distance learning

This book, the result of an OER Asia research project hosted and implemented by the Wawasan Open University in Malaysia, with support from Canada’s International Development Research Centre, brings together ten country reports and ten case studies on OER in the Asian region that highlight typical situations in each context. China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Pakistan, the Philippines and Vietnam all receive extensive treatment, as do the multi-regional initiatives of the Virtual Academy for the Semi-Arid Tropics.

South Australian rural and remote schools have been using a variety of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) to enhance curriculum opportunities for students whose teachers are at a different campus or different school, or who are out of the school for extended periods of time undertaking courses, such as, Vocational Education and Training (VET).

Recent research has demonstrated a significant disadvantage for rural teachers in a variety of aspects of ICT use. This context provides a backdrop for two professional learning programs designed to support ICT-based pedagogies in teaching science in Victorian rural primary and secondary schools. In both programs the school-based workshops initiated a community of learners supported with online web-presence. One program used an intensive five-day workshop focused on developing teachers’ knowledge, pedagogical expertise and leadership skills in embedding ICT into classroom practice.

This project utilized emerging technologies such as mobile broadband videoconferencing along with web-based software and materials (http://www.cyscience.com.au) to enhance the provision of science and mathematics in rural and remote schools in Northern Queensland. The paper tracks the role of technology in the development and implementation of the CY Science project. It will explore how technology enabled a successful classroom project to evolve into a regional program and beyond.

Right to Education is the primary right of every citizen of India. According to the Article 45 of Indian Constitution the basic elementary education must be provided to all the children up to the age of fourteen years. Even after 64 years of independence some States in India are still struggling to achieve Universal enrolment, retention and quality education. Schools in rural areas are promoted to raise the level of education and literacy in rural India. The main aim of running these types of schools in India is to increase the rate of literacy in rural areas.

The goal of ‘teacher quality for all’ is proving difficult to achieve in many countries, especially in rural areas, yet teacher quality is a key determinant of students’ participation rates and achievement levels. It also affects the attainment of social justice in terms of equity in educational quality for students. One contributor to teacher quality is professional development though limits on its availability and quality create inequity for many teachers.

Open and distance learning (ODL) is one of the most rapidly growing fields of higher education and training globally, thanks for advances in information and communication technologies (ICTs) that contribute to the expansion of online and open delivery in education.

This paper gives ideas to improve the rural education through ICTs, especially the computer-related technologies. It also aims to provide some suggestions for effective implementation of the national policy for ICT in education in rural areas in India.