Papers Presented at the 2nd National NADEOSA Conference
Held 21-22 August 2000rd_bds.gif (1931 bytes)

Author:
Mrs. Elize de Wet, Dr. Elize Steyl and Mr. Thomas Campher

Title:
From concept to graduate

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The management perspective:

It is no secret that external factors play a significant part in education and training. Educational institutions all over the world move between parameters that enforce legislative and regulatory authority. Education and training should also make provision for globalisation, lifelong learning and the development of human resources for economic empowerment. Education and training need to conform to the changing world in its entirety.

Educational institutions in South Africa move in diverse environments with a myriad of infrastructures, funding mechanisms and student profiles. This paves the way for the development of divergent distance education models.

With the creation of structures such as the NQF and SAQA, education in South Africa became learner centred. The focus is therefore increasingly on quality.

At the Rand Afrikaans University, the vision with regard to distance education is well defined, and focuses on the provision of distance education programmes that are sensitive to the needs of all learners by making use of relevant modern technology. The role of the Centre for Distance Education is mostly that of a facilitator with regard to the development of multi modus distance education programmes for six faculties at the university.

Learner friendly study material empowers the learner as an individual. Making use of a multi modus presentation ensures that technology enriched programmes contribute to a holistic approach to distance education. The content of a programme must, therefore, motivate learners to engage actively with the learning material presented.

Needs analyses have shown that the development of Centre for Distance Education programmes needs to be managed in an effective and appropriate way to ensure a quality product. A management team at the Centre for Distance Education comprises a facilitator, authors, a programme manager and an instructional designer.

This team is responsible for defining the parameters with regard to:

A practical example of recently developed study material will be used to demonstrate the management process. The following will be a description of relevant issues as they were experienced during the development of a first year course in Paralegal Studies.

The Centre for Distance Education decided to develop the course with a group of Paralegal experts because the course is based on constitutional foundations and Labour law, and as such is a relevant issue for discussion, not only in the workplace but also in the Centre for Distance Education itself.

It was decided that there is a market for a course such as Paralegal Studies, especially since more and more people, who cannot afford legal advise from other sources, are turning to the Paralegal profession for assistance.

A needs analysis also indicated that more and more people want to qualify as paralegals since there is evidently a gap in the labour force as far as this profession is concerned.

Therefore, a proposal from the faculty of Law was tabled and an agreement was made to develop the course in conjunction with the Centre for Distance Education, with a view to providing learning opportunities for learners to study in their own time and at their own pace.

Drawing up a budget for a course serves to establish whether the course will be profitable. Various factors such as the break-even point, the profitability of the course and the number of students required indicate whether development of such a course can continue. The question of whether a programme will be curricular or extra-curricular will determine the subsidy status of the course and that would have a definite impact on the financial management of the course.

The authors were selected by the faculty of Law but were also approved by the Centre for Distance Education. It is important to remember that the authors involved in the development of new courses must be au fait with the policies and procedures for producing new material.

Therefore initial meetings with the management of the Centre for Distance Education are essential to prevent misunderstandings and delays in the development process. A copy of the Centre for Distance Education policy and procedure document is provided at the initial meetings so that the authors may have first hand information as to the processes and procedures with which they will become involved. The initial meeting with the authors is used to introduce the various authors to each other and also to the staff responsible for the development of the course. The instructional designer is also introduced. During this meeting, important dates are discussed with a view to drawing up the authors’ contracts.

During the initial meetings, the course coordinator, the Centre for Distance Education management teams and the authors have to determine the format of the study material. Thought must be given to the type of printed text to be used, and whether technology such as internet, e-mail and satellite broadcasts will be utilised to ensure maximum learning opportunities.

The details for the course development, as discussed above, are included in the authors’ contracts. The contract contains information about due dates, copyright and payment, amongst other more legal matters such as breach of contract.

It is very important to have a meeting with all the authors involved in developing a specific course. In the development of the course in paralegal studies, four authors were involved, each responsible for one module of the course. During an initial meeting, generic information regarding the course is discussed and clarified. General outcomes and assessment criteria for the entire course must also be developed and discussed. During this meeting, the instructional designer and the programme developer explain all the different phases of the development process, which includes instructional design, graphic design, editing, proofreading, technical layout, page layout, completion of the project as well as various communication points and discussion possibilities.

The course development process starts when the programme developer receives the raw material from the author. These processes will be discussed in more detail later in this paper.

Finalising the material involves the final approval of the copy ready for press as well as obtaining the consent of the programme developer and the author.

Courses are outsourced for production by means of tender.

The registration process involves the marketing of the course, in newspapers and on radio as well as in course specific information pamphlets. During the registration procedure, students are issued with the complete study package as was envisaged at the beginning of the development process, thus paving the way for the concept to start developing into a graduate.

Presenting the course initially involves the preparation of study material and additional material for lecturers to present the course at the decentralised centres as well as on the RAU campus.

The Centre for Distance Education will award a qualification, after the completion of the course, as specified by SAQA and the NQF, thus completing the cycle from concept to graduate.

The provision of quality distance education and training is a team effort. In order to achieve our goals, we have found that it is vital to have internal project management structures and quality assurance mechanisms in place. We shall now look at these internal structures in more detail.

Study material development – Project management and quality control:

The process of study material development consist of two tenets namely project management and quality control. For the purpose of this paper, these will briefly be defined and the major activities for each of them will be discussed with a view to illustrating the interdependency between management, quality control and the outsourcing of materials for development.

Project management can be defined as the management of the diverse processes regarding the authors. Quality control entails all the processes regarding the study material.

Project management:

Every new course developed by the Centre for Distance Education is regarded as an autonomous project. All new material follows the same management route but not all projects are on the same level at the same time. Therefore, it is very important that careful tracking of all projects must be done regularly. For this purpose a tracking board, featuring due dates, important dates and important information such as module titles, authors’ names and module numbers is used on a daily basis. The project tracking is done in conjunction with the instructional designers and with members of management. The project tracking is loosely based on the various development phases as implemented in the office of the instructional designer. These will be discussed in the last part of this paper.

At the Centre For Distance Education, project management consists of the following activities:

Receipt of original material from author on due date:

On the specified due date, the programme developer must receive the original study material from the author. This date has been specified in the authors’ contract and the progression of the entire instructional designing process is based on this date. The author must provide a hard copy of the material as well as a copy on diskette, formatted according to the guidelines set out in the policy and procedure document. Monographs and workbooks must also be supplied on diskette. All the other supporting material, such as articles for a reading package and textbooks, must also be provided. The instructional design process cannot commence before all the information has been received, since the material must be developed to interact with all the information provided.

Managing project schedule:

Managing the project schedule cannot be successful without continuous communication between the author, the developer and the instructional designer. The designer makes suggestions, the author has to accept or reject the suggestions, and the project manager acts as the coordinator of the negotiations between the author and the instructional designer. To prevent ineffective communication, it is important to remember that the instructional designer should not communicate with the author directly, and vice versa. This is clearly stated in the policy and procedure document.

The project schedule, which will be discussed in more detail later in this paper, consists broadly of the following phases:

During these stages, the developer has to communicate with the author after the completion of crucial phases. The author should get the opportunity to evaluate the suggestions of the instructional designer and graphics artist as well as layout, icons, margin text and foot notes. Dates on which these phases have to be finalised are stipulated in the contract with the author to ensure that time is scheduled for working through the document thoroughly after each phase.

The materials developer is continuously involved in the quality control of the learning material. Various instructional design approaches and models must be considered to ensure a product that will provide the best opportunity for the learner to become motivated and inspired to explore the learning possibilities to her benefit and enrichment.

During the development stages, careful consideration must also be given to issues such as page layout, typography and the design of visuals. Although the final approval of the material lies with the author, it is the responsibility of the programme developer to guide and facilitate the use of appropriate methods and approaches to distance education.

Approval of final copy:

Once the material has been routed through all the different stages, and the copy is ready to be signed off, it is essential that the author gets the chance to review the document once again before is it produced. This is the only time the author will have to examine the copy before it is distributed to the learners. It is essential to obtain a written statement from the author that the material will be produced in the way it has been presented, to ensure that no mistakes and errors slip through.

Delivering final copy for printing purposes:

Before the final copy may be prepared for production, management must approve this final product. Once the authorising signature is obtained, the module title page and the title page for the Centre for Distance Education need to be prepared. The title page contains information pertaining to the course name, the module number, the module name, the NQF level and the name of the author. It also contains administrative information such as an issue number and/or barcode. All these details must be provided to the printer as well as an accurate page count. These are required for the management of printing tenders.

Claim from author according to contract:

Once the author and the management of the Centre for Distance Education have finally approved the material and the copies have been delivered to a printer for reproduction, the authors may claim for the work produced. The payment is stipulated in the author’s contract. Authors are paid per original page produced, on completion of the material.

Quality control involves control regarding study guides, monographs, workbooks, reading packages and textbooks. The development processes of these items are not similar. Study guides are instructionally designed, a very meticulous and time-consuming process. Monographs and workbooks are proofread and formatted, but minimal instructional design is involved in the development process. Reading packages are compiled, with tables of contents and page numbers, and prepared for reproduction. Textbooks must be ordered and supplied. However, all of these divergent processes need to be consolidated by means of effective and appropriate cross-referencing between the various study items. All of the different processes per module also need to be carefully tracked and consolidated.

The development process: Study guides:

Study guides are the single most important study item provided to a learner. The study guide can function on its own or in conjunction with a monograph, reading package or a textbook. The purpose of the study guide is to provide guidelines as far as the learning matter is concerned, as well as for a module. Study guides contain the outcomes and the assessment criteria for a specific module in a specific course. Therefore, it is important that the instructional design is done in such a way that the learner knows what is expected from him and realises that the information to reach the intended outcomes is provided in a logical and supportive manner.

The quality of study guides is controlled through mechanisms such as technical proofreading and editing. This involves the checking of page layout, graphics and the placement and appropriateness of icons, margin text, footnotes and bibliographies.

Monographs and workbooks:

Monographs and workbooks do not need to be instructionally designed, because they serve as secondary material aimed at supporting the study guide. Monographs and workbooks are proofread and edited before being formatted in the same page layout as the study guide. References are cross-checked with the study guide before the final copy is prepared for printing.

Reading packages:

Articles and other printed material supporting the learning material in the study guide are bound in a reading package. The first step in the development process is to obtain copy right from Dalro. Once copyright has been obtained, the reading package is compiled with page numbers and a contents list for easy referencing. A hard copy, containing original copies or very clear photocopies of all the articles, is forwarded to the printer for reproduction.

The concept cannot be transformed into a graduate, if the learner, taking on the study material, is not thoroughly and expertly guided in the quest to achieve the intended outcomes of a course. Therefore, the role of the instructional designer is of the utmost importance to ensure the maximum provision of learning opportunities.

It is largely due to the changing face of education and training in South Africa that instructional design has become such an important aspect of provision. Therefore, we shall briefly discuss the context within which courseware development and instructional design take place before focussing on the role of the instructional designer.

Courseware Design

South Africa is in a process of radical change and re-structuring, a process that will eventually lead to healing, prosperity and development for all the people of this country. The government, as part of national policy, has developed a new education and training system that will eventually (sooner, we hope, rather than later) make South Africans able to compete with the best on an international level.

Outcomes based education and training (OBET) gives school educators, vocational educators and trainers, employers, higher education practitioners, students, trade unionists and other role players the opportunity to determine together what the outcomes (and standard) of education and training should be at different levels.

"A qualification constitutes a planned combination of learning outcomes which have a defined purpose and are intended to provide qualifying learners with applied competence and a basis for further learning. A qualification is thus the formal recognition of achievements of the required number and type of credits at a specific NQF level, as determined by bodies registered by SAQA." (Olivier 1998:9).

Whole qualifications can thus also be registered on the NQF.

Once standards and qualifications are approved and registered on the NQF, they become "national documentation". No institution, industry or individual may claim ownership, copyright or sole rights to the offering of such qualifications. "Once registered, the qualification becomes public domain property." (SAQA Update, May 1999:2).

Any accredited education and training provider will have to develop "national standards and qualifications" into their own learning programme, modules, courseware and apply their own methods of provision, unique to the institution.

It will not be the qualifications that a provider of education and training offers that will distinguish it as an excellent provider, but rather how the provider guides and supports all learners in the process of reaching the required outcomes of learning.

With this in mind, it is essential for education and training institutions to build capacity amongst lecturers so that they may be empowered to develop support material that complies with the principles of OBET. Authors need to be trained to optimise their effort, time and money if they are to achieve these aims.

While there is often great enthusiasm among academics for this new way of teaching, there is as yet very little expertise or knowledge about how existing material may be restructured, converted into and utilised in an outcomes based format.

The paradigm shifts within OBET

Before courseware design is discussed, it is first necessary to briefly focus on some paradigm shifts within OBET.

The first and very important paradigm shift is that outcomes focus on the learner as a holistic individual. In the past, education programmes focussed on content and training programmes focussed on tasks. Programmes also focussed on the teacher, lecturer or trainer, who will now be the facilitator of learning.

Other paradigm shifts include learning now focusing on the intended learning outcome and the integration of knowledge and skills. Assessment should be criteria based and the courseware must facilitate learning in such a way that learners should be able to assess themselves on a continued basis.

Facilitating Distance Education Learning

Learning outcomes

Outcomes are the same, regardless of the method of delivery. In other words, all learners must reach the same outcomes. The intended learning outcome for distance education and training will be the same as in the case of contact classes and the recognition of prior learning (RPL). The specific outcomes or performance indicators are the same and so are the assessment criteria. The only difference is in the method of delivery and the process of facilitation of learning.

Distance education is the mode of delivery that relies most heavily on courseware. In the case of RPL, the learner would have had workplace experience and exposure to real-life situations. In the case of contact tuition, the learners have the advantage of communicating directly with a lecturer (facilitator) who has practical experience.

Distance education learners, on the other hand, usually only have the support material that the institution makes available to them. This is their only guide to assist and facilitate learning in order that they may reach the intended learning outcomes. Remember that these are the same outcomes as for contact classes.

Learner support mechanisms

Each provider should have a structure in place to ensure that learner support is effective. The following are examples of effective learner support mechanisms:

As a provider of education and training, you could include a generic module that will focus on the learner and build the learner’s own capacity.

The outcome of the module could be as follows:

After you have completed this guide you will be competent to learn easily and effectively.

You will be able to demonstrate the following capabilities:
  • Manage time effectively
  • Plan and revise a learning schedule
  • Conceptualise your life vision and mission
  • Set specific, measurable, achievable and realistic goals within a time frame
  • Develop your learning potential by being self-aware
  • Motivate yourself
  • Manage stress effectively
  • Manage yourself and your learning responsibly
  • Understand the different methods of learning
  • Develop your own learning style
  • Assimilate and apply new knowledge, skills and attitudes
  • Apply skills and techniques to improve your memory
  • Utilise different learner support structures and material optimally
  • Develop sound study habits
  • Complete assignments and other activities effectively
  • Prepare for assessment and examinations
  • Experience learning as a positive, lifelong process

(From "The Learning Experience", Amabhuku Publications, 1999.)

The intended outcome of the course, each module and each unit must be stated clearly and lucidly. The learner is then guided through different activities to ensure that each specific outcome is reached. The assessment criteria for the relevant outcomes of learning also need to be transformed into self-assessment sheets or exercises.

Each provider has to decide whether the embedded knowledge is to be included in the courseware, or whether it is going to be prescribed in the form of a textbook(s). The specific institution may even decide to supplement the courseware with a well-written monograph.

The most important aspect is that standards and qualifications need to be interpreted and developed into interactive courseware.

Courseware needs to be interactive. The only way that a learner can experience interactive learning is through effective guidance. Many distance education learners are unemployed or their current employment is irrelevant to the learning programme for which they have enrolled. It is the responsibility of the provider of education and training to facilitate learning to such an extent that learning is relevant and current to the workplace.

Development of courseware

The most important aspect of courseware development is that the developer has to become the learner. They should be able to place themselves in the learner’s shoes and assess whether the courseware they have developed does indeed facilitate learning effectively. They should ask questions of themselves such as:

If courseware developers are able to answer yes to all of the above, then they should feel satisfied that they have developed effective, interactive courseware.

Conclusion

  1. The development of your own courseware and study guides is an institutional matter and part of your own innovation and contextualisation of the learning programme. There are no national criteria for courseware. It is, however, important that your courseware complies with the principles of national standards and qualifications. The method of delivery of higher education and training is therefore entirely an internal matter. SAIDE also have some criteria for courseware available. These criteria can be viewed on their website: www.saide.org.za

  2. Not all unit standards, with their respective specific outcomes (performance criteria) and associated assessment criteria, have been developed yet. As part of the whole qualification exercise, ending June 2000, you should at least have identified exit level outcomes, their associated specific outcomes and assessment criteria for each whole qualification. Should unit standards be developed within the level and field of the above-mentioned learning programme, providers will surely be part of this national standard setting process.

  3. The qualification itself should be viewed as a learning outcome. It should be seen as an integrated, total performance of overall competence incorporating the individual specific outcomes that have been attained in the process. The learner thus needs to demonstrate that all aspects of the learning process have been internalised, are accessible and have been integrated. "Integration of learning is the ultimate requirement of a qualification." (Ways of Seeing the National Qualifications Framework: p14).

  4. When compiling or designing courseware to help facilitate learners through the process of "learning to perform", the specific outcomes as identified by the facilitator (or national standards) should be transformed into activities. The activities then give the learner the required exposure to reach the outcome of learning. Should the facilitator or learner realise that further exposure is required (in other words the learner has not yet reached the required outcome) the facilitator could expose the learner to additional activities. In order to do so, some kind of assessment and/or self-assessment needs to take place.

  5. When compiling or designing courseware to help facilitate learners through the process of learning, the assessment criteria as identified by the facilitator (or national standards) should be transformed into self-assessment exercises. The self-assessment exercise must give the learner a clear indication of the extent to which he or she is able to perform the required capability.

  6. Performance criteria and assessment criteria, in the suggested format for unit standards, will have very little value for learners. Learner support material will have to transform these criteria into activities and self-assessment exercises.

  7. The study guides and other support material have to be interactive, assist with integration and application of theory and expose the learner to sufficient activities to demonstrate that the required learning outcome of the unit of learning has been achieved.

  8. A well planned and designed set of icons (not more than 6) to indicate the following could be used to ensure clear indication of the:

  1. Illustrations have to be clear and relevant.

  2. A checklist that is used by Mmino could assist you in planning the process of courseware design (See addendum A).

Management, quality control, project management and the outsourcing of materials for instructional design, when mixed together in the cocktail containing lifelong learning, learner empowerment and relevant qualifications, can indeed induce the transformation of a concept into a graduate. It also provides the foundation for an increasingly competent and competitive model of distance education in South Africa.

Bibliography:

Campher, T., Kruger, N., McLeod, M. & Smuts, M. 1999: The Learning Experience. Amabhuku Publications. Johannesburg.
Olivier, C. 1998: How to Train Outcomes Based.
SAQA Updates 1999: SAQA.
Ways of Seeing the National Qualifications Framework, 1995: HSRC.

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