Module 2: Distance Education definitions, history, and my reaction to

Equivalence Theory of Distance Education

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This page has the following 3 sections:

Defining Distance Education 
Here is where I will present my personal definition of distance education. I compare and contrast it with the definitions presented in my text and on other sites as well. Will my definition stand the test of time? Why or why not?

History Comparison
In this article, I briefly outline the development of distance education in the USA in contrast with another country. I also propose explanations for any differences.

Reaction to Equivalency Theory 
In yet another edition of Paul's Chronicle, I present my reaction/reflection to Simonson's emerging theory of distance education and equivalence of learning experiences.

 Defining Distance Education 

Paul's Definition

Here is my personal definition of Distance Education:

Distance education is education which occurs when there is temporal or geographic distance between the students and the originators of the learning materials or facilitators for a majority of the time.
This includes only three criteria:

1. It is education. This means that there is no need for a bureaucracy or formal organization. Education just means intentional learning.
2. It involves distance either temporally or geographically. This is pretty obvious. It is legalistic and 'fluff' to try and clarify this further.
3. The first two criteria represent the state of affairs a majority of the time, rather than a minority of the time. Again, this is obvious

My definition will stand the test of time, because it is clear enough to avoid inclusion of all kinds of 'social activities' which are not educational, and still broad enough to continue to include the same construct as technologies change over the future.

Now, the future advances in technology which I believe are ahead of us represents an important part of the terminology I used. Notice I make no reference to an instructor. I believe that the definition should be able to encompass future situations which may involve exclusive facilitation by artificial intelligence with an affective 'touch'. Research in such agents is a very hot area right now, and very rudimentary software agents are already being used to guide consumers through some types of choices or shopping/browsing. The key to this aspect of my definition is that the many/one relationship has flipped from one instructor to many student, to the opposite end of the spectrum with many potential instructional designers for each student, and adaptation to the students individual learning styles and needs.

Lastly, I have conspicuously avoided discussion of "theories" (as labeled in our textbook) in my definition since I believe that a definition does not equate to a theory and attempts to create a theory from once single definition are a little misguided.

Comparison to Other Definitions

In the textbook for our class, p. 34, Desmond Keegan (1986) provides five main elements of distance education definitions. I'll go ahead and review them here briefly (I'll quote them here exactly):

1. The quasi-permanent separation of teacher and learner throughout the length of the learning process (this distinguishes it from conventional face-to-face education).
2. The influence of an educational organization both in the planning and preparation of learning materials and in the provision of student support services (this distinguishes it from private study and teach-yourself programs).
3. The user of technical media -- print, audio, video, or computer -- to unite teacher and learner and carry the content of the course.
4. The provision of two-way communication so that the student may benefit from or even initiate dialogue (this distinguishes it from other uses of technology in education).
5. The quasi-permanent absence of the learning group throughout the length of the learning process so that people are usually taught as individuals and not in groups, with the possibility of occasional meetings for both didactic and socialization purposes.

I feel that there may not be a need to mention whether or not an educational organization is involved. Part of the problem with including that, is that suddenly you will need to define "educational organization". After all, how many small companies who consult and develop e-learning materials, wouldn't call themselves "educational organizations"?

Statement number 5 above is not ideal in my opinion. It may not necessary in my opinion that students be taught as individuals. If that is how you define distance ed, then this is going to exclude a lot of activity which involve simultaneous mass broadcast to students such as web casts.

Moving on to the criticisms of Keegan's 5 criteria by Garrison and Shale (1987, and in our textbook p. 35), we find that they agreed Keegan was making too many restrictions on what qualifies as distance ed. Instead of 5, they only listed 3 criteria (I'll quote our text exactly again for these):

1. Distance education implies that the majority of educational communication between (among) teacher and students(s) occurs non contiguously.
2. Distance education must involve two-way communication between (among) teacher and student(s) for the purpose of facilitating and supporting the educational process.
3. Distance education uses technology to mediate the necessary two-way communication.

It seems to me that that there are plenty of distance education classes which occur contiguously the majority of the time (such as ITV). In sum, because of such cases, I would hesitate to exclude any of the 4 quadrants other than same time and same place (face to face).

Another definition includes the idea of "open education" by Edwards (1995, and on pg. 35 of our text). Basically, it seems like one useful way of separating the Fordist/Industrialization approach (as described by Peters and others) from the new constructivist 'empowering' values on open access and maximum individual attention and customization (essentially, the doctrine of customer service-ism). One of the potential advantages of this approach is that it helps to classify distance education.

Lastly, there was also a definition offered in the textbook without initial reference to anyone other than the textbook authors (Simonson on page 7). This definition is stated as "institution-based, formal education where the learning group is separated, and where interactive telecommunications systems are used to connect learners, resources, and instructors."

This definition may be what is referenced on page 32 as Schlosser & Simonson, 2002, and even some clarification on page 33 (3rd paragraph, 2nd sentence on the page): "Telecommunications is defined as "communicating at a distance." This definition includes communication with the postal system, as in correspondence study, and other non electronic methods for communication." This is of course a more liberal definition because it include postal (physical mail), and thus I would personally not include this interpretation of "telecommunications".

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 History Comparison 

Development of Distance Ed. in the US
(and Western Industrialized nations)

The history and evolution of distance education in the USA (and indeed many Industrialized nations in the West) is to some degree merely an extension of what began in Europe in the 1800's. On page 36 of our textbook, under the section entitled 'Correspondence Study', Simonson indicates that the roots go back at least 160 years, and begins his history with "an advertisement in a Swedish newspaper in 1833" for "the opportunity to study "Composition through the medium of the Post."" He then moves on to England and Isaac Pitman's 1840 penny post advertisement for shorthand instruction via correspondence.

Although there are authors who place 'the beginning' with Isaac Pitman right around 1840 plus or minus a decade (Diane Matthews, 1999, for instance, as well as this web site), I found at least one source (Bower & Hardy, 2004) which provides a quotation from an actual advertisement, which clearly seems to fit our criteria:

March 20, 1728, the Boston Gazette contains an advertisement from Caleb Phillipps, "Teacher of the New Method of Short Hand," advising that any "Persons in the Country desirous to Learn this Art, may by having the several Lessons sent weekly to them, be as perfectly instructed as those that live in Boston."

According to one book I found (Holmberg, 1995):

References to what was probably correspondence education occur as early as the 1720s and to what was indisputably correspondence education in the 1830s (Battenberg 1971:44; Bratt 1977:161; Holmberg 1986:6-7). Correspondence education is taken to denote teaching in writing, by means of self-instructional texts, combined with communication in writing, i.e. correspondence between students and tutors.

As, for both of these elements, media other than the written word became common and grew in importance, the term correspondence education was felt by many to be too narrow. In North America, independent study (cf. Wedemeyer 1981) and home study (Lambert 1983) have been used as competing terms.

As our class notes provided at http://www.educ.ttu.edu/online/maushak/edit5370/history.htm explain, Moore (2003) posits 3 generations which roughly correspond to the same three sections discussed in our textbook as:

1. Correspondence Study
2. Distance Teaching Universities &
3. Electronics Communication

I was able to get a rather lengthy and accurate preview online of the 2nd edition of the handbook by Moore here. (Moore, 2007). As discussed in our textbooks and elsewhere, when radio stations began popping up on University campuses around the United States distance education was often quick to adopt that media for dissemination of content. A similar phenomenon occurred with the advent of Television and then later with Satellite and other network capabilities for ICT.

Development of Distance Education in Nigeria
(and some 'Third World' Countries)

Distance education in Nigeria (officially named the Federal Republic of Nigeria) did not exist prior to 1960 for native inhabitants even though Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa. That was the year that Nigeria gained its independence from the United Kingdom. Worse still, it wasn't until 1999 that Nigeria returned to a democracy because of a long series of dictators who ruled Nigeria (sometimes ruthlessly) for over 16 years. This does not take into account the brief period from 1979-1983 when Nigeria was 'officially' a republic. Because of years of corruption in government partially due to military rule the economy of Nigeria has been in a shambles for many recent decades.

Perhaps the most obvious correlation or impact on distance education in countries such as Nigeria is national technology infrastructure, which is a result of economic history and governmental policy. For instance, if there is no current widespread system of telephone, cable, and fiber optic lines which crisscross the country, then it can in some cases be more financially feasible to rely more heavily and indeed to market to consumers, technology and services (such as distance education) based on wireless carrier signals.

According to the National report on Nigeria presented to the 47th session of the International Conference on Education, Geneva, 8-11 September 2004 by the Nigerian Minister of Education, ICT infrastructure is currently a major initiative with such Nigerian programs as the computer in Schools and the School Network Programs, and ICT in higher education. Apparently, the year 2000 was a major turning point for these programs.

Perhaps one indicator of the history of distance education in Nigeria is the official web site of the National Open University of Nigeria where you will find that there is (1) very little historical information on distance education in Nigeria (2) a large corpus of curriculum focused on occupational and adult education and (3) a large number of plans and obvious indicators of rapid growth.

In fact, if you can get a sample of content from A. Babs Fafunwa's History of Education in Nigeria (London: Allen & Unwin, 1974), then apparently most of the discourse is on traditional education and the influence of European countries on this.

There are one or two common factors which historically seem to be involved in numerous different aspects of distance education in countries with ECONOMIC histories similar to Nigeria. For instance, if you look at the below 4 core issues:

1. technologies used to implement distance education
2. governmental support of national programs to support distance education
3. cultural and individual attitudes toward the value of distance education
4. and overall success of distance education

According to the analysis of Paul Richardson, the common factor which seems to mediate or correlate with many variables (and those 4 listed above) is likely different between rich countries, and those countries identified as 'Third World'. In the US, these drivers are (for some adults) probably related to personal growth and enhancement, whereas in many other countries these drivers are probably related more often to income earning potential, social issues, or social status.

So instead of programs on "the classics" you have educational programs on HIV/AID (see here) and studies which show very high functional illiteracy in prisons (direction of causality unspecified).

Although these differences may seem small and certainly have many exceptions, they can hardly be overstated, if you have spent any considerable time overseas among extremely poor people, and have witnessed their drive and desire for the opportunity to escape the poverty and health risks of a bare survival lifestyle. As the minister of education reported in Geneva the circumstances for many people are not likely to improve until economic conditions improve. It is therefore impressive to learn how they are continuing to press forward within institutions such as the Nigerian Open University.

REFERENCES

Bower, B., & Hardy, K, (2004) Retrieved from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_virtual_learning_environments and cited as originating from: "From correspondence to cyberspace: Changes and challenges in distance education" by Beverly L. Bower and Kimberly P. Hardy, New Directions for Community Colleges, Volume 2004, Issue 128 , Pages 5 - 12 --Also Published by DW Bethany, "Societal Issues in Distance Learning", September 2001, University of South Florida, and again in "Technological Rug down the Hallways of Distance Education", November 2001, Empire State College--Prior reference by RW Gattenberg (1971) and Ken Freed (1988)

Enuku, U. E., & Ojogwu, C. (2006). Information and communication technology (ICT) in the service of the National Open University of Nigeria. Education, 127(2), 187+. Retrieved from Questia database: http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=5019150192

Holmberg, Börje (1995) Theory and Practice of Distance Education. Routledge. New York. Page Number: 3.

Matthews, Diane (1999) The Origins of Distance Education and Its Use in the United States. T H E Journal (Technological Horizons In Education), Vol. 27, 1999.

Moore, M.G. (2001) Distance Education in the United States: the State of the Art. Series of lectures on the educational use of ICT and virtual education (6th june 2001) retrieved online from http://www.uoc.edu/web/eng/art/uoc/moore/moore.html

Moore, M.G. (2003) Handbook of Distance Education. editor, William G. Anderson - editor. Publisher: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Place of Publication: Mahwah, NJ. Publication Year: 2003. Page Number: 3.

Moore, M.G. (2007) Handbook of Distance Education. 2nd Ed. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Mahwah, NJ. Preview online here.

Additional Resources

• Federal Nigerian Ministry of Education (In English. Includes also links to parastatal bodies)
• Nigerian National Universities Commission (In English)
• Nigerian Educational Research & Development Council (NERDC) (In English)
• For a fairly recent (2001) overview of education and educational statistics in Nigeria please see this large set of governmental reports: http://www.ibe.unesco.org/curriculum/lagosrep.htm

Official Online Websites of Nigerian Universities:

• Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi
  
• Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria (Note: As of May 19, 2006, this site was still under construction.)
• Bayero University, Kano (via KanoOnline.Com)
  
• Federal University of Technology, Minna, Niger State
  
• Lagos Business School, Pan-African University (African Development Foundation, Lagos)
  
• Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife
  
• Rivers State University of Science & Technology, Port Harcourt
  
• University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Ogun State
  
• University of Benin, Benin City
  
• University of Ibadan
  
• University of Jos
  
• University of Lagos
  
• University of Maiduguri
  
• University of Nigeria, Nsukka
  
• University of Port Harcourt

Source of Chart: Commonwealth of Learning / UNESCO Publishing (2005) "PERSPECTIVES ON DISTANCE EDUCATION Lifelong Learning & Distance Higher Education" Christopher McIntosh, Editor & Zeynep Varoglu, Editorial Coordinator. Retrieved from http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0014/001412/141218e.pdf (pg.87)

NOTE: The Commonwealth of Learning (COL) is an intergovernmental organization created by Commonwealth Heads of Government to encourage the development and sharing of open learning and distance education knowledge, resources and technologies. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) was founded on 16 November 1945. UNESCO is a specialized United Nations agency promoting international cooperation among its Member States and Associate Members in the fields of education, science, culture and communication.

Notice in table 7.1 above, that the countries which are at the top of the list. What do you think the average standard of living is for the citizens of these countries. The average students of these courses (not accounting for outliers) are not "stay at home moms" in the sense that Americans think of. These are very hard working people, who mostly are manual laborers.

Similar results can be found by examining other charts, such as the one's here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mega_university and on the web sites and documents referenced by it.

One last web site I will refer you to is here: http://www.webometrics.info/ which also has some extremely useful University ranking information by nation, etc., globally and within the US:

Objectives of the Webometrics Ranking (WR)

The ranking is based on a combined indicator that takes into account both the volume of the Web contents and the visibility and impact of this web publications according to the number of external in links (situations) they received. The ranking is updated every January and July, providing Web indicators for universities and research centers worldwide. The methodological section adheres the Berlin Principles on Ranking of Higher Education Institutions. The WR is produced by the Cybermetrics Lab (CINDOC), a unit of the National Research Council (CSIC), the main public research body in Spain. The Lab acts as an Observatory of the Science and Technology on the Web.

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 Reaction to Equivalency Theory 

Simonson's emerging theory of distance education and equivalence of learning experiences takes a prominent role in the chapter 2 discussion of 'theories' of distance education. My initial reaction is that the basic tenets and propositions have immediate face validity and are quite reasonable, and thus the theory itself holds no immediately objectionable positions that I might find contrary to my own knowledge within the field.

In my opinion, part of the acceptance of "Equivalency Theory" predicates that the readers has sided almost completely with Clark, on the issue of influence of media on achievement (eg., the well known debate between Clark and Kozma). I believe the central foci of the theory are well contained in two of the "philosophical positions" which are stated to be assumptions in the Preface of our text book (quoting from the preface in our text on page iii):

• "Equivalent classroom learning experiences are critical to the success of distance education. Providing equal learning experiences for learners regardless of their location is impossible. Rather, designers of instruction for distant learners should provide equivalent alternatives that provide various ways of learning.
• Distance education has changed -- even restructured -- education by making the experience of the distance learner as complete, satisfying, and acceptable as that of the local learner. Successful distance education system should be based on the belief that the more equivalent the learning experience of the distant student is to that of the local student, the more equivalent will be the outcomes of the learning experience."

The propositions to not seem to me to be unreasonable, and yet they are important in that many other concepts were by de-selection not emphasized. In other words, this theory has avoided the all-too-often pitfall of attempting a grand unified approach, and instead has more appropriately remained within the confines of a good beginning toward bridging the gap of the present state of the art, and our potentially near-future increased understanding of the science involved.

Reflecting on these issue a bit deeper though,, I would prefer that we go beyond merely attempting to bring the quality of distance education "up to par" with face to face education (which is what this is really about, I think). Nova Southeastern is a major player among distance education institutions in the US, and they want to market their education as 'on a par' with top face to face education institutions (perhaps even Ivy League tier 1 or tier 2 research institutions). My opinion is that distance education can and will eventually surpass face to face education in the overall quality of the education and learning which occurs, for several reason, not the least of which is that higher percentages of each successive generation of students than ever before, are now taking it for granted that learning to use computer technologies and/or to be comfortable around technology in general is as much a necessity as learning to drive a vehicle.

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