Distance Education
Distance
learning holds immense potential in developing
communities around the world in building capacity. It is
an effective way of (1) reaching out to a large number
of people at low cost, (2) reaching out to groups that have been
previously marginalized from educational opportunities, and (3)
providing opportunities for training for economic growth.
There are four players in distance education:
-
The
teaching institution
- The students and groups
receiving the education
- The company or employing
organization
- The financial sponsor
The appropriateness and
effectiveness of distance learning depends on why, how,
and how well it is designed and delivered. A
typical
checklist for assessing learning effectiveness includes:
-
Will the learners understand what is expected of them?
Language and literacy issues.
-
Will they have difficulties achieving the goals?
-
How long would be expected to take over each section?
-
Is the material at the right level of difficulty and
interest?
-
Do the examples seem relevant?
-
Are any sections likely to cause problems (culture)?
-
Are new terms adequately explained?
-
Are the activities good in number and applicable?
-
Are there appropriate follow ups?
-
Are they addressing
the right age group.
It is essential to have a local
collaborative partner. It is primarily for learners
support on the delivery and the provision of local
systems. Key criteria include:
-
Pricing in accordance to the population status
-
Targeting the right market. Sometimes an existing
program will have to be modified to be attractive and
relevant to the market (age group, economic group, etc.)
-
Ensuring
that the materials are accurately translated, and
that the learners can understand the context. The
introduction of distance learning would need to take in
account the local availability, reliability, and
usability of the appropriate media of transmission.
Essential to tailor and deliver material according to
local requirements in lower educational levels.
-
Advising on the use of existing networks to support the
infrastructure.
DISTANCE EDUCATION
PROJECTS
-
In
Iquitos, Peru, the EDC Program is working with
Centura Health’s Missions and Community Health
Program to establish a communication link between a
medical clinic in the Amazon jungle and the Clinica
Adventista Ana Stahl in Iquitos, Peru. Project
design will be guided by WiFi systems currently in
operation in the high Amazon region.
-
In Afghanistan, EDC
is working with the
Center for Advanced Engineering and Technology Education
(CAETE) at CU Boulder and the
Afghan
e-Quality Alliance based at Washington State
University to provide scholarships to young engineering
faculty members in six Afghan universities. The
scholarships will allow young engineering faculty in
Afghanistan to study toward certification in
Telecommunications, Engineering Management or Electrical
and Computer Engineering. All certificates courses will
be offered online through the Center for Advanced
Engineering and Technology Education CAETE.
ICT FOR DEVELOPMENT
Many countries cannot have access
to up to date ICT technologies due to cost and
availability. However, there is a lot of free software
that is available today such as open source software.
The idea is to make poor communities aware of the
availability of such software, provide it to them free,
and train them on how to use it.
Hardware is also available from richer countries.
Equipment can be made available quite cheap through
proper channels of donations.
"The efficiency of an ICT project
is not measured by the amount of users of computers and
technologies, but by the changes in the life of the
people who access information". ICT is only a
facilitator agent of other processes.
Check for instance
www.ubuntulinux.org which is a free Linux based
operating system. The software is free and can be
modified by the user on an as needed basis. Check also
www.bellanet.org
and
www.itrainonline.org .
PODCASTING FOR
DEVELOPMENT (P4D-EDC)
Engineering for
Developing Communities Podcasts
World Bank News and Broadcasts
WEB LINKS
ARTICLES
Using agricultural podcasting in
Peru:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/1/hi/technology/4688882.stm
Podcasting:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Podcast#Podcasting_versus_broadcasting_and_streaming
Podcasting:
Knowledge Sharing for Development Through Dialogue
(by M. Roberts and P.P. Sarkar)
|
|
