Besides the early pioneers of correspondence education such as William Rainey Harper of Chicago, William H. Lightly of Wisconsin, and Hans Hermod of Malmo, who, according to Keegan (1996: 55), wrote about the advantages of this form of education, this section outlines the scholarly contribution of Charles Wedemeyer’s theories of independence and autonomy. Wedemeyer (1971: 548) noted that a particular philosophy of teaching and learning usually lies behind the concepts of independent study and learning. To understand the concept of independent learning, Wedemeyer (1973: 73) gave the following definition:
Independent learning is that learning, that changed behaviour, that results from activities carried on by learners in space and time, learners whose environment is different from that of the school, learners who may be guided by teachers but who are not dependent upon them, learners who accept degrees of freedom and responsibility in initiating and carrying out the activities that lead to learning.
According to Keegan (1996: 59), Wedemeyer, through his concept of independent study, considered that nobody should be denied the opportunity to learn because he/she was poor, geographically isolated, socially disadvantaged, in poor health,
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institutionalised, or otherwise unable to place himself/herself within the institution’s special environment for learning. In fact, distance education must provide address the issue of access to further education by providing the opportunities for students in remote areas. Wedemeyer (1971: 551) advocated freedom and choice for the learner. In the context of this study, Wedemeyer focussed more on individual students who were geographical isolated as opposed to the group of students in different areas or regions. The current practice of distance education advocates flexibility for students to be able to study from anywhere while attending to other key activities such as work, family and community projects. The researcher believes that SSS should be responsive to issues such as geographical isolation and social disadvantages. The hallmark of Wedemeyer’s work was his contribution to the establishment of the British Open University (Sherow & Wedemeyer, 1990: 18). Another theory to explore in this section is the theory of industrialisation of teaching. According to Garrison (2000: 6), the most coherent, rigorous and pervasive example of DE theory to date is the industrial production model of Otto Peters. Peters (1994a: 111) analysed the structure of distance education and noted the possibility of adopting industrial production techniques such as division of labour, mass production, and organisation to realise economies of scale and reduce unit costs. Considering the structural constraints and the reliance on self-instructional print packages, the adoption of industrial approaches to education was ideal as noted by Peters (1994, cited in Garrison, 2000: 6). Furthermore, according to Keegan (1996: 78), for Peters, the most important aspect was the similarities between the industrial production process and the teaching-learning process in distance education. He analysed the industrial production process and found that not only did this provide a satisfactory basis for an analysis of distance teaching, but that a fruitful explanatory and forecasting theory of teaching at a distance was possible when one considered it as the most industrialised form of teaching and learning.
Peters’ core philosophical position can be understood if one looks at his most recent work. Peters (2000: 15) offered a new structure for university education to include three basic forms of academic learning such as self-learning, tele-eLearning and social intercourse. It is obvious that self-learning and tele-eLearning cover the aspect of independent learning, and these two are very much autonomous approaches to learning. The argument here is that communications technology and lifelong learning
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demands will precipitate a transformation of the traditional university into an institution of self-study and distance education (Peters, 2000: 20). In fact, the researcher argues that self-study and distance education should provide study opportunities to the majority of people in the 21st century. The challenge, however, is how to ensure high success rates for geographically isolated students, particularly those living in remote areas without electricity and internet connectivity. The other concern is that distance education students need some form of teaching and learning techniques but this theory is not viewed as a theory of teaching nor learning. Another pioneering theorist who has made substantial contributions to the theory of distance education with his theory of didactic interaction was Borje Holmberg. Holmberg (1989: 43) argued that guided didactic conversation is a “pervasive characteristic of distance education”. Holmberg’s theory conceptualises distance education as a friendly conversation fostered by well-developed self-instructional materials, which result in feelings of personal relationships between teaching and learning parties, and promote intellectual pleasure and study motivation (Holmberg, 1989: 43). In light of Holmberg’s theory of guided didactic conversation, DE materials should present characteristics of easily accessible presentations of study matter, explicit advice to students on the course content issues, promote the exchange of views, and involve the student emotionally to take a personal interest in the subject (Holmberg, 1983: 117). Successful delivery of education is based on effective communication between students and lecturers. In the context of distance education, students and lecturers can have a simulated conversation through the well-written learning materials developed by the course developers. Therefore, my view is that in order to develop learning materials that promote two-way conversations between students and the institution, course developers and instructional designers should possess sound knowledge, understanding and experience of distance education and its dynamics. Figure 2.1 below presents Holmberg’s view of distance education as guided didactic conversation.
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By correspondence By telephone By personal contact
Real
Distance education as guided didactic conversation
Simulated
Internalized conversation by study of a text
Conventional styles of course authors
Figure 2.1: Guided didactic conversation (Source: Keegan, 1996: 95)
The next section explores the theory of transactional distance by Moore. According to Garrison (2000: 4), the practical and evolving approaches to distance education must be reflected in its theory. For this reason, the researcher viewed Moore’s theory of transactional distance as more practical and relevant to the challenges of distance education practices at the NUST-COLL.