Distance Education in the Developing World
by Winthrop Carty
For decades, developing countries have sent
citizens abroad for university training. These individuals were expected to return, staff
universities and government ministries, and thus serve as conduits of knowledge and skills
from the industrialized to the developing worlds. In a recent report, Knowledge for
Development, the World Bank argues compellingly that knowledge is the engine for
development, as exemplified by the success of the "Asian tigers." Singapore and
Malaysia, for example, implemented ambitious long-term training and institution-building
programs that sent thousands to costly university programs abroad, thus transferring home
the capacity to build high-quality educational institutions at primary, secondary, and
tertiary levels.
Today, however, government funding has become
more scarce, and university education more expensive. With pressures on nations to
"join the global information economy or perish," does distance education present
an unprecedented opportunity to train more people, better, and at lower costs? The answer
to this question is much more complicated than it appears. The interplay of technological,
pedagogical, cultural, economic, and political factors—at both local and
international levels—is hotly debated around the world by educators, policymakers,
and technologists.
Even the term "distance education" is
debated. Does "distance education" always imply the use of modern technologies,
as it is increasingly defined in the United States? Could the inclusion of the Internet
and computer software and hardware better be described as "distance learning" (a
U.S. corporate favorite), "computer-based training" (CBT), or
"computer-mediated training" (CMT)? For the purpose of simplicity, I will commit
the sin of using "distance education" to cover all education that delivers
training and information between two or more places, regardless of whether that education
is—
- Synchronous. Using same-time communications;
usually interactive, as in Internet chats or interactive videoconferencing.
- Asynchronous. Communications that don't require
participants to exchange information at the same time, such as e-mail or mail
correspondence.
- One-way. Information delivered from one point to
one or many other points with no response capability, such as television broadcasting.
- Two-way. Any communication in which the flow is
bi-directional, implying but not limited to synchronous, interactive communication.
- Multi-point. Information delivered simultaneously
from one place to many other places, as in videoconferencing from one classroom to several
other remote classrooms.
- Multi-cast. Usually consisting of transmission of
a video or audio "clip" to the computers of many users.
The important point that nonspecialists should
remember as they swim in the growing sea of distance-education terminology is that the
type and configuration of delivery methods are growing ever more diverse. It is in this
diversity that we find many of the prospects, pitfalls, and solutions for developing
countries. As this article will point out, "distance education"—contrary to
what you might hear—does not fit neatly into one simple, universal definition to be
followed by all countries and their cultures and
institutions.
A survey of distance education programs in
developing countries illustrates the rich diversity of university distance education—
within single countries, across regions, and between continents. China TV University
currently graduates over 40,000 students in technology fields. The Instituto Tecnológico
de Monterrey, a high-end private university, has pioneered the delivery of graduate and
nondegree programs across Mexico and to other Latin American countries using one-way
television broadcast, e-mail, and printed materials. The United Kingdom's Open University,
one of the "mega universities" predating the current technological revolution,
is a good example of university training based in the developed world that benefits
students in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Although, for reasons of cost and
infrastructure, television broadcasting and written correspondence are still the preferred
delivery method in developing countries, the African Virtual University based in Nairobi
is using the Internet and educational software with content in English, French, and
Portuguese to train students in a number of countries.
Rosy Prospects
The economics of distance education puts time on
the side of developing countries: with each passing month it becomes cheaper and more
practical to reach geographically wider audiences. These wider audiences, in turn, create
economies of scale that give distance educators the chance to invest in superior quality
teachers and materials.
Several powerful forces are driving the emergence
of the newer, technology-based distance education programs and the diversification into
technology of some of the traditional mega universities. Since the advent of the computer,
the ratio of processing speed to cost has doubled every eighteen months. Simply put,
eighteen months from now the same dollar amount will purchase a computer that is twice as
fast; or today's computer will cost half as much. Roughly the same capacity-to-cost ratio
applies to communication: bandwidth (the quantity of text, sound, or image that can flow
through a channel in relation to time) becomes "wider" (that is, faster) and
cheaper as communication technologies, such as fiberoptics and cellular, develop and
expand. This exponential growth in capacity and drop in cost combine with another powerful
economic force: economies of scale. The addition of each new individual user (student, in
our case) to the communications system has an increasingly positive impact on the cost and
potential quality of the "network" as a whole. In distance education, as with
the Internet, the fixed cost of starting a system is fairly stable: a minimum, and
generally very costly, amount of hardware, software development, infrastructure, and so
forth, will be required regardless of whether you are teaching one or ten thousand
students. For example, in the case of the African Virtual University, by not only reaching
students in Kenya but also extending to many other countries, the World Bank and its
African partners achieve economies of scale that justify their initial investment.
A second prospective gain for distance education
involves the demographics of education in the developing world. The combination of
disproportionately young populations in developing countries (with about half of all
people yet to reach adulthood) coupled with increasing investments and reform in basic
education promises a virtual explosion of demand for postsecondary academic and on-the-job
training. In Latin America, the explosion in the number of new local private universities
(often at the cost of quality) is symptomatic of this growth in demand.
Another potential benefit to expanding distance
education in developing countries is the corollary technology literacy that would come
with using computers, networks, and other communication devices. (Conversely, the lack of
technology literacy is one of the greatest barriers to adopting distance education, as
will be discussed.) Through distance education, students learn to use many of the same
tools that they will need for jobs in the information economy.
Finally, international distance education using
modern technologies offers new venues for collaboration between higher education
institutions in developing countries and their partners in industrialized nations. Through
the sharing of course content and methodology for teaching and research across two, three,
or hundreds of universities, the potential exists for rapid transfer of technology with
immediate benefit to students. These exchanges need not be limited to transferring
knowledge from the developed to the developing world. Many universities in developing
countries have specialists, for example in tropical ecology, who would be in a position to
"export" their teaching and research to North America, Europe, and Japan.
As with any genuine network, the activity of the
whole increasingly benefits the individual. Thus, universities in developing countries
forming part of a distance education network can specialize in specific content areas,
develop higher standards through accessing excellence elsewhere, and tap into wider arrays
of courses and library materials.
A review of the opportunities that modern
distance education can offer developing countries paints a rosy picture of the future.
Although the path to knowledge-driven economic development through distance education
seems more promising than ever, in fact many hurdles still stand in the way.
The Pitfalls
Many of the dilemmas faced by developing
countries as they attempt to capitalize on distance education are flip sides of the same
situation that makes distance learning promising. For example, the infrastructure required
to achieve vast economies of scale is either nonexistent or hugely expensive for the
budgets of developing countries. Other pitfalls, such as differences in cultural attitudes
toward communications, are becoming increasingly an issue as technologies enter more
traditional cultures.
Any distance education program entailing the use
of computers and computer networks runs up against several significant problems. The
disparity in infrastructure between developed and developing nations is dramatic. Ninety
percent of all information technology production is concentrated in the industrialized
world, which also owns 100 times more computers per capita and has over 20 times as many
telephone lines per 1,000 citizens. Developed countries average 111 Internet users per
1,000 people versus only .01 per 1,000 for low-income countries. At best, if developing
countries are to approximate the widespread use of on-line learning or interactive
videoconferencing via ISDN (high-speed two way digital connections) that are now in use in
the United States and other countries, they must first make huge up-front investments in
networks, hardware, and basic telecommunications infrastructure. To accomplish such growth
requires more than just cash. Telecommunications regulatory schemes and the politics
driving them will need to change, something which, past experience indicates, will occur
only incrementally and over the long-term.
Prevailing social and cultural values also play a
key role in the success or failure of distance learning programs. The more
"impersonal" computer-based and all asynchronous technologies often clash in
traditional societies with cultures that often prefer more "face-to-face"
interaction. This is generally the case in Latin America. Many parts of the developing
world still retain teaching styles that emphasize rote learning and memorization and, for
lack of bibliographic resources, involve less independent reading and ensuing critical
writing and analysis. These learning styles can clash with distance education's more
learner-centered, autonomous, and investigative practices.
Paralleling the dramatic disparities in
information technology infrastructure between developed and developing societies, one also
finds a widening gap in computer literacy. If it is always uncomfortable to exchange
information with unseen strangers through machines, the barrier can only be exacerbated
when most students and faculty lack even basic computer skills. Lack of computer skills
among students is common in many universities in developing countries.
What about policy issues in developing countries,
at universities and in the governments that regulate them? How ready and willing are they
to adopt distance education programs? In the United States we have seen considerable
dissent over how, when, and through what sources distance education should be incorporated
by "traditional" universities. In all countries, rich and poor, the issue of how
to accredit, regulate, and evaluate distance education is currently unresolved. In some
countries, domestic and international distance education initiatives are viewed with
suspicion. In Latin America, where public universities have often secured heavy subsidies
to cover faculty payrolls and many private universities lobby public officials for
accreditation of substandard institutions devoid of libraries or any capital reinvestment
of tuition revenue, both the up-front investments required for distance education and the
institutional changes distance education would represent threaten the status quo of a
privileged and influential few.
In places with weak, politically entrenched, and
resource poor universities, university distance education may have a poor start. In
addition, governments will have a hard time figuring out how to accredit programs that may
draw content from diverse sources and deliver them in unconventional ways. As was the case
with the Internet in the early nineties, many government officials may actively block
development of distance education programs, domestic and international, out of suspicion,
ignorance, or a desire to impose central control.
Such regulatory issues will take a long time to
sort out. Protectionism may impede collaboration between universities across countries and
regions. One risk, from the point of view of local universities, is that well endowed
for-profit institutions from rich countries could offer soup-to-nuts training from abroad,
doing little, at least in the short run, toward developing local capacity at home.
Although such offerings allow local students who can afford it to circumvent inadequate
educational offerings at home, they may also impede the development of wider-scale
programs providing quality higher education to all who need it.
Huge economies of scale will force a convergence
of the distance education industry, as has occurred in communications, banking, and
manufacturing. Will this consolidation result in a handful of "first-world
giant" providers? The biggest telecom, software, and training (university and
corporate) players are betting huge sums on distance education's future market. Many think
this investment will drive a convergence not only of content providers (traditionally
universities and training outfits), deliverers, and technology firms but also of types of
education: lifelong learning (adult education, technical training, and on-the-job
training) and traditional university education. U.S. corporations like Microsoft,
IBM/Lotus, and PictureTel; communications firms like AT&T and TCI; publishers like
McGraw-Hill; and content providers from New York University to the University of Phoenix
are all forming partnerships and investing heavily in the promise of a huge distance
education market. With the fast-food industry as an analogy, will the developing world
(and, to an extent, all countries) end up with little local flavor and low nutrition in
its distance education menu? Or can we collectively forge partnerships that capitalize on
large volume while addressing local needs?
The answer to this question will depend on public
investment in training and awareness building, both in basic technology literacy and, at
higher levels, in practical and strategic use of technology. As many observers of the
Internet in emerging countries have noted, demand "pull" for technology works,
while supply "push" is as often inappropriate and wasteful. Once demand
"pull" exists, new resources need to be committed and existing budgets
restructured to meet that demand. Care and thought must be given to build distance
education around what learners need and with technologies that work in the developing
world. Invariably, this means that successful distance education in, or targeted to, the
developing world will look different from programs within the industrialized world.
The Solutions
Emulating so-called state-of-the-art distance
learning programs on a massive scale in poor or middle-income countries would be a
mistake. Instead, high degrees of creativity are required to adapt what can work and avoid
or defer what isn't economically, technologically, or socially feasible. Currently, there
is considerable difference of opinion over whether developing countries should implement
computer-based programs on a wide scale, as with the African Virtual University, or expand
upon "traditional" written correspondence systems or one-way television and
radio broadcasting along the lines of China TV University. Such an either-or proposition
overlooks, however, one of the greatest attributes of today's distance education: the
plethora of delivery media and the ability to mix them in nearly infinite varieties to
suit local needs.
The distance education "cocktail of
choice" for Brazil, for example, will necessarily be different from one mixed for
Canada. Geography, infrastructure, financing, and learning styles all dictate such
difference.
One of the most important elements in determining
the appropriate "mix" for any budget and setting is the value placed on
interaction, both student-teacher and student-student. Currently, there is considerable
debate among educators over the comparative educational value of both non-interactive
delivery (such as one-way television broadcasting programs that don't include response
mechanisms or communication among students) and all asynchronous methods (such as
Web-based training). Much of the debate centers on the appropriate balance between
synchronous and asynchronous interaction. A number of research projects are being carried
out to determine learning outcomes in all of these formats and their combinations, but we
are far from consensus on the issue even within the United States.
For developing countries the stakes are high in
the outcomes in the debate over synchronous versus asynchronous learning. As a rule, the
synchronous formats are more expensive. For example, a classroom with one teacher for
thirty students or interactive video-conferencing over ISDN in ten sites with twenty
students each can capture much less favorable economies of scale than asynchronous
Web-based training, which might serve 10,000 students.
The pedagogical merits of distance education
formats vary considerably from place to place. The optimal balance of delivery media
between cost and educational value in Sub-Saharan Africa may end up being the opposite of
what thrives in the Southern Cone. Thus a premium should be placed on avoiding dogma in
the current debates among educators, bureaucrats, and technologists in places like
Washington, London, and Toronto. Instead, decision-makers in developing countries need to
be armed with knowledge of all available technologies and be creative in determining how
and whether they can be adapted and combined to meet local needs and pocketbooks.
The author is Senior Development Officer for
New Programs and Technology Initiatives at LASPAU. Mr. Carty is currently setting up the
Aragon-LASPAU Distance Education Program, designed to deliver courses from U.S.
universities to Argentina. He also designs and teaches seminars on the strategic use of
information and communications technologies for Latin American universities and NGOs. He
may be reached at E-mail: .
References
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Castro, Claudio de Moura, ed. 1988.
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Cranch, E. "Technology Challenges
Higher Education" Special Report in LASPAU Informativo, Fall 1997/Winter 1998.
Heterick, R., Mingle, J., Twigg, C. "The
Public Policy Implications of a Global Learning Infrastructure." A Report from a
Joint NLII-SCHEEO Symposium, Denver. 1977. Available at:
http://www.educom.edu/program/nlii/keydocs/policy.html
Marchese, Ted. "Not-So-Distant
Competitors: How New Providers are Remaking the Postsecondary Marketplace" pp. 1-6 in
American Association for Higher Education Bulletin. May 1998/3.
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Development Report: Knowledge for Development. Oxford University Press. Oxford.
