BOOK REVIEW
By
Randeep
Wadehra
Quality assurance in distance education and learning Edited
by Insung Jung, Tat Meng Wong, Tian Belawati
Sage. Pages: xxiv+307. Price: Rs. 795/-
Over time, education has evolved from being a formal,
structured system confined to classrooms to a more open and informal
arrangement that is perceptibly less rigid. The open university system and its
byproduct, distance education, are the salient features of this latest way of
teaching. It all started in 1946, when the University of South Africa became
the first open university. In 1969, the Open University of the United Kingdom
followed suit. Now, there are any number of open universities providing
education to students around the globe, thanks to the internet technology,
which had facilitated the launching of first e-learning course in 1984. Today,
students have virtual classrooms and their own tutors, who provided academic
lectures from thousands of miles away in real time. However, as the book
rightly points out, quality assurance remains an issue.
Since education has become an “industrial product” that is
delivered at the “consumer’s” doorsteps, the need for setting certain standards
has become imperative. As Asha Kanwar mentions, the term “standards” has been
replaced with “Quality Assurance” since the Open & Distance Learning, or
ODL, has acquired industrial production line features “in the sense of mass
production and extensive mass distribution of study materials.” This very feature
of “mass scale production and distribution” raises questions about the
feasibility of assuring quality. Although various open universities can reach
out to students globally, there is no global institution having the facility or
authority to ensure quality. Moreover, doubts persist whether such an
institution is feasible or even desirable. Nonetheless, several countries have
established regulatory and/or accreditation bodies, which help develop quality
assurance policies for their respective higher education sectors.
While discussing the existing regulatory network pertaining
to quality assurance in distance education, the book enumerates several steps
taken by different countries and institutions in this regard. The growth of
distance learning institutions in Asia has been impressive. Side by side,
national level accreditation agencies were formed in Hong Kong, India,
Indonesia, Malaysia, China, Korea, Sri Lanka, Singapore and Philippines. In
2004, the Asia Pacific Quality Network was established, followed by the ASEAN
Quality Assurance Network.
However, as various contributors to this tome agree, it takes
time to conceptualize quality assurance standards. The reason for this is
simple. It is not possible to apply the standards designed for the conventional
education institutions to this essentially 21st century phenomenon
due to the vast differences that exist in education delivery systems and
oversight needs. Moreover, there is inevitably a gestation period for these
standards to acquire a formal profile, and be implemented through
pre-determined systems and structures. The various open universities have come
to realize that their reputations will depend upon several factors, viz., the
reliability of their course development systems, the efficiency of systems set
in place for delivering distance education and, vitally, integrity of
assessment procedures. This is where the quality of staff employed will come
into play. The faculty as well as the various administrative and supporting
staff will have to be so integrated that high quality educational content is
developed and regularly updated. The human resource employed – faculty, tutors,
staff etc – should be able to realize its full potential vis-à-vis quality
assurance. The delivery of such content should be aimed at having a lasting
quality impact upon the students – the ultimate consumers.
Although distance learning has taken great strides in the
recent years, much more remains to be done. This volume provides a thought
provoking and informative discussion, even as it outlines the challenges and
possibilities that the future holds for the growth of distance education.
Published in The Financial World dated 08
June, 2013
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