Presentation by Narend Baijnath, CEO, Council of Higher Education, South Africa, at the 2019 European Distance Learning Week's fifth-day webinar on "The journey to social justice and openness in ODL" - 15 November 2019 Recording of the discussion is available: https://eden-online.adobeconnect.com/pqnnhlmaq3ho/ & https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tK_tCGMUL-8

1. Social justice and openness in online and distance learning
(ODL) – between promise and delivery
Prof Narend Baijnath – Council on Higher Education, South Africa

2. Introduction
• Exploration of the emergence and intent of open
universities and ODL
• Status of the open university, its impact on openness
and social justice
• Analysis of future prospects of open universities and
ODL as instruments for promoting openness and social
justice

3. Open universities
• Distance education/distance learning: focuses on
teaching methods and technology with the aim of
delivering teaching to individual students who are not
physically present
• ODL: open and flexible to give students freedom to
learn anywhere, anytime, at their own pace
• Journey of distance education: post mail
correspondence, to instructional radio, to educational
television to current conjuncture

5. Promises of ODL
• Enhances social justice, openness and accessibility;
• Transcends national boundaries;
• Minimises tuition, travelling, accommodation and
textbook costs;
• Makes education accessible to everyone;
• Allows students to learn while doing other part-time jobs
- especially those from disadvantaged socio-economic
backgrounds
• Lifelong learning

6. ODL delivery in South Africa
• UNISA founded in 1873 to address past injustices
• UNISA has transitioned from ODL to ODeL since 2013,
which has increased student support and enrolments
• ODL is a catalyst for access, participation and redress
of inequalities

7. Promises of ODL and openness
• ODL breaks down barriers to access to information and
learning resources
• Students can engage with content without restrictions
• Support from tutors/facilitators is readily available

8. Promises of ODL for social justice
• Social justice: creating a society/institution based on
principles of equality and solidarity
• Education is an effective mechanism for promoting
social justice
• Opportunities for social mobility, promotes reasoning
capabilities, acceptance of differences

9. Factors that influence openness and
social justice in ODL/ODeL
• Legal – copyrights regarding OERs
• Technological – reliable electricity, computers, internet
access
• Social – relevance to societal needs, sensitivity to
values and norms; diversity as a factor
• Economic – availability of resources

10. The future of open universities/ODL in
the 4IR
• Innovation is important to align education and lifelong
learning with the knowledge requirements of society
• Collaborative engagement of learners with digital
content, tools and services in teaching and learning
• 4IR can increase accessibility to
learning/innovation/creativity
• 4IR may hinder social justice and access for the
disadvantaged – fewer jobs

11. Issues related to delivery
• A panacea for mass access
• The unit of resource – cost-effectiveness and scale
• Geographic distance and access to learning resources, diversity
as a factor
• Socio-economic inequalities and related divides
• Quality issues
• 4IR era and new challenges related to social justice

12. Concluding remarks