Keynote at the National Association of Distance Education and Open Learning in South Africa (NADEOSA) Conference, 21 July 2017 -Bloemfontein, South Africa
Measures of Central Tendency: Mean, Median and Mode
Talkin Bout a Revolution: (Re)claiming distance education as revolutionary, humanising praxis
1. Imagecredit:https://pixabay.com/en/binary-code-man-display-dummy-face-1327512/
Talkin Bout a Revolution: (Re)claiming
distance education as revolutionary,
humanising praxis
Keynote at the National Association
of Distance Education and Open
Learning in South Africa (NADEOSA)
Conference, 21 July 2017 -
Bloemfontein, South Africa
Paul Prinsloo
University of South Africa (Unisa)
@14prinsp
2. Imagecredit:https://pixabay.com/en/binary-code-man-display-dummy-face-1327512/
I do not own the copyright of any of the images in
this presentation. I therefore acknowledge the
original copyright and licensing regime of every
image used.
This presentation (excluding the images) is
licensed
under a Creative Commons Attribution-
NonCommercial 4.0 International License
3. Imagecredit:https://pixabay.com/en/binary-code-man-display-dummy-face-1327512/
Overview of the presentation
1.Revolution? Whose revolution? Who benefits?
Who defines a/the revolution?
2.Is there a revolution/are there revolutions that
we are not talking about?
3.Distance education as revolution(ary)
4.Tentative pointers for reclaiming distance
education as revolutionary, humanising practice
4. Imagecredit:https://pixabay.com/en/binary-code-man-display-dummy-face-1327512/
Don't you know
They're talkin' 'bout a revolution
It sounds like a whisper
Don't you know
They're talkin' about a revolution
It sounds like a whisper
While they're standing in the welfare lines
Crying at the doorsteps of those armies of salvation
Wasting time in the unemployment lines
Sitting around waiting for a promotion
(Tracy Chapman)
7. Imagecredit:https://pixabay.com/en/binary-code-man-display-dummy-face-1327512/
There is a real danger that amid all the
various claims regarding revolution,
disruption and the ‘end of higher
education’…
that we miss, that we don’t listen to the
whispers, the trembling of the tectonic
plates on which higher education, and
particularly distance education are
founded
35. Imagecredit:https://pixabay.com/en/binary-code-man-display-dummy-face-1327512/
“Overall, this is an excellent report. Wisely, it does not dwell on
the historical reasons why Athabasca University got itself into
its current mess but instead focuses on what its future role
should be, what it can uniquely contribute to the province, and
what is needed to right the ship, including more money.”
“However, the main challenges, in my view, remain
more internal than external.”
“Money itself is not the issue – it is the value proposition that
will persuade the government to prioritise funding for AU
that still needs to be made by the university itself. In other words
it’s a trust issue – if we give you more money, what will you
deliver?”
Tony Bates (2017)
Source credit: https://www.tonybates.ca/2017/06/10/a-brighter-future-for-athabasca-university/
36. Imagecredit:https://pixabay.com/en/binary-code-man-display-dummy-face-1327512/
“The second major challenge, while strongly linked to vision and
funding, is the institutional culture. Major changes in course
design, educational technology, student support and
administration, marketing and PR are urgently needed to bring
AU into advanced 21st century practice in online and distance
learning. I fear that while there are visionary faculty and staff at
AU who understand this, there is still too much resistance from
traditionalists and those who see change as undermining
academic excellence or threatening their comfort zone. Without
these necessary structural and cultural changes though AU will
not be able to implement its vision, no matter how persuasive it
is. So there is also a competency issue – if we give you more
money, can you deliver on your promises?”
Tony Bates (2017)
Source credit: https://www.tonybates.ca/2017/06/10/a-brighter-future-for-athabasca-university/
49. Imagecredit:https://pixabay.com/en/binary-code-man-display-dummy-face-1327512/
Mapping distance education as
revolution (Peters, 2010)
“We have experienced a revolutionary adaptation of
teaching and learning to new technological and
social conditions. There is no other form of teaching
and learning that has broken away from tradition so
sharply, that is so flexible and conducive to further
societal changes of the post-industrial knowledge
society. Distance education achieved a first
significant breakthrough in the reform of higher
education”
(Peters, 2010, p. 56)
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“The humanitarian task of providing access for all
learners, with special focus on those disadvantaged by
distance, by precarious economic conditions, by
belonging to discriminated minorities, or by being
disabled. Obviously, this mission is now relativized by a
growing number of privileged students who do not
learn at a distance because they are forced to do this
by unfavorable circumstances, but rather for reasons of
convenience only”
(Peters, 2010, p. 32)
51. Imagecredit:https://pixabay.com/en/binary-code-man-display-dummy-face-1327512/
Tentative pointers for reclaiming
distance education as revolutionary
1. Rediscover the humanitarian ideal of distance education
2. How does distance education as ‘the most industrialised
form of education’ translate into a digital, agile, fluid
era?
3. How does the ‘iron triangle’ of cost, quality and access
change into the digital era?
4. Student support/student data
5. The potential and perils of algorithmic decision-making
6. ‘Open(ing) learning’, ‘open(ing) teaching’ and ‘open(ing)
scholarship’
52. Imagecredit:https://pixabay.com/en/binary-code-man-display-dummy-face-1327512/
The humanist mission of correspondence education
was “to provide access to education for all learners, no
matter how dispersed or disadvantaged by economic,
personal, or political situations”(p. 5)
Feasley, C. & Bunker, E. L. (2007). The history of national and regional organisations and the
ICDE. In M. G. Moore (Ed.), Handbook of distance education (pp. 15-29). Mahwah, New
Jersey, Erlbaum.
Pointer 1: Rediscovering the original
humanist and humanising intention of
distance education
54. How do we make teaching and learning
human again?
Image credit: http://www.lifegate.it/persone/news/banksy-biografia
55. Pointer 2: Rethinking distance education
as industrialised process of delivery
Image credit: https://za.pinterest.com/pin/341569952970101904/
56. Imagecredit:https://pixabay.com/en/binary-code-man-display-dummy-face-1327512/
How different are the processes used in an industrialised,
print-based distance education model from approving,
designing, producing and delivering (online*), (open*)
distance education?
Plan &
design
Approval
Curriculum
and
learning
design
TestProduction
Delivery
Print-based, fully offline delivery
Are the same processes appropriate & effective for
responsive, agile, fully online, off-campus delivery?
57. Department of Higher Education and Training. (2014). Policy for the provision of distance education in South African universities in the context of an
integrated post-school system. Retrieved from http://www.saide.org.za/sites/default/files/37811_gon535.pdf
OfflineOnline Fully online
Fully offline
Digitally supported
Internet supported
Internet dependent
Campus-based Blended/hybrid Remote
A
BC
Distance, digitally supported
Distance, fully onlineCampus-based,
fully online
58. Pointer 3: How does the ‘iron triangle’ of
cost, quality and access change into the
digital era?
Image credit: https://pixabay.com/en/homeless-beggar-sleeping-street-2182114/
61. Imagecredit:https://pixabay.com/en/binary-code-man-display-dummy-face-1327512/
Pointer 5: The potential and perils of
algorithmic decision-making
Seeing
Processing
Acting
Learning
Human Human
plus
algorithm
Algorithm
plus human
oversight
Algorithms/
machine
learning
Yes/No
Yes/No
Yes/No
Yes/No
Yes/No
Yes/No
Yes/No
Yes/No
Yes/No Yes/No
Yes/No Yes/No
Yes/No Yes/No
Yes/No Yes/No
Danaher, J. (2015). How might algorithms rule our lives? Mapping the logical space of algocracy. [Web log post]. Retrieved from
http://philosophicaldisquisitions.blogspot.com/2015/06/how-might-algorithms-rule-our-lives.html
64. Image credit: https://pixabay.com/en/empty-abandoned-messy-grunge-scene-863118/
Thank you
Paul Prinsloo
Research Professor in Open Distance Learning (ODL)
College of Economic and Management Sciences,
Office number 3-15, Club 1, Hazelwood, P O Box 392
Unisa, 0003, Republic of South Africa
T: +27 (0) 12 433 4719 (office)
T: +27 (0) 82 3954 113 (mobile)
prinsp@unisa.ac.za
Skype: paul.prinsloo59
Personal blog: http://opendistanceteachingandlearning.wordpress.com
Twitter profile: @14prinsp