Distance Education in Australia: Lessons and Future Challenges Professor Belinda Tynan [e-mail] University of New England, Armidale, NSW, Australia

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Distance Education in Australia Lessons and
Future Challenges Professor Belinda
Tynanbelinda.tynan_at_une.edu.auUniversity of New
England, Armidale, NSW, Australia
Oft the colours are pitched so highThe
deepest note is the cobalt sky Dorothea
Mackellar (1885 1968) from The colour of
light
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• Thank you Fredric Litto for inviting me to ABED.
• It has been an amazing experience already and
  your warmth, generosity and welcomes are
  appreciated.
• I hope that my presentation is of interest and
  that we can continue to learn from each other.

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Where is Australia?
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Surface Area
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Density of Population
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The Tyranny of Distance

• More than two-thirds (69) of Australias
  population lives in the capital cities
• Much of the interior of the Australian continent
  is grazing land or desert- sparsely-settled
  interior
• Australian universities have a long and
  successful tradition of distance education.

Rural isolation stimulated the early development
of distance education
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Distance Education in Australia

• Distance education is not viewed as unusual or
  different
• This debate is long over in Australia ( Jones
  Pritchard 2000, 32).
• This has been the case in Australia for more than
  25 years

The debate over distance education is long over
in Australia
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Key challenges

• Changing political environment (still no prime
  minister!)
• Social inclusion and participation
• Aging academic workforce (more than 50 retire in
  the next few years)
• Student centred funding model
• What have we learned about retaining our
  students?
• How can we best to exploit the new National
  Broadband Network-highly contentious but will
  bring fibre to the homes of at least 90 of the
  population
• Impact of the new technologies and how to adapt
  and move forward a sometimes reluctant academic
  staff?
• There is a digital revolution in secondary and
  primary schools and these children are our future
  students
• Internationalisation and mobility
• Asia-Pacific is a real focus in our region-we
  look to Asia to expand our student numbers as
  competition becomes harsher amongst the 38
  universities
• Everyone is getting into distance learning

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1890s humble beginnings
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The Australian Model 1950s

• Distance and on-campus students were taught by
  the same academic staff.
• Both sat the same examinations, were taught using
  the same curriculum and received identical
  awards.
• The guiding principle was equivalent not
  identical support.
• Internal students attended lectures and
  tutorials.
• Distance students benefited from intensive
  schools, study guides and support by
  telephone/post.

Distance students relied on the telephone and
post.
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Growth after 1965

• After 1965, the numbers of Australian
  universities offering distance programs continued
  to grow.
• The number of distance education students also
  increased.
• By the early 1990s, 32 universities were offering
  distance education programs.
• The Federal Government was concerned about the
  costs of distance education provision.

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Reasons for the Models Success

• Australia had well-developed postal and telephone
  services.
• There was strong academic staff commitment to
  distance education.
• Australian universities were well-funded and
  resourced.
• The great majority of distance learners were
  mature-aged students with families, working and
  studying part-time to gain a qualification.

Distance education relied on well-developed
postal and telephone services
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Distance Education in Transformation

• Australian universities now face the challenge of
  a transition from mass to a universal higher
  education system (Massaro 2009, 1).
• Regional universities, which are the major
  providers of distance programs, are under the
  greatest pressure.
• In meeting this challenge, they have begun to
  experiment with new approaches and pedagogies.
• The emerging Model is very different to the
  traditional one.

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Challenges to Growth and Equity

• Australia is perceived as falling behind other
  countries in performance and investment in higher
  education (Bradley 2008, xi).
• There are fears that we are losing ground in
  the global knowledge economy (Bradley 2008, xi).
• The Federal Government is also concerned that
  most university students are relatively
  privileged.
• Students from the poorest quartile of the
  population are under-represented in higher
  education.

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Towards a Mass System

• In 2008, the Federal Government proposed two
  long-range targets.
• By 2025, 40 of 2534 year olds are to have a
  university qualification by 2025.
• By 2020, 20 of higher education students will be
  from the poorest quartile of the population.
• The present figures are 32 and 15 respectively.
• By Australian standards these are radical aims
  and they had begun to stimulate wider changes.

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The Impact of these Changes

• Reaching the Federal targets will require an
  additional 544,000 university graduates by 2020.
• This is the equivalent of 20 new universities of
  around 12,000 students each.
• Much of this demand will be met through distance
  and online education.
• In addition, the composition of the distance
  student cohort will change considerably.
• The reason is the new student-centred funding
  model.

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The Student-Centred Funding Model

• From 2012, Australian universities will be funded
  on the basis of actual enrolments.
• There will be no limits on the number of
  students.
• Institutions will be able to set their own entry
  standards.
• In part, this move is intended to improve
  flexibility and the quality of the student
  experience.
• Equally important, however, is the expected
  impact in terms of access and equity.

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Pressures on Regional Providers

• The main distance education providers are the
  smaller, regional universities.
• In the past, these have relied on regulation to
  protect their market share.
• After 2012, they will be under pressure to reduce
  entry scores and to increase the places offered
  through alternative entry pathways.
• As a result, there are fears of a new binary
  system (Massaro 2009a, 1).

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A Binary System?

• Metropolitan universities with long-established
  reputations are expected to increase entry
  standards. Their goal will be to recruit the best
  students.
• Regional universities will be competing for the
  less academically prepared students.
• However, traditional distance education
  approaches have depended on the motivation and
  academic skills of students.
• These qualities can no longer be taken for
  granted.

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Competition from Private Providers

• Regional universities also face growing
  competition from more than 150 private-sector
  providers.
• These providers are only weakly regulated by the
  States and Territories.
• Standards at some private providers are low or
  non-existent.
• Australian acceptance of online learning makes it
  easy for virtual universities to flourish.
• There is potential for fake degrees in reward for
  little or no academic study.

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Reinvigorating Distance Education in Australia

• To meet a fresh set of challenges, distance
  education providers are engaged in a process of
  renewal.
• New technologies are being used to put the
  student at the centre of the learning experience.
• Fresh solutions are being offered to the
  perennial problems faced by distance learners.
• Innovative, more effective approaches to student
  support have emerged.
• This process of renewal is occurring within a
  national quality framework.

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The Present Quality Framework

• At present, the Australian Universities Quality
  Agency (AQUA) promotes, audits, and reports on
  quality assurance in higher education.
• Aligned with the Australian Qualifications
  Framework (AQF)
• 38 Australian universities are currently
  self-accrediting for their awards.
• These are regularly audited by AQUA.
• Most private providers are non-self-accrediting.
  
• Less than half have been audited by
• AQUA.

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The Evolving Quality Framework

• From 2011 there will be a new Tertiary Education
  Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA).
• TEQSA will accredit providers and evaluate the
  performance of all higher education institutions.
  
• TEQSA will take over the functions performed by
  AUQA and the regulatory responsibilities of State
  and Territory agencies.
• TEQSA will be able to register and deregister
  universities and non-university higher education
  providers.

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Quality is outcomes focused

• Universities are measured for continuous
  improvement across themes rather than compliance
  to standards
• Indicators such as
• Graduate employment in area of study
• Graduate salaries
• Overall student learning experience
• Qualifications of university teachers and
  continuous professional development
• Progression of students (reducing attrition)
• StaffStudent ratio
• Social inclusion targets
• Indigenous students completion and engagement
• Strategic intention and university
  differentiation (ability to deliver the
  promise)
• Governance

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Quality Assurance Within Universities

• Distance universities are taking their own steps
  to improve quality.
• They participate in benchmarking with each other.
• One major strategy is better use of business
  intelligence systems.
• More intensive case management is also emerging
  as a key technology for student progression.
• The delivery of effective student support is
  critical if universities are to meet the
  requirements of the next wave of distance
  students.

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Meeting the needs of distance students

• Distance learning requires high levels of
  self-discipline, dedication and motivation.
• Most distance students face competing demands on
  their time from family and career.
• Distance learners often feel isolation and
  disconnected from the university community.
• The strength of these feelings is a major
  predictor of attrition (Heirdsfield, Walker
  Walsh 2005).

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The Spectre of Attrition

• Distance students with weaker study skills are
  particularly vulnerable to discouragement.
• Attrition rates for such distance learners are
  much higher than the rest of the cohort. (McInnis
  et al 2000, 69).
• Distance universities know they must manage
  attrition.
• Otherwise there is a risk of a downwards spiral,
  as lower entry qualifications drive down student
  outcomes and completion rates.

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Attrition

• The retention rate for undergraduate students at
  UNE has remained between 72.01 - 74.56 during
  2001- 2006.
• In 2008, the dollar value of attrition at UNE
  (using 2009 funding rates of 13,600 dollars per
  student this represents an enormous unrealised
  revenue
• Attrition has been a problem since distance
  education has started and we have failed to
  address the issue effectively...
• Why is this so when we know so much?

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Making Student Support More Effective

• Universities have to adopt more proactive student
  support mechanisms.
• Integrated databases are necessary to allow
  student support teams to monitor the progress of
  each distance student.
• Triggers (such as the failure to submit an
  assignment on time) result in direct personal
  intervention.
• First-line support staff put students in touch
  with specialists (such as counsellors or academic
  skills tutors) if necessary.
• The curriculum needs to be improved.
• Learning needs to be more active.

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Maintaining Course Quality

• Monitoring of student progress allows the
  University to identify areas of concern.
• High rates of distance student dissatisfaction
  and disengagement are often indicative of poor
  teaching.
• Using new business intelligence systems,
  universities can identify academic staff who need
  additional support.
• The result is a much more proactive, effective
  approach to teaching quality.

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Building Student Communities

• Technology has long been heralded as the answer
  to the feelings of isolation felt by distance
  students.
• Early efforts to build student communities using
  online chat and bulletin boards have only been
  partially successful.
• Easier to use, more intuitive tools such as
  Moodle are providing a better way.
• The new goal is to build online course
  communities based on social media.

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Social Networking Statistics

• As social media moves into the mainstream, new
  opportunities arise for making learning
  communities.
• On a per capita basis, Australia has one of the
  highest uptakes of social media in the world.
• Australias social media audience has been
  estimated at 9.9 million.
• 59 of Australian Internet users have a Facebook
  profile.
• There were 1.2 million Australian users of
  Twitter in January 2010 (DigitalMarketingLab
  2010).

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Internet Access

• This goal is only now possible because of broader
  Internet access.
• 78 of Australian households now have access to a
  computer.
• 72 of these households have a home Internet
  connection.
• 86 of households with home access had broadband
  (ABS 2010).
• The Internet is not yet ubiquitous, but it soon
  will be.

Our goal is only now possible because of broader
Internet access.
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UNE models over time
1955
1970
2000
2006
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Building community learning environments

• The weakness of personal learning environments
  (PLEs) and communities are many more to
  manage-less control.
• Early efforts to build student communities via
  PLEs using online chat and bulletin boards have
  only been partially successful.
• Easier to use, more intuitive tools such as
  Moodle and social applications are providing a
  better way.
• The goal is now to build online course or
  discipline based communities based on social
  media.

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2012 DEModel Personalised Student learning
experience
Interaction Between Teachers Students
Student Learning Experience
Student Learning Experience
Support Academic Admin Technical Social
Resources for Learning
Collaboration Peer to Peer and to Community
2012 Student /technology and social practice
1955 delivered learning
Isolated and self-directed
Personalised co-constructed
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Key challenges

• Change challenges across an institution at all
  levels-it is easy to stay comfortable.
• Attrition remains an issue and when will we
  address it?
• New models of distance education are needed to
  meet student needs that take advantage of the new
  social technologies.
• International distance education that crosses
  borders requires greater flexibility,
  understanding and cultural patience for
  difference.
• The delivery of effective student support is
  critical if universities are to meet the
  requirements of the next wave of distance
  students.
• Australia has a long history of distance
  education which should allow us to meet future
  challenges but this long history can also reduce
  our ability to change quickly and look to the
  future.

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• Thank you

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Bibliography

• ABS (2010) 8153.0 - Internet Activity, Australia,
  Dec 2009 Canberra Australian Bureau of
  Statistics.
• Bradley, D., Noonan, P., Nugent, H., Scales, B.
  (2008) Review of Australian Higher Education
  Final report. Canberra DEEWR.
• DigitalMarketingLab (2010) 2010 Australian Social
  Media Compendium.
• Heirdsfield, Ann M. and Walker, Sue and Walsh,
  Kerryann M. (2005) Developing peer mentoring
  support for TAFE students entering 1st-year
  university early childhood studies. Journal of
  Early Childhood Teacher Education 26(4), 423-436.
• Jones, D. R., Pritchard, A. L. (2000). The
  distance education debate An Australian
  viewpoint. Change, 32(6), 32-33.
• Massaro, V. (2009). Bradley and the new Binary
  System. Melbourne LH Martin Institute for Higher
  Education Leadership and Management, University
  of Melbourne.
• McInnis, C., Hartley, R., Polesel, J., Teese,
  R. (2000). Non-Completion in Vocational Education
  and Training and Higher Education. Melbourne
  Centre for the Study of Higher Education,
  University of Melbourne.