Open and distance learning in

Digital era
Ву
Prof. Mohamed Abo Mohamed
OUS Dean Academic Affairs
[email protected]
INTRODUCTION

Higher education (HE) is considered as one of the most influential

tool for human communities' development.

INTRODUCTION

Due to the pressing needs of the community towards education and

the admission in traditional universities to certain age group (18-30) new
types of universities (open, distance learning and E learning or virtual
were emerged (Borderless Universities).

HISTORY OF ODL

Distance education which is known before as correspondence

education started in the European Countries in the 19th century.

Recently due to the success in open universities and the

advancement in ICT new forms of learning methods were inculcated in
ODL such as Virtual and E-Learning. S and The development in the
Internet service pave the way for OERs and MOOCs. Many platforms
for OERs and MOOCs were established by joint venture of ICT
companies and some universities in USA such as Coursera.

Open and distance learning in Arab Countries

 The successful experience of the Open University in UK and the

University of South Africa (UNISA) urged those responsible for
education in Arab Countries to develop such type of education. By
1979 a conference held in Jordan proposed a formation of an Arab
 open university and since then many Arab Countries formed such
kind of education.

Open and distance learning in Arab Countries

 El Quads Open University in Palestine

 ODL in Egypt
 Hamdan Bin Mohamed Smart University in Emirates
 Algeria Continuing Training University
 Virtual University of Tunisia
 The College of Open Education in Iraq
 Yemen
 Arab Open University

Philosophy of Open and Distance Education

 Open education is a philosophy about the way people should learn,

produce, share and build on knowledge without any obstacle of
regulation that face traditional universities. Open education
movement believes that everyone in the world should be free to
have access to high-quality education experiences and resources.

Philosophy of Open and Distance Education

The proponents of open education work to eliminate barriers such

as high monetary cost, outdated obsolete materials and legal
mechanisms that prevent collaboration among scholars and educators
(Wikipedia). Open education can be defineas “that type of education
which freely offered to all age groups without any obstacles of
traditional education.

Philosophy of Open and Distance Education

The term open and distance learning reflects both the fact that all
or most of the teaching is conducted by someone removed in time and
space from the learner, and that the mission aims to include greater
diminutive ability of openness and flexibility, whether in term of access,
curricula or other elements of structure (UNESCO 2002).

Philosophy of Open and Distance Education

This type of education provides harmonization between education

and holding hwob. Which help in solving the problem of employment?
Distance learning found an eager audience among students, working
professionals and employers. By improving quality, governing
regulations and recognition by those responsible for higher education,
this type of education will dominate in the future. More than 60% of
esteemed universalities in the world adopted this type of education along
with the traditional type known as blended learning.

Resources and mode of instruction of ODL in digital era

Open education, distance learning and E-learning or virtual utilizes

the modern technology of ICT to provide opportunities for a wide-range
of age groups separated by space and time; those are not being able to
attend a regular full-time study.
Resources and mode of instruction of ODL in digital era

The advancement in the communications revolution, information

technology and abundant sources of information that is available in our
current databases, internet networks, e-books, periodicals, encyclopedias
and educational sites, for modern multimedia learning programs
provides classrooms for students anywhere and at their convenient time.

Resources and mode of instruction of ODL in digital era

Many modes of instructions are used in the current trends among

them are online, face2face by supervisors and tutors, textbooks with
instructional design, offline, smart devices, video conference, e-classes,
flipped class rooms, radio and TV.

Resources and mode of instruction of ODL in digital era

Advances in ICT creates new trends which will be used in the

development of ODL in the near future among these are; Gamification,
Badging, virtual reality, 3D printers, Internet of things (IoT), wearable
devices (Watches, barcode), Blogs, Wikis, Webinars, virtual class
rooms, Mobile learning, MOOCs, OERS, creative thinking, and
Multimedia educators.

Polices that help in utilizing ICT in Digital era

 Many academic institutions, and especially those with a public-

service mandate, consider online learning key to advancing their
mission, placing post-graduate education within reach of people
 who might otherwise not be able to access it. The policy and ways
to fulfill greater use of ICT are:

Polices that help in utilizing ICT in Digital Era

 Considers student as a core of education

 Teacher training to master the new technology of ICT in education
 Encouraging private sectors to finance education and research.
Stake.
 Brings Stare form ICT Companies to work as a co-operate
university.

Polices that help in utilizing ICT in Digital Era

 Using mobile application and social network websites.

 Follows the criteria of quality assurance in all educational process.
 Keep the ICT infrastructure up-to-date.
 Create smart campuses in educational centers.
 More attention to STEM education (Science, Technology,
Engineering and Mathematics).

Main advantages of ODL

 Provide education for all age groups which coincide with the
UNESCO call education for all;
 Encourage more flexibility in courses, to meet the needs of more
diverse students.
  Avoid the regulations and obstacles of the traditional study such as
age, attendance, admission etc.;
 Provide various long and short term learning programs which
enhance student skills in life and work;

Main advantages of ODL

 Benefit from the various tools and technology provided by the

modern knowledge, and employing modern technical
communication media in academic programs;
 Provide education at a low cost as compared with the traditional
types which needs complex infrastructure and staff.
 Form as a platform for sharing of knowledge between learners and
teachers.
 Provide wide spreading, sharing and development of knowledge
through OERs and MOOCs.

Open educational resources (OERs)

 Open educational resources (OERs) are freely accessible, openly

licensed documents and media that are useful for teaching,
learning, and assessing as well as for research purposes. It is the
leading trend in distance Helena in education/open and distance
learning domain as a consequence of the openness movement.
Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs)

The first MOOCs emerged from the open educational resources

(OER) movement. The term MOOC was coined in 2008 by Dave
Cormier of the University of Prince Edward Island in response to a
course called Connectivism and Connective Knowledge (also known as
CCK08). Other CMOOCs were then developed; for example, Jim
Groom from The University of Mary Washington and Michael Branson
Smith of York College, City University of New York hosted MOOCs
through several universities starting with 2011's (ds106) MOOC.

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs)

MOOCs: MOOCs are based on principles from connectivism

indicating that material should be aggregated (rather than pre-selected),
remix able, re-purposable, and feeding forward (i.e. evolving materials
should be targeted at future learning).

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs)

 MOOCs: have a much more traditional course structure typically

with a clearly specified syllabus of recorded lectures and self-test
problems. The instructor is the expert provided of knowledge, and
student interactions are usually limited to asking for assistance and
advising each other on difficult points.
Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs)

 MOOCs: Vocational MOOCs are those training courses meant for

technicians were simulation are used to acquaint the learner with
practical examples.

Potential Benefits

1. Suitable for each device connected (Web or Wi-Fi) Connectivity.

2. MOOCs can be used in any language or any number of files.
3. Any Online connected device.
4. MOOCs are not restricted in time and spatial boundaries.
5. Fast production and delivery of material.
6. Easy Contextualized.
7. Cooperation of peers leads to development of learning materials.
8. Easy accessible and free of institutional barriers.
9. Less complexity in admission.
10. Encourage self-education and participation across networks
environment.
11. Improve the capabilities of Continuing Education and Life-Long
Learning.

Examples:

 Coursera,
 Edx,
 Udemy,
  Rewag,
 Edrak.

Challenges:

1. ODL in digital era needs, especial experiences and cooperation

between numbers of actors.
2. One of the difficulties that face this type of education is the
recognition of many institutions and countries, but the presence of
prestigious institutions in this area, such as Harvard, Stanford, MIT
lead to the recognition and acceptance of this approach in many
educational institutions in United States.
3. Traders with this approach are bound to be of proficient in
computer technology.
4. Beneficiaries of this approach are the ones who determine and
articulate their goals on their own.
5. In some types of resources such as MOOCs there are no interactive
meetings and sharing among students, such as what is available in
MOOCs or in open or distance learning.

Conclusion

 The continuous development of information and communication

technologies (ICTS) is often considered one of the drivers of the
knowledge economy.
 Advancement in ICTs is growing very fast and is utilized in all
areas of today's live including higher education. This is true for
university teaching, delivery of learning materials, research and
management. Either based on web, mobile or other technologies, e-
learning is becoming a major kind of provision of distance learning
and is increasingly complementing traditional face-to-face
education.
 ODL institutes and traditional universities will continue to adjust
their educational system so as to coincide with the adventure in the
field of technology. This needs well trained teachers, technician,
instruction designers and the assistant of the ICT companies.
 The university may be a joint venture with the ICT companies and
to some extend with the TV-channels. Some hybrid organizations
of ODL especially MOOCs providers, now operate in the global
education sector through the websites although they have limited
activity to date-but they may become more prominent in the near
future
 E-learning requires a technological competence that is often better
mastered by information technology or media companies than by
educational institutions.