processes; study materials production; data and information retrieval; administrative functions; the creation of "researcher" communities; inter-institutional collaboration; and associated costs. The article concludes with some suggestions for effective implementation of the IT in different types of higher education institutions in a comprehensive and systematic manner, that will take into account their academic ethos and organizational infrastructure, and cater to the unique needs and characteristics of their relevant constituencies.

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Open and distance education in Taiwan has evolved into the third phase – cyberlearning – conceptualized as teaching and learning interactions mediated entirely through the application of state-of-the-art information and communications technologies (ICT), such as the Internet and World Wide Web (WWW). Socio-economic influences, the development of new technologies and a marked shift in learning paradigms have increased the utilization of ICT at all levels of the Taiwanese education system. Since the advent and provision of cyberlearning programs, well over half (56 percent) of the conventional universities and colleges have been upgraded to dual-mode higher educational institutions. They offer real-time multicast instructional systems using videoconferencing and cable TV technology, virtual classroom systems via network-based instructional management systems, and curriculum-on-demand systems utilizing video-on-demand technology. Critical success factors in the development of these cyber universities and the opportunities, challenges and implications inherent in these are analyzed. ICT and the provision of cyberlearning have gradually been changing the structure and vision of higher education institutions as well as the entire learning environment and educational systems. Because the Ministry of Education (MOE) has initiated a policy on credit-based degrees for cyberlearning courses/programs, the development of open and distance education is anticipated to hasten the transformation of Taiwan’s education system towards one which will create an ideal learning society in the 21st century.

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This case study describes current developments in the change processes that are underway at the University of South Australia (UniSA) as it develops from a dual mode institution to one that embraces flexibility in delivery of all of its courses and programs. Forces operating in the context of higher education are causing traditional institutions to become dual mode. Institutions that were already operating as dual mode are developing a proliferation of program delivery arrangements that move beyond hybridisation. A number of Australian institutions claim to provide flexibly delivered courses where student centred learning processes are facilitated through the use of information and communication technologies.

Hybridisation and the move to flexible delivery in Australia has partly been driven by changes in the socio-economic context of higher education that have forced universities to compete for income to sustain their operating costs. Offshore teaching and the provision of onshore fee paying courses for international students have required changes to delivery processes for resource-based teaching and online technologies and these changes have washed through institutions. However, for some institutions the development of flexible delivery has been to achieve a wider range of educational purposes for all students. Such purposes are often described in terms of the shift in focus: for example, from teaching to learning; from elite to inclusive; from "producer" to "consumer;" from local perspective to international; from credentialing (four year degree) to life-long learning (40 year degree).

This case study looks at the ways in which UniSA course, student, regulatory, logistical and technological systems or subsystems are changing, both in response to extra-institutional influences and in relation to institution-wide development of greater flexibility in teaching, learning and program delivery. This analysis highlights the ways in which these subsystems interact with each other and the critical importance of shared vision to coordinate changes on multiple fronts within the institution and to facilitate internalisation and ownership of such change by its staff.

The case study highlights how the logistical assumptions and arrangements of online education are significantly different in kind from those of traditional face-to-face or distance education and argues that moves to online education therefore require pervasive change. At the same time, online education can provide an integrating framework for different forms of delivery, thereby achieving synergies and economies of scale.

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According to García Canclini (1990) there is the assumption that Colombia is a hybrid society. Upon this standpoint, and within a traditional higher education structure characterized by being fundamentally conventional or campus based, the Open University Center of the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana was created as an education program that breaks with every traditional scheme, which in turn, encourages a new learning pattern. The Open University Center emerges as a "social response" focused on the "here and now" of today's society in Colombia.

The Javeriana University (a hybrid university) can be placed in this context as well as the Open University Center, as a part of it. Since its creation, through its programs this center offers education to the most vulnerable of Colombia's population, contributing to raise their quality of life.

In this article, the authors outline the Open University Center's place in the University's context: its historical development and its structure concerning students, programs, regulations, infrastructure and technological equipment. They also identify the implications and relationships of the traditional education proper of the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, as well as the projection and contributions of the Open University Center to the University's future in the pedagogical order of distance education towards virtual education.

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When it was created in 1995, the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC) served only 200 students and offered two degrees. Today, it has expanded its activities to serve over 20,000 students and 16 official degrees. UOC also offers more than 250 continuing education courses for those wishing to pursue learning opportunities outside of UOC’s official degree programs. As an innovative university, UOC offers a new way of experiencing education, one that is capable of providing answers to an emerging global and universal knowledge society.

Today’s rapidly changing world requires revised learning models that allow the widest possible access to knowledge throughout life, in a continuous, comfortable, and simple manner, irrespective of the geographical constraints. Capitalising on the intensive use of new information technologies, UOC is proactively breaking the barriers of space and time by offering an educational model of distance education based on the use of the Internet. Students of UOC’s Virtual Campus now have easy access to a useful and dynamic learning experience wherever they may be. More significantly, each student becomes the centre of a completely personalized educational process. All receive guidance from an accredited teaching team and have access to some of the most innovative didactic resources and services currently available.

From the start, UOC was designed to be an exemplar of a new generation of distance education providers capable of creating cooperative interaction not only between students and professors, students and learning materials, but also among students themselves. To support this goal, flexibility, co-operation, personalisation and interactivity are the four pillars of practice upon which UOC’s model is founded.

Research is also one of the main objectives UOC has achieved in recent years. Through the creation of the IN3, a research Institute focused on analysing the impact of the Internet on society, the institute is home to a virtual Ph.D. programme, and Edu Lab, which is a laboratory of educational innovation that researches the use of e-learning.

The UOC is open to the world, having achieved this objective by maintaining contacts with the principal international knowledge networks. As a result, it is anticipated that the UOC will become an important actor in future e-learning initiatives.

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The genesis, initiation, and expansion of distance education at the Ukraine Open International University for Human Development, located in Kyiv, will be examined in this case study, starting with a brief look at the positive changes taking place in Ukraine's traditional educational system, as well as recent developments in the country's distance education (DE) system. To help readers understand the University's development from an insider's perspective, societal factors that currently influence its inter- and extra-institutional environment will also be examined. Next, the history, organizational structure, institutional activities, and background of the Ukraine Open International University for Human Development, along with the reasons driving the University's dual mode activities - both traditional and distance education - will be briefly analyzed. Included in this analysis is a summary of the challenges surrounding the application of both traditional and distance education models.

The author concludes his case study by reflecting upon Ukraine Open International University for Human Development's experiences within the context of its being both a traditional education provider and new dual-mode distance education provider. Also discussed are some key indicators and predictions about what the future may hold for the University.

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The University of Texas (UT) System has been meeting educational needs of students for over 150 years. In 1997, the UT System initiated the development of the UT TeleCampus, a centralized facilitation point for distance learning. The TeleCampus opened its virtual doors in May 1998, focused entirely on support services for students. By late 1998, the TeleCampus had begun developing what would become collaborative benchmark online programs for the UT System.

As a result of having developed over 12 complete online degree programs since that time, many lessons have been learned about (1) barriers to collaboration and how to overcome them; (2) faculty development and interaction; and (3) the commitment required to build successful online programs.

This article describes the UT TeleCampus initiative and how it has grown from a services-only organization to a nationally recognized model for delivering high quality distance education.

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The primary purpose of Brigham Young University (BYU) is to provide students with a combination of sacred and secular education often described as the “BYU experience.” Achieving this purpose is challenged by the rapid growth in Church membership and an enrollment cap of 30,000 students. To address these challenges, BYU sponsors the use of technology to bridge the gap between the increased Church membership and the number of students allowed under the enrollment caps. This institutional case study shows how these challenges have influenced the hybridization of teaching and learning for on campus (resident) and off campus (distance) students. It also describes how BYU has brought distance education to campus, and is beginning to bring campus-based educational practices to distance education.

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An online survey was conducted (June 2001) of attitudes of distance education (DE) learners/teachers to online collaborative tools. The respondents in the study were 135 graduate students and faculty members of Athabasca University’s Centre for Distance Education (CDE). They demonstrated particular interest in tools that offer the following features: file sharing, automatic synchronisation of documentation for the group, audio conferencing, text chat, and privacy. They also expressed useful opinions on topics including their willingness to upgrade their computer systems, and to pay to avoid online product advertising. These results will be useful in the selection of appropriate new methods for online instruction.

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The previous report summarised the findings of an online survey concerning Master’s of Distance Education students’ attitudes to online collaborative tools. The respondents in the study were 135 graduate students and faculty members of Athabasca University’s Centre for Distance Education (CDE). They demonstrated particular interest in tools that offer the following features: file sharing; automatic synchronisation of documentation for the group; audio conferencing; text chat; and privacy. In the effort to respond to this interest, the Centre conducted a series of trials of conferencing and other file-sharing products. This report discusses the merits and disadvantages of current collaborative methods, and problems faced by distance educators and their students in seeking to adopt them.

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The basic form of online conferencing is asynchronous and text-based, and a vast array of products is now available for fully featured communication within this framework. The following set of seven reviews contrasts some of the best text-based products that have so far come to our attention, with other products whose features are less extensive. This comparison of products provides a useful look at the options now available to the designers of online conferences, and at the choices to be made in product selection. The reviews (by the first two authors, both DE graduate students) have stressed the utility of the products from the joint perspective of students and teachers.

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Online audio methods have evolved as a means of providing unlimited and inexpensive/free international audio communication. They are becoming popular in distance education (DE) as an alternative to the asynchronous conferencing methods (Report 3 in this series). Current types of Internet audio connectivity provide: (a) direct between individuals (Internet phone); (b) shared places or forums on the Internet where groups can meet (audio-conferencing); and (c) a variety of PC-to-PC and PC-to-phone methods. However, products differ in terms of lag time, delay, quality of voice, and stability of service and connection. The report compares current online audio packages in terms of their technical features and reliability.

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For their optimal use in distance education (DE), online educational applications need to be integrated within a comprehensive course management system (CMS). Such systems are server-based software that supports the development, delivery, administration, and evaluation of online learning environments. The selection of an appropriate CMS should be considered from the multiple perspectives of the student, the course developer, the course instructor/ tutor, the technical support staff, and the DE institution’s administration. The current evaluation of CMS packages was conducted by a team of individuals with experience and contacts in relation to each of these DE user types. The report compares a series of CMS packages in terms of their range of features, and in relation to their satisfaction of international online education standards.