Computers and Typography edited by Rosemary Sassoon, Oxford, Intellect, 1993. ISBN: 1–871516–23–4

Barker, Philip

Benest, I.D.

Collis, Betty

Jacobs, Gabriel

Reynolds, Martin

Richards, Stephen

English

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Review of "B. Hodgson - Key terms and issues in open and distance learning"

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Au-J VOLUME 2 NUMBER 1to an accumulation of undeleted work fileswithin the directory holding the software(I had to delete these manually).However, despite the bugs and the inaccura-cies in the documentation, I still think that at£64-63 (including VAT, packing and deliv-ery), this fascinating educational product isgood value for money.Philip Barker, University of TeessideKey Terms and Issues in Open andDistance Learning by BarbaraHodgson, London, Kogan Page, 1993.ISBN: 0-7494-07107.This book began for me promisingly. First,the title itself, coming from an author at aninstitute highly active in both traditional andinnovative design and delivery of distanceeducation, suggested an up-to-date book thatwould reflect issues central to the field andalso the considerable work going on indistance and open learning in Europe overall.Then, the author's introduction, giving anoverview of different perspectives on openand distance learning, their shared as well astheir distinct characteristics, was well writtenand conceptually helpful. I hoped the bookcould become a useful resource.However, two warning signs soon arose. Thefirst was the lack of an index or any kind ofoverview of the content, no indication of thedescriptors used for entries, and no sort ofconceptual grouping of the entries. Onlyalphabetical order (and bold-faced termswithin entries, for cross-referencing) werethere to guide me. The first term was accessdevices followed by a page and a half ofdiscussion with cross-indexed terms: contentlists, summary, overview, objectives, index,glossary, headings, cross-references, advanceorganizers, pre-tests, and concept structurediagram. Once I read the entry, I could seethe logic of calling these access devices, butI never would have thought to go to an entryentitled access devices if I had wished to findout more about key issues with, say, conceptstructure diagrams being used in openlearning.The second warning sign came when I thentried to look up, via alphabetical order,various key issues that appear frequently indiscussions about distance and open learning,issues such as (among many) how to facili-tate co-operative work among learners at adistance or how to design just-in-time openlearning and the implications of this kind offlexibility for traditional distance education.I could find nothing that seemed to relate tothese and a number of other key issues.Perhaps it was the lack of an index oroverview that was preventing me fromfinding what was in the book. I decided toread it from cover to cover, and coded thecontent. I found four major orientations thattogether left me disappointed and frustrated.My general impressions, after my analysis,were that (a) this book was most focused onthe design of highly structured print materi-als for distance delivery where the assump-tion was that learners would generally workin isolation; (b> the little of what I see andhear as key issues in open and distancelearning in Europe circa 1993 are notrepresented in this book; (c) most of theentries for communication and informationtechnologies as tools and channels of dis-tance and open learning are unsatisfying; and(d) the book is unbalanced in its choice oftopics.The first point is the most far-reaching. Thebook appears to be written primarily fromthe perspective of the designer of structuredprint materials for distance delivery, where itis assumed that the designer, not the learner,is in essential control - that is, 'activities [...]are things you ask the learner to do ...' (p.19); 'an overview thus tells the learnerswhere they have been, where they are now,and not only where they are going but whythey are going there' (p. 88); and so on.Although this approach is certainly relevant77Reviewsfor some learning situations, it reflectsnothing of the major discussion now occur-ring about constructivist approaches tolearning or learner control. Also, the bookseems frequently to assume a model of thelearner working in isolation, generally onlywith the print materials ('since learnersusually have no one to turn to for clarifica-tion', p. 22). The awareness of the impor-tance of human interaction within thedistance and open-learning paradigm, andthe many strategies being used to includeinteraction as a key part of the distance-learning situation, does not seem to be a keyissue relative to this book, while I think it isone in practice and research.The coverage of key terms and issues withrespect to the use of and impact of communi-cations and information technologies indistance and open learning is particularlyunsatisfying. Sometimes what is included israther odd in its expression compared togeneral practice. For example,teleconferencing is described in a two-lineentry as 'a system for linking individuals totelephones. Very useful for telephone tutori-als' (p. 118). Audio conferencing, for whichthe above definition would be more accuratealthough still strange, and audiographicconferencing, have no entries at all, althoughthey are important channels for addinginteraction to distance learning in countriesthroughout the world. Instead of audioconferencing or audiographic conferencingthere are two strange entries, audio letter andaitdiovision, that describe techniques I havenot seen in current practice, nor certainlywould call key issues. Similarly, videoconferencing does not merit an entry al-though something called radiovision does.In addition to somewhat odd definitions,others relating to communication andinformation technologies seem not only outof date but uninformed. Computer drill andpractice is described as 'seldom givingfeedback to learners who make mistakes'(p. 26). Computer-marked assignments areintroduced by saying: 'all that is needed is atemplate that can be placed over a standard-ized answer form to reveal whether thelearner's coded responses are in the rightplace' (p. 28).Icons are described with an explanation thatmakes little sense: 'they [...] can signal, at aglance, the necessity for having to hand youraudio-cassette player or that you will beexpected to write something before the endof this particular section' (p. 59). Televisionis dismissed in 10 lines as an 'expensivemedium' (p. 119), despite its strategic andextensive use in distance education in manycountries, for example China and Turkey.And it is not only media-related terminologythat sometimes surprised me. How manypeople would look up the terms reflectiveaction guide, student stoppers or transform-ers? Agro-botany evaluation is a highlightedterm - who is going to look for that as a keyissue, especially when genuinely key issuessuch as criteria for cost-effectiveness evalua-tion are not mentioned? Without an index,how will the reader know that people withdisabilities has been chosen as a heading?The impression of imbalance I obtainedrelated not only to content but also toimplicit frames of reference. While some keyissues are represented minimally or not atall, others are over-represented. For example,entries relating to learner evaluation pre-dominate, with major headings that include:assessment, assignments, competence,computer-marked testing, evaluation,examinations, formative evaluation, in-textquestions, marking, norm-referenced assess-ment, objective tests, post-tests, pre-tests,self-assessment, and summative evaluation.Most of these are written in a introductoryway, such as one would expect in a reader forgeneral pre-service teacher training.With regard to frames of reference, those ofmany actors in the overall distance and open-learning setting are not represented at all.For instance, key issues facing administrators78ALT-J VOLUME 2 NUMBER 1in distance teaching organizations are notrepresented, neither are issues such as thoserelating to broadening access while main-taining quality or transferability of experi-ence and accreditation, nor issues relating tothe training of instructors to support theaddition of distance and open-learningoptions to their teaching. Some specificallyBritish references occur (for example,National Vocational Qualifications), but nohint is given of the extensive experiencesrelating to open and flexible learning that arehappening at the European or other interna-tional level, such as the DELTA Project, northe issues being discussed relative to thoseexperiences.On reflection, if the book had been titleddifferently, clearly indicating its orientation,and if it had provided an index or overview,my reaction would have been less negative.The book could more accurately be de-scribed as 'An Introduction to the Designand Validation of (Predominately) PrintMaterials for Structured Lesson SequencesOffered Via Distance Education Institutions'than by its actual title. With this forewarn-ing, I would have looked for different thingsand at a different level than the current titlerequired of me. Then I could have appreci-ated the detail about the construction of suchprint materials. The three pages, for exam-ple, under the heading in-text questionsinclude very useful guidelines if one is notwaiting for key issues to emerge somewhere.The discussions about learner characteristicsand learner profiles are good, if one is notexpecting also to find something about keyissues relating to group interaction at adistance.In summary, and in my opinion, the writingin this book about the instructional designaspects of (predominately) print materials forstructured lessons delivered at a distance isclear and good and helpful. In contrast, againin my opinion, the overall coverage of keyterms and issues in open and distancelearning is weak and unbalanced in selection.I would suggest an editing to take out thegenerally poor entries relating to media andcommunications and information technolo-gies, a revision of the title, the addition of anindex, and a re-presentation of the book as areference text for print-materials design forstructured lessons delivered at a distance.This latter topic is important, and the manyentries related to it in this book are relevantand helpful.Betty Collis, University of Twente, TheNetherlandsRethinking University Teaching - aFramework for the Effective Use ofEducational Technology by DianaLaurillard, London and New York,Routledge, 1993. ISBN: 0-41509288-4(hardback), 0-41509289-2 (paperback).Diana Laurillard begins her book with anaccount of her attendance at her very firstlecture as a student, one which will ringfamiliar bells for many of us:'With 199 other students I counted myselflucky that I was in the main lecture theatreand not in the overspill room receivingclosed circuit television. The lecturer wastalking formulae as he came in, and for fiftyminutes he scribbled them on the board as hetalked and we all scribbled more in a desper-ate attempt to keep up with his dictation.'She then goes on to recount what happenedin the first lecture she herself gave as ateacher: more or less the same thing. But thistime, a student asked a question at the end ofthe lecture which showed that nothing of ithad really been understood, either by thatstudent or, it soon emerged, by any of theothers listening and scribbling furiously.Laurillard says that she learned a great dealmore from that lecture than did the students.Thus she came to believe that universityteachers must take the main responsibilityfor what and how students learn. Now, givenwhat I say in partial defence of the tradi-79

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