In June 2004, I was invited to talk about the
concept of open university at the 3rd National Research Conference
in Education at the University of Santo Tomas.
I refined that paper and included it in my book, Distance Education in the
Philippines, Issues and Concerns which was published by the UP Open
University in 2008. I wish to reproduce
here my concluding statement in that paper because the ideas are as valid then
as they are today.
Here’s my concluding statement then:
Clearly,
open learning, distance education, and the concept of the open university are
rather old concepts in other parts of the world. In the Philippines these are relatively new
concepts, just beginning to take root in this country. Still, those who feel they are innovative
keep on pushing to establish open universities within their organizational set
up. They must be recognized for their
forward-looking and innovative thinking.
However, I hope that they also realize there are wrong premises from
which to proceed. Let me clarify what I
consider to be wrong premises:
1. It is wrong to claim that you have an open university
simply because you have announced so; and that you are offering one or a couple
of courses, or even degree programs. It
is only in the Philippines where a unit of a university offers a course or a
program and calls it open university. It
is also only in the Philippines where a university is subsumed under a college,
as in the case of an open university under a state college. Sometimes you have an open college under a
school in a college. I have been
wondering where we are getting these ideas.
Let us abide by accepted international norms so we can be
competitive worldwide.
2. It is wrong to claim that we have well-prepared
instructional modules for our distance students when all we have is a pamphlet,
not designed for independent learning, and probably mimeographed years
ago. We are short-changing our students
who pay good money for their education.
We may think that education is a business enterprise, and probably that
may even be acceptable, but knowledge can hardly be bought.
If you want to offer open learning and distance education
courses and even programs, train first your human resources and build up your
expertise and non-human resources before you begin admitting students. It should not be the other way around.
3. It is wrong to enroll students in distance courses and do
not provide them appropriate support services so that they can gain from the
courses they enrolled in. That, to me,
is cheating, pure and simple.
If you want to offer courses in the distance mode, always
provide for an efficient and effective student support services. That is the heart of distance education.
4. It is wrong for institutions of higher learning to offer
academic degree programs in the distance education mode when their own
conventional programs are not even good enough.
What makes them think that they can deliver quality education in the
distance mode when they cannot even do so in the conventional mode? Distance education is not easy. It is also very expensive to prepare good
instructional materials designed for distance education delivery.
If you want to offer courses in the distance mode, do an
excellent job on your conventional programs first. You can not hope to be good in distance
education if you are not good in your conventional programs. Pour enough resources into conceptualization,
planning, course development, support services, and evaluation procedures. Follow accepted standards of excellence and
quality.
5. It is wrong to offer programs in the distance mode when you
do not have sufficient manpower, expertise, and resources to deliver them. The moment you begin offering your courses
you have a psychological contract with your students that will require you to
continue offering the courses until the students complete their programs and
earn their academic degrees. If you are
not ready to abide by that psychological contract, then don’t start it.
Develop a human resource pool who have acceptable levels of
expertise in the theory, philosophy, and practice of open learning and distance
education. It is not enough to have one
trained individual on your faculty, or to have simply visited the UK Open
University. Open learning and distance
education are commitments that go way beyond mere compilation of lecture notes
for distribution to students. It is a
calling, a philosophy, a way of life, a professional commitment and sometimes a
sacrifice.
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