Contributed by:
This guide is organized in two main sections. Section I provides our working definition of distance education and anatomizes its many modes and models, dissecting their strengths and weaknesses in terms of instructional quality and effectiveness. Section II focuses on methods, collating best practices and lessons learned about teaching and learning from successful global distance education models. The guide also contains a glossary of terms, a reference section for further Web-based information on distance learning programs and approaches, and an extensive bibliography of the sources cited within the guide.
1.
Distance Education for Teacher
Training: Modes, Models, and
Mary Burns
Education Development Center, Inc.
Washington, DC
3.
Distance Education for Teacher Training: Modes, Models, and Methods
Thanks to the following Education Development Center, Inc. (EDC), colleagues for their review of and
feedback on this guide:
Steve Anzalone, Director of Asian Center, International Development Division at EDC
Cornelia Brunner, Senior Research Scientist, Center for Children and Technology at EDC
Tom Haferd, Senior Research Associate, Learning and Teaching Division at EDC
Craig Hoyle, Senior Research Scientist, Learning and Teaching Division at EDC
Barbara Treacy, Director, EdTech Leaders Online, Learning and Teaching Division at EDC
Particular thanks to Andrea Osborne-Smith, International Technical Advisor, International Development
Division at EDC for her careful edits to this guide.
Also, my thanks to the Creative Services team at EDC for their expertise in designing and copyediting this
About the Author
Mary Burns is a Senior Technology Specialist at EDC just outside Boston, Massachusetts. A former teacher
in the United States, México, and Jamaica for 10 years, she has worked in the area of technology-enabled
professional development since 1997, instructing in, designing, and evaluating both distance-based and
face-to-face professional development. She has authored over 30 articles, books, and monographs about
teacher professional development and technology and works primarily in the United States, South Asia,
Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Africa. She can be reached at [email protected].
© 2011, Education Development Center, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Acknowledgments i
5.
Distance Education for Teacher Training: Modes, Models, and Methods
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments................................................................................................................................................. i
About the Author................................................................................................................................................... i
Foreword................................................................................................................................................................ 1
About This Guide.................................................................................................................................................. 2
Caveats.................................................................................................................................................................. 4
Section I: Distance Education: Modes and Models...................................................................................... 7
Distance Education: Modes and Models......................................................................................................... 9
Chapter 1: Print-based Distance Education................................................................................................. 12
Overview........................................................................................................................................... 12
Examples of Print-based Distance Learning for Upgrading Teachers’ Qualifications.................. 12
Considerations: Print as a Distance Learning Tool......................................................................... 14
Summary of Print-based Correspondence Model........................................................................... 15
Chapter 2: Audio-based Distance Education................................................................................................ 18
Overview........................................................................................................................................... 18
Two-Way Audio................................................................................................................................. 18
Broadcast Radio................................................................................................................................ 19
Interactive Radio Instruction (IRI).................................................................................................. 21
Interactive Audio Instruction (IAI).................................................................................................. 23
Other Forms of Audio-based Distance Education.......................................................................... 25
Phones and Audio Conferencing...................................................................................................... 26
Considerations: Audio as a Distance Learning Tool....................................................................... 27
Summary of Audio-based Distance Education................................................................................ 29
Chapter 3: Televisually-based Distance Education......................................................................................32
Overview........................................................................................................................................... 32
Television.......................................................................................................................................... 32
Internet Protocol Television (IPTV)................................................................................................ 37
Video................................................................................................................................................. 39
Videoconferencing............................................................................................................................ 42
Considerations: Television and Video as Distance Learning Tools................................................ 44
Summary of Televisually-based Distance Education...................................................................... 46
Chapter 4: Multimedia-based Distance Learning........................................................................................49
Overview........................................................................................................................................... 49
CD-ROMs, DVDs, and VCDs............................................................................................................ 50
Group Teaching and Learning Software (GTLS)............................................................................. 52
Table of Contents iii
6.
Distance Education for Teacher Training: Modes, Models, and Methods
Computer-Aided Instruction (CAI)................................................................................................. 53
Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITS).................................................................................................. 54
Digital Learning Games.................................................................................................................... 55
Other Forms of Multimedia............................................................................................................. 59
Considerations: Multimedia as a Distance Learning Tool.............................................................. 59
Summary of Computer-based Multimedia Distance Learning...................................................... 60
Chapter 5: Established Web-based Models for Distance Learning..........................................................63
Overview........................................................................................................................................... 63
What Is Online Learning?................................................................................................................ 64
Why Online Learning?..................................................................................................................... 65
Online Courses.................................................................................................................................. 68
Blended Learning.............................................................................................................................. 70
Computer-Mediated Communication............................................................................................. 72
Online Coaching and Mentoring..................................................................................................... 74
Virtual Schools.................................................................................................................................. 74
Online Tutoring and “Schools of One”............................................................................................ 76
Teleresearch and Telecollaboration.................................................................................................. 78
Online Learning Communities........................................................................................................ 80
Webcasts and Webinars.................................................................................................................... 81
Portals............................................................................................................................................... 83
Real Simple Syndication (RSS)......................................................................................................... 85
Considerations: Web-based Learning as a Distance Learning Tool............................................... 86
Summary of Web-based Distance Learning.................................................................................... 88
Chapter 6: Emerging Web-based Models for Distance Learning..............................................................90
Overview........................................................................................................................................... 90
Web 2.0 Applications........................................................................................................................ 90
Immersive Environments................................................................................................................. 98
Virtual Worlds................................................................................................................................. 100
Multi-User Virtual Environments................................................................................................. 101
Considerations: Emerging Web Technologies as a Distance Learning Tool................................ 103
Summary of Emerging Web-based Technologies.......................................................................... 104
Chapter 7: Mobile Technologies for Distance Learning............................................................................ 107
Mobile Phones................................................................................................................................ 107
Smart Phones.................................................................................................................................. 110
Hand-held Devices.......................................................................................................................... 112
Portable Media Players................................................................................................................... 113
Digital Tablets................................................................................................................................. 114
E-Readers........................................................................................................................................ 116
Other Portable Devices................................................................................................................... 117
Considerations: Mobile Technologies as Distance Learning Tools.............................................. 118
Summary of Mobile Technologies................................................................................................. 120
Chapter 8: Section I Summary...................................................................................................................... 123
iv Table of Contents
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Distance Education for Teacher Training: Modes, Models, and Methods
Section II: Methods: What Leads to Successful Teaching and Learning in a
Distance Environment?................................................................................................................................... 127
Chapter 9: Developing “Good” Teachers..................................................................................................... 129
Overview......................................................................................................................................... 129
What Constitutes a Good Teacher?............................................................................................... 130
Good Teaching................................................................................................................................ 132
Conclusion...................................................................................................................................... 133
Chapter 10: Professional Development........................................................................................................ 134
Overview......................................................................................................................................... 134
High-Quality Professional Development...................................................................................... 134
Conclusion...................................................................................................................................... 136
Chapter 11: Instructional Design.................................................................................................................. 138
Overview......................................................................................................................................... 138
Characteristics of Good Instructional Design............................................................................... 138
Instructional Design Approaches.................................................................................................. 149
Conclusion...................................................................................................................................... 150
Chapter 12: Instruction................................................................................................................................... 151
Overview......................................................................................................................................... 151
Learner-Centered Instruction........................................................................................................ 152
Conclusion...................................................................................................................................... 155
Chapter 13: Assessing Distance Learners................................................................................................... 157
Overview......................................................................................................................................... 157
Strengthening Assessment Within a Distance Education System............................................... 158
Conclusion...................................................................................................................................... 174
Chapter 14: Preparing Distance Instructors............................................................................................... 176
Overview......................................................................................................................................... 176
Preparation for Distance Instructors............................................................................................ 176
What Skills Do Distance Instructors Need?.................................................................................. 177
Preparing Online Instructors......................................................................................................... 180
Preparing to Teach in Virtual Schools........................................................................................... 181
Conclusion...................................................................................................................................... 183
Chapter 15: Preparing Distance Learners................................................................................................... 184
Overview......................................................................................................................................... 184
What Qualities Define Successful Distance Learners?................................................................. 184
E-Readiness..................................................................................................................................... 185
Preparing Teachers to Be Distance Learners................................................................................. 185
Conclusion...................................................................................................................................... 189
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Chapter 16: Building Community..................................................................................................................190
Overview......................................................................................................................................... 190
Communities of Practice................................................................................................................ 190
Developing Communities of Practice............................................................................................ 191
Conclusion...................................................................................................................................... 196
Chapter 17: Supporting Distance Learners................................................................................................. 197
Overview......................................................................................................................................... 197
Why Do Teachers Need Support? Understanding Change........................................................... 198
Defining Support............................................................................................................................ 204
Strategies for Support.................................................................................................................... 205
Programmatic Supports................................................................................................................. 205
School-based Supports................................................................................................................... 214
Supporting New Teachers.............................................................................................................. 216
Teacher Induction........................................................................................................................... 217
Mentoring....................................................................................................................................... 219
Building the Capacity of Support Providers.................................................................................. 220
Conclusion...................................................................................................................................... 221
Chapter 18: Developing Content....................................................................................................................222
Overview......................................................................................................................................... 222
Constraints Associated with Developing Distance Learning Content......................................... 222
Strategies for Developing Distance Learning Content................................................................. 225
Open Educational Resources.......................................................................................................... 233
Considerations................................................................................................................................ 239
Conclusion...................................................................................................................................... 241
Chapter 19: Assuring Quality.........................................................................................................................242
Overview......................................................................................................................................... 242
Developing and Maintaining a System of Quality Assurance...................................................... 242
Accreditation................................................................................................................................... 250
Conclusion...................................................................................................................................... 251
Chapter 20: Evaluating Distance Programs................................................................................................252
Overview......................................................................................................................................... 252
Formative Versus Summative Evaluations.................................................................................... 253
Evaluation Designs......................................................................................................................... 254
Quantitative Evaluations............................................................................................................... 255
Qualitative Evaluations.................................................................................................................. 256
Mixed-Method Evaluations............................................................................................................ 258
Evaluating Professional Development........................................................................................... 264
Conclusion...................................................................................................................................... 268
Chapter 21: Technology...................................................................................................................................270
Conclusion...................................................................................................................................... 272
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Appendix 1: Glossary of Terms......................................................................................................................275
Appendix 2: Annotated List of Open and Distance Learning Resources...............................................296
Appendix 3: List of Countries Referenced in This Guide..........................................................................300
Appendix 4: References..................................................................................................................................301
Appendix 5: Interviews...................................................................................................................................326
Table of Contents vii
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It is 1939 and Margaret Fitzsimons, a 17-year-old farm girl in County Cavan, Ireland, practices the glyphs
and strokes of Pitman shorthand by candlelight. Though she dreams of working in an office, Margaret’s
school offers only cooking and sewing classes. Margaret has managed to enroll in a course in Pitman
shorthand through a London-based correspondence school. After several months of self-study, Margaret
will sit the exam that tests her mastery of Pitman shorthand, and her results will be sent to London for
marking. Hundreds of miles away in Ireland, Margaret will wait for the results that will determine whether
she attains or falls short of her professional dream.
Figure 1: Correspondence School Diploma
The above scene is as time-bound as it is timeless.
Decades later, in the remotest parts of Ireland, a
formerly impoverished nation, studying alone by
candlelight—even in the most rural and remote parts
of the island—is a quaint memory of times past.
Today, learners on Ireland’s westernmost islands tap
into high-speed Internet portals, such as ScoilNet,1
which offers learning opportunities for teachers and
students via rich media, video and text. The story is
similar across much of the globe where distance
learning options have proliferated from print-based
correspondence courses to learning via satellite,
video, television, radio and the Internet. Because of
advances in communications technologies, learners
like Margaret no longer need to study in isolation or
learn exclusively from a book or wait months for
exam results. Instead, they can interact with a variety
of media, collaborate with peers as needed, and
receive almost instantaneous assessment results.
But the above scene is also timeless. In many parts of
sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, where hundreds
of millions of people lack electricity, distance learners
like Margaret still sit by candlelight or by fire studying
mathematics or pedagogical techniques from a book. Content may come via the post or the Internet, but
these distance learners study and struggle alone. Like Margaret, they sit their exams and wait—perhaps
months—for results that determine whether their dream of professional self-improvement has been
realized or deferred.
1 See http://www.scoilnet.ie/
Foreword 1
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Distance Education for Teacher Training: Modes, Models, and Methods
Thanks to changes in technology, communications, and our knowledge of teaching and learning, the field
of distance education has changed dramatically since 1939. Yet the core of distance learning has remained
constant through the years. Distance learning has always been about offering learning opportunities
to communities that have historically been excluded from formal learning systems—women, religious
and cultural minorities, residents of post-conflict areas, or inhabitants of remote geographic regions. It
has always been about leveraging combinations of available technologies—the printing press, the post,
trucks, ships, radio, telephone, computers or fiber-optic cables—to overcome the challenge of geography,
demographics, resources, and terrain to provide knowledge and opportunities to those who most need
them. It has always been about bringing to bear innovation—either technical or methodological—to offer
new methods and modes of learning, so that nontraditional students can learn in ways that may be more
useful than those offered in a traditional “brick and mortar” or “clay and wattle” school setting. It has
always been about expanding limited learning opportunities and offering the convenience of learning to
those who cannot—because of their age or occupation—take advantage of traditional schooling. And at its
very essence, distance education has always been about helping individuals fulfill their professional dreams
and aspirations—whether to be an office worker or a para-teacher or a certified teacher.
Margaret passed her examination in Pitman shorthand (see figure 1) and went on to work in an office—
first in the Cavan County Court House and then, upon emigration to the United States, as a secretary in the
Massachusetts State House. It is our hope that this guide will provide new knowledge, ideas, and insights
to those who fund, design, oversee, and teach distance learning programs for learners like Margaret
Fitzsimons Burns.
About This Guide
This publication is a guide to the type of technology modes, education models, and instructional methods
used for teacher pre-service and in-service distance learning across the globe. The information here is based
on three primary sources. The first is Education Development Center (EDC)’s long history in the area of
distance-based education internationally—particularly in the area of interactive radio instruction (IRI) and
interactive audio instruction (IAI)—and within the United States, especially in the area of online learning.
The second is an extensive review of the literature on distance learning, technology, and professional
development and interviews with distance learning planners and providers in the United States, Africa,
and Asia. The third is the author’s involvement in distance learning for teachers and teacher trainers in the
United States, Latin America, Asia, and Africa.
The Organization of Economic Cooperation
Figure 2: What Is Professional Development?
and Development (OECD) defines professional
(OECD, 2008: 19)
development as “a body of systematic activities
to prepare teachers for their job, including initial The Organization of Economic Cooperation
training, induction courses, in-service training, and Development (OECD) defines professional
and continuous professional formation within development as “a body of systematic activities to
school settings.” prepare teachers for their job, including initial training,
induction courses, in-service training, and continuous
This guide places particular emphasis on the professional formation within school settings.”
modes, models, and methods of distance learning
2 About This Guide
13.
Distance Education for Teacher Training: Modes, Models, and Methods
used in many developing country contexts. Unlike most studies on distance education, it focuses less on
the technical and administrative aspects of distance learning and much more on how various distance
education technologies—both current and future—can support the actual teaching and learning process
within distance education.
Distance education, or distance learning, has long been a major form of professional development for
pre-service and in-service teachers in developing and developed countries (see figure 2 for the working
definition of professional development used throughout this guide). It is so well documented that the
reader may wonder why we would embark upon another document about distance education for teacher
professional development. But this guide differs in five major ways from most of the existing literature on
distance education.
First, it examines all modes of distance education, from print-based learning to as yet untapped but
potentially rich modes such as gaming and mobile learning. In the process it draws on examples from
the United States, Asia, Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean, Europe, and Australia. As such, this guide
is designed to provide a thorough grounding in various instructional technologies that are, or promise
to become, part of any distance education system. It also provides global models within these modes of
distance education. Such models in turn offer “actionable” information for donors, education policymakers,
planners, and instructors in examining the foundations for successful distance education models for
teacher training.
Next, while many distance education reports focus on the architecture, infrastructure, funding, and policy
associated with effective distance education programs for teacher pre-service and in-service instruction,
this guide concentrates on the most salient design issues as they impact the quality of teaching and learning
in distance education courses. The often overlooked bottom line in distance education is not the policy
framework or type of technology—it is the quality of teaching and learning. Thus, the focus here is on
instructional methods from across the globe that directly shape the quality of learning opportunities in
distance education courses, as well as on documented best practices that result in high-quality distance
learning for pre- and in-service teachers.
Third, the rapid proliferation of technologies can be confounding, even for those working in the technology
field. Virtual worlds, digital games, digital learning games, immersive environments—what are they?
How are they distinct from one another? How do they or might they support teacher learning? This guide
examines in depth both established and emerging technologies, not only to help readers understand the
characteristics of various technologies as they relate to distance learning for teachers but also to ground
them in their benefits and drawbacks as modes of instruction. We advance the argument that the same
benefits that make many of these technologies potentially powerful tools for student learning also make
them potentially useful tools for teacher learning—even if they have never been used this way in the past. This
is a theme to which we will return throughout this guide.
Fourth, the education and technology fields, like many professions, are flooded with terms that are
ill defined, but so commonly used that they become jargon and serve as a source of difference versus
consensus. For that reason, this guide takes particular pains to define as many terms as possible clearly,
most notably in the numerous textboxes and glossary. It is our belief that by proposing a common or
About This Guide 3
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Distance Education for Teacher Training: Modes, Models, and Methods
shared technical language around overly used terms (“interactive,” “learner-centered,” etc.), we can begin
to develop some consensus around terminologies and taxonomies, which in turn may result in more
standardized and uniformly understood behaviors, uses, and best practices.
Finally, and not inconsequentially, this guide is free. There are a number of excellent distance education
studies, books, and guides. But they are costly and may, in a time of constrained budgets and revenues, lie
beyond the financial reach of many in our intended audience: state education directors in India struggling
to train enough teachers to meet India’s Right to Learn mandates; U.S. policymakers attempting to meet
the “highly qualified teacher” requirements of “No Child Left Behind”; distance education providers in
Indonesia undertaking the development of programs to help 1.75 million primary school teachers attain
their S1 degree; and ministries of education across Africa endeavoring to recruit and train enough teachers
to meet Education for All and Millennium Development Goal targets.
This guide is organized in two main sections. Section I provides our working definition of distance
education and anatomizes its many modes and models, dissecting their strengths and weaknesses in
terms of instructional quality and effectiveness. Section II focuses on methods, collating best practices
and lessons learned about teaching and learning from successful global distance education models. The
guide also contains a glossary of terms, a reference section for further Web-based information on distance
learning programs and approaches, and an extensive bibliography of the sources cited within the guide.
Where available, we provide website addresses for every program discussed here. We also provide the URLs
of websites that offer free content, but not those of commercial websites, which can typically be accessed
online by searching for them by name.
As with any document of this size and scope whose focus is the ever-changing topic of technology, a
number of caveats must be stated up-front. First, the increasing convergence of technologies (applications
and devices) and the protean nature of the Internet often render attempts at differentiation and
categorization within distance education “families” difficult. For example, should digital learning games
be classified as Internet-based, multimedia-based or mobile forms of distance learning? Or are such
classifications even relevant? Within this guide, decisions to place one or another technology under the
rubric of a certain distance education mode were driven principally by the technology’s core functions.
Nonetheless, such classifications may appear subjective or misplaced, and the reader may find him/herself
in disagreement with many of these taxonomical decisions. Such objections highlight the fluid and dynamic
nature of technology.
Next, this guide contains numerous examples of past and existing distance education programs and
projects. While these reflect actual distance learning projects for teacher training, they may not necessarily
be exemplary. Since rigorous evaluation results in the world of distance education are often absent or hard
to come by, we make no claims with regard to the quality of programs and initiatives outlined here. Where
research findings about programs exist, we summarize them; however, we do not vouch for the quality or
integrity of that research.
4 Caveats
15.
Distance Education for Teacher Training: Modes, Models, and Methods
Figure 3: What Do We Mean by “Knowledge and Skills”?
Every distance education program aims in some way or another to improve teachers’ knowledge and skills.
But what exactly do we mean by “knowledge” and “skills”?
Knowledge is a broad and diffuse term. Often, when we speak of teachers’ knowledge, we are referring to
multiple domains—their content knowledge, that is, deep knowledge of the subject they teach (Shulman,
1986) and their knowledge about learning styles or assessment or instruction. This category is often referred
to as “propositional knowledge.”
Skills also fall under the domain of knowledge. Skills include processes, procedures, and strategies that
help teachers perform certain tasks. For instance, knowing how to teach hard content in a way that is
understandable to learners is a skill. Solving a problem is a skill. Organizing learners in heterogeneous
collaborative teams is a skill. Knowing how to facilitate a meaningful discussion among students is a skill.
Skills may be considered “procedural knowledge.”
It is essential for any effective teacher to possess both propositional and procedural knowledge. But learning
the skills of effective teaching requires continuing guidance and modeling, numerous opportunities for
practice, and structured feedback and reflection as part of a continuous improvement cycle.
Third, the life span of both international development projects and World Wide Web sites can be
ephemeral. Projects can end abruptly, leaving website cadavers as the only evidence of their existence. We
therefore apologize, but assume no responsibility, for projects discussed here that are no longer operative
or websites that are no longer functional.
Finally, developing distance learning systems is a means to an end: upgrading the knowledge and skills
of teachers. Improving teachers’ knowledge and skills is a means to another end: improving student
achievement. Though we begin this guide with a discussion of modes (technologies) involved in distance
education for teacher training, technology alone cannot improve teacher learning—and teacher learning
alone cannot result in improved student achievement. Distance education must be one part of an overall
systemic improvement process.
Distance education is ultimately about improving the quality of teaching so that we can improve student
learning. But in this regard, distance learning is not enough. The school system in which new teachers
begin their career, and to which in-service teachers return from professional development, must support
high-quality teaching and learning. Studies of high-achieving educational systems, as demonstrated in
the Programme for International Student Assessment, note the following five conditions necessary for a
system to move from supporting low-quality to high-quality instruction:
»» A committed belief within the highest level of a system that all children can learn
»» Clear and ambitious learning goals linked to instruction
»» Capacity around good instructional practice at every level of the system
»» Incentives, accountability, and knowledge management around change
Caveats 5
16.
Distance Education for Teacher Training: Modes, Models, and Methods
»» Commitment on behalf of the educational system to make itself a learning organization in which
everyone—from the highest-level administrators to students—is provided with opportunities for
continuing learning (Fullan, 2010)
No distance learning system can exceed the quality of the people within the system. It is our hope that this
document offers sufficient guidance on improving the quality for teachers and learners within any distance
learning system.
6 Caveats
17.
Distance Education for Teacher Training: Modes, Models, and Methods
Section I:
Distance Education: Modes
and Models
Section I: Distance Education: Modes and Models 7
19.
Distance Education for Teacher Training: Modes, Models, and Methods
Distance Education: Modes and Models
Distance education is a planned learning experience or method of instruction characterized by quasi-
permanent separation of the instructor and learner(s). Within a distance education system, information
and communication are exchanged through print or electronic communications media (Keegan, 1980) (see
figure 4 for a fuller definition of distance education).
Distance education is also a broad approach Figure 4: Distance Education Defined (UNESCO)
characterized by a high degree of variation. Such UNESCO defines distance education as “an
variation includes the types of media or technology educational process and system in which all or a
used (print, radio, computer); the nature of the significant proportion of the teaching is carried out by
learning (workshop, seminar, degree program, someone or something removed in space and time
supplement to traditional classroom, levels of from the learner.”
support); institutional settings; topics addressed;
and levels of interactivity support (face-to-face, Distance education requires
online, blended, none) (Fillip, 2001). • Structured planning
• Well-designed courses
In the context of teacher education, distance • Special instructional techniques
learning has more than one aim and audience. It • Methods of communication by electronic and
has been used as a pre-service teacher preparation other technologies
method with teacher-candidates, mostly with
extensive face-to-face preparation (often as part
of a formal dual-mode institution, such as the University of the West Indies). In developing and developed
countries, it has been deployed as an in-service vehicle to fulfill a mandate to upgrade the knowledge, skills,
and qualifications of an existing teaching force. Finally—and predominantly within developed countries—
distance education, mainly in the form of Web-based education, serves as a vehicle for continuing education,
offering enrichment, enhancement, and additional certifications for teachers who have attained at least a
minimum level of certification for their content and grade level. Where necessary, we distinguish among
these three aims of distance learning in our discussion of distance education models.
Unlike other forms of training, instruction, and professional development, distance education is inexorably
linked to its mode of delivery (Commonwealth of Learning, 2008). Because of the rapid evolution of
delivery modes, distance education experts (Commonwealth of Learning, 2008; Taylor, 1995) often speak
of “generations” of distance education models, such as print, multimedia, and Web-based delivery systems.
Unfortunately, this term suffers from two weaknesses. First, “generation” implies a linearity and heredity
that do not necessarily exist between types of distance education technologies. For example, print and IRI
have been used simultaneously, not merely sequentially, as teacher training media. Nor did print “beget”
Next, the proliferation of new electronic delivery methods, particularly the Internet, and the convergence
of different types of media and platforms blur the neat distinctions between generations. For example,
a Web-based distance education system may employ print, audio, video, multimedia, and broadcast
elements. Distance education approaches, even largely print-based ones, often use other secondary
Distance Education: Modes and Models 9
20.
Distance Education for Teacher Training: Modes, Models, and Methods
technologies, such as radio and audio, that are at least as powerful, if not more so, for teacher learning than
the primary model.
As such, figure 5 broadly reorganizes these traditional classifications of distance education types based
on their predominant technology delivery medium and discusses some of the main modes of each. The
examples provided below are intended to be illustrative rather than exhaustive.
Figure 5: Types (“Generations”) of Distance Education and Major Examples of Each
Types of Distance Education Examples
Correspondence model Print
Audio-based models • Broadcast: IRI
• Narrowcast: IAI (via audio tape or CDs)
• Two-way radio
• Audio conferencing and telephone
• Broadcast radio
Televisual models • Broadcast television (educational and instructional)
• Videoconferencing
• Video
Computer-based multimedia models • Interactive video (disc and tape)
• CD-ROMs
• Digital videodiscs (DVDs/VCDs)
• Interactive multimedia
Web-based models • Computer-mediated communication
• Internet-based access to World Wide Web resources
• Online courses (e-learning)
• Online conferences (webcasts and webinars)
• Virtual classes/schools (cyber schools) and universities
Mobile models • Hand-held devices
• Portable media players (podcasting)
• Cell phones and smart phones
• Tablets
• E-readers
10 Distance Education: Modes and Models
21.
Distance Education for Teacher Training: Modes, Models, and Methods
Figure 5 shows a number of cross-sectional trends throughout all distance education modes of delivery.
First, the various programs associated with each distance education mode have different entry
requirements, scope, duration, organization, and foci and may or may not be time- and location-specific.
For instance, some are classroom-based; others occur before entry into schools; some take place after
school hours or during school breaks. Even distance education “families” (such as online learning) differ
from one another in terms of their linearity, types of interactions, temporality (fixed-time versus self-
paced), models of learning (cohort-based versus solo learning), structure (open versus closed enrollment),
and purpose (Dillemans, Lowyck, Van der Perre, Claeys, & Elen, 1998).
Next, many of the above forms of distance education have multiple audiences. Print and Web-based
distance modes are directed primarily at teachers. Two-way audio, virtual classrooms, television, digital
learning games, immersive environments, and IRI primarily target students. Yet extensive research-based
and anecdotal evidence shows that these technologies can serve as “dual audience direct instruction”
(Burns, 2007b) modes that provide content and instructional benefits to teachers and students at the same
Third, as mentioned earlier, while many distance education teacher training programs have tended toward
one mode of distance learning (e.g., print or audio), convergence and blending of multiple distance
education modes are increasing. For instance, many programs have integrated emerging technologies into
student and teacher learning, using a combination of radio and television together with online course
materials, online communication, subject-specific websites, or digital repositories and virtual classrooms.
The advent of online tools blending these modes requires that teacher education programs learn how to
mix and match distance education modalities and target and maximize print, audio, video, and online
media to reach different types of learners and address different instructional purposes.
Fourth, different technologies are being employed to help different aspects of a teacher’s development.
For example, in the Caribbean, many pre-service teacher-candidates who cannot physically relocate to one
of the three University of West Indies campuses in Jamaica, Trinidad, and Barbados instead participate
in online and video-based instruction through the University of West Indies Distance Education Centre
(UWIDEC). Continuing in-service professional development continues through individual teacher self-
study via computer-aided instruction (as in Dominica), IRI (in Jamaica for math and science teachers),
computer-mediated communication, and online professional development with a host of external
university professional development providers (Gaible, 2009).
Finally, the types of professional development outlined in figure 5 often involve a hybrid approach, with
face-to-face sessions complementing distance education and vice versa. Similarly, many of the above
models allow teacher-candidates and teachers either to work together with their peers as part of a formal,
structured learning opportunity or to work alone as a form of self-study. In the United States and Europe,
pre- and in-service teachers receive formation and upgrading through interacting with a combination of
models outlined in figure 5—for example, peer-based online professional development, self-study through
interaction with Web-based resources, participation in webinars and viewing of webcasts, and interaction
with print in school-based study groups.
The remainder of this section examines each of the distance education models outlined in figure 5.
Distance Education: Modes and Models 11
22.
Distance Education for Teacher Training: Modes, Models, and Methods
Chapter 1: Print-based Distance Education
Print-based correspondence courses are the oldest existing form of distance education. In some parts of
the globe, most notably Africa and South Asia, print remains the most common form of distance education
for upgrading the skills of unqualified or under-qualified teachers. (Indeed, globally, text2 in one format
or another is still the main distance learning medium.) Print-based distance education courses have
proved the least expensive, and sometimes the only, feasible model of teacher training in countries with
difficult terrain; poor infrastructure; highly dispersed or difficult-to-reach populations; and little budget,
infrastructure, and human capacity for more multimodal means of distance learning.
Examples of Print-based Distance Learning for Upgrading Teachers’ Qualifications
A major focus of print-based distance education has been the upgrading of in-service teachers’ basic
content and pedagogical skills. Africa provides numerous models of such efforts. Since 2004, Ghana’s
Untrained Teachers’ Diploma in Basic Education (UTDBE) program has mailed textbooks and study guides
to unqualified teachers in its remote northern regions as part of its efforts to prepare these teachers for
a diploma in basic education. Using the study guide/syllabus, teachers read their textbooks, complete
worksheets and quizzes, and mail them to their tutors at the nearest teacher training college. Each
summer, teachers meet with their regional colleagues and with tutors for a month-long summer session
that focuses on instruction. Once they have completed this course of study, they sit for a national teaching
exam following which, if successful, they receive an actual teaching diploma.
Though it is the sole medium and model for teacher Figure 1.1: Collaboration (Friend & Cooke, 1992)
upgrading in Ghana, print-based instruction is
often supplemented by other media and formats Collaboration
in other teacher training contexts. For example,
Collaboration literally means “working together.”
Tanzania’s National Correspondence Institute,
But collaboration is not a naturally occurring event.
which trained 45,000 teachers from 1965 to 1981
Certain conditions are necessary for collaboration.
(Chale, cited in Perraton, 1993), combined the
Collaboration must be voluntary and should include
use of printed study guides with radio broadcasts,
the following:
audio-based lessons, school-based placements,
and a final six-week residential program to help • Mutual goals
secondary school leavers become certified teachers. • Parity
In some examples print is used as the secondary • Shared responsibility for decision-making and
medium in a more technology-based form of outcomes
distance education. In Guinea, the United States • Shared participation and sharing of resources
Agency for International Development (USAID)–
2 Text in this section of the guide refers to written information irrespective of format; therefore, text can be print-based, digitally
based, or electronically based (as in television). Print is the process used to reproduce text onto paper. In this section of the
guide, print refers exclusively to the paper-based format in which text appears: books, newspapers, magazines, or any other
printed publication.
12 Chapter 1: Print-based Distance Education
23.
Distance Education for Teacher Training: Modes, Models, and Methods
funded and EDC-designed radio broadcast, Pas à Pas (Step by Step), became a major tool for teacher
professional development from 1998 to 2006, supplemented by print-based study guides and materials.
Finally, in some cases print is the primary source of instruction, but support is provided through other
media. India’s Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU)3 offers a two-year diploma course in
primary education that uses mainly print materials but also offers academic support through radio,
telephone conversations, face-to-face trainings, and television.
Increasingly, computer technology is used as a distribution medium for text-based instruction, either
through the Internet or via distribution of text on CD-ROMs. Many of Asia’s open universities use
technology (CD-ROM and Internet) as distribution channels for text-based instruction (Latchem & Jung,
2010) or as print distribution mechanisms. In Namibia, where Internet connectivity is better than in most
sub-Saharan African nations, but where low bandwidth still prevails, the Basic Education Teachers Diploma
program used e-mail to distribute text-based materials and sent CD-ROMs of resources to in-service
teachers via postal mail. Teachers often returned their essays or tests via e-mail.
Perraton (1993) reports that overall print-based correspondence courses show consistently documented
effectiveness compared with courses taught in conventional settings. Other research demonstrates
the variability of results of print-based distance learning. For example, Nielsen & Tatto (1993: 111),
after studying in-service distance education in Sri Lanka, reported that exit-level in-service teachers
who matriculated through a print-based program scored higher on measures of teacher effectiveness
(mathematics, language, subject mastery, and professional attitudes) than their entry-level colleagues
in the same print-based program. However, when compared with exit-level candidates from colleges of
education in teacher training colleges, they scored lower in these same areas—with the exception of
Figure 1.2: Open Universities
Open universities are distance education universities that combine various forms of distance technologies with
some face-to-face instruction to provide learning opportunities to nontraditional students (students over 21,
working professionals, etc.) They are open to all learners, hence the designation “open university.” Perhaps the
most respected such institution internationally is the United Kingdom’s Open University, which was founded in
1969 as the University of the Air.
Using the U.K. model, open universities were established in earnest in Asia in the 1980s in order to educate
Asia’s young population, many of whom were graduating from secondary school with skills that did not equip
them for the world of work. Because of their large size, these open universities have been termed “mega-
universities” and are often the main source of tertiary education in their countries. India’s IGNOU and Shanghai
Television University are the largest universities in the world.
3 See http://www.ignou.ac.in/
Chapter 1: Print-based Distance Education 13
24.
Distance Education for Teacher Training: Modes, Models, and Methods
Print-based distance education courses also suffer from high attrition rates (Perraton, 1993; Robinson &
Latchem, 1997; Potashnik & Capper, 1998; Nielsen & Tatto, 1993), largely because print-based courses
invoke the model of the teacher-learner as a solo practitioner. Like Margaret, whose distance education
experience was described in the Foreword of this guide, learners, for the most part study at their own
pace with little or no supervision or collaboration with colleagues. When collegiality or supervision occur,
they typically do so through annual summer residential sessions that take place away from school, where
teacher-learners need the most support when implementing new ideas or practices. There are exceptions
to this solo-learner model; for example, Sri Lanka’s distance education program furnished human supports
such as study circles and group tutors, and Indonesia’s print-based distance education programs provided
ongoing media support such as radio and television (Nielsen & Tatto, 1993).
Research on both of these programs demonstrates that in the case of print-based (indeed all) distance
education programs, both media and human supports are important in lessening learner isolation and
reducing the attrition rate of learners. However, of all potential supports, human support is the most
important. This finding is consistent with the literature on teacher change, success, and persistence in all
forms of professional development, whether face-to-face or distance-based (Hord, Rutherford, Huling-
Austin, & Hall, 2006). The issue of support is a constant theme in all forms of teacher education and will be
discussed at greater length in “Chapter 17: Supporting Distance Learners.”
Considerations: Print as a Distance Learning Tool
Since text is still the dominant form of information in a distance environment, print-based instruction
will continue to play a critical role in distance learning initiatives. Print offers compelling strengths as a
distance education medium. Both its production and distribution costs are low relative to other forms of
distance education. It is easy to reproduce, portable, ideal for self-study, and a familiar medium to teachers.
However, there are many challenges associated with print/text-based instruction that weaken its efficacy as
the sole source of teacher instruction. Many teachers or teacher-candidates may neither like to read nor be
particularly strong readers. Print can be an unattractive learning option in nonreading and/or more orally
based cultures. Print materials are often poorly written, and text is particularly difficult for learners with
disabilities such as dyslexia and useless for those who are blind or suffer from impaired vision.
The World Wide Web has helped to transform reading and books into a more collaborative and social
experience. Websites such as Shelfari4 are forums for readers to share, discuss and review books they are
reading. Numerous other sites, such as Google Books,5 allow users to read thousands of free digitized texts
and create their own virtual library and bookshelves. But even if teachers read text on a computer screen,
increasing evidence suggests that doing so results in less sustained reader attention and absorption and
4 See http://www.shelfari.com/
5 See http://books.google.com/
14 Chapter 1: Print-based Distance Education
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Distance Education for Teacher Training: Modes, Models, and Methods
retention of information compared with paper-based reading.6 Reading text on a standard computer screen
is hard on the eyes and difficult in bright sunlight or natural light, a consideration in many parts of the
poorest regions of the world. Further, text is not the best medium for helping teachers learn application of
skills, processes, or procedures.
Print-based distance learning also suffers from production, copying, and transportation issues. The variable
quality of paper, printer toner, and copying machines can make print hard and unattractive to read—
seemingly minor points that nevertheless negatively affect legibility, reader interest, and the effectiveness
of print as a learning tool. Damage rates from water, heat, and mold are high. Distance education providers
often run out of paper and copier toner, postal services are unreliable in many parts of the globe, and it
is not uncommon for teachers to report that their textbooks or exams were lost in the mail.7 Print-based
instruction suffers from a quantity-absorption tension. Because teachers’ knowledge of a certain topic
may be low, authors may create very long texts for teachers to read—but the length of the text may in turn
intimidate and deter teachers from actually reading it.8
Finally, print/text-based instruction increasingly suffers from perception problems. Many policymakers
see print-based distance learning as outmoded and frequently agitate for more technology-based forms of
distance learning, even when such options are not feasible, and even though the technology may in fact
serve only as an expensive delivery system for print-based learning.
Most likely, text will continue to shift from a print or paper medium to a digital medium, such as a CD-
ROM, online learning, e-reader (such as the Kindle and Nook), or tablet computer (such as the iPad).
These technology platforms can address some of the production and distribution issues associated with
print-based documents. E-readers and tablets will be discussed at greater length in “Chapter 7: Mobile
Technologies for Distance Learning.”
Summary of Print-based Correspondence Model
Figure 1.3 summarizes the role of print-based distance learning and its strengths and limitations as a
distance education mode.
6 In the July 2009 Atlantic article “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” Nicholas Carr cites a five-year British study that examines
the impact of Web-based reading on attention and comprehension. This contention has been substantiated by additional
subsequent research. However, these findings do not extend to reading on tablets or e-readers, which will be discussed in
“Chapter 7: Mobile Technologies for Distance Learning.”
7 Based on the author’s experience with distance learning programs in Africa and interviews with UTDBE candidates in 2006
and 2008.
8 Based on the author’s interviews with Ghanaian teachers in 2006 and 2008.
Chapter 1: Print-based Distance Education 15
26.
Distance Education for Teacher Training: Modes, Models, and Methods
Figure 1.3: Overview of Print-based Correspondence Courses in Distance Education
Roles in Teacher
Strengths Limitations
Professional Development
• They provide self-paced • They work anytime, anyplace • The focus on text
professional development for and do not depend on Internet disadvantages struggling
teachers. connectivity, electricity, or readers, those who may have
• They provide teachers with access to hardware and reading disabilities, or those
access to learning resources software. who may simply learn best
for use with students. • They can reach large using another modality.
• They are often supplemented populations of teachers. • Success is contingent upon
by face-to-face institutes/ • They are a versatile and a high degree of literacy and
workshops or by some form of portable form of learning— enjoyment of reading.
audio instruction. easily developed, shipped, and • They often lack high-quality or
• They are frequently used as distributed; and teachers can interactive content.
a supplement to some other carry materials to school or • Because print materials are
form of media-based distance home for study. so content-focused, they are
education (radio or television). • They take advantage of often accompanied by written
• They are commonly used the prevalence of word- exams, which lack predictive
in very low-resource processing software, validity.
environments (e.g., Ghana’s typewriters, copiers, and fax • Textbooks can’t model
UTDBE and Namibia’s e-mail- machines. behavioral and attitudinal
based distance learning • They don’t involve elements of effective teaching,
program for upgrading teacher sophisticated programming or nor can they model interactive
skills). instructional design. instruction.
• Increasingly, text-based • Print-based reading • Text and associated tests may
content is delivered via e-mail, has consistently been be poorly constructed and
fax, the Internet, and CD- shown to result in greater contain errors, which may be
ROM. comprehension and retention hard to correct because of the
• Web-based connectivity than reading from a computer. print-based format.
potentially means greater • New technologies can • Because the focus is often
access to, variety, and augment print-based on enhancing teachers’ basic
dissemination of text-based information. For instance, the skills, focus of content is often
resources. use of QR codes on print on lower-order skills.
• Development of e-readers documents can allow teachers • Print tends to focus learning
and digital tablets holds with camera-enabled and on concrete facts and
greater promise for improved QR-code-reader phones to concepts as opposed to
production, reproduction, access multimedia, video, and abstractions, skills, and
storage, and access. additional information. behaviors.
16 Chapter 1: Print-based Distance Education
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Distance Education for Teacher Training: Modes, Models, and Methods
Roles in Teacher
Strengths Limitations
Professional Development
• Screen readers and speech-
to-text programs can help
visually impaired teacher-
learners learn from computer-
based text.
• Many print documents or
services (e.g., magazines or
journals) offer corresponding
applications (“apps,”) which
readers can download onto
a tablet or smart phone to
augment printed content.
Chapter 1: Print-based Distance Education 17
28.
Distance Education for Teacher Training: Modes, Models, and Methods
Chapter 2: Audio-based Distance Education
Audio-based instruction for teacher education includes radio broadcasts; Interactive Radio Instruction
(IRI); one- and two-way audio instruction; and, increasingly, podcasts.9 This chapter examines the most
prevalent forms of audio- (or aurally) based distance education. Like print-based education, radio broadcasts
have been directed mainly at teachers. Content is created for teachers, and formal teacher learning occurs
outside the classroom. In contrast, the primary audience for IRI and two-way radio has been students,
with teachers as a secondary audience (if at all). Content is designed for students, and the primary locus of
learning is the classroom. However, research on IRI in particular has demonstrated that teachers as well as
students benefit greatly from classroom-based audio instruction.
More than print-based instruction, audio instruction has proved to be a successful means of conveying
information to teachers, particularly in areas of conflict, areas marked by difficult terrain, and remote
and isolated locations. Because it is a broadcast technology, new listeners can be brought on board at very
low unit costs.10 Furthermore, radios and audiocassette and CD players are easy-to-use, widely available
technologies, even in the poorest corners of the globe.
This chapter examines two-way radio, broadcast radio, IRI, and interactive audio instruction (IAI) as modes
of distance learning for teachers. Podcasting, though an audio-based technology available via the Internet
and portable media players (MP3 players, iPods, etc.), will be examined in “Chapter 7: Mobile Technologies
for Distance Learning.”
Two-Way Audio
Two-way audio provides instruction, content, and resources to students and teachers in isolated and hard-
to-reach locations with little communications infrastructure. Unlike one-way audio instruction, two-way
audio allows back-and-forth communication between the teacher and students.
One of the earliest examples of audio-based distance education comes from Australia. In the 1950s,
Australia’s Schools of the Air (SOA) began using two-way audio high-frequency radio transceivers to send
and receive lessons and messages to and from students in the Northern Territories and Western Australia.
Students interact with teachers at a studio (broadcast) site and with other students around Australia at
regularly scheduled times during the day (Australian Government, n.d.). In some cases, students work
alone using their high-frequency radio and printed material; sometimes they work with a tutor face-to-
face; and in other cases, SOA provides access to curricula and instruction in remote primary and secondary
schools where teachers may not be certified to teach a particular content area, or where curriculum and
materials may be lacking.
9 Though an audio format, podcasting for teacher education will be discussed in “Chapter 7: Mobile Technologies for Distance
Learning.”
10 The World Bank estimates that IRI’s annual recurrent costs per pupil average between $1 and $2US.
18 Chapter 2: Audio-based Distance Education
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Distance Education for Teacher Training: Modes, Models, and Methods
In recent years, SOA has supplemented two-way radio instruction with additional technology such as
video cameras, Internet access, and interactive whiteboards (IWBs), enabling teachers at the studio sites
to give lessons via satellite to learners who have Internet access. Students can watch and respond in real
time via web cameras attached to their computer or via synchronous collaboration tools, thus providing
greater interactivity between students and teachers, among students in varying remote locations, and
between students and the learning material. As well as providing two-way audio and video, students
can e-mail teachers and each other, interact with the IWB, and answer pop-up questions. They can also
hear their classmates and participate in live group discussions (Australian Government, n.d.). Even
with the expansion of other technologies, audio-based instruction has continued in Australia’s Learning
and Teaching in Schools program, an Internet- and satellite-based project for schools in the Northern
Territories, and in its Virtual Schooling Pilot in Queensland (Wenmoth, in Naidoo & Ramzy, 2004).
Many types of distance-based professional development programs lack a strong research base
demonstrating their impact on teacher knowledge and practice. This deficiency appears to hold true for
SOA too. Investigation of the two-way radio model demonstrates learning benefits for students; however,
our research on SOA did not yield any studies showing improved benefits for participating teachers
in remote schools. Nevertheless, there is mention of improved benefits for tutors, parents, and the
community. Given the impact of other types of classroom-based dual-audience distance approaches on
teachers’ content and pedagogical skills—such as IRI, instructional television, and virtual classrooms (to
be discussed later in this guide)—it is logical to infer that similar benefits accrue to teachers from a well-
implemented two-way audio program. At this point, however, such an assertion is based on extrapolation,
not evidence.
Broadcast Radio
Radio—both broadcast and interactive—has been a commonly used model for distance-based teacher
instruction, primarily in terms of upgrading existing teachers’ content knowledge skills. As a teacher
training tool, radio is especially effective in countries where it is already a common technology; where
radio listening is a primary source of entertainment and information and television is often unavailable,
at least outside the capital city; where existing radio infrastructure is present; where Internet connectivity,
computers, and computer-literate teachers are in short supply; and where radio can substitute for the
absence of a well-developed and widely distributed corps of teacher trainers and professional development
Throughout the globe, a number of entities have developed broadcast radio programming specifically
for teachers. From 1998 to 2006, the USAID-funded and EDC-developed Pas à Pas radio series in Guinea
developed 15- and 30-minute weekly radio segments to help teachers understand content-related concepts
in math and science, as well as varied instructional approaches and communication strategies for students.
Unfortunately, listenership was low, as broadcasts occurred during the main market day.
Fastele! Fastele! is a 15-minute radio program initiated by Zambia’s Ministry of Education in 1999 to
enhance teachers’ skills and support their continuing professional development. Every broadcast consists
of three parts: (1) a radio drama based on an educational topic; (2) informative interviews based on the
topic of the drama; and (3) the sharing of teaching tips. Fastele! Fastele! is broadcast twice each week and
Chapter 2: Audio-based Distance Education 19
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Distance Education for Teacher Training: Modes, Models, and Methods
targets teachers who are already certified. The episodes are also available on CD-ROMs in teachers’ resource
In 1975, Indonesia, an archipelago of some 17,500 islands, initiated DIKLAT SRP, an in-service radio
broadcast program, to help primary school teachers in 21 provinces understand how to use Indonesia’s
new curriculum. The program was administered by Indonesia’s Center for Information and Communication
Technology for Education (PUSTEKKOM) and used a curriculum developed by Indonesia’s Open
University.11 In 1990, teachers participating in DIKLAT SRP were required to complete six learning
packages over three years. Packages focused on content (e.g., Indonesian language, science, mathematics,
and social studies), curriculum and instruction, and additional topics such as basic education and
educational psychology. Teachers were given a paper-based test at the end of each package. Those who
passed the test with a score of 56 received a Certificate of Accomplishment worth two credits and counting
toward teachers’ promotion and receipt of their Diploma II.
One hundred and sixty radio programs were broadcast twice daily (a morning edition repeated in the
evening) six days per week, except holidays. Teachers, organized in learning groups under the coordination
of the school principal, first read their printed materials. They then listened to that day’s 20-minute radio
broadcast on a government-issued radio/tape player provided to each school. Broadcasts were followed by a
10-minute discussion facilitated by the school principal, who was trained in the face-to-face Primary School
Teachers’ Development Project.
DIKLAT SRP provided no school-based follow-up, though it did offer twice-yearly monitoring by
PUSTEKKOM through its regional offices. Listenership and fidelity data, that is, the percentage of teachers
who actually followed the prescribed sequence of reading-listening-discussing, are not available. In 1990
the government upgraded teachers’ minimum qualifications to Diploma II and upgraded DIKLAT SRP
into Diploma 2 by Air. Content coverage of the program increased; printed supplementary material was
expanded, and participants had to register as Diploma II students. Evaluation of DIKLAT SRP teachers
indicated no “significant” difference between the skills of teachers who went through face-to-face
professional development and those receiving professional development via radio (Sadiman, 1999).
One form of radio broadcast—soap operas Figure 2.1: “Just-in-Time” Professional Development
or novellas—has been employed successfully
in other sectors, such as public health and The just-in-time inventory strategy is used in business to
agriculture, to reduce high-risk behavior or improve the business’s return on investment. It involves
promote positive behaviors. The “edutainment” ordering materials as close as possible to the actual
value associated with radio novellas, their time of need.
proven persuasive ability to influence behavior, Just-in-time professional development applies
and their capacity to diffuse information in a this strategy to education by providing instruction or
social and engaging way, would suggest that professional development in a particular strategy as
radio novellas are worth exploring in some close as possible to the teacher’s actual implementation
capacity as one of a number of formal teacher of the strategy. Doing so creates “low latency”—little
learning tools. time lag between learning and implementation.
11 See http://www.ut.ac.id/.
20 Chapter 2: Audio-based Distance Education
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Distance Education for Teacher Training: Modes, Models, and Methods
Interactive Radio Instruction (IRI)
More promising and better researched than broadcast radio is the impact of IRI on teacher practice.
IRI is an instructional approach that uses one-way radio to reach two audiences (students and their in-
class teachers). In this dual-audience, direct-instruction approach, the teacher is not “live” (as in SOA)
but prerecorded. Once the in-class teachers turn on the radio, the radio “teacher” delivers content and
orally directs the in-class teachers to apply a variety of interactive instructional approaches within their
classrooms. Both the content and activities of the radio program are based on the national curriculum and
use a series of structured learning episodes in which students are prompted to sing songs, participate in
individual and group work, answer questions, and perform certain learning tasks. Regular IRI broadcasts
offer curriculum developers the opportunity to scaffold instruction across a series of episodes and to
model activities—such as short experiments using locally available materials—that can be completed by
teachers and students between broadcasts. The approach is interactive, because the radio “teacher” speaks
to students and students respond to radio prompts and interact with materials and with one another at the
radio’s prompting (Gaible & Burns, 2007).
IRI has been successfully used since the 1970s in many areas of Africa, the Caribbean (such as Haiti and
the Dominican Republic), Latin America, and Asia, where human and financial resources are few. IRI has
proved to be an inexpensive, portable, one-to-many technology that requires minimal training to use and is
aligned with traditional oral means of imparting information.
One of the best-known and longest-running examples of IRI was South Africa’s Open Learning Systems
Educational Trust (OLSET)’s English in Action. Like all IRI, the program was aimed at a dual audience:
students and teachers. From 1993 until its closure in December 2009, 52,000 teachers and nearly two
million primary school students in nine South African provinces improved their English-language speaking
and writing through radio-scaffolded active learning, games, and group work (Potter & Naidoo, 2009;
OLSET, 2010). While the program began as a form of teacher in-service education, it was extended to
include pre-service teachers, in spite of mixed evaluation results.
As a model of pre- and in-service distance education, IRI exhibits many best practices in professional
development that provide demonstrable teaching and learning benefits (Bosch, 1999; Evans & Pier, 2008;
Gaible & Burns, 2007):
»» Highly scaffolded just-in-time professional development. Radio provides structured, in-
class, job-embedded teacher professional development. Teachers and students react verbally and
physically to prompts, commands, questions, and exercises posed by radio characters. Though the
approach is often highly behaviorist, over time teachers, through ongoing replay of broadcasts,
learn how to perform a set of instructional activities well (see figure 2.1 for an explanation of just-
in-time professional development).
»» Uses formative assessment. IRI owes much of its success to the practice of continual formative
evaluation. IRI programs are evaluated throughout the life cycle of the IRI project to gauge student
interest, participation levels, and skills development. Evaluation occurs in part through the process
of audience research during piloting phases and through periodic interviews, observations, and
Chapter 2: Audio-based Distance Education 21
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Distance Education for Teacher Training: Modes, Models, and Methods
guides after the program is launched. Where problems are found, they are corrected. Evaluation
of IRI makes the programs responsive to student and teacher needs (Dock & Helwig, 1999; Bosch,
1997).
»» Proven impact on teachers’ instructional practices. Because of its scope, IRI can provide
structured support to primary teachers throughout a country, even those in the most isolated
regions. It can help teachers implement active, intellectually engaging instructional practices
generally associated with competency-based instruction, while at the same time ensuring that
students learn more effectively (Evans & Pier, 2008). When supplemented by music, text, games,
and resources, IRI guides teacher and student through a series of differentiated learning activities
and can encourage teachers to adopt more engaging, student-centered teaching strategies to teach
specific outcomes and subject areas (Evans & Pier, 2008).
»» Proven impact on teachers’ content knowledge and content-based pedagogical
knowledge. IRI’s impact on teacher learning has been extensively documented. Radio instruction,
both for students and adults, has proved effective in offering basic content knowledge to adults
as well as children (Perraton, 1993), particularly when combined with print and supported group
study. Indeed, most studies of IRI show greater benefits for IRI learners than for conventional
classroom learners (Potashnik & Capper, 1998). As a result of IRI, the number of teachers in
Madagascar’s Appui Technique aux Éducateurs et Communautés project (2006–2007) using targeted
active learning behaviors rose from 58 percent to 96 percent (Evans & Pier, 2008).
»» Changes in teacher attitudes and dispositions. Anecdotal evidence of IRI’s impact on teachers’
attitudes is strong, with teachers in many programs stating that IRI has increased their motivation,
enabled them to overcome embarrassment at their lack of subject mastery, changed their
approaches to teaching and learning, and made them more gender-sensitive in their classrooms
(Hartenberger & Bosch, 1996; Bosch, 1999; Burns, 2007b).
Figure 2.2: Behaviorism Versus Constructivism
Behaviorism is a philosophy of learning that emphasizes the importance of behavior, as opposed to
consciousness and experience, in learning. Under its original definition by the American psychologist John
Watson, the emphasis was exclusively on reflexes and conditioning. In a behaviorist paradigm, learners
are environmentally conditioned: the teacher creates a learning environment that elicits certain behavior
and controls learning by predicting and directing learning outcomes. The learner assumes an active role in
learning, practicing the new behavior and receiving feedback that reinforces the behavior.
In contrast, constructivism is a philosophy of learning that emphasizes learning through experiences and
consciousness. Within a constructivist paradigm, learning is a quest for understanding and meaning. The
learner actively constructs knowledge by interacting with a variety of experiences, resources, and individuals.
The role of the teacher is significantly different than in a behaviorist paradigm. In a constructivist paradigm, the
teacher designs learning experiences that promote inquiry, exploration, and problem solving. The teacher is a
facilitator, who guides and supports learners as they construct knowledge.
These philosophies of learning shape instructional design and in turn the ways in which teachers teach and
students learn.
22 Chapter 2: Audio-based Distance Education
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Distance Education for Teacher Training: Modes, Models, and Methods
Interactive Audio Instruction (IAI)
A number of other audio-based technologies can be used to extend the reach of broadcast and interactive
radio, both of which are highly vulnerable to broadcast interruptions, to teachers and students in remote
areas. For example, lessons and instruction can be recorded on audiocassette or CD-ROM and provided to
schools—a practice sometimes known as “narrowcasting” (Cumming & Olaloku, cited in Perraton, 1993).
This approach occurred extensively in Guinea’s 1998–2006 Fundamental Quality and Equity Levels project
when government funding for IRI broadcasts ceased. Teachers audiotaped radio broadcasts and created
and shared vast libraries of the popular IRI program Sous le Fromager. Using audiocassettes and CD-ROMs,
teachers were able to schedule lessons conveniently; replay lessons; and use the stop, pause, and rewind
features of audiocassette recorders and CD players to re-examine a particular piece of information. This
recording and use of IRI onto other types of audio formats is known as IAI.
In 2007, USAID’s Decentralized Basic Education 2
(DBE 2) program introduced IAI in 113 Indonesian Figure 2.3: DBE 2’s kindergarten program in
kindergartens in seven provinces to enrich the Indonesia
quality of preschool learning. The DBE 2 IAI
kindergarten initiative is a pilot program that The DBE 2 kindergarten materials package
consists of an audio and print-based materials includes everything a teacher needs in order to
package for participating schools as well as a series use the IAI program in her classroom:
of teacher training activities. Using a series of 106 • CD player and batteries
interactive, innovative lessons recorded on audio • Teacher’s guide
CD, the IAI program both guides and supports the • Four posters
daily instruction of an entire year of the Indonesian • Student worksheets
kindergarten curriculum through a series of in-class • Number and letter cards
audio programs. The program aims to enhance the • Scissors and crayons
quality of kindergarten teaching and learning and
improve school readiness in the following ways:
»» Providing high-quality content that follows the national kindergarten curriculum
»» Simultaneously training teachers and teaching students
»» Facilitating an active learning–based approach with every lesson
There are three types of audio programs, though they all follow the same structure: an introductory
program, core programs, and review programs. Teachers are expected to complete three audio programs a
week with their students.
Figure 2.3 outlines the materials used in the kindergarten IAI instruction. The printed teacher’s guide
is designed to help teachers prepare for each audio lesson and contains information detailing the basic
competency each audio lesson addresses; indicators to help teachers assess student achievement and self-
progress; instructions and suggestions on what to do before, during, and after the audio program; and
lyrics for all songs included in the program. To familiarize teachers with IAI, DBE 2 also provided a series of
two 2.5-day teacher training workshops.
Chapter 2: Audio-based Distance Education 23
34.
Distance Education for Teacher Training: Modes, Models, and Methods
EDC has conducted extensive evaluation of its Indonesia IAI kindergarten program. Pre- and post-
test administration occurred in the 2007–2008 academic year, with the post-test conducted following
instructional delivery of the first of two IAI series. Learners were assessed in the areas of language,
cognitive development, and physical and psychomotor development (Ho & Thukral, 2009). Figure 2.4
displays the results of these comparisons, as well as additional general information about the program.
Though figure 2.4 focuses on kindergarten students, what it really demonstrates is that the IAI positively
affected teachers’ literacy instruction for their young learners.
Figure 2.4: Overview of EDC’s Indonesia Kindergarten IRI Program
Number of teachers participating in IAI 399
(2007–2009)
Number of students participating in IAI 6,071
(2007–2009)
Length of program 106 audio programs (each 35–40 minutes in length)
Program structure The 106 programs are organized into four units:
• Unit 1: Myself
• Unit 2: My Family and My Community
• Unit 3: My School
• Unit 4: Animals and Plants
All audio programs contain the following components:
• Presentation/introduction segment. The teacher and
children are welcomed to the program and the basic
competency and materials needed are explained.
• Circle song. Repeated in all audio programs, the circle song
is used to organize the children in a circle and motivate them
for the IAI lesson.
• Activities. Each audio program has at least three activity
segments: songs, games, a story, and physical activities
responding to learning objectives.
• Evaluation. Each program includes an evaluation segment,
which instructs teachers to ask children what they liked most
about the lesson.
• Closing. Following a brief summary of the lesson, activities
that can be done after the program are suggested.
24 Chapter 2: Audio-based Distance Education
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