1. Breaking the iron
triangle in open
distance
learning?
Workshop, Open University of
Mauritius and the Higher
Education Commission of
Mauritius
26 March, 2018, Mauritius
Paul Prinsloo
University of South Africa (Unisa)
14prinspImage credit: https://pngtree.com/freebackground/break-open-brick-wall-background_509888.html
COST
QUALITY ACCESS
2. Imagecredit:https://pixabay.com/en/binary-code-man-display-dummy-face-1327512/
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moment in time and, as such, are tentative and provisional
11. There has never been a time of greater
promise, or one of greater potential peril
Source credit: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/01/the-fourth-industrial-revolution-what-it-means-and-how-to-respond/
12. If distance education is “the most industrialised form
of education”, how does the fourth industrial
revolution impact on our assumptions informing our
institutions
Image credit: https://za.pinterest.com/pin/341569952970101904/
22. Provide access to increasing number of
students – most of whom will not have access,
or can afford traditional forms of educational
delivery
Image credit: https://pixabay.com/en/crowd-concert-smoke-people-2361583/
9
29. 2018
“The competition we are facing is from the
massive American technology giants,
organisations like Facebook, with a commercial
motivation. We have a socially progressive
motivation. We want to help Britain survive the
changes that are going to happen in the
workplace.”
30. 2018
“Mr Horrocks said he understood concerns
among University staff about the scale of
change but the changes were the ‘right
thing’ for both the University and British
society.”
33. 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/
38. How do these trends (and others) impact on
access, quality and cost in open universities?
39. “Of course, not all
distance education
systems are cheaper than
the alternative,
conventional means of
teaching and training”
(Rumble, 1997, p. 2)
The social advantage of
providing access, must be
considered in terms of
quality and cost
40. ”There is plenty of evidence that open and
distance education can be more cost
efficient than traditional forms of education,
but this is not necessarily the case”
(Rumble, 1997, p. 204)
“… there is very little that can be concluded with
certainty, Pilicy-makers and institutional leaders should
be aware of lifting solutions off the shelf, hoping that
the economic benefits that may be said to apply in one
socio-economic environment will transfer, along with
the media and the technologies, to another
(Rumble, 1997, p. 204)
42. Quality
Access Cost
• The moment you increase access, what happens to quality
and cost?
• When you commit to quality learning experiences, what
happens to cost and access?
• Aiming to keep our costs as low as possible, how does this
impact on access and quality?
44. Quality
Access Cost
“[D]istance education can achieve any two of the
following: flexible access, quality learning experience
and cost-effectiveness – but not all three at once”
Kanuka & Brooks, 2010, in Power and Gould-Morven, 2011, p. 23)
47. Source credit: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.3200/CHNG.41.2.30-35
• What alliances are possible between different stakeholders to
ensure quality, cost-effectiveness and not compromise on the
promise of open education?
• What can be outsourced/insourced and what should not be
outsourced/insourced and who will benefit?
1
50. 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
53. Paul Prinsloo (Prof)
Research Professor in Open Distance Learning (ODL)
College of Economic and Management Sciences, Samuel Pauw Building 5-21
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
Thank you
Editor's Notes
Talking about algorithms, Artifical Intelligence and machine learning immediately raises a number of serious issues, and one of the most dominant issues in the popular press is the question whether robots will replace teachers…Except for the fact that this is a crude representation of the potential of Artificial Intelligence, it does allow for some light relief...