Vana wrote:
>A university, by its
>very nature, history, and values, would counter distance learning
>technologies as unsatisfactory to their goals and values, regardless of
>the extent of learning that occurred with the medium.
I spent two years with a University in South Africa that was reaching out
to communities and for which distance learning is an integral part of its
approach to learning. Yes, there were some residential components, but,
since many of the students were living in remote rural areas, travel to
and from the University centre was difficult and costly. One approach
adopted was to have mentors in the villages, students who gad successfully
competed the course before, to help with many of the day to day problems.
Another example of distance learning technology was the development of
video-conference components of a course. The idea is to have the
presenter talk with students over a live video feed, and be able to
respond to questions and facilitate conversation. While this could only
really work between major centres with the necessary technology, the
medium is quite appropriate. Follow-up through e-mail and telephone
helped with questions that students sometimes did not want to voice in
public. The sharing of such questions would be encouraged.
This University embraced distance learning as an integral part of its
mission of broadening access while contributing to development.
Still learning,
Les.
-- Leslie Lax Economic Consulting Services leslax@cnx.netLearning-org -- Hosted by Rick Karash <rkarash@karash.com> Public Dialog on Learning Organizations -- <http://www.learning-org.com>