Distance and Continuing Education PDF

Distance and Continuing Education Power point By Minyichl.D 2024  Chapter One 1.Introduction Definition of terminologies Concepts of education o Education is a process of acquiring knowledge ,skills, values,...

Distance and Continuing Education Power point By Minyichl.D 2024  Chapter One 1.Introduction Definition of terminologies Concepts of education o Education is a process of acquiring knowledge ,skills, values, beliefs and habits that enable an individual to develop and grow through out their life for themselves, betterment of society. o The ultimate purpose of education is to contribute to the cognitive development of an individual, the advancement of society, and to make a significant contribution to social, economic, and political development.  Continued..... It is the process of transmission of knowledge, skill beliefs, culture, norms, etc, from the ongoing generation to the oncoming generation to enable the new generation be able to survive (Dib, 1988). The act or process of imparting or acquiring general knowledge, developing the powers of reasoning and judgment, and generally of preparing oneself or others intellectually for mature life. Education is the process of facilitating learning, or the acquisition of knowledge, skills, values, morals, beliefs, and habits.  Continued.....  Education, is usually more broadly defined as a more general, less specialized or hands-on approach to enhancing knowledge.  Activities which aim at developing the knowledge, skills, moral values and understanding required in all aspects of life rather than knowledge and skill relating to only a limited field of activity.  Education is life long process: because every stage of life of an individual is important from educational point.  A systematic process: transfer its activity through a systematic institution and regulation.  Development of individual and society: it is a development of social, economical, political and cultural dev.t  Modification of behavior: human behavior is modified and improved through education. Meanings of lifelong learning o Lifelong learning is defined as the continuous development and improvement of the knowledge and skills needed for employment and personal fulfillment through formal and informal learning opportunities. o LLL encompasses all learning activities undertaken throughout life for the development of competencies , qualifications and employability. o Learning is therefore part of life which takes place at all times and in all places  Distance education o Distance Education (DE): Planned and organized teaching and learning in which learners are separated from teachers or facilitators in time and space. o In DE all or most of the teaching is conducted by someone removed in space and/or time from the learner, with the effect that all or most of the communication between teachers and learners is through an artificial medium, either electronic or print. Electronic Learning (E-Learning) o E- learning is a learning paradigm that uses educational technologies in employing the principles of multimedia learning. o It is the learning facilitated and supported by ICT to enable people to learn anytime and anywhere. Correspondence education o Is conducted by postal services without face-to-face interaction between teacher and learner. o Teaching is done by written or tape-recorded materials through written or taped exercises to the teacher, who corrects them and returns them to the learner with criticisms and advice. Open education/learning  The concept “open learning” refers to the aim of opening up education.  Mean that : enhanced student access; and the development of student autonomy.  These are achieved through widening student choice over aspects of the learning process.  Choice may be widened over the time and place of study and over the curriculum itself,  For example, of content, pace, method media and assessment  Open learning is a philosophy aimed at widening access and personal choice in learning, in contrast, “distance education” refers to the form of delivery.  It is true that higher levels of access and choice can be achieved through distance education methods, but there are also distance education systems that do not necessarily promote the vision of open learning. 1.2.2 Types/modes of educational delivery Distance education Hybrid education Traditional education 1.2.2.1Face-to-face( characteristics, strength and limitation) o F2F learning is an instructional method where course content and learning material are taught in person to a group of students. o It is a traditional instruction the teacher being the controller of the learning environment and plays the role of an instructor. o Face-to-Face class sessions take place 100% in a traditional “bricks and-mortar” classroom  Characteristics of Face-to-face o Back-and-forth discussions, group work, presentations, and strong argument /debate). o Immediate interaction can offer meaningful learning opportunities. o It allows a kind of immediate, real-time engagement that can be difficult to capture online.  Strengths of Face-to-face o Learners benefit from a greater level of interaction with their fellow students o It ensures a better understanding and recollection of lesson content o Deeper collegial relationships can be fostered among students and the instructor, o The instructor to be committed to;  provide structure and immediate feedback,  teach with direct eye contact, and  respond immediately to questions.  Important to demonstration of psychomotor skills Limitations of Face-to-face o It requires the physical presence of both teacher and student o The teacher as the center of the learning process. thus, the teacher teaches as the students sit and take notes. o A certain amount of in-seat time might be spent watching videos, reading texts, and taking notes during faculty lectures, o It doesn't allows some flexibility to students with multiple responsibilities to maximize their time. 1.2.2.2 Distance Education(what, why, strength and limitation) o Is a process to create and provide access to learning when the source of information and the learners are separated by time and distance, or both. o It also called distance learning, provides learning chances to people who could not afford time or money for traditional classes or who lived in remote areas. o The concepts on the basis of which DE operates distinctly distinguish it from the traditional educational system. o DE operates mainly on : Learner- centeredness, learner autonomy, Indirect education Education in real-life setting Characteristics of distance education o Separation of teacher and learner in time or place, or in both time and place; o Institutional accreditation; that is, learning is certified by some institution or agency. o Use of mixed-media; including print, computer-based learning, and telecommunications. o Two-way communication allows learners and tutors to interact as distinguished from the passive receipt of broadcast signals. o Possibility of face-to-face meetings for tutorials, learner–learner interaction etc. o Use of industrialized processes; labor is divided and tasks are assigned to various staff. Strengths of distance education o It increases access to learning and training opportunity, o It provides increased opportunities for updating, retraining and personal enrichment, o It improves cost effectiveness of educational resources, o Balancing inequalities between age groups, geographical expansion of education access, o Delivering education for large audiences, o Offering the combination of education with work or family life, etc. Limitations of distance education o It does not offer immediate feedback. o It may not be acknowledged by all employers. o It does not give students the opportunity to work on oral communication skills. o It distance learning is social isolation. o It is difficult technology and accessibility. 1.2.2.3 Hybrid (characteristics, strength and limitation) o HBL is the integration of face-to-face and online learning to help and enhance the classroom experience and extend learning through the innovative use of ICT. o Learning can be accomplished through the use of ‘blended’ virtual and physical resources. o It enhance student engagement and learning through online activities and improve effectiveness and efficiencies by reducing lecture time. Basic Characteristics of Hybrid Learning o It is mix of collective and individual learning, o It mix of synchronous(vertual) and asynchronous learning, o It is a mix of self-paced and group-paced learning, o It is a mix of formal learning and non-formal learning in terms of lifelong learning incorporation. o Blended course has access to all of the same things that you would use for a or online course; Strengths of Hybrid Learning o HBL allows some flexibility to students with multiple responsibilities to maximize their time. o Increases in interaction between student-instructor, student- student, student-content, and student-outside resources; o Integrated formative and summative assessment mechanisms for students and instructor. o BL also has the potential to reduce educational expenses, and it essentially replaces pricey textbooks with electronic devices. Limitations of Hybrid Learning o Many teachers have a fear of technology and often see a move to hybrid education o Scheduling and communication challenges are found to become obvious in hybrid learning settings. o Access to network infrastructure o IT literacy can serve as a significant barrier for students attempting to get access to the course materials,  Chapter Two Distance Education  2.1. Historical development of distance learning o Modern distance learning initially relied on the development of postal services in the 19th century and has been practiced at least since Isaac Pitman taught shorthand in Great Britain via correspondence in the 1840s. o The historical evolution of distance education has been in three main phases, each with its own organizational form derived from the main form of communication. These main phases are; 1. Correspondence systems 2. via Visual-Auditory 3. Internet-based systems 1st Age: The Age of Correspondence Distance Education o DE is defined as correspondence study as the tutorial materials were sent to the students and the materials correspond the interactions. o Many called distance education, in eighteen century, at that time as “home study” and “independent study” targeting the remotest masses ranging farmers, industry workers, women and enthusiast to get an urban education from home using the fastest railway networks. 2nd Age: Distance Education via Visual-Auditory o Media Invention of radio has made it inevitable to shifting from correspondence education to radio centered audio modal education. o Later invention of television has made a tremendous change in the history of DE, o It was really ground breaking as DE providers around the globe started using this visual-auditory modality to reach much more learners in the world. o Satellite and cable television and radio were used to deliver live or recorded lectures to both individual home-based learners and groups of learners in remote classrooms. 3rd Age: Computer/ Internet-based systems o This age brought a revolution in the concept of distance education. o Now people are interested to replace the term ‘distance education’ with the terms ‘digital learning’, ‘eLearning’, ‘lifelong learning’ and ‘online learning’. o Hundreds of thousands of students are now getting enrolled and certified using their mobile phones, computer and tablets. o This eLearning era is allowing both synchronous and asynchronous opportunities for the learners. 2.2. Major Contributions of open and distance learning  General education DE can be used at primary and secondary education levels to provide both in-school and out-of-school programmes. In-school DE programmes are used to support teaching in schools when learning materials are lacking, DE is used in out-of school programmes both at primary and secondary level to educate school-age children and youth who are unable to attend ordinary schools, including those who are disabled, suffering from long-term illness, or living in remote areas or living outside their own countries.  Teacher education o Teacher education is an important area where DE has been used extensively to provide pre-service teacher preparation, upgrading of academic qualifications, and in-service CPD in particular subjects, content areas and instructional methods. o DE may play an increasingly important role during this decade in helping address the growing shortage of teachers, educational administrators and other educational professionals.  Vocational and continuing education o The role of ODL in the field of technical and vocational education is significant. It has two main functions:  To respond effectively to the growing demand of working adults or any others who have difficulties in getting training in conventional education because of lack of flexibility in the timing and location of courses;  To provide an opportunity for the empowerment of those most disadvantaged by existing provision ñ the unemployed, the disabled, women and ethnic minorities.  Non-formal education o The learners often come from the more marginalized sectors of society, and as a result have low levels of previous formal education or none at all. o The curricula, which are usually focused on specific issues to do with social and community education, health and family, and economic and earnings-related education, including agriculture.  Higher education o Many of the open universities have developed into mega-universities with more than 100,000 students. o Such universities usually teach the same curricula for distance students as for their residential students and subject the students (but not always) to the same entrance requirements and examinations.  Challenges and Opportunities of distance education o Like regular mode of education, distance education also has challenges on the part of students, teachers and institutions. some of the challenges are:  Lack of the presence of a teacher  Low status of distance education institutes  Rigidity imposed by university regulations  Misconception about the role of distance education departments  Discrimination with the product of the distance education departments  Challenges……..  Lack of support by the faculty  Lack of student training  Lack of social interaction  Lack of support and services  Lack of feedback or contact with the teacher  Insecurities about learning  Lack of multi-media instruction  Nature of study material,etc.  Chapter three Theories of distance education o Keegan 1986 classified theories of distance education in to three categories these are; I. Theory of independence and autonomy II. Theory of industrialization III. Theory of interaction and communication  I. Theory of independence and autonomy o This theory focusing on the three key notions; Autonomy of the learner, Distance between the teacher and the learner, and Structural system I. Autonomy of the learner: The learner studies independently in his own environment free from the constraints of inappropriate class placing’ and develops in himself a capacity and maturity that enables him to carry on ‘self- directed learning’. II. Distance between the teacher and the learner: As indicated above, student autonomy has many pedagogic implications. The strongest of them all is that the learner has to learn apart from the teacher. iii. Structural System: The redefinition of these characteristics forms the basic of a system that is structurally different from the traditional formal system of education. And it may call it a non-contiguous educational system. This new system may be visualized in the following features: 1. the learner has to take much greater responsibilities for learning; 2. wider choice of both the content and the methods has to be provided to the learner. In order to emphasize independence and autonomy, the system should: o be capable of operation any place where there are students whether or not there are teachers at the same place at the same time; o place greater responsibility for learning on the student; o The teacher and students are separated o The normal processes of teaching and learning are carried out in writing or through some other mediums o Teaching is individualized o Learning takes place through the student’s activity o Learning is made convenient for the students in their own environment. o The learners takes responsibility for the pace of learning with freedom to start and stop at any time.  II. Theory of industrialization teaching o Sewart argue that distance education institution are essentially institutions of mass education, and a particular package of materials is served to hundred of students, and in many cases to thousands of them.  II. Theory of industrialization teaching o This theory is characterized by the following points;  Rationalization: the use of methodical measures to reduce the required amount of input power, time, and money.  Division of power: the division of tasks into simpler component on subtasks.  Mechanization: the use of machines in the work process. Because distance education is impossible without machines  Mass production: the production of goods in large quantities. Because demand outstrips supply at collage and universities, there has been a trend towards large scale operation  Preparatory work: determining how workers, machines and materials can usefully relate to each other during each phase of the production process.  Planning; the system of decision that determines an operation prior to its being carried out.  Organization; creating general arrangement for purpose – oriented activity.  Scientific control method; work process are analyzed systematically in accordance with the result obtained from measurement and empirical data etc.  III. Theory of interaction and communication o This theory highly emphasizes and relates teaching effectiveness to the impact of feeling of belonging and cooperation as well as to the actual exchange of questions, answers, and arguments in mediated communication. o This theory has the following assumptions;  The core of teaching consists of interaction between the teaching and learning parties  Emotional involvement in the study and feeling of personal relation between the teaching and learning parties is likely to contribute to learning pleasures.  Learning pleasure support students motivation.  Participation in decision making is favorable to student motivation.  Strong student motivation facilitates learning.  A friendly, personal tone, and easy access to the subject matter contributes to student motivation.  The effectiveness of teaching is demonstrated by student learning of what has been thought.  Chapter Four Creating Learning Materials for Open and Distance learning  4.1. Nature of Self learning Instructional Materials o SLIM refer to those alternative channels of communication, which a classroom teacher can use to teaching and learning process. o SLIM are facilities given to students, so that they can use every opportunity to develop full potential. o They are a broad range of resource which can be used to facilitate effective instruction. o This may include traditional materials such as chalkboards, handouts, charts, slides, and videotape and materials and methods such as computers, DVDs, CD-ROMs, the Internet, and interactive video conferencing.  * The difference between text book and self-learning material Text book Self instruction material  Assumes interest  Arouses/motivate/ interest  Written for teacher use  Written for learner use  No indication of study time  Gives estimates of study time  Designed for a particular audience  Designed for a wide market  Always gives aims and objectives  Rarely states aims and objectives  Major emphasis on self-assessment  Little or no self-assessment  Text book Self instruction material  Seldom/ occasional/ anticipates  Alert / active/ to potential difficulties difficulties  Occasionally offers summaries  Always offers summaries  Dense content  Content unpacked  Open layout/setting arrangement  Dense layout  Learner evaluation always conducted  Learner /reader evaluation rare 4.3. Instructional Design and nature of ODL Material What is instructional design? o Instructional design is the systematic development of instructional specifications using learning and instructional theory to ensure the quality of instruction. o It is the entire process of analysis of learning needs and goals and the development of a delivery system to meet those needs. o It includes development of instructional materials and activities; and tryout and evaluation of all instruction and learner activities. o The quality of instructional design has a direct link with learning on the part of learners. o The more innovative an instructional design is the more effective and learner- oriented the SLM shall be. o SLMs are based on instructional design involving analysis of learning needs, development of learning materials, and placement of a delivery system and the mechanism of assessment. 4.4. Adapt or Create Open and Distance materials o There are two basic ways of creating an ODL course: adapting some existing materials or writing a completely new course.  4.4.1. Reasons why you might adapt ODL materials o There are two main reasons for deciding not to produce an ODL course/ materials these are: a. Time o Producing a new ODL course from scratch takes a lot of time. o In well-established ODL institutions, the time from identifying a need to having materials ready for use is typically two years, but can be as much as three. o In the early stages, new skills will need to be learnt and new systems established. b/ Cost o Writing ODL courses from scratch is costly. o The many steps such as planning, writing, reviewing, revising, editing and piloting are all labor-intensive and difficult to rush. o The resulting high costs may be justifiable if the course is to be used by a large number of learners but for smaller groups, high-cost courses produce high-cost units o Hence adopting ODL material is cost-saving potential. 4.4.2. Reasons why you might write new materials o The most compelling reason for writing new materials is when there are no existing materials (ODL or textbook) that cover the subject you need, at the level you need and in the language you need. o If you are seeking materials in English, you will likely have no trouble finding something you can adapt. o However, this is not the case in seeking materials in other languages. o The second reason to write your own materials is degree of control. o Whenever you work from existing materials, you will face a range of constraints imposed by the approach, copyright and what you can do with the materials.  4.5 Planning an ODL course o Because ODL courses are mostly based around learning materials that have to be prepared before the students start to study, almost every detail of the course needs to be planned before the course starts.  Learner profiles o The first part looks at learner profiles – that is, at describing who your learners will be. o For example, they may be older, they may have more heterogeneous backgrounds and they may live much farther away from resources such as libraries or schools than your current learners. Context issues o This part looks at the circumstances under which your learners will study.  Will they have somewhere to study?  What resources will they have at home?  What resources will they be able to access in their locality? o All these factors affect how you design your course and what you will need to provide to students. Setting aims and objectives for your course o Aims and objectives are very important in helping to define the content of a course and the depth to which that content will be studied. o The earlier you can decide on the aims and objectives of a course, the easier it will be to create the learning materials for that course. Content analysis and planning o Evaluations of ODL courses frequently show that learners have too much to study. o If courses are overloaded with content, learners adopt superficial learning techniques, attempting to memories key points rather than to understand the material. o It is therefore important to keep control of the quantity of material put into a course.  Methods of ordering content o Once the aims, objectives and content have been decided, they all have to be put into an appropriate teaching order. o For some topics, the order is almost determined by the content itself – this applies to sequential subjects such as math's and some parts of the sciences.  Pacing the course o Decisions about pace are only loosely connected to planning and writing learning materials, but it is convenient to make those decisions at the same time as planning the course as a whole. The course specification o This is a document that authors, instructional designers, editors, tutorial staff and administrative staff can use to put in place every aspect of the new course. o The smaller your organization, the simpler this specification can be, but in very large institutions the specification may actually be a series of documents, specifying the course and its systems in great detail.  The course guide and other devices o The other key planning output is the course guide, which is an overview of the course for use by students and tutors. o It usually contains information about the course itself, the tutorial and support system for the course, the administrative systems, and the course assessment. 4.6. Planning and writing a unit of learning o Planning and writing study units, is the longest one in the handbook. o That is not surprising, since writing study units is by far the most time- consuming aspect of creating ODL materials. 4.6.1. Structuring a unit o A typical unit in a self-instructional material has the following structure:  Title  Introduction  List of content  Learning Outcomes  Resources needed for this unit  Do tutor marked assessments written by you  Key points 4.6.2. Writing activities o The most important device used in ODL learning materials is the activity. o In this part we look at why activities are so important, what types of activities there are and how to create and structure them. 4.6.3. Using examples to promote learning o examples are critical when the learning goal is understanding and analysis. o Examples are most needed to aid in understanding (of concepts, rules, principles and procedure) and to develop proficiency in application (use of concepts, rules, principles and procedure). 4.6.4.Illustrative devices o ODL materials tend to make greater use of illustrative devices than do traditional textbooks. o Even words themselves are laid out with the aid of bullets, diagrams, tables, flow charts and so on. o This part introduces the main illustrative devices used in ODL and provides some guidelines for their effective use. 4.6.5. Access devices o Each learner displays unique learning styles and may have attained different learning levels. o While a teacher can package and repackage content and use formative assessment strategies so as to ensure differentiated instruction, this is difficult with a self- instructional material. o Some of the strategies which could be used to tackle such diversities include: o 1. Explaining the common misconceptions as part of feedback post assessment o 2. Including diverse ways of assessing the knowledge o 3. Presenting concepts in diverse ways etc. 4.6.6. Diversity issues o ODL materials are often used by student groups whose makeup is more diverse than what would normally be found in class-based groups. o This means that extra care needs to be taken to ensure that the materials are understandable and accessible to all potential learners. o In this part, we look particularly at gender, age, ethnicity and religion and the diversity issues that they raise. 4.6.7.Estimating the study time for a unit o Stating the approximate time required for the completion of the unit shall help the learner to plan her/his study accordingly. o This can be estimated by identifying all the tasks which the learner has to undertake and developing some time usage rules. o Stating the total study time for the unit and the time to be invested for each task separately is beneficial for the learner.  4.7. Planning assessment o Most students are assessment focused and place great value on assessm. o Hence designing better assessments can lead to deeper learning. o Formative assessment-It motivates, enhances understanding and helps learners to self assess their progress. o This is very important in the absence of a teacher as learners will have no idea whether they are making progress. Formative assessment could include 1. activities and their feedback 2. self assessment tests 3. non-assessable tutor marked assignment Summative assessment: It informs the learner of standard they have achieved and whether they have achieved overall earning objective.  Language, writing style and layout Use familiar and common words Use shorter sentences instead of longer ones, Try to have sentences which are specific Use active voice and address in 1st or 2nd person Prefer using positive statements Do not use double negative statements as it is difficult to comprehend etc.  Chapter Five Applications of ICT in Distance and E-learning  5.1. Role of ICT in distance education o In the Concept of new technology, distance learning provides Multimedia- based education content to the students utilizing standard data networking, protocols and infrastructure. o ICT are a potentially powerful tool for extending educational opportunities, formal and non- formal. o ICTs also facilitate access to experts, resource persons, researcher, professionals, mentors, business leader, and peers- all over the world. o For developing countries ICT have the potential for increasing access to and improving the relevance and quality of education.  Role of ICT in DE…. o The main advantages of using technologies in DE are:  Cost Effectiveness,  Independence of Time and Place,  Quality of education access resulting from the mass production of course materials,  Teaching a lot of students simultaneously, and finding a lot of educational resources.  Faster content delivery  Use in administration activities of the institution  Enhanced quality of teaching  Virtual classroom environment,etc. 5.2. Selection and application of media for distance learning o The selection concerning appropriate instructional media is an essential element of the instructional design process. o Using a systematic approach to media selection ensures that appropriate instructional media are employed to support desired learning objectives. o Media selection analysis must evaluate general and specific criteria, including Accessibility, Teaching ability, Interactivity and user-friendliness, instructional medium, student, and cost aspects , etc.  Accessibility:  Is the equipment your program requires available to the learners?  Where will they be learning? At home? In the workplace? At a learning center? Cost :  Are the costs of production, delivery, and maintenance using this technology affordable?  Are the costs appropriate to the number of learners who will be enrolled?  Teaching ability: means  Does the technology convey the level of facts, attitudes and skills your program requires?  Is it suited to the kinds of learning required?  Interactivity and user-friendliness:  Is the technology user -friendly?  Can it convey adequate and timely feedback to the learner?  Organization :  How open is your organization to change and the introduction of new media?  Speed:  How fast can your program implement this technology?  How much training do staff and students need in order to be able to use it?  Will its use enable you to revise your materials as quickly as you need to? 5.3. Factors affecting the effective use of ICT in distance and E- learning o There are various factors which influence the growth and adaptation of communication technology. I. Appropriateness: The technology should go well with the geographical setting of the country. ii. Accessibility: Certain constrains such as lack of money, Lack of adequate software, lack of political will, etc., will have invariable affect on the accessibility of technology to educational sector. iii. Handling:  Computers need specialized operators and programmers to use them.  More so, because technologies are changing so fast that one finds it difficult to keep oneself up-to-date in handling and maintaining them v. Manpower inline with change in technology  As technology is frequently changing time to time, it is a difficult task to have updated manpower inline with change in technology.  It is even very difficult to have such manpower in government organizations. v. Management:  Planning/negotiating curriculum between provider and student needs to be done centrally.  Assessment needs to be decided centrally.  Funding for technology/ tale-courses and course planning/implementation, should be available; evaluation must be done regularly.  Chapter Six Management of Distance Education  6.1.Issues in Distance Education Management o The ODL programmes raise a number of issues for managers :  staffing for open and distance learning programmes;  integrating media;  managing project teams;  analyzing systems (systems thinking);  collaborating with other agencies and organizations;  planning and scheduling;  costing and budgeting;  monitoring and supervising staff at a distance; and  evaluating programme performance. o Systems thinking  Managing these tasks is clearly not linear, for the following reasons: Programme staff will be involved in several of these tasks at the same time; and the tasks are interdependent. o Planning and development This steps includes A detailed preparation of the curriculum and strategy for the programme, which involves a good deal of consultation, between the academic unit and the service. Designing and developing the materials. o Production and preparation  the materials need to be reproduced to meet the latest estimate of enrolments, both print and audio-visual.  Parallel with the reproduction process, the distribution logistics need to be finalized and full tutorial and learner support services put in place. o Delivery and evaluation  The programme must be continuously monitored, especially during its first presentation, to identify problems and possible improvements as well as to assess student progress and success. o Staffing  personnel will likely fall into the following categories. Educational staff include: subject specialists; specialists in materials production; specialists on tutoring and counseling; tutors, especially part-time tutors; broadcasting producers; and research workers and evaluators.  Materials production staff Materials include: printers; copy editors; graphic designers; broadcasting technicians; typists and word processing clerks; and desktop publishing specialists. Administrative staff include: administrators and managers; personnel staff; financial staff; records clerks; secretaries and typists; warehousing and dispatch staff; and messengers, drivers, and janitors. o Monitoring and supporting staff at a distance  The management of ODL programmes will almost always involve monitoring and supporting staff who are at a distance from central office.  These staff may include regional center staff, tutors, and learning materials producers such as writers of print materials and scripts for media production. Managing project teams  Managing a team places different kinds of demands on managers than does line management: time, because you have specified start and finish dates; resources, because you need a high degree of financial accountability as projects; and personnel, because you tend to work with a cross-functional team of temporary members. Networking  Creating, expanding, and maintaining relationships with other agencies popularly known as networking  It is an important part of the manager’s job in an open and distance learning context. o Quality assurance  Quality assurance is an approach to organizing work that ensures that: the institution’s mission and aims are clear and known to all; the systems through which work will be done are well thought out, foolproof, and communicated to everyone; it is clear to everyone who is responsible for what; what the institution regards as ‘quality’ is well defined and documented; systems are in place to check that everything is working to plan; and when things go wrong and they will there are agreed ways of putting them right.  Chapter Seven Distance Education Practices in Ethiopia  7.1.Practices of distance education in Ethiopia  The initiation of DE in Ethiopia goes back to 1967 when Ministry of Education collaborated with Addis Ababa University to establish correspondence study unit under the Extension Division of the University.  The main target of the unit was to develop senior secondary correspondence course for adults who were working in various ministries, factories and military organizations in general and teachers in particular. This shows that DE has begun to train teachers for primary level and to upgrade teachers for junior and secondary schools.  It was led by Addis Ababa University until 1976 under department of the extension division. Then the task of leading and organizing of the programs was transferred to the MOE under the department of adult and continuing Education, and later the Educational Media Agency (EMA). After MOE took the leading responsibility in 1977with in two years, it widened the concept of distance education from primary to secondary education and achieved a lot of educational goals. As the result, the number of participants had increased from 1979 - 2001 that enabled to provide secondary education to over 13,426 learners found in various regions of the country By 200 I, on top of its long- standing area of operation for secondary schools, distance provision started to provide teachers' education to over 21,000 primary school teachers at diploma level. In this historical development process , many measures have been taken to improve distance education program in Ethiopia comprises radio broad cast to schools to supplement and enrich the curriculum, a non-formal secondary level distance education program for out of school youth and adults. In addition, AA U initiated its first postgraduate distance education program in 1998 with two M.ED degree programs in education, one in educational management and administration and the other in curriculum development studies DE program has begun flourishing after the introduction of the new Ethiopian Education and Training Policy designed in 1994. ETP indicates that conventional education only can not solve the problems of the country due to the lack of sufficient educational resources and the constraints of skilled manpower for different economic sectors particular for high demands of teachers' primary and secondary education teachers. So that DE was widely employed to over-come the shortage of primary and secondary education teachers. o After the socialist ideology overthrown and new education and training policy was introduced, the government encouraged the participation private institutions in education sector. o Currently many government and private higher institutions are delivering distance education to the broad mass of Ethiopians who live in the remotest areas of the country.  7.2.The role of distance education in Ethiopia  ODL contributes to the economic growth by addressing the scarcity of skilled workforce, providing accessibility, equity and continuity in education, and enhancing technical skills and teachers’ capacity, which could lead to the increase of productive working force in a certain country.  It improving flexibility of education, improving students learning, reducing educational costs, and strengthening capacity in the education and civil service sectors.  Open and Distance Education at a tertiary level became functional with the opening of private colleges and universities in Ethiopia, and these educational centers are offering diploma and degree programs.  7.2.The role of distance education in Ethiopia o ODL has had an influence not only on individual life but also the community and national plans in Ethiopia. o For instance, a significant number of competent teachers have been recruited in distance mode learning in Ethiopia  Open and Distance Education at a tertiary level became functional with the opening of private colleges and universities in Ethiopia, and these educational centers are offering diploma and degree programs. o On top of that, effective citizens have been trained in various fields, including business, social sciences, economics etc in Ethiopia, who are anticipated to meet the high demand of qualified man power in the development ventures the country is carrying out. o Furthermore, open and distance education has been playing a crucial role in bridging the gap between education and the world of work in Ethiopia. 7.3.Challenges of distance education in Ethiopia There are multidimensional constraints to implement ODL in Ethiopia that include;  Law status is given to DE;  Lack of awareness regarding the true potential of DE one of the modes of delivering education to the masses.  lack of trained manpower in the field in most HEI  lack of adequate finance;  Shortage of communication and infrastructure facilities;  No proper government policies;  Under utilization of the range of audiovisual media available;  Shortage of personnel in media course ware production;  Degree awards have lesser value and acceptability..