OPEN PRESENTATION OPEN LEARNING

OPEN DISCUSSION SESSION AT THE MERAKA INSTITUTE, COUNCIL FOR SCIENCE INDUSTRIAL RESEARCH (CSIR) ABOUT THE UNLIMITED USE OF EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGIES TO ENHANCE HIGHER EDUCATION IN AFRICA WITH AN OPEN AND DISTANCE E-LEARNING (ODeL) APPROACH

OVERVIEW:

Technology based Open and Distance e-Learning (OdeL) which is currently hampered by the multilingual African societies will be overcome via appropriate technical solutions without totalitarian language management engineering of politicians. Carl Sagan (1996: 432) writes in his book “The Demon-haunted world: “Science is a candle in the dark”.

New ideas, invention, and creativity in general, always spearhead a king of freedom breaking out of hobbling con-strains. Freedom as a prerequisite for continuing the delicate experiment of science which is one reason the former Soviet Union could not remain a totalitarian state and be technologically competitive. At the same time, science – or rather its delicate mix of openness and scepticism, and its encouragement of diversity and debate – is a pre-requisite for continuing the delicate experiment of freedom in an industrial and highly technological society.

Skeptical thinking does not imply that ODeL will be exactly planned according to the philosophy of OL as argued for the only and single solution for Higher Education Institutions (HEI’s) in Africa, but to serve as a premise or starting point for an holistic differentiated meaning. That implies that the whole concept is bigger than its parts which could be investigated with a logical set of logical reasoning tools:

• Facts that ODeL is on the agenda for HEI’s;

• Substantive evidences of academic debates are available;

• Experts of ODeL with renowned authority propagate the democratic ideas of freedom and openness;

• OL is open for multiple working hypothesis for a number of methodologies that are successfully implemented and developed, e.g. Flexible learning, Blended Learning and all its sub-divisions;

• ODEL as such is an alternative hypotheses on its own. A number of new ideas on OL can be elaborated on, however, not initial impressions which were already coined;

• Alternatives for ODeL are yet to be developed. Subsequently it is not a final panacea for HEI’s. One reason for example, will be to reject the idea that e-learning could ever replace the lecturer in the African learning culture.


OPEN PRESENTATION:

This is a study to understand the philosophy of Open Learning (OL) within global and Africanized perspectives. Subsequently it must be studied as such when it is said that Native Africans learn by imitation. They observe their fathers and accomplished leaders during their apprenticeships. General principles were passed down from generation to generation (Sagan, 1996: 325). !Kung San, southern Africa’s original people of the Kalahari Desert, in the Republic of Botswana and Namibia who are typical of the hunter-gather mode of existence – in which modern people spent most of their time – are compared with the most advanced space projects of the National Aeronautic Space Administration (NASA). One of their scientists, Carl Sagan (1996: 315), describes their formidable forensic tracking skills as “science in action”. Modern space scientists do just the same when they try to analyze a crater on the Moon, Mercury or Triton by its degree of erosion. However, they do not perform their calculations only, on Maxwell’s equations or quantum mechanics from scratch. Instead, they also figure out all the tracking protocols since the beginning of mankind according to Nature’s rules. For example like the !Kung tracking protocols. How they scrutinized footprints of fast moving animals which display longed symmetry. Their accuracy of inductive and deductive reasoning. The wind that blow away the footprints. These methods are identically to what planetary astronomers use in analyzing craters, other things being equal, depth-to-diameter ratios and wind erosive processes. (Sagan, 1996:313).

The above scenario exactly describes the approach towards the philosophy of OL. That is from the cradle of mankind in Africa to the first step of mankind on the Moon. It covers the whole history of academic and technological development through the ages. It adds on. It refers back. It projects. It integrates knowledge. It preserves intelligence. It unlocks information. It disseminates knowledge and knows how to implement skills.

In Higher Education nomenclature, concepts of knowledge and skills production constantly changes since the very first establishments of European church universums. (Places of knowledge, value, traditions and religion in the wider world) (Cf.Lategan, 2005).


Traditional universities, however, transformed according to multiple external needs of society. For an example, in contemporary historical terms formal adult education in the West began during the Industrial Revolution, when it was needed to deliver a trained labour force and a literate, cohesive population. It developed further during the 1920s, when scholars such as Eduard Lindeman and John Dewey proposed the democratic, learner-centred philosophy of education known as Progressivism. (OUHK: 2004). It gained momentum in the civil rights era of the 1960’s. Sizer created a model that linked the stages of national development to types of education. Although he did not anticipate the changes that technology would bring to education in the coming decades, his premise remains strong: “Education is contextual, and as societies change, so do their educational needs”. In the post-war era Asia experienced unprecedented change, which precipitated new educational initiatives. (OUHK, 2004).

Eventually Asian nations adopted a lifelong learning orientation, and open universities for adult learners expanded. Korea, Indonesia, Thailand, Turkey, and India have between 200,000 and 500,000 students in their open and distance learning universities; China has nearly one million. There are open universities in Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Singapore, and Vietnam. Tam noted that open and distance learning (ODeL) were becoming “the main vehicles for addressing the education, training, and human resources development needs of Asian nations.” (OUHK: 2004).

One of the first models for OL is best exemplified by the British Open University which is founded in adult education theory with a distinctly Western orientation. Its goals include:


• Nurturing autonomous, self-directed individuals to help them reach their potential;

• Challenging the status quo so that adult learners become change agents in society;

• Linking education with job training and hence with labour force requirements;

• Redressing social inequities; and

• Promoting a democratic society.


The stated mission of the International Council for Adult Education (ICAD) includes promoting peace, the advancement of women and oppressed and marginalized people, and universal literacy and access to education, basic services, and employment (OUHK, 2004).

The dean of the faculty of Education at the University of Pretoria Jonathan Jansen summarizes: “You may recognise another university in which the entire place has been transformed into a commercial center, the departments called ‘cost-centres’ and the students called ‘clients’; in which every “management” meeting is consumed with balancing the budget in the light of impending subsidy cuts; in which the response to external intervention is one of compliance and consent; in which the accumulation of large and larger numbers of accredited publications is pursued with relentless vigour; in which teaching is equated with the elegance of scholarship. Just about every in such a place is in the business of (ac)counting. Here, too, the university has long ceased to exist.” ( TB Davie Memorial Lecture, 2004).

Consequently the whole curricula of the discipline: Philosophy of Education have also co-constructed the knowledge debate to:


• A leaner-centred approach;

• Problem-based instruction;and
• Life long learning. (Venter and Van Heerden, 2001: 20).

A modern university became a knowledge-constructing industry, however as temporary, developmental, socially and culturally mediated. It is therefore non-objective (Venter and Van Heerden, 2001: 21). Lategan (2000: 3) describes the post modern university where there are no boundaries between institutions. It is no longer a question of the territory of HEIs, but now a question what HEIs can contribute to nation building. Prof C Viljoen (2005), industrialist says that through the ages of mankind, there were three identifiable revolutions in the so called knowledge industry, namely:

The Agricultural Revolutions (2000 BC)
The Industrial Revolutions (1750 AD)
The Information Revolutions (1950 AD…)

It created a 3 level society, namely an upper, middle and working class. The Information Revolution differentiated between the “haves and the have nots”. (Viljoen, 2005: 1).

In the process it dismantled hierarchies and “flattened” society structures such as traditional universities. Distance became irrelevant in the decentralisation of universities and the creation of the virtual knowledge society and cyberspace (Cf. Viljoen, 2005: 2). The implications of IT created demands for better education and skilled workers. The information society forced the new universities into partnership models. Universities of Technology transfer are directly accountable for National and African societal expectations.

Higher Education underwent a paradigmatic change globally and therefore the Association of African Universities (AAU) also strives to change their epistemology of new paradigms. Subsequent to this fact, the AAU used the principles of OL in breaking the ground for the following innovative ideas in the African context:

“Within the AVU, we decided to change the way we see our strategic role in African higher education and training and the value we add to various initiatives in African universities. We decided to look for a niche in the African higher education landscape by concluding an (outside-in) analysis on how we can create and add value in the burgeoning networked African higher education and training environment. In other words, it become necessary to change the epistemological and ideological paradigms that frame and predicate the way we operate in the African higher education and training scene. In that schema, the art of progress is to preserve the order we inherited amid change, and to preserve the change we are working on amid order in the AVU network that has been established over the years by the African and external institutions that we are working with on this continent.” (Kuzvinetsa: 2005: 9).

The Low rating of sub-Saharan Africa on several indicators of HEI’s in access, gender equity, inclusion, quality and achievement has been of great concern in the last thirteen years since the Jomtien conference of 1990. (VIHEAF: 2004). These concerns have translated into plans of action for redress by the Conference of African Ministers of Education (MINEDAF), the African Union (AU)-formerly Organisation of African Unity Decade of Education of Africa, and the New partnerships for fast-tracking the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) in Africa are being laid out by the AU, MINEDAF and NEPAD. (VIHEAF:2004).

The core component of these strategies is capacity building in the form of equipping/strengthening key operators and implementers with the requisite knowledge, skills and attitudes to bring about positive change. This is premised on the age-long assumption that the human element including teachers and managers is the most important determinant of success in the teaching-learning enterprise. If Africa is to improve its standing in Higher Education (HE) indicators and the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals, attention must be focused on improving the capacity of its teachers and educational managers to deliver good quality HE. (VIHEAF:2004).

Needs assessment surveys conducted over the last eight years by the Higher Education Unit of UNESCO-BREDA, the Nigerian National Universities Commission and UNESCO Harare Cluster Office have revealed that capacity needs to be built in the following areas in sub-Saharan Africa,among others:


• HIV/AIDS Education for Primary Education Teacher Training;

• Development of materials for open distance learning ODL;

• Modern methods of teaching and learning Andragogy;

• Modern Research Skills for higher education teachers; and

• Modern methods of educational institution administration and management. (VIHEAF:2004)

Emerging themes in this new customer/client/human approach are for instance the whole philosophy of Emotional Intelligence. Customers/clients are better informed than ever before (Van Lill: 2005:2). This fact forced HEI’s to change their organisational structures and “to increase production because of technological advances” (Van Lill,2005:2).

This is the obvious reason why OL is the natural choice to change conventional curricula into more generic models for life long learning which could be merged with the job market (Cf. Van den Branden and Lambert: 99: 21).

More important for South African Universities is that the “changes in the relationship between HEIs and society were brought to the fore in the context of the 1990s democratic transition and the concomitant identification by policy makers of different elements that would contribute to the reconstruction and development of a society weakened by racial discrimination, political oppression and social inequality. Thus the most general aim of change in post-apartheid South Africa – the development of a just and democratic society where the majority of the population can share in the wealth of the country and realise individual and collective potential – had to be translated into new missions, strategies and directions in the discharge the core functions of HEIs” (HEQC,April 2005).

This process of transformation has been expressed in legislation which inter alia have identified the following goals:

• Promote equity of access and fair chances of success to all who are seeking to realise their potential through HE, while eradicating all forms of unfair discrimination and advancing redress for past inequalities in HEIs;

• Meet, through well-planned and co-coordinated teaching, learning and research programmes, national development needs, including the high-risk employment needs of a growing economy operating in a global environment;

• Support a democratic ethos and a culture of human rights through educational programmes and practices conducive to critical discourse and creative thinking, cultural tolerance, and a common commitment to a humane,non-sexist order;and

• Contribute to the advancement of all forms of knowledge and scholarship, and in particular address the diverse problems and demands of the local, national, southern African and Africa contexts, and uphold rigorous standards of academic quality. (Higher Education White Paper 3: 1. 14).

Consequently the Council on Higher Education (CHE: 2003) launched a research project on ODeL in collaboration with the South African Institute for Distance Education (SAIDE: 2004). Although this research has been submitted to the National Minister of Education, Ms N. Pandor, no clear cut government policies have yet been tabled, for the future for HEI’s to start redefining their policies and procedures for ODeL. However, due to Pres Thabo Mbheki’s commitments to the AAU on NEPAD principles ODeL is a given factor. And of course to link the ideals of the AAU with the African Union (AU), UNESCO, Commonwealth of Learning (COL) and the African Virtual University (AVU) which is sponsored by the World Bank.

Therefore regulatory barriers; policymakers must attend to the removal of regulatory barriers to learning, especially to facilitate the application of ICT’s in HEI’s (Dhanarajan,2005:67).

A very prominent and meaningful press release of the AAU at its Cape Town conference in February 2005 says it all:

The publication today of the report of the Commissions for Africa, Our Common Interest, is an occasion of profound promise for the continent and its future. The report sets out fully and blisteringly the challenges facing Africa. More importantly, it presents new opportunities for Africa and her partners in the international community to reshape policy and practice to create a better life for the people of Africa.

The Association of Commonwealth Universities and the Association of African Universities unreservedly support the analysis and recommendations of the Commission, and welcome the spirit of new partnership between the Africa Union/ NEPAD and the international community which animates the report. Specially, we are delighted that the Commission has fully endorsed the ten-years partnership programme developed by the ACU and the AAU, Renewing the Universities, and that it has called upon the international community to provide the US $5 billion necessary to implement fully the programme.

It is clear, as President Mbheki has repeatedly argued that the universities of Africa are central to any sustainable effort to rebuild and develop the continent. Only the universities can provide the human capital necessary to ensure the good governance which lies at the core of the solution to all of Africa’s problems.

The report of the Commission makes clear that the renewal of Africa’s universities is a necessary condition for:

• Building the human and institutional capacity necessary to create and sustain the good governance, without which sustainable progress cannot be achieved in any area;

• Developing the leadership in public life, in civil society, and in business which is critical to African-led sustainable development;

• Improving the accountability of governments;

• Building citizen participation and strengthening the culture of democracy;

• Sustainable social and economic development;

• The achievement of the Millennium Development Goals and Education for All;

• Ensuring Africa’s effective participation in the knowledge economy;

• Building the capacity in science, engineering;and

• technology necessary to bridge the science gap between Africa and the rest of the world.

The ACU and the AAU share fully the conviction of the Commission that building capacity in science and technology is a necessary condition for addressing pressing problems from agricultural development to water to create the proposed network of African Institutes of Technology and research centres.

The success of Renewing the Universities will require the active support of key African and international stakeholders. We are deeply grateful for the formal commitment to our partnership expressed by Universities UK and the South African Universities Vice-Chancellors Association and this week by the plenary meeting of the Australian Vice Chancellors Committee. We hope that all of the universities of the Commonwealth will join our partnership and, further, that we shall create a global coalition of universities in support of the recommendations of the Commission. The AAU and the ACU will also be working with colleagues from a variety of countries who have already in place important initiatives in support of different aspects of African higher education.

The leaders of Africa are clear that higher education is central to the progress of their countries. The ten year partnership programme that we have established, and which has been fully endorsed by the Commission, offers a unique opportunity to renew the physical and human capacity of Africa’s universities, thereby enabling them to contribute decisively to the solution of Africa’s most crippling problems. We call upon the international community to provide the resources necessary to implement in full the recommendations of the Commission so that future generations do not “… look back, and wonder how could our world have known and failed to act?”.



Urgent recommendations for HEI’s inter alia will be to:

• Apply for AAU – membership;

• Change their corporate sections for International Affairs to “African and International Affairs”;

• Budget for the development of ODeL;

• Adapt iAcademic Plans according to ODeL principles;

• Adapt academic curricula to Flexible Learning according to ODeL principles;

• Academic staff development in ODeL;
• Share resources with other African HEI’s (e.g. library facilities and co-operative education infrastructures);

• Change “Diretor Distance Education” to “ Director Open-and-distance Learning”;

• Co-operate with the United Nations UNI-TWIN project of UNESCO at the University Free State on Microbiology in African States;

• Enhance the establishment of a single co-ordinatted Open University System which includes the Vocational Colleges, Agricultural Colleges and all the Further Education and Training Institutions;and

• Participate in peacekeeping initiatives on the African continent.

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