L’introduction retrace brièvement l’histoire de cet appel, dont le titre était : « Quel rôle joue l’enseignement à distance dans la mise en œuvre du droit à l’éducation ? ». Elle est suivi du descriptif du thème de l’appel à contributions, puis des résumés des 44 articles retenus après la double évaluation d’usage conduite par chacune des six revues.

Copie d’écran d’une page du défunt site ww.distanceetdroitaleducation.org

Introduction (d’après l’éditorial de D&S-hors-série-2008)

Rappel du projet

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In 2007, Distances et savoirs, a reference journal on distance education for the French speaking community of researchers and practitioners, with researchers from Europe, Canada and Africa in its reading committee, initiated an original collaboration with five other academic journals from Northern and Southern America, Asia and Europe) focused on a common call for publication on the theme : “Distance learning and the right – or access – to education”. The French version of the call can be read in the following pages.

The aim of the project was to offer a set of references on that theme, from varied educational environments in the world, and to publish them in the anniversary year of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 2008. The present common website for all six journals is the result of that exceptional common endeavour.

Revues participantes

• Asian Journal of Distance Education: http://www.asianjde.org/

• Distances et savoirs, www.cned.fr/ds, http://ds.revuesonline.com

• EURODL : http://www.eurodl.org/

• IRRODL: http://www.irrodl.org/

• Journal of Asynchronous Learning Network: http://www.sloan-c.org/publications/jaln/

• Open Praxis : http://www.openpraxis.com/

Il s’est agi, pendant plus d’un an, pour Distances et savoirs comme pour les cinq autres revues, de susciter, mettre en valeur et faire connaître des travaux de recherche et des « bonnes pratiques » concernant le rôle que l’enseignement à distance joue actuellement, et qu’il pourrait tenir à l’avenir pour la jouissance du droit à l’éducation (et de la liberté qui en résulte) et pour répondre aux difficultés rencontrées pour la mise en œuvre de ce droit. L’appel à contributions est explicité ci-après.

Ces travaux ont ainsi constitué une référence commune internationale concernant l’enseignement à distance et la question universelle du droit à l’éducation.

Les articles présentés par Distances et savoirs sur ce site formaient un numéro « hors-série 2008 » de la revue. Ils abordaient des aspects très variés - juridiques, sociologiques, pédagogiques, technologiques, politiques - de la question principale :

Quel rôle joue l’enseignement à distance dans la mise en œuvre du droit à l’éducation ? De quelle façon intervient l’enseignement à distance lorsque l’éducation est conçue comme un droit ? A-t-il sa place dans les politiques de formation, comme facteur de qualité et instrument de liberté ?

Le site en ligne de ce numéro spécial de Distances et savoirs offrait la possibilité aux lecteurs de déposer un commentaire sur chaque article, afin d’initier des échanges de nature à faire progresser la recherche et les pratiques d’enseignement à distance, surtout lorsque celui-ci se révèle être le seul moyen permettant l’accès à l’éducation.

D’après un éditorial rédigé en janvier 2008 par Martine Vidal, Christian Depover, Jacques Wallet.

Présentation du thème de l’appel à contributions proposé par Distances et savoirs, en commun avec les revues Asian JDE, EURODL, JALN, IRRODL, Open Praxis

Enseignement à distance et droit à l’éducation

Les articles relatifs au droit à l’éducation dans la Déclaration universelle des droits de l’homme de 1948, puis les articles 13 et 14 du Pacte international relatif aux droits économiques, sociaux et culturels et l’article 18 du Pacte international relatif aux droits civils et politiques (1966) consacrent la valeur universelle de ce droit sans être pour autant les seuls textes à témoigner que l’accès de tous à l’éducation fait partie des droits fondamentaux de l’homme, quel que soit le pays ou l’ensemble de pays qui entérinent ces déclarations. La présence même des articles concernant ce droit souligne qu’il est à « garantir ». Inscrire le droit à l’éducation dans un texte de loi le proclame, tout en en soulignant la fragilité. S’il est acquis dans certaines régions du monde, il reste précaire dans bien d’autres ou n‘est pas pleinement pris en considération.

1. Toute personne a droit à l’éducation. L’éducation doit être gratuite, au moins en ce qui concerne l’enseignement élémentaire et fondamental. L’enseignement élémentaire est obligatoire. L’enseignement technique et professionnel doit être généralisé ; l’accès aux études supérieures doit être ouvert en pleine égalité à tous en fonction de leur mérite.

2. L’éducation doit viser au plein épanouissement de la personnalité humaine et au renforcement du respect des droits de l’homme et des libertés fondamentales. Elle doit favoriser la compréhension, la tolérance et l’amitié entre toutes les nations et tous les groupes raciaux ou religieux, ainsi que le développement des activités des Nations Unies pour le maintien de la paix.

3. Les parents ont, par priorité, le droit de choisir le genre d’éducation à donner à leurs enfants.

« Que faut-il entendre par « Toute personne a droit à l’éducation », Droit à n’importe quel type d’éducation ? N’importe quand ? Et qui doit assurer cette éducation ? (…)

Le problème ne consiste pas seulement, en effet, à chiffrer la progression de l’accès à l’éducation. Dès l’origine, le droit à l’éducation a été envisagé sous un angle qualitatif aussi bien que quantitatif. « L’éducation doit viser au plein épanouissement de la personnalité humaine et au renforcement du respect des droits de l’homme et des libertés fondamentales », proclame le deuxième paragraphe de l’article 26 de la Déclaration universelle. « Elle doit favoriser la compréhension, la tolérance et l’amitié entre toutes les nations et tous les groupes raciaux ou religieux, ainsi que le développement des activités des Nations Unies pour le maintien de la paix ». Dans quelle mesure ces buts ont-ils été atteints ? Les gens possèdent-ils par exemple, que ce soit dans les pays industriels ou dans les pays en développement, les savoirs fondamentaux requis pour pouvoir participer pleinement à la vie politique, économique, sociale et culturelle de leur société ? Et qu’en est-il de « la tolérance et l’amitié entre toutes les nations et tous les groupes raciaux ou religieux » ?(…)

Il y a aussi la question du choix : qui doit décider des fins et des contenus de l’éducation, et comment ? « Les parents ont, par priorité, le droit de choisir le genre d’éducation à donner à leurs enfants », proclame le troisième paragraphe de l’article 26 de la Déclaration universelle. Cela n’a certes jamais impliqué le droit de choisir une éducation qui serait incompatible avec les principes de la Déclaration elle-même — dont l’article 2 dispose que « chacun peut se prévaloir de tous les droits et de toutes les libertés proclamés dans la ... Déclaration » — mais c’est reconnaître cependant qu’à l’intérieur des limites générales posées par l’article 2 et par l’article 26 lui-même, il peut exister plusieurs conceptions différentes des fins et des contenus de l’éducation. Dans quelle mesure les mécanismes et conditions permettant d’exercer le choix prévu dans ce dernier article se trouvent-ils aujourd’hui établis ?

(…) Au-delà de la satisfaction de « besoins fondamentaux », à quoi chacun peut-il prétendre exactement ? Au bénéfice de n’importe quelle action destinée à répondre à des « besoins » éducatifs ? A l’égalité des chances d’apprendre ? A l’égalité devant l’éducation ? A une éducation tout au long de la vie ? A la possibilité d’apprendre la vie entière ? A tout cela à la fois ? (…)

Bien d’autres questions relatives aux conditions d’une mise en œuvre sans faille du droit à l’éducation se posent, comme par exemple celles concernant la distinction entre éducation et instruction et l’articulation entre le droit à l’éducation, et le choix de l’éducation.

La plupart ont été et sont toujours l’objet de travaux, de recherches, d’actions et de développements visant à assurer et faire respecter ce droit, quelle que soit sa formulation selon les contextes politiques, sociaux, économiques et culturels.

Tous ces travaux, passés et présents pourront éclairer le présent appel à contributions, dont ce droit constitue le contexte par rapport auquel une question, de portée apparemment restreinte, mais, en réalité d’une grande importance se pose, qui a trait au rôle de l’enseignement à distance. Le thème précis proposé aux chercheurs est le suivant :

Quel rôle joue l’enseignement à distance dans la mise en œuvre du droit à l’éducation ? Comment intervient l’enseignement à distance lorsque l’éducation est conçue comme un droit ? A-t-il sa place dans les politiques de formation, comme facteur de qualité et instrument de liberté ?

La vocation première de l’enseignement à distance, est de porter l’enseignement au plus près de ses destinataires, exactement où et quand le besoin en est exprimé, quelles que soient les conditions physiques, personnelles, sociales, matérielles, géographiques, politiques … qui président à son choix. Il doit ici être perçu dans son acception la plus large, celui d’une relation médiatisée entre apprenant et savoir, apprenant et enseignant, tuteur, formateur … que cet enseignement à distance s’effectue selon une démarche traditionnelle (notamment par correspondance) ou que son processus soit totalement numérique. Ce dernier aspect est cependant primordial, si l’on considère le renouvellement fondamental de l’enseignement à distance lié au développement des technologies de l’information et de la communication.

 Le droit à l’éducation n’est pas lui-même directement l’objet de l’appel à contributions, il s’agit bien plutôt de l’engagement des « acteurs » de l’enseignement à distance, à tous les niveaux de responsabilité, pour garantir ce droit, et de l’utilisation des méthodes et des outils techniques de l’enseignement à distance pour assurer la qualité de l’éducation impliquée par le droit à l’éducation.

On devra aussi considérer que le développement de l’enseignement distance lié aux technologies de l’information et de la communication (TIC) conduit à interroger de nouvelle façon le droit à l’éducation, peut-être à lui donner un sens nouveau, à approfondir en quoi de nouveaux acteurs, de nouvelles démarches et méthodes dans la recherche des solutions pour la mise en œuvre de ce droit, et pour sa préservation, sont impliqués. De nouvelles stratégies régionales et internationales sont ainsi à examiner, le propre de l’enseignement à distance étant de franchir les frontières, quelle que soit la nature de celles-ci (géographiques, nationales, sociales…).

Appel à contributions : quel rôle joue l’enseignement à distance dans la mise en œuvre du droit à l’éducation ? (versions française et anglaise)

La revue Distances et savoirs propose un appel à contributions pour la publication en 2008 d’articles de recherche et de pratiques concernant l’enseignement à distance et le droit à l’éducation (notamment en référence à l’article 26 de la Déclaration universelle des droits de l’homme du 10 décembre 1948) :

Quel rôle joue l’enseignement à distance dans la mise en œuvre du droit à l’éducation ?

De quelle façon intervient l’enseignement à distance lorsque l’éducation est conçue comme un droit ? A-t-il sa place dans les politiques de formation, comme facteur de qualité et instrument de liberté ?

Distances et savoirs, revue scientifique francophone, s’intéresse principalement aux travaux de recherche dans le monde francophone, et est également attentive aux textes non francophones. Pour une meilleure connaissance internationale réciproque des travaux et des pratiques sur le thème central de l’enseignement à distance et du droit à l’éducation, Distances et savoirs lance cet appel à contributions en collaboration avec cinq autres revues à rayonnement international en Europe, en Amérique du Nord, en Asie, … :

Asian Journal of Distance Education: http://www.asianjde.org/

Distances et savoirs, http://ds.revuesonline.com

EURODL : http://www.eurodl.org/

IRRODL: http://www.irrodl.org/

Journal of asynchronous learning network: http://www.sloan-c.org/publications/jaln/

Open Praxis : https://openpraxis.org/

Conseil scientifique : Terry Anderson, Barbara Spronk (IRRODL), John Bourne, Janet Moore (JALN), Svein Haaland, Ana Perona (Open Praxis), Paul Kawachi, Sanjaya Mishra, Ramesh C Sharma (AsianJDE), Alan Tait (EURODL) and Martine Vidal, Monique Grandbastien, Pierre Moeglin, (D&S).

Les textes définitifs sélectionnés par chacune des revues partenaires (selon le processus scientifique en vigueur : expertises anonymes), seront publiés dans leur langue originale sur un site web commun en libre accès, et seront susceptibles d’être publiés sur les sites usuels de chacune des revues partenaires, et, le cas échéant, dans la version imprimée de la revue, dans la langue originale des textes, ou traduits.

Les auteurs et bénéficieront ainsi d’une grande visibilité internationale, et leurs travaux constitueront une référence commune internationale concernant l’enseignement à distance et la question universelle du droit à l’éducation.

Le calendrier de l’appel est le suivant :

Octobre 2006 : appel à contributions

31 Janvier 2007 : date ultime pour la réception des propositions résumées soumises à sélection (textes de 500 à 1000 mots maximum)

1^er avril 2007 : Notification aux auteurs des propositions sélectionnées ;

1^er décembre 2007 : Retour de la première version complète, qui sera soumise à sélection ;

31 Janvier 2008 : Textes définitifs

Printemps 2008 : Publication de tous les textes sélectionnés sur le site web commun aux revues partenaires.

Les articles devront se plier aux exigences scientifiques classiques : formulation des hypothèses de recherche, méthodes adoptées, référence aux travaux comparables, mention des contextes – dont publics, résultats obtenus et mis en perspective.

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Call for papers : What is the role of distance education in the implementation of the right to education ? (English version)

Distances et savoirs is launching a call for research and “good practices” papers to be published in 2008 concerning distance education and the right to education (in particular reference to article 26 of the Universal Declaration of the Human Rights of December 10^th, 2008) :

What is the role of distance education in the implementation of the right to education ?

How is distance education involved when education is seen as a right ? What is its position in educational policy, as a factor of quality and an instrument for liberty.

Distances et savoirs is a scientific journal on distance education revue scientifique francophone, whose purpose is to promote research work and case studies on distance education, in the French speaking world. It is also open to other international articles.

Distances et savoirs is launching this call for papers in collaboration with five other scholarly journals with international influence and readership in Europe, North America, Asia, so as to promote reciprocal knowledge of research work and practices on the central theme of distance education and the right to education.

Asian Journal of Distance Education: http://www.asianjde.org/

Distances et savoirs, http://ds.revuesonline.com

EURODL : http://www.eurodl.org/

IRRODL: http://www.irrodl.org/

_Journal of asynchronous learning network: http://www.sloan-c.org/publications/jaln/

Open Praxis : https://openpraxis.org/

Scientific committee : Terry Anderson, Barbara Spronk (IRRODL), John Bourne, Janet Moore (JALN), Svein Haaland, Ana Perona (Open Praxis), Paul Kawachi, Sanjaya Mishra, Ramesh C Sharma (AsianJDE), Alan Tait (EURODL) and Martine Vidal, Monique Grandbastien, Pierre Moeglin, (D&S).

Final texts selected by each participating journal (according to the usual scientific process of anonymous expertise) will be published in their original language on a common website, with free access ; they may also be published on the usual web sites of the journals, and in the printed versions of those journals, either in their original language or translated.

Authors will benefit from a wide international dissemination, and their works will make up a common international reference regarding distance education and the universal question of the right to education.

Schedule :

October 2006 : call for papers

January 31^st, 2007: deadline for submitting summaries of propositions for articles (500 to 1000 maximum words)

April 1^st, 2007: Notification to authors of selected propositions;

December 1^st, 2007: deadline for submitting the first version of full text;

January 1^st, 2008: Final versions of texts

Spring 2008 : All selected texts published on common website of participating journals.

Articles will have to conform to usual scholarly requirements : research questions, methodology, references, contextualisation, results and implications.

Résumés des articles, regroupés par revue, dans l’ordre alphabétique des revues

Sommaire

Asian Journal of Distance education

• Online Distance Learning provides Additional Learning Opportunities and improves the Socioeconomic Status of Working Adults in Malaysia - Dominic WONG

• Distance Education in Rural China achieves Inter-School Collaboration and Increased Access to Education - Xiaoying FENG, Weiyuan ZHANG, Li CHEN

• Building Social Capital through Distance Education in Asia - Paul KAWACHI

• Radio, Television and the Internet providing the Right to Education in India - Sriram Arulchelvan and D. Viswanathan

• The impact of technology on accessibility and pedagogy : the right to education in Sub-Saharan Africa - Dele BRAIMOH, & Jonathan Ohiorenuan OSIKI

Distances et Savoirs

• Distances et Savoirs éditorial - Martine Vidal, Christian Depover, Jacques Wallet

• Actions francophones autour des normes e-learning à l’ISO - Mokhtar Ben Henda, Henri Hudrisier

• Former des jeunes à l’usage des médias numériques : heurs et malheurs du brevet informatique et internet (B2i) en France - Jean-François Cerisier, Caroline Rizza, Bruno Devauchelle, Aurélien Nguyen

• L’enseignement à distance en milieu carcéral : droit à l’éducation ou privilège ? - Fanny Salane

• L’enseignement à distance : une approche basée sur les droits - Alfred Fernandez

• La scolarisation des enfants du voyage au Centre national d’enseignement à distance - Elisabeth Clanet dit Lamanit

• L’accès aux certifications supérieures par la distance : l’extension du droit à l’éducation - Cathia Papi et Emmanuel Triby

• Formation documentaire en République Démocratique du Congo. Développer à distance les capacités d’accès à l’information scientifique. - Motonobu Kasajima, Bernard Pochet

• L’EAD et l’exercice du droit à la formation : analyse de pratiques en milieu universitaire - Didier Paquelin

• Distance English language teacher training program in Turkey : e-learning opportunities for the right to education - Dilek ALTUNAY & M. Emin MUTLU

• Les Campus Numériques Francophones de l’AUF et l’émergence d’universités ouvertes au Sud : cas de Madagascar - Louis Marius Andriamparany - Ange Ninà Rakotomalala

• Rôles et enjeux de la formation à distance dans la lutte contre l’illettrisme - Yves Ardourel

EURODL

• Distance education opportunities for mature women in Greece and Cyprus : comparative perspectives and implications - Marios Vryonides & Michalinos Zembylas

• Paths of participation in a knowledge-based era : disseminating e-learning opportunities in Central Asia - Carlos Machado, Elvira Lussana

• Online, distance education and globalisation : Its impact on educational access, inequality and exclusion - Dimitris Zondiros

JALN

• JALN Introduction to the special issue on the right to education - John R. Bourne, Janet C. Moore, Claudine Schweber

• Brics and clicks - Mary Bold, Lillian Chenoweth, Nirisha K.Garimella

• Access to education with online learning and open educational resources : can they close the GAP ? - Dr. Christine Geith, Karen Vignare

• Open educational resources for blended learning in high schools : overcoming impediments in developing countries - Richard C. Larson, M. Elizabeth Murray

• Bringing the real world of science to children : a partnership of the American Museum of Natural History and the City University of New York - Anthony G. Picciano, Robert V. Steiner

• Microfranchising microlearning centers : a sustainable model for expanding the right to education in developing countries ? - Tiffany Zenith Ivins

• An online learning model to facilitate learners’ rights to education - Lin Lin

• If higher education is a right, and distance education is the answer, then who will pay ? - Dr. Katrina A. Meyer

• Determined to learn : accessing education despite life-threatening disasters - Claudine SchWeber, Ph.D.

IRRODL

• Editorial : Technology, Policy, and the Right to Education - Barbara Spronk

• Open Educational Resources : Enabling universal education - Tom Caswell, Shelley Henson, Marion Jensen, David Wiley

• OpenCourseWare, Global Access and the Right to Education : Real access or marketing ploy ? - Henk Huijser, Tas Bedford, David Bull

• New Ways of Mediating Learning : Investigating the implications of adopting open educational resources for tertiary education at an institution in the United Kingdom as compared to one in South Africa - Tina Wilson

• Technology-Enhanced Learning in Developing Nations : A review - Shalni Gulati

• Using distance education and ICT to improve access, equity and the quality in rural teachers’ professional development in western China - Bernadette Robinson

• The Role of Open and Distance Learning in the Implementation of the Right to Education in Zambia - Richard Siaciwena, Foster Lubinda

• Exploring the Role of Distance Education in Fostering Equitable University Access for First Generation Students : A phenomenological survey - Lisa C. Priebe, Tamra L. Ross, Karl W. Low

Open Praxis

• Access and Equity to Education in India through Synergy of Conventional and ODL Systems : A Step towards Democratization of Education - Purnendu TRIPATHI, Siran MUKERJI

• Who is the pedagogic subject/person in distance education ? A contribution to the right to education - Claudia Rosana Floris

• How to realize social fairness and equality through distance and open learning ? - Li Yawan, Qi Wei

• Role of Distance education as a way to guarantee the right to education - Dra. María Yee Seuret

• Democratisation of education in Brazil : reflections on digital inclusion and human rights - Carolina Costa Cavalcanti, Gina Strozzi

• Roles of distance education in the implementation of the right to education in Indonesia : analysis and lessons learnt from the sociological, political and economic points of view - Aminudin Zuhairi, Ida Zubaidah & Daryono

• Martini - With or Without the Olive ? - Bill McNeill

Résumés/abstracts des articles

Asian Journal of Distance Education

Dominic WONG

Online Distance Learning provides Additional Learning Opportunities and improves the Socioeconomic Status of Working Adults in Malaysia

Abstract: This Paper reports the outcomes for working adult students after completing online distance learning in Malaysia. Detailed interviews were included. Findings showed that these adults in full-time employment could gain promotion, change employer and / or gain higher salary. The online courses were job skills or job-related studies, and these courses included courses provided by universities in Malaysia, in Australia, and in Britain.

Keywords: outcomes, working adults, satisfaction, flexibility, interviews, Malaysia

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Xiaoying FENG, Weiyuan ZHANG, Li CHEN

Distance Education in Rural China achieves Inter-School Collaboration and Increased Access to Education

Abstract: This Paper reports the use of forty-five learning scaffold strategies in a network of thirty-six schools across China. The collaborative network helps to provide access to school-children in rural regions by linking them together with school children in developed cities. The teachers involved asserted that the templates and scaffold strategies were effective for learning. The conclusions found that scaffolds should be used throughout the courses to promote collaborative learning among school children.

Keywords: Schools, Collaboration, Rural regions, Development, Access, China

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Paul KAWACHI

Building Social Capital through Distance Education in Asia

Abstract: This Paper tries to relate the social capital outcomes from distance education with structural elements in the courses in fifteen regions across Asia, distinguishing courses in poor undeveloped regions from those in rich developed regions. It was then suggested that added structure for collaborative learning of critical thinking skills may be worthwhile investigating for increasing social capital, upward mobility, and community development.

Keywords: social capital, transactional distance, development, structure, critical thinking skills, Asia

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Sriram Arulchelvan and D. Viswanathan

Radio, Television and the Internet providing the Right to Education in India

Abstract: This Paper reports the various projects in India that use radio, television and / or the Internet in the past 20 years. These projects have been internationally recognized as educationally effective. Interesting and useful findings include that urban students use radio and use television more than rural students (due to language perhaps), and that campus-based local radio, television, and Internet should be more widely adopted. Accessibility, distance mode versus face-to-face mode, gender, urban versus rural, and age were all variables covered in this major study.

Keywords: radio, television, internet, projects, demographics, india

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Dele BRAIMOH, & Jonathan Ohiorenuan OSIKI

The impact of technology on accessibility and pedagogy : the right to education in Sub-Saharan Africa

Abstract: This Paper reports the background of open and distance learning in Africa from its initial early stages to the present. The authors then highlight the achievements and the problems faced in Africa, and most importantly set out a road map for governments and other agencies in order to develop open and distance learning to achieve the Right to Education and the millennium goals for Sub-Saharan Africa. The authors include an interest discussion on labour mobility as it affects education.

Keywords: open and distance learning, developing countries, barriers, labour mobility, road map, Sub-Saharan

Distances et savoirs

Martine Vidal, Christian Depover, Jacques Wallet

Abstract: In 2007, Distances et savoirs, a reference journal on distance education for the French speaking community of researchers and practitioners, with researchers from Europe, Canada and Africa in its reading committee, initiated an original collaboration with five other academic journals from Northern and Southern America, Asia and Europe) focused on a common call for publication on the theme: “Distance learning and the right – or access – to education”. The French version of the call can be read in the following pages. The aim of the project was to offer a set of references on that theme, from varied educational environments in the world, and to publish them in the anniversary year of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 2008. The present common website for all six journals is the result of that exceptional common endeavour.

Keywords: distances, distance education, right to education, French, world, educational environment, editorial, introduction

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Mokhtar Ben Henda, Henri Hudrisier

Actions francophones autour des normes e-learning à l’ISO

Abstract: The future of e-Learning is on the way to be constructed within ICT standardization international instances. The sub-committee 36 of ISO, which is responsible for standardizing educational technologies, is certainly the most prominent of all. The authors of this paper, who are official delegates of the Agency of French Speaking Universities (AUF) with this structure, highlight the strategic importance of active monitoring of e-Learning standards for preserving cultural diversity, linguistic and equal access to education for all.

Keywords: E-Learning, ICT, standardization, cultural diversity, linguistic diversity

Résumé : L’avenir de l’e‑Learning est en train de se construire dans les instances de normalisation et de standardisation des TIC à échelle mondiale, tout particulièrement au sein du sous-comité 36 de l’ISO, chargé de normaliser les technologies éducatives. Les auteurs de cette communication, délégués officiels de l’AUF (Agence Universitaire de la Francophonie) auprès de cette structure, mettent en évidence l’importance stratégique du suivi participatif à ces actions de normalisation pour préserver la diversité culturelle, linguistique et une égalité d’accès à l’éducation pour tous.

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Jean-François Cerisier, Caroline Rizza, Bruno Devauchelle, Aurélien Nguyen

Former des jeunes à l’usage des médias numériques : heurs et malheurs du brevet informatique et internet (B2i) en France

Abstract: ICT contributions to individual life long learning courses need a fair digital acculturation. Precisely, only School is able to support this kind of fair digital education. We propose to discuss this point of view through the analysis of the French training device X2I (B2i and C2i).

Keywords : digital culture, acculturation, internet generation, uses, competences, training device, certification, B2i, C2i

Résumé : Les apports des technologies de l’information et de la communication aux parcours individuels de formation tout au long de la vie supposent une acculturation numérique que seule l’école peut contribuer à construire de façon équitable. Cet article discute le rôle de l’Ecole au moyen d’une analyse du dispositif français X2i (B2i et C2i).

Mots-clés : culture numérique, acculturation, génération internet, usages, compétences, dispositif de formation, certification, B2i, C2i.

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Fanny Salane

L’enseignement à distance en milieu carcéral : droit à l’éducation ou privilège ?

Abstract: Postsecondary education in prison is mainly delivered by long distance learning. Considered to be particularly well adapted to the conditions of detention, it offers to complete educational degrees inside the detention centre that essentially affects young detainees and those having a low educational level and thus, appears to be a warrant of the right of education in prison. This research carried out amongst detainees enrolled in postsecondary education shows that long distance education is maladjusted to the penitentiary context and that it is only offered at the limited right of education, creating inequality.

Keywords: distance education, correspondence course, higher education, prison, right and privilege, France

Résumé. En prison, l’enseignement supérieur passe principalement par l’intermédiaire de processus d’enseignement à distance. Ce dernier, considéré comme un système particulièrement bien adapté aux contraintes carcérales, permet de compléter l’enseignement sur place, essentiellement tourné vers les détenus les plus jeunes et ceux qui ont un bas niveau scolaire, et apparaît alors comme un garant du droit à l’éducation en prison. Par une recherche effectuée auprès de personnes détenues inscrites dans des études post-baccalauréat, nous montrons toutefois que l’enseignement à distance est mal adapté au contexte pénitentiaire et qu’il constitue un droit limité à l’éducation, fortement inégalitaire.

Mots-clés : Enseignement à distance, enseignement par correspondance, enseignement supérieur, prison, droit / privilège, France.

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Alfred Fernandez

L’enseignement à distance : une approche basée sur les droits

Abstract: This article proposes to study distance learning from a rights based approach. The international instruments of human rights protection do not mention distance learning explicitly. That is probably due to the fact that they were conceived primarily with formal education in mind, thus conveying a rather restrictive concept of education. In spite of this fact, it is important to cultivate a human rights based approach in order to determine the duties of the States with regard to this type of education. Our analysis concludes that distance learning is a means to make the right to education accessible and acceptable. Indeed, when speaking about accessibility and acceptability, one expects the States to set up all the means necessary to make this right effective. Thus, at the very least, distance learning seems to be part of the duties of public authorities to make the implementation of the right to education effective.

Keywords: right to education, right of the child, distance learning, new technologies, accessibility and acceptability of education, duties of the States

Résumé : Cet article se propose d’étudier l’éducation à distance sous l’angle des droits de l’homme. Les instruments internationaux de protection des droits de l’homme ne mentionnent pas explicitement la formation à distance. Cela tient probablement au fait qu’ils ont été conçus essentiellement dans l’optique de l’éducation formelle véhiculant ainsi une conception assez limitative de l’éducation. Malgré ce fait, il est important de l’aborder avec une approche basée sur les droits de l’homme afin de déterminer les obligations des Etats à l’égard de ce type d’éducation.

Notre analyse conclue que l’éducation à distance est un moyen pour rendre le droit à l’éducation accessible et acceptable. En effet, en parlant d’accessibilité et d’acceptabilité, on demande aux Etats qu’ils mettent en place tous les moyens nécessaires pour rendre le droit effectif. Ainsi, pour le moins, l’enseignement à distance paraît entrer dans l’obligation des pouvoirs publics de rendre réel et effectif le droit à l’éducation.

Mots clés : droit à l’éducation, droits de l’enfant, éducation à distance, nouvelles technologies, accessibilité et acceptabilité de l’éducation, obligations des Etats

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Elisabeth Clanet dit Lamanit

La scolarisation des enfants du voyage au Centre national d’enseignement à distance

Abstract: Over the past twenty years, a European structure has been set up, aimed at the academic training of Roma and Travellers, including the use of distance education ; its objective is to remedy the difficulties experienced by these populations, who are often disregarded, and whose access to social rights and benefits was – and remains – a problem. Cned – Centre national d’enseignement à distance – has developed a number of tailored programmes to enable youngsters from Traveller families to access education.

Keywords: Roma, Travellers, Gypsies, distance learning, Jenish, illteracy

Résumé. Depuis une vingtaine d’années, un dispositif européen en faveur de la scolarisation des Rroms et des Gens du voyage - dont le recours à l’enseignement à distance -, s’est mis en place pour pallier les grandes difficultés rencontrées par ces populations mal connues et dont l’accès aux droits sociaux était et continue d’être problématique.

Mots-clés : Gens du voyage, Rroms, Tsiganes, Roms, Gitans, Manouches, Yéniches, Pirdé, instruction obligatoire, Cned, enseignement à distance, illettrisme, analphabétisme

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Cathia Papi et Emmanuel Triby

L’accès aux certifications supérieures par la distance : l’extension du droit à l’éducation

Abstract: Conceptualising education through a ‘human rights’ lens provides educators with a reflective interpretation and analyses for reconsidering the implications of the multidimensional social, cultural, economic, and political aspects of education as a human right. Moreover, we propose that the right to education, in and of itself, is inherently an educational access issues that is strengthened and supported through distance education practice. From a comparative standpoint, we analyse two systems that share similar characteristics of importance for adults and higher education. The potential of these systems are mutually complimentary with the economic efficiency components to make their applications to practice contribute to the premise of education as a fundamental human right.

Keywords: human rights, right to education, adults education, certificates in specific areas of professional experience, open and distance learning (odl), diploma allowing access to university studies

Résumé : L’entrée par les droits de l’homme est une bonne façon de renouveler une approche car elle oblige à revisiter ses références souvent implicites, porter plus loin la réflexion sur les fins et les implications d’une activité sociale telle que la formation. Dans cet état d’esprit, nous proposons une réflexion sur le devenir du droit à l’éducation dans le contexte du développement des formations à distance. Pour donner corps à notre propos, nous nous intéresserons particulièrement à deux dispositifs qui, outre le fait de concerner l’enseignement supérieur, ont notamment pour caractéristique commune de concerner les adultes. Les intentions portées par ces dispositifs sont enfin confrontées aux exigences de l’économique pour dessiner les conditions de possibilité de leur réalisation.

Mots-clés : Droits de l’Homme, droit à l’éducation, formation des adultes, Validation des acquis de l’expérience (VAE), Formation Ouverte et A distance (FOAD), Diplôme d’Accès aux Etudes Universitaires (DAEU).

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Motonobu Kasajima, Bernard Pochet

Formation documentaire en République Démocratique du Congo. Développer à distance les capacités d’accès à l’information scientifique

Abstract: This paper describes the methods and principles for an implementation of Information retrieval courses for Congolese post graduate students via e-learning. Through a training strategy using two different scenarios, the authors present the cumulative results of an experimental information literacy training and assess the interest of articulating face to face activities and distance learning.

Keywords: library, information retrieval, university, distance learning, Democratic Republic of Congo

Résumé. Les auteurs décrivent les modalités et principes sous-jacents à la mise en œuvre d’un dispositif de formation d’adultes à l’information scientifique dans le milieu universitaire congolais via l’enseignement à distance. À travers une stratégie de formation recourant à deux scénarios pédagogiques, ils présentent les résultats cumulés d’une expérimentation de formations documentaires et évaluent l’intérêt d’articuler des activités présentielles et à distance.

Mots-clés : Bibliothèque, recherche documentaire, université, enseignement à distance, République démocratique du Congo

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Didier Paquelin

L’EAD et l’exercice du droit à la formation : analyse de pratiques en milieu universitaire

Abstract: Distance learning has been developing over many years in higher education. The development of information technology and communication has modernized both, without any major changes. Initially offered to students who could not afford to go to university, practices meet other needs today. The data analyzed show that the right to education is not simply a matter of distance, but is a capacity of the students for building their own system by mixing on site and distant activities. Accessibility and flexibility are the two dimensions that characterize the use of these systems. The first one favours access to resources (flow model), and the other one, access to a structuring organization of training (brokerage model).

Keywords: accessibility, brokerage, distance learning, flexibility, flow, hybridation

Résumé. L’enseignement à distance s’est développé depuis de nombreuses années dans l’enseignement supérieur. Le déploiement des technologies de l’information et de la communication a modernisé, sans modifier en profondeur ces dispositifs. Initialement proposé à des étudiants qui ne pouvaient se rendre à l’université, les pratiques répondent aujourd’hui à d’autres besoins. Les données analysées montrent que l’exercice du droit à l’éducation n’est pas simplement une question de distance, mais relève d’une capacité des étudiants à construire leur propre dispositif en mixant des activités en présence et à distance. L’accessibilité et la flexibilité sont les deux dimensions qui caractérisent l’utilisation de ces dispositifs. La première privilégie l’accès à des ressources (modèle du flot), et l’autre l’accès à une organisation structurante de la formation (modèle du courtage).

Mots-clés : accessibilité, courtage, dispositif, distance, flexibilité, flot, hybridation

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Dilek ALTUNAY & M. Emin MUTLU

Distance English language teacher training program in Turkey : e-learning opportunities for the right to education

Abstract: This article presents the Distance English Language Teacher Training Program at Anadolu University in Turkey and how distance education ; particularly e-learning opportunities offered in the program contribute to the right to education. The program has contributed to solve the English language teacher education problem in the country and contributes to the right to education mainly in two ways : Firstly, it gives the ones who would like to become English language teachers the right to achieve their aim. Secondly, by increasing the supply of teachers of English, it allows students who want to learn English but cannot learn because of lack of teachers to learn English. The program also includes many applications contributing to the right to education. This practice is important in that it might bring new insights to foreign language teacher education and will be of value to other countries facing with similar problems.

Keywords: right to education, teacher education, English language teacher education, e-learning, distance education, blended learning

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Louis Marius Andriamparany - Ange Ninà Rakotomalala

Les Campus Numériques Francophones de l’AUF et l’émergence d’universités ouvertes au Sud : cas de Madagascar

Abstract: Francophone Digital campuses were created to support the ICT development in the universities in the South. In Madagascar, the Indian ocean FDC (OI FDC) has developed its programs according to the needs of local and regional universities. Flexible programs allowed CNFOI to accompany the Malagasy universities in the various stages of their integration projects ICT. Actually, CNFOI supports the development of local and regional Open and Distance Learning programs. This article tries to demonstrate that the modus operandi of the CNFOI can serve as a model for Malagasy institutions which aim to establish Open and Distance Learning programs.

Keywords: open and distance learning, education rights, information rights, Francophone Digital Campus, open university, Madagascar

Résumé. Les Campus numériques francophones (CNF) ont été créés pour appuyer le développement des TIC dans les universités du Sud. A Madagascar, les actions du CNF Océan indien ont évolué en fonction des besoins des universités, pour finalement s’orienter vers le soutien au développement de formations ouvertes et à distance (FOAD) locales ou régionales. Des programmes flexibles ont permis au CNFOI d’accompagner les universités malgaches dans les différentes étapes de leurs projets d’intégration TIC. Cet article tend à démontrer que le mode de fonctionnement du CNFOI peut servir de modèle aux établissements malgaches pour la mise en place de structures d’appui au développement de FOAD.

Mots-clés : FOAD, droit à l’éducation, droit à l’information, campus numérique francophone, université ouverte, collaboration, innovation, mutation, Madagascar.

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Yves Ardourel

Rôles et enjeux de la formation à distance dans la lutte contre l’illettrisme

Abstract: In the fight against illiteracy in France, open and distance learning(ODL) holds a modest, but actual role. An analysis of ODL as a means for developing basic skills and for fighting illiteracy shows that ODL holds a true and desirable potentiality

Keywords: illiteracy, basic knowledge, distance learning, right to education, ICT

Résumé. Dans la lutte contre l’illettrisme en France, la FOAD a une place modeste, mais réelle. En examinant la situation de la foad comme moyen pour développer les compétences de base et lutter contre l’illettrisme, il apparaît qu’elle est à la fois possible et souhaitable.

Mots-clés : illettrisme, savoirs de base, formation à distance, droit à l’éducation, TIC.

EURODL

Dimitris Zondiros

Online, distance education and globalisation : Its impact on educational access, inequality and exclusion

Abstract: Online and Distance Education can be seen as a product and a producer of globalisation. Educational access, inequality and exclusion from education are topics of major importance in developing and developed countries’ efforts to use Online and Distance Education as a means to respond to the forces of globalisation. Socio-cultural, economic, political and technological factors and their complex combinations in the wider context of globalisation show that globalising forces affect deeply and in various ways the educational systems of any country and are expected to do so more drastically in the future. This is mirrored at the universities’ mission statements that were examined. While educational access has traditionally been given high priority, inequity and exclusion issues – along with globalisation pressures – undermined societies’ and universities’ efforts to fully achieve their aims. These society used Online and Distance Education (especially by establishing Open Universities) but responded to each country’s specific needs and priorities. It is suggested that a good response to these issues might be context-specific Online and Distance Education and Flexible Learning solutions, new pedagogy that is more aware of students’ needs and, alternatively, tailor-made modes of Open and Distance Learning and Flexible Learning that suit particular contexts and circumstances.

Keywords: globalisation, online, distance education, access, exclusion

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Carlos Machado, Elvira Lussana

Paths of participation in a knowledge

Abstract: In education, as in many other aspects of modern life, the question of how to implement Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) is an important challenge for anyone with a stake in training and learning, as educational technologies are spreading rapidly in a globalised world. According to the Task Force of the International Council of Distance Education there have been more than 20 changes to teaching and learning behaviour which have caused a shift on the educational paradigm. All these changes have brought about new reformed curricula in many areas. This paper concentrates on the implications of reforming curricula, extending the Bologna Declaration and introducing learning technologies in a number of higher education institutions (HEIs) within developing countries of Central Asia. With the objective of innovating in education, while administrators (i.e. what it can be understood as rectors and vice-rectors) are busy in following national action plans and strategies for education, the pressure for change and the pace of education change have increased considerably over the last years, partly due what has been defined as a world wide education reform movement (Hargreaves, 1996). As a result, educational systems – and not only in Central Asian countries - are experiencing new directions in the areas of teaching practice, curricula, teacher education and the involvement of educationally significant stakeholders. Our experience and conclusions from years of participation in developing programs to improve the quality of education is put forward hereunder.

Keywords: e-learning, open sources, developing countries, e-readiness

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Marios Vryonides & Michalinos Zembylas

Distance education opportunities for mature women in Greece and Cyprus : comparative perspectives and implications

Abstract: The introduction of distance and e-learning education programs in the Greek and Cypriot higher education systems in the past few years has often been accompanied by parallel rhetoric. This rhetoric evolves and focuses primarily around the need for the state to offer flexible educational provisions to groups of mature students who would otherwise be at the risk of social marginalization or even exclusion. Marginalization is the result of social processes that require new and a constantly updated body of knowledge and skills to adapt in a social environment that is changing day by day and transforms the fundamental conditions of our social existence (Grummell, 2007). Often, perhaps not surprisingly, the rhetoric of equality of opportunity and social inclusion may inadvertently contribute to further marginalization of some social groups. Good intentions are rarely ‘good’ enough. Our goal in this paper is to focus on the complex ways in which the rhetoric of opportunity and social inclusion is materialized in two innovative educational programs—one at the University of the Aegean in Greece and the other at the Open University of Cyprus.

Keywords: e-learning, Greece, mature women students, equality of opportunity, social inclusion

Journal of Asynchronous Learning Network

John R. Bourne, Janet C. Moore, Claudine Schweber

JALN Introduction to the special issue on the right to education

Abstract: The eight papers in this special issue of the Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks examine some of the roles that online education plays in implementing the right to education. The 1948 Declaration called for free and compulsory education with choice and equal access based on merit. The studies in this issue propose identifying metrics for progress towards universal access, using online education for continuity of learning despite disasters, stewarding resources, marshalling partnerships, and designing learning that promotes the values of the Declaration : ‘respect, understanding, tolerance, friendship, and peace.’

Keywords: editorial, introduction

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Mary Bold, Lillian Chenoweth, Nirisha K.Garimella

Brics and clicks

Abstract: Projections for the global economy frequently center on the BRIC countries : Brazil, Russia, India, and China. As futurists and economists alike define and re-define both formal and informal coalitions (for example, by broadening the R in BRIC to include all Eastern European economies or instead re-directing the discussion to G-8 countries or to World Trade Organization members), the education profiles of the individual nations sometimes resemble economic indicators : what is imported, what is exported, and what is the potential for expansion. Higher education, and specifically distance learning (the Clicks element of this paper), can already be charted in these terms for some nations. This paper describes the current role of distance learning in countries described as growing economies and proposes a typology for describing change as additional data become available. The paper informs readers of global developments in distance education, using the BRIC nations as examples.

Keywords: cross-border education, globalization, BRIC, GATS, internationalization, distance learning, access, right to education

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Dr. Christine Geith, Karen Vignare

Access to education with online learning and open educational resources : can they close the GAP ?

Abstract: One of the key concepts in the right to education is access : access to the means to fully develop as human beings as well as access to the means to gain skills, knowledge and credentials. This is an important perspective through which to examine the solutions to access enabled by Open Educational Resources (OER) and online learning. The authors compare and contrast OER and online learning and their potential for addressing human rights “to” and “in” education. The authors examine OER and online learning growth and financial sustainability and explore potential scenarios to address the global education gap.

Keywords: online learning, Open Educational Resources, OER, OpenCourseWare, sustainable business models, innovation

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Richard C. Larson, M. Elizabeth Murray

Open educational resources for blended learning in high schools : overcoming impediments in developing countries

Abstract: With today’s computer and telecommunications technologies, every young person can have a quality education regardless of his or her place of birth. This is the dream that Open Educational Resources (OERs), when viewed as a right rather than a privilege, are directed to realize. For developing countries, we propose a type of OER initiative that leverages not only technology but also the skills of the in-class teacher, that utilizes not only the Internet but also lower-tech delivery platforms, and that is created not only by developed countries of the West but also by educators in many countries worldwide. We outline the design of a cross-border, collaborative learning and teaching system called the Blended Learning Open Source Science or Math Studies Initiative (BLOSSOMS), with an associated partnership network established for its implementation in developing countries. BLOSSOMS is to develop a large, free repository of blended-learning video modules for high school math and science classes, created by gifted volunteer educators from around the world and designed to offer potentially transformative learning exercises that will enhance critical thinking skills and retain students’ interest in math and science.The initiative has been designed and developed within a multinational network of partner organizations in the developing world, a characteristic that distinguishes it from many other OER projects.

Keywords: Open Educational Resources, OER, blended learning, online repository, international collaboration, high school education, mathematics and science, critical thinking

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Anthony G. Picciano, Robert V. Steiner

Bringing the real world of science to children : a partnership of the American Museum of Natural History and the City University of New York

Abstract: Every child has a right to an education. In the United States, the issue is not necessarily about access to a school but access to a quality education. With strict compulsory education laws, more than 50 million students enrolled in primary and secondary schools, and billions of dollars spent annually on public and private education, American children surely have access to buildings and classrooms. However, because of a complex and competitive system of shared policymaking among national, state, and local governments, not all schools are created equal nor are equal education opportunities available for the poor, minorities, and underprivileged. One manifestation of this inequity is the lack of qualified teachers in many urban and rural schools to teach certain subjects such as science, mathematics, and technology. The purpose of this article is to describe a partnership model between two major institutions (The American Museum of Natural History and The City University of New York) and the program designed to improve the way teachers are trained and children are taught and introduced to the world of science. These two institutions have partnered on various projects over the years to expand educational opportunity especially in the teaching of science. One of the more successful projects is Seminars on Science (SoS), an online teacher education and professional development program, that connects teachers across the United States and around the world to cutting-edge research and provides them with powerful classroom resources. This article provides the institutional perspectives, the challenges and the strategies that fostered this partnership.

Keywords: science education, teacher education, pre-service, in-service, teacher shortage, distance learning, online learning, blended learning, multimedia

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Tiffany Zenith Ivins

Microfranchising microlearning centers : a sustainable model for expanding the right to education in developing countries ?

Abstract: While availability of information and access to it enables education in developing countries, information alone does not secure transmission of knowledge—especially to remote learners in low-tech, infrastructure-poor communities. For this reason, 21st century distance education tools require innovative mechanisms for accessing the hardest-to-reach learners. This paper explores an ethnographic case study from Nepal as a means for illuminating the possibility for expanding the right to education in developing countries through an innovative approach : the microfranchising of microlearning centers.

Keywords: youth, development, ICT, YMRC, technology, Nepal, South Asia, social entrepreneurs

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Lin Lin

An online learning model to facilitate learners’ rights to education

Abstract: This paper connects an online learning model to the rights to education that the online educational environments can provide. The model emerges from a study of ninety-two online learners and is composed of three kinds of inquiries, namely, independent inquiry, collaborative inquiry, and formative inquiry towards expert knowledge. Online learners naturally pursue and undertake these inquiries when they are equipped with communication channels and technologies. This model provides a thinking tool for integrating new media and technologies in an online learning environment in order to help students achieve their full rights to education.

Keywords: learners’ rights, online learning environments, self-directed learning, independent inquiry, collaborative inquiry, formative inquiry towards expert knowledge

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Dr. Katrina A. Meyer

If higher education is a right, and distance education is the answer, then who will pay ?

Abstract: If higher education is a right, and distance education is the avenue for making higher education universally available, then who shall pay ? This article asks (1) can state governments in the United States afford to fund this initiative and (2) can public higher education institutions in the U.S. fund this effort through capitalizing on cost-efficiencies of online learning ? To answer the first question, data on funding of higher education by states are reviewed and a negative conclusion reached. To answer the second question, research on methods for achieving cost-efficiencies through online learning is reviewed and a cautious positive conclusion is reached, assuming states and institutions are willing to invest in the people and processes, and the time, effort, and will that make achieving efficiencies possible.

Keywords: enrollment growth, funding, cost-efficiencies, U.S. public higher education

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Claudine SchWeber, Ph.D.

Determined to learn : accessing education despite life-threatening disasters

Abstract: The ‘right to education’ proclaimed by the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights requires access to learning as well as the support systems. Since access can be interrupted by various circumstances, the possibility of providing continuity despite external dangers by using online distance education, offers an intriguing and valuable option. For example, life-threatening disasters, such as war or hurricanes, can interrupt or halt ongoing higher education coursework. Despite that reality, some students remain determined to continue the learning. How can institutions respond to this determination fast enough to be of use and effective enough to maintain their educational reputations ? Empire State College’s (New York) activities in its Lebanon Residence Program after the 2006 war and Xavier University in New Orleans’ actions in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina provide valuable answers. Together with the unique Sloan Semester—created to temporarily provide educational continuity for hurricane affected students—these programs also offer lessons on resilience and survival in a crisis.

Keywords: educational access, distance learning, e-learning, higher education and disaster, resilience, sloan semester, educational continuity, crisis management, academic continuity

IRRODL

Barbara Spronk

Editorial : Technology, Policy, and the Right to Education

Abstract: Almost 60 years have passed since the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Article 26 of that declaration deals with the right to education (…). In that time, distance education has emerged as a way of extending educational opportunities to those for whom poverty, remote location, gender, disability, or dislocation has made education more of a luxury than a right, especially in the world’s poverty zones. At basic and secondary levels, open schools and classrooms are using distance education approaches to help universalize primary education and make secondary education at least a possibility for those who would otherwise become permanent school leavers (cf. Yates & Bradley, 2000, and Bradley, 2003). Perraton estimated that as many as 20 per cent of university students in developing countries were studying at a distance, compared with 12 per cent in industrialized countries (2000). Those percentages, no doubt, are considerably higher today. Nonetheless, 72 million children remain out of school, one in five adults is without basic literacy skills, and many pupils leave school without acquiring essential skills and knowledge (UNESCO, 2008). Is distance education helping to make a significant dent in these numbers ? In company with distance education journals worldwide, this special issue of the International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning (www.irrodl.org) invited contributions that addressed this question. Contributors were asked to focus on the following issues: What is the role of distance education in the implementation of the right to education ? How is distance education involved when education is seen as a right ? What is its position in educational policy, as a factor of quality and an instrument for liberty ?

Do the technologies of distance education act as enablers or barriers to achieving the universal right to education? In response, we received a number of papers that focus particularly on technology and policy.

Keywords: editorial

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Tom Caswell, Shelley Henson, Marion Jensen, David Wiley

Open Educational Resources: Enabling universal education

Abstract: The role of distance education is shifting. Traditionally distance education was limited in the number of people served because of production, reproduction, and distribution costs. Today, while it still costs the university time and money to produce a course, technology has made it such that reproduction costs are almost non-existent. This shift has significant implications, and allows distance educators to play an important role in the fulfillment of the promise of the right to universal education. At little or no cost, universities can make their content available to millions. This content has the potential to substantially improve the quality of life of learners around the world. New distance education technologies, such as OpenCourseWares, act as enablers to achieving the universal right to education. These technologies, and the associated changes in the cost of providing access to education, change distance education’s role from one of classroom alternative to one of social transformer.

Keywords: OpenCourseWare, distance education, access, new technologies

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Henk Huijser, Tas Bedford, David Bull

OpenCourseWare, Global Access and the Right to Education : Real access or marketing ploy ?

Abstract: This paper explores the potential opportunities that OpenCourseWare (OCW) offers in providing wider access to tertiary education, based on the ideal of ‘the right to education’. It first discusses the wider implications of OCW, and its underlying philosophy, before using a case study of a tertiary preparation program (TPP) at the University of Southern Queensland (USQ) to draw out the issues involved in offering a program that is created in a particular national and social context on a global scale. This paper draws specific attention to the digital divide, its effects in national and global contexts, and the particular obstacles this presents with regards to OCW. This paper argues that OCW provides many opportunities, both in terms of access to education and in terms of student recruitment and marketing for universities. To take full advantage of those opportunities, however, requires a concerted effort on the part of tertiary education institutions, and it requires a vision that is fundamentally informed by, and committed to, the principle of ‘the right to education’.

Keywords: OpenCourseWare, right to education, digital divide, tertiary preparation programs

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Tina Wilson

New Ways of Mediating Learning : Investigating the implications of adopting open educational resources for tertiary education at an institution in the United Kingdom as compared to one in South Africa

Abstract: Access to education is not freely available to all. Open Educational Resources (OERs) have the potential to change the playing field in terms of an individual’s right to education. The Open University in the United Kingdom was founded almost forty years ago on the principle of ‘open’ access with no entry requirements necessary. The university develops innovative high quality multiple media distance-learning courses. In a new venture called OpenLearn, The Open University is making its course materials freely available worldwide on the Web as OERs (see http://www.open.ac.uk/openlearn). How might other institutions make use of these distance-learning materials? The paper starts by discussing the different contexts wherein two institutions operate and the inequalities that exist between them. One institution is a university based in South Africa and the other is a college located in the United Kingdom. Both institutions, however, deliver distance-learning courses. The second part of the paper discusses preliminary findings when OERs are considered for tertiary education at these two institutions. The findings emphasise some of the opportunities and challenges that exist if these two institutions adopt OERs.

Keywords: open educational resources, distance learning, open education

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Shalni Gulati

Technology-Enhanced Learning in Developing Nations : A review

Abstract: Learning ‘using’ technologies has become a global phenomenon. The Internet is often seen as a value-neutral tool that potentially allows individuals to overcome the constraints of traditional elitist spaces and gain unhindered access to learning. It is widely suggested that online technologies can help address issues of educational equity and social exclusion, and open up democratic and accessible educational opportunities. The national governments and non-governmental agencies who fund educational endeavours in developing countries have advocated the use of new technologies to reduce the cost of reaching and educating large numbers of children and adults who are currently missing out on education. This paper presents an overview of the educational developments in open, distance, and technology-facilitated learning that aim to reach the educationally deprived populations of the world. It reveals the challenges encountered by children and adults in developing countries as they attempt to access available educational opportunities. The discussion questions whether, in face of these challenges, developing nations should continue to invest money, time, and effort into e-learning developments. Can technology-enhanced learning help address the poverty, literacy, social, and political problems in developing countries ?

Keywords: developing countries, technology, e-learning, access, rhetoric, reality

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Bernadette Robinson

Using distance education and ICT to improve access, equity and the quality in rural teachers’ professional development in western China

Abstract: The goal of ‘teacher quality for all’ is proving difficult to achieve in many countries, especially in rural areas, yet teacher quality is a key determinant of students’ participation rates and achievement levels. It also affects the attainment of social justice in terms of equity in educational quality for students. One contributor to teacher quality is professional development though limits on its availability and quality create inequity for many teachers. This paper describes how distance education and ICT improved access, equity, and quality in professional development for rural teachers in one province in western China, viewed through the lens of a ‘rights-based’ framework.

Keywords: rural teachers, ICT, continuing professional development, teachers’ rights, EU-China Gansu Basic Education Project

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Richard Siaciwena, Foster Lubinda

The Role of Open and Distance Learning in the Implementation of the Right to Education in Zambia

Abstract: As a member of the United Nations, Zambia is committed to the observance of human rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948. This is evidenced, among others, by the fact that Zambia is a signatory to the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child. Zambia has a permanent Human Rights Commission that includes a subcommittee on child rights whose focus is on child abuse and education. Zambia also has a National Child Policy and National Youth Policy whose main objectives are to holistically address problems affecting children and youth. This paper focuses on the progress and challenges currently facing Zambia and the role of open and distance learning in addressing those challenges.

Keywords: open and distance learning, policy, human rights, teacher training, basic education

Lisa C. Priebe, Tamra L. Ross, Karl W. Low

Exploring the Role of Distance Education in Fostering Equitable University Access for First Generation Students : A phenomenological survey

Abstract: Using a qualitative study of distance education (DE) learners whose parents have not accessed post-secondary education (PSE), this paper proposes themes for further research in the study of first-generation students (FGS). This survey asked a number of open-ended questions about parental influences on university enrollment, and respondents’ reasons for choosing university in general and DE in particular. Findings were consistent with current research in many areas focusing on debt aversion, lower parental guidance, older starting age, and difficulty separating from familial roles. Differences were noted, including lower parental valuation of PSE and an increased emphasis on non-educational priorities, such as family and work. The limitations of the current study are discussed, as well as suggestions for future FGS research in DE.

Keywords: distance education, first generation students, education equity, post-secondary education

Open Praxis

Purnendu TRIPATHI, Siran MUKERJI

Access and Equity to Education in India through Synergy of Conventional and ODL Systems : A Step towards Democratization of Education

Abstract: India has witnessed tremendous development in educating and training its vast human resource of over one billion through sustained effort of conventional and distance mode of education. In pursuit of making Right to Education a reality, the Government has been initiating efforts for developing the educational infrastructure and training human capital. Consequently, the Country with a literacy rate of 64.84 %, has 767520, 274731 and 152049 schools along with 12 open schools at primary, middle and secondary/ higher secondary levels catering to 130.8, 51.2 and 37.1 million students respectively. At higher education level, 13578 colleges and 407 universities along with 106 distance education institutions address needs of 11.7 million students. These institutions of learning, in true sense have been instrumental in educating the vast human resource of over one billion but democratization of education i.e. access and equity to education is still a dream to be realized. This paper endeavours to explore the achievements so far and identify the challenges and constraints that have prevented the country to achieve the goal of universalisation of education and high level of literacy.

Keywords: universalisation, access, equity, democratization of education

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Claudia Rosana Floris

Who is the pedagogic subject/person in distance education ? A contribution to the right to education

Resumen: En este trabajo se pretenden establecer (no exhaustivamente) articulaciones entre : 1) los aportes de los estudios sobre las TICS y sus posibilidades respecto del conocimiento y la comunicación ; 2) la mirada específicamente educativa (y en cierta medida psicológica) sobre el hecho educativo ; y 3) los saberes generados a partir de los usos de las TICS en educación a distancia. De este modo se van identificando rupturas y continuidades respecto del aporte al derecho a la educación. Se parte de pensar la educación como lucha por el reconocimiento - deseo de aprender y poder de enseñar – (Cullen, 2005). Por ello, cuando se habla de garantizar la igualdad de oportunidades es fundamental pensarla desde la dignidad de los sujetos de la educación. El derecho a la educación como un derecho humano “significa una obligación para el poder político y los poderes sociales de garantizar la igualdad de oportunidades para todos, sin que medie ningún condicionamiento.” (Cullen, 2005, pág. 59).En este sentido, el trabajo constituye una reflexión que plantea diferentes temáticas orientadas a comprender y profundizar las rupturas en pro de una educación cada vez más orientada a construir
una ciudadanía crítica, justa, equitativa y fraternal.

Palabras claves: virtual, education, communication, ICT, distance education, recognition

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Li Yawan, Qi Wei

How to realize social fairness and equality through distance and open learning ?

Abstract: For the past decades, China has formed a relatively perfect legal system for education. The Constitution of People’s Republic of China adopted on December 4, 1982 stipulates the general principles of equal rights to education. On the basis of that, China established a dozen of specific laws and regulations on education in which concrete rights to education are proclaimed. To realize equal right to education is to guarantee most people to receive education and more people to enjoy higher education. Applying the American scholar, Professor Martin Trow’s concept about the three phases of higher education, which are Elite Education, Mass Education and Popularizing Education, China is now stepping out of the elite education phase and progressing to the mass education. For the past ten years, China’s higher education is developing fast. The overall active enrolment from various kinds of higher educational institutions has amounted to 23 million and the recruits from higher education institutions have reached over 5 million by 2005. Though the gross rate for enrollment has been 21 %, many people who intent to continue their study are closed outside the door of the higher education institutions and many who want to upgrade their knowledge and skill cannot find the places suitable to their concrete conditions. Therefore, there is great potential to develop open learning and distance education so that different people’s requirement for education and training can be satisfied.

Keywords: equal right to education, mass education, equity

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Dra. María Yee Seuret

Role of Distance education as a way to guarantee the right to education

Resumen: La crisis internacional que vive el mundo, agudiza la situación en el campo educativo y acentúa cada vez más el desequilibrio entre los países desarrollados y los subdesarrollados. A casi sesenta años de la adopción de la Declaración de los Derechos Humanos, no se ha podido generalizar lo planteado en su Artículo 26. Sin embargo, en 1966 se logró que 142 países suscribieran el Pacto Internacional de Derechos Económicos, Sociales y Culturales, y se ha alcanzado un mayor consenso sobre los problemas que afronta la educación en aspectos tales como el acceso, la gratuidad, la equidad, la diversidad, la permanencia, la eficiencia, los problemas de género, la prioridad y la calidad de la educación, la educación para todos a lo largo de la vida y el aprendizaje centrado en el estudiante (todos esenciales para lograr una educación sensible a los derechos humanos). Pero la educación no puede hacer frente con sus estructuras y métodos tradicionales a estas exigencias. Por tanto, se requiere la utilización de nuevos enfoques y estrategias educativas, para resolverlos. Una alternativa es “la educación a distancia”, modalidad que puede desempeñar un papel excepcional en la ampliación
del alcance de los sistemas de educación.

Palabras claves: human rights, distance education, diversity, equity, acees, free of charge

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Carolina Costa Cavalcanti, Gina Strozzi

Democratisation of education in Brazil : reflections on digital inclusion and human rights

Resumen: Este trabalho de reflexão apresenta os resultados de uma investigação bibliográfica que apontou e discutiu a realidade dos dados sobre a implantação e expansão da Educação a Distância (EAD) no Brasil – enfocando a inclusão digital – e analisa ‘como’ e ‘quanto’ ela corroborou para o fortalecimento dos Direitos Humanos e especialmente para o desenvolvimento da cidadania. A sistematização dos resultados contribuiu para uma reflexão crítica acerca do atual panorama de EAD e da democratização do ensino e de cidadania no país. A problemática da pesquisa circunscreveu-se sobre o binômio : inclusão digital e cidadania. A hipótese norteadora do trabalho é que a EAD é instrumento para uma ação que faz recuperar, avançar e fortalecer a cidadania e as competências para o desenvolvimento pessoal e profissional. O trabalho de reflexão foi conduzido através dos dados do Anuário Brasileiro Estatístico de Educação Aberta e a Distância – 2006.

Palabras claves: distance education, democratisation of education, digital inclusion, human rights, citizenship

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Aminudin Zuhairi, Ida Zubaidah & Daryono

Roles of distance education in the implementation of the right to education in Indonesia : analysis and lessons learnt from the sociological, political and economic points of view

Abstract: This paper addresses the roles of distance education in the implementation of the right to education, presenting sociological, political and economic analysis and lessons learnt from the specific context of Indonesia. Diversities in geographic, demographic, social cultural and economic conditions of the country provide specific challenges for its distance education practice and the process of social, political and economic transformation to which distance education can contribute.

Keywords: distance education, right to education, challenges, socia, political and economic transformation

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Bill McNeill

Martini - With or Without the Olive ?

Abstract: Distance education has been referred to as ‘any time, any place, any where’ - resonant of the 1970s Martini TV advert. For the purist a martini without the olive is not the real thing as an essential ingredient is missing, and the same can be said of education which is not the real thing for a disabled person if reasonable adjustment for their disability is absent. This paper considers the issue of study impairment within the context of a specialist distance learning institution providing vocational courses, and examines the aspiration, expressed by the United Nations (2003), that ‘the equalisation of opportunities for persons with disabilities is an essential contribution in the general and worldwide effort to mobilise human resources.’

Keywords : disability, discrimination, distance, vocational, adults, international