TAD Consortium December 1999 Information Update 2

TAD Consortium December 1999 Information Update 2

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CONTENTS
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NEWS
--- Net Telephony Soon in India
--- BBC Online Network: Half of British Users Have Bought Online
--- NACAA: Consumer Internet Complaints on the Increase

ANNOUNCEMENTS/REQUESTS
-- Job advertisement: Information Literacy Co-ordinator
--- International Conference on Technology and Education
--- Cartoons for Children's Rights
--- IDC Research: IDC Release the Largest Internet Survey Ever

PROFILED ORGANIZATIONS
--- GreenCOM/Mali - Mali
--- Partners for Internet in Education, Ghana: A Schools-Community-Private Sector Collaborative Initiative

ONLINE RESOURCES
--- Third European Conference on Research and Advanced Technology for Digital Libraries - proceedings
--- Have skills, will travel. Development and the super-mobile high-flyer
--- Occupational stereotyping: people's perceptions of age, gender, and caste in India

PRINTED AND OTHER RESOURCES
--- SAIDE Resource Centre : Selected Abstracts No.8/1999

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NEWS

Net Telephony Soon in India

By Uday Lal Pai

India Correspondent, asia.internet.com

[December 2, 1999--INDIA] The Department of Telecom Services (DTS) in India will soon launch Internet Telephony (IP Phone) services in the country. However, state-owned VSNL said Internet telephony should be allowed only after a decision is made on revenue sharing. According to DTS secretary PS Saran, telephone services based on Internet Protocol (IP) will soon be introduced in India. "The services will be launched within three months on an experimental basis and will be provided from limited exchanges", said Saran. While DTS has not yet finalized the tariff for IP telephony, the charges are expected to be far lower than ordinary fixed line services. Meanwhile, VSNL is gearing up to provide IP telephony as soon as it becomes legal in India. "We will make whatever investment is required as we are a cash-rich company", said Shailendra Kumar Gupta, chairman and managing director of VSNL. However, a senior official at VSNL came out with a statement that IP telephony should be allowed in India only after a policy framework for sharing revenue among different countries is put in place. IP telephony bypassed the current "accounting rate" system for international calls in which the per-minute call cost in a direct route is divided between countries of call origin and reception at a mutually beneficial rate, says Amitabh Kumar, director of operations for VSNL. Internet telephony worldwide, however, does not have any such cost-sharing arrangement. This would not serve the interests of the country, which has invested in developing communication networks. A number of ISPs and private operators have shown interest in providing IP telephony in the country. However, current government policy does not permit them to provide the service. The private operators did not subscribe to the DoT (Department of Telecom) argument that IP phone should not be allowed due to alleged low-quality. "The government should allow private operators to provide IP telephone services and let the market decide its utility," said a private telecom operator. However, telecom analysts feel that DoT is afraid IP telephony will eat away its revenue.

http://asia.internet.com/1999/12/0201-india.html

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Taken from Nua Internet Surveys: November 29th, 1999

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BBC Online Network: Half of British Users Have Bought Online

More than half of British users, 56 percent, have bought a book online in the last year, up from 17 percent the previous year, according to a new study from Continental Research. Meanwhile, Britons spent STG2 billion on online purchases last year.

40 percent of Britons have access to the Internet and their household income, STG40,000, is twice that of the average income, STG18,000. The typical user is likely to be male, 65 percent, and is either in a full time job or is a student.

The most popular online purchases are books and travel but financial services are beginning to see growth. The amount of people share dealing has grown threefold in the last three months.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/business/newsid_530000/530696.stm

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Taken from Nua Internet Surveys: November 29th, 1999

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NACAA: Consumer Internet Complaints on the Increase

A new survey by the National Association of Consumer Agency Administrators finds that the number complaints about Internet related issues has risen incrementally over the last three years.

The eight annual survey is based on the responses of consumers to 1998 complaint records and was conducted in association with 50 consumer agencies from the Consumer Federation of America, CFA.

Between 1996 and 1997 complaints about the Internet rose by 23 percent, and between 1997 and 1998 they rose by 39 percent. The majority of complaints were about Internet services providers and online purchases. Auctions were third on the list of Internet complaints followed by spamming and attempts to get personal data.

While the level of consumer dissatisfaction with the Internet is on the increase, it is not yet as high as auto sales, auto repairs or home improvement services and was not within the top 10 most frequently cited complaints.

http://www.nacaanet.org/survey99.htm

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ANNOUNCEMENTS/REQUESTS

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Job advertisement:

Information Literacy Co-ordinator

This will be a one year contract position, starting January 1999, based in Johannesburg.

The Vodacom LINK Centre at the Graduate School of Public & Development Management, Wits University is leading a project to support 20 Schools, community centres and Telecentres in Gauteng to run Information Literacy training courses. Partners in this project include SangoNet, Community Education Computer Society, Computer Society SA, SchoolNet, Wits Partnership, Soweto Technology Project, Gauteng Department of Education and the International Development Research Centre.

This challenging job will be to co-ordinate the Information Literacy project. The post will report to the director of the LINK Centre and also to the Information Literacy Project Committee.

Main functions of the job:

* Project Management:

Run and administer the Information Literacy project
Record keeping on all aspects of the project
Liaison with all project partners
Liaison with all project sites
Coordinate the 10 'core trainers' in the project
Financial management of the project
Producing reports for the Project committee and LINK.

* Computer training

Supporting the computer training at LINK and the project sites

* Small business support

Supporting the SMME aspects of the 20 project sites

The co-ordinator must have the following skills:

* Ability to work alone and be a 'self-starter'
* Experience in project management
* Experience in financial recordkeeping
* Computer literate
* Good communication skills
* Driving license

Preferred skills:

* Able to speak more than 2 SA languages
* Community development experience
* Computer training skills
* Experience in small business support

To apply, please send your CV to Peter Benjamin by 29 December to Email: peter@sn.apc.org If you do not have access to email, send it to fax number 011 488 5910. Interviews will be held in early January.

Yours sincerely,

Peter Benjamin

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CALL FOR PAPERS

International Conference on Technology and Education

CROSSING THE DIGITAL DIVIDE: IMPROVING THE QUALITY OF LIFE THROUGH EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY

April 16 - 19, 2000

Potchefstroom University, South Africa

The 18th International Conference on Technology and Education will convene at Potchefstroom University for Christian Higher Education (http://www.puk.ac.za/indexe.html), in the City of Potchefstroom (http://www.potch.co.za), South Africa, from April 16 through April 19, 2000. Located on the Southeastern border of the North West Province of South Africa, the City and University are approximately ninety minutes by automobile from the Johannesburg International Airport. Located in the agricultural and mining heartland of South Africa, the City of Potchefstroom is an important educational centre, with a variety of excellent educational institutions, training institutions, and research centres.

The theme of ICTE South Africa 2000 is Crossing the Digital Divide: Improving the Quality of Life through Educational Technology. Technology is advancing with breathtaking speed. In educational institutions worldwide, innovations in applications of technology to learning are being developed at an accelerating pace. The annual ICTE Conference focuses strongly on the latest developments and related applications of technology to teaching and learning. This conference will have special emphasis on technologies that are appropriate, sustainable, and practical in Africa. ICTE is typically attended by leaders from the worldwide education community, including leading educators, education researchers, administrators, publishers, and technology companies engaged in education and human development.

ICTE will provide a forum for vision and strategy, and will look in detail at the processes, procedures, techniques and tools for creating learning environments appropriate to the twenty-first century. There will also be numerous special themes. A variety of theme-oriented sessions, as well as daily plenary session presentations from internationally recognized leaders in education and training, are planned.

The themes for ICTE South Africa reflect this diversity of interest and give an opportunity for those attending to move freely into areas with which they are less familiar if they so wish. The Conference thus provides a unique opportunity to benefit from the wide range of professional expertise of those attending. It is a time to exchange ideas and to meet colleagues from all over the world in a relaxed and professional setting.

Conference Language: The official language of ICTE is English. Session presentations and the Conference Program Agenda will be in English. The ICTE South Africa Conference Proceedings will be published in a bound volume in English following the Conference, and may be purchased by those attending and by others including academic libraries. Conference papers will also be published on the ICTE Web site as a continuing resource for educators. For the latest information on ICTE South Africa, please visit our home page regularly on the World Wide Web at http://www.icte.org

You can also contact ICTE in other ways:

In the United States at Tel. 817-534-1220, FAX 817-534-0096, e-mail icte@icte.org

In South Africa at Tel. 18-299-1521, FAX 18-299-1442, e-mail TLSLAVW@puknet.puk.ac.za, URL: http://www.puk.ac.za/tls/index.html

In Europe at FAX 1592-596210, or e-mail d.walker@cableinet.co.uk

IMPORTANT DATES

Deadline for Receipt of Abstracts January 29, 2000

Presenter Registration Fees Due February 12, 2000

Refereeing and Selection of Abstracts by early February, 2000

Deadline for Completed Manuscripts March 31, 2000

If you would like to attend ICTE South Africa, complete the Conference Registration Form to be found at the URL http://www.icte.org/REGEDIN.HTM and forward it by mail or Fax to Dr. Lynn Peterson at the University of Texas at Arlington at the address listed on the form.

If you would like to attend ICTE South Africa and present a paper to be published in the ICTE South Africa Proceedings, complete the Presenter Application and Registration Forms to be found at the URL http://www.icte.org/EDINAPP.HTM and forward it by mail or Fax to Dr. Lynn Peterson at the University of Texas at Arlington at the address listed on the form.

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Cartoons for Children's Rights is a UNICEF broadcast initiative that aims to inform people around the world about child rights. So far, the effort has forged partnerships with nearly 70 animation studios in 32 countries that have developed 30-second non-verbal public service announcements (PSAs).

UNICEF's 1999 International Children's Day of Broadcasting - Sunday, December 12 - will celebrate children's unique capacity to change the world. See also our pages on the Cartoons for Children's Rights! http://www.unicef.org/crcartoons/index.html

All over the globe, children are making a difference in remarkable ways - from Colombia, where the Children's Movement for Peace campaigns for an end to the country's guerrilla conflict, to Zambia, where young counsellors help their peers in the fight against HIV/AIDS.

Children as agents of change

The 1999 International Day of Children's Broadcasting will be a showcase for children's courage, creativity and drive. With over 2,000 TV and radio stations taking part, it provides a marvelous opportunity for children to shape their vision of the world as they experience it in their own communities. The Day is a unique event, transforming children from passive observers of the mass media into active participants.

Making children's rights a reality

The Convention on the Rights of the Child - ratified by almost every country in the world - includes the following fundamental rights for children: the right to freedom of expression, the right to give and receive information and the right to voice their opinions through the media of their choice. Take a look at the website and see how you can be involved.

Bonnie Bracey

Working Technologies Group

Third World Summit for Children

http://www.childrens-media.org/

http://www.oii.org

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Taken from Nua Internet Surveys: November 29th, 1999

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IDC Research: IDC Release the Largest Internet Survey Ever

A survey billed as the largest Internet Survey ever finds that adoption patterns in individual countries around the globe defy many industry expectations. The survey, Project Atlas, was conducted in 13 different languages with over 28,000 people in over 80 countries.

The survey yielded some surprising results, for example, more school going children in Mexico use the Internet than in Japan where the number of Internet access devices is much higher. Meanwhile, Internet users in Puerto Rico spend more on an average online purchase than those in Denmark.

The cost of going online ranges considerably, from USD18 per month in Sweden to USD78 per month in Argentina. Overall, 1.5 million homes are connected to the Internet world wide but the number of devices per household varies. In Japan, 26 percent of "advanced users" have more than 3 devices connected to the Internet while in the US, that figure is half that, 13 percent.

A quarter of all users in China and India have made an online purchase from home. The average amount of money spent in Denmark, Spain and China was under USD35 while in the US, Argentina and Puerto Rico, that figure was over USD70.

http://www.idc.com

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PROFILED ORGANIZATIONS

(This component of the TAD Consortium Newsletter kindly sponsored by Times Media Limited – www.tml.co.za)

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Taken from the Drum Beeat No. 33 (circulated by the Communication Initiative – http://www.comminit.com)

GreenCOM/Mali - Mali - was a project to increase environmental awareness and to mobilize communities around environmental issues. Worked to integrate environmental education (EE) and to introduce participatory teaching methods into school curricula, collaborated with community radios by training local journalists to develop and transmit EE messages into local languages, and joined with local NGOs and community groups on neighborhood cleanup programmes in Bamako. Designed and supported by USAID/Bamako, working with Ministry of Basic Education, Ministry of the Environment, NGOs, media personnel and public and community school systems. Contact Richard Gieser rgrieser@glovisinc.com

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Partners for Internet in Education, Ghana: A Schools-Community-Private Sector Collaborative Initiative

Introduction

The Partners for Internet in Education is a non-profit membership association formed in February 1997, with some initial assistance from the USAID's Leland Initiative, to bring together schools, companies, organizations, and individuals interested in promoting and using the Internet and computers to enhance teaching and learning in schools.

Mission Statement

To become a catalyst for the popularisation of the use of the computer and Internet in education as a means of widening the scope of both teachers and students to the rapidly advancing world of technology.

Key Objectives

To forge links between schools, organisations and individuals in Ghana who are interested in promoting the use of the computer and Internet in education.

To help advance the use of the computer and Internet in education.

To influence educational policy in favour of Computer and Internet use in education.

To set circular goals in connection with Internet use.

To foster School-to-School partnerships.

To foster relationships between PIE and similar associations in other countries.

To acquire the funds and necessary resources for promoting the use of the Internet in schools.

Membership & Subscriptions

Membership of PIE is open to any schools, organization, company or individual with an interest in the Internet & Information Technology and their impact on and applicability to education.

Members' General Meetings are held on the first Wednesday of every month to deliberate upon issues concerning PIE. Project Meetings are also held.

Quarterly dues are collected to help finance PIE programmes.

Working Committees of PIE

Executive Committee: Responsible for representing PIE

Partnerships Committee: Responsible for helping to create joint projects among member schools and with other school in and outside Ghana

Liaisons Committee: Responsible for forging relationships with other organizations

Membership Committee: Responsible for recruiting and tracking PIE membership and handling membership related issues.

Funding and Resource Committee: Responsible for raising financial and in kind resources

Information Resources Committee: Responsible for identifying and introducing educational resources on the Internet relevant to PIE members' needs.

Activities and Programmes

PIE organises basic training programs for those of its members who need brushing tip of their computer skills. In addition, PIE intends to facilitate, through the Community Learning Centres (CLC), further development of capacity within member schools through organisation and implementation of Training Programmes and Workshops for teachers and students on Web Page design, Project design and grant sponsorships, Internet training and also Technical Networking and Support training.

PIE members are also to pursue their own Internet related activities based on their resources and level of student & teacher capabilities. To this end, several projects are underway in member schools and institutions. Projects implemented by members are currently also demonstrated to other members through the Monthly Project Speaker Series that was introduced at the end of 1998.

Community Learning Centres

PIE has, in strategic partnership with the Ghana Library Board, opened the Accra Community Learning Centre (CLC) equipped with computers and with full access to the Internet to advance and support learning resources for teachers and students in Basic, 2nd Cycle and the professional training institutions, for free or at subsidised rates, depending on need or academic focus.

The Accra CLC also plans to meet the information technology needs of researchers, the small scale business community in and around central Accra, the traditional authorities at Osu, James Town and Bukom among others. We intend to vigorously promote computer literacy at all levels using the Centre as a demonstration Laboratory.

Basic and advanced courses in computer literacy and Internet usage will be offered at subsidised fees.

The Accra Community Learning Centre further articulates PIE's vision to be a serious complementing factor in the Ghanaian educational sector as shown in the CLC's mission statement: To foster the goals of PIE through sustained community service via provision of affordable learning resources and access to information and communications technology to schools, in particular.

Bridging the gap by providing cheap access to IT resources is a prime motivating factor behind PIE's efforts.

PIE's priority is to open or collaborate in the establishment of as many CLCs as possible over the next few years in various parts of Ghana.

PIE is seeking more partnerships to assist in fulfilling its Goal. We work best together!!! There is so much to do for this country! Join Us Today!!

PIE-CLC Special Heritage Project</bold>

PIE intends that its members and supporters actively apply information technology to enhancing the everyday life concepts of the Ghanaian Community. Accordingly, PIE intends to vigorously pursue an application based learning approach where members and their students select projects which would offer the most learning opportunity whilst using information technology as a tool.

This way, PIE believes that the older generation (who may see themselves as "out of place" with the emerging technologies) can still contribute content whilst the tools and application methodology comes from resources provided by members or by the CLC.

In consonance with the above, the CLC intends to embark on community based heritage projects where tools and human resource skills available at the Centre are placed at the disposal of the community for the development of the public good.

For example, two projects which the CLC would in January 2000 embark upon, subject to endorsement of concept by the traditional authorities, would be the "James Town Heritage Project" and the "James Town Beach Fisherfolklore Project " both of which would be computerised multimedia archives of the James Town traditional culture and heritage comprising photographs, documents, oral history and anecdotes as well as language, customary practices. The final output would be available on CD-ROM and other media to be agreed upon.

PIE Officers

Eric N. Yankah, President

Sammy Adjepong, Vice & Coordinator, Programmes (Alpha Beta Educational Centres, Accra)

Mrs Faustina Forson, Treasurer (St Martins des Porres School, Accra)

B.B. Grant, Secretary (St Martins des Porres School, Accra)

Member Schools & Institutions

PIE presently has over 25 members schools and institutions. There are Basic, 2nd cycle and Tertiary institutional members from both the private and public sectors.

PIE has members in Accra, Cape Coast, Koforidua, Kumasi, Techiman and Wenchi and we are still growing. Ghana needs the work of PIE. You do too!!

You CAN Support PIE's Work!!!

We need those machines you have, including working but "non-Y2K" compliant computers to facilitate the training programmes at our Community Learning Centres. We would welcome your financial assistance to support our outreach programmes in the Schools and also to subsidise student participation in the centres We also need educational software, books, new machines and peripherals to support our Member Schools and our subsidised teaching and training programmes. Contact us today!!!!

Visit our "baby" website

http://members.xoom.com/pieghana

Join our Electronic Mailing List

pieghana@egroups.com

The PIE Secretariat
c/o Ghana Library Board,
High Street, Accra. Ghana
Tel: 233-21-672699

http://members.xoom.com/pieghana
Contact Email Address :PIE CLC & Secretariat pieghana@ghana.com

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ONLINE RESOURCES

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The Third European Conference on Research and Advanced Technology for Digital Libraries was held from 22nd to 24th September 1999, in Paris, France. In this Conference, the Chairman of W3C, Jean-Francois Abramatic presented a paper ON *Challenges for the Web: Universality and Scalability*.. and Robert Wilensky, of University of California, Berkeley also presented a paper ON *Re-inventing Scholarly Information and Use.

The final report in *short* can be read at http://www-rocq.inria.fr/EuroDL99/report.html

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Have skills, will travel. Development and the super-mobile high-flyer contributor(s): Adrian Wood and Edward Anderson - Institute of Development Studies (IDS), UK 19 November 1999

Modern travel and communications breakthroughs have pulled many developing countries into production of high-quality goods for world markets. Now, workers in developed countries with the necessary design, production and marketing know-how can liase with producers in developing countries more easily and cheaply. What are the latter gaining by this process and who gains most? A report from the Institute of Development Studies suggests it could help narrow the huge wage gaps between the global North and South. But it could also increase wage gaps within developing countries, a finding policymakers seeking to promote greater trade openness should eye warily.

http://www.id21.org/static/7bea1.htm

To receive this piece by email, send a message to the following email address: getweb@webinfo.ids.ac.uk

Leave the SUBJECT field BLANK, and copy the following text into the BODY of the message: GET http://www.ids.ac.uk/id21/static/7bea1.html

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Occupational stereotyping: people's perceptions of age, gender, and caste in India

contributor(s): Wendy Olsen - Development and Project Planning Centre (DPPC), University of Bradford

25 November 1999

Does gender, age, or caste affect how people perceive different types of work in rural India? Non-agricultural work tends to be dominated by men - especially salaried work in rural areas. Research presented at the annual meeting of the UK Development Studies Association on Andhra Pradesh looks at the gender stereotyping of jobs and asks why is it that women work mostly in agriculture and are excluded from non-agricultural jobs. Crucially, what are people's perceptions of such gender differentiation? Caste and class are strongly reflected in the data tracking people's attitudes.

http://www.id21.org/static/6bwo1.htm

To receive this piece by email, send a message to the following email address: getweb@webinfo.ids.ac.uk

Leave the SUBJECT field BLANK, and copy the following text into the BODY of the message: GET http://www.ids.ac.uk/id21/static/6bwo1.html

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PRINTED AND OTHER RESOURCES

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SAIDE Resource Centre : Selected Abstracts No.8/1999

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Distance Education

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Guidelines on the Quality Assurance of Distance Learning by The Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education. London : The Agency, 1999. (http://www.qaa.ac.uk/dlg/intro.htm)

These guidelines offer advice on assuring the quality and academic standards of higher education programmes of study provided through distance learning. The practice of 'distance learning' has been developing and evolving in many different forms in recent years, so that the phrase is now routinely applied to a very wide spectrum of activities. Distance learning is increasingly being looked to by many institutions as an economical way of expanding their activities, widening opportunities for students around the world, and making effective use of the new technologies which are rapidly emerging. The guidelines have been produced at the request of the distance learning community in the United Kingdom, which has recognised not only that the continued development of this form of higher education and its worldwide acceptance depend upon rigorous quality assurance, but also that there are many areas in which the usual ways of doing things for on-campus provision are not necessarily appropriate in the context of distance learning.

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Education: Funding of

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Needs-Based Resource Allocation in Education Via Formula Funding of Schools ed. By Kenneth N Ross and Rosalind Levacic. Paris : IIEP, 1999. This book explores a range of conceptual, methodological, and empirical issues concerned with the application of needs-based resource allocation in education via formula funding of schools. The notion of needs-based formula funding employed in this discussion refers to the impartial application of an agreed set of explicit rules to allocate educational resources in a manner which ensures that schools receive what they need in order to deliver a pre-specified quality of education. The book is presented in three main parts: the policy context for needs-based formula funding, technical matters related to the construction of funding formulae, and case studies in five countries. The conclusion offers a checklist for senior decision-makers in Ministries of Education that highlights the pre-conditions for undertaking a successful implementation of needs-based formula funding. The main message that arises from the book is that needs-based formula funding of schools offers considerable benefits to both centralized and decentralized school systems in terms of increased levels of equity, efficiency, effectiveness, transparency, and accountability.

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Higher Education

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A Review of the Experiences of Women in Higher Education in South Africa: Research Report by Cheryl de la Rey. Cape Town : FAWESA, 1998. This report gives a detailed account of the experiences of women in academia in South Africa. It not only shows the numerical trends at different levels of the higher education system, it also paints a qualitative picture of the career experiences of those women who have been in the system for some time. By profiling the stories of women professors across disciplines and universities, it provides insight into the realities of juggling work and family, confronting sexism in the system, dealing with competitiveness and balancing the triple requirements of teaching, research and community work. Through an analysis of these career experiences, the report illuminates the impact of structure and policy on the lives of individual women.

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Selecting Students for Mathematics and Science: The Challenge of Higher Education by Hermien Zaaiman. Pretoria : HSRC, 1998. The selection of students for higher education is a critical issue facing South African higher education institutions. Recent political and legislative changes in South Africa require that such selection should be fair and transparent. Many institutions have to cope with applicants whose backgrounds are unknown to them, leading to the challenge of selecting disadvantaged students with a high probability of succeeding in further study. Student-programme fit profoundly affects the quality of teaching and learning at higher education institutions. The South African higher education community can no longer afford the financial aid and emotional costs of admitting large numbers of unsuccessful students to such institutions. Viable solutions to the problem of selecting potentially successful students from growing numbers of disadvantaged applicants have not yet been found. Some authors have referred to the international need for research results on which to base new admission policies and selection mechanisms. A research project aimed at meeting this need was established at the University of the North (UNIN) in 1994. This four-year project was conducted in co-operation with the Vrije Universiteit of Amsterdam. The research work covered a wide range of selection factors. This book describes a number of critical issues regarding selection in the South African context and gives an overview of the home and school backgrounds of disadvantaged South African students. It also discusses research-based solutions to the selection mechanisms. A research project aimed at meeting this need was established at the University of the North (UNIN) in 1994. This four-year project was conducted in co-operation with the Vrije Universiteit of Amsterdam. The research work covered a wide range of selection factors. This book describes a number of critical issues regarding selection in the South African context and gives an overview of the home and school backgrounds of disadvantaged South African students. It also discusses research-based solutions to the selection of these students. The suggested research procedures, selection guidelines and development steps can be expected to contribute to the evaluation and development of selection mechanisms at other South African higher education institutions as well as at similar institutions in other countries.

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The Shape of the River: Long-Term Consequences of Considering Race in College and University Admissions by William G Bowen and Derek Bok. Princeton : Princeton University Press, 1998. The authors of this book argue that we can pass an informed judgement on the wisdom of race-sensitive admissions only if we understand in detail the college careers and the subsequent lives of students. The heart of the book is thus an study of the academic, employment, and personal histories of more than 45,000 students of all races who attended academically selective universities between the 1970s and 1990s. The study reveals how much race-sensitive admissions increase the likelihood that blacks will be admitted to selective universities and demonstrates what effect the termination of these policies would have on the number of minority students at different kinds of selective institutions. The authors go on to determine how well black students have performed academically in comparison to their white classmates, what success they have had in their subsequent careers, an how actively they have participated in civic and community affairs. In the final chapters the authors relate their findings to the current debate about the wisdom of race-sensitive admissions. They consider whether critics are correct in claiming that such policies harm their intended beneficiaries by forcing minority students to compete with academically superior classmates. They examine alternative policies that have been proposed to increase diversity without relying explicitly on race in the admissions process. They end by reflecting on the thorny question of whether the concept of merit is compatible with a deliberate effort to achieve a racially diverse student body.

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Rural Development

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Management in Rural Development: Prepared for the External Programme, Wye College by Angela Milligan. London : Univ of London/Wye College, 1999. (Course consists of 1 module and 3 volumes of readers). This course aims to examine the nature of rural development management and the particular characteristics of the environment in which it takes place; to consider the roles of the public and private sector in rural development; to explain why certain rural groups lack access to rural services and project benefits and how their exclusion can be overcome; to examine the concept of participation and its implications for the organisation and management of development activities and organisations; to study the main organisation and management theories and consider where and how they are relevant to rural development; to introduce key areas of rural development management - planning, organising, managing people, managing finances and managing information; to consider ways in which the public sector can be reformed, and alternative mechanisms for the delivery and financing of rural development services, in order to improve their efficiency, effectiveness, accountability, equity and sustainability and finally to analyse the management and organisation of particular activities in rural development, and how they can be improved.

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Technology Enhanced Learning

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Gender Differences in an On-Line Learning Environment by E. Barret and V. Lally. In: Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, vol.15, no.1, March 1999 pp48-60. This paper focuses uppon the use of Computer Mediated Communication (CMC) in a specific learning context by a small community of postgraduate (MEd) distance learners and their tutors. Content analysis of on-line dialogues was used to investigate learning and socio-emotional behaviour within this community. The data presented suggests that men and women took distinctively different roles in the on-line learning environment. Most significantly, the cognitive and metacognitive (learning) content of on-line seminar contributions by men and women was found to be similar, but their social and interactive behaviour was significantly different. In particular, it was found that within a formal on-line learning environment men sent (on average) more messages than women; they wrote messages which were twice as long as those sent by women; and made more socio-emotional contributions than women. Women, however, were found to contribute more interactive messages than men. This paper concludes that the application of CMC technology to a specific learning context may reproduce gender differences within a learning community.

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Using Technology for the Competitive Delivery of Education Services by P Hosie and T Mazzarol. In: Journal of Computer-Assisted Learning, vol.15, no.2, June 1999 pp118-128. This paper considers the use of information technology as a source of competitive advantage for education service providers operating in international markets, with particular reference to Australia. It draws upon the findings of a survey of 315 education institutions in five countries engaged in the export of international education. The importance of effective use of information technology as a source of competitive advantage is highlighted. Current use of information technology within education institutions is examined and technologically mediated learning is proposed as a viable means of promoting, administering and delivering education services to international markets. In particular, the potential of the Internet to provide graduate business education is given close scrutiny to international markets. In particular, the potential of the Internet to provide graduate business education is given close scrutiny. It is argued that a virtual university business faculty is economically viable in this context. Business schools are advised to invest in hardware and software applications to ensure the communications needs of their clients are met.

Further information on the above titles or journal articles can be obtained from:

Jenny Louw

Resource Centre Coordinator

South African Institute for Distance Education

PO Box 31822

Braamfontein 2017

South Africa

Tel: +27 11 403-2813

Fax: +27 11 403-2814

Email: jennyl@saide.org.za

http://www.saide.org.za

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