FOOD, HEALTH AND EDUCATION FOR ALL: THE ROLE OF DISTANCE LEARNING Yashwantrao Chavan Maharashtra Open University 13 November 2003 EDUCATION FOR ALL AND THE ROLE OF OPEN AND DISTANCE LEARNING The Global Scenario John Daniel Assistant Director-General for Education

How do you see globalisation?

Questions - Why? - How? - What principles? - For whom? - Where? - Which technologies?

Questions Why use technology in education?

Technology is the answer but what was the question?

Aspirations for education 1. Access – increase it 2. Quality – improve it 3. Cost – reduce it

COST ACCESS QUALITY

Education for All

Aspirations for education 1. Access – increase it 2. Quality – improve it

Aspirations for education 1. Access – increase it 2. Quality – improve it “Fitness for purpose at minimum cost to society”

AIMS: - Human capital - Social capital

COST ACCESS QUALITY

COST ACCESSQUALITY

TECHNOLOGY is the application of scientific and other organized knowledge to practical tasks by organizations consisting of people and machines.

Two types of learning activities: INDEPENDENT

Two types of learning activities: INDEPENDENT INTERACTIVE

INDEPENDENT - read a book - watch TV - listen to radio - work on computer

INDEPENDENT = Economies of scale such as: - printing books - broadcasting TV - downloading software

INTERACTIVE

INTERACTIVE The student’s work obtains a response from another person

INTERACTIVE Different cost structure

Example OPEN UNIVERSITIES

Number of students Total cost more interactive more independent

Questions - Why? - How? - What principles? - For whom? - Where? - Which technologies?

Example OPEN UNIVERSITIES

COST ACCESS QUALITY

COST ACCESSQUALITY

The Open University ~200,000 students in 2003 (the UK had 130,000 students in all universities combined in 1963)

BRITAIN’S TOP NINE UNIVERSITIES Quality Rankings of Teaching based on all subject assessments (Sunday Times University Guide 2003) 1CAMBRIDGE 96% 2LOUGHBOROUGH95% 3=LONDON SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS88% 3=YORK88% 5 THE OPEN UNIVERSITY87% 6 OXFORD86% 7 IMPERIAL COLLEGE82% 8 UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON77% 9 ESSEX77%

Questions - Why? - How? - What principles? - For whom? - Where? - Which technologies?

DISTANCES: - GEOGRAPHIC - TIME - SOCIAL - DISABILITY

“When I asked about the possible use of alternative learning technologies one woman suggested that her most pressing need was not for learning technologies but for other technologies such as washing machines, cookers and vacuum cleaners, which would help shorten the time she spent on housework and increase the time she needed for studying.”

Questions - Why? - How? - What principles? - For whom? - Where? - Which technologies?

Start with the learner!

Technologies: - available? - at reasonable cost? - easy to use? - independent or interactive?

TECHNOLOGY IS THE ANSWER but WHAT WAS THE QUESTION?

EDUCATION “education for all”“the defences of peace”, “the free exchange of ideas and knowledge” “ the unrestricted pursuit of objective truth” “intellectual and moral solidarity” “mutual understanding” The four B’s

EDUCATION “education for all”“the defences of peace”, “the free exchange of ideas and knowledge” “ the unrestricted pursuit of objective truth” “intellectual and moral solidarity” “mutual understanding” The BAD ‘B’s - BIAS

EDUCATION “education for all”“the defences of peace”, “the free exchange of ideas and knowledge” “ the unrestricted pursuit of objective truth” “intellectual and moral solidarity” “mutual understanding” The BAD ‘B’s - BIAS e.g. vendor bias

EDUCATION “education for all”“the defences of peace”, “the free exchange of ideas and knowledge” “ the unrestricted pursuit of objective truth” “intellectual and moral solidarity” “mutual understanding” The BAD ‘B’s - BIAS e.g. political bias

EDUCATION “education for all”“the defences of peace”, “the free exchange of ideas and knowledge” “ the unrestricted pursuit of objective truth” “intellectual and moral solidarity” “mutual understanding” The BAD ‘B’s - BIAS e.g. private vs. public bias

EDUCATION “education for all”“the defences of peace”, “the free exchange of ideas and knowledge” “ the unrestricted pursuit of objective truth” “intellectual and moral solidarity” “mutual understanding” The BAD ‘B’s - BIAS - BULL**** (BS)

EDUCATION “education for all”“the defences of peace”, “the free exchange of ideas and knowledge” “ the unrestricted pursuit of objective truth” “intellectual and moral solidarity” “mutual understanding” The global great and good are obsessed with the ‘digital divide’. Half the people of the world, they fret, have never made a telephone call. Africa has less bandwidth than Brazil’s city of Sao Paolo. How, ask dozens of inter-governmental task forces, can the poor get connected?

EDUCATION “education for all”“the defences of peace”, “the free exchange of ideas and knowledge” “ the unrestricted pursuit of objective truth” “intellectual and moral solidarity” “mutual understanding” Amid all the attention paid to developing countries’ lack of Internet access, some people feel that more fundamental problems are being ignored. Ted Turner, an American media boss, observed last year that there was no point in giving people computers when they had no electricity. The Economist, November, 2001

EDUCATION “education for all”“the defences of peace”, “the free exchange of ideas and knowledge” “ the unrestricted pursuit of objective truth” “intellectual and moral solidarity” “mutual understanding” The GOOD ‘B’s - BREADTH

EDUCATION “education for all”“the defences of peace”, “the free exchange of ideas and knowledge” “ the unrestricted pursuit of objective truth” “intellectual and moral solidarity” “mutual understanding” When I asked about the possible use of alternative learning technologies one woman suggested that her most pressing need was not for learning technologies but for other technologies such as washing machines, cookers and vacuum cleaners, which would help shorten the time she spent on housework and increase the time she needed for studying. Edith Mhehe

EDUCATION “education for all”“the defences of peace”, “the free exchange of ideas and knowledge” “ the unrestricted pursuit of objective truth” “intellectual and moral solidarity” “mutual understanding” Q: How do you get the kids to school?

EDUCATION “education for all”“the defences of peace”, “the free exchange of ideas and knowledge” “ the unrestricted pursuit of objective truth” “intellectual and moral solidarity” “mutual understanding” Q: How do you get the kids to school? A: Donkeys

dot.com frenzy

EDUCATION “education for all”“the defences of peace”, “the free exchange of ideas and knowledge” “ the unrestricted pursuit of objective truth” “intellectual and moral solidarity” “mutual understanding” The GOOD ‘B’s - BREADTH - BALANCE

EDUCATION “education for all”“the defences of peace”, “the free exchange of ideas and knowledge” “ the unrestricted pursuit of objective truth” “intellectual and moral solidarity” “mutual understanding” BALANCE between: Teaching and Learning

EDUCATION “education for all”“the defences of peace”, “the free exchange of ideas and knowledge” “ the unrestricted pursuit of objective truth” “intellectual and moral solidarity” “mutual understanding” TECHNOLOGY: - start with the teacher?

EDUCATION “education for all”“the defences of peace”, “the free exchange of ideas and knowledge” “ the unrestricted pursuit of objective truth” “intellectual and moral solidarity” “mutual understanding” TECHNOLOGY: - start with the teacher or - start with the learner?

EDUCATION “education for all”“the defences of peace”, “the free exchange of ideas and knowledge” “ the unrestricted pursuit of objective truth” “intellectual and moral solidarity” “mutual understanding” THANKS TO THE INTERNETASYNCHRONOUS HAS WON

COST ACCESS QUALITY

COST ACCESSQUALITY

EDUCATION “education for all”“the defences of peace”, “the free exchange of ideas and knowledge” “ the unrestricted pursuit of objective truth” “intellectual and moral solidarity” “mutual understanding” BALANCE between: ICT for teaching ICT ICT for teaching the rest

Examples The Hole in the Wall

Examples Sugata Mitra (NIIT) The Hole in the Wall

Sugata Mitra (NIIT) ‘Children from 8 to 13 years old came rushing to the hole in the wall. Within an hour they were browsing. In a week they could do most of the common functions on a PC, cut and paste, drag and drop, copy, paste, rename and save files and so on. In a month, they were downloading and playing games from the Internet. Researchers watched with incredulity. The media exploded with stories’.

Sugata Mitra (NIIT) ‘Hundreds of children flock around them all day long. Their understanding is instinctive and incredibly accurate. They want a keyboard but we don’t know how to build one that will survive in the open’.

Sugata Mitra (NIIT) Minimally Invasive Education exists

Sugata Mitra (NIIT) Minimally Invasive Education exists Move from 500,000 students/year (NIIT) to hundreds of millions and remove the DIGITAL DIVIDE

THE OPEN UNIVERSITY INDUSTRIAL STRENGTH operates in the e-world at INDUSTRIAL STRENGTH: Numbers online = 150,000 +

THE OPEN UNIVERSITY e-applications: - check academic record (50,000 per week)

THE OPEN UNIVERSITY e-applications: - check academic record (35,000 per week) - communication

THE OPEN UNIVERSITY INDUSTRIAL STRENGTH operates in the e-world at INDUSTRIAL STRENGTH: Numbers online = 150,000 + > 250,000 messages per day between students

THE OPEN UNIVERSITY e-applications: library consultation: - from 114,000 (2000) to 766,000 (2001) course-related documents consulted. - from 37,000 (1999) to 273,000 (2001) e-journal articles consulted

THE OPEN UNIVERSITY “They prefer books as books - not as computer files to download…”

THE OPEN UNIVERSITY “…but they have switched massively and rapidly to online technology for communicating with the University”

Play to the strengths of ONLINE ACTIVE LEARNING and ACCESS to a range of MEDIA

BUT: good Preparing good ACTIVE LEARNING experiences is a lot of work for teachers

TECHNOLOGY IS THE ANSWER but WHAT WAS THE QUESTION?

EDUCATION “education for all”“the defences of peace”, “the free exchange of ideas and knowledge” “ the unrestricted pursuit of objective truth” “intellectual and moral solidarity” “mutual understanding” - Bias - Bull**** - Breadth - Balance

FOOD, HEALTH AND EDUCATION FOR ALL: THE ROLE OF DISTANCE LEARNING Yashwantrao Chavan Maharashtra Open University 13 November 2003 EDUCATION FOR ALL AND THE ROLE OF OPEN AND DISTANCE LEARNING The Global Scenario John Daniel Assistant Director-General for Education