Beyond the course: How distance education library services changes women's lives

Beyond the course: How distance education library services changes women's lives

Elizabeth Watson, University of the West Indies

Abstract
This paper investigates the value that library services lend to DE programmes with a primary focus on the consequential benefits associated with female distance learners becoming proficient library users rather than the specifics of a DE library service. The ability to adeptly handle and manage information for an academic course filters into all other aspects of one’s life (IFLA/FIAFE 2004). Women are important nurturers and care givers to all generations and genders. Thus, any information women acquire has the potential to have far reaching effects on all aspects of their lives and as well as those with whom they interact. This focus is selected not because male distance learners do not need similar support services but because Hipp (1997) argued that “tertiary institutions [are] largely male constructed and developed with the male student as the norm”. Therefore, the positive outcomes of information literate female distance learners does not feature highly in the literature.

Introduction
The critical role that education plays in personal and national development is well documented. Nelson Mandela and Graca Machel (Washington Post May 1, 2002) advanced that “Education can be the difference between a life of grinding poverty and the potential for a full and secure one; between a child dying from preventable disease, and families raised in healthy environments; between orphans growing up in isolation, and the community having the means to protect them; between countries ripped apart by poverty and conflict, and access to secure and sustainable development”. Education also “opens doors to a dynamic workforce and well-informed citizenry able to compete and cooperate in the global arena” (The World Bank n.d.).

In addition to its inherent value, there is strong evidence of a direct correlation between living standards and the educational level of primary providers (World Bank 2006). As women are primary providers in many societies, their acquiring the highest level of education possible has a direct bearing on their quality of life as well as that of their families and communities.

As the world’s population increases, more people require access to education. In addition, the knowledge economy’s emergence creates an ongoing need for persons who are adept at meeting workforce changes and workplace developments. Traditional, conventional or face-to-face methods of education are unable to cope not only with the numbers wishing access to education but also the variety of educational needs of today’s learners. Conventional education forces students to learn at a pace, place and time not necessarily compatible with their other commitments, whereas distance education (DE) provides a freedom of access that the fixed-place paradigm of traditional education seldom affords. Learning via distance occurs at a time, place and pace that is convenient to the student. Additionally, DE enables those previously were educationally disenfranchised because of age, gender, remoteness, incarceration, prior commitments and other reasons to acquire basic, further and continuing education. DE also enables those wishing to re-tool themselves or desirous of a career change to pursue the relevant education without major disruptions to pre-existing lifestyles. Thus, where DE is a viable option, pursuit of these courses changes and enriches lives.

While DE as a modality for enabling access to education has been in existence for a considerable period of time Watson (1999) advanced that “what is new is the systemization, organisation, innovation pedagogy and in particular the mix of student support services which are associated with modern day distance education”. Library services are part of DE’s new dispensation.

Modern day DE programmes provide unprecedented opportunities for access educational opportunities. Courses offered by these institutions, located in all cardinal points in developed and developing countries, cover the gamut of educational levels and also a plethora of course options. As Potashnik and Capper (1998) opined DE “is used in a variety of settings and for a broad range of purposes”. While distance education had been in existence for a considerable period of time, it is its rapid and widespread growth occurring during the second half of the twentieth century which signalled a new era in this type of educational programming.

This paper investigates the value that library services lend to DE programmes with a primary focus on the consequential benefits associated with female distance learners becoming proficient library users rather than the specifics of a DE library service. The ability to adeptly handle and manage information for an academic course filters into all other aspects of one’s life (IFLA/FIAFE 2004). Women are important nurturers and care givers to all generations and genders. Thus, any information women acquire has the potential to have far reaching effects on all aspects of their lives and as well as those with whom they interact. This focus is selected not because male distance learners do not need similar support services but because Hipp (1997) argued that “tertiary institutions [are] largely male constructed and developed with the male student as the norm”. Therefore, the positive outcomes of information literate female distance learners does not feature highly in the literature.

Distance Education and Library Services
In traditional DE programmes, library services were either not included or rated highly. On this Wolliscroft (1996) wrote “distance education is sometimes viewed, if not as a cheap, then certainly as an economical means of providing education ... because many administrators are not costing into their programmes the provision of support services, especially library services” which as he states would “ enable students to obtain best value from their distance programmes”. Thus, while library services were not integral to or integrated into such programmes, the information and knowledge revolutions and their impact on every aspect of life, have been revolutionary with regard to how libraries, library services and librarians are perceived.

With specific regard to library services for DE, Burge, Snow and Howard (1988) comprehensively articulate the importance of library services for distance education when they stated that “poor library services will undermine the potential impact and effectiveness of distance education”. An earlier study (Munroe, 1975) opined that “the open university sets a new context for library service for both academic and public libraries”. Unquestionably therefore, access to and the provision of quality library services are contributory to quality DE programmes and courses.
Library services associated with DE enable learners to develop information literacy (IL) Zhang provides a useful non-technical definition on the value of IL when he states that “Beyond the mastery of basic subject matter, numeracy, and literacy, success in the new economy requires behavioral skills such as the ability to think critically, communicate well, and work effectively in teams. Creativity, risk-taking, entrepreneurship, flexibility in the face of change—are increasingly important. Computer literacy, too, has become a core competency” skills which are important not only in and of themselves but also to support the development of lifelong learning . Library services are one of the modalities that help “prepare workers for lifelong learning—much of it informal—so that they can continuously upgrade their skills” (Zhang 2001). The ability to be a lifelong learner is a life serving and life changing accomplishment. Being a lifelong learner is therefore vital for the dynamic environment characteristic of today’s world.

While many persons perceive that library services and the ability to access information is only relevant to a formal course of study or training, Pejova (2002) argued that not being erudite, skilled and efficient in the use of information and knowledge causes wastage of other resources and directly affects production in all spheres of life and work. Pejova’s arguments highlight the enduring contribution that proficiency in library use has long after a course of study is completed.

Prior to the formal incorporation of quality library services into DE programming, distance learners foraged for library services and information assistance to support their programmes of study. Once DE programmes became more sophisticated and distance students became more vocal in their demand for library services, the situation changed. DE administrators could no longer omit/overlook library services from their programming and librarians were required to become more proactive in servicing this sector of their public.

Consequently, library services are no longer an optional activity for DE administrators, course developers and librarians but rather an important support service.

Women and Distance Education
Today, the world’s population is divided almost equally according to gender. Based on data of 2004 drawn from the UN Statistics Division, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, the web page Geohive, provides the following breakdown for the world’s population:
6,463,063,000 (total) 3,248,080,000 (males) 3,214,983,000 (females)

These figures illustrate that women and girls represent half of the world’s human capital, therefore their education is necessary if the resources of a significant proportion of the world’s human capital is to be optimized. Zhang a World Bank expert opined that “a country impedes its growth if it fails to provide girls with the same levels of education as boys”. He further posited that “Countries can reap significant gains by widening the access of girls and women to education”. The education of girls and women is therefore an essential component of national development and capacity building.

Saint (2000) indicates that “In South Africa, for example, 70 percent of Vista University students and 50 percent of UNISA students are women. In Namibia, 77 percent of distance learners are women. In Madagascar, 46 percent of distance education students are women. In Swaziland, the proportion is 44 percent”. This is irrefutable evidence that women are taking advantage of educational opportunities facilitated through DE. These figures also suggest that women place a high value on education and that through DE there are likely to be social, cultural and economic changes throughout sub-continental Africa. While Saint’s statistics are for Sub-Saharan Africa only, they serve as indicators of DE activity and its impact in other parts of the world.

The intrinsic attributes of DE make it an attractive modality to optimize females access to education. In their statement “over half of the several million learners who make up the world’s distance education programmes are women”, Burge and Lenskyj (1990) indicate that women are using DE widely to access educational opportunities. This estimate mirrors the male-female world population ratio collated by the UN. Hipp (1997) declared that DE enables more women to pursue tertiary level education. Thus, in light of the many social, economic and cultural obstacles women encounter/ed to pursue education through face-to-face methods, DE is an empowering option and “opens doors”.
Among the issues preventing females from pursuing traditional options of education are that:

many of them are have family obligations with regard to marriage and child rearing;
in some communities girls are delegated to child bearing, rearing and domestication roles;
some live in isolated locations which prevent entry/attendance to traditional institutions;
some act as care givers for older or younger family members, making them unable to attend institutions of learning;
many are forced to leave school early because of poverty and the need for them to economically contribute to the well being of their family group - nuclear or extended;
some have had to leave programmes offered through traditional methodologies for reasons such as relocation, thus making distance education the only alternative through which they can complete their course of study;
some were prevented from pursuing courses of study due to cultural factors such as religion, age, and gender; and
poor sanitation which often leads to debilitating illnesses thereby preventing attendance at a learning institution.

The factors impeding women from pursuing education through conventional modalities were/are wide ranging and many of these hindrances had/have nothing to do with the women themselves but rather circumstances over which females had/have little or no control. Consequently, women were deemed to be a primary target group to benefit from modern DE programmes because of the many challenges they encounter/ed in their quest to access education.

In addition to content knowledge, female distance learners become exposed to a cadre of competencies facilitated through library services. These include library literacy, IL and computer literacy. Facility in each of these literacies is a requirement of the information and knowledge age, education, the workplace, self-employment and life in general. Thus, proficiency in library use has far reaching consequences for learners. For female DE learners, given the critical contribution they make to and in their communities, the acquisition of these competencies has far reaching consequences. While acquired for an academic programme, they have a multiplier effect as they are transferred seamlessly from academic work to all aspects of one’s life.

Beyond the Course
General Issues
While female distance learners initially acquire their library and associated skills to support their studies, these are life changing and life empowering skills. In the information age when the ability to manage knowledge, think creatively, develop entrepreneurial skills, analyse information and create new information are critical personal attributes, proficiency in library use is a core competence. Women unable to access information or who cannot efficiently or effectively use the information to which they have access are unlikely to have a comparable rate of success with those women who are proficient users and creators of information.

Proficiency in library skills aids the development of what Hipp (1997) refers to as building “confidence and finding their voice”. Belenky et. al.’s (1986) ‘building voice’ from whom Hipp adopts the concept is described as pursing “conscious, deliberate, [and] systematic analysis”, key functionalities of being library and information literate. On attaining a degree of comfort with navigating the wealth of information available, female distance learners develop an intellectual independence which allows them to rely more on themselves to make informed and judicious decisions. Possession of these skills enables women to contribute to national development in many ways, at different levels and in several spheres.

In addition, once female distance learners become comfortable information seekers they are able to inform others in ways that prior to becoming library and information literate they lacked capacity. Women who are proficient library users are also able to contribute to a better quality of life for their children, an universal objective of women, particularly mothers. The World Bank (n.d.) reports that being educated “opens up a world of opportunities, reduces the burden of disease and poverty, and gives greater voice in society”. Mastery in the use of libraries and information literacy therefore contributes to the quality of women’s lives beyond their DE course.

In addition to general information awareness, adeptness in library use changes women’s lives in specific ways and areas. For example in health and related matters, women who can read and comprehend information about a particular illness or documentation on a particular pharmaceutical are in a superb position to ensure their good health and that of their families. Improved health conditions and knowledge about health issues contribute to economic viability, longevity, child rearing, improved sanitation inter alia

Women able to analyse data about the tilling of crops or comprehend the issues associated with becoming an entrepreneur are more likely to succeed in their endeavours than those who either do not have a strong understanding of the knowledge base or are unable to comprehend materials pertinent to their undertaking. Success in a business is not only personally fulfilling but also an important aspect of national development, economic progress and family prosperity. Thus, library and information literacy skills acquired during a formal programme of study become very helpful in other areas of personal and national life.

Developing Country Concerns
For women in developing countries the acquisition of library skills assumes an even greater level of significance. The Theme Report (IFLA 2004) advocates that literacy is just as important for countries that have a culture of reading as it is for oral societies which are located mainly in developing or countries in transition. This report also indicates “information nourishes the skills that a human being requires to function as an autonomous actor in the world”. The report also indicates that information places people “in a position to take control of their own lives and to play a positive role in the development of society”. Therefore library skills acquired through a DE programme have a profound effect on how women can contribute to their well-being and that of their families and communities.

Education is the single most important tool for poverty alleviation and development (World Bank n.d.). As libraries and library skills are critical for all forms of education, including distance, they also become important factors of national development and the reduction of poverty. As a consequence, library services associated with DE changes the lives of female distance learners in developing countries.

However library and information services in developing countries face particular challenges. Libraries in these countries are not well developed, there are few qualified librarians, perceptions of librarians are generally not positive, library and associated associations are not integrated into social partnerships schemes, ICT and other communications networks are prone to erratic transmission and outages and the cost of electronic and other non-postal communication media is high, all of which negatively impact on the existence of robust library services for DE. Consequently, there is need to moot or implement different approaches and procedures so that these libraries can make a greater contribution to DE and lifelong learning (IFLA/FIAFE 2004). Several innovative strategies have been deployed in developing countries to provide library services, these include donkey libraries (Zimbabwe); rotating book boxes (Tanzania and South Africa) and book corners (India). While not all of them are specifically for DE, female distance students can take advantage of these library services.

Conclusion
This paper has argued that the acquisition of IL skills by women during their pursuit of DE courses is not a competency that remains isolated to the specific goals and objectives of a course. Once women who are/were distance learners become library literate they experience a qualitative change in many aspects of their lives and this redounds to the benefit of their children and others. Proficient library users are also able to improve their economic earning capacity and usually such persons become more active in their communities. Thus, the requirement to use information and knowledge for a DE course successfully transfers to other aspects of women’s lives.
The contribution that DE library services make to the lives of female distance students is therefore not only valuable in and of itself but leads to the acquisition of competencies that are life changing. Becoming a proficient library user and information literate for a course is therefore not an end in and of itself, rather a skill that once acquired enables women to maximize and realize their full potential. Proficiency in library use empowers women in such a way that their capacity as human capital is fully realised.

Works Cited
Burge, E., J. E. Snow and J.L. Howard, (1988). Developing partnerships: an investigation of library-based relationships with students and educators participating in distance education in Northern Ontario. Toronto: Ontario Institute for Studies in Education and Contact Nord.

Burge, E. and H. Lenksyj. (1990), “Women studying in distance education: issues and principles” Journal of Distance Education / Revue de l’enseignement à distance, viewed July 15, 2006, (http://cade.athabascau.ca/vol5.1/9_burge_and_lenskyj.html

Evaluate IT. A resource kit for evaluating IT projects., viewed July 28, 2006 http://www.evaluateit.org/glossary/

Geohive, (2004?), Total population by gender and gender ratio, by Country, viewed July 10, 2006 http://www.geohive.com/global/pop_gender.php. Extracted from UN Statistics Division, Department of Economic and Social Affairs. "World Population Prospects: The 2004 Revision”.

Hipp, H., (1997), “Women studying at a distance: what do they need to succeed? Open Learning, 12.2, p. 41-49 viewed July 13, 2006 www.uni-oldenburg.de/zef/cde/support/readings/hipp97.pdf

IFLA/FAIFE Theme Report (2004) Libraries for lifelong literacy. Unrestricted access to information as a basis for lifelong learning and empowerment . The Hague: IFLA http://www.ifla.org/faife/report/FAIFE_report2004.htm

Munroe, M.E. (1975) Implications of the Open University for Changes in Library Education. Drexel Library Quarterly, 11.2 pp 54-67.

Pejova, Z. (2002), Information literacy: an issue which requests urgent action in developing countries and countries in transition. White Paper prepared for UNESCO, the U>S> National Commission on Libraries and Information Science, and theNational Forum on Infirmation Liberacy for use at the Information Literacy Meeting of Experts, Prague, The Czech Republic, 2003 viewed July 15, 2006 http://www.nclis.gov/libinter/infolitconf&meet/papers/pejova-fullpaper.pdf

Potashnik, M. and J.Capper, (1998). “Distance education: growth and diversity”. Finance and Development, 35.1, p. 42-45.
Saint, W. (2000) Tertiary distance education and technology in Sub-Saharan Africa. Washington: World Bank. Education and Technology Technical Notes Series, 5,1, 2000.

Watson, E. F. (1999) “Distance librarianship: a perspective”Library services to distance learners in the Commonwealth: a reader. Edited by Elizabeth F. Watson and Neela Jagannathan. Vancouver: Commonwealth of Learning, pp. 9-39.

Wolliscroft, M. (1996) “Introduction” Library services to distance learners in the Commonwealth: a reader. Edited by Elizabeth F. Watson and Neela Jagannathan. Vancouver: Commonwealth of Learning, pp. 1-8.

World Bank, (2006), Girl’s Education: a World Bank Priority, viewed July 15, 2006, http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/TOPICS/EXTEDUCATION/0,,content
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Endnotes
For the purposes of this paper the term library service is being used generically to encompass all aspects of a fully integrated and articulated information service drawing on all media of information storage, documentation, transfer and communication. The term also includes the qualitative attributes that librarians lend to information literacy, management, transfer and creation. While information literacy is often viewed as additional to traditional library services, no such distinction will be made in this paper.
Several definitions for information literacy exist, however “the ability to locate, evaluate, and use information to become independent life-long learners” advanced by the American Library Association (http://www.ala.org/ala/acrl/acrlissues/acrlinfolit/infolitoverview/infolitforfac/infolitfaculty.htm)
captures succinctly the goals of information literacy.

Lifelong learning is described as a “a broad concept where education that is flexible, diverse and available at different times and places is pursued throughout life” (http://www.evaluateit.org/glossary/).

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