Book Description

Distance Education is expanding at a faster rate cutting across national and regional boundaries. With the advent and spread of information and communication technology (ICT), distance education has embarked on a path of collaboration, networking and globalization. Quality and accreditation of distance learning programmes and experiences have become highly significant in the ICT-enabled education system. This edited book is a compilation of selected papers submitted for the International Conference 2005 of International Council for Distance Education (ICDE). The papers are grouped into four major themes internationalisation: collaboration and networking; ICT-enabled distance education; quality assurance; and distance education for development. Covering these four major themes, the selected papers give an overview of the present scenario of open and distance learning the world over. Contributors of this book bring in their experience and reflect on issues related to networking, resource sharing, collaboration, globalization and discuss challenges and possible solutions. In the ICT-enabled education section, issues covering practice, attitude towards technology and learning in online world are discussed. Quality issues in distance education are discussed in Section three, and how distance learning can influence educational and societal development are discussed in the last section.