Promise and Reality: A Critical Analysis of the Literature Available in Australia on Distance Education in the Third World.

Autor/in	Arger, Geoff
Titel	Promise and Reality: A Critical Analysis of the Literature Available in Australia on Distance Education in the Third World.
Quelle	(1985), (24 Seiten)Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; Monographie
Schlagwörter	Change Strategies; Developing Nations; Distance Education; Economic Development; Educational Benefits; Educational Change; Educational Needs; Foreign Countries; Futures (of Society); Intervention; Literature Reviews; Outcomes of Education; Postsecondary Education; Program Improvement; Relevance (Education); Australia + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Lösungsstrategie; Developing country; Developing countries; Entwicklungsland; Distance study; Distance learning; Fernunterricht; Wirtschaftsentwicklung; Bildungsertrag; Bildungsreform; Educational need; Bildungsbedarf; Ausland; Future; Society; Zukunft; Lernleistung; Schulerfolg; Post-secondary education; Tertiäre Bildung; Relevance; Relevanz; Australien
Abstract	From its earliest development, distance education has promised inexpensive, egalitarian, high quality mass education. An examination of the literature about distance education in developing nations indicates that the gulf between what distance education is promising to achieve in these nations and what it is actually achieving is wide and will likely remain so. The current rhetoric of distance education is that it can assist developing nations because it is a vehicle of large-scale, quality education that brings about social equality in a cost-effective manner. A critical analysis of this literature reveals, however, that there is no real evidence that this has been or even can be achieved. Such an analysis also indicates that, as it is presently practiced, distance education in the world's developing nations is interwoven with the so-called modernization paradigm of development. Because it is based on Eurocentric premises, this paradigm appears to be of little use in the world's developing nations. The literature would appear to indicate that these two factors are interwoven and that until the development paradigm becomes more appropriate to the needs of these developing nations, the difference between the potential and reality of distance education's contribution to national development in these countries will remain limited. An eight-page bibliography is included. (MN)
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC