Concept Paper
The
education and training sector faces many challenges in Zambia.
Such challenges include access, quality and the sizeable but
inadequate resources allocated to education and training,
particularly in some key skills areas like science, medicine and
engineering. Other important concerns include:
-
limited relevance of education
and training to the world of work;
-
shortage of skilled manpower;
-
high illiteracy levels;
-
limited access to education
and training opportunities;
-
poor quality of education;
-
poor educational
infrastructure in the country;
-
high cost of overseas
training; and
-
brain drain.
Aspirations of education for
all may be unrealistic if only conventional educational
strategies are pursued [Elmer, 1999]. Information and
Communications Technology (ICT), especially through distance
learning, for addressing educational access and quality issues,
may play a big role.
According to the American
Distance Education and Training Council (DETC), distance
education (also known as correspondence study, home study) is
the enrolment and study with an educational institution which
provides lesson materials prepared in a sequential and logical
order for study by students on their own [DETC, 2000].
Steiner [2000] defines Distance Education
as an instructional delivery that does not
constrain the student to be physically present in the same
location as the instructor.
The term Distance Learning is
often interchanged with Distance Education. Distance Learning is
the result of Distance Education. Other related terms include
“Open Learning” and “Distributed Education”.
In USA, more than 130 million
Americans have studied by distance education. Notables include
Franklin D. Roosevelt and Walter P. Chrysler. In Zambia,
President (Dr.) Fredrick J. Chiluba attained his Masters degree
through correspondence.
The globalisation realised by the
revolution in Information and Communications Technology (ICT) is
resulting in a revolution in education systems around the world.
Today, the technologies available are greatly enhancing the
potential of distance education as well as the learner’s
experience.
Internet is changing our lives. It
has made information more accessible to people. It is
fundamentally changing the way we communicate and live. E-mail
is quickly outpacing traditional postal services, for example.
The internet is also changing the way we learn and is creating
new opportunities in education.
