Anne A'Herran (anne.aherran@jcu.edu.au)
Thu, 7 Oct 1999 12:13:34 +0000
Date: Thu, 7 Oct 1999 12:13:34 +0000 From: "Anne A'Herran" <anne.aherran@jcu.edu.au> Subject: Re: IFETS-DISCUSS Digest - 2 Oct 1999 to 5 Oct 1999
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Greetings,
I'm responding to parts of Alan Holzl's paper and his last posting.
Allan wrote:
I do not believe that education should be treated as a commodity, "which
can be used competitively in a global educational market." I also believe
that the assumption that we can develop educational materials for a home
audience and then market them around the world, particularly into Asia, is
seriously flawed. For a start, it represents a typical Western arrogance
towards our own culture as compared with the cultures of other nations. It
is the same combination of ignorance and arrogance which could be seen in
overseas aid programs which would send computers to a country where
electricity was rare or send tins of pork as food aid to a Muslim country.
If we really want to market educational services to a particular country
then we need to take account of the culture and needs of that particular
country.
And again
I would be very interested in hearing from those Asian countries which have
been targeted as potential consumers of the online education programs which
we are going to design for our own culture and then deliver to them. Do
they feel it is a form of cultural imperialism or do they welcome the
additional opportunities they provide to improve the quality and quantity
of educational programs available to their citizens?
I am not from one of the Asian countries Alan mentions, but I can make some
observations.
The assumption "we can develop educational materials for a home audience
and then market them around the world, particularly into Asia, " is flawed
primarily because it leans heavily on old notions of learning.
Instructional design - design for learning - has come a long way from
content transmission.
Much of the online learning material heading out of Australia is
commissioned by institutions with their own idea of course requirements and
a firm sense of their own cultural sensibilities. Any institutions anywhere
needing online learning materials should specify content and compliance
with cultural sensibilities as part of the design brief, rather than accept
an off-the-shelf product. But it's not just a case of caveat emptor. The
first phase of the design of learning materials is needs analysis and good
course design doesn't impose content on the learner. A good instructional
designer works with content sources to ensure effective learning. An
"overseas aid program which sends computers to a country where electricity
was rare or Š tins of pork as food aid to a Muslim country" is not only
"ignorance and arrogance". It's shocking needs analysis.
Alan wrote:
<I do not believe that education should be treated as a commodity, "which
can be <used competitively in a global educational market."
As clothing and footwear are pushed offshore we cling to the idea of 'mind'
industries which will replace manufacturing. It is fashionable in Australia
to regard IT skills as our province unassailable in the global market
assault, a view promoted by Barry Jones in Sleepers Wake! (Jones, B.
Sleepers Wake! Oxford 1995 p. 5) and popularly by journalists (Kelly, P.
The Australian 10/9/97). The view is reassuring and shortsighted as many
IT skills for example programming are as cheap offshore as shoes. Most IT
skills are like TCF and other manufactured goods, no more than commodities
in the new market.
Online learning materials in English can be seen as a commodity, an IT
product, the vehicle for educational content. And courseware development is
an IT expertise in which Australia could lead, because of our English
language facility. If we look upon online courseware as product, English is
a production tool. For better or worse it is a globally dominant and
irrepressibly colonising language, it is the preferred language of
education in many countries and it is the dominant language of the Internet
(Crystal, D. English as a Global Language CUP 1997).
Given the Anglo-centric nature of the Internet and our skills in training
online, Australian courseware developers are well positioned to compete for
Internet readership and Internet learners. Competition carries an economic
presumption: in response to buyers and in the quest for profit, successful
sellers eventually find it necessary to ensure quality in production, and
to meet the needs of the market.
Alan wrote:
<If I may continue the comparison with international aid, it is better to
provide >services which teach a country to grow their own food
The obvious parallel is to look for opportunities to share our skills in
online course development / instructional design.
(Does a successful company with a strong niche market give away its product
formula?)
Anne A'Herran
WWW Education Development Adviser
Teaching & Staff Development Program
ACADEMIC SUPPORT DIVISION
James Cook University Townsville QLD 4811 AUSTRALIA
Tel.: +6 1 74781 6239 Fax: +6 1 74781 4018
Email: anne.aherran@jcu.edu.au
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