Contemporary Issues in American Distance Education, Michael G. Moore, (Ed.) Oxford and New York: Pergamon Press, 1990, 419 pages. |
VOL. 7, No. 1, 115-117
In his introduction to this collection of essays on American distance education, Michael Moore notes that although distance education in the United States has had a long history, this has not been matched in length, extent, or quality by research or even by the descriptive literature. The primary purpose of this work is, thus, to begin to rectify this shortcoming (pp. xii–xiii) and, further, to reduce "the gap between...[our] knowledge and its application to our educational problems" (p. xxvi). To achieve this aim, he and his colleagues have produced a four part book covering most aspects of contemporary distance education in the United States. These parts examine, first, the institutional contexts, administration, and organization of distance education; second, the learner, learning, instruction, and learner support; third, course design and instruction; and fourth, theory, policy, and research in distance education. In the first and last of these, contributions are not restricted to developments in the United States for here, quite appropriately, wider questions related to distance education in general are dealt with.
As one would expect from one who has for long been preoccupied with the attempt to provide a definition of distance education, Michael Moore begins with a working definition as follows: distance education consists of all arrangements for providing instruction through print or electronic communications media to persons engaged in planned learning in a place or time different from that of the instructor or instructors" (p. xv). He believes - as do all of us engaged in the practice of distance education - that this is a major means to bridge "the gap that exists in America - as it does in every country - between educational needs and provision."
From this basis, Moore and his colleagues, who presented the papers reproduced here at the First American Symposium on Research in Distance Education at Pennsylvania State University in 1988, tackle the problem he sets out in his introduction. The results are uneven and disappointing; but, in fairness to those who edited and contributed to this volume, one is obliged to follow this with the question, how could they be otherwise? There are as many ways of slicing this kind of pie as there are editors and reviewers who think themselves qualified to do the slicing.
Nevertheless, there are some items that require comment. Moore may claim justly that he has made a significant contribution to advancing our knowledge and understanding of distance education in the United States and, hence, in general. But there are a few essays here where the prose is muddy enough to deter all but the most determined reader and that, hence, make little or no contribution to elucidating the topics they discuss. Reviewing the subjects of the essays, one might ask what is happening in the western United States because there is precious little here that describes it: I think I know some of the answers to that question, but the reader of this collection cannot use it to find out. And, finally, do we need yet another pair of essays on the theory of distance education and the reconceptualization of distance education? I should have thought Moore's perfectly acceptable working definition might have precluded the first. But I was glad to find, when I reached the second, that we really did need it because Doug Shale might finally be moving us to the point where we can leave behind the lengthy discussion of the definition of distance education. He cites a couple of examples of activities in distance education programs and concludes by asking "Now, is this distance education? Does it matter?" (p. 343).
There are several essays that the reader should note particularly. Becky Duning's piece, "The literature of management" (pp. 30–43), has some interesting and stimulating comments about the management of distance education and of the place of distance education in higher education. In the same section, Marie Oberle's article on the National University Television Network (pp. 81–95) provides both a useful discussion of the subject and some pointers to the potential of NUTN for fostering the kind of research that the book as a whole seeks to encourage.
The heart of the collection, of course, is the two middle sections on learners and on instruction. The essays that compose them offer some good insights into work that is already being done as well as provocative suggestions for new research directions. In part two, one might mention particularly Dan Granger's essay, "Bridging distances to the individual learner" (pp. 163–171), Dee Brock on "Research needs for adult learners via television" (pp. 172–181), and Peter Cookson's review of studies of persistence in distance education (pp. 192–204). In part three, Gary Miller's piece, "Distance education and the curriculum: Dredging a new mainstream" (pp. 243–259). These are especially interesting contributions.
What this volume does do, in spite of the unevenness noted earlier, in spite of the inclusion of some essays that may be thought unnecessary, or in spite of the exclusion of others that might have been instructive, is to give a fascinating picture of the huge variety of distance education in the United States. In this, it is unique at least to this point. From it the reader gains much insight into the new and the continuing developments to which many American distance educators and others, in both the public and private sectors, are applying their considerable ingenuity. As such, this collection achieves the objectives that its editor set.
Ian Mugridge,
BC Open University
Open Learning Agency
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