Week 7 - Distance learning

China

China's distance learning universities was one of the first in the world to introduce this form of learning. The TVU courses are multimedia, consisting of radio, television and printed materials. The social-science courses' main form of media is television where satellite transmission broadcasts lectures to the students. This method of learning started in 1986 and it had lead to the social-science courses greatly increasing in its size of students. The other forms of media used in the learning is audio- and video-cassettes which make up for insufficient transmission time. With over 1 million audio-visual copies of teaching materials being produced each year this also helps long-distance students get efficient access to the learning materials where ever they may be located.

The main learning materials for the courses are formed into three types of media; course books, reference books and study guides. Printed teaching materials are also available to supplement radio and television programmes for all the courses. I think the radio and television teaching sounds effective as the programmes are just an identical transcription of the actual classroom teaching. This ensures that the distance learning students are getting the same quality of learning as the classroom students. Also, the presenters for the television and radio teaching are specifically chosen from high standard universities all around the country. This again ensures the highest quality in teaching and puts confidence into the programme.

As well as these options of distance learning, students also have the option off ace-to-face tuition which i believe is a necessary feature as presenters of radio and television programmes cannot answer the students' questions directly and students have to wait to hear any feedback on the learning and teaching. Also, problems with the television image and radio sound could occur for technical or other reasons, so it is beneficial to have face-to-face learning on top of this.

I think the main positives of China's distance learning universities is that teaching can be delivered in a shorter time period and on a much larger scale. Also, China can be seen as less culturally and scientifically developed than other countries so this method of learning can help to evolve these areas in its society. However, there are certain negatives that can be seen. Such as the "limited transmission time for television; improper use of media; inconvenient viewing and listening for part-time study, delayed distribution of printed teaching materials, a too large student study load, insufficient provision of experimental work, and a shortage of qualified staff for research on distance education." I can see how these problems would greatly affect the standard of distance learning as if the teaching materials are delayed or there isn't enough qualified staff then this will hinder the quality of learning. If i was a student facing these problems i would be extremely concerned about the future standard of my education.

To help solve these issues, the universities have started to establish new methods of learning. These include printed teaching materials being more of the basis of new types of courses, and radio and television teaching hours being reduced. I think this will decrease the problems that have previously arisen and these future changes would defiantly put my confidence back into the distance learning programmes.

What do you think? Do you think these changes will improve the standard of distance learning in China?