Universidad sin Clases. Educación a distancia e América Latina, Miguel Casas Armengol. Serie Los nuevos problemas educativos. Universidad Nacional Abierta, 1986. 341 pages. |
VOL. 5, No. 2, 93-95
That a book published in Venezuela in 1986 should be reviewed now for Canadian readers may surprise a little. However, it is timely to do so in the context of "CREAD," the consortium-distance education network recently created by the Inter-American Organization for Higher Education. Enough interest is being generated in the development of collaborative projects between Canadian and American institutions on the one hand and Latin American institutions on the other, that Canadian practitioners of distance education would want to inform themselves on the views, knowledge, and experience in this field of their Latin American counterparts and potential partners.
Dr. Casas Armengol's experience in university level distance education transcends the Latin American context. A graduate of Stanford University, a member of the International Council on Distance Education, and the author of numerous publications in the field, he has developed courses for the British Open University and is thoroughly familiar with distance education developments in Western Europe, Canada, and the United States, as well as in Latin America and, more particularly, in Venezuela, where he served as the first Rector of the National Open University (UNA).
This volume, published by the National Open University of Venezuela, represents an effort to define the principles, theories, and innovative methodologies of distance education. It is based on the experience of the two previous decades and on the work done by a number of individuals, both theoreticians and practitioners. It is also, more specifically, an invitation to go beyond the present and to reflect upon future possibilities for distance education.
The experience and the ground covered are familiar. The author describes the characteristics of what, for lack of a better word, he calls "nontraditional" education: part-time learning, learning at a distance, open learning, and off-campus studies, with the (usually adult) students being, for the most part, responsible for initiating their studies and controlling their pace and progress. He traces the evolution of this non-traditional education from the original university extension programs to the present instructional alternative of offering academic and professional education to off-campus students. Finally, he acknowledges the ambivalent progression of the academic community's initial resistance to, and eventual acceptance of, these programs.
The book consists of twelve chapters grouped into four sections which consider in turn: (1) the features, basics, and justification of delivering higher education at a distance in Latin America; (2) the structure and operation of the delivery systems; (3) matters of economy and technological innovations; and (4) comparisons between traditional and non-traditional systems. The advances in communications and modern technology serve as a backdrop to the central theme of the book, which is the characterization of higher education at a distance and its possible future uses and applications, particularly in Latin America.
The main section of the book relates to delivery systems. It addresses the distinctive aspects of the "systemic concept" adopted by the majority of distance education universities, whether small or large scale institutions. The author describes five models, based on the institutions' approach to providing support systems for the essential functions of registering, teaching, examining, and accrediting students. Foremost among these models is that which includes large, autonomous universities established specifically for distance education students, where instruction, evaluation, and accreditation constitute integrated functions, e.g., the British Open University, Allama Iqbal Open University of Pakistan, Athabasca University, and the open universities of Israel, West Germany, Spain, Costa Rica, and Venezuela.
Casas Armengol then describes in detail various systems, concentrating on the interrelation of their administrative and academic components, and the type of planning required: normative; strategic, and operational; or tactical, leading to a dynamic, multiphased, and multidimensional process.
He reviews the theories on which are based the structures and systemic processes of distance education and describes three such systems: the first is the one which served as a basis for the establishment of his own institution, the UNA of Venezuela; the second is the one proposed by Kaye in 1981 (Distance Teaching for Higher and Adult Education, Kaye and Rumble, editors); and the model proposed by Cruz in 1982 (Jaime Rincón Cruz, La Construcción de un Sistema de Educación a Distancia, SENA, Bogota).
The book is highly theoretical and, in spite of specific references to the major Spanish-speaking distance education universities of Venezuela (UNA), Costa Rica (UNED), and Spain (UNED), certainly goes far beyond the geographical boundaries implied in the subtitle. It is undoubtedly a text for specialists, extensively researched and referenced, and somewhat overwhelming with its scholarship and its abundance of tables (40) and figures (34), usually hand drawn and written, sometimes reproduced from other works (Kaye's for instance). On the other hand (and one recognizes here the experience of the writer knowledgeable in course design), each chapter is preceded by an introduction and followed with a summary, both on bright yellow paper for quick identification, the inclusion of which makes the book infinitely more approachable to those readers interested in the gist of the text, but not overly anxious to follow the author into the minutiae of a very thorough work.
Monique Layton
Centre for Distance Education
Simon Fraser University
Burnaby, B.C. V5A 1S6
CANADA