9.1. UK providers
9.2. Market research
9.3. Donor agencies
9.4. Sustainability
9.5. Sustaining the tutor-student relationship
9.6. Residential schools
9.7. Maintaining practical facilities
9.8. Updating of materials
9.9. Prioritising needs
In many cases the importing of pre-existing distance education courses will be impractical, either because the appropriate material to meet the identified need simply does not exist or because modification to suit local and cultural need is not possible. In these circumstances ab initio development will be required. Where a local university exists it is likely to be the developing agent. Where there is no such institution, or where a course is being jointly developed for a number of countries, as would be the case for some specialised areas of engineering, some form of collaboration will be likely.
Despite the obvious benefits of collaborative development, in practice it is most uncommon. There are two major reasons for this. Firstly, the 'not invented here' syndrome of many academic institutions who prefer their own material to the adoption of others, secondly the lack of structures that facilitate joint working and transfer of expertise from established providers to potential partners in developing countries. Such structures although espoused by organisations such as the Commonwealth of Learning are little evident in practice. Donor agencies would be well advised to consider the benefits of establishing such arrangements. For engineering, in particular, there would be considerable advantages from the involvement of the UK Engineering Council, which is enthusiastic about the potential of distance education in such an arrangement. They would be able to play a role both in the coordination of industrial training and in ensuring appropriate standards are achieved in relation to satisfying the requirements of the professional institutions.
While all of the UK academic institutions involved in the study have links with industry and/or commerce, the majority of them admitted to being product- rather than market-led. Distance learning courses are often conceived on the basis of the personal interest of one or more staff members, or they are developed from pre-existing full-time courses. In some instances, they are developed on an intuitive basis, from successful short courses. These institutions rarely conduct market research to ascertain their markets before developing courses.
The same does not apply to nearly such an extent among the more 'commercially aware' academic or private institutions, many of whom work primarily with companies. For them it is evidently imperative to tailor their products to match their clients' needs.
The high capital cost required for the development of distance learning courses makes market research essential. Before committing funds, developers and sponsors of distance education must have a comprehensive picture of the size of the market, their potential market penetration and the existence of competitive courses. Market surveys can also play a crucial role in ensuring that the eventual product matches the educational or training requirement. Thus market research can also be used as a needs analysis.
For aid agencies which seek to commission either a new distance learning programme or indeed a modification of existing materials, the conclusions of Sharrat and Foster (1991) are important:
· The number of students required to break-even is, in general, higher for distance learning courses than for 'conventional' face-to-face, whether study is full-time or part-time. However, once the break-even is reached then distance learning becomes progressively more cost-effective· The cost of developing a distance education course is less for a mixed-mode institution than for a wholly distance teaching institution, although the size of the UK Open University compared with other institutions involved in distance teaching is so great as to make sensible comparison difficult
· The conversion of existing courses is cheaper than ab initio development (13)
The high capital cost of development of distance education generally requires large student numbers to justify the investment. These students are often recruited over a longish time period so distance education providers invariably plan for their programmes to be sustainable over the same time period or longer. Sustainability is important for two main reasons:
· student support - since study periods are typically longer for distance students, the relationship between student and tutor/support assumes a high importance and must be maintained during the student's entire registration· materials up-dating - all courses need to be regularly reviewed and updated. Depending upon the teaching media employed, the cost of up-dating distance education courses is usually higher than conventionally taught courses. The impact of this can be offset by a large enrolment. It is also one of the reasons why distance education is perhaps more appropriate for the unchanging fundamentals of subjects (e.g. statistics, engineering science, management theories), rather than rapidly changing fields of knowledge.
Many distance learning courses, for instance at MSc/Postgraduate Diploma level, allow the students up to five years for completion. Given this length of time, it is vital that a good tutor-student relationship be maintained. Institutions offering good distance courses achieve this in a number of ways: by regular phone or fax contact, by the tutor or the administrator contacting the students on a regular basis and not simply when they suspect they might have dropped out, and by permitting the students reasonable flexibility with assignments to allow for the contingencies of their work or private lives.
Many current distance learning courses employ residential periods to deal with the need for practical, 'hands-on' experience or to provide opportunities for group interaction.
Most students enjoy attending a residential school. Not only does it give them the opportunity to meet their tutors and fellow students, it can also offer a strong motivational element.
Among developing countries, attendance at residential schools invariably poses financial problems. To counter this, if the numbers justify an in-country residential course, it should be held locally wherever possible, or at least in a neighbouring third country, rather than in a distant developed country such as the UK. Students may not be able to attend a course abroad otherwise. An exception may be necessary for some aspects of engineering, where certain practical facilities are only available in certain locations.
If a residential component is compulsory it should be made as easy as possible for students from developing countries to attend: by offering advice regarding financial support available, by providing the cheapest possible accommodation and by making bursaries available. Such measures will help to make a course more sustainable from the point of view of the students.
For most engineering courses, practical facilities are crucial. This is equally true for engineering distance education even though a student's practical experience might be concentrated into short face-to-face (or residential) periods.
The study identified a significant problem in developing countries which, if not addressed, will prejudice the future success and sustainability of engineering distance education. Funds from aid agencies have frequently been used to purchase technical equipment. However the lack of maintenance of this equipment means that over a period of time its efficiency is reduced and ultimately it falls into such a state of disrepair that it is unusable. There were a number of examples, especially in Zimbabwe, where this has occurred. There are four main reasons for this, although the solution may be less easy to identify:
· cultural attitudes
· lack of management awareness and of direct supervision
· low remuneration of technical and maintenance staff
· aid agencies not including a maintenance allocation in the support of capital purchases.
The importance of this cannot be underestimated: if the facilities are not maintained, no distance learning course in a practical subject such as engineering can be sustained in the long term.
Materials can now be easily updated and modified using high-tech print runs and Just In Time (JIT) principles. This technique also facilitates tailor-made courses. Few academic institutions use such technology and the updating of materials is not necessarily given a high profile. If a course is to be sustainable in the long term, however, the materials must be relevant and up to date. Moreover, regular updating of materials provides a strong promotional advantage.
In analysing the needs of a country for engineering distance learning, it is necessary to prioritise in order to achieve maximum efficiency in the long term. This might not always imply initially offering the course for which there would seem to be the greatest need in terms of numbers. For example, in Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe the greatest need in the field of engineering is at the technician level. There is however also a general need for managerial skills, and it may prove more effective in the long term first to provide managerial training by distance learning. Educated managers would then be in a position to encourage training lower down in the hierarchy and would have an understanding of what the distance learning process required. This would reinforce the crucial role which employer support can play in the success of a course.
In all three countries, priority is being given to export competitiveness. This implies a market-led approach, creating increased productivity, continuity of supply and efficient management. There is also a universal need, and a great demand, for the management skills required to bring about such competitiveness: entrepreneurship, quality and quality assurance, communications, engineering management training, project management etc.. Given all three countries' priorities, responding to this universal need would provide a more sustainable programme.
Similarly, privatisation and the private sector are extremely important in all three cases. This is especially true in the case of the Czech Republic where the privatisation of its national industries is occuring at a tremendous pace. Environmental issues are also important but especially crucial in the Czech Republic where these issues have acquired a high profile in the privatisation process. Training in environmental matters is therefore much higher up the Czech agenda than in the other two countries, a fact which should be acknowledged when distance learning programmes are considered.
