Asian dual mode:

print, classroom/study center, correspondence, broadcast/taped instruction

Strong use of broadcasting

For the RTVU (China) Latchem et al write:
"13.176 television-based classrooms and 53,000 centers for viewing recorded material (ICEM, 1998). This centralized 'remote classroom' model with its scheduled tele-lectures is being gradually replaced by more devolved management and delivery systems and greater use of self-study methods (Sun, 1997)."

The Central Radio and Television University broadcasts 9.000 hours of teaching per year via national, regional and educational television and radio networks and the provincial RTVUs also make heavy, use of broadcasting. Japan's University of the Air daily transmits 18 hours of television and radio courses nationwide. Most of the Taiwan National Open University's courses are supported by 18 thirty-minute nationally broadcast television or radio programs and NOU students are required to devote 30% of their study, time to these. The Sukhothai Thammathirat Open University Indira Gandhi National Open University, Korea National Open University and Bangladesh Open University have more restricted access to their national networks. Most broadcasts take the form of tele-lectures, which at worst, amplify the weaknesses of conventional classroom teaching, but at best, allow the enrolled students and a large mass of unregistered viewers to learn from outstanding teachers. Most universities make little or no use of educational broadcasting, either because, as in the case of Universitas Terbuka, they lack the infrastructure and resources, or because, like the Open University of Hong Kong, they find taped programs more appropriate to the students' needs. Indira Gandhi National Open University, Korea National Open University and some Malaysian universities use videoconferencing for tele-lecturing to branch campuses and study centers but here again, the problem lies in scheduling sessions to suit the learners.

Adequacy

It is therefore argued by some that instead of trying to keep up with the high technology of western distance education,- it may be more realistic for poorer nations to make more and better use of commonly available cheaper technologies such as radio and television. Communities without mains electricity and for whom even the costs of batteries are prohibitive can now benefit from such low-cost technologies as Baygen wind-up radios which generate enough electricity in 20 seconds to power a receiver and amplifier for 40 minutes (Baygen Power Group, jeh@iafrica.com). There are plans to equip these radios with data ports that can be hooked to a computer to download text and images. The Washington-based Worldspace corporation (http://www.worldspace.com) which has equity in Baygen, plans to harness this technology, to its digital direct delivery satellite delivery system for radio broadcasting so that institutions such as the Allama Iqbal Open University in Pakistan can take the information revolution into regions where currently the telephones barely work (Cornwell, 1998).

Internet

Internet provision is currently restricted to the already privileged regions, institutions and students. The 1998 Chinese Internet Information Center (CIEC) survey recorded 1. 175 million networked users out of a population of 1.2 billion. The majority of these were male and in Beijing, Shanghai and the more economically developed provinces. There was virtually no Internet provision in the remoter provinces or minority nationality regions. Some universities have set up Web Classrooms on the Internet but only 4% of the 9,415 domain names under 'cn' (China). are currently categorized as educational institutions (China Computerworld, 1998). The CIEC was established in 1997 with authorization from China Telecom to monitor and develop new technologies and set standards for distance learning, administration methods, technologies, market demand and pricing. China's first virtual institution, the Multimedia Information Education College of Hunan University, was established in 1997 and the CIEC has entered into agreements with at least 10 other universities to enroll an initial 3.000 students on Internet-based undergraduate and postgraduate courses in 1998. The CIEC has also entered into an agreement with Western Governors University for collaborative distance learning initiatives (Western Governors University, 1998).

The economically advanced Asian countries have ambitious plans for information technology. The Open University of Hong Kong, which estimates that over 90% of its students own or can access a computer, is developing Internet-based teaching and an Electronic Library. The latter will provide online search, renewal and reservation systems. access to 1,000 CD, local hard disk and overseas databases and e-journals (the equivalent of 300,000 printed volumes) and eliminate the need for 2.650 square meters of shelving space and unnecessary duplication of library materials and services in the OUHK study centers (Wong, 1997). In Singapore, which already has a computer in one in three homes and the highest rate of Internet connection in the region, the government plans to connect all homes by the new millennium and invest heavily in multimedia technology for initial and lifelong learning (http://www.ncb.gov.sg/ncb/it2OOO.asp). Malaysia has similarly ambitious plans for multimedia and online learning (Abdullah, 1997). It has yet to be seen whether these far-sighted plans for new information and communications technology will be affected by the 'economic meltdown'.

Educational practices change slowly in Asia, so it may be some time before the majority of students can and wish to make major use of electronic delivery. Korea's Sogang University, an early Internet adopter, does not see online learning becoming a major component of education because of the students" strong preference for face-to-face contact (Cunningham et al., 1997), and Mirza (1997) suggests that Open University of Hong Kong tutors will need to invest a great deal more effort into their online tutoring if the weaker students are not to feel discouraged by the loss of their cherished personal contact.

Individualized learning

In 1983. in response to the demands of the socialist market economy, the Chinese Ministry of Education also established the Self-taught Higher Education Examinations (STHEE) system. Here entry, is open to everyone prepared to pay the fees, regardless of educational background, gender, age, or ethnicity. A national office in Beijing sets the policies, compiles the textbooks, provides the examination syllabuses and manages the network of provincial STHEE offices. The students have to manage their own learning, taking guidance from the examination syllabuses and textbooks and whatever community or institutional resources may be available to them Twice-yearly examinations are held nation-wide in temporary test rooms and successful students gain credit towards sub-degree qualifications or degrees. By the end of 1996, STHEE could claim 20 million enrollees, 6.1 million examinees and over 1.5 million graduates. 76.000 of whom had passed the degree level examinations and 8.000 of whom had completed their theses or practical studies and been awarded bachelor degrees (STHEE, 1997).