Management of Distance Learning Systems
Greville Rumble

Context:
This selection is from a book directed to people working in education planning and administration and government and policymaking. In this chapter the author suggests four criteria for use in evaluating the achievements of a distance education system.

Source:
Rumble, Greville. 1992. "Outcomes." In Greville Rumble, The Management of Distance Learning Systems. Paris: UNESCO/IIEP, pp. 86-92.

Copyright:
Non-exclusive world rights is granted for the use of these pages by UNESCO and the International Institute for Educational Planning.

Outcomes

Planners and managers will wish to know what a particular distance learning system has achieved. Criteria for judging the success or failure of a particular system are likely to vary, depending on the system. This chapter seeks to explore some of the likely criteria which may be applied to the evaluation of distance learning systems, viz:

• providing opportunities for access to education and training,
• completion and drop-out rates (completion, persistence and graduation rates), the quality of output,
• cost-efficiency and cost-effectiveness.

Providing opportunities

It is clear that many would-be learners cannot attend full-time or even part-time campus-based courses. Distance education, by its very nature, provides opportunities which would not otherwise be available.

For the individual, these opportunities stem from the flexible, home- and work-place based nature of the teaching system. Of course, for some people, distance education has its drawbacks. The emphasis on independent learning is not to everyone's taste. But for those who cannot attend regular courses, distance education may be the only option available. All the evidence suggests that many thousands of learners have benefited from their participation in a distance taught course.

For employers, distance education has distinct advantages. It is flexible, and staff do not necessarily have to be released from work in order to participate in a course. The cost savings which arise as a result are significant.

For governments, distance education offers the possibility of teaching large numbers of students, rapidly, and relatively cheaply, compared to the costs of traditional forms of education.

Distance learning is an extremely flexible method of teaching. It can be adapted to meet the needs of individual learners working on personal projects, groups of learners within a community setting, and very large populations of learners who, while remote from each other, are following a common course.

The learning needs which can be met through distance education means are also varied, covering formal education courses at primary, secondary, and tertiary level; vocational and professional education; and non-formal education. Knowledge, skills, and attitudes and beliefs can all be taught by distance means.

It is not possible to see how many of the needs now met through distance education could be met, if at all, by any other means.

Completion and drop-out rates

Course completion is usually taken to imply success. Conversely, drop-out is seen as a sign of failure. Hence there is a tendency to see completion and drop-out rates as a measure of the success of distance education systems. In fact, this is only partly true. Many distance students choose to follow a course without necessarily planning to submit all the assignments or take the examination. Course completion in institutional terms is simply not a good way of measuring the personal achievement of individual learners.

In general, completion rates are fairly low. However, many students never start actively studying the course and remain from the institution's point of view non-starters. Shale (1982) found that half the students enrolled in Athabasca University in 1978 and 1979 fell into this category. Some institutions (e.g. the British Open University) effectively eliminate non-starters from their baseline by only finally registering new students after they have completed two or three months' study. Such practices make direct comparisons between institutions difficult.

Once students embark on a course, success rates vary from system to system. Some 85 per cent of National Technological University students pass the courses they take; 68 to 73 per cent of students on the National Extension College's Technician Training Scheme pass their course examinations; and from 60 to 90 per cent of each cohort taking the Indonesia Banking Development Institute's diploma for loan officers passed the diploma. In the case of the National Extension College, the pass rates on this scheme are slightly higher than those of students who have prepared for the same examinations (BTEC certificates) by traditional means.

Persistence-rates (Paul, 1990) measure the proportion of students who take another course or courses after successfully completing the first one(s). British Open University experience indicates that a significant proportion of undergraduate students (70 to 80 per cent) went on to study a course in the next academic year. However, a number of students dropout for a year, then resume studying.

Graduation rates measure the proportion of students who obtain the final qualification to which a particular programme leads. Graduation rates are usually lower than course completion rates as students fail to take or pass later courses. Eight years after entry, over 54 per cent of the Open University's first (1971) cohort of students had obtained a bachelor's degree. Later cohort, however, did not do so well as fewer students with advanced standing (i.e. previous successful completion of higher education course leading to a reduction in the number of Open University courses required to study) came forward. Only 39 per cent of the 1982 cohort achieved a degree within eight years. Here again, the bald figures hide important qualifications which need to be made in judging the success or failure of the institution.

Studies indicate that drop-out is a multi-causal phenomenon (Woodley and Parlett, 1983). Students with higher previous educational qualifications tend to do better than those with poorer qualifications. Those who find it difficult to reconcile the conflicting demands of their jobs, family and studies tend to do less well, as do those who find it difficult to direct their own learning. On the other hand, it is too easy for educational institutions to accept low completion rates as a function of students' lack of motivation and ability. While motivated, highly intelligent students will learn even under the most adverse circumstances, provided they have access to satisfactory and appropriate learning materials, the majority of students need some degree of support with their studies. Dropout can be reduced by:

• providing excellent study materials;
• providing proper advice to enquiries and applicants before they embark on a course, thus ensuring that individuals do not start courses which are inappropriate to their needs or for which they are still prepared;
• providing rapid, appropriate and effective advice and help to students once they are in the system, making sure that those experiencing study problems are helped to overcome them;
• creating a climate which encourages students to seek advice and help from tutors, counsellors, and each other, and which generates an atmosphere that is supportive and encourages continuing membership of a learning group or 'club' of learnsers, and thus maintains motivation and interest.

It is incumbent on institutions to look at courses with low completion rates, with a view to adapting the materials to help students succeed, or increasing the amount of support provided students. In the final analysis, however, what matters most is that the student is motivated to succeed. Institutions which can motivate students by developing interesting, stimulating materials and improving the quality of the social interaction between students and those they interact with within the institution, are likely to succeed better than those which fail to do these things.

In considering how efficient distance education systems are, it is worth bearing in mind that in general distance taught students take longer to graduate than do students following traditional fulltime courses. This is because large number of distance-taught students have jobs. Indeed, one of the attractions of studying at a distance is that it is flexible and enables the demands of the course to be fitted in around other commitments. On the other hand, students often complain that their studies are disrupted by their work. Work-related reasons may be a major cause of dropout (Phythian and Clements, 1982). In general, students who fail to progress regularly, year-to-year, and who become dormant for a time, are less likely to succeed than those who keep studying steadily.