Leadership, Management and Administration in Open Distance Learning

B. M. Gourley

This is an edited version of the keynote address by Prof. B.M.Gourley at the 2nd Pan-Commonwealth Forum on OpenLearning held at Durban from 29thJuly to 2nd August, 2002.

We have failed the greatest moral challenge of our time if we cannot make Open Distance Learning(ODL) happen, for all the peoples of the world wherever they may be ;at scale, over large territories, across boundaries, through mountainous bureaucracies of governments and civil servants, World Trade Organization agreements and a host of understandable and often totally incomprehensible obstacles. Richin knowledge as a world we may well be - but judged on present performance we are exceptionally poor in wisdom.

I do not find it especially useful to separate out the particularities of leadership as opposed to management or administration. Weneed them all to make things happen. Drucker calls this a"careful blending" of the leadership/management equation (Hickman, 1990: p.17). This is by no means a cliched statement. Brilliant visions without good solid management on the ground to translate those visions into reality have no substance. Similarly, wonderful managers carrying out pointless tasksdo not bring us closer to our vision of a better world.

The rubric says that managers ask 'how' and leaders wonder 'why'. I am going to challenge the leaders and the managers in ODL here on some of the why's and how's. My hope is that we should start to think in different ways so that our grand dream of making the world a better place may be achievable - though it will always be difficult.

I pose my concerns in the form of questions:

1. Are we all going to "go it alone"?

Are we going to persist in perpetuating the boundaries that universities, colleges, schools, businesses, corporates, countries, and so on, bring to the whole educational endeavor wherever it may be carried out? The fact is that a huge amount of education and training is taking place in a whole variety of places. Yet, it is one of the big failures of the education system that we have not found away of accrediting, validating and generally making portable many of those experiences. Similarly, we have failed to find a way of recognizing work and life experience in any important way there by managing to undermine the confidence and value that people attach to their own experience - a confidence invaluable to the learning endeavor.

The evaluation of quality (and thereby the enhancement of mobility or portability of qualifications) has become one ofthe big issues of this century. If we can do an even halfway decent job of quality assurance, we can harness huge resources currently expanded right across the world, and maximize the impact of such efforts on the world of learning. At some of the truly open universities we have demonstrated that the only true standard is the exit standard but this on its own, in one place, in one part of the world, is insufficient to the main point I am making here.

We have forgotten, if we ever knew, that 'reputation' is not the same as' quality' - and we don't know how to tell the difference, especially across national and continental divides.

'Going it alone' was not, in the past, the mindset of educationalists, in particular universities. By their very nature they should and are disposed to international perspectives and the sharing of scholarship, building on the works of others. Sadly that is no longer universally so. Competition rather than collaboration is the order of the day. Our task this day, this decade, this century, demands that we bring what is moral and ethical from our institutions into the compass of the global village. Weare challenged to combine the safety of belief and of comfortable linguistic, ethnic or even class identification with the knowledge that technology and science have held up to us. From the pictures of earth taken from space to the disease of rivers, forests and people we must recognize and bring understanding that each city however big and each hamlet however remote, however poor, will suffer the fate of the whole, of the globe. We must surely share the vision that derives from the idea that the world will be better off, at best healed, by educational intervention that engages rich and poor, capitalists and subalterns, metro poles and hamlets, nations and united nations; by educational intervention that shares quite literally our common wealth. The task is a massive one and a noble one if (and I emphasize the proviso),it can overcome the acquisitiveness that characterizes so many initiatives that ride the spirit of globalization.

Some may imagine that the task at hand belongs to the nation state. Yet we have seen globalization demonstrate just how helpless the nation state can be. Some may imagine that it is the task of UNESCO yet we are witnessing the constraints upon what it is that such a body can achieve. The reality is that none of us, on our own, can undertake all that is necessary tothe task. Governments, corporations, educational institutions, international development agencies, institutions such as the United Nations, the fast growing organs of civil society - all these must be involved. Of course we have economic agendas, national and international agendas -and we need to be honest about these and apprised of them, but if we are committed to the objective of development, that must remain our guiding principle -- and it must be taken with the knowledge that going it alone is not longer an option.

2. My second question follows from the first:

As we lose ourselves in the forest of trees that represent the content of the knowledge gained in the learning enterprise, are we not forgetting that the learning process is at least as important as the content? We talk much about 'life long learning' and the fact that we should be concerned about ensuring that we produce, through our various endeavours , life long learners. Yet, if the content of what is flooding the Internet posturing, as education is anything to go by, the learning process is much undervalued by the very purveyors of education themselves. This is, of course, a quality issue, yet it underpins much of what takes place in educational establishments - and we run the risk of labeling a vast number of people as failures when the failure is by no means theirs. Research into what constitutes good learning practice is not what the vast majority of academics concern themselves -quite understandably if they are to keep up in their respective disciplines and that is something that we require of them. Today, the wholesale use of technology, and indeed the potential of technology, makes 'good learning practice' evermore crucial.

Diana Laurillard emphasizes this when she asserts, "we need a collective research and development programme to buildthe generic forms that will support student learning and foster high level cognitive skills of scholarship- and practitioner skills as well. …If we do not pursue them, the potential of new technologies to provide mass higher education and lifelong learning opportunities will not be realized …" (Futures Forum, 2002, p. 31).

The best learning is always fun -and yet fun is a word that few students would associate with their learning experiences - in school and out. People more qualified have written much in this field, but what they say has a ring of common sense. In a world flooded by information and even knowledge, the average person has a hard time finding out what it is they should study, where their aptitudes lie and where they will find most joy. The use of both the right and left-brain kind of thinking is acknowledged as important but rarely finds its way into debates about curriculum or even about quality. We are doing the potential learners of the world a serious disservice as we pay scant attention to this.

Raj Dhanarajan in his article entitled Partnerships for Change does not mince words when he says that we have to find new ways of assessing learning outcomes. To quote him "The way these are mostly measured today is dull, irrelevant, rigid, continues to test memory rather than application, and non-challenging of the intellect." We cannot dismiss this because we know it to be true in too many places. We do no service to students to get them into education and then deliver a less than good service.

One non-negotiable outcome of all our deliberations must be the education and training of excellent and enthusiastic teachers at every level of the educational enterprise; teachers who are attracted into a venerable profession that itself has become devalued in the pursuit of more and more material and tangible short term goals.

3. My third question is interrelated to the other two:

 it follows the leaders' questioning role which is to ask 'why?' except this time content is in question. While education is concerned with building intellectual and social capital, it must also concern itself with building global citizenship, with building bridges across cultures so that we all learn more about each other and come to accept that we occupy the same planet where our destiny is a common one.

The United Nations Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, in a very prescient action launched 'Dialogue among Civilizations' in 1998. The work that followed has been encapsulated in a book called Crossing the Divide. Annan writes in the foreword --"the need for dialogue among civilizations is as old as civilization itself. But today the need is more acute than ever. Individuals who live in fear and lack of comprehension of other cultures are more likely to resort to acts of  hatred, violence and destruction against a perceived "enemy". Those who are exposed to the cultures of others and learn about them through communication across cultural divides are more likely to see diversity as a strength and celebrate it as a gift.

Today, globalization, migration, integration, communication and travel are bringing different races, cultures and ethnicities into ever closer contact with each other. More than ever before, people understand that they are being shaped by many cultures and influences, and that combining the familiar with the foreign can be a source of powerful knowledge and insight. People can and should take pride in their particular faith or heritage. But we can cherish what we are, without hating what we are not" (p. 11).

I am deeply committed to joining Annan in his call for Dialogue. It is a source of perplexity and grief tome that educational institutions do not recognize their explicit social responsibility in this regard. Distance learning institutions are particularly well placed to pursue this noble aim. They have students all over the world and yet in their teaching materials they often seem culturally myopic. Recently a student told me that in signing up at her local university she was committing "cultural suicide". Many open universities have so-called' partnerships' and yet fail to appreciate the marvelous opportunities for the joint preparation of material that student sin many cultures could appreciate and learn from without feeling themselves distanced from the material. I have always been struck by an injunction in the Qur'an which tells us that "we created you from a single pair of male and female and made you into tribes and nations, that you may know each other" (Annan, ibid: p. 27).

The theme for this conference is 'transforming education for development'. It has long been my contention that democracy is hostage to peace and peace in turn is hostage to development. If we are to take steps along the road to achieving these aims, then we who seek to exercise leadership in education must ask ourselves what we are doing, and where we are with what we have. In particular I would ask for some humility from the richer nations for it may turnout that they count their riches in strange ways. Daisaku Ikeda, in a speech entitled A New Road to East/West Cultural Exchange, points out that "economically developing countries all have cultures as rich and complex as nations who outstrip them in wealth and power. It is desirable to use standards other than economics (alone) in evaluating the achievements of a people. … In terms of non-economic aspects of human culture, "developed" nations might appear much less advanced than others that are now regarded as "developing". We would possess a more varied and accurate picture of our green planet and its (sixbillion) people if it were examined in the light of the art, religion, traditions, lifestyles, and psychology of its inhabitants"(Ikeda, 1996: p. 70). He envisions "an enchanting, peaceful future when many peoples … will be able to travel a new Silk Road of cultural and mutual understanding", (ibid: p. 20) and reminds us of the lines written by the poet Yunus Emre: "The world to me is sustenance; its peoples and my own are one" (ibid: p. 21).

I have asked for some humility on the part of the richer nations - and I would hope that this humility would extend to the examination of their curricula even for their home students. Culturally myopic curricula do no service to students who we wish to cultivate as global citizens conscious of the obligations that being educated brings with it the need to understand more of the world we occupy as well.

I am astonished, for example, to find how few people in the UK and Europe comprehend that they are living through a time when the greatest human catastrophe inhuman history is taking place - that is HIV/AIDS - and what it means for the future. If we want 'education for development' maybe we should also pause to consider what that means for all of our educational perspectives.

We need to give some attention to what it is that we seek from education and what we regard as an educated person. If we divorce these considerations from our concern we are ourselves failing to acknowledge that education is never value-free and we cannot harness the resources of the world to a common effort while the differences in what we perceive these values to go unexamined and create ever larger gulfs between us. As we attempt to seek the values that we share (and there are many) we might also find our common humanity (and respond to theHIV/AIDS challenge, for example) and rise above the differences to promote that to which we all subscribe - and that is ever greater access for those that want and need it.

But the access we seek cannot be at the expense of local values and cultures, which we know to be important - indeed, so important that people are ready to die in order to have them upheld. The idea of' open' learning at a distance (at its best, with local support) was founded on the principles of social justice. It seems to me that we do the people to whom we seek to bring such social justice a profound in justice if it is only a particular kind of education that we make available.

4. My fourth question has to do with learners.

Are we sure that we have adapted our teaching and learning styles and process for different kinds of learners? The young woman of eighteen who has finished school is a very different kind of learner to the mother of four children who is looking at the second or third stage of her life and seeking to equip herself appropriately. A Muslim woman seeking to live out the tenets of her religion cannot be required to conform to the same processes of learning than the average woman living in a deeply secular environment. People who are working, people, who by virtue of their work travel a good deal, people who simply have different learning styles - all these need to be recognized and at least accommodated.

More and more institutions of education, at whatever level, are beginning to acknowledge these realities and become infinitely more flexible in their offerings than before. The days when one could point to one group of institutions and label them as 'distance' or 'open' and another group as 'residential' are long since gone. Even in one institution one can find a continuum along a line that once represented distinction and find multiple modes of delivery - and that is as it should be if we are to accommodate the differences in learners and their needs. Having recognized this we should understand that funding models and accreditations and frameworks and the endless regulations that seem to bestride our world, change accordingly.

5. My fifth question has to do with one of the central figures in the education endeavor and that is the academic herself.

Are we sure we are doing all we can to sustain the academic endeavor and make it an attractive and feasible career choice? The commercialization of knowledge and the sale to the highest bidder has put at risk the very heart of the enterprise and it is not possible to take for granted the steady supply in academics in the way it once was.

Many open distance education institutions rely on the moonlighting of academics from other residential universities. The growth of the corporate university and private sector providers has put further strain on the supply. The commodification of knowledge has not helped in this matter( unavoidable as it might be - and I am not persuaded that it is unavoidable). If we see it as a real threat then it should hasten our attempts to partner and consolidate and not endlessly reinvent the wheel on a whole range of courses where partnering could facilitate the pooling of expertise and the release of time of literally thousands of academics all over the world.

6. My sixth question has to do with basic management issues: Does delivery on the round match up to the promise of real education?

I always remember GottfriedLiebrandt, the first rector of the Open University in the Netherlands, telling me that in distance education, it didn't really matter how good your material was if you could not deliver it to the right person, at the right time, in the right place. It also didn't matter how good the academic content was if it was totally inaccessible in terms of language and style to the people for whom it was intended. It underscores the point of leadership and management being two sides of the same coin in many ways. If one is not there, the other is rendered almost obsolete.

Management is no trivial matter as we contemplate in many, many parts of the world the simple delivery of material even using the most basic of services like postal delivery. Many people at this very conference hear of the marvelous leaps in technology and yet they have to think of places where there is no electricity. Solar panels that power batteries to drive technology enterprises are all very well if the local community thinks that what solar energy is available should be prioritized for this use rather than another. Not at all far from this very sophisticated conference centre are desperate people, poverty stricken and very ill besides who would not agree with you on that and would act tore prioritize accordingly. We have to think of those things because they're real - and constitute real concerns. Leadership in these communities has to be engaged and the process of building consensus around what needs to be done and how it should be done is entirely on-trivial.

As managers and leaders we also have to understand that often the way things are done is as important as what is done - and indeed who it is done by. We cannot imagine that we can set up local management systems to administer the delivery of material which comes from some centralized or other system and not have local skills, language, customs and other important matters in place. Call centers staffed by indifferent staff, counseling services that don't understand or recognize local custom and behaviors can alienate as much as the academic material itself. It must be local people who have been appropriately trained who act as the natural links between what has to be delivered and the people who we most seek to deliver to. The sophisticated learner who is familiar with the Web, comfortable with the technology and ready to get into a healthy debate with anyone who she perceives as giving a bad service will look after herself. But the poor and the illiterate, those who are the focus of our debate about development, they are the ones whom we are really concerned about and they are the ones whom we must be careful about in our debates about what mode of delivery, what technology, if any, and what is appropriate and what is not.

We need to build partnerships with them and their local representatives and we need to be careful that we listen to what they say about every aspect of what we are delivering to them - and we need to be sure we are learning in the process, for we too have lessons to learn. This is not to suggest that there are some people who will never succeed in overcoming  the so-called digital divide. We are doing them a great disservice in this world if we do not make this one of our goals. Starting with the premise that computers are available and accessible is almost ridiculous in the light of the statistics about connectivity in many if not most parts of the world.

Lastly, we need to understand that the very best in management practice finds models of good practice, benchmarks against the best practices elsewhere in the world and don't seek to constantly reinvent. If the examples we have heard about this week are no more than good examples but don't influence practice elsewhere, then what are we doing here? If we havenot formed some tentative relationships that have a chance of developing into solid partnerships with parity of membership then what else have we gained?

I ask these questions to reassure myself that we are not locked in some tragic struggle where the race between education and disaster has a predetermined outcome. If we look at the state of the world we can only conclude that we dare not fail in our task - and I hope coming together here as we have, means that we have accepted that we do have a common responsibility.

My hope is a hope that I share with Martin Luther King when he declared that it is possible "to hew out of a mountain of despair a stone of hope" and I have his faith that in working together towards a common goal, it is possible, as the Irish poet Seamus Heaney suggests, to make hope and history rhyme.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Gardner, Howard (1999). The Disciplined Mind. Simon and Schuster: New York

Hickman, Craig R (1990). Mind of a Manager, Soul of a Leader. John Wiley & Sons

Ikeda, Daisaku (1996). A New Humanism. Weatherhill: New York

Latchem, Colin & Hanna, Donald E st(Ed)(2001). Leadership for 21 Century Learning. Kogan Page: London

Mason, Robin (1998). Globalising Education. Routledge: London

Picco, Giandomenico et al (2001).

Crossing the Divide: Dialogue among Civilizations. School of Diplomacy and International Relations, Seton Hall University: New Jersey

Prof. Brenda M. Gourley is Vice-Chancellor of Open University, United Kingdom.

The Internet and its World Wide Web has become a great source of information. However, finding quality and reliable information is still a problem. In this issue we focus on Learning Objects. We hope these links would be useful to you in understanding the new developments. All the links were working fine at the time of going to the press.

Advanced Distributed Learning Network: In November 1997, the Department of Defense (DoD) and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy(OSTP) launched the Advanced Distributed Learning (ADL) initiative. The purpose of this project is to develop an open architecture for online learning.
<http://www.adlnet.org>

AICC: The Aviation Industry Committee: The Aviation Industry CBT Committee (AICC)is an international association of technology-based training professionals. The AICC develops guidelines for the aviation industryin the development, delivery, and evaluation of CBT and related training technologies.
<http://www.aicc.org/>

Alliance of Remote Instructional Authoring and Distribution Networks for Europe (ARIADNE): is a research and technology development (RTD) project pertaining to the "Telematics for Education and Training" sector of the 4th  Framework Program for R&D of the European Union. The project focuses on the development of tools and methodologies for producing, managing and reusing computer-based pedagogical elements and telemetric supported training curricula.
<http://www.ariadne-eu.org/>

CanCore: is the official home for documents, presentations and other resources related to the the Canadian Core Learning Object Metadata Application Profile. CanCore application profile is intended to facilitate the interchange of records describing educational resources and the discovery of these resources both in Canada and beyond its borders.
<http://www.cancore.ca/>

Centre for International Education, University of Wisconsin: This site is designed to introduce the subject of learning objects. It offers several characterizations of "learning objects", links to "Global Studies" on learning objects, other learning objects, collections of learning objects, key organizations associated with learning objects and metadata a select bibliography.
<http://www.uwm.edu/Dept/CIE/AOP/learningobjects.html>

Dublin Core Metadata Initiative: is an open forum engaged in the development of interoperable online metadata standards that support a broad range of purposes and business models. DCMI's activities include consensus-driven working groups, global workshops, conferences, standards liaison, and educational efforts to promote widespread acceptance of metadata standards and practices.
<http://www.dublincore.org/>

IEEE Learning Objects Metadata: The Learning Technology Standard Committee of IEEE has set forth to develop standard that will specify the syntax and semantics of Learning Object Metadata, defined as the attributes required to fully/adequately describe a Learning Object.
<http://ltsc.ieee.org/wg12/>

IMS Global Learning Consortium, Inc.: IMS Global Learning Consortium, Inc. (IMS) is developing and promoting open specifications <http://www.imsproject.org/specifications.html>for facilitating online distributed learning activities such as locating and using educational content, tracking learner progress, reporting learner performance, and exchanging student records between administrative systems.
<http://www.imsproject.org/>

Learning Objects Tutorial: Learning objects are the core concept in an approach to learning content in which content is broken down into "bite size" chunks. These chunks can be reused, independently created and maintained, and pulled apart and stuck together like so many legos. Learn more in this tutorial.
<http://www.eduworks.com/LOTT/tutorial/index.html>

MERLOT is a free and open resource designed primarily for faculty and students of higher education. Links to online learning materials are collected here along with annotations such as peer reviews and assignments.
<http://www.merlot.org/Home.po>

PROMETHEUS: Promoting Multimedia Access to Education and Training in EUropean Society (PROMETEUS) was launched in March 1999 under the sponsorship of the European Commission with the aim of promoting multimedia access to education and training throughout European society, and has evolved since then to encompass the whole range of technology assisted learning.
<http://www.prometeus.org/>

Stephen's Web - Learning Objects: This essay discusses the topic of learning objects in three parts. First, it identifies a need for learning objects and describes their essential components based on this need. Second, drawing on concepts from recent developments in computer science, it describes learning objects from a theoretical perspective. Finally, it describes learning objects in practice, first as they are created or generated by content authors, and second, as they're displayed or used by students and other client groups.
<http://www.atl.ualberta.ca/downes/naweb/Learning_Objects.htm>

The Instructional Use of  Learning Objects: This is the online version of The Instructional Use of Learning Objects, a new book that tries to go beyond the technological hype and connect learning objects to instruction and learning. You can read the full text of the book here for free.
<http://www.reusability.org/read/>

Compiled from the World Wide Web by Sanjaya Mishra, PhD

Understanding our Learners

Anita Dighe

The basic premise of learner centred education is an understanding of the learners. Keeping in mind its significance, in this section of Successful Media And Research Techniques (SMART) Tips, we present a brief note on how to understand your learner.

Introduction

Looking at a typical group of learners in distance education programmes, we are likely to find the following:

• A wide age range as opposed to regular conventional students who would have a small age range;
• A mix of male and female students;
• A mix of students of married and single status that would create differences in responsibility and time availability;
• Students with varied status in society with social commitment and responsibilities that could affect their learning environment and competing interests.

It is possible that the general distribution of the students could

cover a region, a whole country and for some programmes, many countries. They may be away from the institution offering the programme, in urban or rural setting, with varying learning facilities. The educational background of the learners may also vary. An open learning institution would bring in students with a wide range of basic education and language competence. On the other hand, in a dual mode system, admissions might be standardised on specific examination grades, with a specific minimum cut off point.

In terms of professional/occupational background, it is possible that in some programmes,the students may have undertaken some professional training or could already be employed. They may have varied aspirations and motivation for joining the distance education programme.

Considering the varied background of the students of such programmes,it is important to understand our learners.

Why is it important to know our learners?

Given the wide range, background and interests of the learners, it is important to know our learners so that we understand:

• Their educational and social background;
• Their present knowledge level;
• Their learning needs and their learning styles;
• Their values, attitudes, and their cultural background;
• Their motivation and desire for learning Information about our learners would be useful in defining our learning objectives and in determining our mode of communication as well as in designing the learner support system.

What do we need to know about our learners?

There are different aspects of our learners that we need to know about. But some of the most important ones are:

Demographic factors

• What age group?
• What sex, marital status?
• What occupations (if any)?
• What educational and income background?

Motivation factors

• Why do they want to learn?
• What are their aspirations?
• What are their hopes and expectations?
• How would the programme relate to their lives and their work?

Learning factors

• What learning styles do they have?
• What learning skills do they have?

Subject background

• What knowledge and skills do they already have in the subject?
• How do they feel about the programme?
• What personal interests and experiences do they have that could be relevant?

Resource factors

• When, where and how will they be learning?
• Who will be paying their fees and expenses?
• How much time will they have for the programme?
• What access do they have to media/facilities?
• What access will they have to human support - counsellors, other learners?

How will we collect information?

There are different ways in which we can collect information about our learners. Some of these include the following:

• Meeting some of the prospective learners and discussing with them individually and as a group) what they would like from the course or the programme and what they already know/feel about the subject;

• Sending a questionnaire to the prospective learners and trying to elicit the information we need. If this can be followed up by discussion with the learners, so much the better;

• Making a summary of the student enrolment and personal data to identify students' characteristics/profile;
• Making a summary of any surveys, which may have been done by institutions in relation to students' characteristics/profile;

• Keeping in touch with our learners- through meetings or by reading and commenting on their assignments- once they start working on the materials.

How do adults learn?

An adult learns differently from a child for an adult is a developed individual. However, there are certain characteristics that are common to the learning of all of us.Thus it is important to understand the following:

Self-directed learning: Adults have a self-concept and unlike children, they are less dependent and more self-directed as learners. However, there are social, cultural and gender differences. Learners from certain cultural and social backgrounds exhibit lack of self-confidence and have low self-esteem. By and large, women prefer collaborative learning rather than individualised learning.

Prior experience: With the process of growing up, adults gather experiences which are his/her own. These experiences determine the way one learns and these also facilitate/hinder one's learning. It is important to recognise the varied experiences and perceptions of the adults as they largely affect their learning.

Problem-centered learning: On the whole, adults tend to be more task centred or problem-centred. Problems and tasks that are more related to one's world of work and life generate interest in adult learners. As a result, learning situations that are based on these problems and tasks contribute to effective learning. Women are known to learn best when learning is based on their lived experience.

Learning by doing: Adults learn better by using their psychomotor skills and by doing rather than by rote learning. As a result, adults need to feel challenged by giving them opportunities for learning by doing.

Preference for democratic style of learning: Adults prefer a democratic, participatory style rather than an authoritarian style of learning. Rather than the popular perception that students are 'empty vessels' whose minds have to be filled with knowledge, a dialogical, interactive, cooperative style of learning finds favour with adults. Women are known to learn best when they are called upon to talk about themselves, their experiences of being a woman in the family, inthe community, and in the society at large.

Experiencing a sense of progression, a sense of achievement: Adults learn best when they feel they are making progress. Adults have varying learning needs. But in order to meet those needs, it is important for them to experience a sense of achievement, a feeling that their creative urge is challenged.

Picturing our learners

It would be useful to have a mental picture of our learners and start identifying their attributes and characteristics. Figure1 depicts the profile of students who are enrolled as first year students of a Bachelor's degree programme in a dual mode university.

Implications of understanding learners' characteristics

The information on the learners would be helpful in developing materials that are learner-sensitive and learner-friendly and in setting up a Learner Support System that is relevant to the needs of the learners.

Specifically, it would enable us to:

• understand the language level that would be easily understood by the learners in comprehending concepts, new information, theory, etc.;

• understand the entry level of the learners with regard to knowledge and skills so as to build on what the learners already know or possess;

• include examples that are based on learners' experiences;

include references and further readings that the learners are able to access within their learning environment;

• present information in a manner that would minimise their learning difficulties;

• develop materials that would ensure interaction between the learner and the text;

• evolve a Learner Support System that is sensitive to the learners' needs;

• develop a system that ensures regular feedback on the quality of materials that are issued as well as students' perceptions on the efficacy of the Learner Support System.

By applying the principles and steps outlined above, it is possible to effect dramatic improvements in quality and learner centeredness of self learning materials prepared by many an open and distance learning system, whether single or dual mode.

Dr. Anita Dighe, is presently the Director, Campus of Open Learning, University of Delhi, Delhi

To Contents....

Excellence in Distance Education Awards, 2002

The Commonwealth of Learning recognised excellence in distance education at an awards ceremony held in conjunction with its Second Pan-Commonwealth Forum on Open Learning on 1 August 2002 (Durban, South Africa). COL named 15 Honorary Fellows of the Commonwealth of Learning and also acknowledged excellence in materials development, institutional achievement and learner achievement (conferred on a student who studied through distance education). Details and citations are available at: www.col.org/edea

Awards of Excellence for Institutional Achievement

• Athabasca University, Canada
• BBC World Service, United Kingdom
• Yashwantrao Chavan Maharashtra Open University, India

Awards of Excellence for Distance Education Materials

• ABET Practitioner Training Programme (Certificate and Diploma), a training programme for adult basic education tutors developed by the Institute for Adult Basic Education and Training, University of South Africa
• The Mekong e-Sim Programme -- An Internet-mediated role play simulation jointly developed by the University of Technology, Sydney, University of Adelaide, University of Sydney and University of New England.

The Learning Experience Award

Ms. Frances J. Mensah, Director, Namibian College of Open Learning, Namibia

Honorary Fellows of COL

Dr. Dominique A.M.X. Abrioux Professor Clifford D. Blake Lord (Asa) Briggs of Lewes
Ms. Shona
E. Butterfield
Sir John S. Daniel
Dr. Glen M. Farrell
Ms. Jennifer A. Glennie
Dr. Dennis H. Irvine
Dr. S. Langi Kavaliku
Professor Geoffrey R.V. Mmari
Dr. Roslyn L. Morpeth
Dr. Hilary D. Perraton
Lord (Walter L.M.) Perry of Walton
Professor Ram G. Takwale
Alhaji Hafiz S. Wali
 

By honouring excellence in distance education, COL gives due recognition to remarkable  achievements and endeavours to benefit those who seek to emulate examples of good practice in the field.

Observatory on Borderless Higher Education

The Observatory on Borderless Higher Education is a new initiative from the association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU) and Universities UK (UUK). Developed as a strategic information service, the Observatory tracks international developments in borderless higher education - namely online learning, transnational provision and new provider (e.g. for-profit universities). The observatory would allow continuous analysis of developments and provide universities with strategic information on a regular basis. The observatory's remit is to undertake environmental scanning:

• description - tracking the latest developments in borderless higher education around the world;
• analysis --considering business models, decision-making processes and organisational change;
• reflection --separating hype from reality, and standing back to ponder the public role of higher education.

http://www.obhe.ac.uk

Arab Open University

The Open University, United Kingdom is working with the Arab Gulf Programme for United Nations Development Organisation (AGFUND) to set up an Arab Open University which aims to enroll 40,4000 students from Kuwait and a number of Arab states over the next five years. The aims of the university are to increase the provision of higher education in the region, to provide opportunities for in-service training for teachers, to help improve the supply of qualified staff and to increase educational opportunities for women. (Source: Open News, July 2002)

World Alliance in Distance Education

The World Alliance in Distance Education (WADE) is an alliance of four universities, located on four continents and operating in four different regions, who are world leaders in the field of distance education. The alliance members are: Athabasca University (Canada), Deakin University (Australia), Open University (United Kingdom) and Open University of Hong Kong.The WADE member universities signed a Memorandum of Understanding in May 2001 to explore the potential advantages of establishing a multilateral alliance which would enable them to work together to share expertise and experience in distance education, and to further develop new and innovative approaches to distance education and the uses of technologies in learning. With the positive outcomes of this MoU, an th agreement was signed on 30 July 2002 at Durban to formally establish the Alliance.
http://www.wade-universities.org

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Gralla, Preston (2000) How Internet Works, Techmedia: New Delhi, 324 pp. ISBN: 81-7635-437-6

Anurag Saxena

The word that goes with books is "read". But this book is different; one would be compelled to say, "view" in place of "read".Visualization is a process that increases ones ability to remember. Visualization helps one to create a strong, vivid memory. In fact while reading, a reader visualizes what he has read and has a picture in his mind to remember the concept. This is a book does just that for you. It uses illustrations to explain the functioning of the Internet to the reader. The clearly exemplified illustrations are undoubtedly the best explanation of some very intricate concepts. This book enables one to visualize and understand all of the complexities behind the Internet. The style is not too much narrative and jargon based. The result is a beautiful basic reference guide for the reader who is already using the Internet.

The book is divided in 9 parts and 50 chapters. The number of chapters may appear too big, but do not get afraid. There is a uniformity in the size of chapters viz. each chapter consist of 4 pages, one for the title, one for the text and 2 pages for illustration. Some chapters have more than 2 pages for illustrations (where more concepts are to be mentioned). Each part also contains 2 pages of text to explain what is in the chapters. So the book is presented in an extremely systematic manner.

First part of the book is dedicated to the definition of the Internet. It addresses questions like who runs the Internet and the standards followed for the network. It shows how information travels across the Internet with the help of hardware like hubs, bridges, routers, repeaters and gateways. It tells about how Transmission Control Protocol and Internet protocol (TCP/IP) breaks down, reassembles and send information to the right destination. It explains the logic behind the naming of Internet domains and addresses. It depicts a web connection as a combination of desktop, Internet service provider, the host computer and a communication network, which connects the previous three. It explains the use of web browser to enable you to surf through the net. Details about all types of files that
you come across while working on the Internet are given at the end of this part.

The chapters in the second part contain the fundamental design of the Internet. Even if you are an avid Internet user, you will find many things here that you might not have heard of e.g. Domain Name System (DNS). DNS is described as the heart of how Internet works as it enables the computers to contact each other and exchange information. Routers are defined as the traffic cops of the Internet as they manage the flow of the data via shortest and most accurate route. So while DNS translates your desire into computer's understanding, routers look at the addresses and send the data to the next closest router until the data is delivered. Internet's client server architecture is also explained in this part as how the client requests the information and how the server process and displays the
information.

Part three of the book explains the ways in which one can connect to the Internet. It gives an overview of topics like cable modem, digital subscriber line (DSL) and Integrated services digital network (ISDN) etc. It is interesting to see that as the net technology is advancing, it is becoming easier to get connected and that too at higher speeds.

Part four tells you the way to  communicate on the Internet. Many of us may be using Emails in our day to day work but very few among us would be knowing that what goes behind it i.e. how it is delivered, how its software work, how it is sent between networks. It explains email Spam and how it blocks it. Few chapters in this part are devoted to Internet chat and telephony.

Part five is dedicated to World Wide Web. It is far easier to use the worldwide web than to learn how web pages work, what is a web browser and how it works. One can find even more details like the organization of web pages on a web site. This part also explains how markup languages, hypertext and uniform resource locater (URL)
work. The web is useful because it  contains lot of information. The last chapter of this part explains how websites work with databases.

Part six is devoted to technologies, which have extended the scope of World Wide Web. Common Internet tools like Telnet; FTP (File Transfer Protocol) explained in this part. You can get answers to many "hows" in this part of the book e.g. How a FTP session works; how a file compression works how internet search engines work, how meta search  software works etc. The part also gives a detailed overview of three most important programming tools associated with web technology i.e. Java, Active X, and JavaScript.

Part Seven is devoted to multimedia on the Internet. One can now listen to music, sound clips and live radio from the web as well as watch video, view and have videoconferencing with people from all over the world. This part explains how streaming audio/video works , how mp3 music files work , how Internet radio broadcasting works , how animation works on the web.

Part eight is basically on internets. It deals with online shopping and explains how companies build their own intranets to do business online. Part nine is devoted to the security aspects on the net. It explains safeguarding measure like firewall etc. It explains how your computer is prone to viruses and hackers attacks. Finally it describes cookie  technology, which enables the host computer to keep a track of the user.


This book can be described as a "good informative visual-treat" and is useful for those who want to know a little bit extra. It is useful for those who want to know a little bit extra. It is useful for those users of the Internet who pose questions like "how" and "why" rather than using the Internet without knowing anything about it. The book will serve as a good quick reference book for the clientele described above.


Dr. Anurag Saxena is Dy. Director, Centre
for Development of Evaluation Technology,
SRED, IGNOU, New Delhi





Sallis, Edward and Jones, Gary (2002) Knowledge Management in Education: Enhancing Learning & Education, Kogan Page: London, 140 pp. ISBN: 0-7494-3495-3

Sanjaya Mishra

Knowledge has become an important ingredient of success in the new world order. To leverage the power of knowledge, organizations and business have created systems and practices. As a result, the management practices
have also been influenced to change from the traditional way of  managing product manufacturing to the new way of managing knowledge workers. With this, a  new discipline has emerged -Knowledge Management. The book under review applies knowledge management in the field of education and training.

Divided into eight chapters, the book presents to us the concepts, theories and practices of knowledge management in a simple, lucid and illuminating style. An introduction before the chapters sets the tone of  the book by emphasizing the importance of knowledge in ever changing knowledge-based society. Chapter 1 explores the dimensions of knowledge management and the key concepts underpinning it. It  discusses the nature of knowledge
and explains the two important concepts: tacit knowledge and  explicit knowledge. Chapter 2  critically examines the
organizational and leadership issues effecting knowledge creation. The  authors discuss creation of a new  organizational environment through  structures and practices that can foster and incubate knowledge. Chapter 3 describes some of the key issues and models for making the best use of knowledge. The issues discussed in this chapter include knowledge classification,  knowledge audit, accounting for knowledge, technology and knowledge management, knowing what we know, and implications for education. Chapter 4 presents the use of 'scenario planning' as a strategy to devise knowledge management systems and practices in organizations. Scenario planning is a forecasting tool to look at the future and plan. The chapter describes various stages of scenario planning. Chapter 5 is all about learning organizations. It elaborates on the links between learning, creativity, knowledge and organizations. Chapter 6 critically examines the issues relating to digital divide and how to build bridges to create a digitally inclusive society. Examples of various efforts in this direction are the host computer to keep a track of the user. cited in this chapter. One such example is the Indian website -www.TARAhaat.com <http://www.TARAhaat.com>. Chapter 7 identifies and describes the pioneers in the field of knowledge management. Some of  the knowledge management gurus discussed in this chapter include Chris Argyris, Thomas H.Davenport, Laurence Prusak, Peter Drucker, Dorothy Leonard, Ikujiro Nonaka, and Peter Senge. The last chapter depicts a knowledge management checklist to be used by organizations interested in applying the principles and practices of knowledge management.

Though the book provides an excellent and simple exposition on the subject, some of the chapters look just disjointed to the main theme. The main theme of the book has been covered in chapter 1 to 4. However, chapter 5, 6 and 7 on 'learning organizations', 'bridging digital divide' and 'knowledge management gurus' respectively are essays related to the theme showing very little connection to the main theme. Similarly the last chapter has been presented in a very short and cryptic style. Nevertheless the book is a very good and concise guide for educational professionals to start thinking on the use of knowledge management principles in different educational set ups. It will work like an appetizer for the serious readers on the theme to look for additional resources and the publications of the knowledge management gurus.

Sanjaya Mishra, PhD is Programme Officer at CEMCA.




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