VOL. 3, No. 2, 9-10

Dear Editor,

This is a response to a recent article (The Use of Educational Radio in Dev eloping Countries: Lessons from the Past by Ndubuisi Goodluck Nwaerondu and Gordon Thompson) that appeared in the Fall 1987 edition of the Journal of Distance Education.

Four years ago, as a student in the educational technology programme at Concordia University, I researched and wrote a paper entitled Designing a Distance Education Paradigm for Rural M exico. The paper looked at two uses of educational media in rural Mexico, Telesecundaria and Radio- primaria. The second example, I believe, relates to the article submitted by Nwaerondu and Thompson. Specifically, Radioprimaria is operating in one state (San Luis Potosi) and indeed may be the project that the authors referred to when they listed Mexico for literacy training and other programs. In any case, their point about the widespread availability of radio in developing countries would apply in this case; and from this perspective alone radio does represent an opportunity for the distribution of educational programming. However, what is called a success story in developed countries (e.g., Farm Radio Forum) does not always translate well when exported to outside situations. Looking deeper into what has happened with this particular project, Peter Spain, in his Ph.D. thesis entitled Radioprimaria in San Luis Potosi (1973), discovered several important weaknesses which should be noted in respect to the article on The Use of Educational Radio in Developing Countries.

Spain reported the following with respect to Radioprimaria:

• lack of supervision
• lack of organization
• radio programs were the same
• system differs widely from school to school because implementation is left to individual teachers
• lack of technical assistance relating to radio breakdowns
• emigration to cities. Clearly the widespread availability of radios in developing countries does not cover up the serious flaws inherent with the management of the system. In this particular case, the cart (radio) is placed before the driver (an instructional model). The one support I find lacking in this otherwise interesting and informative article is the instructional design model.

There are several instructional design models which could be used as a basis for the delivery of curriculum by radio. Principles of Instructional Design (Gagné & Briggs, 1979) provides the designer with a useful tool in its presentation of the Stages in Designing Instructional Systems. Developing a System for Audio-Teleconferencing Analysis (Kirby & Boak, 1987) offers another interesting possibility; and coincidentally, it precedes Educational Radio in Developing Countries (Nwaerondu & Thompson, 1987) in the Fall edition of the Journal of Distance Education.

Bernard Simand
NW Regional Office
Contact North
c/o Lakehead University

References

Gagné, R.M., & Briggs, L.J. (1979). Principles of instructional design (2nd ed.). New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.

Kirby, D., & Boak, C. (1987, Fall). Developing a system for audio-teleconferencing analysis (SATA). Journal of Distance Education, II (2), 31-42.

Nwaerondu, N.G., & Thompson, G. (1987, Fall). The use of educational radio in developing countries: Lessons from the past. Journal of Distance Education, II (2), 43-54.

Spain, P. (1973). Radioprimaria in San Luis Potosi. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Stanford University, California.