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Promoting access to post graduate distance education and development impact through collaboration, scholarships and appropriate use of technology in Africa Jon Gregson, Imperial College London Distance Learning Programme Abstract
Since 2002, the Imperial College London Distance Learning Programme (DLP) has been the recipient of over one hundred scholarships, awarded by the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission for postgraduate masters level courses. The distance learning scholarships were awarded to students based in Commonwealth countries in the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) region and also in Ghana. Underlying objectives of the scholarship programme are to increase access to the DLPs programmes aim to build capacity for the achievement of development goals. This paper focuses on the SADC programme, and provides a preliminary account of the experience and development impact to date, drawing on results from a recent survey that invited feedback from the scholarship students, and reflecting on the value added and unanticipated benefits gained through collaboration with University of Pretoria (UP). PROGRAMME OBJECTIVES The Commonwealth Scholarship Scheme launched a scholarship programme for supporting postgraduate level distance learning study in 2002, with backing from both the United Kingdom Foreign Office and the Department for International Development (DFID). In addition to helping scholars obtain valuable qualifications, the scheme also seeks to achieve development impact and build capacity with Southern Partner Universities. PROGRAMME FEATURES The DLP offers an established range of postgraduate degree programmes awarded by the University of London. These courses are aimed at the international development community. Between 2003 and 2006 the DLP has received support for 88 students based in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region, and 20 from Ghana. Details of the SADC students are summarised below:
Each degree programme comprises ten modules, including a research methods module
and project focussed on a topic typically relating to the students’ country
and organisational context. The table below lists the MSc programmes being studied
and some of the main course modules
This rest of this article reflects on the work done so far and the impact of the scheme to date. It draws on data from:
Students register for a period of up to five years and study whilst in full time employment in their country. This means that it is still an early stage to reflect on experience and impact. An initial milestone was however reached in 2005, when the first two students graduated from this scheme. Student Profile Before exploring the scheme in more detail it is important to uncover some important details relating to the profile of the students supported under this scholarship scheme, since they are not necessarily typical of distance learning students in Southern Africa. They represent a group who are very competent studying in English, who obtained good first degrees and are mainly mid-career development sector professionals. All 88 students were sent a survey in May 2006, and 43 responded. Respondents have unusually good access to technology, and also demonstrate a very good level of ICT literacy. The table below shows numbers who have access to computers and phones, and make use of email and internet:
Responses indicated that these students do most of their studying at home, followed by studying in their office with study during visits to the field as the least likely. Interestingly when asked how much time is spent outside the office, for example doing field work, the responses suggest there are lengthy periods when study may be difficult:
Academic Progress The table below indicates the academic progress to date for each cohort. Whilst some students have withdrawn this has typically been in the early stages of their study.
Providing scholarships for distance learning was considered to be a cost effective approach, reducing the risk of ‘brain drain’ out of developing countries and providing an immediate payback through the application of learning within the workplace. In the longer term, key people will have received support that enables them to make a greater contribution in their careers. Students were asked three main questions in the survey that let us reflect on the impact of the programme on their career, quality of work and development goals. Responses to the survey are encouraging, and strongly support the initial justification for providing distance learning scholarships. The sections that follow include a selection of representative quotes from the student survey responses. Q1) Impact on career Thirty two of the survey respondents stated that they are doing the same job now as when they commenced their study, and eleven indicated that they had changed jobs. Many of those who changed jobs had been promoted, and all attributed some of their success to their study. The box below shows a selection of the comments from respondents who changed their jobs:
Q2) Impact on quality of work Regardless of whether the student had changed job, most commented very favourably on how their study had enhanced their work. There were no comments suggesting a negative impact, and where a student did not comment favourably this was mainly as they were at the very early stages in their study.
3) Development Impact Aside from the personal and work quality benefits, students were also asked whether their study had helped them make a greater contribution to achievement of development goals. Many felt that it was too early to assess this aspect, though there were positive indications that the long term impact will be significant:
The views expressed in the survey response, were reinforced when these questions were discussed directly with six students based in Tanzania. These students included:
In all cases they drew attention to the way in which their work supported by their study, had an important role to play in contributing to poverty reduction. It was clear, that these are people in key jobs who can make a difference, and they emphasised how their study helps them to make this difference. COLLABORATION In 2002, the DLP was part of the Imperial College Department of Agricultural Sciences which had an established research collaboration with UP’s Department of Agricultural Economics (LEVLO). This partnership was extended to supporting the DLP’s scholars in the SADC region, and through this extended collaboration, goals to develop and share course authoring and tutoring processes took shape. Close links were forged between academics, administrators and learning technologists in both institutions. This has lead to the following outcomes:
The goal is that the partnership be sustainable and add value to the work of both institutions as well as improving support to the scholarship students. Support (by 2007) for five separate cohorts of SADC students, has created a critical mass of students, providing a strong context for this institutional relationship to flourish. The relationship has now resulted in some significant and often unexpected benefits:
Whilst significant progress is being made, the main factors that have constrained progress also need to be highlighted. These have been at the institutional and staffing levels. Since 2004 the DLP has come through significant organisational restructuring at the departmental and faculty levels, and future uncertainties are created by the announcement in July 2006 that Imperial College intends to leave the University of London. There have also been periods when loss of key staff members, and discontinuity in staff support (within academic, coordination and learning technology teams in both institutions) have slowed down the achievement of our partnership objectives. APPROPRIATE USE OF TECHNOLOGY Supporting a dispersed student group involves finding the right blend of distance based support using appropriate technology, and supplemented where possible with face-to-face tutorials. Students can access the DLPs online learning environment (OLE) which provides contact with tutors and fellow students, as well as access to downloadable resources. Survey feedback on use of the OLE and more generally the Internet, as well as on regular ‘e-digests’ from tutors, has been generally very positive. In conjunction with UP’s Department of Educational Innovation, specific options to provide additional support to scholarship students have also been explored. These have included:
Whilst all of these approaches have met some student needs they are limited solutions in a context where (a) internet access remains limited and costly, and beyond reach of students when they engage in field work and (b) it has been difficult for students to get time off and costly to travel to in country tutorials. The recent rapid expansion of mobile phone coverage and the development of mobile devices into powerful hand held devices that support communications and many other applications, offers huge scope for the DLP to support students wherever they are based. The relationship with UP (who have acknowledged expertise in ‘m-learning’) and the presence of a large cohort of SADC based students, has provided an unanticipated and significant opportunity to pilot the DLP’s work in his field. Funding has been obtained from the University of London Centre for Distance Education for a two year project investigating how mobile technologies can support distance learning in the SADC context. In the first year of the project, four students from Malawi and Tanzania are helping the project team with insights from the context, and feedback on the usefulness of different types of learning activity designed for use on mobile phones. In year two, all SADC students studying the ‘Rural Development’ and ‘ICT for Development’ modules will be able to opt in and test out the ‘m-learning’ activities. CONCLUSIONS The experience of the last four years, and the insight gained from the survey and meetings with students, highlights the importance of the context and student profile. A local partner working with a UK based University can provide substantial insight, and add a significant international dimension to a programme like the DLP. The technology trends need to be regularly monitored, and as prices and coverage for both Internet and mobile communications improve, the scope for effective support to students in the SADC context is improving annually. Presence of a critical mass of students, established through regular scholarship funding from the CSC over a number of years, has helped greatly in enabling new strategies for collaboration and student support to develop. The programme is clearly is starting to have an impact on an important group of professionals who can be effective agents for change and for the achievement of poverty reduction goals. The scholarship programme has made a significant impact both on educational innovation and also on development capacity within the SADC region. Most importantly, highlighted in the concluding quote, it is providing an invaluable learning experience for the scholarship student: “I am doing the same job but with a different NGO with increased responsibility. The ‘policy analysis study’ and ‘influencing change’ played a big role in my securing the new responsibilities and so did ‘approaches to rural development’ in the context of collaboration with government. No doubt the course does not leave any trainee the same as before. It is full of insights linking to reality and the materials serve as reference in the work I do”. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||