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Search by Keywords: Advanced Search Download this Report Click here to download this report. Education at the Development Gateway AiDA - Projects dgMarket - Tenders dgCommunities – E-Learning Open Educational Resources About this Report 'Online Education: What Can It Deliver?' is a Special Report that convenes diverse perspectives on the outlook of online education and e-learning for development. Participating in this Special Report are our online communities focused on: Aid Effectiveness Capacity Development for MDGs Culture & Development Gender and Development Indigenous Issues Youth for Development Environment and Development Urban Development  Food Security HIV/AIDS Population and Reproductive Health Microfinance HIV/AIDS ICT for Development Indigenous Issues Iraq Knowledge Economy  Microfinance  Poverty E-Government Open Educational Resources Afghanistan Reconstruction   "Urban Environment: Sustainability and Security", a Special Report coming in June 2006 that addresses how the urban landscape in developing countries is becoming environmentally less secure. Become a Development Gateway member, and you will be notified of our upcoming reports. Sign-up! See previous Special Reports here. Special Report The requested resource (/editor/default/) is not available FROM OUR MEMBERS What would increase the credibility of online education in your country? Online education is a new way of learning for much of the developing world where classroom teaching has been the only model. How can online education become more creditable as a learning tool? Here are some answers from the Development Gateway’s online survey of its members on the ground. Monica de Krutli - Argentina Most universities realize that they can have a lot more students if they promote online classes, so there are a lot of online or blended courses in Argentina. Other than in universities online education is not promoted because an 'online culture' has not widely spread yet. Zubair Faisal Abbasi - Pakistan There is only one educational institution doing online courses. That is Virtual University. However, they cater to only graduate and undergraduate students. I think direct student-teacher contact is thought to be more important than mere acquisition of information. Hicham Filali Zehri - Morocco I see that training is a key in successful learning. If material is adapted to the local context, this will make things better. Personally, I cannot go on reading knowledge from the net for long. But if I get printed hard copies of this knowledge, this will help a lot. Shape, presentation, colour and references give more authenticity to online education. If I can print materials from the net, they will be very easy and accessible to use in class. Having things in paper makes it easy to revise and refer to anytime. Now, e-education is used mostly for surveys and researches, and as an aid to ordinary education. Radhakrishnan Puthenveetil – India As of now online education is no substitute for regular education. In developing countries like India it will take a long time for distance education to gain credibility. Between degree holders of regular courses and of distance education, employers often prefer degree holders of regular courses. There are many reasons for this: In countries like India distance education was introduced only recently, and those who participate in it as students are mostly those who are either employed or could not complete a regular course. Though only universities conduct distance education courses, the courses do not have the rigour of regular courses. In many institutions distance education, a separate wing, within a university, is seen as a money spinner. For lack of transparency and accountability and because of greater dependency of the students on the university, the distance education wings of most universities are notorious for corruption. All these affect the credibility of distance education. If distance education has to have any credibility there is need to maintain syllabi parity, comparability, and compatibility with regular courses, if necessary with built-in flexibility. Norbert E. Wilhelm - Germany I see a huge potential for online education in developing countries, if the right input in the form of content is elaborated. The biggest obstacle is lack of relevancy of online courses to local needs. My proposal refers to developing countries and sharing of vital know how, e.g. in disaster resistant buildings, where I am actually working and where I see huge deficits. Robert Aucoin - Canada As a course designer I am able to design an online course that is "perfect". This would be a course that is in tune with the goals and needs of the learners, uses top materials and top evaluation instruments, and is highly rated. But if the course is not seen as credible... it isn't. One way around the credibility issue is to involve credible institutions in online learning. An online MBA from Bobby University is probably not going to be seen as credible, but an online MBA from Harvard certainly is. Having said that, these credible institutions need to produce high quality online materials because their credibility will wane quickly if they do not. There are many examples of powerful universities producing poor quality courses year after year because they can. But eventually their inattention to such matters catches up with them. Anuradha Gupta - India Online courses must first obtain recognition from the education policy makers and a law protecting those taking these courses should be put in place. Validity of the course would then ensure its credibility. Local examination bodies could step in to conduct face to face practical and online tests. Scores obtained should then be treated on par with those issued to persons taking traditional methods of instruction. Gifted children would be able to take these tests to finish their education without disturbing the set pattern followed at the school they attend, especially in countries that are still grappling with the issues of poverty and illiteracy and can ill afford to provide a chance for accelerated growth. Rehmat Ebrahim - Pakistan As an urban dweller and also relatively well off, it is not such a problem for me personally. However, if this facility were more readily available, students in smaller towns would be able to take advantage of it. Girls especially, would be able to obtain education at home and probably improve their minds. Rita Agboh - Benin We need to inform others and ourselves about the validity of online education in the sense that it is even more self-formative than the formal type of education. Online education can make the learning process enjoyable as you can plan for learning and anytime you need to read your course material you go online or on your computer. Because learning is relaxing, you will surely benefit from the online education. Beyond the accessibility and affordability of Internet, one needs to really want to learn. Otherwise, the Internet will be affordable and accessible but it will not be of any benefit. Bassem El-Wazir - Palestine Online course materials should be geared to these areas: lifelong learning skills; teaching learners how to continuously learn and locate knowledge resources; self-motivation skills; leadership skills; etiquette; anger management; communication skills; interpersonal skills; creative thinking; analytical skills; and health education courses about such issues as bird flu, SARS, AIDS, etc., as well as programs targeted toward dealing with kids with special needs. Having courses accredited by the local ministry of education and higher education would make online education more credible and have these courses account for some sort of reward recognized by employers and human resources departments. There has to be incentive for learners to take online courses. This might be a salary increase or some sort of recognition. Or by enhancing my personal skills, by increasing my knowledge and awareness of issues important to me, by creating new windows of opportunity for me, like new job placements or online businesses, etc. Doljinsuren Erdenebayar - Mongolia People in developing countries need good knowledge about ways to develop their home countries. An online course must be very hands-on and easy to understand. I live in a developing country adn am working to develop several sectors.   Tommy White - United States Mostly asynchronous environment requiring weekly assignments and discussion board threads. Effective 'marketing' about the use of the computer (and thus online training) as a learning tool. A key issue for many professionals is: 'you mean, at the end of the day, I have to spend another 4 - 8 hours per week on my computer?' That is a turn-off for many people... Myra Orozco- Philippines Information awareness on online education particularly with regard to credit units (undergraduate & post-graduate courses) for online studies. The requested resource (/editor/default/) is not available Email this page Sign-up Support Our Work From Our Members Almost 300 people answered the Development Gateway member survey about uses of online education as a development tool. Read their responses. How widely used is online education in your country? What would make online education more popular?   Multilateral Learning Online: Can It Solve the Education Crisis in Developing Countries? Bob Moon, Open University and Teacher Education in Sub-Saharan Africa (TESSA) Susan D'Antoni, Virtual Institute of the Institute for Educational Planning (IIEP) Stewart Marshall, Distance Education Centre at the University of the West Indies, Barbados Read Wired Schools: Is High Internet Cost the Only Obstacle? C. Enrique Peláez Jarrín, Ecuadorian Consortium for Advanced Internet Development Sandra Aluoch, African Virtual University Read Private Sector: Funding ICT Innovations for Higher Education Roundtable from 2006 International Investment Forum for Private Higher Education Read Partners Global Events March 27-31: Innovating e-Learning 2006: Transforming Learning Experiences March 27-29 2006 International Conference on Distance Education, Oman April 24-30: Global Campaign for Education Global Action Week April 24-30: Education International GWA April 25-28: Digital Learning Asia 2006, Bangkok, Thailand May 24-26 1st International Conference on ICT for Development, Education & Training, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia June 14-17: European Distance and E-Learning Network (EDEN) Conference, Vienna, Austria ICEL 2006: The International Conference on e-Learning, Montreal, Quebec July 3-7: iEARN World Conference and Youth Summit, Netherlands

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