法国的"国家远程教育中心"

法国的“国家远程教育中心”是目前法国最具权威的远程教育机构,它拥有八所院校,每所院校都有自身所偏重的专业。由于这些院校的设立,使所有希望获得高等教育的法国公民有更大的选择余地得到深造。它的崭新的教育技术和教学方法打破了传统的教育模式。     

网络环境下的成人契约学习

在建设开放大学的背景下,远程教育发展趋势从“供给驱动式”转变为“需求驱动式”教育,远程教育机构要积极寻求能够把师生凝聚到一起交流学习的方法。网络环境下的契约学习以学生为中心,以尊重学生学习个性发展为理念,以学习契约的形式促使师生各自履行自己的责任。立足于终身学习的愿景设计“教”与“学”,契约式学习有利于培养学习者的学习责任感,学习责任感驱动着学习者以积极的行为履行学习责任。     

A Canadian Perspective on the Uncertain Future of Distance Education

Distance education as a field of educational endeavor is at a crucial juncture in its historical development. The notion of learning at a distance has gained wide acceptance across the developed world. Instructors, physically and temporally separated from learners using newly emerging information and communication technologies, are widespread. Most postsecondary institutions have employed, or plan to develop, forms of “distance‐like” educational activities for both campus‐based and remote students. Yet, as acceptance has increased for such learning activities, many distance educators feel that they are no longer recognized as leaders in the emerging field of technology‐enhanced, hybrid, flexible learning environments. This article asks a series of questions which will help to illuminate the challenges facing distance educators at the beginning of the 21st century.     

Some Influences of On-line Distance Learning on US Higher Education

Distance education issues affect nearly all participants in higher education, whether or not they are planning to offer (or to take) on-line courses. These issues are affecting business-university interactions as well as the relationship between faculty mem bers and their institutions. This article discusses an assortment of concerns in the USA and many other Western nations related to the nexus between on-line distance education and the traditional classroom, including intellectual property, evaluation and equity. These matters are being heavily influenced by the emerging international market for higher education offerings and by heightened competition from for-profit institutions. Discourse on distance education issues is likely to stimulate thinking about the nature of higher education, especially on the part of students who are being presented with an increasing array of educational options. Faculty members are facing issues of critical importance (especially in the realm of intellectual property rights), issues that will shape the nature of higher education as an entity.     

Book reviews

Distributed Learning: social and cultural approaches to practiceEdited by Mary R. Lea and Kathy Nicoll, 2002 RoutledgeFalmer 214 pp., £19.99 ISBN 0 415 26809 5Distributed Learning: social and cultural approaches to practice, edited by Mary R. Lea and Kathy Nicoll, is published as part of the Open University UK course Understanding Distributed and Flexible Learning within the Postgraduate Programme in Open and Distance Education. The book comprises of 12 chapters written by authors from different academic backgrounds. They draw on their extensive practical experiences to present and reflect on a number of conceptual models and describe best practices in distributed learning. The volume is aimed at practitioners who intend to use technology in a higher education setting and also helps those who may have been using it for a few years to rethink their approaches to online learning and teaching. The reader is introduced to several theoretical concepts based on different disciplines and perspectives, e.g. anthropology, psychology, sociology, philosophy, economics and pedagogy. The specific focus is on the social and cultural aspects of learning. What does the term distributed learning mean? It describes practices on the continuum between traditional distance education and campus-based face-to-face education (cf. flexible learning, blended learning). With the proliferation of information and communications technology (ICT) in campus-based educational settings the boundaries between distance education and face-to-face education are fading. More and more traditional campus-based universities are providing access to higher education in a distance learning format. In fact, ICTs facilitate contact over a distance. Some authors even speak of a convergence between the two forms of education (Mills &;Tait, 1999). Campus-based institutions cannot deny their tradition: they insist that contact sessions are essential for successful internet-based independent learning, although distance education with its high quality pre-prepared study materials and tutorial (online) support has proven otherwise. This is what models for blended learning try to illuminate: the appropriate mix of face-to-face and distance teaching approaches. A strength of the book is that the authors come from both distance teaching as well as campus-based institutions and thus different views on the continuum are presented.     

China’s radio and TV universities: reflections on theory and practice of open and distance learning

Distance education and open learning are western innovations, representing the educational concepts, cultures and societies of western countries. The introduction of distance education and the adoption of open learning in China’s radio and TV universities are by no means an indication that they will and can be copied wholesale. Open and distance learning has to be developed in accordance with the specific political, social, cultural and economic environments in the Chinese context. Thus, it represents an ever‐changing and evolving process in which theory and practice interact with each other.     

Diffusion of distance education in Turkish higher education

Conclusion In this paper, Rogers's diffusion theory was used to analyze the acceptance and implementation of the innovation of distance education in higher education in Turkey. Distance education was not successfully adopted between 1970 and 1980 in Turkey because of organizational problems. Distance education was effectively and efficiently diffused in Turkey after 1982. Thousands of students today earn university diplomas studying at a distance. On the other hand, problems of organization, technology, and perceptions remain to be addressed. It is to be hoped that in the future the OEF will be independent or have more autonomy. This will help it deliver instruction to its students.the evaluator of the Learning Community Link Project at the University.     

Critical Issues in Distance Education: A report from the United States

Distance education has grown rapidly in the United States in recent years. Both private‐ and public‐sector organizations have embraced the practice of reaching their clients, employees, and students at a distance via new technologies afforded them by the telecommunication and computer nexus. Distance education is grounded on technology, and its practice would be difficult, if not impossible, without it. However, reducing the idea to its technological foundations, and losing sight of its social science base has led to a conceptual confusion in the field. This article will illustrate the growth of distance education in the United States, describe the social science paradigm of distance education, demonstrate the empirical evidence of this paradigm, and analyze its ramifications for the field in general, as well as for students, educational organizations, and instructors.     

Embracing distance education in a blended learning model: challenges and prospects

Abstract

Distance education reaches out to non-traditional students in geographically dispersed locations, who are unable to attend face-to-face classes. Contact institutions have been quick to realise the many advantages of distance (online) learning, such as easy access to learning materials, interactive activities, assessment and communication tools. However, the path to anything approaching dual-mode provision has not been without obstacles. In South Africa in the early 2000s, the Council on Higher Education reinforced the mandate of distance education universities and decreed that contact institutions should not encroach on this territory. Subsequently, various frameworks and guidelines emerged which can inform current consideration of dual-mode provision. This practitioner report presents two case studies (University of Pretoria, South Africa; and University of Oxford, United Kingdom) which explore the implications for contact institutions in expanding their provision to include distance education.     

Can we,should we,and do we integrate values education into adult distance education? Opinions of stakeholders at the Open University of Hong Kong

Because of the changing needs of society, brought about in part by workplace, family and social structures and partly by the decline of moral and ethical values, it is becoming increasingly urgent to address issues of values education at all levels of schooling. Recently there has been an increasing body of literature challenging those who teach adults at universities or other higher education institutions to incorporate values education, either directly or indirectly into the learning environments they create. This challenge extends to distance higher education, although there are many questions about how this can be done in an environment that is typically intended for independent learning with a focus on cognitive development. This paper reports the outcomes of interviews with three small groups of distance educator stakeholders at the Open University of Hong Kong, namely course co-ordinators, tutors and students, to explore their feelings and beliefs about values education being a component of their programmes. The interviews sought opinions about three broad questions: Should we take responsibility for values education in our distance education programmes? Can we take responsibility for values education in our distance education programmes? Do we take responsibility for values education in our distance education programmes? Responses suggested that, in the context of this study, we should and that it is possible to do so, particularly directly through the use of counselling and support services and indirectly through incorporating appropriate examples into course materials, but that currently not very much is being done. While the course co-ordinators and tutors were concerned that students might resent the inclusion of values education in their courses, the students themselves appeared to be more open to the suggestion.     

中国远程教育投资的个人收益率研究

我国的现代远程教育已经取得了长足发展,成为国民教育体系的重要组成部分。已有的教育收益率研究多是对普通全日制教育体系的分析,缺乏对远程教育的相关实证研究。基于现代远程教育试点高校学习者调查数据的经验研究发现,我国远程教育投资的个人收益率达到了9.3%,控制了个人特征和职业特征相关因素后,教育收益率仍然达到8.8%,远远高于以往针对普通教育体系的研究结果。进一步的研究还发现,远程教育投资的个人收益率受个人特征和职业特征影响较小,而不同专业类型的教育投资中,工科类专业的个人教育收益率达到11.7%,文科类的收益率为7.2%,两者具有显著差异。这表明,远程教育投资具有明确的收入增长指向性,选择理工类专业接受高等教育更能够实现收入的增加。     

Telematics-Supported Education for Traditional Universities in Europe

Telematics is the combination of information technology and communication technology. Telematics applications to support educational delivery and participation in traditional European universities are rapidly becoming part of the educational setting. Sometimes they are used specifically to increase distance flexibility in participation, but this is not their only value. Telematics applications are also associated with other forms of flexibility, as well as with heightened efficiency and enrichment of the learning process, both for those in full-time traditional attendance and those participating in increasingly variable ways. In this paper, we first give an overview of the pressures for change in traditional universities in Europe and then define the change domain as involving much more than distance. Then, an overview of a variety of ways that telematics applications are being used in traditional universities in Europe will be given, including categories relating to various aspects of the course-participation experience in the individual course (such as aspects relating to lectures, self-study, and project-type group work). This will be followed by examples of new forms of course organization involving one or more institutions and also of new forms of activities in which traditional universities are becoming involved outside of their core business of mainstream course delivery. The impact on a particular institution, the University of Twente in The Netherlands, will be discussed in more detail. Issues demanding serious attention include staff and student engagement and support and technical decisions relating to the infrastructure and interface of the technology needed to make the new flexibilities possible. These are described and illustrated with examples. The difficulties in supporting this evolution in traditional universities with cost-effectiveness analysis are also noted. Finally, a reflection is made on the changing state of the division between traditional universities and universities organized around distance and open delivery. In some ways, this division is rapidly loosing meaningfulness, but certain differences that are more profound than “distance” still remain.     

论新时期远程教育中教师教学角色的定位

远程教育正在向网络化发展,教育机构纷纷着手开展网上的远程教育实践。而基于计算机及其网络技术的远程教育中教师的教学角色研究,还是一个全新的课题。远程教育中教师的教学角色要从传统角色定位中解放出来,完成五个方面的转变。     

亚洲远程教育使用互联网的新趋势和新挑战

由于新技术的广泛使用使亚洲远程教育对互联网的利用率大大提高。同时远程教育在亚洲的蓬勃发展也促进了新技术的使用。但是,教育质量、资源能否方便地获取、公平参与、新技术的利用以及利用互联网获得知识等方面的问题尚未解决。本文论述了亚洲远程教育在利用互联网方面的新趋势、新挑战、存在的问题以及做出的努力。 在历史背景、目前环境、近期变化以及开放大学的新角色的大环境下开展了亚洲远程教育近期发展的讨论。亚洲远程教育的发展迎合了利益相关者的需求,新技术的使用也促进其发展,亚洲开放大学可望在满足利益相关者需求的基础上进一步发挥其作用。 随着对互联网的使用不断增加,亚洲远程教育的发展趋势将会在教学和学习上进一步增加对互联网的利用,以及为远程学习者提供支持和行政服务的方向发展。亚洲远程教育机构能够向学习者提供各种形式的开放教育资源、混合式学习以及虚拟学习的机会。布卡开放大学（简称UT）提供的简短个案研究说明了该校如何引进新的教学和学习方法,以及新的支持和行政服务模式。该校发起的管理创新是重新把该机构建设成为一个学习型组织的一部分。为确保该机构的不断发展,质量保证已成为一个重要的管理战略。 由于地理位置、人口统计、客户数量的差异,以及语言、文化、技术水平、规范管理等方面存在的地区多样性,使亚洲远程教育在使用互联网方面仍然面临挑战。显然,亚洲远程教育的发展将依赖于新技术的增加和对新的学习资源的利用。亚洲远程教育将不得不重新设计、重新构建和重新发明新方法,以适应远程教学和利用学习资源。要确保亚洲远程教育的可持续性发展,在质量方面也存在巨大的挑战。最后,在介绍教育创新和改进方面,     

TECHNOLOGY IN HIGHER EDUCATION: EXPLORING DISTANCE LEARNING FROM A CONSTRUCT/VIST PERSPECTIVE

The purpose of this study was to explore the extent to which distance learning (distance learning vs. traditional) may influence undergraduate education majors’ emerging constructivist perspective. Elementary education majors at 2 universities (N = 102) volunteered to complete questionnaires. The 3 independent variables were traditional vs. distance learning, whether or not ever enrolled in distance learning, and instructor difference. The 3 dependent variables were concerned with what the instructor provided; what the instructor demonstrated; and what students believed they learned. A Multiple Analysis of Variance (Manova) compared the 3 independent variables across the 3 dependent variables and indicated that students in traditional classrooms rated what the instructor provided, what the instructor demonstrated, and what students believed they learned significantly greater than students in distance learning classrooms. An interpretation suggests that distance learning technology may hold potential for facilitating undergraduate education majors’ emerging constructivist perspective.     

Transactional distance and interactive television in the distance education of health professionals

Abstract

Distance education, in which learners are remote from the primary educational institution and the teacher, is increasingly delivered via interactive television technology. Moore (1980) described transactional distance between students and faculty in distance education as characterized by dialogue and structure. He hypothesized that high structure and low dialogue yield “remote” transactional distance and low structure and high dialogue yield “close” transactional distance. The variables in the current study were operationally defined following Moore (1973, 665): “A learner's ‘distance’ from his teacher [transactional distance] … is defined as a function of individualization [structure] and dialogue.” Student volunteers (n = 221) in thirteen public health and nursing graduate courses at the University of Hawaii at Manoa responded to an investigator‐developed questionnaire regarding elements of dialogue, structure, and transactional distance in their courses. Principal components and internal consistency reliability analyses verified the presence of three factors: structure, dialogue, and transactional distance. Dialogue was greater in the distance‐format courses than in the traditional‐format courses. Distance‐format courses did not differ from traditional courses on amount of structure or transactional distance.     

开放大学的发展历程与重心位移

开放大学是在以现代信息技术为支撑,以实体综合性大学为依托,在开放的公共教育环境下以满足学习者各种类型及层次的教育需求为目标,既坚持高等教育学历提升,又积极推进非学历继续教育及公共教育服务支持的开放性高等教育机构。作为一种新型的高等教育机构,开放大学促进了世界高等教育的民主化和公平化,也将终身教育的理念推行至实处。开放大学的质量保障涉及多个因素,要在学生、教师、课程和良好的师生互动等方面进行严格把关。开放大学不仅仅应该充当一种新型的教育机构,更应该成为一种无形的教育理念贯穿于有形的教育机构中。鼓励开放大学与传统大学走向融合,这将会为高等教育全民化的到来作出更大的贡献。     

Who attends and completes virtual universities: the case of the open University of Catalonia (UOC)

A highly touted feature of the so-called global “revolution” in higher education is the trend to use information technology to reach a broader clientele. Although there is evidence that students may be learning the material in on-line courses as well as in traditional face-to-face universities, how well students learn content is not the only reason they persist to a degree, and student persistence is an important goal of higher education institutions. In this paper, we make the case that the life conditions for students attending virtual universities are different from those of “traditional” students in face-to-face universities, and that this difference puts a particular (largely non-pecuniary) premium on time to degree. With our data from a Catalan virtual university, the Open University of Catalonia (UOC), we are able to test this hypothesis directly by using the heterogeneous degree structure of the Catalonian/Spanish higher education system to estimate whether the number of courses required to get various degrees (the length of the degree program) is significantly related to student persistence. The study analyzes several cohorts of students (those who entered in 2000–2003) studying in the UOC and estimates the factors that influence their degree completion. We find that the completion rate is generally low, but that students taking shorter degree courses at the UOC are much more likely to complete their degrees. This suggests that, given their clientele, on-line universities operate under very different constraints from their face-to-face counterparts. Our results are important for higher educational researchers, who have mainly focused on younger populations attending face-face universities. They also can serve university administrators who launch distance education degree programs and make high stakes decisions about them with little of no information on the likely behavior of their older students, and can serve employers who are deciding whether to subsidize their employees to take advanced degrees through on-line programs of study.     

高校成人教育的战略性转变

普通高校成人教育停止招收脱产学生,将引起高校成人教育的教育形式、教育类型、教育方式和教育形态等多方面的战略性转变,对我国高校成人教育发展产生深远的影响。     

The Diploma in Information Technology with Distance Teaching Methods

The Consortium for Distance University was founded in 1984 to set up a distance teaching university system in Italy. Its activity started in 1986 with the foundation of the Special Purpose School of Information Technology based on distance teaching methods. In 1991 a university diploma was established according to the European educational system. The 3‐year programme includes 28 learning modules and a final apprenticeship. The modules have been developed through a number of learning units, in the form of printed materials and computer‐aided instruction packages that enable learners to organize their own learning autonomously. Assistance to learners takes place in study centres where students meet tutors and use the hardware equipment needed for the software materials. In the academic year 1994/95, an experimental delivery of the university diploma in information technology through the CMC technologies will begin at some Italian universities so that it will be possible to demonstrate how the new modern technologies help students to manage their learning process in real time.