Discussion questions

1. Security of investments.

2. Trust funds.

Unit 32

Growth and Diversity

Before you read

Discuss these questions:

1. What do you know about distance education?

2. What advantages does it offer?

Now read the text

Distance education is becoming increasingly popular as economic forces encourage, and new technologies facilitate, its spread. What advantages does course provid?

There is tremendous growth and diversity in distance education – in the number and types of individuals learning outside traditional classrooms, in the variety of providers, and in the range and effectiveness of new alliances as traditional educational institutions join with businesses, foreign governments, and international organizations to offer and use distance learning. Developing countries now have new opportunities to access knowledge and enhance their human capital.

Technology is a major contributor to the dramatic transformation of distance learning. Although the use of technology for distance learning is not new – radio and television have been used effectively for more than forty years – satellites and the Internet are transforming the world into a borderless educational arena, benefiting both previously underserved citizenries and education entrepreneurs. Although many developing countries still have limited access to these new technologies, major new investments in telecommunications and information systems are going to dramatically improve their access.

Uses and purposes

Distance education is used in a variety of settings and for a broad range of purposes. Universities use it to increase the number of students who have access to higher education; companies use it to upgrade their workers’ skills and keep them abreast of rapidly advancing technologies; individuals use it for their own professional development and to enhance their career opportunities; governments use it to provide on-the-job training to teachers or other workers, to enhance the quality or traditional primary and secondary schooling, and to deliver instruction to remote rural areas that might not otherwise be served.

Various technologies have been used for distance education, but print-based correspondence courses have been, and will continue to be, the dominant delivery mechanism in both the developed and the developing worlds. Print is still the cheapest technology, and, even if the costs of using high-tech dissemination tools fall below those of print, it will be some time before many countries have adequate infrastructures.

Higher education. Within the university setting, some institutions offer only distance education, while others provide both distance and conventional education. Those that offer only distance learning are referred to as “open universities,” and most are modeled after the United Kingdom’s Open University. Mega-universities are large open universities, each of which enrolls more than 100,000 students per year; combined enrollment is some 2.8 million. China alone produces more than 100,000 graduates a year through distance education, with more than half of China’s 92,000 engineering and technology graduates having attained their degrees through distance education.

Although many conventional universities also have offered distance learning opportunities for some time, many others are just now beginning to experiment with them, in large part because they are unable to meet the increasing demand for higher education. Even some elite universities that would not previously have considered getting involved in distance education are cautiously entering the arena. For example, Johns Hopkins University in the United States offers a managed care technology, as part of its “Business of Medicine” certificate program. Duke University offers a Global Executive MBA (master’s degree in business administration), an $82.500 course, to students in Europe, Asia, and Latin America using technology that permits them to communicate and do course work. The possibility of attracting students from overseas is one incentive for these institutions to offer distance programs.

Virtual universities. Entirely new structures are being created to take advantage of the Internet and other technologies to increase access to and improve the quality of higher education. For example, virtual universities – universities without walls that use the Internet and satellites to deliver their courses – allow teaching resources, libraries, and even laboratories to be shared by people and organizations in widely scattered places.

Launched in 1989, the Virtual University of the Monterrey Institute of Technology in Mexico is a consortium of collaborating universities, including 13 outside Mexico. It enrolls 9.000 degree students and an additional 35.000 nondegree participants annually from throughout Mexico and several Latin American countries. Courses are delivered though a combination of printed texts and both live and prerecorded television broadcasts, with communication between faculty and students facilitated by computers.

With World Bank support, a virtual university also has been established for Africa. This venture was motivated by the exceptionally low enrollments, lack of education materials, outmoded programs, and virtually nonexistent levels of research in Africa’s universities.

Most recently, the governors of 10 western U.S. states have launched a virtual university that will allow students to earn degrees by taking courses on-line. This venture was encouraged by a boom in enrollment that the states’ governors do not expect to be able to meet by adding traditional colleges and universities.

Reading tasks

A. Understanding main points. Answer these questions:

1. What are the uses and purposes of distance education?

2. What type of education institutions are virtual universities?

3. What is the technology of delivering courses by virtual universities?

4. In which countries is it efficient to launch a virtual university?

5. How can money be raised for launching a virtual university?

B. Understanding details. Mark these statements T (true) or F (false) according to the information in the text:

1. The use of technology for distance learning is new.

2. Satellites and the Internet are transforming the world into a borderless educational area.

3. To increase the number of students universities use distance education.

4. Print-based correspondence courses will not continue to be the dominant delivery mechanism.

5. Some universities offer only distance education.

6. World Bank supported launching a virtual university in Africa.

Vocabulary tasks

A. Match the opposites:

B. Collocations

Match the verbs and nouns:

C. Prepositions.

Complete these sentences with a preposition from the box:

1. Distance education is often used to enhance the quality __________ traditional primary and secondary schooling.

2. Children living in remote rural areas do not have access __________ the full complement of course work.

3. These activities occur __________ carefully timed pauses.

4. In such countries, teacher training using distance education is a top priority __________ the World Bank.

5. Most distance education for teachers is provided ___________ print and aimed _________ practising teachers.

6. This venture was encouraged __________ a boon in enrollment.

7. A virtual university has been established ___________ World Bank support.

8. Distance learning differs __________ conventional learning primarily in the isolation and the greater self-discipline required of its students.

9. Much of the research in distance education now is focused __________ identifying the causes of noncompletion and effective strategies for reducing dropouts.

10. The higher the number of students enrolled, the lower the per-student costs __________ course.

Speaking

Work in groups and discuss the following:

Do you think that distance education will become the education of the future?

Unit 33

Date: 2016-04-22; view: 809