DOCUMENT RESUME

ED 320 535 IR 014 440

TITLE Developing Distance Education. Report from the WorldConference (14th, Oslo, Norway, August 9-16,1988).

INSTITUTION International Council for Dlstance Education.PUB DATE 89NOTE 49p.; Photographs may not reproduce clearly.PUB TYPE Collected Works - Conference Proceedings (021) --

Viewpoints (120) -- Reports - Descriptive (141)

EDRS PRICE MF01/PCO2 Plus Postage.DESCRIPTORS *Cooperative Programs; *Developing Nations; *Distance

Education; Donors; Foreign Countries; *InformationNetworks; Instructional Development; *InternationalOrganizations; *Professional Training; ProgramEvaluation

IDENTIFIERS *UNESCO

ABSTRACT

This report of the proceedings of the 50thanniTrersary year of the International Council for Distance Education(ICDE) includes: (1) the text of the address g:Wen !ly Kevin Smith,the outgoing ',resident of the organization; (2) a review by theoutgoing president of activities of the ICDE during its first 50years (from 1938 to 1988); (3) the text of the Broady Lecture,"Developing Distance Education," by Gro Harlem Brundtland, PrimeMinister of Norway; (4) a review of the conference program; (5)minutes of the first and second business meetings held during theconference; (6) the text of the inaugural speech given by DavidSewart, the incoming president; (7) a conference evaluation summary;(8) a report on the UNESCO-ICDE Round Table; and (9) a report on theInternational and Donor Bodies Round Table. Both of these reportsnoted the importance of collaboration among institutions, individualpractitioners, and international and donor bodies in distanceeducation, and identified training needs for developers of distanceeducation programs and materials. (GL)

Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be madefrom the original document.

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INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL FOR DISTANCE EDUCATION

I -ijaall

At.4

WORLDCONFERENCE

OSLO, NORWAY

9.-16. AUGUST, 1988

BEST COPY AVAILABLE

THE

"PERMISSION TO RE.)riODUCE THISMATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY

B. L. Snowden

TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCESINFORMATION CENTER (ERIC."

ICDEInternational Council for Distance Education

Developing Distance EducationReport of the Fourteenth World Conference of ICDE

ICDE Permanent Secretariat

Oslo, Norway9-16 August 1988

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Published by the International Council for Distance Education

© 1CDE 1989

Printed by Asker Print A/S, Norway

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Contents

Editorial Comments

IntroductionBy David Sewart

President's Addressby Kevin Smith

ICDE HistoryICCE/ICDE: The First Fifty Years (1938-1988) by Kevin Smith

The Broady LectureDeveloping Distance Education by Gro Harlem Brundtland,Prime Minister of Norway

Programme Reportby David Sewart

First Business Meeting

Second Business Meeting

The New ICDE Executive

President's Inaugural Speechby David Sewart

Conference Evaluation Summary

Unesco-ICDE Round Table Report

International and Donor Bodies Round Table Report

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AL ^16. 46-1

I. The campus of Oslo University was the site forthe 14.th World Conference of ICDE.

2. Dr. David Smart from The Open University,U.K., was elected president.

3. His Majesty King Olav V of Norway is receivesto the opening ceremony by the vice Councellor ojOslo University, Professor Inge Limning,President Kevin Smith, conference ManagerReidar Roll and NADE's President Erling L josd.

4. Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland, whogave the Broady lecture, talking to Kevin Smithand Reidar Roll.

5. From the reception in the City Hall of Oslo.

Photos by: Teri Wideroe.

Editorial CommentsIt has been a recent ICDE practice to publishreports of ICDE world conferences, usually in theyear following the event. This practice reflecteuthe major role of conferences in the ICDE's trien-nial cycle of activities and, given the Council'svoluntary administrative nature, the need forL2.ditional communication devices through whichto conduct the business of the organization. Withthe establishment of the ICDE Permanent Sec-e-tariat, and pending a thorough review of confer-ence procedures, communications with the mem-bership and the Council's policies and procedur-es, it is possible that conference reports will evolvetoward new forms in the future. This report is,therefore, transitional in nature. As such it isintentionally leaner than it . predecessors. As oneexample, a list of 14th ICDE World Conferencedelegates is not included. There are several rea-sons: first, it would add many pages to this report;second, Permanent Secretariat staff are nowengaged in consolidating all membership lists in asingle, new membership database; and third, theExecutive Committee has not yet determined apolicy for the release of database information. Forthe present, members wishing to get in touch withconference delegates should contact the ICDEPermanent Secretariat, the address of which isshown in the section of this report entitled "TheNew ICDE Executive," for assistance.

This report does, however, retain several itemswhich have appeared in previous reports. GroHarlem Brundtland, Prime Minister of Norway,delivered the Broady Lecture at the 14th confer-ence: it is included. The address of the out-goingICDE President, Kevin Smith, is also included asis that of the current President, David Sewart.(The tilxt of the latter address was originally

published in the ICDE Bulletin, volume 18, Sep-tember 1988.) As in the past, reports of the firstand second business meetings appear in this con-ference report; those wishing to have informationon the work of various ICDE committees for theperiod 1985-1988 are referred to the "Report ofthe Executive Committee to the Membership",published in June 1988 and distributed to allICDE members prior to the 14th ICDE WorldConference.Although copies were available at the conference,we have included in this report, with the kind per-mission of the author, Kevin Smith's review ofICDE's history over its first fifty years. TwoRound Tables were held at the 14th Conference,one with Unesco, the other with representatives ofvarious international and donor bodies. Summaryreports of both sessions are presented. Finally, theresults of an ICDE evaluation, derived fromresponses to a survey questionnaire distributed toconference delegates, are presented. These resultshave been considered during planning for thenext ICDE world conference scheduled to be heldit Caracas, Venezuela, in November 1990. Theresults also played a significant role in guiding thedeliberations of the current ICDE ExecutiveCommittee as it charts a new course for the Coun-cil and its Permanent Secretariat.

Coupled with the official conference book, Devel-oping Distance Education: Papers Submitted tothe ICDE World Conference in Oslo, 9-16August, 1988, this report represents the proceed-ings of our 14th World Conference.

ICDE Permanent Secretariat

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IntroductionDavid Sewart

The Fourteenth ICDE World Conference held inOslo in August 1988 marked the fiftieth anniver-sary of ICDE. In 1938 a group of pioneers fromcorrespondence institutions in six countries metin Victoria, Canada, and founded the Inter-national Council for Correspondence Education.After the Second World War the Councilexpanded steadily, holding its world conference ina different country every four years. In the 1960sgrowth accelerated and the Stockholm confer-ence in 1965 attracted over 200 delegates from 25nations. This growth was sustained through the1970s reflecting the evolution of distance educat-ion and the creation of "open" universities andcolleges in many parts of the world. In 1982, atthe Twelfth World Conference in Vancouver,Canada, more than 400 delegates adopted a namechange International Council for DistanceEducation better to express the contemporarydiversity of learning media and methods. Theconference in Melbourne in 1985 was only thesecond such conference to be staged in thesouthern hemisphere and the success of ICDE, aswell as the general awareness of the long standingtradition of distance education in Australia, leadto a new attendance record of over 700 delegatesfrom some 50 countries.

The Fourteenth World Conference in Oslo hasbeen a triumph of planning over a period of threeyears beginning immediately following the Mel-bourne conference. The Oslo conference, underthe patronage of His Majesty, King Olav V, wasattended by more than 700 delegates from over60 countries and the opening ceremony was thefirst in the history of ICDE to be graced by thepresence of a Head of State.

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This report is a formal record of the activities ofthe conference but it is, of necessity, merely askeleton and record of the significant features of aconference which brought together so manyinvolved in distance education over a period ofeight days. The other formal record of the confer-ence is the conference book, Developing DistanceEducation, which was an indispensable adjunctto the programme itself. As the new President ofICDE I would like to thank the outgoing Presi-dent, Kevin Smith (Australia), and the membersof his executive for the work that they carried outwhich culminated in this conference. On behalf ofthe International Council for Distance Educat-ion, I would also like to record our thanks to ourNorwegian hosts, the Royal Norwegian Ministryof Church and Education and the NorwegianAssociation for Distance Education, withoutwhose support this conference would never havetaken place.

It is appropriate also that we should record hereone of the most significant events in ICDE's his-tory, namely the creation of a Permanent Secre-tariat for ICDE in Oslo. The Permanent Secretar-iat is established as an agency activity linkingregional, national and local activities into anetwork which also embraces the donor bodies,including Unesco, with whom successful prelimi-nary discussions were held during the course ofthe conference. This conference, in our 50thAnniversary year, has thus marked a turning pointin our history in which the long standing andevident professionalism of its members hasbecome paralleled for the future in the organizat-ion itself.

President's AddressKevin Smith

Welcome

Your Majesty, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentle-men

It is a singular pleasure and a privilege for me asPresident of ICDE to have this opportunity towelcome guests and members to this conferencewhich is so special in several ways.

Firstly, as our Fourteenth World Conference, itmarks the passage of 50 years since the originalinternational association of educators from whichthe present organization has evolved was formedin Victoria in British Columbia, Canada, and dur-ing the next week or so we hope to be able tocelebrate in various ways this special anniversaryyear.

Secondly, it is only the second time inour 50 yearsof history that an ICCE or ICDE World Confer-ence has been held in a Scandinavian country. TheSeventh World Conference was held in Stock-holm, Sweden, in 1965 so it is appropriate that weshould once again focus attention upon thisregion, and on this occasion on Norway in parti-cular, where tne provision of distance education ischaracterized by several unique qualities. I hopethat just as the first Scandinavian conference inStockholm over twenty years ago marked thebeginning of a new era for the organization (inthat it was the first truly international conferenceheld by ICCE in terms of numbers and thenational diversity of delegates who attended it),so this second such conference in the region willrepresent the beginning of yet another significantphase in the development of ICDE, this time interms of having for the first time a permanentsecretariat, from which to promote the cause ofdistance education throughout the world. I shallsay more about this shortly.

But what makes this conference even more spec-ial, indeed, unique in the history of distanceeducation, is that it is graced with the patronageand the presence of His Majesty, King Olav V ofNorway. I am sure that all here today must be

immensely pleased to know that distance educa-tion in this part of the world is so highly regardedas to warrant such a public expression of Royalsupport and encouragement. We extend to you,Your Majesty, our most sincere thanks for yourparticipation here today and for the reassurancethat your patronage brings to all ofus in distanceeducation.

We are, of course, very conscious also of theremarkably generous support that ICDE and theorganizers of this conference have been receivingfrom the Norwegian Government ever sinceplanning for this event began almost three yearsago. Evidence of this support could not be betterdemonstrated than to have the Prime Minister ofNorway herself, Mrs. Gro Harlem Brundtland,deliver our keynote address, the Broady Lecture,later this week and have at this opening session theMinister for Church and Education, Mrs. MaryKvidal, and other government representatives.

I also wish to extend a most cordial welcome torepresentatives of other organizations and agen-cies that have already been mentioned by Mr.Reidar Roll. We have been working closely withsome of these organizations for many years andwe hope not only to continue these relationshipsbut to make them more productive, just as we lo-ikforward to establishing more formal links withthose who have been less closely associated withICDE in the past.

Most vital to the success of the conference, ofcourse, are our own ICDE members. To those ofyou who are attending your first ICDE confer-ence, I would like to express the hope that thisweek is a memorable one for you in terms of pro-fessional and social interaction and the develop-ment of a sense of community which must be oneof the most important objectives of an inter-national event such as this.

Tribute to Norway

As I have already suggested, I can think of nomore appropriate country to host this conference

than Norway. It enjoys a long tradition of distanceeducation that permeates all levels of educationand is available as a mode of study for both awardand non-award programs to full-time and part-time students, especially to adult students. Whatis especially noteworthy, however, is the uniquepartnership that exists between the public andprivate sectors by virtue of having governmentfunds providing substantial support to non-profitprivate educational foundations which thenbecome appropriately accountable for the qualityof the educational services offered to the com-munity at large. There also seems to be, no doubtbecause of the energetic coordinating activities ofthe Norwegian Association for Distance Educat-ion (NADE), a level of national cohesiveness indistance education that is rarely experienced inother countries, ar d this despite the fact that someof the institutions concerned have to be viable incommercial terms as well as acceptable educat-ionally.

This national commitment, combined with indi-vidual drive and vision, has borne fruit in a num-ber of ways, some associated with the organizat-ion and running of this conference and others withthe development of ICDE in the years ahead. OurNorwegian hosts began planning for this confer-ence three years ago and in the process haveinvolved a large number of people from a widerange of institutions and agencies in contributingto the success of this major event in the ICDE cal-endar. We are deeply indebted to them all. But Imust also take this opportunity to pay special tri-bute to Reidar Roll and Erling Ljosa in their capa-cities as executive officers of NADE. Their untir-ing efforts in negotiating a financial arrangementwith the Ministry of Church and Education hasresulted in the creation of a Permanent Secretariatfor our organization here in Oslo within the struc-ture of NADE and under the aegis of its ExecutiveDirector, Reidar Roll, who will also act as Secre-tary General of ICDE. More will be said aboutthis exciting development at our first business ses-sion this afternoon, but it clearly means thatICDE can immediately begin to respond to globalneeds in distance education in more positive waysthan has been possible in the past. I consequentlyrelinquish the presidency this week with a greatsense of optimism about the future of ICDE andexpect that my successor, David Sewart, is look-ing forward to having the support of such a secret-ariat in implementing the many initiatives which Iknow he is already planning.

This mention of my successor prompts me to drawyour attention to the vital role that David Sewarthas played as Chair of the Program Committeewhich has been responsible for arranging theeducational input of the conference. We thankhim sincerely for his total dedication and effi-ciency.

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Distance Education: Unity in Diversity

Members of the audience here today reflect thefact that distance education systems in variousform- are now to be found in every continent(except Antarctica) and in most countries, irres-pective of size, demography or economy. Theprovision of higher education by the distance edu-cation mode of teaching and learning in particularhas expanded dramatically during the past twodecad sin both developed and developing count-ries. Over twenty open universities have beenestablished and many dual mode systems created.Some of the largest systems in Asia can boast ofenrolments in the hundreds of thousands. Onedecentralized system claims almost one millionlearners. At the other extreme, an institution mayhave only a few hundred students. And the use ofthe old and new commtnications technologies isequally diverse and variable.

One might wonder, therefore, if there is still suffic-ient common ground within this diversity of cul-tures, educational goals, methodologies and tech-nological development to warrant the continu-ation of such gatherings as this. What is it aboutdistance education that allows all of us to look for-ward to this with a view to exchanging ideas andexperiences in truly meaningful ways no matterhow different the contexts which we represent?

This question is one that seems to demand ananswer in such a year as tiis, our 50th anniversaryyear. I was made very conscious of it when 1 beganto examine the history and achievements of thisorganization so that I could outline them for youin the Anniversary Review (The First Fifty Years)which you should have received on your arrivalhere and I hope have found time to read. I do notintend to repeat them here, much as I would haveliked to pay tribute to those who have contributedso much over the past half-century to the develop-ment of what we once knew as 'correspondenceeducation' and now as 'distance education'.Indeed, it was a question of identifying a 'com-mon denominator' when we sought a namechange for this organization nearly a decade ago.The common denominator that I suggest links allof us despite our diversity is the notion thatlearner-centredness' must be the essential ration-ale, a rationale that demands flexible approachesin course materials design, the use of communic-ations technologies and the development of stud-ent support systems.

And yet, somewhat paradoxically, because of thisrationale, the term 'distance education' rests alittle uneasily with me in spite of the fact that theterm is now more readily understood then it was adecade ago. I say this because the notion oflearner-centredness (with an emphasis on thelearber learning r.ther than the teacher teaching),

together with flexibility or options for the learnerin terms of location, time, pace and methods ofstudy, should be just as much a guiding principlefor the education of contiguous students (that is,students attending an instititution on a regularbasis) as it is for students who are geographicallyseparated from their teacher. Indeed, there is agrowing number of institutions, especially thosewith both on-campus said off-campus students,that have recognized the advantages of using so-called 'distance learning' methods to supplementthe more traditional face-to-face lectures andtutorials, and there is a growing bodyof literaturebeing published on the notion of 'convergence',expressing the point of view that traditional teach-ing practice could benea immeasurably if it wereto use some of the techniques and methods thathave been tested and refined over recent years bydistance learning systems around the world.There is no doubt in my mind that this organizat-ion has many members who work at the 'cuttingedge' in increasing our understanding of theteaching-learning process. I can only hope that inthe years ahead distance educators will be abledirectly to effect improvements in teaching andlearning practices in traditional systems, espe-cially at the post-secondary levels,more compre-hensively than they have been able to up to now.

ICDE: Responding to Future Challenges

The challenges facing an international organizat-ion such as ICDE at this time ot growth and devel-opment in both quantitative and qualitative termsare clear and must be faced immediately if we areto meet the needs of oui growing membership in amore effective, professional way. Firstly, thereis agrowing need for improved information servicesabout distance education policies and practicesaround the world. Secondly, and perhaps moreimportantly, there is an urgent need to develop aaechanism to facilitate exchanges of human

resources so Cat experience and expertise gainedin distance educat....1 systems can be made moreeasily available to those who wish to draw onthem, either for planning and implementing newsystems or improving the old. Thirdly, we need aninfrastructure that can encourage and assist in theorganization of regional workshops, seminars andconferences so that members have more opportu-nities to develop co-operative approaches to solv-ing common problems or problems peculiar to theregion concerned.

These challenges in turn demand that closer colla-boration be sought between the ICDE and otherrelevant organizations to ensure that our com-bined efforts are co-operative ra' .ter than com-petitive, and that we offer complementary ser-vices rather than wittingly or unwittinglyspending time duplicating one another's activit-

ies. The development of an effective interactiveglobal network in distance education, therefore, isneeded now more than ever before, a networkthat will ensure close co-operation among inter-national organizations, national funding agenciesand regional as well as national distanceeduationassociations. To this end, I believe that ICDE hasa special responsiblity and the establishment ofour Permanent Secretariat is a postive and practi-cal response to this.

Conclusion

So much for the future of ICDE. Now let me helpyou to return to the present and think about thenext seven days of the conference.

It remains for me to thank all those associatedwith the organization and support of the confer-ence to make it the outstanding event in the ICDEtriennial calendar. Thanks in advance for yourenthusiastic participation in the formal programin various capacities, in the informal but equallyimportant professional and social get-togethers,and in establising contact with colleagues whomay be of professional benefit to you long after wedisperse from here. At the end of the week wehope that you feel not only exhilarated butexhausted. Otherwise, we may worry that you letsome of the opportunities for interaction eludeyou.

Again, may I express our sincere appreciation toour hosts which include so many of the distanceeducation community of Norway who have con-tributed to the event in various ways, either withfinancial support or in a professional capacity.

Finally, I wish on behalf of all ofyou to extend ourgratitude to His Majesty, King Olav, and to theMinister of Church and Education, Mrs. MaryKvidal, who have honoured us with their presencehere today, and by so doing given a clear indicat-ion of the depth of commitmentof the host count-ry to the cause of distance education in generaland to the ICDE in particular. I hope that theirexample will serve to encourage other nationalleaders to give similar personal support to thedevelopment of distance education in theirrespective countries.

And now, may I wish all delegates, especiallythose of you who have t-avellec far to be here, amost enjoyable and rewarding conference experi-ence.

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ICCE/ICDE:The First Fifty years (1938-1988)

Kevin Smith

Reflections

It is appropriate that in this 50th year since ICDEwas established in its original form as the Inter-national Council for Correspondence Education(ICCE) we should feel the necii to acknowledgeachievements and savour the triumphs in retro-spect. It is right that our members should also begiven a sense of history of the organisation and anawareness of the changes which have marked itsdevelopment along the way. In the process, how-ever, it is hoped that there is a realisation thatrather than having reached full maturity (as wehave come to regard a period of 50 years to repre-sent in the lifetime of a human being), ICDE maybe really only emerging from a rather protractedadolescence.

This review in no way attempts to be a history oithe organisation. Such a project is beyond itsscope; besides, there are others who have a moreintimate knowledge than I do of ICCE's earlieryears and achievements and are better placed toundertake the task. I hope, however, that one daya history will be written to pay due tribute to themost outstanding individual contributions ofICCE/ICDE members, especially those whoserved in various official capacities. Becausethe focus of this review is not upon individualachievement, it behoves me to express in generalterms at least on behalf of the membership oursincere thanks to all who have given so willingly oftheir time and expertise over the last 50 years tothe development of distance education at aninternational level through dynamic participationas a member of ICCE or ICDE. Worthy of specialrecognition, of course, are our past presidentswhose names appear below.

This Anniversary Year will have real significanceif it marks the beginning of a new stage in the lifeof ICDE where professionalism will be reflectedin more practical responses to insistent demandsfrom all corners of the globe for help to close thegaps that exist between traditional systems ofeducation and the educational needs of populat-ions that require more flexible approaches to

learning. The executive believes that ICDE willemerge from the World Conference in Oslo in aposition to provide a more effective leadershiprole in distance education than it has been able toplay in the past fifty years. If it fulfils such a pro-mise, then 1988 will be remembered as a HappyAnniversary indeed.

ICCE: Four Decades of Development

Origins

The International Council for CorrespondenceEducation grew out of a meeting of a group of pio-neers attending a national conference on super-vised conespondonce study ;n 1936 where a Mr.J.W. Gibson, who was for many years the Directorof High School Correspondence Instruction atVictoria, British Columbia, suggested that aninternational conference on correspondenceeducation should be .onvened. The initiative toinvite representatives of correspondence schoolsfrom around the world was taken by him and onlytwo years later in August, 1938, the first ICCEConference was held in Victoria, B.C. The Con-ference was attended by 88 e !legates, mostlyfrom Canada and the United States, but also fromAustralia, New Zealand and Scotland. So thestage was set for the development of an organisa-tion that for the first twenty years or so was essen-tially North American in membership and mainlyinterested in correspondence methods for school-children and college students using the singlemedium of print. Both the public and private sec-tors were represented.

World Conferences

The story of ICCE's growth and development isreflected in its World Conferences which tookplace every three years or so, with the exception ofthe decade of inactivity between 1938 and 1948 asa result of the Second World War. As Figure 1shows, the next five confaences attracted only ahandful of countries with Canada, United States,Australia and New Zealand providing the bulk of

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the delegates. The Stockholm Conference of1965, however, marked a turning point in thefortunes of ICCE for it was the first truly inter-national conference in size, representation andspirit with an attendance of 223 delegates from 27countries. Subsequent conferences in the 1960sand 1970s maintained this international characterand witnessed greater participation from highereducation institutions in the public sector,although attendance at the 1975 Brighton Con-ference suffered somewhat as a result of having toshift venue rather hurriedly from Kyoto, Japan, afew months before the event. The 1972 Confer-ence in Virginia was especially noteworthy as itsaw the launching of the ICCE Newsletter whichhas been in continuous publication since then invarious forms (the ICDE Bulletin from 1982) asan important link with members between confer-ences and as a source of information on a widerange of educational philosophies and practicesaround the world. Special thanks are due to thefour editors, Habeeh Ghatala (USA) 1972-74,Er ling Ljosa (Norway) 1975-78, Janet Jenkins

(UK) 1979-81 and David Sewart (UK)1982-88. The 1978 Conference in New Delhiwarrants mention as the first ICCE World Con-ference to be held in a developing country.

ICCE/Unesco RelationshipsIn the 1960's important links with Unesco wereestablished, culminating in formal affiliation as aCategory C non-government organisation orNGO in 1967. Mainly due to the wo of the thenPresident, Miss Renee Erdos of Australia, whohad also produced a Unesco source book Teach-ing by Correspondence, Unesco agreed to providethe venue and facilities for ICCE's 1969 WorldConference, the success of wnich resulted in affil-iation being upgraded to Category B and fundsprovided for two major research projects con-ducted by Dr. Ripley Sims of the United States.Unesco also supported the Ninth Conference inVirginia by financing the participation of somedelegates from developing countries. This periodmarked the high point of our relationship withUnesco.

FIG. 1: WORLD CONFERENCES AND PRESIDENTS

No. Date Venue Attendance(delegates/countries)

Presidents

1 1938 Victoria, B.C. 88/5 Rex C. Haight (US)

2 1948 Lincoln, Nebraska 118/6 Knute 0. Broady (US)

3 1950 Christchurch, N.Z. 79/2 A.G. Butchers (NZ)

4 1953 State College, Penn. 73/8 William R. Young (US)

5 1957 Banff, Alberta 76/5 G.F. Bruce/G.J. Buck (CAN)

6 1962 Gearheart, Oregon 77/5 Viron A. Moore (US)

7 1965 Stockholm, Sweden 223/27 Donald Cameron (CAN)

8 1969 Paris, France 153/35 Renee Erdos (AUS)

9 1972 Warrenton, Virginia 147/28 Charles A. Wedemeyer (US)

10 1975 Brighton, U.K. 84/32 Bede Holmberg (SWE)

11 1978 New Delhi, India 192/39 David Young (UK)

12 1982 Vancouver, B.C. 450/54 Bakhshish Singh (IND)

13 1985 Melbourne, Aust. 700/50 John Daniel (CAN)

14 1988 Oslo, Norway 700/60 Kevin Smith (AUS)

ICDE: Metamorphosis

A Change of Name

Although a name change from 'CorrespondenceEducation' to 'Distance Education' did not occuruntil 1982, the catalyst for such change can beidentified as early as 1979 when, at an inter-

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national conference held in Birmingham by theU.K. Open University, it became clear that ICCEas then constituted did not meet the needs of somenewly emerging distance education institutions.Consequently, there was a distinct threat that arival organisation would be set up to respondmore directly to those needs. This produced a newsense of urgency for a name change wk. h took

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place at the Vancouver Conference of 1982 withlittle dissent, despite the fact that similar moveshad failed at three previous World Conferences.The change of name to the International Councilfor Distance Education was more than semantic.The new title recognised that the Council hadmoved a long way from representing mainlygov-ernment secondary-level correspondence schoolsand proprietary colleges as it did b 1938 and wasrecognising the wave of state-supported open col-leges and universities that had begun to emerge inthe 1970s using a multi-media approach. Theimmediate consequence of this change was therelease of a new energy from members which wasexpressed in an ambitious plan of action for thenext few years, a plan that the new President, JohnDaniel, carried out with great enthusiasm to laythe foundations for future developments.

Current Activities

Whilst our world conferences will no doubt con-tinue to be major events in the ICDE calendar,perhaps with increasing regularity or supple-mented by regional conferences in the yearsbetween, the adoption of members' recommend-ations to the executive committees from theVancouver Conference of 1982 and the Mel-bourne Conference of 1985 has resulted in anextended range of activity requiring devolution ofresponsibility to vice presidents and their respec-tive committees formed from co-opted members.

These activities include publication of the ICDEBulletin three times a year to serve as the mainchannel of communication to members aboutresearch in distance education, project reports,editorial pieces, regional contributions, affiliatedassociation reports and news on forthcomingevents. The Council co-operates with and financ-ially supports the United Nations Universitysponsored International Centre for DistanceLearning (ICDL), a documentation and informa-tion centre with hard copy and computer-baseddata on which members may draw. The ResearchCommittee monitors current research and scho-larly publications as well as administering a fundthrough which grants are awarded to assist mem-bers with projects of special interest, and a Work-shops, Visits and Exchanges Committee encou-rages national and regional meetings andworkshops with a modest program of grants toassist members with travel expenses. ICDE fundsare also provided to support regional and nationalworkshops. The Women's Interngtional Network(WIN) has flourished since its inception in 1982,giving recognition to the increasingly importantrole that women are playing in distance educationas teachers, administrators and students. WINpublishes a Newsletter, organises regionalnetworks and seeks funds for specific projects

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such as the publication of a book on the contri-bution of women in distance education and aworkshop in India focussing attention on a similartheme.

In recent years, moves have been made to re-esta-blish closer links with Unesco through co-opera-tive ventures. In 1987, for example, a contractwas arranged through the President for ICDE toco-ordinate a study of Asian distance educationinstitutions making large-scale use of communi-cation technologies and another global survey ofresources in distance education is being con-ducted this year by Keith Harry of ICDL follow-ing a recommendation from ICDE to Unesco. It isexpected that a Unesco-sponsored and ICDE-organised Round Table of representatives ofregional and national associations and distanceeducation institutions will meet in Oslo during theWorld Conference to examine distance educationneeds for developing countries. ICDE was alsorepresented during 1987 at two Unesco seminarsin Australia and one in Singapore.

Constitutional Changes

Many m:Inbers will be aware that in response torecommendations initiated at the MelbourneConference in 1985 concerning the need for dif-ferent procedums for the election of a Presidentand an Executive Committee, changes to theConstitution were introduced this year to allowfor a postal ballot. Accordingly, several advan-tages are anticipated: firstly, the new proceduresare more democratic since no member of ICDEwill now be disenfranchised if he or she is unableto attend world conferences; secondly, the elect-ion of presidents and their executive committeeswill be completed before rather than during aworld conference, thus allowing delegates to con-centrate on conference programs instead. of orga-nisational politics; thirdly, the hanJover ofresponsibilities from one group of office-bearersto another can be planned well in advance andeffected smoothly when both groups meet at theensuing Conference.

With such a process, it is hoped that members willhave more time to identify worthy candidates fornomination and will be able to make their finalselections for office in a more informed way toensure that the diverse interests of ICDE mem-bers as a whole are represented.

A Permanent Secretariat

The incredible growth of distance educationaround the world in the last decade or so requiresan international body that can provide expertprofessional services to governments, institutionsand individuals planning or already engaged in

14

distance education projects. Maintaining a volun-tary association of members through public-ations, seminars and workshops is one thing;responding effectively to requests for humanresources to assist with planning and developing adistance education system is another. The lattercalls for a more sophisticated and professionalorganisational structure than a well-meaningexecutive committee composed of busy distanceeducators who generally havevery limited time toattend to the increasing demands of their honor-ary ICDE office.

It is pleasing indeed in this Golden AnniversaryYear to be able to annonce that such an appropri-ate professional structure will begin operatingfrom August 1988 in the form of a PermanentSecretariat within the Norwegian Association forDistance Education (NADE) in Oslo. The Exe-cutive Director of NADE, Mr Reidar Roll, willundertake additional responsibilities as SecretaryGeneral of ICDE. That this has become areality is due in large measure to the commitmentand generosity of NADE itself and to the enthu-siastic support of the Norwegian Ministry ofChurch and Education which is to provide morethan half the required funding over the next fewyears.

The Prospects

Such constitutional changes, combined with theestablishment of a Permanent Secretariat in Oslo,have set the stage for an exciting and dynamicperiod of activity ahead for ICDE. Fci naps wemay prove that 'life begins at fifty', not forty!

15th ICDE World Conferee eCaracas, 1990

The 15th World Conference will be held in Cara-cas, Venezuela, from 4-10 November, 1990. Thisis the first time an ICDE conference has been heldin Latin America and it is expected to generatemuch interest both in the region and internation-ally. Armando Villarroel is the ConferenceManager and the Universidad Nacional Mena(UNA), Venezuela's national open university,

i5

will host the event. Marian Croft, Laurentian Uni-versity, Canada, is Programme Chair.

In response to suggestions of the ICDE member-ship, the 15th World Onference incorporates anumber of important features:

dual language (Spanish-English) conferencewith simultaneous translation for all majorpresentations;

both Spanish and English parallel sessions;

Spanish and English language conferencebooks;

advance conference abstracts and programmeinformation;

single venue conference and accommod-ations;

recognition of International Literacy Year;

higher professional standards guaranteed byEnglish and Spanish editorial boards;

more attention paid to all levels of educationand increased geographic representation;

greater opportunities for delegate interaction;

training workshops on selected themes; and

no weekend break during the conference;

The conference venue is the Caracas Hilton Hotelwhich, in conjunction with the adjoining AnaucoHilton Hotel, offers a range of reasonably pricedaccommodation from single room to apartmentstyle. Conference facilities include those of theHilton and, for the Broady Lecture and galaevents, the adjacent Teresa Carerio CulturalComplex. Caracas offers numerous culinary andcultural opportunities, and is an ideal stepping offpoint for pre- and post-conference activities inLatin America and the Caribbean.

More details on the conference and its pro-gramme will appear in the ICDE Bulletin or canbe had by writing to the ICDE Permanent Sec-retariat.

The Broady Lecture:"Developing Distance Education"Gro Harlem Brundtlard, Prime Minister of Norway

The Broady Lecture commemorates the contribution ofKnute 0. Broady, a pioneer in the development of corre-spondence education in the United States and a Past Presi-dent of the ICDE, who died in 1974. The inaugural BroadyLecture was presented by Dr. Fred H. Harrington of theUnited States at the Brighton conference in 1975. SuccessiveBroady Lectures were given by Dr. Borje Holmberg of WestGermany in New Delhi (1978), Mr. Kevin Smith of Australiain Vancouver (1982) and Dr. Geoffrey Bolton of Australia inMelbourne (1985).

Gm Harlem Bnmdtland graduated from the Medical Schoolof the University of Oslo in 1963 and took a Master's degree inpublic health at Harvard University in 1965. From 1966 to1968 she served as Medical Officer in the N: vegian Direc-torate of Health. From 1969 to 1974 she was Assistant Medi-cal Director on the Oslo Board of Health. She becameinvolved in politiod work at an early age. She was one of thefounders of the Upper Secondary School Socialist Union andserved as its Deputy Chairman. While studying at the Uni-versity of Oslo, she was Deputy Chairman of the Labour PartyStu. lent Union. Gm Harlem Brundtland was Minister ofEnvironment from May 1974 to October 1979 when sheassumed her seat in Parliament to which she lad been electedin 1977 as a representative from Oslo. In Parliament sheserved on the Standing Committee on Finance before she wasappointed Leader of the Committee on Foreign Affairs andthe Constitution. She was also Deputy Leader of the LabourParty's Parliamentary Group. In February 1981 she becamePrime Minister, an office which she held until the geleral elec-tion in October the same year. In April 1981 she Wok over asLeader of the Labour Party, after having served as its DeputyLeader since 1975. From October 1981 she was Leader of theLabour Party's Parliamentary Group until she became PrimeMinister in May 1986. Gm Harlem Brundtland is Vice Presi-dent of the Socialist International and member of the Inde-ydndent Commision on Disarmament and Security. She isChairman of the World Commission on Environment andDevelopment.

In the next century the world's population willreach 10 billion. The challenge of providing edu-cation to such a doubled population is a formid-able task. In many co' ntries the present educa-tional system can hardly keep up with populationgrowth. Even primary education is not a rightenjoyed by everybody in today's world. At thesame time, but in other parts lA the world, infor-mation is being sent around the globe literally at

the speed of light. We possess an abundance ofknowledge on the one hand, but this knowledge isoften concentrated in particular countries or insti-tutions. We are witnessing a revolution of techni-cal possibilities in the information sector. Thechallenge in the future will be to combineresources, knowledge and information tech-niques in order to mach as many people as possi-ble. Flexible approaches are needed to suit localor regional conditions.

Whereas the possession of wealth has been seen asan indicator of affluence in many societies, accessto information may very well become one suchindicator in the future. We face enormous chal-lenges, not only in providing access to informa-tion and education for everybody, not !east in thedeveloping countries in order to close the bridgebetween the North and the South, but also to meetthe requirements for adaptation, further educa-tion, up-grading courses and learning in the mostcomprehensive sense, in a world in which thechanges are characterized by their magnitude andspeed. It is quite clear that these requirements andchallenges cannot be met unless a variety of edu-cational methods are applied. Distance educationwill become even more important in the next fiftyyears than it has been in the first fifty years of theICDE's existence.

I welcome this opportunity to speak on the devel-opment of distance education as seen from a poli-tical perspective. This lecture is in memory ofKnute 0. Broady, one of the prominent figures inthe early days of distance education in NorthAmerica. He was one of the founders of the Inter-national Council for Correspondence Education,which is celebrating its fiftieth anniversary as theInternational Council for Distance Educationduring this conference. Knute 0. Broady was ofScandinavian origin, which makes it an even grea-ter pleasure to be able to pay him this tribute. And

16

if I may digress for a moment, it seems that Scan-dinavians have been pioneers of communicationin North America in more than one sense. I havein mind the Norwegian, Snowshoe Thompson,who single-handedly maintained postal servicesover the Rocky Mountains on skis for a number ofyears in the previous century.

The Norwegian experience is illustrative. Withonly 4 million people scattered over a relativelywide area, intersected by fiords and mountains,we have had to overcome a number of obstacles tocommunication. Given our scarce resources, ithas been a major political challenge to develop E.modem welfare society through joint efforts bythe entire community. Everybody has had to takepart in these efforts, which called for fundamentalvalues such as a spirit of community, solidarityand a sense of participation and sharedresponsib-ility. These are values that have enjoyed broadsupport, particularly in the decades of reconstruc-tion following the Second World War.You will find the imprint of these values if youexamine the educational system of Norway. First,we have attached great importance to ensuringth- . all our local communities as far as possibleofter equal educational opportunities Second,we have given priority to the maintenance of ahigh-quality, decentralized system of primary andsecondary education as part of a policy to streng-then and develop local communities. Finally, wehave today a fairly decentralized system of institu-tions of higher education run by the state in whichour concern for local and regional development isan implicit and important factor. Another distinc-tive feature of our society is the emergence of awide variety of voluntary op3anizations. WhereasNorway has 4 million people, we have 12 millionmembers of voluntary organizations. Theseorganizations are a vital force in the developmentof our democracy and they provide channels forparticipation and influence in the workings ofsociety.

The saying that "knowledge is power" is attri-buted to Francis Bacon 400 years ago, but theobservation as such must be much older. NGO(non-governmental organization) activities in thiscountry affirm its validity. Many of the NGO'sand broad-based popular movements have beendedicated to educational activities aimed at theirmembers as well as the general public. Their con-tribution to our modern democratic system has todo not only with their participation in the politicalsphere as sr ^.h, but also with what they haveachieved it ,erm of educating individuals. Thelabour movement has played a significant role inthis context.

Distance education began in Norway in 1914 withthe establishment of our first correspondence

3. 17

school. Since then its importance has increasedsubstantialln in recent years, annual enrolmenthas been between 150,000 and 200,000 students,which places Norway among the leading nationsas regards the proportion of the population takingadvantage of distance education or portunities.

The main role of distance education is to givepeople access to educational opportunities,regardless of where they live or what their life situ-ation may be. It has become possible to work tow-ards a diploma or to pursue more informal coursesand thereby to be able to overcome geographical,social and practical obstacles, and we have movedfurther towards the realization of the aim ofequality of opportunity. fhus, distance educationhas become an important part of our educationalsystem, and distance education is today a field ofcooperation between correspondence schools,NGOs, trade unions, educational authorities andother public institutions, including the NorwegianBroadcasting Corporation.

As far as we know, the Correspondence SchoolsAct of 1948 was the first of its kind in the world. Itestablished an accreditation system according towhich all correspondence courses are approvedby the Ministry of Education before they areoffered to the public. I am pleased that thereseems to be general agreement that the Act hasnever been used to control the ideological contentof courses, but only to ensure adequate qualityand educational standards. In 1961, regulationswere expanded to include a grant scheme for stud-ents pursuing certain courses and, in 1975, thiswas replaced by a general grant scheme for corre-spondence students.

Since 1984, the Government has also allocatedfunds for research and development in distanceeducation institutions. The primary aim has beento assist the institutions in developing expertise inthe use of new media and technologies to providea basis for further development of competenceand methods of distance education. Anothermeans of supporting distance education has beenby broadcasting a wide range of educational pro-grammes, usually in cooperation with corre-spondence schools, publishing companies andvarious adult education organizations. The StateInstitution for Distance Education, a small insti-tution offering programmes to special targetgroups, was set up in 1977.

As you will see from this overview of our experi-ence, distance education has contributed to ful-fillment of important political objectives in thiscountry. It gives a broad cross-section of the pop-ulation access to the educaticn or training theyneed without having to move or give up their jobin order to take part in educational activities. In

is

addition to the utilitarian aspects, we must notforget that learning is a pleasure, that it is someth-ing to be enjoyed for its own sake, and thatAristotle was right when he said 2000 years agothat "learning is a natural pleasure which is notconfined to philoscphers, but is common to all".

Why will distance education be even more neces-sary in the future? Ten or twenty years ago, it wasstill possible to believe that distance educationwould become redundant, and that all our educat-ional needs would be taken care of by traditionalmeans in a steadily growing and developing sys-tem of conventional education. This was obvi-ously not true. Those holding this belief were mis-taken, but not just because there will always begaps in any educational system. Distance educat-ion has a number of inherent qualities which makeit more appropriate than ever in a modern, rapidlychanging society.

In modern society, it is no longer sufficient that allcitizens get a sound, basic education before takingup an occupation. In the course of a normal work-ing career, individuals will need to update andrenew their knowledge and skills several times.Frequent updating and retraining is alreadynecessary in just about any occupation you canthink of. The rate at which acquired knowledgebecomes obsolete is steadily increasing. Everyonemust begin to take into account new processes andnew technology and incorporate these into theirdaily lives. Life-long learning is not only a slogan,it is a necessity.

If society is to develop and prosper as weapproach the next millenium, it wir, be necessaryto devise a policy of knowledge. The value of spe-cific, advanced and updated knowledge WIIincrease with the growing sophistication of societyand the increasing complexity of national andinternational relations. The ability of organiz-ations and nations to acquire and develop suchknowledge will become a decisive factor deter-mining the level of competitiveness and the pot-ential for economic and social development. Thelevel of specific advanced knowledge is not theonly important consideration. In a democraticsociety it is equally important to establish a suffi-ciently even distribution of knowledge. A tech-nocratic society dominated by experts is notacceptable and could prove dangerous in the longrun. Only a society of well-informed, mature andfree citizens can form a basis for true democraticdevelopment.

How, then, can we meet this challenge? Clearly,our educational systems will have to developmore flexibility and achieve a greater level ofadaptability than they have demonstrated in thepast. They will also have to take the pressing needs

of continuing education more seriously anddevise new means of organizing such education inclose contact with business, industry and publicservices. At the same time, we all recognize theneed for cost-effectiveness in the educational sys-tem in general.

Distance education is an important element in thedevelopment of the educational opportunitiesand mechanisms needed to cope with thedemands of modern society. Its inherent qualitiesinclude some of those I have just mentioned: flex-ibility, adaptability, cost-effectiveness and openaccess. Distance education has already demon-strated its qualities, not only in Norway,but also in a large number of countries with a var-iety of conditions and institutional patterns. Anygovernment will try to achieve as much as possiblewith the resources available. Therefore, it isnecessary to consider how best to use existinginstitutions before establishing new ones. As Imentioned earlier, we have a number of institut-ion:, in Norway possessing considerable experi-ence and competence in distance education. Wealso have a valuable tradition of cooperationbetween such institutions and public authoritiesand institutions. This tradition provides a firmbasis for the future development of distance edu-cation in Norway. It will not be necessary to startall over again.

As in other areas, an international perspective isessential in distance education. When corre-spondence education was introduced in Norway,it was based on thorough studies of the practicesfollowed in other countries. Throughout the his-tory of distance education in Norway, there havebeen strong links between institutions in thiscountry and those in other parts of the world. AndI belive that, just as we have learned from othernations, they have derived impetus and inspirat-ion from Norwegian institutions and policies.

The demand to be met by distance education mayvary a great deal from country to country andregion to region. This morning I have chosen tolook at the role of distance education in a small,developed country. During this conference, manyof you will be speaking on behalf of other societieswith needs of a different kind or magnitude. Someof you will stress even more than I have done theshortcomings of conventional systems of educat-ion, the need for mass distribution of knowledgeby appropriate technology, and the scarcity ofhuman and financial resources. These are funda-mental issues for all of us, and we must confrontthem together as members of a single world popu-lation. Traditional methods are no longer suffi-cient in a world in which there is an urgent needfor social and economic development. It is prom-ising to see that many developing countries are

Is

now taking definite steps towards a systematicand creative use of distance education methods,both in informal and in formal education. Weknow that improving the knowledge and skills ofordinary people and key personnel is a prerequi-site for their participation in broader develop-ment programmes. Therefore, we need to listen toand learn from the experience many of you havegained in using distance education in the serviceof national development. We need to join forcesin our common struggle for a better future.

In the last couple of years, many observers havestarted talking about a new, global economywhich in many ways differs from the internationaleconomic system we have had since the SecondWorld War. Japan and the newly industrializedcountries in South Asia have become more andmore important for international trade, financeand economic growth. Production, finance andmarketing are becoming increasingly global.Environmental problems are also rapidly becom-ing global, as we have seen this summer throughthe discussions on the ozone layer, the greenhouseeffect and the increasing pollution of the world'soceans. In all these issues, the question of promot-ing better access to knowledge will be an import-ant factor. The international economy is increa-singly based on knowledge, innovation and skill.The level of education is rapidly becoming asimportant for the prosperity of a country as natur-al resources. To redress the environment imbal-ance created by industrial production patterns,poverty and demographic factors, we need moreknowledge on how the different ecological sys-tems interact, and we need more public awarenessof the need and cost for urgent action.

It is regrettable that the main international organ-ization responsible for educational and scientificcooperation, UNESCO, has been weakened in anarea which demands more, not less, such co-operation. We trust that UNESCO has passed itslow-water mark, and that all efforts can now beconsolidated to strengthen the organization. The24th General Conference of UNESCO in Parislast autumn laid a solid base for new progress.Norway will continue to encouragt and supportall efforts which can revitalize UNESCO andinternational cooperation in tht field of educat-ion, communication and science. In this connect-ion, let me mention that Norway has been a mainsupporter of and contributor to the InternationalProgramme for the Development of Communi-cation. Although the full potentialities of this pro-gramme have not been realized because of lack offunds, we still feel that this is an important inter-national effort to promote a better and more bal-anced flow of information on the issues facing usall. The revolution in information and communi-cation technology illustrates more clearly thananything else that the world is one. I am convinced

_I 9

that distance education will soon experienceanother revolution related to the technologicalone in that it will, in the future, literally transcendnational borders. The old Japanese proverb,"there are no national frontiers to learning" willhave a renewed meaning. Students will no longerbe restricted by educational opportunities withintheir own country, but will be able to take part in atruly international network of learning opportu-nities without having to leave their home countryfor many years.

This will mean that the political authorities willhave to consider new kinds of questions andestablish knowledge as a common resource for allnations to share. Of course, there will be languagebarriers and cultural and other problems. But weshould welcome these new opportunities forgreater international communication and mobil-ity, not only for students but for institutions andfor knowledge itself. This is an area in which dis-tance education institutions can lead the way inmaking our educational systems and our commu-nities in general more integrated and more inter-national in their orientation. From a politicalpoint of view, such a development is sorelyneeded, provided that it does not become a one-way street, but is combined with the developmentof national competence and leads to exchange ofknowledge and experience in an internationalcommunity in which there is mutual ccllabora-tion.

We appreciate the work that has been done by theInternational Council for Distance Educationsince its founding fifty years ago. We are pleasedto note that a permanent international secretariathas been established to take care of the growingdemand for international activities and pro-grammes. Given the great amount of experienceof its member institutions and the vast need forflexible and cost-effective educational activities inall parts of the world, there is no doubt that thisorganization is facing important challenges.

The Norwegian Government considers the factthat the ICDE chose Norway as the location of itspermanent international secretariat to be a sign ofconfidence in our tradition of distance educationand in our country in general. I assure you that weappreciate this confidence, and that we arepleased to host and support this internationalcentre for distance education. We also recognizethe importance of the work done in Norway annabroad by the Norwegian Association for Dist-ance Education, which must be one of the reasonsbehind the international distance education com-munity's decision to make Norway its permanenthome. We hope that the secretariat will be able tomake an important contribution in this vital,expanding area.

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The Norwegian participants in this FourteenthWorld Conference on distance education, and theNorwegian Government as co-organizer andhost, will follow the conference with great inter-est. The experience of the internationalcommun-ity will be invaluable in developing our own insti-tutions and systems. One of the major objectivesof the ICDE secretariat will be to translate someof the inspiration gained at international eventssuch as this conference into permanent meanswhereby countries can exchange experience andideas, thus strengthening international cooperat-ion and collaboration.

In the final analysis what we are dealing with isamore just and more secure world: a world free ofpoverty in which coming generations can developtheir human resources and choose their own pathsof social and economic progress. Today that

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vision is not yet a reality. But we must never let thevision disappear.

I would like to end by quoting the Norwegianwriter Gunnar Heiberg from a play aboutwomen's liberation around the turn of the century.I think it still fits well today applied to our concernfor the promotion of knowledge and educationonthe global level, to the billions of people in devel-oping countries who are less fortunate than weare:

"If you have laid your ear to the ground, even if only once, andif you have heard the sound of millions marching and thecracking of their flags in the wind. First come the visionaryelite, then the endless rows of deprived and poor people.'Justice!' is the song of this marching army and they getthey take justice. If you can hear such a song when you listen,then you will remain on your outpost and freeze, and let theothers laugh... I have heard such a song".

2 9

Programme ReportDavid Sewart

It is almost certainly ? good thing that none of theoriginal members of the Programme Committeerealized the scale of the project which they beganin the early part of 1986. Had they done so, beingsensible men and women, none of them wouldhave agreed to take on the heavy volume of workwhich membership of the Programme Committeehas demanded. Not the least of our tasks was theproduction of the Conference Book. For thisconference in Oslo it was felt essential that weshould not repeat the microfilm experiment madefor the Melbourne Conference in 1985 but shouldrather return to the format established for theVancouver Conference in 1982 and produce aConference Book which would be made availableto all delegates. This decision at once set a timescale for the submission of papers and occasionedfor the Programme Committee itself a number offurther difficult decisions relating to the size andcontent of the document.

But I should begin by thanking Helmer Larsson(Sweden), Erling Ljosa (Norway), Marjan Lub-bers (Netherlands) and Reidar Roll (Norway) asthe origin::' members of the Programme Commit-tee and saying a special word of thanks to DagnyBlom (Norway) and Torstein Rekkedal (Norway)who joined the Programme Committee as its workrate rose to a crescendo at the beginning of 1988.In addition, and particularly in relation to theConference Book, I should mention the extensivework in editing which one of our former Presi-dents, John Daniel, provided.

The overall theme of the programme, "Develop-ing Distance Education", seemed a most approp-riate tone for a conference which marked thefiftieth anniversary of our organization. It is somesix years ago that the conference in Vancouverdetermined to change the word "correspond-ence" in our title to "distance" and, although thismarked a break from tradition, it recognized theextra dimensions which had been added to thisform of study by the rise of new technologies. Fur-thermore, as became clear as the conference pro-gressed, it is in the developing countries that thepotential of distance education will be realized in

21

the next few years and this aspect of the themelooks forward to the 15th ICDE World Confer-ence in Caracas in 1990.From its early thinking the Programme Commit-tee decided upon three types of sessions. Theopening and closing session and the two businessmeetings were dictated by tradition as plenarysessions and the same was true of the Broady Lec-ture. The rest of the sessions, however, providedalternative presentations, both in terms of contentand style. For each of the major sub themes therewas a major formal presentation a state of theart presentation and, while these formal lec-tures were taking place, there were parallel ses-sions which offered a more formal approach. Thusthe major themes of the conference were treatedin a formal presentation and in seminar mode andit was possible to publish approximately 100 sup-port papers in the Conference Book as well asmost of the major presentations. And I Ishould offer thanks to those who provided con-tributions, so numerous in fact that we couldeventually only publish approximately half in theConference Book itself, but I hope that the crosssection in the Conference Book bears sufficientwitness to the array of presentations which weremade.

Saturday morning was set aside for regional meet-ings, a regular feature of recent conferences, andplanning for these events was left in the hands ofthe specific regional representatives. Mentionshould also be made of the Unesco round tableand the meeting with donor bodies which tookplace in addition to the main programme andwere an important "first" for ICDE in its efforts toexpand its role in distance education on an inter-national basis.

As usual the Broady Lecture was a key event atthe conference and in this, ICDE's fiftieth anniv-ersary year, it was given by the Prime Minister ofNorway, Mrs. Gro Harlem Brundtland. We werefortunate indeed to have such a distinguishedpresenter and the lecture itself, which is repro-duced in this report, is sufficient witness to theevent.

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The major presentation lectures were preparedby:

Yoshiya Abe : Communication techno-logy

Jocelyn Calvert : Distance education re-search: the rocky court-ship of scholarship andpractice

Urban Dahllof : Continuing education:new needs and challengesfor distance studies

John S. Daniel

Jack Foks

Patrick Guiton

John Horlock

Sheila Innes

Michael P. Lambert:

Ross Paul

Christine vonPriimmer,Gill Kirkup,Barba:a Spronk :

Greville Rumble :

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Distance education andnational development

Distance education adeveloping concept

Organisational autonomyand coordination in ditance education

nistance teaching andcredit transfer

Specific target groups

How to develop a corre-spondence course

If student services are soimportant, then wh) arewe cutting them back?

Women in distance edu-cation

Economics in distanceeducation: time for achange of direction

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(Mavis Kelly and Kevin Smith presented for JackFoks and Ilatrick Guiton, respectively, in theirabsence.)

A full programme of evening and weekend acti-vities was much appreciated by those who still hadthe energy to take part after the formal conferencebusiness. And here particular mention should bemake of the 50th Anniversary Dinner held in themagnificent surroundings of Det norske teater,the Norwegian Theatre, in the centre of Oslo. Theevening will be rememberea both for the dinneritself and also for the splendid entertainmentwhich accompanied it.

An evaluation of all aspects of the conference wascarried out through a questionnaire and this hasprovided valuable pointers for the future. Clearlywe have to overcome the problem of the vast arrayof contributions which members would like topresent at such a conference and one answer tothis might be the publication of more abstractswith a tighter control on the publication of papers.A further look will also need to be taken at thebusiness meetings which have become difficult toorganize in a way which can allow members toexercise their rights in the context of a plenary ses-sion of over 500 people.

But it is appropriate to end with a few words ofthanks to those who, in a variety of ways, contri-buted to the programme. The high level of successwas occasioned to no small extent by the carefulorganization of seminar and lecture rooms. Muchof this work had to be carried out almost at the lastminute since the number of participants onlybecame clear within the month prior to the con-ference. Last minute changes to the programmealso had to be made because of the unavoidableabsence of key presenters and we are particularlygrateful to those who stepped in to fill these gapswith hardly any notice.

Finally our thanks are due in large measure to ourhosts, the Norwegian Association for DistanceEducation and the Royal Norwegian Ministry ofChurch and Education, as well as all those Nor-wegians who in an official or in an unofficialcapacity made contributions, great and small, towhat turned out to be a most memorable event.

First Business MeetingWednesday, 10 August 1988 1400 h, Univers-ity of Oslo, Norway

1. Call to order

President Kevin Smith (Australia) called themeeting to order and welcomed delegates to thefirst business meeting of the ICDE at its Four-teenth World Conference.

2. President's Opening Remarks

In his opening remarks, President Smith madespecial mention of former Presidents and Honor-ary Life Members who were in attendance at theconference (Renee Erdos, B6rje Holmberg andCharles Wedemeyer).

Members of the Executive Committeewere intro-duced in the order in which they would be pres-enting reports:

Barry Snowden

David Sewart

Gisela Pravda

Maureen Smith

Secretary-Treasurer, Canada

Bulletin Editor (and Con-ference Programme (Chair),United Kingdom

Workshops, Visits andExchanges, West Germany/Colombia

Research, Australia

Liz Burge Women's InternationalNetwork, Canada

Reidar Roll Conference Manager, Nor-way

President Smith paid special tribute to membersof the 1985-88 Executive Committee and notedthat Ben Gitau (Kenya) and Wichit Srist -an(Thailand) wete unable to be in attendance at theconference. He paid tribute as well to John Daniel

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who, as Past-President, was an active member ofthe Executive Committee, to Torstein Rekkedalfor his service as Research Committee Chairper-son, to liaison officers, to members of committees,to contributors to the ICDE Bulletin, and to theorganizations and institutions and their memberswho have supported ICDE activities throughinstitutional infrastructures.

Letters expressing best wishes to ICDE and Con-ference participants for a successful conferencewere received from the following:

Ormond Tate, President, Distance EducationAssociation of New Zealand

Harold Markowitz, Chairman, Department ofIndependent Study by Correspondence, Uni-versity of Florida

Ted Estabrook, Honorary Life Member, indicat-ing that he and Edna could not be in attendanceand wishing the Council every success with theconference.

3. Minutes of the Business Meetings of theThirteenth World Conference

Barry Snowden drew attention to the records ofthe business meetings of the Thirteenth WorldConference as published in the ConferenceReport and Handbook and noted that, sincepublication, no errors or ommissions had beenbrought to his attention.

It was moved by Allan Hershfield and secondedby Borje Holmberg that the minutes of the Busi-ness Meetings of the Thirteenth World Con-ference held in Melbourne, Australia, August1985, be approved as published in the ConferenceReport and Handbook. The motion was carried.

4. President's Report

President Smith made reference to the writtenreports of members of the Executive Committee

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which had been distributed by mail in June, 1988,noting that the Secretary-Treasurer had invitedmembers to comment and/or raise matters aris-ing from these reports prior to this meeting. Heindicated that, since no substantive matters hadbeen raised, he hoped that the rather tight timetable for the First Business Meeting would be real-istic, adding that the reports that he and othermembers of the Executive would be presentingwere supplementary to the published reports.

He indicated that he wished to address two suchmatters:

4.1. Permanent Secretariat

ib bring members up to date on the establishmentof a Permanent Secretariat, established in cooper-ation with the Norwegian Association for Dis-tance Education, President Smith indicated thatReidar Roll would operate initially on a half-timebasis in the capacity of General Secretary ofICDE, sharing this with his new role as ExecutiveDirector of NADE and President of the newlycreated Norwegian Centre for Distance Educa-tion. With the Norwegian Association's support,this will provide ICDE with access to an adminis-trative structure other than that which has to datebeen provided by Executive Members and theirinstitutions on a voluntary basis.

The President announced the appointment of Mr.Shannon Timmers of the Open Learning Agencyin British Columbia, Canada, to the position ofDirector, International Programme Develop-ment, within the Permanent Secretariat, indicat-ing that Mr. Timmers had been selected fromamong those responding to the invitation of inter-est in the January 1988 Bulletin. He congratu-lated Shannon on his appointment and ReidarRoll for managing to launch the new Secretariatwith such a talented and experienced professionalin the programme development role.

4.2. Constitutional Changes

Noting that the background to the changes in theConstitution was documented in the President'spublished report and in Ben Gitau's report asChairman of the Constitutional Review Commit-tee, President Smith indicated that the RevisedConstitution had taken effect from January 1,1988, there being no objections from the mem-bership to the proposed changes. He stated tl t,subsequently, elections were held by postal ballotin accordance with the procedures contained inthe Revised Constitution, and that the election ofthe next President, by acclamation, wasannounced in the May 1988 Bulletin. He indi-cated that the names of the successful candidates

22

for the Executive Committee would beannounced later in the meeting by the Secretary-Treasurer.

The President indicated that the Executive Com-mittee was recommending two further constitut-ional changes, notice of which would be givenlater in the meeting.

5. Executive Reports

5.1. Secretary-Treasurer (Barry L. Snowden)

5.1.1 Elections Results

The Secretary-Treasurer announced the results ofthe elections conducted in 1988 in accordancewith the provisions of the Revised Constitution asfollows:

By acclamation to the Office of President:

David Sewart (United Kingdom)

By election to the Executive Committee:

Liz Burge (Canada)Ronnie Carr (United Kingdom)Marian Croft (Canada)Raj Dhanarajan (Malaysia)Barbara Matiru (Kenya)Michael Moore (USA)

These people were declared elected.

5.1.2 Membership Update

The Secretary-Treasurer provided the followingmembership update information, indicating thatalthough the membership totalr, are somewhatlower than the end-of-198i totals included in thepublished report (June 1988), this was similar tothe experience in other years of a World Confer-ence. These totals do not include conference par-ticipants whose membership is commencing withthe conference.

Membership by Category July1988

Individual:

HonoraryRegular

24

6287

Institutional:

Category A (>3000 students) 42Category B (<3000 students) 42Category C (Library) 44

Total memberships (1/individual,6/Cat. A and 3/Cat. B institution) 671

5.2.3 Financial Update

The Secretary-Treasurer presented a summary ofthe Budget approved by the Executive Commit-tee for the 1986 through 1988 period and summa-ries of Income and Expenses recorded to date (31July 1988) with projections to the end of 1988.He indicated that the results now projected forDecember 31, 1988 indicate a balanced budget,results better than expected when the budget wasapproved.

It was moved by Ram Trivedi and seconded byAllan Hershfield that the report of the Secretary-lica.surer be carried. The motion was carried.

All amounts in Can. $

1986Actuals

1987Actuals

1998Actuals

Income

OperatingExpenses

71,289

33,458

41,365

49,880

21,000

48,200

Surplus(Deficit) 37,831 (8,515) (27,200)

Assets:Cash 17,035 8,024 7,520

ConferenceAdvances 6,866 13,366 13,366

OtherAdvances 7,836 8,348 8,216

Investments 63,080 56,565 30,000

Equipment 3,307 635 445

98,124 86,938 59,547

Liabilities 1,572 0 0

5.2.4 Constitutional Changes

The Secretary-Treasurer brought notice ofmotion, on behrl of the Executive Committee, tobring about changes in the Revised Constitutionof ICDE to permit World Conferences to be heldmore frequently than every three years, and toenable the President and Executive Committee toassume office at alternate World Conferences, eg.that their terms of office extend over two periodsbetween World Conferences.

He indicated that a number of amenednents to theRevised Constitution were necessary to giveeffect to these changes and that the motionsnecessary to revise parts of the Constitution toread as follows would be put at the second busi-ness session:

Part V. Administration and Executive Commit-tee

Section 1 a): a President and six other members.

Part VI. Conferences

The International Council shall hold World Con-ferences at intervals of two to three years.

Part VII. Elections

Section 4: Nominations for elected positionsshall be received by the Secretary General at leastsix months before Day 1 of every se- Ind WorldConference.

Section 9: The President and Executive Commit-tee shall serve a term of office consisting of twoconsecutive periods between World Con-ferences.

5.3. ICDE Bulletin (David Sewart, UnitedKingdom)

Dr. Sewart referred to his report published in theExecutive Report document and made a numberof comments supplementing the information pro-vided therein. He reiterated his expressions ofappreciation to those who had made contribu-tions to the Bulletin overthe full six year period ofhis editorship.

It was moved by Ian Michell and seconded byJanet Jenkins that the Bulletin Editor's report beaccepted. The motion was carried.

5.4. Workshops, Visits and Exchanges (GiselaPravda, Colombia)

After making brief reference to the reportpublished in the Executive Committee report

25_ ot?

document, Ms. Pravda expressed appreciation tomembers of the Workshops, Visits andExchanges Committee and called for a motion toaccept her report.

It was moved by James Hall and seconded byG.A. Allana that the report of the ICDE Work-shops, Visits and Exchanges be accepted. Themotion was carried.

S.S. Research (Maureen Smith, Australia)

Dr. Smith acknowledged the contributions ofmembers of the Research Coriimittee, in particu-lar the efforts of Torstein Rekkedal as committeechairperson. Referring to the published report,she called for a motion of acceptance.

It was moved by Arun Gupta and seconded by IanGranger that the report of the ICDE ResearchCommittee be accepted. The motion was carried.

5.6. Women's International Network

Liz Burge made reference to the main accom-plishments of the Womer's InternationalNetwork as outlined in the published report and,after responding to questions regarding therecently published book, Toward New Horizonsfor Women in Distance Education: InternationalPerspectives, she called for a motion to acceptthe report.

It was moved by Christine von Priimmer andonded by Margaret Haughey that the report of theWomen's International Network be accepted.The motion was carried.

6. Appointment of Resolutions Committee

The general purposes of the Resolutions Com-r iittee were out!ined by President Smith. Hedescribed the resoiations process as

democratic vehicle for obtaining individualmember input and the means for determiningobjectives and priorities for Executive actionbetween world conferences. President Smith pre-sented the Executive Committee's recommenda-

that Past-President John Daniel beappointed to chair the Resolutions Committeeand that he be empowered to co-opt members ofthe Council to form a representative committee.

It was moved by Y.B. Mathur and seconded byAlan Tate that the Executive Committee'srecommendation be accepted. The motion wascarried.

Members interested in serving on the ResolutionsCommittee or in nominating others to serve were

asked to make contact with Dr. Daniel. Proposedresolu.ions were to be submitted in writingthrough the Registration Desk ny ;.0 h on Fri-day.

7. Conference Manager's Report

The Conference Manager, Reidar Roll, acknowl-edged the organizers of the conference, the RoyalNorwegian Ministry of Church and Educationand the Norwegian Association for DistanceEducation. He pointed to the fact that the Minis-try of Education had been an enthusiastic suppor-ter of the conference, and had also contributedfunding to the establishment of a permanentsecretariat for the ICDE.

Mr. Roll acknowledged the help given by manyindividuals in preparing the conference andthanked these individuals for their support in theplanning period. He pointed to the fact that, withthe establishment of the Permanent Secretariat,ICDE serves notice to all of those with an int,-estin distance education that the Council hasemerged as a new and professional organization.He pointed out that ICDE planning could nowoccur on a long-term basis rather than from con-ference to conference. As such, h' said, ICDEreq.iires a concise statement of its intentionsa development plan that is visible and available toall ICDE members as well as to a wider world-wide audience. He said that, as Secretary Gen-eral, it would be his intention thc such a deve-lopement plan would be available 'n draft formfor approval and amendments by the ,CDE Exec-utive Committee as soon as possible.

Mr. Roll informed the meeting of two importantRound Table sessions, with Unesco and interna-tional and donor bodies, taking place during theconference and that the intention of the sessionswas to introduce the ICDE to these bodies andtake recommendations for action from them.

Mr. Roll then went on to give detailed informa-tion on the conference and social arrangements,including the Conference Programme and SocialProgramme.

8. Program Committee Report

David Sewart outlined the work of the Pro-gramme Committee which, when established in1986, consisted of Erling Ljosa (Norway) asDeputy Chairman, Marjan Lubbers (Nether-lands), Helmer Larssen (Sweden), and the Con -feren Manager, Reidar Roll (Norway). Afterdescribing the general structure of the pro-gramme. he drew attention to a major decision bythe committee to publish a Conference Book

26

which would include a cross-section of submittedpapers representative of themes and of regions ofthe world. lie expressed his thanks to memners ofthe Program Committee, in particular to JohnDaniel who volunteered himself as an editor, andto Er ling Ljosa who, with his staff, took on thetask of publishing the book.

Dr. Sewart also expressed appreciation to DagayBlom and Torstein Rekkedal for their invaluablecontributions to the committee, and to all mem-bers of the Council who have made contributionsand will do so in the course of the conference.

Session chairpersons were reminded of thebriefing session scheduled for Thursday after-noon at 1715 h for those who were unable toattend the session held on Tuesday.

9. President's Closing Remarks

President Smith noted that the meeting was con-cluding ac. 'rding to schedule and thanked allmembers present for their attendance, attentionand contributions.

The First Business Meeting was adjourned at1505 h.

Barry L. SnowdenSecretary-Treasurer

2"' 25

Second Business Meeting

Monday 16 August 1988 1545 h University ofOslo, Oslo, Norway

1. Call to ordc

President David Sewart (United Kingdom) calledthe meeting to order and welcomed delegates tothe Second Business Meeting.

In his introduction, the President informed themeeting that an evaluation questionnaire hadbeen handed out, and asked delegates to help theSecretariat and the Executive Committee evalu-ate the conference by filling in the evaluationquestionnaires. He thanked Liz Burge for con-structing the questionnaire.

Dr. Sewart went on to give information about theClosing Ceremony, to be held Tuesday, 16August, where the conference organizers andconference staff were to be thanked for a job welldone. The President stated that it had not beenpossible to decide on a venue for the 15th WorldConference until the Second Business Meetinghad decided on suggested amendments to theConstitution regarding the frequency of ICDEworld conferences.

2. President's Inaugural Speech

The President, Dr. David Sewart, thanked ICDEmembers for the honour they had done him bychoosing him as ICDE President for the nextterm.The President pointed to the fact that ICDE hasfifty years of tradition and of dedicated work fromwhich to move forward, that it has a world-widemembership in terms of individuals and institu-tions and is recognized as the major internationalorganization for distance education.

In his inaugural speech, the President also manestatements concerning practical ways forward forICDE and its new permanent secretariat, and saidthat the ICDE was looking to establish in Oslo an

26

agency activity linking regional, national andlocal activities into a network which alsoembraces donor bodies, Unesco and others, withwhom ICDE has had successful preliminary dis-cussions during the course of the conference. Thismight be extended to a system of regional desks invarious parts of the world which could providemor.: local access to our membership througha link with the Permanent Secretariat in Oslo.Such an arrangement would tie particularly usefulfor the developing countries for whom access toOslo would itself be expensive.

3. Establishment of Permanent Secretariat

The President provided information on the back-ground for the establishment of a PermanentSecretariat. He noted that the call for the esta-hliqhment of a permanent ICDE secretariat wasmade at tbe Second Business Meeting of the 12thWorld Conference in Vancouver in 1982 ina unanimously adopted resolution. During thePresiu,:ncy of John Daniel between 1982 and1985, attempts were made to establish sucha permanent secretariat in Canada, but withoutsuccess. At the 13th World Conference in Mel-

)urne in 1985, high priority was again given toinvestigating the possibilities of establishinga permanent secretariat. Under President KevinSmith, active negotiations with NADE werebegun in the summer of 1986 in order to deter-mine whether it was feasible to bring about apermanent secretariat for ICDE in Norway. Dur-ing a visit to Norway in July 1986, President Smithnegotiated these possibilities with representativesfrom NADE and the Norwegian Ministry ofChurch and Education. The background for theseinvestigations carried out by President Smith inNorway was a decision by the ICDE ExecutiveCommittee at its meeting in Vancouver, in June1986, that 1CDE should investigate the possibilit-ies of establishing its Permanent Secretariat ina Scandinavian country.

The Norwegian Association for Distance Educa-tion reacted positively to the initiative by KevinSmith that ICDE should try to establish its Perma-

2S

nent Secretariat in Norway and began investig-ations concerning the possibility of obtainingpublic funding from the Norwegian Government.In the summer of 1987 it became clear that theNorwegian Ministry of Education viewed posit-ively an ICDE Permanent Secretariat in Norway,and a letter was sent by the Chairman of NADE,Er ling Ljosa, to President Kevin Smith offering toestablish the ICDE Permanent Secretariat, shar-ing the offices and infrastructure of NADE inOslo. The offer from NADE to establish theICDE Permanent Secretariat in Oslo wasaccepted by the ICDE Executive Committee at itsmeeting in Cambridge in September, 1987. TheDirector of NADE, Reidar Roll, was appointedSecretary General of ICDE.

The President, Dr. Sewart, also referred to thestatements made by the Norwegian Minister ofEducation and by the Norwegian Head of Gov-ernment, Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundt-land, in the speeches at the 14th World Confer-ence. In these speeches, the Prime Ministerexpressed the Norwegian Goverment's pleasurein hosting and supporting the ICDE PermanentSecretariat, and the Minister of Education wasvery clear in her statements offering the supportof the Norwegian Government to the PermanentSecretariat. The Norwegian Minister of Educa-tion also stated that, since the ICDE Secretariathad been established in Norway on a perm 'labasis, it would be the Government's aim to ero-vide basic funding on a permanent basis. Dr.Sewart referred to the fact that ICDE's inter-national headquarters would now be in Norway,where its administration would operate, ar.d thatthe Secretariat would operate under Nc rwegianfiscal and economic law.

The President's statement on the PermanentSecretariat was unanimously accepted by themembers.

4. Honorary Memberships

The President recited the provisions of the Con-stitution regarding the granting of HonoraryMemberships, and announced that the followingpersons had been recommended as HonoraryMembers of ICDE:

John DanielBarry SnowdenKevin Smith

The recommendation was unanimouslyapproved.

5. Report of The Resolutions Committee

The Report of the Resohtions Committee waspresented by John S. Daniel. Dr. Daniel reportedthat nearly fifty proposals for resolutions hadbeen received and that the report of the Resolu-tions Committee contained twenty-four resolu-tions which were respectfully submitted for themembership for its endorsement.In his introductory remarks on behalf of the Reso-lutions Committee, Dr. Daniel referred to thequestion of frequency of .,orld conferences.While the Resolutions Committee was notopposed to amendments in the frequency ofworld conferences, it advised against movingimmediately to two years as this would createproblems of attendance. He suggested that ICDEsponsor regional or thematic conferencesbetween world conferences.

Dr. Daniel also said that the Resolutions Commit-tee felt strongly that ICDE's effectiveness wouldbe severely undermined if a new Executive wereelected every two years, and referred to the factthat the Committee was proposing a resolution toprevent this from happening.

29

Dr. Daniel said that the Committee recom-mended that ICDE use the system of postal bal-lots again for a second time before under-takinga review of the Constitution concerning the elec-tion. Dr. Daniel said that the Committee wouldsuggest modifications of the postal ballotingprocedures to ensure that all members had theopportunity to vote.

Finally, Dr. Daniel said that the ResolutionsCommittee had found enthusiasm among themembership for the opportunities presented toICDE by the creation of the Permanent Secretar-iat in Oslo, and suggested an early publication inthe Bulletin of a statemen' of the status of theSecretariat.

The resolutions were divided into seven catego-ries that related respectively to students, constitu-tional matters, priorities, publications, confer-ences, organization and operations, andexpressions of appreciation.

5.1. Resolutions related to students

Be it resolved:

1. That the ICDE encourage the participation ofstudents in its affairs by informing distance stu-dent associations of its activities and by facilitat-ing the attendance of students at its conferencesthrough scholarships and fee adjustments.

Carried by show of hands.

27

5.2. Resolutions related to constitutional matters

Be it resolved:

1. That, notwithstanding any change in the peri-odicity of world conferences, the ICDE Execu-tive, once elected, hold office foi at least three (3)years.

2. That the system of postal balloting now in usefor electing the Executive be improved by theintroduction of a "double envelope" procedureand a longer period for the mailing and return ofballots.

3. That a review of ICDE's electoral process notbe conducted until after the present system of rep-resentation has been allowed to operate anothertime (i.e. after the next election).

4. That the January 1989 edition of the ICDEBulletin include short descriptions of the specialfunctions and responsibilities assigned to eachmember of the Executive and Secretariat staff.

Carried by show of ha&

5.3. Resolutions related to Priorities

Be it resolved:

1. That the ICDE take steps to honour the nameand memory of its founder, Mr. J.W. Gibson.

2. That ICDE encourage greater communicationbetween members by all appropriate means,including electronic mail.

3. That the Executive seek funds that can beapplied to reduce membership and conferencefees for those from countries where these fees area serious obstacle to participation in ICDE acti-vities.

4. That ICDE continue its support for theWomen's International Network (WIN) andencourage its institutional members to facilitatethe participation of their female staff in ICDEconferences and activities.

Carried by show of hands.

5.4. Resolutions relating to Publications

Be it resolved:

1. That an early priority for the Secretariat be toassemble a complete set of all ICCE and ICDEpublications and seek the assistance of membersin developing appropriate archives for the Coun-cil.

28

2. That procedures for the selection of papers forpublication in the conference books be communi-cated through the ICDE Bulletin whey the call forpapers is made, and that conference booksinclude short abstracts of all papers submitted ondeadline as well as the papers selected for inclu-sion.

3. That ICDE help facilitate the publication ofbooks such as a book on women in distance edu-cation in Africa now in preparation.

4. That the ICDE wor:- with the InternationalCentre for Distance Learning to ensure that itsdata bank of institutional profiles is kept up-to-date and publicized more extensively.

5. That the ICDE membership directory beupdated as soon as possible to include the names,addresses and functions of those attending thisconference.

6. That the ICDE Bulletin regularly includea comprehensive schedule of upcoming events,such as conferences, workshops and trainingopportunities likely to be of interest to the mem-bership.

Carried by show of hands.

5.5. Resolutions related to conferences

Be it resolved:

1. That ICDE exercise care, if it hosts conferencesmore frequently, not to overload the capacity ofindividuals and institutions, as well as donoragencies, to fund attendance at these conferences.

2. That not all ICDE conferences be necessarilydesignated as "World Conferences". There is animportant role for regional conferences and the-matic conferences, some of which could be co-sponsored with other bodies.

'. That ICDE publish its criteria for the selectionof delegates from developing countries who willreceive financial support to help them attend itsconference.

Carried by show of hands.

5.6. Resolutions related to Organization andOperations

Be it resolved:

1. That ICDE continue to support and promotethe activities of regional associations for distanceeducation and work with them closely in anyregional activities undertaken by the ICDE itself.

30

5.7. Appreciative resolutions

Be it resolved:

1. That this conference congratulates andexpresses its thanks to the President, the membersof the Executive Committee and the Committeechairs for their stewardship of ICDE since the13th World Conference in Melbourne.

2. That this conference congratulates andexpresses its thanks to the Conference Manager,Reidar Roll, and all those who worked with him,for their dedicated work over the last three yearsto ensure the success of the 14th ICDE WorldConference.

3. That this conference expresses its great appre-ciation to Norway for its strong support of ICDEas expressed in the presence of His Majesty, KingOlav V, at the Opening Ceremony of the con-ference, in the contribution of Prime Minister GroHarlem Brundtland as Broady Lecturer and in thefunding of a Permanent Secretariat for the Coun-cil.

4. That this conference commends the Editor ofthe ICDE Bulletin and all those who have deve-loped this valuable publication to its present sta-tus as a most useful source of information andvehicle for communication.

Carried unanimously.

6. Constitutional changes

The President, Dr. Sewart, brought notice ofmotions on behalf of the Executive Committee, tobring about changes in the constitution of ICDEto permit world conferences to be held more fre-quently than every three years, and to enable thePresident and the Executive Committee toassume office at alternate world conferences, eg.that their terms of office extend over two periodsbetween world conferences. The recommendedconstitutional changes had been moved by theSecretary-Treasurer at the First Business Meetingat the 14th World Conference, in accordance withthe Constitution. The motions are that the Con-stitution read as follows:

."art V: Administration and Executive Committe

Section 1 A: A President and six other members.

Carried by show of hands.

Part VI: Conferences

The International Council shall hold world con-ferences at intervals of two to three years.

Carried by show of hands.

Part VII: Elections

Section 4: Nominations for elected positions shallbe received by the General Secretary at least 6months before day 1 of every second world con-ference.

Section 9: The President and the Executive Com-mittee shall serve a term of office consisting of twoconsecutive periods between world conferences.

Motion not carried by show of hands.

After the President's closing remarks, the SecondBusiness Meeting adjourned at 1745 h.

Reidar RollSecretary General

31 29

The New ICDE Executive

President

Dr. David SewartDirector, Regional Academic ServicesThe Open UniversityWalton HallMilton Keynes MK7 6AAUnited Kingdom

Vice President

Ms. Liz BurgeInstructional Resources Development UnitOntario Institute for Studies in Education 252Bloor Street WestToronto, OntarioCanada M5S 1V6

Vice President

Dr. Ronnie CarrStaff Tutor, School of EducationOpen University in Scotland2 Park GardensGlasgow G3 1YEScotland

Vice President

Ms. Marian CroftDirector, Centre for ContinuingEducation and Part-time StudiesLaurentian UniversityRamsey Lake RoadSudbury, OntarioCanada P3E 2C6

Secretary General

Mr. Reidar RollICDE Permanent SecretariatMarkveien 35 BPOB 2100 Grtinerlokka0505 OSLO 5Norway

Past President

Mr. Kevin Smith12/233 Mill Point RoadSouth Perth,Western Australia 6151Australia

Vice President

Dr. Raj DhanarajanChief Executive OfficerOpen Learning InstituteHong KongRoom 604, East WingHennessy Center,Causeway BayHong Kong

Vice President

Ms. Barbara MatiruLiaison OfficerBox 24544NairobiKenya

Vice President

Dr. Michael G. MooreDirector, American Centre for the Study ofDistance EducationPennsylvania State UniversityRoom 214, Rock leyUniversity Park, PA 16802U.S.A.

Conference Manager

Dr. Armando VillarroelProfesor AsociadoUniversidad Nacional AbiertaApartado 2096Caracas 1010 AVenezuela

Office of the Permanent Secrertariat, ICDE

Secretary General

Mr. Reidar Roll

Administrative Assistant

Ms. Rigmor Jauosaras

Please address all membership or information requests, and correspondence pertaining to the ICDE, to:The Office of the Permanent Secretariat International Council for Distance EducationGjerdrums vei 12, N-0486 OSLO 4, Norway. Tel.: +47-2-950630. Fax: +47-2-950719.

30 32

President's Inaugural SpeechDavid Sewart

First I should thank ICDE members for thehonour you have done me by choosing me as yourPresident for the next term. I am touched by theconfidence you have shown and I intend to do myutmost to be worthy of it.

Presidential addresses tend to be historic occas-ions. I would not flatter myself into thinking thatthis address is parallel to one which a new Presi-dent made only a few months time ago on theother side of the Atlantic, but a Presidentialaddress from the President of ICDE is historical interms of ICDE, our own organization.

I began my academic career teaching ancient hist-ory in a University in the United Kingdom and it isperhaps appropriate, therefore, that I look to myown original academic calling for the introductionto my address and I do so by a quotation:

"During the past 20 years or mcre systems of correspondenceinstruction have sprung up in several widely separated coun-tries, quite independently and in response to a very real need.That world-wide response has involved the education ofchildren in the elementary school grades as well as those insecondary schools and in universities. It has, moreover, foundan important place in which to function, quite outside ofschools, in the form of homestudy courses for adults engagedin industry and in the most diversifield occupations".

I wonder how many of you are aware when andwhere that statement was made. At a superficialglance it is perfectly appropriate for me to bemaking it as President here today. The referenceto 'home study' gives you a clue to its origin a theother side of the Atlantic but it is perhaps only thereference to 'correspondence instruction' whichgives us the clue that it is not such a recent state-ment. In fact I have taken it from the foreword tothe Report of the First International Conferenceon Correspondence Education in Canada in 1938and it is a statement of the man who was Presidentat that Conference. I do not have a detailedknowledge of the development of Distance Edu-cation in the two decades from 1918 to 1938 to

33

which that comment refers but I think that thespeaker would be surprised and considerablygratified if he were looking back from 1988 on thelast two decades in distance education as we cando.

Another quotation:"Now, we are gathered here today to enlarge our ideas and totake stock. We are deciding on new steps, perhaps even upon anew direction, and in all of this, ladies and gentlemen, we aremotivated by what we consider to be a very practical ideal:that ideal is equality of educational opportunity and this is anideal which I believe is accepted in all parts of the world. Byequality of educational opportunity we mean extendingopportunity of equal quality to everyone, no matter howhumble his birth, no matter where he may live, and no matterwhat his reasonable aspirations may be. We think that it is avery practical ideal an ideal to which we can all subscribe,and I trust that everything we do in this Conference will beevaluated in terms of it".

This too derives from the first ICDE conferenceand it is from the opening remarks of ProfessorBroady whose memory we celebrated this year inthe lecture given by the Prime Minister of Norway.Its sentiment is no different from that which wehold today, although the language is somewhatstilted and I am afraid too that it does not use thenon-sexist terms which we now employ.

But it is my task to look forward on this occasion.In dwelling so far on the past I have done so inorder to demonstrate that ICDE has 50 years oftradition, 50 years of dedicated work from whichto move forward. It has a world-wide membershipin terms of individuals and institutions and isrecognized as the major international organizat-ion for distance education. That is not a bad basefor a new President to have from which to make astart.

But no organization exists solely though its presi-dent. There are several former Presidents ofICDE here today and they will attest to that.ICDE has a new Executive and this time an Exec-utive which is representati ye of the world in geog-rapFcal terms. The ncw Executive combinesexperience with freshness and new perspectives.Barbara Matiru, Ronnie Carr, Raj Dhanarajan,

31

Marian Croft, and Michael Moore are new mem-bers of the team but each of them is already wellknown in their own spheres and beyond while LizBurge, Kevin Smith and myself continue from theprevious Executive. ICDE members have madesome very wise choices there.

And what of the future? Firstly I would like tooffer some general comments. The gulf, materi-ally and otherwise, between the developed count-ries and the less developed countries will almostcertainly increase in the next few years, despiteour hopes to the contrary. This will result in a newtype of imperialism or colonialism which histori-ans might look back on as a technological imperi-alism or technological colonialism which putsthose who do not posess the technology at a tre-mendous disadvantage and in a role of depend-ency on those countries who do possess the tech-nology. And with this technological imperialism,just as with the old imperialism, there will go a cul-tural imperialism no less than that which we haveseen before in previous centuries. But this time itwill be transmitted through the technology notthrough ships, explorers and conquerors acrossoceans. Consequently it will be much more swiftto reach its goal; it will continuously be refreshedfrom its source; it will not be relying on lines ofsupply stretching over weeks and months; it willnot be limited to the physical spheres of influenceof the conquering troops but will be in every homeat all times. You will see that it will therefore be farmore pervasive in its influence.

It is scarcely conceivable, despite what govern-ments say and despite what we all might hope,that we will move away from the levels of unem-ployment which exist almost on a world-widebasis, although for different reasons in differentregions. From this we might deduce greateropportunity for training and education within theso called 'leisure time' available. This will arise fortwo reasons; firstly learning for the sake of learn-ing and to fill the leisure time available and secon-dly learning to update one's skills, aquire newskills and thus be a marketable commodity in arapidly changing employment situation.

It is therefore inevitable that a large proportion ofthe population of every country will be concernedwith education beyond the traditional years.Continuing education will no longer bea concept,it will be a reality. And it is equally likely that dist-ance education, with its freedom from time andplace to study, will become of increasing import-ance. It is the natural medium for this continuingeducation. Here is the challenge for us over thenext few years.

But distance education brings into focus mostsharply a question which has been long debated ineducational circles and which I have heard again

32

in this Conference although some of us hadthought it had died many years ago, namelywhether a set of materials, however sophisticatedthe design, can take the place of the many facets ofthe teacher in the traditional teaching situation.The creation of such a hypothetically perfectpackage of materials has been pursued with thesame vigour as that with which the medievalalchemist sought a nostrum which would turn allbase materials into gold and as yet with similarsuccess. It has been fashionable of late, certainlyin my own country as I have said, to assume thatthis debate has been concluded with a wideaceptance of the fact that the perfect package ofmaterials is unobtainable. Alas, this is merelywishful thinking.

Is his seminal work on distance education, OttoPeters, who I am pleased to say has been here w;thus at this conference, described it as an industria-lised form of teaching and learning. Certainlydistance education can operate most successfullyin an industrialised society against a backgroundof reliable communications media and it employsthe concepts of industry in breaking down theteaching, for manufacturing purposes, into con-stituent elements that are fitted together in thecreation of the total production. Also it employsthe processes of industry in the creation of thisproduct. I am in total agreement with the basictenets of his thesis but I would suggest that it isnecessary to look very carefully at our definitionof industry. If distance education is an industri-alised form of teaching and learning, it is not tomanufacturing industry, I would suggest, butrather to service industry that we should look forthe basic practices and techniques which are andtraditionally have been inherent in the educat-ional philosophy we hold. If we accept that theperfect package of materials perfect that is forall learners has not been achizved and even isnot achievable, we must build a service to thelearners that accepts that each of them is uniqueand establish a system for individualising the`imperfect package' for each learner.

The success of any educational institution is mea-sured by the success of its students but that ispe: haps a far too simplistic statement. We mightposit for example a system of education whichadmits large numbers of students to its coursesand offers them little or no support. Perhaps onlya few of its students will have the personal motiv-ation to conclude their studies but, even if thatnumber is as low as 10% the suggested figiirefor Open University students before its inception

in real terms it might be quite high, given analmost infinite supply of initial enrolments. This isthe manufacturing industry approach to distanceeducation and sadly it still exists in some areas. Atthe other end of the spectrum is the system of edu-cation which concentrates on an individual ser-

34

vice to its students, such that the vast majorityachieve success. In sheer monetary terms wemight see no difference in theextremes if we lookat the cost per student output. The answer, how-ever, is quite different if we construct the equationin human terms.

If distance education is to maintain its presentposition and to go on to meet the challenges of thenext decade, it will need to strive continuously forquality and for the system which individualisesthelearning process for its students.

I must go on to make a few statements about thepractical way forward for ICDE and its newPermanent Secretariat. We are locking to estab-lish here in Oslo an agency activity linkingregional, national and local activities into anetwork which also embraces the donor bodies,UNESCO, etc. with whom we have had success-ful preliminary discussions here during the courseof the Conference. This might be extended to aconcept of "regional desks" in various parts of theworld which might provide a more local access toour membership through a link with the Perma-nent Secretariat here in Oslo. Such an arrange-ment would be particularly useful for the develop-ing countries for whom access to Oslo will itself beexpensive.

Yesterday we had a preliminary meeting of thenew Executive and we will meet again in a fewmonths time to get down to some real businessand establish a plan for developments. Clearlywemust present to you a constitution which allowsour emerging organization to move forwaid as amatter of priority. We have already taken a deci-

sion in principle to hold the next Conference injust two years time in Caracas, Venezuela.

Finally perhaps I should return to my role as Presi-dent in relation to the Executive. The relationshipbetween the President and the Executive of anyorganization is crucial. I call to mind the story ofthe advice given by one president to his successor.He said "Sooner or later when you follow me youwill have difficulty with the executive. I am leavingin my desk three envelopes which are numberedone, two, and three, and when you hit a crisis withyou executive you must open them in that order".

Well, along came the first crisis and the new Presi-dent opened the desk anu drew out envelopenumber one. Inside it said "Blame your predeces-sor" so he did and it worked. The second crisis, alittle more difficult, came after some time, soagain he opened the desk and this time drew outenvelope number two which said "Tell them thatthe problem is well known to you, and that youhave been studying it now for quite a time andhave asked advice from a number of your learnedassociates who have a vast experience of this sortof thing. Then say that you will shortly write apaper to explain what you are going to do. Makethe paper long enough and that will shut themup". So the crisis went away but the third crisiscame along so the new President sat down at thedesk and once :.lore took out a letter envelopenumber three. All it said was "Start writing threeenvelopes for your successor". I hope I don't reachthe third envelope within the next three or fouryears.

333

Conference Evaluation Summary

Introduction

There were both obvious problems and successesat the 14th ICDE World Conference. Some ofeach of these reflect long-standing ICDE prac-tices while others are particular to the Oslo meet-ing. Toward the end of the 1988 conference anevaluation form was developed and 'distributed'.Seventy-four completed forms were returned.The numerical results were compiled and theseare included in Part A of the following summary.Much of the evaluation summary was, however,open-ended and so we have taken the liberty ofinterpreting comments from the evaluation ques-tionnaire in several categories. Part B, conferenceorganization, highlights several main problems:1) cost of conference for value perceived; 2) mul-tiple accommodation venues; and 3) pre-confer-ence communications including those relating toregistration, transport and accommodation issuesas well as those relating to programme informa-tion. Part C, conference business, points up theperception that ICDE business matters were notprofessionally handled. Part D, conference pro-gramme, demonstrates concerns about: 1) theneed to increase the intellectual level of ICDEconferences; 2) the breadth of the programme asit relates to areas other than higher education; and3) the need to provide greater interaction betweendelegates on issues of common concern.

Members should note that original evaluationresponses are on file at the ICDE PermanentSecretariat and are available for viewing. Youshould also be aware bat a longer version of theevaluation summary than appears here, one inwhich many of the actual comments of respond-ents appear, was presented to the Executive Com-mittee members at the January, 1989, ExecutiveCommittee meeting held in England. ICDEmembers who wish to see the longer version ofthis evaluation summary may write to the ICDEPermanent Secretariat to obtain a copy. Finally,members should be reassured to know that theevaluation findings were communicated to thoseplanning the 15th 1CDE World Conference and,accordingly, played an important part in the

34

design of our next conference. In fact, an evalua-tion procedure has been integrated into the struc-ture of the conference.

A. Quantitative findings

1.Rtte your overall level of satisfaction with eachof the following (based on 74 evaluation formsreturned):unsat. = unsatisfactorysat. = satisfactoryv.sat. = very satisfactory

a) Communications with organizerspre-conf.

b) Communications withorganizers during conf.

c) Accommodationsd) Transportatione) Facilities for sessionsf) Intellectual content of sessionsg) Opportunity for dialogue

in sessionsh) Opportunity for dialogue

outside of sessionsi) Relevance of presentations to

your needs

0/0

unsat. sat. v.sat.

50 25 25

14 62 24

17 56 27

20 40 407 74 19

23 64 13

22 57 21

12 61 27

18 61 21

2.Rate your overall level of satisfaction with eachof the following (based on 50 responses/onlypresenters at sessions responded to this ques-tion):

a) Support for any materials'unsat. sat. v.sat.

productionb) Conditions for actual

presentationc) Opportunities for feedback

from audience

35

27

11

46

46

54

19

27

35

B. Comments and findings on the conferenceorganization

CommunicationsCommunications between delegates and con-ference organizers, especially in the few months

i:

before the conference, were problematic. Indeed,half of the respondents were not at all satisfiedwith advance communications, primarily in twoareas. First, comments indicate that the organiz-ers were slow in responding to some registrations,and that too little information was provided toreassure arriving delegates about transport,accommodations and conference operations.Second, delegates definitely wished to have infor-mation about the conference programme:abstracts of papers, length of presentations anda schedule of various business meetings. Theoverall level of satisfaction with communicationsimproved substantially once the conferencebegan. The evaluation findings point up the needfor a well-organized registration system but, asimportant, the need to circulate a conference pro-gramme several months prior to the event.

Transportation

In general, delegates appreciated the transporta-tion card which gave unlimited access to Oslo'spublic transportation system. As indicated in theprevious section, however, delegates expressedthe need for more information on how to findtheir way from the airport to their hotel and theconference venue. Several comments pointed upthe importance of airport reception and a shor-tage of buses at one cultural event was extremelyvexing for several respondents.

Accommodations

Although only 17% of respondents indicate dis-satisfaction with accommodations, commentsfrom open-ended questions demonstrated con-cern with the high cost of accommodations. Thisconcern appears to be shared by both developedand developing country participants. Othercom-ments highlight the problems associated withusing multiple accommodation sights.

Food

Many respondents commented unfavourably onthe high cost and low quality of conferenceluncheons and dinners. As well, there were sug-gestions that conference luncheons could bestructured to increase interaction among dele-gates, and that dietary require ments of an interna-tional group require greater care in planning. Ingeneral, evaluation responses point up the need toconsider carefully the cost and preparation offood provided as part of the conference fee.

Special eventsAside from negative comments about transport,costs and provision of adequate directions noted

above, special events were generally consideredto be a highlight of the conference. Evaluationresponses indicate that delegates value suchevents and that they play an important role in theoverall perception of a conference's worth.

Conference Club

A Conference Club, or informal meeting locationprovided after the conference's daily sessions, hasbeen a traditional aspect of ICDE conferences.Respondent's comments indicate the perceivedvalue of continuing this practice. A number ofcomments, especially from first-time delegates,highlights the need for both orientation and struc-tured opportunities to meet other delegates.

Technical support

There is a perceived need for well-organizedaudio-visual support services for both plenaryand parallel sessions. Some comments point upthe usefulness of having a technician on hand toensure that equipment is in place and works prop-erly. Respondents also indicated their concernabout clearly communicated policies on reprogra-phic services and a Conference Secretariat.

Conference timing

In general, evaluation comments indicate thatdelegates find a weekend break in the middle ofthe conference to be disruptive. As well, there isa perceived need to include pre-conference work-shops in the proceedings.

Conclusions for part B

The major concerns of respondents refer to pre-conference communications and overall costs ofthe event. Many concerns about communicationscan probably be dispelled by producing and distri-buting a programme in the months before futureconferences. Such a programme should containabstracts of papers to be presented and well-designed and clear descriptions of the practicalelements of the conference including, but notnecessarily restricted to, those items addressed inpart B of this evaluation summary.

While respondents were vet y forthcoming in theirobservations and critical judgements of the con-ference organization, the majority also lauded theefforts of the Norwegian organizers andexpressed their appreciation for what one deleg-ate described as "generally a good effort:'

37

C. Comments and findings on conferencebusiness

Visibility of executive and conference organizers.

Respondents indicated a desire to have greateraccess to both executive members and conferenceorganizers. While most realize that these peopleare usually very busy during a conference, there isa feeling that an informal question and answer!discussion session could be arranged.

Financial assistance

A few respondents commented on financialassistance provided to delegates from developingregions. There is a perception that the process ofallocating grants should be clearly described.

Business meetings and resolutions

Respondents' comments clearly indicate per-ceived problems with the management of the sec-ond business meeting and the way in which reso-lutions were handled. A few comments identifiedthe need to reformulate the ICDE constitution toreflect developments in the organization.

Conference frequency

Only two respondents commented unfavourablyon the matter of holding ICDE conferences everytwo to three years rather than at three to four yearintervals.

Governance and representation

Respondents expressed a wide variety of opinionsand concerns on the need for ICDE to addressissues of a more participate y and democraticorganization, as well as addressing perceivedproblems of representation by specific groups.Some of these concerns should be ameliorated bya more intentional and sensitive approach to thedesign of conference programmes while othersmust be addressed in the context of an overallICDE development plan.

Conference emivation

Several comments reinforced the view that ICDEevents should be rigourously evaluated and thatevaluation materials should be available in theregistration kit.

"IL

Conausions for part C

The major concerns of respondents are focusedon the perception of a need for ICDE to be morebusinesslike in conducting its affairs at WorldConferences, and to seek mechanisms to increaserepresentation and influence of specific groups,particularly of women end those from developingregions. There is a very clear message in most ofthe comments: ICDE must take seriously theneed to increase clear and open information flowbetween those at the executive and operationslevel and the general membership. One respond-ent offered some means to accomplish this: "grea-ter follow-up between conferences mailinglists, newsletters, publications to encouragenetworks, regional conferences, collaborativeresearch, news updates, etc."

D. Comments and findings on the conferenceprogramme

Intellectual content

It has been the recent practice of ICDE to providemaximum opportunities for conference delegatesto present papers and to publish as many of theseas possible, As a result, the overall quality of pres-entations is variable, according to the perceptionsof respondents.

Breadth of programme topics

Respondents issued a very clear message to ICDEregarding the breadth of topics presented in theprogramme. There is an apparent demand notonly to meet geographical needs, but also to add-ress all levels of education. The most poignantcomment, from a correspondence educator, high-lights the concern that correspondence educationno longer seems to have a place in distance educa-tion meetings and asserts that this is unwarrantedand unwise.

Structure of sessions

This category is of major concern and provokedcomment from the majority of respondents. Com-ments overwhelmingly indicate that the parallelsessions were too many and time allotted for pres-entations was too short. More important, presen-ters were not informed ahead of the conference ofthe time available for their presentation, or whenit was to be give.: Some concerns in this area havebeen addressed above in the section on pre-pro-gramme communications. It is clear that the pro-gramme of the conference, including abstracts ofpapers to be presented, should be sent to dele-

1 c

gates along with general information, provideddelegates have registered by a clearly specifiedcut-off date.

Session chairs

A number of respondents commented on sessionchairpersons. Whether perceptions were nega-tive or positive, delegates do identify the greatimportance of the function in ensuring well run,satisfying sessions.

Demonstration session

While respondents had little comment on thedemonstrations available at the conference, theydid express their desire for such sessions in thefuture.

Broady Lecture

The few comments received on the Broady Lec-ture were unequivocally positive.

Conference book

Respondents' comments on the conference bookwere favourable in general, although a few pointup deficiencies such as the lack of a table of con-tents, index or abstracts.

Regional meetings

Very few commented on the regional meetings.The message appears to be that these are not par-ticularly well-integrated with the conference pro-gramme.

Conclusions for part D

The programme of the 14th ICDE World Confer-ence presL nted three major problems. First, dele-gates and presenters were not informed about theprogramme's contents and operation before arriv-ing at the venue. Second, the number of papersand, accordingly, the amount of time available forpresentations had a significant impact on theintellectual level of the conference. Finally, thereis a clear message to the ICDE to deal more thor-oughly with all levels of education.

There are two apparently conflicting themesrunning through the comments proferred byrespondents to the evaluation summary. One asksfor greater intimacy and interaction. The otherdemands a higher intellectual level of present-ations and an overall increase in professionalism.The themes are in fact not contradictory, but theydo presume much more rigour in designing futureICDE conferences. In a sense, this is a challengeto all distance educators. Those who perceive theneed to include a particular topic in the pro-gramme, or a requirement to define an interactivesession, may well be the ones to provide them. Atthe same time, ICDE policy makers and opera-tional staff must ensure that members' commentsare heeded and acted on. As a result of this evalu-ation process, the 15th ICDE World Conferencewill incorporate a number of changes.

3.9

UNESCO ICDE Round Table ReportPermanent Secretariat

Introduction

The Unesco-ICDE Round Table, held in the con-text of the 14th ICDE World Conference, broughttogether two organizations which have played keyroles in transforming education. Unesco's role inthe development of distance education goes backto at least 1969 when the ICDE became affiliatedwith Unesco as a Catergory B non-governmentalorganization. Until the early 1980s, Unesco pro-vided financial assistance toward publishing theICCE Newsletter which was to become the ICDEBulletin in 1982. Unesco has also provided travelgrants for delegates to ICDE conferences and dis-tributes the Bulletin. Collaboration between thetwo organizations has continued with a Unesco-sponsored consultation of higher level distanceeducation held at Deakin University, Australia, in1987. Currently, Unesco is providing financialsupport for an ICDE-International Centre forDistance Learning (ICDL) survey of resources ininternational distance education and the compila-tion of these findings in the form of a database.

Unesco has been active in distance educationdevelopment on a variety of fronts. The Asia andthe Pacific Programme of Educational Innovationfor Development (APEID), operating fromUnesco's Principal Office in Asia and the Pacific(PROAP) in Bangkok, has given rise to a largenumber of regional seminars and publications.Unesco also supports the publication of NeverToo Far: A Newsletter for Distance Education,published by Sukhothai Thammathirat OpenUniversity of Thailand and the series of mono-graphs on educational technology by TVOntarioin Canada. Finally, Unesco provides direct sup-port to distance teaching initiatives around theworld.

The Unesco-ICDE Round Table broughttogether a group of eminent distance educatorsrepresenting all global regions, a range of distanceteaching institutions, and regional and nationaldistance education associations. The task at handwas to consider higher level distance educationand the needs of developing countries, discuss

these issues with Unesco representatives andmake recommendations on how Unesco andICDE can best cooperate to address priorityneeds in the biennium, 1988-89, and underUnesco's third Medium Term Plan, 1990-95. TheRound Table also served the purpose of introduc-ing recent ICDE changes, for example the estab-lishment of our Permanent Secretariat and inten-tion to become more actively involved indevelopment, to Unesco, The Round Table hasresulted in the publication of Unesco Papers onHigher Education 28: Higher Level DistanceEducation and the Needs of Developing Count-ries.

Format of the Round Table

Venue: University of Oslo, Blindern Campus,Oslo, Norway

Date: 13 August 1988Time: 1030 - 1300 h

Chair:

Agenda:

Dr. David Sewart, President, ICDE

1. Introduction: synopsis of the working docu-ment

2. Training needs: methods, strategies, experi-ences

3. Research needs: objectives, approaches, expe-riences

4. Resources/Methods: curriculum develop-ment, equipment and technology, documenta-tion and information sharing

5. Agents and roles: ICDE and Unesco

6. Conclusions: Check-list of priority action andrecommendations.

Following the conclusion of the Round Table,participants attended a luncheon hosted by the

4 . .

International Council for Distance Education atthe University of Oslo.

Summary Record and Recommendations

The following record and recommendations havebeen taken from unesco Papers on Higher Educa-tion 28: Higher Level Distance Education andthe Needs of Developing Countries with the kindpermission of Unesco

Introduction

The purpose of this Round Table was, firstly, toprovide coherent follow-up to the InternationalConsultation on Higher Distance Education heldat Deakin University, Victoria, Australia, Sep-tember 1987, which took stock of the status quoand studied the impact of technological develor-ments on higher level distance learning.

The Action Plan formulated at the meeting pro-posed that further analysis of training andresearch needs was urgently required; also, it wassuggested that the coordination of internationalefforts in higher level distance education wasnecessary, and that the ICDE, as well as theICDL, were the proper bodies to achieve this end.

In 1987, the ICDE established a PermanentSecretariat in Oslo, Norway, and has appointed aDirector for International Development with aview to drawing up a lodg-term rolling plan ofaction involving all regions of the world and theirrespective developmedt needs.

Moreover, the ICDL, situated at the Open Uni-versity, U.K., has developed its links with inter-national agencies: UNU, ICDE, Unesco, and theCommonwealth Secretariat. As a result, it is wellequipped to play a more important and technicalrole in the provision of information and docu-mentation services identified as a top priority atthe Deakin Meeting to all specialists and insti-tutions dealing with distance education.

Unesco is pursuing, as part of its programme inhigher education, the support and further devel-opment of higher level distance education whichrepresents an important aspect of innovatorytrends and, at the same time, enables higher edu-cation to meet the specific needs of society. Asdistance learning continues to expand at a briskpace. it is attracting even greater interest and sup-port in all regions of the world. Thus, the momentis ripe for three vital areas to be studied in order toclarify subsequent action:

i) the identification of training ant; research

d1

needs, particularly for developing countrieswhere distance learning has become a vitaleducational method;

ii) the provision of improved and efficient infor-mation services to enhance communicationand to facilitate the exchange of experiences,resources and documentation; and

iii) the role and functions of the coordinatingbody for international distance education,namely the ICDE, so as to ensure that a clearblue-print for its action may be drawn up anddiffused to its membas worldwide.

In presenting a synopsis of the working docu-ment, its author, Mr. Shannon Timmers, reviewedevolution in various as ects of distance learningincluding institutions, associations, collaboration,the application of technology, informationnetworking and data bases. All these elementsconstitute current trends which must be taken intoaccount when planning future activities.

Thus, the Round Table addressed itself to the taskof translating these needs into required action,chiefly through an identification of training andresearch needs and the roles of internationalagencies, which must contribute to the provisionof adequate solutions.

Training Needs

Training concerns a wide range of different targetpublics: e.g. academics, course designers/editors,media developers, administrators, student coun-sellors, trainers and evaluators/ researchers.Thus, there is a need to:

assure train..,; "in situ" so as to meet regionalvariations and requirements;

train indigenous trainers;

know the range of training materials andresources available;

train for non-formal distance education;

overcome linguistic barriers regarding theavailability and suitability of training materi-als;

train trainers in the applications of educationaltechnology which has a vital impact on coursedesign;

coordinate regional and international traininginitiatives so as to maximize resources andavoid duplication of efforts;

coordinate the development of generic train-ing materials with wide application; and

consider training when developing communic-ations/information networking systems fordistance education.

Research Needs

It was noted that considerable research is cur-rently being carried out world-wide. Also, as dis-tance learning continues to expand, especially inmixed-mode operations, the need for researchbecomes ever more imperative in order to evalu-ate initiatives. As funding is a key problem, avail-able resources tend to be directed firstly towardstraining; while this is understandable, the empha-sis of research must be strengthened as the resultsof investigations must inevitably influence deve-lopments and innovations related to training.

The following needs were identified:

a perceived need to research and evaluategraduate distance education, especially indeveloping countries, has been observed;

research on the impact of multi-media (print,'IV, radio, computer technology) continues tobe necessary as technical advances are on-going;

research on cost-effectiveness, though wellunderway, needs to be maintained and ad-vanced so as to provide comparable data;

research on the quality of materials should becontinued to compare different experiences;

research on student profiles is needed;

research on L:5efulness of higher distance edu-cation degrees and diplomas with regard tomanpower needs is required; research on thepedagogics of higher distance learning isneeded.

research on motivation of students involved inhigher distance learning courses is necessary;

research in specific groups of learners: women,handicapped, older students and workersshould b 'indertaken;

research on the needs of higher distance learn-ing in rural contexts and its contribution tonational development is important;

research on the evaluation of higher distanceeducation is required: criteria, methods, com-parison of results and evaluation models;

I 40

comparative research on and the definition ofdrop-out rates is desirable;

research may best be offered by practitionersthemselves, thereby ensuring low costs andaccurate investigation;

applied and strategic research experiments areparticularly important components in order toknow more about higher distance learning;and

research should be considered when develop-!:,F communications/information networkingsystems for distance education.

Recommendations for the Role of InternationalAgencies

They may provide support as follows:

'.. Training

he provision of training by means of intensiveregional and international seminars, scholar-ships, study tours and consultancy services;and

the coordination and wide dissemination ofinformation on training: courses, consultants,materials, innovative experiments and evalua-tion techniques.

In this respect, resource "maps" indicating train-ing action and specialists available on an interna-tional scale are top priorities. To some extent, thepresent international survey on higher distanceeducation resources, commissioned by Unescoand being implemented by ICDE through theICDL, will provide a first step for future informa-ion gathering and diffusion.

B. Research

the establishment of a global research plan,first identified as a priority by the 1987 Deakinconsultation, could now be feasibly esta-blished and directed by the ICDE with supportfrom other international agencies;

an inventory of current research projects couldalso be a very useful initiative (this may becovered, to some extent, by the updatedUNESCO/ICDE/ICDL survey which willask insitutions to list research interests);

research should be closely !inked to the priorit-ies of international agencies. cl.g. the 3rdMedium Term Plan (1989-91) of Unesco,including the areas of literacy and life long

42

learning; and UNDP's country developmentprogrammes. In this way, applied and strategicresearch are able to make a specific contribu-tion to the development of education;

ICDF is considering the establishment of aspecific Research Committee to monitor expe-riences worldwide and disseminate results;and

ICDE could, with support from its interna-tional partners, consider the publication of anabstract of currently available research experi-ences which would help planners and trainersin higher distance education.

Condusion

The Unesco-ICDE Round Table, "Higher LevelDistance Education and the Needs of DevelopingCountries", highlighted the pressing need forenhanced coordination of distance educationactivities world-wide, particulary with refererveto training and research. A starting point for train-ing coordination presumes that ICDE will shortlyundertake to generate basic descriptions of bothtraining needs and resources on a region-by-region basis. Similar information is requiredabout research activities and the resources whichsupport them. The goal of collecting and dissemi-nating such data is to heighten awareness of simi-lar needs and activities wherever they are occurr-ing and, ultimately, to apportion more effectivelythe financial support available for them. Theseissues are being considered in preparing ICDE'slong-term development plan.The ICDE is especially grateful to the participantsof this Round Table, both representatives of theCouncil and Unesco, as well as observers, whocontributed to the session. The ICDE proposes toaugment its normal liaison and contractural acti-vities with Unesco by incorporating meetings likethis Round Table in future world conferences.

Round Table Participants

List of participants representing ICDE:

Chairman:

Africa:

Arab countries:

Asia:

Dr. David Sewart, Presi-dent, the InternationalCouncil for Distance Edu-cation

Ms. Lara Euler-Ajayi, Fed-eral Ministry of Education,Nigeria

Dr. Walid Kamhawi, Presi-dent, al-Quds Open Uni-versity, Jordan

Dr. lam Chaya-Ngam, Rec-tor, Sukhothai Thammathi-rat Open University, Thai-land

Australia andthe Pacific:

Europe:

Dr. Mavis Kelly, President,Australia and South PacificExternal Studies Associa-tion, Australia

Dr. Horst Male, KarlMarx University, GermanDemocratic Republic

Mr. Reidar Roll, ExecutiveDirector, Norwegian Asso-ciation for Distance Educa-tion and Secretary General,ICDE

Latin America: Mr. Andres H. Joseph,Argentina

North America:

Dr. Armando Villarroel,Vice Rector for AcademicAffairs, UniversidadNacional Abierta, Venezu-ela

Ms. Marian Croft, Directorof Continuing Education,Laurentian University,Canada

Dr. John S. Daniel, Presi-dent, Laurentian Univers-ity, Canada, and Chairman,the Commonwealth Dis-tance Learning Project

Exec. Committee: Mr. Kevin Smith, Past Pre-sident, ICDE

Perm. Sec.: Mr. Shannon F. Timmers,Director, Internzaional Pro-gramme Development,ICDE

List of participants representing UNESCO:

.vIs. Mary-Louise Kearney

Mr. Herbert Marchl

List of observers:

43

Ms. Sissel Volan, NORAD,Norway

Ms. Teresa Gilbert, UNED,Spain

Mr. Paul Thyness, UNDP

Dr. Hilary Perraton, Com-monwealth Secretariat

Dr. G. T. Leibbrandt,Netherlands UNESCOCommission

International and Donor BodiesRound Table Report

Permanent SecretariatIntroduction

The International Council for Distance Educa-tion (ICDE) held its 14th World Conference from9-16 August, 1988, in Oslo, Norway. This con-ference marked not only the 50th anniversary ofthe Council, but also the establishment of the firstICDE Permanent Secretariat in Oslo. On August11, 1988, a Round Table entitled "Distance Edu-cation and Access to Learning in the Nineties: theRole of International and Donor Bodies" washeld ^t the conference venue for invited represen-tatives of such bodies and members of the ICDEExecutive Committee and Permanent Secretariatstaff.

The stated purpose of the Round Table was two-fold: 1) to introduce the ICDE to invited repre-sentatives and to outline the intended activities ofthe Council and its Permanent Secretariat; and2) to take recommendations from invited repre-sentatives to assist the Council and its PermanentSecretariat in further clarifying its goals, missionand activity plan.

Those associated with the ICDE viewed thisRound Table as significant and timely. There hadnot previously been a large scale meeting ofsuch bodies on the topic of distance education,alth ough many sponsor or participate in relatedmeetings, seminars and workshops. As well,many of the invited bodies directly or indirectlysupport the operations of regional and nationalassociations affiliated with the ICDE, or havemade major contributions in support of the devel-opment of distance education. With the establish-ment of the ICDE Permanent Secretariat, and astated intention of the Council to become moreinvolved in international development work at alllevels of education, the ICDE was interested tosolicit advice and recommendations from sessionparticipants on key issues which the Council willaddress in the coming years.

42

Format of the Round Table

Venue : University of Oslo, Blindern Campus,Oslo, Norway

Date : 11 August 1988Time : 1200 1545 h

Chair : Shannon Timmers, ICDE PermanentSecretariat

Keynote speakers: John Daniel, LaurentianUniversity, Canada

"Collaboration in DistanceEducation"

Janet Jenkins, InternationalExtension College, U.K.

"Training Needs in DistanceEducation"

Keith Harry, InternationalCentre for Distance Learn-ing, U.K.

"Information and Networksin Distance Education"

Rapporteurs: Rigmor Jaunsaras, ICDEPermanent Secretariat, andDavid Sewart, The OpenUniversity, U.K.

Following a luncheon for invited representativeshosted by the ICDE, the three keynote speakerseach presented a short discourse on importanttopics in worldwide distance education. Eachpresentation was followed by an animated quest-ion and answer period during which invitees clari-fied their organizational priorities and operations,and offered recommendations and advice to rep-resentatives of the ICDE. A synopsis of the key-note presentations and recommendations fol-lows.

4 4

Collaboration in Distance Education

As a form of education that is not tied to the inter-vention of individual teachers in a classroom butmore to the availability of materials and media,distance education lends itself readily to inter-national cooperative ventures. Such ventureshave included the establishment of distance edu-cation associations at the national, regional andinternational levels, various multi-national con-sortia for fostering the development of learningprogrammes and materials, the transfer ofexpertise and technology, and for establishingresearch networks, and numerous bilateral pro-jects involving interaction between distanceteaching institutions.

After a slow start in the 1960s and 1970s, the paceof cooperation in distance education is accelerat-ing. A basic infrastructure is provided by theInternational Council for Distance Education(ICDE) and increasingly active regional associ-ations such as the African Association for Dis-tance Education (AADE) and Australian andSouth Pacific External Studies Association(ASPESA). In the past two years the Asian Asso-ciation of Open Universities (AAOU) and Euro-pean Association of Distance Teaching Universit-ies (EADTU) have been established, andpreliminary discussions are underway to establishsimilar associations in North and South America.

Joint ventures between institutions are a growingfeature of the international scene. One initiative,the Open College of the University of East Asia,which will be the basis for the new Hong KongOpen Learning Institute, has based its pro-gramme entirely on the use of courses from otherinstitutions around the world. Disted Services ofMalaysia collaborates with distance teaching col-leges and universities in England, North Americaand Australia to provide programmes for SouthEast Asian learners. In North America, new con-sortia such as the National Technological Uni-versity and Electronic University provideexpanded access to learners in both the privateand public sectors.

1988 saw the launching of two multilateral pro-jects whose aim is to increase the impact of dis-tance education on human resource developmentin the less-developed countries. These are theCentre International Francophone pour la For-rprition a Distance ( CI FFA D), and the Common-wea!t' 1 of Learning. The latter, a network ofregional units and institutions with its headquar-ters in Vancouver, Canada, will promote institu-tional development and sharing of distance teach-ing materials. As a result of these developmentsthe 1990s will see increasing numbers of multi-national distance education programmes.

The ICDE, as a result of the establishment of itsfirst Permanent Secretariat, and with a funda-mental decision to take an active role in inter-national development, will function as a catalystfor collaboration. ICDE World Conferences havebeen identified as an important mechanism toassist with the development of regional distanceeducation: accordingly, these events will be heldwith greater frequency and in ,leveloping regions.Venezuela and Thailand will nost the 1990 and1992 ICDE World Conferences, respectively.

Recommendations

The ICDE was identified as filling a key role infacilitating collaboration, not only between dis-tance teaching institutions and individual practi-tioners, but also between international and donorbodies and the field of distance education. In gen-eral, the ICDE should:

1. Identify specific and general needs in world-wide distance education to facilitate appropri-ate matching of needs to available financialand human resources;

2. Identify, classify and coordinate available dis-tance education expertise;

3. Facilitate distance education project design,implementation and evaluation; and

4. Develop mechanisms such as distance educat-ion networks to increase information flowbetween distance educators and internationaland donor bodies.

Training Needs in Distance Education

Distance education has expanded rapidly in thelast decade, in the number of institutions teachingeither entirely or partially in the distance mode,students enrolled in programmes and courses,and practitioners employed at all levels of opera-tion. The speed of technological change has accel-erated at the same time. All these factors play arole in increasing the need for extensive, well-designed training programmes. Educators fromdeveloping countries regularly express a stronginterest in training the staff of distance teachinginstitutions. The kinds of needs are expressedbelow; institutions in developed countries havesimilar needs, though these are not addressedhere.

All staff new to distance education benefit froman orientation programme; other topics are spe-cific to different jobs. Training should be availablefor both full time and part time professional staff.Those involved in course development, such as

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writers, editors, graphic designers and audio andvideo producers need skills in course planning,development and production,as well as an under-standing of how to combine and integrate teach-ing media.

Tutors need to develop skills of correspondenceteaching, leading seminars, counselling, tele-phone tuition and audio conferencing. Adminis-trators (both central and regional) need skills inthe planning and management of distance educa-tion, the development of delivery systems and thedesign and development of student supportsystems. Researchers concerned with both courseand institutional evaluation need to learn appro-priate research and evaluation techniques.

Training programmes for any of these categoriesof staff thus need to provide staff with knowledgeabout distance education and the skills necessaryfor their particular role; it is also desirable to helpnewcomers to develop a commitment to this formof education.

A variety of training approaches is currently used.Many institutions provide regular, multi-purposetraining with a particular focus on materialsdevelopment. Many such training programmeshave operated in part with international assist-ance, for example at Indira Gandhi NationalOpen University, India, Universitas Terbuka,Indonesia, and the University of Nairobi, Kenya.There are few training programmes relating tospecific subject areas. One notable example istraining courses in distance education techniquesfor health personnel, offered by the African Med-ical Research Foundation in Kenya for peoplefrom East African countries.

Regional programmes for training distance edu-cators are also in short supply. However, theUnesco Asian network for innovations in educat-ion has conducted a long-running series ofregional training workshops, and the Universityof Nairobi, supported by a German foundation,runs regular training in text development for par-ticipants from the region. At the internationallevel, a few courses have been designed for aninternational clientele and are particularly suitedto distance educators from developing countries.The University of London, in conjunction withthe International Extension College, offers both aMasters course in educational planning anddevelopment, and a four-month intensive coursein distal& teaching for developing countries. TheU.K. Open University provides training coursesin educational tele-vision, and a number of Britishand North American universities offer post-grad-uate courses in educational technology or similarsubjects containing elements of distance educat-ion.

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Recently, distance education training has beenoffered by distance teaching means. Indic 1Gandhi National Open University now offersIndian residents a diplomacourse in distance edu-cation, while both diploma and Masters courses indistance education will be available shortly asUniversity of London external degrees. TheSouth Australian College of Advanced Educa-tion recently made its distance education diplomaavailable internationally, and two courses incorrespondence education are available inEurope, one offered by the Association of Euro-pean Correspondence Schools and the other byFernuniversitat of West Germany.

While there is a range of training activities nowunderway, it does not meet nearly all the needsindicated earlier. Both the ICDE and interna-tional and donor bodies can assist in the devel-opment of this important area by supporting: 1)institutional staff development plans; 2) trainingof trainers through regional and internationalprogrammes; 3) training at a distance throughsupport of course development initiatives and byproviding scholarships for students; 4) inter-insti-tutional collaboration in providing training andsharing expertise; and 5) the development ofregional training.

Recommendations

It is evident that the need for training in distanceeducation presents a problem of growing proport-ions. The ICDE can facilitate the provision andcoordination of training in the following ways:

1. Identify specific and general training needsand the availability of financial and humanresources to meet them through the use ofresource maps, guides and inventories;

2. Facilitate linkages and communicationsbetween those most active in providing train-ing;

3. Define or identify training regimens andmaterials of a generic and widely applicablenature; and

4. Stimulate the provision of distance educationtraining in regions where the greatest needexists.

Information and Networks in DistanceEducation

As distance education has evolved and expanded,both the amount of information, and the need anddesire to transmit it, have grown as well. Themajor sources of information are: 1) courses,

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handbooks, prospectuses and other publicationsproduced for students; 2) manuals produced forstaff, for example guides to teaching and for pro-ducing materials; 3) theses and unpublished orsemi-published research reports; 4) conferencepapers, journal articles, books and studies; and 5)bibiographic, institutional and course-baseddatabases.

Information users include distant students, stafffrom both conventional and distance teachinginstitutions, including planners, course writers,tutors, administrators, media specialists,researchers and postgraduate students, and

inagers and project implementers from inter-national organizations and governments. Whilesome information users have access to a wide var-iety of communications devices (including per-sonal visits, mail, telephone, telex, fax and com-puter-mediated systems such as electronic mail,conferencing and on-line access to databases),many are limited; therefore, information suppli-ers must use the most effective and economicalmeans of transmission depending on the locationand facilities of the recipient

There are a number of information networkinginitiatives currently underway. With funding pro-vided by Unesco, the International Centre forDistance Learning (ICDL), located at the OpenUniversity in the U.K., is now undertaking for theICDE a worldwide survey of information anddocumentation resources on distance education.The recently established Commonwealth ofLearning will also use the ICDL to provide Com-monwealth-wide information services and,finally, the Asian Association of Open Universit-ies will establish a resource centre in Bangkok onthe campus of the Sukhothai Thammathirat OpenUniversity.

A number of distance teaching institutions havesignificant collections of documentation on dis-tance education, some maintained separately,most as part of a general library collection: theseinclude the International Extension College,U.K.; the Deutsches Institut furFemstudien, WestGermany; the Open Learning Agency, Canada;the Universidad Estatal a Distancia, Costa Rica;and Deakin University, Australia. The majorbibliographic database on the literature of dis-tance education is at the International Centre forDistance Learning, the largest documentationcentre of its kind, which is also updating its data-base of basic information on distance teachinginstitutions. The most notable computer-basedcommunications network linking practitioners indistance education, as well as in other fields, isAOLIN, the Australian On-Line InformationNetwork.

One might well ask what form of distance educat-ion information network should exist, given pres-ent demands. The Commonwealth of Learning, itappears, will base its information activity upon aseries of regional centres, whose specific activitieshave not yet been identified, but which it is antic-ipated will collect and disseminate informationprimarily within their local regions. The ICDLwill coordinate the exchange of information andwill investigate the possibility of establishing adocument supply centre. The Commonwealth ofLearning activity may provide a stimulus to insti-tutions and organizations outside the Common-wealth to becomc part of a wider network. Accor-dingly, the International Council for DistanceEducation has a significant role to play in identify-ing specific areas for development.

Recommendations

Information flow in distance education is seen asfundamental to greater collaboration and moreeffective resource utilization. As the internationalbody for distance education, the ICDE should:

1. Identify and communicate information needsand resources to users in the distance educa-tion field and to international and donor bod-ies;

2. Collaborate with organizations addressingdistance education information networks indefining both users' needs and structures andsystems for meeting them;

3. Stimulate the development of informationnetworks through the identification of appro-priate sites for communication; and

4. Facilitate the application of financial andhuman resources for information managementin regions where the greatest need exists.

Conclusion

The representatives of the ICDE greatly appreci-ate the comments and observations of invitedguests to the international and donor bodiesround table session. Some of the recommend-ations arising have already been acted on, forexample the ICDL and ICDE are collaborating toidentify information and documentationresources in worldwide distance education. Otherrecommendations will play a role in the formula-tion of an overall ICDE development plan, sche-duled to be completed and distributed beforemid-1989 to all those with an interest in develop-ing distance education.

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One mechanism available to the ICDE to pro-mote the development of regional infrastructuresin distance education is the placement of ICDEWorld Conferences. Accordingly, the 15th WorldConference will be hosted by Venezuela from4-11 November, 1990. This is the first such eventto be held in Latin America and the conferencewill be conducted in both Spanish and English.Thailand will play host for the 16th World Con-ference in 1992. It is ICDE's hope that consult-ations between the Council and interested inter-national and donor bodies can become a regularfeature of these important gatherings of world-wide distance educators.

Round Table Participants

Clifford Block

A.B. Edington

Arturo Garzon

Sven Holmsen

Bobbi Kamil

Gottfried Leibbrandt

Herbert Marchl

Christine Mc Nab

Hilary Perraton

Paul Thyness

Michel Umbriaco

Sissel Volan

United States Agency forInternational Develop-ment (USAID)

British Council

Organization of AmericanStates (OAS)

Norwegian DevelopmentAgency (NORAD)

Annenberg/CPB Project,U.S.A.

Netherlands UNESCOCommission

UNESCO

Swedish InternationalDevelopment Agency(SIDA)

Commonwealth Secretar-iat and the Commonwealth Fund for TechnicalCooperation (CFTC)

United Nations Develop-ment Programme(UNDP)

Ministry of Communic-ations, Canada

Norwegian DevelopmentAgency (NORAD)

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