Publish at November 25 2019 Updated December 07 2022
Initially founded on the rise of technology by allowing the teaching of distance learning offer in the 1970s, the so-called open universities perceived at first to be innovative see themselves competing first by the development of computers and technologies in training in the 1980s and then by the internationalization of higher education with, in particular in Europe, the Bologna process in 1998 heralding new strategic directions desired by international organizations (OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development), UNESCO, Council of Europe).
Parallel to the internationalization of education, another competition has emerged generated this time by the digitization of free educational resources (OER) or OER (Open Educational Resources) as well as the massification of university education especially with the arrival of CLOM (Massive Open Online Courses) better known by their English acronym MOOC ( Massive Open Online Course). The 160,000 students enrolled in the Artificial Intelligence MOOC offered by Stanford University in 2011 is one of the most important milestones in access to MOOCs (T. Karsenti). With this new reconfiguration of so-called distance learning, open universities are therefore forced to differentiate themselves and justify their added value.
However, the era of digital globalization and its batch of pedagogical innovations that the world of higher education has known since the 2000s, questions the very foundation of these universities because these innovations abolish the distance of the course offering of these universities. To what extent are open universities redefining themselves in the face of digital globalization? This is the central problematic around which this research work is based on three hypotheses :
The development of new technologies within open universities :
The framework posed for this research is that of the industrialization of training with, in support, the contributions of the Seminar Industrialization of Training and the changes in educational organizations. Thus, the author states that she avoids advancing in this research only under the prism of technology.
"think the notion of educational industrialization with a view to making it a category of thought. In other words, to examine under what conditions and to what extent one can confer a heuristic value to this notion, possibly erecting it into an operative concept to apprehend the evolutions and metamorphoses of the educational system" (Moeglin)
or again:
"the reference to industrialization is an effective revealer and analyzer of the mutations of the educational system for a century" (Moeglin).
Three markers are thus retained in order to respond to the problematic set in the specific field of distance education:
This research work uses an inductive approach and focuses on a panel of eight universities: the Open University of Tanzania, Zambia , Catalonia, the Netherlands, Shanghai, Pakistan, Indonesia, and Britain. The methodology used is based on a qualitative approach based on the analysis of a set of interviews collected from 10 actors of these target universities participating in an international visit to the University of Shanghai for the first series and a second series of 4 interviews at the Open University of Great Britain, that is to say 14 individual interviews with a total duration of 15 hours 43 (1 hour on average per interview).
This approach allows, according to the author, "to detect elements of convergence and divergence within very rich discourses". The approach is also meant to be ethical since the analyzed remarks imply the trust given to them. Moreover, in order to better " complexify " the representations of the actors interviewed initially, other corpora had to be used as material and which consist of a set of speeches of institutional selected over a period parallel to the research, that is to say 2015-2017 as well as a promotional spot of Shanghai University.
The choice of professionals from these eight universities can be explained by the lack of French-speaking research in these target countries regarding the mutations induced by digital technology in the field of distance education, even more so for what concerns comparative research, the author points out, which are concentrated as for them in countries such as Canada, Great Britain or Scandinavian countries.
Moreover, these countries constitute, according to the author, real opportunities to better grasp what is at stake in the digital transition in open universities according to diverse contexts, from both local and global angles by also integrating the political component.
To better understand the central issue of this doctoral research, let us first look at the concept of the Open University. This type of system is based on the Anglo-Saxon system and allows for the delivery of courses at a distance. Two common criteria are shared by these open universities :
However, despite common missions such as facilitating access to higher education, open universities are characterized by blurred contours from one corner of the planet to the other, the author is keen to point out as shown by the examples taken from the eight universities that served as research grounds. For example, the open university in Asia belongs to the circle of ";mega-universities".
" These universities, with enrollments exceeding 100,000 students per year, have indeed been created by governments with the explicit objective of increasing accessibility to university education at low cost and facilitating the achievement of national goals" (Guillemet, 2007).
Also, if the Open University of Great Britain which came into being under the impulse of the Labour Party in 1969 was rather based at the beginning on the production of supports sent to the homes, the Chinese model of the University of Shanghai relied on its part on a mode of transmission based on television and radio, broadcasted in classrooms called " television classes " in order to compensate for the lack of qualified teachers and to facilitate the massification of higher education. In addition to these audio-visual aids, printed aids came second.
The " African " models (to remain in the same logic of the author when Africa or another continent is evoked by implying the countries studied in this research) have their system and are to be placed in their particular historical and economic context of a post-colonial Africa, with a low rate of students in higher education. Facilitating access to higher education is one of the major developmental orientations of these countries.
South Africa is the leading country in distance education in Africa. That said, Tanzania has been able to make its distance education project the most successful in sub-Saharan Africa by opening its first open university in 1992 (public) to compensate for the deficit of students in higher education in the traditional university and by expanding its student population internationally especially by opening 30 regional centers.
The Open University of Zambia (private) was established in December 2004 with the objective of filling the gap of teaching staff without specific academic qualifications and offering flexible solutions in line with the public of adult professionals to be trained.
From the analysis of institutional discourses, it emerged that the Open University of Tanzania has redefined itself by adopting a so-called " disruptive " transition, i.e., it has gone all-digital in order to reduce its costs, particularly in printing materials or even in the routing of exam papers, and is supporting its offer of free educational resources as well as pedagogical monitoring via the digital portfolio.
As for the Open University of Zambia, the transition is of the " timely " type due to the great youth of the institution. The migration to an open source Moodle LMS marks the will to dematerialize the courses. Particular attention is paid to the quality of the offer with, in particular, the creation of the Direction Générale de l'Assurance Qualité, in addition to the creation of the Direction des TIC et alignment with international standards.
Is this vision reflected in the stakeholders of these same universities ?
These words from a Zambian actor interviewed during the research are particularly revealing :
"We need a revolution to turn the corner on online distance education. Otherwise, we are doomed.One foot in the 21st century, one foot in the 20th century"
Thus, the actors underline material and organizational difficulties : lack of premises, teachers attached to dual teaching structures and managing as best they can their presence on sites sometimes very far from each other. The use of ICTs does not represent a 100% solution to everything because there is still resistance rooted in tradition or the low appropriation of all the tools available.
It emerges that the traditional system rubs shoulders with the innovative system, which is reflected in the remarks a step forward but a step back to align with the reality of the field especially with students who live in rural areas and for many of them must " travel miles before being able to benefit from an Internet connection " For these students, printed materials persist despite the desire to dematerialize courses via Moodle.
Same observation on the side of the Tanzanian actor interviewed who points out disparities between the speeches of the officials and the reality on the ground : the " all digital " is far from being the reality of the Open University of Tanzania because a large number of students coming from rural areas, having low connectivity or even not having an Internet connection at home and sometimes without electricity find themselves with CD supports that they have to print out for a cost that turns out to be high. Added to this is a lack of training. The accompaniment towards the transition must be put in place in order to compensate for this lack.
The global context of the country does not facilitate the effective implementation of the orientations desired by the leaders of these institutions. However, digital technology, especially the speed of technological developments, gives hope for a better future. In sum, there are therefore two different levels of progress in terms of evolution but common ambitions.
To characterize this digital transition, the author describes as " rationalizing technology " that is, "Presence and use of technical devices with a view to concentrating financial, human and technical means" (E. Remond) the process underway within these two open universities in Zambia and Tanzania.
Ideologization, as a marker is much less present, due to the long history that both countries have with educational technologies. The transition is said to be " disruptive " in Tanzania with a shift to all-digital, inadequate infrastructure, a local context at odds with intended directions, and a sense of weariness and inefficiency despite hopes for a better future.
The case of the Open University of Zambia is characterized by the coexistence of two systems: one innovative (hybrid or bi-modal face-to-face/distance system) and the other traditional or even artisanal (print and face-to-face) in addition to a gradual adoption of the Internet despite being in the process of industrialization.
In Europe, ( seen here from a political point of view) distance learning in higher education has been strongly influenced by the Open University model of Great Britain, which is part of a desire to develop continuing education, lifelong learning (FLV), vocational qualification as well as the link with industry " in a perspective of matching skills with changing needs (Thibault, 2007) .
In the reported speeches of European institutions, the author retains the three key markers :
The Open Universiteit was created in 1984 in a favorable context with the mission of training employees without any prerequisite qualifications, focusing its efforts on the integration of women according to the " four freedoms " : access, program, organization, time and place of study. It later acquires a research center for pedagogical innovation and offers from 1997 exclusively online courses and is dedicated to research.
Created in 1995 , the UOC is at its inception an innovative university because it is the first to offer an entirely virtual education in the world. Since the beginning, it has had a research center that offers a doctorate, also virtual, as well as a center for pedagogical innovation. In addition, it has been able to counteract the distance education offered by traditional universities from the outset by expanding its field of action to South America and by integrating large-scale European projects. These two universities, although innovative from their launch, have a limited geographical and linguistic scope.
From the analysis of the discourses of the actors interviewed confronted with the interviews conducted, it emerges a so-called " integrative "(integrated) transition within these two universities in the Netherlands and Catalonia: appropriation of the tools by the actors, training systems adapted to the technologies, perception of ICTs as tools, innovation on a larger scale with, in particular, the participation in European projects.
The Shanghai Open University (SOU) (formerly Shanghai Television University (STVU)) established in 1960 is the oldest of the universities on the panel of this research and has a municipal rather than national scope. It relies on the quality of its offer and aims to contribute to the development of the megalopolis. While its beginnings were marked by a strong television and radio presence, it then definitively focused its development via the Internet in 2012. Like other open universities, its scope is social and inclusive with a priority for professionals returning to school and fragile populations.
Created in 1974, it targets primarily women, who, under the weight of tradition, remain the least educated as well as rural populations (58 % of students). Its implementation is justified, according to the author, by the difficult socio-economic context, particularly with poverty as well as the very low schooling of girls in the country.
This university was created has as its main objective the training of teachers.
Asian open universities, known as "mega-universities" (one million students for the University of Pakistan or several hundred enrolled for the University of Indonesia) have developed in a dynamic context and are evolving rapidly. Online education and ICTs are strategic choices in the face of a massive student population: "Cost reduction strategies often involve greater use of online education and other technologies. This will allow more students to be enrolled at a lower cost.
In effect, Asia is leading the way in the use of distance education as a means of expanding access to higher education, while controlling costs " (UNESCO). We note in passing the high penetration of mobile telephony in the three countries concerned, particularly in Indonesia. What they have in common is the desire for openness and accessibility for all, as the author points out.
With digital globalization, they are redefining themselves with the presence of the old system alongside the new system. Thus, hybrid course offerings with old modalities (textbooks and radio/television in Pakistan) in addition to a " gradual adoption of the Internet " remain. However, there is also a willingness to innovate in addition to ongoing innovations with development strategies that focus on quality.
Analysis of institutional discourse on Asian universities suggests the presence of a " new paradigm for open universities " particularly in the face of the arrival of REOs or the wave of MOOCs from North American universities : these pedagogical innovations " have changed the game " regarding higher education (Asha Kamwar, President of COL (Coomonwealth Of Learning).
As a result, open universities must evolve to accommodate the new audience of learners and 21st century learning. Also, a desire for greater openness emerges from the analyses of the discourses with a focus on the internationalization of open universities. Another important element that emerges from the speeches is the desire to position itself as a leader and innovator for the future of open and distance learning.
The research proved fruitful in providing elements of understanding of the mutations that open distance universities may have undergone or may undergo in the era of digital globalization according to different contexts both locally and globally.
It also allowed us, through the cross-referencing of the analysis of institutional speeches and the interviews conducted, to arrive at a dynamic model of digital transition (MOTION). This model takes up all the transitions noted in the universities constituting the research proposed by the author and can be used as a support to qualify the mutations experienced by the actors of these open distance universities and consequently serve as an anchor point in order to anticipate future evolutions. We have incorporated below the model as conceived by the author.
However, the author admits that the context constituting the sample proved to be an "opportunity effect" that "directed" the research. Similarly, additional actors could have provided a more global view and made the proposed model more generalized.
Suggestions for opening up research in this sense are thus made by the author with respect to other open universities in other territories but also to broaden research outside the field of education in both the public and private sectors.
Illustration: Creativa Images from Adobe Stock
Reference
Thesis: Openness in question : when open universities redefine themselves in the age of digital globalization(Emilie REMOND)
https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-01687221
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