Held 21-22 August 2000
Papers Presented at
the 2nd National NADEOSA Conference
Held 21-22 August 2000
Author:
KJ de Beer and JSS Phatang (Technikon Free State)
Title:
A South African Model in Distance Education in a
Developing South African Subregion
Abstract:
All three generations of
distance education in the literature were studied, whereafter only a merger of limited
contact teaching and distance education delivery systems were implemented at the special
residential facilities of Technikon Free in QwaQwa. Technikon Free State, which is
situated in the capital city of the Free State, Bloemfontein, rents the facilities of the
Lerelatshepe Technical College to use it for part time classes during the evenings. It
reflects the new trend that awaits technikon distance education in South Africa due to the
moratorium of the Ministry of Education to develop new satellite campuses, i.e. the
unnecessary duplication of expensive higher education facilities. The subject matter could
be divided into two main areas, namely the theoretical verification of the system within
the context of world literature, and secondly, the implementation of this First-World
system in a typical Third-World situation. QwaQwa is situated in the Eastern Free State
sub-region of the Free State province which is adjacent to the Republic of Lesotho.
Distance Learners are predominantly South Sotho. The learner cohort consists out of 120
learners who are enrolled for programmes of the Faculty of Management.
Demographic Information
The Technikon Free State is the only residential technikon in the Free State/Qwaqwa region and is situated in the capital city of Bloemfontein. It provides distance education for the Faculty of Management at four special residential facilities, namely in the Qwaqwa region, in the agricultural maize triangle of the Northern Free State, in the highly industrialised Goldfields, as well as at a trans-provincial distance facility in the Northern Cape region.
Although the Technikon Free State is physically situated in Bloemfontein, the management has accepted responsibility to make Technikon education as widely available as possible to all inhabitants of this central province of the country. Although in the past Qwaqwa functioned as a self-governing state within the former political system, this area now forms an integral part of the Free State, both socially and economically. The main population group, namely South Sotho, is also the largest population group of the greater Free State. To a great extent this results in social and cultural intertwinement. Being the main seat of Qwaqwa, Phuthaditjhaba has developed historically as a nodal centre. Of the entire de facto population of approximately 350 000 people living in this area, only 7,3% reside in the capital of Phuthaditjhaba. The formal economy is incapable of offering employment opportunities to all the inhabitants. This economic reality inter alia results in the fact that the nominal gross national product (GNP) per capita amounts to approximately only R1 880,00 compared to the average R6 028,00 of the Free State. (Le Roux 1995) Demands from the community were well organised, and this resulted in the fact that on 2 December 1993, the previous regional government in Qwaqwa was forced to grant official permission to the Technikon Free State to commence classes in Qwaqwa from 1994. As such it is important to note that there was a community-driven need for a technikon which currently complies with the most modern philosophical approach to distance education and open-learning systems. The Qwaqwa distance facility offers intrinsic characteristics of a typical dual-mode distance education system (cf. Mugridge, 1992:79, 141, 153), which forms a convergence between distance and conventional education. Hypothetically it also represents the classical dualism of a First-World technikon education system within a Third-World region. However, as is the case in many developing African countries, the contemporary higher education scene is much distorted. The trend in South Africa, for instance, was that the numbers of technikon learners were increasing more rapidly than the numbers of university learners (Kiesouw, 1994:6-8) but since have changed again according to new trends.. A needs-driven research programme is thus necessary for technikon distance education.
Convergance with Second-Generation Distance Education
First-, second- and third-generation distance education models are comprised of, inter alia, pure correspondence courses, limited tutorials, and information technology delivery systems. The Technikon Free State applies a merger within the second generation, i.e. a merger of limited lecturing with study guides and textbooks. The two main issues that characterise the distance education programme of the Technikon Free State are the following merging aspects:
Distance education exists in two principal forms. It comprises either contact teaching at the institution plus an additional distance education programme, or it is "solely devoted to teaching at a distance" (Croft 1992:49). The Technikon Free State is not exactly such an institution, but rather an extramural off-campus system with assistance from campus lecturers, generally referred to in the literature on the subject as a Dual-mode Distance Education System (Mugridge, 1992:153).
By definition the Technikon Free State programme in Qwaqwa does not totally compare with the well-known definition according to which distance education (DE) is structured, namely "learning where the student and the lecturer are separated by space" (cf. Swift, 1993). Qwaqwa learners may be distant from the main campus in Bloemfontein, but they are not isolated. They still have a part-time lecturer nearby from whom they receive contact teaching and whom they can phone or consult after hours. In this regard the report of the South African Institute for Distance Education (SAIDE) Workshop on the subject agrees that: "The precise form of each feature will differ greatly across institutions, because each must be designed to fit the specific practical, economic, academic and cultural context in which the courses are to be offered." (SAIDE Report, 1994:3) Mugridge (1992:154) explains that a common trend is the world-wide tendency towards massification and towards a growing use of distance education technology. Especially in the Free State/Qwaqwa region, it is a matter of dealing with the question of resources, which is becoming increasingly vital within an ever-growing population explosion - the vital consideration to investigate in connection with the increase of access to technikon education, both in developing and developed countries. The only difference is the scale, rather than the nature, of the problem in the Third and the First Worlds (ibid: 155).
Cost effectiveness, however, prohibits a free-for-all system because it could only develop into a financial burden for the main campus. The ideal is thus to try to counterbalance the large learner numbers of the Qwaqwa facility with low unit costs. The answer, according to SAIDE, is "to have a structure of learner support that can make success possible for very large numbers of learners in each course. Therein lies the key structural difference between modern distance education and correspondence education" (SAIDE Report, 1994:5). Consequently much strategic planning had to be done with regard to the enrolment pattern and needs of learners in the Qwaqwa region (Le Roux, 1995:60).
A well-functioning system, intended to be user-friendly towards its learner clientele, has subsequently been based at the Qwaqwa facility. This includes the following administrative measures:
Valuable self-instructional study guides, compiled for Qwaqwa learners by peer lecturers at the main campus in Bloemfontein, simultaneously serve as examples for their own learners on how to do self-paced learning and also lead to the self-improvement of lecturers’ own teaching skills. Convergent systems thus enhance the quality of teaching and learning. In this process of academic cross-fertilisation, the Technikon Free State as a functional dual-mode technikon could also be merged with the characteristics of a mixed-mode institution (cf. Renwick, 1992:151). As such it reflects a convergence between distance and conventional education. (cf. Tait, etal, 1999:141)
Subsequently, the Technikon Free State distance facility at Qwaqwa provides a community service. It provides access to technikon education, which is conveyed from a First-World environment to part-time lecturers in a Third-World region. They in turn plough back into the community their hard-won experience, with value-added knowledge.
Principles of Open Learning (OL)
While distance education deals with the collection of delivery systems of teaching and learning, OL deals with the philosophy or concept of the educational system itself. In this sense the lecturers in a convergent system, such as in Qwaqwa, also practise a dual role which could be compared with a variety of principles or concepts of supplemental instruction modes, tutorial systems, or even basic adult education (De Beer (1), 1995).
Open learning is defined as follows: "It can be a person who ‘instructs’ orally, perhaps making use of one or more other media. Alternatively the ‘teacher’ is not a person at all. It is a designed (ideally multimedia) course in which syllabus content is made available to the student by media other than the spoken word. ‘Support’ for the student is given by a wide range of organised structures like the multimedia course itself; regionally based counselling, tutorial and study centre facilities; peer support groups; ‘summer’ school opportunities and computer networks..." (Swift, 1993:1). In the strategic planning for a future infrastructure, the OL forms part of the visionary mission of the Technikon Free State at large. Therefore it is already important to combine the advantages of certain OL models where possible.
Co-Operative Approach
In 1969 the British Open University introduced the so-called industrial model, which is a mixture of one-way study material to learners with some correspondence feedback, or a kind of contact teaching with tutorials. Since then, autonomous institutions have developed with single-mode systems. These institutions award their own qualifications (ibid:3).
In this respect the appearance of the Technikon Free State's ‘convergent model’ already reflects similar characteristics based on the industrialised model. Although the Qwaqwa distance facility is smaller in learner numbers than typical industrial models, equal qualifications with an academic status equal to those at the main campus, could be attained. Due to the high cost of interactive technological distance education, however, learners at the distance facility do not enjoy the full advantages of electronic information as in advanced third-generation distance teaching.
Conclusions
From the literature it is evident that the Qwaqwa special residential facility has not developed along the lines of a true free-standing industrial model. It may, however, develop in a unique combination with other tertiary education institutions in the region to serve specific community needs (cf. Ibid:4). It is also agreed that the traditional role of lecturers will have to be changed through staff development programmes in order to suit the needs specific to learners in the community. Some important advantages within the current system at the Qwaqwa distance campus are the following:
The following measurements are aimed at ensuring parity between the academic standard of the main campus and that of the distance facilities:
Because the Qwaqwa distance education facilities could not exactly be moulded into either a dual-mode or on open-learning distance education system, it therefore represents some kind of convergent model of distance and conventional education. As foundation for a marginalised society, e.g. the theory of Bridging Education, it is as important to succeed with an open-learning system as it is to improve the quality of life and standard of living of the entire Qwaqwa community. Although it is agreed that not all Technikon learners will be employed in the region, it is still important to invite potential learners in the event that they do not decide to disinvite themselves and that they discourage and lower one another’s sense of personal worth (Russel in Steyn, 1994:53). The Reconstruction and Development Programme in South Africa, and for that matter in Qwaqwa, could only be supported by an education and training system that ensures that people are enabled to realise their full potential in society (RDP, 1994:59). Finally, authors on the subject vary in their formulations of instructional industrialism. Some see it as a student support subsystem (Granger, 1994:58). This description may be more applicable to the Qwaqwa distance education facilities than all the other convergent models of the First World. This is because the co-operative education system of technikons and industry may, after all, actually force the entire tertiary education system to move from a linear-mechanical model of operation to a more flexible "systems" model which recognises the variable interactions amongst the different components. This may be much the same as the different needs of learners (ibid) into the year 2000.
REFERENCES
Croft, M. 1992. Single or Dual Mode. Challenges and choices for the future of
education. In Mugridge, I. (Ed.) Distance Education in single- and dual-mode universities.
De Beer, K.J. 1995. An introduction to bridging education at the Technikon Orange Free State In Tait, A. (editor) (1995). Putting the student First: Learner-centred approaches in open and distance learning. Open University East Anglia, Cambridge, United Kingdom.
De Beer, K.J. 1995. Distance (contact) teaching at the Technikon OFS branches. In Seward, D. (editor) (1995). One World Many Voices (1). International Council for Distance Education and the Open University, United Kingdom.
Granger, D. 1994. Student support systems in distance education: A response to David Steward. Open Learning, February 9(1).
Kiesouw, L. (Ed.) 1994. SA higher education at a crossroads. The CSD Bulletin: News for teaching and learning Human Sciences, April/May, 1,3.
Le Roux, P.G. 1995. Technikon OFS Qwaqwa branch as a reflected model of distance education. South African Journal of Higher Education 9(2) 1995.
Mugridge, I. (Ed.) 1992. Distance education in single- and dual-mode universities. Vancouver: The Commonwealth of Learning.
Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) (1994). African National Congress.
Renwick, W. 1992. Distance education in dual-mode universities. In Mugridge, I. (Ed.) Distance education in single and dual-mode universities.
South African Institute for Distance Education (SAIDE) (1994). Report of workshop Paper 1, May.
Steyn, G.M. 1994, Hoe bevorder uitnodigende skole die selfkonsep van leerlinge? Tydskrif vir Geesteswetenskappe. 34(1). SA Akademie vir Wetenskap en Kuns.
Swift, D. 1993. Distance education and open learning. Launching Conference of The South African Institute for Distance Education. World Trade Centre, 7-9 September, Annexure 7.
Tait, A. and Mills, R. 1999. The Convergence of Distance and Conventional Education. Patterns of flexibility for the individual learner. London.
University of the Orange Free State (UOFS) (1994). An open-learning first year. In the NEED programme. Seminar on Open Learning and Distance Education.Bloemfontein, 21 July.
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