The Changing Faces of Virtual Education
a study on the latest "macro developments" in virtual education, conducted with funding provided by the Department for International Development, London, UK
Dr. Glen Farrell, Study Team Leader and Editor
© The Commonwealth of Learning, 2001
ISBN: 1-895369-75-4
RELEASED IN JULY 2001 by The Commonwealth of Learning (COL): The Changing Faces of Virtual Education, a study on the latest "macro developments" in virtual education. This is a follow-up on COL's landmark study on current trends in "virtual" delivery of higher education (The Development of Virtual Education: A global perspective, 1999). Both reports were funded by the British Department for International Development and are available on this web site.
One of the conclusions of the authors of the 1999 report was that the development of virtual education was "more rhetorical than real!" Dr. Glen Farrell, study team leader and editor of both reports, says "This follow-up study concludes that, two years later, virtual education development is a lot more rhetorical, and a lot more real!"
In terms of the rhetoric, virtual education is now part of the planning agenda of most organisations concerned with education and training. And the terminology being used to describe the activities is even more imprecise and confusing! On the reality side, there are many more examples of the use of virtual education in ways that add value to existing, more traditional delivery models. However, a remarkable feature of this surging interest in virtual education is that it remains largely focussed on ways to use technology to deliver the traditional educational products (i.e., programmes and courses) in ways that make them more accessible, flexible, and cheaper and that can generate revenues for the institution.
As global discussions on closing the "digital divide" have observed, it is not surprising that the report notes that a major feature of the current state of virtual education development is that it depends on where you live. The growth is largely occurring in countries with mature economies and established information and communication infrastructure (ICTs). A lack of such infrastructure, together with the lack of development capital, means that the developing countries of the world have not been able to, as yet, use virtual education models in their efforts to bring mass education opportunities to their citizens.
However, the report demonstrates that there are several trends emerging that are likely to bring about radical changes to the way we think about the concepts of campus, curriculum, courses, teaching/learning processes, credentials/awards and the way ICTs can be utilised to enable and support learning. These trends, called "macro developments" in the report, include new venues for learning, the use of "learning objects" to define and store content, new organisational models, online learner support services, quality assurance models for virtual education and the continuing evolution of ICTs. Each of these "macro developments" is defined and described in separate chapters of the report. The final chapter looks at their impact on the development of virtual education models in the future. While the conclusions will be of general interest, particular attention has been paid to the role these developments are likely to have in the evolution of virtual education systems in developing countries.
The entire study is available on-line from this page. By clicking on the various hyperlinks below you will be able to download and open the individual chapters or the entire book in Acrobat (.PDF) format. (The chapter files are not created with internal bookmark hyperlinks, but the all-in-one file has bookmarks throughout for easier navigation.) Acrobat documents can also be resized on screen for readability but are usually best viewed when printed. Adobe Acrobat version 3.0 is required to download and read the files. With version 4.0 each Chapter's actual page numbering is retained in Acrobat's "Go To Page" facility and "Print Range" selections.
Acrobat Reader software is often preloaded on computers or shipped with web-browsers. If necessary, you can download a free copy from the Acrobat web site.
Problems accessing or printing PDF files? Please review the following:
Ensure that you have at least version 3.0 of Acrobat Reader loaded on your computer
In some cases, you may see a blank screen after downloading the PDF file. If this is the case, you may need to "clear" your "cache" (Netscape) or "delete" your "temporary Internet files" (MS-Internet Explorer) and then refresh your download.
Another possible solution to downloading and printing problems is to "save" the PDF file to your hard-drive and then open it from there (instead of opening it directly from the Internet).
. . .
The Changing Faces of Virtual Education
CHAPTER FILES TO VIEW OR DOWNLOAD IN PDF FORMAT
Preliminary pages: title page, copyright page, contents (pg. i-iv) 22kb
Foreword, Prof. Gajaraj Dhanarajan and Acknowledgements (pg. v-viii) 16kb
Chapter 1: Introduction, Dr. Glen M. Farrell (pg. 1-10) 45kb
Chapter 2: The Changing Venues for Learning, Mr. Vis Naidoo (pg. 11-28) 73kb
Chapter 3: The Continuing Evolution of ICT Capacity: The Implications for Education,
Dr. Tony Bates (pg. 29-46) 82kb
Chapter 4: Object Lessons for the Web: Implications for Instructional Development,
Mr. David Porter (pg. 47-70) 255kb
Chapter 5: The Provision of Learner Support Services Online, Dr. Yoni Ryan (pg. 71-94) 107kb
Chapter 6: The Development of New Organisational Arrangements in Virtual Learning,
Dr. Peter J. Dirr (pg. 95-124) 135kb
Chapter 7: Quality Assurance, Ms. Andrea Hope (pg. 125-140) 71kb
Chapter 8: Issues and Choices, Dr. Glen Farrell (pg. 141-152) 53kb
. . .
To download or view the entire book as one PDF file (approx. 783kb) click here.
