Topic 10

Managing Materials Development, Production,
and Distribution

 Table of Contents 

 

Overview

Source materials for this topic

Who and what is involved in management?

Roles

Teamwork, or managing project teams

Determining institutional strategies: adopt, adapt, or create?

Managing course planning and development

The course development blueprint

Costing

Scheduling course development

Meeting legal requirements

Copyright

Contracting writers and editors

Managing course production and delivery

Course production

Distribution

Technological innovations

Practice exercise

Management role play

 1. Overview 

These materials support a discussion on the topic of managing the processes of planning, designing, producing, and delivering learning materials.

The emphasis in these materials is on print materials, since print continues to be a major component of most open and distance learning programmes. This emphasis may or may not be appropriate for your participants. For management of other media, you may wish to draw on the resources available in another col kit, Integrating Media.

1.1 Source materials for this topic

Bates, T. Technology in open learning and distance education: a guide for decision makers. Vancouver: The Commonwealth of Learning and the Open Learning Agency, 1991.

Jenkins, J. Course development: a manual for editors of distance teaching materials. 2nd ed. Cambridge: International Extension College, 1987.

Parer, M. (ed.). Development, design, and distance education. Churchill, Australia: Centre for Distance Learning, Gippsland Institute, 1989.

Rowntree, D. Preparing materials for open, distance, and flexible learning: an action guide for teachers and trainers. London: Kogan Page, 1994.

 2. Who and what is involved in management? 

2.1 Roles

In a sense, all those within open and distance learning share some responsibility for managing course development, even though they may not recognise this aspect of their jobs. Who bears overall responsibility for the materials development process? In most programmes this responsibility is usually delegated to the chair of the course development team.

In addition to chairing the course team, a number of roles are involved in managing different aspects of the process. The following are the most typical:

·       course writer or writers: possess expertise in the subject matter of the course and the ability to write in a way that communicates effectively with learners at a distance;

·       instructional designer: understands research in open and distance learning and adult pedagogy, is the collector of wisdom and successful techniques in open and distance learning, and is able to apply this knowledge to the course in question without clashing with the course writers;

·       administrator: carries out administrative duties on behalf of the development team, liaises with contract writers, assists with copyright clearance, compiles readings and illustrations, ensures production schedules are met, and keeps control over day-to-day progress of the course;

·       editor: bears responsibility for the clarity and accuracy of the language and the textual presentation of the materials, much as in a traditional publishing house;

·       media designer: bears responsibility for the illustrations, page layout, formatting, and the integration of print with other media;

·       printer: oversees physical reproduction of materials, including collating, binding, and packaging; and

·       dispatcher: bears responsibility for dispatching materials in a timely fashion, maintaining inventory and warehousing, and record keeping.

In large organisations these roles may be assigned to different people. In small organisations often two or three people share these roles. It is not unusual in small organisations, for example, for the editor to have responsibility for chairing the course team, doing the instructional design, and taking administrative responsibility for the course.

Discussion: In the organisation in which your participants work, what kinds of staff positions are assigned these roles? See the case study for the University of Botswana for an account of the challenges that face a small open and distance learning unit in training and managing course writers.

2.2 Teamwork, or managing project teams

Much of the work of open and distance learning is carried out in teams. For example, the development and production of a course requires the collaboration of subject matter experts, instructional designers, editors, visual designers, and a variety of support people, including liaison librarians, printers, and so on.

Managing a team places different kinds of demands on managers than does line management:

·       time, because you have specified start and finish dates;

·       resources, because you need a high degree of financial accountability as projects are more difficult to cost and control than are routine line management functions; and

·       personnel, because you tend to work with a cross-functional team of temporary members, some of whom will be in a reporting line to someone other than you.

Effective teamwork depends on a number of variables.

Time

A good deal of time is required to establish and re-establish the common ground that is essential to effective teamwork, which is achieved through shared experience, reflection, and discussion.

Experience and maturity

Experience in team-building among at least some of the team members is a great asset, as is a mature approach to the challenges of interpersonal communication.

Knowledge

Team members ideally should possess knowledge and expertise in a variety of fields that complement and reinforce each other rather than conflict, and that when taken together yield a much more complete and rounded picture than one field alone could produce.

Skills

Each team member needs to have skills he or she can put to direct use in making the team effective. Communication skills in particular include:

·         explaining;

·         describing;

·         categorising;

·         articulating;

·         listening;

·         checking out assumptions;

·         attending to feelings;

·         facilitating discussion; and

·         demonstrating.

A sense of humour is also a valuable asset.

Shared respect

Each team member ideally should respect and admire the competence of the other members and the knowledge and skills of their respective fields or subfields. This respect extends to an eagerness to learn about the others’ fields and to use all contributions.

Openness and flexibility

Vital to teamwork, openness and flexibility have several facets:

·      making and accepting offers; saying ‘Yes, and’ more often than ‘Yes, but’ or ‘No’;

·      accepting and even welcoming differences and recognising that diversity is strength;

·      demonstrating tolerance, raising biases to conscious levels, controlling them, and expressing tolerance out loud;

·      sharing rather than trading ideas, experiences, and skills;

·      building on each others’ learning and ideas to develop something new; and

·      being willing to take risks, make errors, and learn from them as natural and useful parts of teamwork.

Desire to learn, curiosity

This variable stretches all the way from simple curiosity about how others might need to adapt our ideas in order to use them to viewing differences as exciting.

Commitment to process

All team members are concerned with efficiency and getting the job done and all get frustrated by the time taken up in meetings. Nonetheless, process is part of the task, and coming to grudging agreements rather than griping ones is vital.

Support and encouragement

Teamwork is exciting and difficult, and support and encouragement are needed in good times and bad, and should be expressed out loud and often.

Sensitivity

Sensitivity emerges in two ways: putting others’ needs before one’s own, at least some of the time, and paying attention to the emotional content of looks, words, and silences as well as to their intellectual substance.

Trust

Trust emerges as the keystone of teamwork. Without it teams fall apart. Risk is the flip side of trust, and must be accepted as part of the bargain.

Attention to the use of power

No matter how right or good our ideas are, telling others what to do is not the approach of a successful team, or between the team and others with whom the team interacts.

Determination and energy

Determination shines through in resistance to fatigue (headache, what headache?), in the insistence on recapturing focus when group discussion wanders too far off track, and in the continual juggling of tasks and time and other commitments in order to accommodate the needs of the group.

Discussion: Ask participants for examples from their experience of teams that worked and of teams that did not work.

 3. Determining institutional strategies: adopt, adapt, or create?

One of the major choices a manager of an open and distance learning programme must make is how to provide the basic course materials for the programme: adopt existing materials outright, adopt existing materials but adapt them somewhat, or create new materials? In reality, these strategies form a continuum, with adoption at one end, creation at the other, and adaptation somewhere in the middle. For example, most courses that are created from the ‘ground up’ make use of some existing materials, such as textbooks or video cassettes. In addition, almost all courses that are ‘adopted’ undergo some degree of adaptation.

These strategies are set out below, together with the benefits they offer, their limitations, and other factors that might affect decision-making.

Adoption Strategies for Providing Course Materials in Distance Education

Strategy	Benefits	Challenges	Other factors
adopting existing materials	·       may be less costly ·       less time consuming ·       can provide model ·       no need to pre-test ·       errors already eliminated ·       labour saving, less stressful for staff ·       reduces lead-in time ·       source of new ideas ·       opportunities for collaboration ·       can provide a quality not otherwise possible	·       may not be relevant to needs ·       may not be suitable culturally, contextually ·       testing for fit may be needed ·       may kill creativity at local level ·       deprives local staff of ownership ·       may omit crucial content areas ·       may go out of print while you still need copies ·       may have hidden costs, for example, support structure ·       may promote dependency ·       may push planners into premature start	·       status and prestige ·       ‘not invented here’ syndrome ·       cost to purchase or lease compared with ‘ground-up’ production

Adaptation Strategies for Providing Course Materials in Distance Education

Strategy	Benefits	Challenges	Other factors
adapting existing materials	·       gives a headstart, reduces lead time ·       gives models and ideas ·       may be easy to convert ·       can select from available materials ·       cost-saving ·       can improve by adding components ·       can increase appropriateness ·       can update ·       can improve writers’ skills without having to produce whole course	·       expert knowledge still needed ·       may reduce quality by altering ·       may be self-defeating because of costs and time ·       does less for developing local capacity ·       may not assist in developing coherent programme ·       levels may not match	·       accreditation issues ·       control and ownership of course ·       issues of copyright ·       credibility of provider

Creation Strategies for Providing Course Materials in Distance Education

Strategy	Benefits	Challenges	Other factors
creating original materials	·       likely to fit target audience more closely ·       more likely to be culturally relevant ·       will be up-to-date ·       will be unique ·       will build local capacity and self-confidence ·       will be easier to modify if necessary	·       the most expensive option ·       lead-in time is longer ·       may put high stress on developers ·       amount of work may be underestimated ·       needs trained and skilled staff ·       need to build up capacity and expertise ·       need to persuade people it is worth doing ·       needs adequate resources	·       start-up costs ·       status of enterprise, political agenda

 4. Managing course planning and development 

4.1 The course development blueprint

The development of a course represents a major commitment of financial and human resources. Because of this, it is useful to ensure that the full extent of the commitment required is determined before the development project begins.

A typical procedure for this planning exercise is the development of a course planning document, sometimes called a course blueprint.

The course blueprint is circulated for comment to all units that are concerned with course production and delivery, including registration, tutorial services, academic departments, media and production, warehousing, and dispatch. The academic content may also be sent to other content experts, and to partner organisations and agencies, for review and comment.

Depending on the comments received, the blueprint authors may be asked to revise their proposal. Approval usually rests with someone in the organisation who has budgetary authority to commit the resources involved, such as the dean of a faculty.

Here is an outline for a typical course blueprint.

Course Blueprint Outline

A.      Programme-related details

1.       Course title

2.       Programme

a.       programme or programmes in which the course is intended as a component

b.       compulsory or elective

3.       Level

a.       introductory or foundation

b.       intermediate

c.       advanced

d.       postgraduate

4.       Credit weighting

a.       number of credit hours assigned to it

5.       Semester

a.       semester in which it is to be offered

6.       Prerequisites

7.       Anticipated annual enrolment

a.       supporting data, including market survey, government statistics, experience from other programmes and courses.

B.      Course package components

1.       Course components to be produced in-house

a.       study guide or guides

b.       reader

c.       learner handbook

d.       assignment manual

e.       media handbook

f.         tutor manual

g.       radio and television broadcasts

h.       audio and video cassettes

i.         computer software

2.       Course components to be purchased or leased textbook or books, software, audio, video rights to broadcast a radio or video series

3.       Entire course package

C.  Development and production schedule

1.       Development personnel involved

a.       course team manager

b.       course writer or writers

c.       instructional designer

d.       editor

e.       illustrator or media producer

f.         internal and external reviewers

2.       Projected on-the-shelf date

3.       Course development schedule, including all components and all media

4.       Course production or reproduction schedule, including all components and all media

5.       Anticipated course revision schedule

D.      Content and pedagogy

1.       Course aims

2.       Course structure

a.       block and unit titles

b.       unit-by-unit objectives

c.       readings

d.       types of activities

e.       role of audio, video, and television components

f.         sample unit

3.       Practical work

a.       laboratories

b.       teaching practice

c.       fieldwork

4.       Assessment scheme

a.       assignments, including their number, timing, format, and markers (number, internal or contracted)

b.       examination(s), including their number, timing, format, and markers (number, internal or contracted)

5.       Evaluation scheme

a.       developmental testing schedule

b.       monitoring or formative evaluation scheme, instruments

c.       end-of-course or summative evaluation scheme, instruments

E.      Delivery plan

1.       Tutorial centres

a.       number required

b.       suggested locations

c.       proposed schedule of tutorials

2.       Tutors

a.       number required

b.       qualifications

c.       training workshops, including number, duration, and location

3.       Residential schools

a.       number

b.       location

c.       schedule

4.       Practical work

a.       laboratories

b.       teaching practice

c.       fieldwork

F.      Course budget

1.       Revenue

a.       course fees

b.       other sources

2.       Costs

a.       course components production

b.       produced in-house

c.       purchased

d.       leased

3.       Copyright clearance, with estimates based on

a.       number of articles to be reproduced

b.       sources

c.       total number of pages

d.       print run

e.       course shelf life

4.       Development personnel

a.       person-days for in-house staff

b.       fees for contracted external staff

5.       Delivery and evaluation

a.       tutorial wages

b.       marker fees

c.       monitoring and evaluation costs

4.2 Costing

Courses can be costed as minimally or as completely as the requirements of the programme and supporting organisation dictate. The costs listed in the preceding course blueprint represent the minimal end of the scale. At the other end is a full costing, which includes all the costs, both direct and indirect, that are involved in planning, designing, developing, presenting, and evaluating a given course. Single mode or free-standing open and distance learning institutions seldom require full costings for a single course. In dual mode organisations, however, open and distance learning programmes frequently are required to ‘pay their way’ and even make money for the host institution. Here is a listing of the items that might have to be included in a full costing.

Course-related costs

A full costing of course-related costs considers the following:

·       course design and curriculum development, including meetings, workshops, and external advisers;

·       course development, including recruitment and selection of writers, designers, and editors; contracting and training; course team meetings; external reviewers; and pre-testing;

·       course production, including copy editing, graphic design, proofreading, paper, printing, and binding;

·       media production, including studio time, illustrators, and producers, technicians, editing time, materials, copying, labelling, and packaging;

·       distribution, including collation, packaging, storing, postage, transport; and

·       monitoring and evaluation, including design and printing of instruments, distribution of instruments, collection of data, analysis and interpretation, reporting and dissemination

Learner-related costs

A full costing of learner-related costs considers the following:

·       information and promotion, including advertisements, leaflets, posters, and responding to enquiries;

·       admission, including printing forms, selecting learners, informing applicants;

·       registering, including printing forms, processing;

·       tutorial support, including recruiting and selecting tutors, training, fees and expenses; and

·       assessment, including marking fees, printing exam papers, exam board meetings, informing learners of results.

Overheads

A full costing of course-related costs considers the following:

·       salaries and allowances, including attribution of salaries of administrative and management staff in other units, such as registry, library, computing; and

·       running costs, including space rental, utilities, equipment, supplies, and communication.

4.3 Scheduling course development

Another major part of the manager’s job is scheduling, monitoring, and tracking a course from development through production and delivery. The following steps are typically involved in drawing up a schedule for development of a course:

·      Establish the date on which the course must be in learners’ hands.

·      On that basis determine when the course must be in the warehouse ready for dispatch.

·      On the basis of the warehouse date, determine how much time needs to be allocated to physical reproduction, binding, and packaging, including media components other than print. Also make sure that purchased or leased components have been ordered in time for their assured arrival by the warehouse date.

·      On the basis of the date by which the course must be in the print shop, determine how much time the visual designer or layout technician will need in order to prepare the manuscript for printing, complete the visuals and cover design, and so on.

·      On the basis of the date by which the entire manuscript must be in the hands of the visual designer, determine how much time the development team will require to produce the manuscript (experienced course developers are tempted to say, ‘And then double it!’).

No firm guidelines help you here, except to warn you that the development process, especially the more creative parts of it, are likely to require far more time than you really have available and continual negotiating, wheedling, cajoling, and threatening, or all four, will be required to meet deadlines.

 Discussion: Draw up an actual production schedule, putting in the dates your participants suggest; then discuss how realistic these dates really are, both in terms of their organisation’s ability to hold to them and in terms of the pressures on them to have courses ready for delivery.

 5. Meeting legal requirements 

A number of legal matters are of concern to managers of materials development. The primary ones are copyright, and contracting authors and other part-time staff.

5.1 Copyright

If your materials reproduce any materials — be they words, pictures, or recorded sound — for which someone else holds the copyright, you will need to obtain written permission from the holder of the copyright.

It is wise to assume that any piece of writing is protected by the laws of copyright. The same is true for pictures and for recorded speech or music and moving pictures.

Infringement of copyright generally is deemed to occur when more than a ‘substantial part’ of a work is reproduced without permission — more than about 50 words as a general guideline.

To obtain permission, you will need to identify the copyright holder (look on the reverse of the title page) and write to that firm or person with the following information:

·      full details of the work from which you wish to copy;

·      a photocopy of the extracts or illustrations you wish to reproduce;

·      any deletions or amendments you might want to make;

·      the author, title, and publisher of the work wherein the extract will be published;

·      explanation of the use of the work wherein the extract will be published;

·      size of print run;

·      medium of distribution;

·      geographical distribution;

·      what you will be charging for the materials; and

·      an assurance that you will acknowledge the source appropriately.

It is also sensible to copyright your own work by printing the copyright notice on your work. Be sure to seek guidance from an appropriate authority, since copyright law varies greatly from country to country.

5.2 Contracting writers and editors

In hiring the people who will be working as members of your materials development team, the process is identical to the one you would follow to recruit temporary or contract staff of any kind:

·      write the job description;

·      write ad copy on the basis of that description;

·      advertise in appropriate outlets;

·      shortlist candidates from among those who apply;

·      interview candidates;

·      select the most appropriate candidate;

·      negotiate a contract.

In selecting candidates, the following criteria are useful:

·      background and experience: academic, teaching, writing, and open and distance learning experience and expertise are needed in course writers;

·      reliability: course writers and editors need to be able to keep to schedules;

·      expectations: this is a demanding job, which requires some training and an ability to accept criticism;

·      time available: ask candidates how they will accommodate the time required for this task;

·      accessibility: travel to course team meetings will be necessary.

In negotiating a contract with the successful candidate, you will need to ensure the following:

·      that the institution is protected if, for example, the writer does not produce the materials by the given date; arrange an appropriate schedule;

·      that rights and responsibilities are made clear in terms of who holds copyright and whose responsibility it is to clear copyright;

·      that the writer knows when and for what he or she will be paid, how much, and under what conditions;

·      what happens if the contractor decides not to publish the materials;

·      what happens in case of disputes; and

·      that there is clarity regarding who pays expenses such as travel, telephone, postage, and so on.

The contractor must guard against paying for unsatisfactory work, but writers and editors need some protection too. Here is a sample contract, with comments on what the various clauses imply.

Sample contract

Contract wording	Interpretation
AN AGREEMENT Date                    19 made between (the College) of (address) and (the author) of (address) WHEREBY IT IS AGREED as follows:	The contract starts with the date, and the names of those agreeing. A separate contract needs to be signed by each writer, if there are several.
1. The Author shall write a course (defined in the Schedule) and shall deliver the typescript/disk to the College on or before the     day of      19   .	Clause 1 A full description of the writing job is given in the Schedule at the end. The writer is specifically asked to deliver material in a particular format, and the deadline for delivery is given.
2. The Author hereby warrants that he/she has not granted any licences or rights in respect of the course unit to any person, company or firm and that he/she is the owner of the copyright of any illustrations or material in any medium provided in accordance with this agreement.	Clause 2 asks the writer to affirm that he or she has not given permission for anyone else to use the material, and has not used anyone else’s material. This means that if the institution comes across the materials published elsewhere, they can accuse the publisher of infringing copyright. If, on the other hand, the writer is dishonest and ‘borrows’ large amounts of material from another publication, then the institution can say that the writer is responsible and the institution published the material in good faith.
3. In consideration of the sum of $.......... to be paid by the College to the Author after approval of the completed typescript/disk by the College the Author assigns to the College the copyright in the course units for all purposes.	Clause 3 specifies the fee and says it will only be paid after the typescript/disk has been approved (not just received). Once it is approved, the copyright belongs to the institution.
4. The Author shall not publish or license the publication in any form of the course units or any of them or any part of them after they have been approved by the College in accordance with Clause 3.	Clause 4 complements clause 2 and covers copyright after approval of the writing.
5. The College or such other person as may be authorised by the College may make such alterations to the course units by way of editing punctuation, spelling, abbreviations, grammar, or otherwise as the College or such person in his/her discretion shall think fit.	Clause 5 allows the editor or anyone else appointed by the College to change the text, without necessarily having the writer’s approval.
6. The Author shall at no expense to the College on receipt from the College of the proofs of the course units check the proofs for errors or omissions and shall return them to the College within ............. days signed.	Clause 6 asks the author to check the proofs for no extra fee, and implies that if the proofs are not returned by a given date, the writer will have no right to complain about errors.
7. The Author will at the request of the College and at his own expense make such changes or corrections in the course unit as the College may require PROVIDED that such request is made within a period of 12 months from the acceptance of the course unit by the College.	Clause 7 says that the writer must revise the units as necessary, and for no extra fee, provided the request is made within a year after the acceptance of the units.
8. The College will at its own cost reproduce, circulate, and distribute the course.	Clause 8 says the institution will pay for printing and distribution, but the clause does not oblige the institution to go ahead with the printing. It only says it will pay if it does print.
9. The College will bear the reasonable travelling and subsistence expenses for any journeys the Author undertakes at the request of the College.	Clause 9 says that expenses are paid only if the institution has approved the journey in advance.
10. No fee shall be payable whether by way of quantum meruit or otherwise for any course units delivered after the date stated in paragraph 1.	Clause 10 says if you are late with your units, you do not get paid.
THE SCHEDULE Subject matter: Number and description of units: Illustrations: Learners’ work and assignments: Other teaching aids:	The schedule is filled in to include all the material the writer must provide. This contract omits a heading for work on course planning and outline (the course blueprint), which may be the subject of a separate contract.
Signed ....................................................... for ...............................................(College)      Date ........................................................... Signed (writer)........................................... Date ...........................................................

 

Discussion: Ask your participants to discuss the pros and cons of this contract, for the institution and for the writer. What protections does it offer the institution? the writer? Is the contract clear enough on questions of legal responsibility? What about libel and other forms of misrepresentation? What about royalties? the procedure for approval? payment schedule? dispute resolution? And so on. Emphasise the importance of the form a contract takes, and the difficulty of writing a satisfactory contract.

 6. Managing course production and delivery 

6.1 Course production

Definitions

The term production is used here to describe the overall process of taking a manuscript and managing it through to printed, finished copies.

·       It involves drawing up a specification and production schedule, obtaining and comparing prices from different suppliers, placing orders, and supervising manufacture and delivery.

·       It involves understanding the needs of course planners, developers, authors, illustrators, and editors, as well as the needs of learners.

The term printing is used to describe the actual manufacture of printed distance learning materials. Printing is the industrial process or processes required to realize the production manager’s requirements in their final physical form.

The Process

The course production process involves a number of stages, as follows:

Generating text and illustrations

Most text is now word processed. Desktop publishing makes it possible

·         to integrate text and illustrations;

·         prepare text in a wide variety of typefaces; and

·         see the complete pages on the computer screen in exactly their printed form.

Writers typically submit disks, prepared in accordance with the house style.

Editors work with these disks and submit the entire edited text to the desktop publishing specialist to produce the specified design.

Designing materials

Design involves a number of decisions, particularly about:

·      page size;

·      layout and house style; and

·      cover design.

Preparing materials for the printer

Course materials can be put together in their final form and sent for printing in various ways, including:

·      camera-ready copy: complete pages, with final text and illustrations in place;

·      outputting text directly on to film, or to the printer; and

·      paste-up: necessary if illustrations and text are prepared separately.

Printing the materials

The choice of printing processes includes:

·      photocopying;

·      laser printing;

·      stencil duplicating;

·      small offset printing;

·      sheet-fed offset printing; and

·      web-fed offset printing.

The decision will depend on

·      the equipment available;

·      the number of copies of the text required; and

·      the prices submitted by the printers who are asked to give quotations.

Finishing the materials

The term used to describe the various processes involved in turning the printed sheets into a finished text is ‘finishing’. These processes include

binding: saddle-stitched, side stabbed, perfect binding, loose-leaf, wire, or comb;

cover: board, either laminated, or varnished; and

packing: bulk packing up to 15 kg maximum for easy handling.

Management issues

Issues involved in managing the production process include the following.

Estimating, costing, and financial control

Increasing the size of print runs is tempting, because of the lower unit costs that result. Other factors to be kept in mind, however, include:

·      warehousing costs;

·      the cost of money;

·      the sales pattern for each title; and

·      the timetable for updating each title.

Scheduling and controlling production

When a new course is planned, a rough schedule should be drawn up, with dates:

·      by which authors should submit manuscripts;

·      for the completion of each round of proofs; and

·      for trial testing.

It is wise to build in a substantial contingency allowance, as emphasised in earlier discussion.

Warehousing and stock control

Holding stock leads to a number of costs:

·      the storage space itself;

·      wastage through deterioration or loss;

·      over-producing stock that is not actually needed;

·      money tied up in stock; and

·      staffing to monitor and control stock.

6.2 Distribution

Management issues

Compared to conventional institutions, open and distance learning presents some unique challenges in providing learners with instructional materials. When learners attend classes, they normally purchase or borrow books and other equipment from a bookstore or other centralised distribution system. For distance learners, other methods of distribution need to be set up.

The three most common methods of distribution are:

·       learners collecting materials for themselves (for example, using local centres): are learners close enough? do you have enough staff?

·       using the postal system: how reliable is the postal system? how long will materials take to reach learners by post? will learners be at home to receive them? do they need to be registered or insured?

·       using courier services: couriers provide faster delivery and door-to-door service but cost substantially more than the postal system.

If media other than print are included in the course, other issues arise:

·       Are there deadlines by which learners must receive materials (for example, broadcast schedule start dates)?

·       Are you loaning equipment to learners (for example, computers, video cassette recorders, video cassettes) so they can complete the course successfully?

Finally, questions arise from enrolment and assessment policies:

·       Do you have fixed enrolment dates? If so, shipping materials in bulk at specific times of the year may reduce your costs.

·       Do you have continuous enrolment? If so, you will be striving towards continuous distribution.

·       Do you intend to send all materials at once or will you stagger delivery according to a schedule? How will this affect learner motivation? your resources? your materials inventory? What is your refund and returns policy?

·       Are your learners required to complete assignments by specific dates? Are examinations scheduled at specific times or locations? If so, you may need to use a distribution system with a high reliability rating and guaranteed delivery, even though the cost may be higher.

6.3 Technological innovations

For open and distance learning programmes that use computer-mediated communication extensively in their delivery system, the possibility exists to forego the production of ‘hard copy’ materials altogether, whether in print, cassette, or other forms, and rely exclusively on electronic delivery for materials dispatch.

For example, course materials can be supplied to learners on a CD, from which learners can print out hard (paper) copy if they wish or work entirely from their computer screens.

Another possibility is for learners to download course materials directly from e-mail or the World Wide Web, again to a paper or electronic file.

These ‘paperless’ modes of materials dispatch offer a number of advantages:

·       decreased need for warehousing space and warehousing and dispatch staff;

·       reduced postage or transport costs;

·       flexibility for the learner in terms of what portions to print and which to leave in electronic form;

·       ‘just-in-time’ delivery to the learner, since learners can access the learning materials they need just when and where they need them;

·       integration of a variety of media — text, graphics, pictures, video, audio — on cd-rom and World Wide Web courseware;

·       in the case of the World Wide Web, access to material from hundreds of thousands of other sites, some of which can be linked directly to the original access site; and

·       integration of communication links to tutors and other learners via the Web site.

As with every choice of medium in open and distance learning, constraints also apply. These include:

·       the need to train staff in developing materials appropriate for these media;

·       the need to train staff to use the technologies effectively to support learners;

·       the need to train learners in using the media effectively, or alternatively, to designate this expertise as a prerequisite for entry into the programme;

·       reliable and affordable access by staff and learners to the technologies required; and

·       the need to continue to support staff, and perhaps learners, in the use of these technologies (although a programme may also make clear to learners that they are expected to solve their own technical problems in using the hardware and software).

 7. Practice exercise 

7.1 Management role play

Instructions: Develop a number of scenarios for role-playing by different groups of participants (picking names out of a hat may be the fairest way of selecting the ‘actors’ for each role play if there are no ready volunteers). Debriefing follows each ‘play’ to determine how the situations could have been more effectively handled by all those involved.

Scenario One: Four players are needed for this role-play: two to be interviewers and two to be interviewed. The two interviewers are the department head and the instructional designer. Two people are interviewed separately for a post as a course writer (you choose the course subject). Before they interview the candidates, the two interviewers have the task of determining the nature of the job and the qualities they are seeking, then interviewing each candidate. The first candidate makes the most of the interview. The second candidate does the opposite — is not forthcoming with answers, appears not to be qualified, vacillates excessively, and so on.

Scenario Two: A meeting of the course team: instructional designer, editor, course writer, and visual designer. The course writer is behind in his or her deadlines and the team seriously disagrees what to do about it.

Scenario Three: A departmental meeting: the instructional designer, who has responsibility for getting five courses ready for delivery by September, is trying to explain to the department head and the dean and a senior professor why only one course is going to be ready on time, and what he or she proposes to do about it.

Timeframe: Each role-play may take 15 – 20 minutes with additional time for comments and discussion.

Materials: None required.