Research as Professional Development

The main purpose of CRIDALA 2000 has been to provide the first forum in the Asian region for intensive discussion, under the guidance of expert mentors, about various aspects of research in distance and adult learning.  Through the lead-up electronic conference, the keynote and sub-theme summaries, the paper presentations, and the roundtable discussions, this forum has succeeded in identifying research needs, prioritising them, and now, we hope, the next step will be to form mutual interest groups to address these issues.

Among many other things, we were reminded in the Opening Ceremony by Professor Kenneth Young, Chairman of the University Research Grants Council of Hong Kong SAR, that the essence of education is more than just providing knowledge and information - it is concerned with finding and interpreting information and development of the arts of expression and habit.  He reiterated the need to identify how these goals can best be achieved in distance education. 

Keynote and Sub-theme Summaries

The presenters raised several issues that instigated the discussions.  These included:
 

• For what kind of student, in what particular content, are different levels and types of interaction necessary?  What can be learned from good descriptive studies of changes in the learner population?  More needs to be known about within group differences, including affective factors.  How are human resources best organized?  What are attitudes/concerns of faculty?  What does on-line education do to cultural diversity? (Professor Michael Moore)
  
  
• There has been little discussion of pedagogical elements of web-based instruction in journal articles. One of the most important things is to find out more about teaching students how to learn, especially in a web-based environment.  This includes issues of learner-instructor interactions and learner collaboration. Academic, collaborative and interpersonal interactions all need to be considered. (Professor Insung Jung)
  
  
• Much current research in comparative distance education lacks systematic, empirically-grounded analyses, many distance education researchers are working in isolation, and there are few with a grounding in research in the social sciences. There is a need to draw on general comparative education research. Effective cross-national collaborative research will enable us to:  engage in processes of mutual professional development, increase understanding, reinforce research skills, share costs, and increase efficiency through division of labour (Professor Peter Cookson). 
  
  
• Why is research important in distance education?  Who should be involved in research?  What should be the focus of our research effort (discipline or distance education systems)? How can a mentoring/training system best be set up?  How can an institutional policy of rewards and incentives be built in?  It was suggested that everyone should be encouraged to do research by integrating everyday academic work into action and other kinds of research.  There is a need for radical change in institutional policy to value research as a criterion for employment and promotion (Professor Santosh Panda).
  
  
• There are three ways to look at the impact of information and communication technology on research in open and distance learning: substance and nature of what is researched, how it is researched, and how it is reported and communicated. Concerns have been voiced about interaction between teachers and students, and for communication and understanding across language and cultural boundaries. Potential exists for Internet-based access to research dissemination and for new virtual communities of scholars. This raises issues of access and equity, ie we have to make sure the scholarly community is accessible, as well as ethical issues about capturing data electronically (Professor Terry Evans).
  
  
• We should look at the relationships between research and policy that affect ODL. What determines the strength of links between research and policy?  What can we do if we want to strengthen the link, but don't want to be totally constrained by policy.  Some policies create greater opportunities for ODL research than others, so it is important to evaluate these policy environments.  It is important to inform policy makers of the need for research. How can ODL research be integrated into a knowledge management strategy for continuous improvement and learning within our institutions?  What policies should be adopted at national and international levels to promote ODL research?  What role is there for comparative research on ODL policy and research and how can this be carried out? (Dr. Nick Farnes).

Forty papers were presented in the six thematic areas.  The purpose of these papers was to raise awareness of some of the research currently being done within each theme.  These presentations and discussions provided an effective bridge between the Summary sessions and the future research directions that were discussed in depth in the Roundtables.

Poster Session

Eleven posters were presented, representing five of the six sub-themes.  The Poster Session was well-attended and the resulting discussion added a further dimension to the issues raised in the Parallel Symposia.

The Roundtable Discussions 

These sessions were, in many ways, the highlight of the Conference, because it was here that the real work was done, under the expert mentoring of the main speakers, about future research directions and approaches began with more questions than solutions being raised.  The second step was for participants to identify what research they knew of that was being done to address these questions. However, by the final session, some proactive suggestions had been made about what we can do next.

In summary, there are four main areas that were discussed within each of the sub-themes:

What are the issues that are of common concern?
What have we learned about research in open and distance learning?
What is missing from this research?
Where should we be going from here?

What are the issues that are of common concern?

• Through using technology, are we widening the gap of people's access to distance education and, if so, should this or should it not restrict the use of technology in distance education?
• Is distance education catering more for industrial needs than for the needs of society?
• Is there a danger of technology driving distance education rather than pedagogy driving the technology?
• How can we deal effectively with training and professional development of the distance educators themselves?
• How can institutions reward - or at very least not "punish" - those who engage in research?
• There is a need for proper research policy formation and funding mechanisms for undertaking research.

• We have shared experiences about how it is in our own institutions.
• There are vast resource-related gaps between developed and developing countries and also between urban and rural areas within countries.

• In many cases, there is a paucity of well-articulated methodologies for ODL research, empirically-based generalisations and theoretical frameworks based on literature reviews.
• There is not enough emphasis on cross-cultural and cross-national investigations, particularly across continents.
• There are not enough ways of disseminating and using research findings.
• There is insufficient focus on the use of new information and communications technologies in developing countries where accessibility and awareness are still low.
• Many examples have shown that ODL can provide access to basic education for women, but there is still so much to be investigated that we must not forget to emphasise this responsibility on our agenda.
• It is important to learn more about integrating printed material with web-based delivery.

• There is a need for each of us to know more about what the other is doing - many of us are suffering from our separation (Professor Michael Moore).
• It is important to establish some for of ODL research organisation.
• We need to develop qualified researchers through mentoring, developing a knowledge base and supporting innovation, and to learn more about the nature of mentoring within the context of research.
• Institutional/individual development through research requires more focus.
• Research data should be accessible over the Internet.
• We are part of what could be a community practice - why don't we build it?