Module 3: The Cost-effectiveness of Distance Education
It was exciting to virtually meet Professor Greville Rumble, the author of Costs and Economics of Open and Distance Learning, one of our assigned books for this class. I expressed to him I was intrigued in reading his passionate article Social Justice, Economics and Distance Education for class. The article discussed his justifications of DE and how education is a fundamental human right. It also touched upon his philosophy on social morality (i.e. good and bad lives).
I thanked him for introducing me to Professor Ted Honderich. Professor Rumble’s article captured Professor Honderich’s compassion towards humans in becoming better people by having an access to education. I plan to read more from him.
I asked Professor Rumble if he ever met Professor Honderich. He said no, but he was a great influence because their thoughts were similar. I was very surprised that he did not meet him because he did an excellent job in presenting his compassion.
Here is a photo of Professor Rumble.
I thanked him for introducing me to Professor Ted Honderich. Professor Rumble’s article captured Professor Honderich’s compassion towards humans in becoming better people by having an access to education. I plan to read more from him.
I asked Professor Rumble if he ever met Professor Honderich. He said no, but he was a great influence because their thoughts were similar. I was very surprised that he did not meet him because he did an excellent job in presenting his compassion.
Here is a photo of Professor Rumble.
I enjoy learning from a global perspective about the establishment and the innovation of online schools to provide more access to people to pursue higher education and life-long learning. In this module, there was a case study discussion about Open University in China (OUC). In OMDE 601, I remember writing a paper about the OUC.
It was interesting to learn their evolvement from providing distance education (DE) through radio and television to farmers, military personnel, and people with disabilities for about twenty years. Since providing online courses in 1999, the OUC made it a priority to keep evolving with distance education, since the 21st century was approaching.
I was not shocked to learn that at one time online degrees in China were perceived to be less prestigious than a degree from a traditional university. I remember that online degrees were stigmatized over here in the States in the beginning. The Minister of Education had to jump over a few hurdles (i.e. lenient policies, improving the image and the quality of distance education and a lack of an integrated national plan) due to a growth expansion with online enrollment (Wang & Crook, 2006).
References
Rumble, G. (2007). Social justice, economics and distance education. Open Learning: The Journal of Open and Distance Learning, 22(2), 167 -176.
Wang, T., & Crook, C. (2006, September). The experiment of tertiary online education in China:
An overview. MoE/China & HEFCE/UK. Retrieved from http://www.itdl.org/Journal/Sep_06/article01.htm
It was interesting to learn their evolvement from providing distance education (DE) through radio and television to farmers, military personnel, and people with disabilities for about twenty years. Since providing online courses in 1999, the OUC made it a priority to keep evolving with distance education, since the 21st century was approaching.
I was not shocked to learn that at one time online degrees in China were perceived to be less prestigious than a degree from a traditional university. I remember that online degrees were stigmatized over here in the States in the beginning. The Minister of Education had to jump over a few hurdles (i.e. lenient policies, improving the image and the quality of distance education and a lack of an integrated national plan) due to a growth expansion with online enrollment (Wang & Crook, 2006).
References
Rumble, G. (2007). Social justice, economics and distance education. Open Learning: The Journal of Open and Distance Learning, 22(2), 167 -176.
Wang, T., & Crook, C. (2006, September). The experiment of tertiary online education in China:
An overview. MoE/China & HEFCE/UK. Retrieved from http://www.itdl.org/Journal/Sep_06/article01.htm