Int. J. Educational Development, Vol. 10, No.4, pp. 231-244, 1990Printed in Great Britain

CAN TECHNOLOGY ADVANCE EDUCATION?

JOAO BATISTA ARAUJO E OLIVEIRA

073!Hl593/90 $3.00 +.00Pergamon Press pic

Economic Development Institute, World Bank, 1818HStreet, Washington DC 20433,U,S,A,

Abstract-Because the enormous educational challenges that developing countries presently faceare beyond the capacity of conventional school systems to handle, the author argues that carefulreconsideration must be given to educational technologies-despite some unfortunateexperiences with them in the past. To compare student learning outcomes, in wealthy countries theimpact of some technologies has been minimal, whereas in developing countries that impact onstudent performance and on costs is often considerable, Furthermore, equipment is now bothcheaper and sturdier, and people are more secure about using technology and more realistic aboutwhat it can accomplish, Interpreting 'technology' in its broadest sense, he then proposes aframework that permits a fine-grained reconsideration of the scarce evidence on the more fruitfulareas of application relevant to developing countries: technologies to improve conventionalschools; technologies for vocational education and training; and technologies to totally or partiallyreplace schools, through distance education, The author concludes that these days it is no longer aquestion of whether to use technologies but why, where, and how they can be made cost-effective,

INTRODUCTION

People look to technology as the panacea for abetter life. Improving health and increasingfood production are two worldwide endeavourswhere technology has achieved spectacularresults (Birdsall, 1988). But in spite of advancesin printing and communications, both of whichbear on the teaching/learning process, tech­nology has enjoyed only a limited impact on themodus operandi of schooling. In wealthiercountries at any rate, the standard unit remainsa class of one teacher and 20-30 students. Butwhat of education in developing countries?What kind of contribution can technologymake? The economic constraints that develop­ing countries presently face render face-to-facemethods alone impractical for providing ade­quate and sufficient educational services.Consequently decision-makers are taking asecond, closer look at cost-effective alterna­tives, most of them linked in one way or other totechnology.

Technology is a difficult concept to define. Inindustry, it has a number of different meanings,including cost reduction, efficiency and inno­vation. In education, not only is the termdifficult to define, but technologies are harderto implement. The term is usually associatedwith educational media, an area with a doubtfulreputation and mixed research results. For

example, non-significant differences found inmany comparative studies are sometimesinterpreted as positive, sometimes as negative:most researchers do not agree on whether thecup is half full or half empty.

The idea of technology in education usuallyevokes sanguine, emotional reactions fromboth its defenders and its foes. Four majorissues are usually debated. One is the balancebetween labor and capital. Education is one ofthe few areas of human activities where thisbalance has remained virtually unchangedthroughout history. Teachers represent from 80to 95% of educational budgets, and recurrentsalary expenditures typically represent 1% andseldom more than 5% of total educationalexpenditures. The 1 : 25 teacher: pupil ratioremains constant and is usually taken as a norm.

Other issues include the strong presence ofveto groups which consider themselves threat­ened by the idea of labor substitutions; thephilosophical discussion implying that the ideaof technology itself is antithetical with thepurpose of any meaningful education. This ideais commonly used to reinforce veto groups andimmobilize the economic discussion of labor vscapital balance. Finally, discussions of tech­nology in education are generally subsumedunder a broader category of implementation ofeducational innovations.

A broader definition of technology such as

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the one used in the present paper might helpadvance the discussion, but is not withoutproblems of its own. Technology here is definedas any systematically designed materials ordevices to support, supplement or substitute theteacher. It refers both to old and newtechnologies, media and non-media baseddelivery systems. It refers to the content orsubstance, rather than the medium that carriesthe instruction. Technology-based instructionemphasizes learning processes and learningresults, not the teacher per se. The essence ofthe definition consists of the systematic designand approach to learning.

In attempting to improve education, par­ticularly in developing countries, it is lessrelevant to reach a consensus on a refineddefinition than to examine what options areavailable and what contributions they can offerto diminish costs, improve efficiency andenhance the quality of the learning process.

The costs and effectiveness of various edu­cational technologies and interventions havebeen extensively reviewed elsewhere (Plompand Ely, 1986). The present paper examinesand illustrates a number of options to improveeducational quality, efficiency or both. Suchoptions are analyzed within specific educationalcontexts, namely: (1) technologies to improvethe quality of classroom instruction, (2)technologies to improve access through dis­tance learning and (3) technologies to improvethe efficiency and flexibility of vocationaltechnical education. The paper contends thateven though across-the-board, unequivocalevidence on the cost-effectiveness of media­based projects is difficult to find, the existingexperience with using technology in developingcountries suggests that there are specificcontexts in which some technologies can indeedprovide significant improvements to improvequality and access in education and training.Before dealing with specific technologies, thepaper discusses what went wrong in the past,and the reasons for new, cautious optimism.

EXORCISING THE PAST

Attempts to introduce innovations into therealm of education have often been plaguedwith problems. This is true of new curricula,teacher training or attempts to introduce newtextbooks. Technology-based innovationsare particularly problematic for developing

countries: since technological inputs usuallyconstitute and add-on cost, the results havebeen interpreted negatively.

Among less wealthy countries, large-scaleprojects such as the SITE satellite experiment inIndia (Mody, 1987) and the· Ivory Coasttelevision project (Klees, 1977; Evans andKlees, 1976; Jenkins, 1988) are but twoexamples of the still prevailing disappointmentwith these early attempts to introduce tech­nology in the developing world. Reportschronicled such problems as: high cost andunreliability of equipment; low quality ofsoftware; deficient or inadequate telecom­munications; and lack of funding, staffing, andplanning (EDUTEL, 1979; Kemmerer andWagner, 1987), not to speak of the poordefinition of goals, inadequate institutionalarrangements, faulty implementation and lackof sufficient resources to carry out what aregenerally considered as ill-conceived projects.In many of the documented cases written aboutthese early attempts to introduce technology indeveloping countries on a large scale, there wasa clear mismatch between solutions andproblems, some of which could hardly betackled at that time with the existing techno­logical, institutional and financial means ofcountries such as EI Salvador, Brazil, India orthe Ivory Coast. Worse, the noisy disputesbetween fanatical opponents and fanaticalproponents drowned out the more productivedialogue between the modest optimists andcautious skeptics. International agencies werealso at fault in sponsoring projects that couldnot realistically be taken over by countries whenfunding was withdrawn. The gravest harm,however, stemmed from the unwarranted faiththat prevailed during the '60s and '70s in thevirtually limitless potential of the 'new media'.Even though the problems raised were ratherrelated to faulty policies, poor planning andinadequate implementation than to the mediaused per se, technologies remain the favoritetarget.

The myth is now exploded, and a new realityis taking shape, forged out of necessity andexperience. Decision-makers have becomemore knowledgeable about the potential oftechnologies in education. The voices of thefanatics have been hushed. Funding agenciesare more cautious. Research evidence showingthe much greater impact of educational inputson the progress of students in poorer countries

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has led to a reassessment of educationaltechnology. In wealthier countries, mosttechnologies make at best only marginalcontributions to student achievement (Clark,1983). By contrast, in developing countries,appropriate technologies can have a markedeffect on student achievement (Heyneman andLoxley, 1983). Generally, the technologiesprovide support for poorly-trained teachers anda substitute for a lack of learning materials; butoften they constitute the only kind of schoolingthat exists, thus being likely to create a similarimpact on student learning. Finally, experiencewith numerous projects has enabled decision­makers to determine more precisely those kindsof educational problems that technology canbest help to solve (Anzalone, 1987;Fuller, 1987;Lockheed and Hanushek, 1987; Thiagarajanand Pasigna, 1987).

Developing countries face hard choicesconcerning financing and managing theireducational systems. Can technology help? Thepresent paper attempts to overcome neither theproblems associated with the definition ofeducational technology nor the methodologicaldisputes about the comparative worth ofalternative interventions. Rather, it centersaround a major question faced by decision­makers in developing countries: what is the bestmix of inputs to improve access, efficiency andquality of education at all levels? Choices mayinclude television, radio, textbooks or ways toorganize the delivery of teaching. Whether ornot such systematically designed interventionscan be defined as technologies is less relevantfor the present purposes than the fact that theoptions discussed seem to be closer to therealistic alternatives at the disposal of decision­makers. The central argument is that differentcountries at different stages of development willbe better served by some, as opposed to othertechnologies. Also, different options should beconsidered according to the nature and level ofthe school system or the training required.

Thus, the paper suggests that differentalternatives be considered to improve thequality of basic education, to expand accessthrough distance learning, and to improve theefficiency of vocational technical education andtraining systems. Before going into the analysisof such applications, the paper relates criticaleducational problems to technology-basedsolutions, and elaborates on the reasonswhy decision-makers facing resource scarcity

should take a fresh new look at educationaltechnologies.

PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS

Resource allocation is an exercise oftechnology-or input-choice. Problems andsolutions are not so neatly separated in real lifeas some analysts would like. Pressing problemstrigger the search for solutions in the same waythat available solutions float in search ofproblems. Let us first consider some of theeducational problems faced by developingcountries.

Limited resourcesAs a result of educational expansion and

rising costs, educational budgets in mostdeveloping countries have reached intolerablelimits, reaching up to 30-35% of nationalbudgets, as it is the case in a number of Africancountries. It is not realistic to expect verysignificant increases in educational budgets.Yet, large problems of access and qualityremain at all levels of education. At the sametime, within the next eleven years it isanticipated that worldwide, 1.1 billion childrenwill be seeking entry to schools, mostly indeveloping countries. Not even unlikely­albeit modest-increases of 10-15% of exist­ing educational budgets will make it possible tomeet increasing costs to expand access andimprove quality using conventional meansalone.

Scarcity ofpersonnelThe search for alternatives is not entirely

dictated by economic constraints. Newteachers, specialists and administrators will benecessary. In most countries supervisingschools is no longer possible, given the scarcityof resources and lack of trained supervisors.Computer-based projections of the needsrelated to recruiting, training and hiring newschool personnel allow decision-makers toquickly grasp the idea that it is virtuallyimpossible to meet the costs of hiring andtraining additional personnel to expand school­ing alternatives by merely expanding conven­tional schooling practices.

Limited access and low qualityExpanding school systems while at the same

time maintaining quality isa challenge that most

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developing countries are unable to meet. InLatin America, for instance , a visual inspectionof schools and school resources suffices todocument the commonly held view that thefurther one goes from the central cities, themore obvious the decrease in instructionalresources considered essential to ensure mini­mum quality in basic education becomes ,thereby creating additional inequalities(Lourie, 1987). This same pattern of inequalityof opportunities is common at the secondaryand higher education levels, in spite of an evenmore restricted access. More of this same kindof unevenly distributed education is undesir­able. Yet not even that much is within the reachof most educational budgets.

Ignoring less conventional alternatives todeal with such problems technology can be aself-defeating strategy. For a number ofreasons, educational systems tended to ignoreor to minimize the potential of television , oreven to effectively prepare students to criticallydeal with the medium. Yet out-of-schooltelevision viewing is seen as one of the mostimportant factors related to poor schoolperformance, in both developed and develop­ing countries. Furthermore , it is incumbent onschools to respond to social change-as, forexample, in the case of computers (OECD ,1986). Schools need to consider ways tomeaningfully incorporate technologies that areused in the society at large in their administr a­tive and teaching operations.

Now to consider some of the solutions:

Better input mixThe cost of personnel is the heaviest budget

item at all educational levels. Minimumincrements in educational expenditures onteaching materials and technologies rangingfrom as low as 1% to 4% or 5% of total budgetscan yield significant improvements. The cost­effectiveness of educational systems is directlydependent upon striking an appropriate mix ofinputs (Mingat, 1987). Moreo ver , capital costsare decreasing in both , absolute and relativeterms. As noted by Jamison and Orivel (1982,p. 269), this decline in the relative cost ofmediated communication is a long-termphenomenon. They quote W. Schramm's 1933study on 'The Costs of Books in Chaucer'sTime ' , where he concludes that 600 years ago a240-page book probably would have cost $310in 1933 U.S. dollars (or $1,750 in 1978 U.S.

dollars) . Assuming such a book would now costabout 3 cents a page , the real cost decline hasbeen at an average annual rate of 0.91%. As ithappened with the costs of books, over thecenturies, the costs of educational equipmentand electronic hardware are decreasing at evenmore dramatic rates-and they are likely to doso for the forseeable future , including indeveloping countries. Even in countries wheresalaries are still very low, some level ofsubstitution of capital for labor might bewarranted.

Better equipment and communicationsEducational equipment and hardware are

generally more robust, and in most countries,maintenance skills and replacement partsbecome available-especially in higher educa­tion and technical schools (Stahmer, 1986;Teleconsult , 1987; Clarke , 1988). Furthermorethe mail services and telecommunicationsfacilities of several developing countries­especially the newly industrialized- aremuch improved on what they were 20 yearsago.

Better design of learning materialsWritten materials form the core of the

delivery mode of any educational intervention.Instruct ional design and software developmenthave made progress, using scientific andtechnological knowledge, as well as technicaltools, to improve the quality of learningmaterials. The effect of such materials ismagnified when it is coupled with carefullyconsidered policies on production , manufactureand distribution. In parti cular , well-designedtextbooks and instructional materials have beenshown to have a powerful impact on bothstudent performance and learning time, across anumber of different learn ing domains (Gagne,1977). The y also have the potential to improveteacher motivation and release teacher's timeaway from repetitive tasks and into morecreative activities to help student's learning.The effects of high quality materials onstudent's performance can apply equally touniversity and technical training materials , inboth developed and developing countries(Sparker, 1984; Richey, 1986; Romiszowski,1986; Didier, 1988).

Improved management skillsManagement skills have been honed over the

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years and there are many instances in which thecosts of education have been reduced, especi­ally through carefully managed distance educa­tion projects. Other examples are the reductionof costs of production of books in India forunder a dollar a copy; the use of interactiveradio to train paramedics in Caribbeancountries ; or the establishment of the telecom­munication links between institutions of higherlearning in China and the United States. Incertain domains of application, education andcommunication technologies have becomeroutine.

These improvements are by no meansuniversal. Some countries still face enormousdifficulties to produce and deliver textbooks, oreven to replace batteries for radios , It wasprecisely for lack of adequate planning andinfrastructure that many technology-basedprojects failed in the past. To the extent thatbetter conditions exist in some countries, theymake it possible for them to take a second lookat the potential technologies might hold to helpexpand and impro ve the qualit y of theireducational systems.

REASONS FOR OPTIMISM

The word 'technology' is often associatedwith the idea of 'appropriate' . Technologies canbe put to use with most advantage when the y areappropriate to the context and to the problemsthey are supposed to solve . A useful approachto avoid past mistakes and overgeneralization isto analyze technologi es within the framework oftheir potential applications to specific educa­tional problems and levels of schooling. Thesame country facing difficulty with textbooks orbatteries may require a certain number of highlytrained engineers and technicians to operatecomplex computer-based factories and services ,such as banking and airlines . The followingdiscussion is based both on empirical evidenceand logical or deducti ve arguments about theusefulness of this suggested approach. Ithighlights some of the specific characteristics ofusing technologies within three differentcontexts: (1) alternatives to improve classroominstruction-with emphasis on textbooks,instructional radio , cooperative learning andcomputers; (2) technologies applied to voca­tional/technical education and training, em­bracing a range of technological applications to

both formal and non-formal trammg: (3)technologies to provide secondary schools ,teacher training and higher education, throughdistance learning- particularly suited whenconditions for face-to-face teaching are difficultor because of teacher shortage, budget , time ,size and spread of target audience.

ALTERNATIVES TO IMPROVE THEPERFORMANCE OF STUDENTS IN

SCHOOLS

Inputs used in the school classrooms must beanalyzed for cost and for effectiveness. Unlessthey can be traded for teacher time and salaries,technologies are necessarily costs added toexisting expenditures. Since the prevailingstructural factors make these trade-offs vir­tually impossible , educational inputs have to bejustified in terms of their added effects. Themarginal increase in effectiveness has to offsetthe additional cost of introducing any kind ofinput-technological or not. This is why theeffectiveness of any application needs to becarefully examined in terms of improvedstudent performance. As already discussed , inwealthy countries , additional inputs haveresulted in insignificant performance improve­ments . But with some applications in poorercountries , the performance gains have beenquite remarkable.

Textbooks are a prime target for consider­ation by decision-makers eager to improvethe efficiency and effectiveness of theireducational systems. Evidence about theeffectiveness and cost-effectiveness of text­books has already been reasonably wellestablished. The poorer the environment, thegreater the effects of textbooks and otherschool inputs. A variant approach calledprogrammed teaching (Elison , 1983) seemsequally effective, particularly when adequatelytrained teachers are not available. In bothcases, the design of the teaching materials andthe way in which they were utilized by teacherscontributed to its effective utilization . Withimprovements in textbook design and utiliza­tion further gains can still be obtained.Technologies can play a number of differentroles to improve the effectiveness and efficiencyof teachers, and these roles can vary over time.

In addition to textbooks and programmedteach ing, interactive radio instruction (usingeither open broadcasts or cassette tapes)

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has been successfully implemented in suchcountries as Nicaragua , Kenya, Nepal, theDominican Republic, and New Guinea, andspanning such disciplines as language arts,mathematics and science (Tilson, 1988). Anumber of evaluations have demonstrated thecircumstances that can make these projectssuccessful, both in terms of costs andeffectiveness. Two factors are correlated withperformance improvement. One is carefullydesigned instructional materials. The other, toensure that classroom practices will allowstudents sufficient time to actively interact withthe question-and-answer format of the pro­gram. Interactive radio programs are now beingintroduced on a much larger scale intoHonduras, Bolivia, Lesotho, Costa Rica, andEcuador (Tilson, 1988). Radiovision (a minorvariant combining radio and pictures) has hadpositive results in a few Asian countries(Sharma, 1988). .

Technologies can also refer to the wayclassrooms are organized and instruction isdelivered. Peer tutoring and collaborativelearning (a systematic arrangement that enablesolder students to coach younger students) seemto be effective in enhancing student perfor­mance. Empirical evidence is still largelyconfined to the United States, Canada, Israel ,West Germany and Nigeria (Slavin, 1988). TheEscuela Nueva rural education project inColombia illustrates the workability of acombination of these technological applica­tions, particularly the use of carefully designedinstructional materials by relatively unskilledteachers of multigraded classrooms (Rojas andCastillo, 1987).

Some obvious opportunities for improve­ments of classroom practices exist. The numberone priority for most developing countries is theproduction and universalization of good qualitytextbooks and learning materials. Even if othertechnologies could be shown to be more cost­effective, textbooks have obvious advantages.They are familiar and do not disturb prevailingorganizational structures; they have been timetested in schools; and they have been provenadaptable to school practice. Universal accessto a minimum number of textbooks is still not areality for most developing countries, and yetknowledge is available to help countriesdevelop, produce, and distribute textbooksrelatively cheaply , and certainly on a cost­effective basis.

In the typesetting and layout of textbooks andprinted materials, for purposes offormative andsummative evaluation, desktop publishingoffers excellent opportunities at relatively lowercosts, as compared to conventional printingtechniques. These technologies can also sup­port small adaptations of textbooks to cope withregional differences. There is no reason whyeven very poor countries cannot afford a smalldesktop publishing facility. In the short term,better-quality textbooks and printed materialsshould lead to improvements in how teachersteach and how students learn. In short,textbooks and other printed instructionalmaterials represent the most promisinginvestment.

Results with other inputs such as interactiveradio or peer tutoring also show promise, butthe results are seldom unequivocal and(compared to books), the technologies are notso easy to disseminate . Initially , benefits tend tobe marginal , but as teachers become moreproficient at using the new technologies, thebenefits to student learning increase. Interac­tive radio can function effectively even withuntrained teachers-and indirectly might con­tribute to improve their teaching skills. In somecountries, with high student repetition rates (upto 50% in the first grade in many LatinAmerican countries) , performance improve­ment would free up resources now spent withrepeaters or wasted with drop outs for youngerchildren who would otherwise be kept out ofschool.

The main concern underlying the qualityimprovement of schools is to establish a reliablesystem for monitoring and evaluating schooloutcomes and relating those to other inputsutilized. The Kenya examinations' program(Makau, 1988) and the SECE (EvaluationSystem of Educational Quality), in Chile(SECE, 1986) are examples of relatively simplenationwide attempts to monitor educationaloutputs, using results from standardized achieve­ment tests. Even though these systems do notallow direct inferences about the relative worthof specific school inputs , they can help schoolsimprove their performance on the basis of adiagnosis of specific weaknesses. Without sucha system, it is just about impossible to assess therelative merit of a technological application or,come to that , any kind of intervention ,including conventional education practices.

At the same time, motivating teachers to

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make use of new technologies is obviously acritical step - because without some kind ofmotivation, the odds are that teachers willprefer not to . Successful implementation,therefore, requires the provision of incentivesfor teachers- and often for students. Teachersshould have explicit and measurable reasonsWHY to adopt technologies and other inno­vations that have been proven effective.Otherwise it would be easy to find reasonsWHY NOT to use them in the school contexts.Good books, programmed materials or inter­active radio can perform well even withrelatively untrained teachers. But in no circum­stances can they be successful if considered asteacher-proof instruments. Within the prevail­ing mode of classroom delivery of instruction,educational interventions will always rely onteachers' attitudes and motivations.

COMPUTERS IN EDUCATION: IS IT AGOOD IDEA?

Computers are the 'in' piece of technologyamong politicians and decision-makers; and thefear of lagging behind wealthier countries hasprompted many poorly planned attemptsby developing countries to become 'computer­ized' (UNESCO , 1986). In particular, thepromise of computers to solve all educationalproblems in some miraculous fashion hasbeen presented in much the same way as filmsin the 1920s, radio in the 1930s, TV in the1950s, and programmed instruction in the1970s (Cuban, 1986; Papagiannis et al., 1988).

Computers have clearly distinctive charac­teristics compared with other existing tech­nologies. Even though rarely explored totheir full capacity , computers can handlevery complex problem situations, provideimmediate feedback and interact with thelearners in ways that are far beyond the reachof other existing educational technologies.They are generally regarded as prestigious­in contrast to various other educationaltechnologies introduced to cope with lessprivileged students. Computers are also per­vasive. They can be found in schools all overthe developing world-even though in smallnumbers and not always serving any clearpedagogic goal.

Yet real evidence about the cost-effective­ness of computers in schools suggests thatscope for their useful application is still quite

limited (Lockheed and Mandinach, 1986;Carnoy et al., 1987). This is true of developedcountries like France, the U.K. or the Provinceof Ontario in Canada, all of which haveattempted to introduce what could be con­sidered massive computer education programsin elementary and secondary schools. Theresults obtained so far in wealthy OEeDcountries-in which educational budgets arelimited, but not so strained as in the developingworld - have not produced uniformly andconsistently strong arguments to justify the highcosts of their investments (Orivel, 1987;Oliveira, 1988a). Developing countries wouldbe wise, at this stage, not to embark on massiveprojects for disseminating computers to theirschool systems.

Avoiding the mistakes associated with large­scale projects, a few developing countrieslike Kenya (Makau, 1988) or Portugal(Figueiredo, 1987) have initiated small-scaleprojects just large enough to allow thesecountries to master the basic information andthe skills related to the introduction ofcomputers in schools. This approach should beable to allow these countries to keep track of thelatest developments in the field and yet avoidthe risks of undertaking major investments ofdoubtful return. Creative experimentation witha qualitative approach, focussed on the useof computers for specific and well-definedpurposes, can be sufficient for countries tobecome familiar with the technological,economic, and pedagogical implications ofcomputers in education.

By adopting careful but creative computereducation policies, countries facing scarcityof resources can strike a positive balancebetween the need to be flexible and to allowfor creativity and exploration and the need tobe selective so as to avoid the waste ofscarce resources. Computers, however, shouldnot drain away resources to replace otheressential school inputs, particularly textbooks.

TECHNOLOGIES FOR VOCATIONALEDUCATION AND TECHNICAL

TRAINING

Regardless of their level of development, allcountries need some variety of high, middle andbasic level technicians. Integration in the globaleconomy requires that even the least developed

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countries develop some capability to usesophisticated, computer-based manufacturingand communications equipment.

Technical training is characterized for itsinfinite variety of size and composition ofclientele, of levels of instruction, of types andcomplexity of skills, of time available fortraining, of market demand , of balancebetween a general and a specialized education,of the opportunity costs of instructors andtrainees, and of the types of institution(including factories) that offer training. Conse­quently it is difficult to compare results and toestablish general principles (Dougherty, 1987).Nevertheless, the nature and the few commoncharacteristics of the various types of vocationaleducation and technical training justify aseparate discussion of when , how and whytechnologies can have a significant impact onreducing costs and improving effectiveness.

First , the unit costs of vocational/technicaltraining are typically very high, since they arevery sensitive to both capital and recurrentcosts. Very often even the cost of specializedteachers and instructors is higher than it is inacademic schools. Psacharopoulos (1988)shows evidence that equipment and materialsare up to half again more expensive. Theseschools tend to be 25% to 30% more costly thanacademic ones. As a consequence, educationaltechnologies such as simulators or computer­aided instruction can significantly lower suchcosts to the extent that they can offer acceptablealternatives to expensive equipments, materialsor specialized teachers and that they can beintensively utilized.

Second, a critical cost factor in technicaleducation is time. This is particularly true wherethe opportunity costs of trainees can be veryhigh. Technologies have been shown todramatically reduce learning time, thus re­ducing overall training costs. Briggs (1970) formultimedia instruction; Copeland (1988) andde Bloois (1988) for videodisks).

Third , the reasons to use some types ofmedia-based technology in technical trainingare often implicit in the nature of the trainingfor example, the use of simulators versus actualplanes for significant portion of pilot training ; inmedia representations of dangerous experi ­ments involving chemicals or explosives fortraining laboratory assistants; plastic models fortraining surgeons; or micro-machines thatreproduce all the characteristics of actual

equipment (Shepperd, 1988; Staupe , 1988).These reasons are equallyvalid for all countries,regardless of their level of development.

Fourth , the use of some training technologie s-computers in particular-can contribute toguarantee minimum standards of performanceby every single trainee. This is particularlycrucial when the services to be provided or thetasks to be performed require precision, involverisks, or deal with skills affecting human lives.

Fifth, educational technologies are mucheasier to introduce into technical trainingsett ings than into academic schools. There arevarious reasons. The concept of technology andtraining equipment are already there. There­fore decisions to introduce technologies asresources for learning have far more latitude,without having to change the organizationalstructure of the schools. Instructors are familiarwith the concept of technology and can relateprocess to ends. The range of dispute aboutobjecti ves, performance, and evaluation ismuch narrower. Maintenance is less of aproblem. Efficiency is already a daily concern ,perh aps much more so than in other lessexpensive schools (Castro , 1988).

Research about the use of educationaltechnologies in technical training derive largelyfrom military and industrial training in devel­oped countries, and are often of a classifiednature. More research involving a variet y oftechnologies , and preferably in the setting ofdeveloping countries , is needed. Meanwhilecase studies and projects from developedcountries can give only a flavor of the variety oftechnologies available and the results that arepossible from their use.

Looking at some examples , low-cost printedmaterials were effectively used to teachbusiness skills to illiterat e women in Senegal(Bas, 1982) and to owners of small businesses(Goibura , 1982). Videot apes pitched at variouslevels of sophistication are widely used in manycountries to demonstrateoperations of all kindsat cheaper costs; and an entire apprenticescheme within the SENAI system in Brazil isbased on individualized instruction, therebyincreasing the efficiency of the scheme andenabling it to respond more flexibly to thedemands of the labor market (Oliveira andCastro , 1988). In the so-called fourth world (thesubsector of the OECD countries composed ofpoor unskilled workers and the ir families)computer software is being used to teach new

CAN TECHNOLOGY ADVANCE EDUCATION? 239

skills to illiterate unemployed from the Pas deCalais in France to enable them to live in today'sinformation society. Singapore (often referredto as the model for other newly-industrializedAsian countries) has been using sophisticatedcomputer-based software (including CADICAM - computer-assisted design and com­puter-assisted manufacturing) for upgrading itslabor force and preparing the employees towork in highly automated production plants.Even the experiences of developed countries,such as Canada (Stahmer, 1988), the BritishOpen College (Innes, 1988), and Norway (withthe development of micro-machines to cut thecosts of technical education) (Staupe, 1988),can usefully be drawn upon to increaseflexibility, reduce costs and improve the qualityof training .

DISTANCE LEARNING

Distance learning, the technology of which iswell established, serves to reach and expandstudent population, to provide contact withremote schools, or to bring education toinaccessible areas where such learning hashitherto been impossible.

Throughout the world, over 450 specializeddistance-learning institutions already exist inhigher education alone (Smith, 1987), notcounting the hundreds of distance educationprograms offered by formal institutions as a partof their extension activities. These embracevarious levels and types of education , and haveenrolments of millions of students. TheChinese Radio and Television Universityenrolls over 1,000,000 students; the S.T.O .U.in Thailand, over 150,000. The SENACcorrespondence schools for commerce edu ­cation in Brazil enrolls more than 1,200,000students. Some such programs are createdaround a particular medium; others are self­contained; and others are part of regularinstitutions offering extension activities. Media(used alone or in combination) range from mail­out print materials to satellite-based tele­conferences.

Evidence about costs and about cost­effectiveness of distance learning has beengathered in a number of well-researchedprojects, and there are many positive reports onthe various outcomes of these initiatives(Perraton , 1982, 1986; Orivel , 1982; Eicher,1987; Curran and Murphy , 1988; Nettleton,

forthcoming). It has been demonstrated thatmost subjects can be taught to most types ofstudents using one or another of the differentdelivery systems and that compared to conven­tional programs (assuming these arc possible),well managed distance learning programs canachieve cost savings of up to half (Oliveira andOrivel , forthcoming). Of course some projectswork better than others, for a number ofdifferent reasons .

Specific applications of how distance learningworks have been analyzed in the literature forseveral types of education, for example at thesecondary school level, the Mexican Tele­secundaria (Arena, 1988), the National Corres­pondence College in Zambia (Murphy, 1988),the Radio Santa Maria in the DominicanRepublic (White , 1977), and the Correspon­dence High School in Korea (KEDI, 1987). Atthe Korean School of the Air, distance learningserves the needs of working adults in both ruraland urban areas . Teacher training programs inTanzania (Chale, 1983) and Logos II in Brazil(Oliveira and Orivel, forthcoming) offer cost­effective alternatives to in-service education.For teacher training, distance education isincreasingly being used in combination withshort residential courses. In higher education,distance learning offers different solutions fordifferent problems. For example, the ChineseRadio and Television University (Orivel , 1982;Hawkridge and McCormick, 1983) provides anengineering education for students alreadyemployed; the UNED in Costa Rica (Sandoval,1988) and the CENAPAC in the DominicanRepublic (Aquino, 1988) open up access intorural areas. Most of the applications extend theprospect of education to students who wouldotherwise be barred from such study , forexample the Malawi Correspondence Collegefor secondary education (Wolff and Futagami ,1982) and the Open Studies Institute in Lagos(Cumming , 1988).

In an application that extends to developingas well as developed countries, distancelearning has long been used for training intechnical subjects. The British Open Tech.could well become a model for this kind ofdistance learning (Goffey and Hubbard, 1986;Freshwater, 1987; Innes , 1988). MeanwhileProject Acesso (Oliveira, 1988b), a coursefor training offshore oil-drilling technicians,and Irrigation Training Program (Fundacao,1987), designed for farmers and technicians in

240 JOAO BATISTA ARAUJO E OLIVEIRA

north-east Brazil, both exemplify how, giventhe high cost of displacing personnel, distancelearning can yield huge savings in the domain oftechnical training.

Several trends are apparent in distancelearning. First, its use is on the increase inboth developed and developing countries(McAnany et al., 1983; Perry and Rumble,1988). Prestigious institutions such as theconsortium represented by the National Tech­nological University, in the U.S.A., and thePACE program, in Europe, are contributingto enhance the visibility and the acceptanceof this alternative. The latest report oneducational technology prepared by the Officeof Technology Assessment indicates that, inthe field of educational technologies, distanceeducation received more financial support thanany other alternative throughout the UnitedStates during the past few years (OTA, 1988).Second, distance learning is increasingly beingused by conventional institutions of highereducation as an option for their regularstudents. At the University of Berkeley, orthe Province of British Columbia in Canada,for instance, student's transcripts do not evenshow whether students obtained their creditsvia face-to-face or through distance learningprograms. Carefully designed instructionalmaterials primarily intended for distanceeducation courses are being adopted for face­to-face instruction. The same faculty membersparticipate in both direct and distanceteaching. In some institutions, the linesbetween the two modes of delivery arebecoming blurred. Third, most distance­learning institutions have cost-recovery com­ponents. In India, for example, the governmentrecovers from higher-education students indistance learning programs up to 45% of costsas compared to only 13% from students inconventional programs (personal communi­cation from Mr Bathia, India Ministry ofEducation). In China, employers pay for thecost of almost 1 million workers enrolled in theChinese Open University. Then there areprograms run by private organizations whichare looking to make a profit (Dhanarajan andMugridge, 1988). Fourth, there is a trend tointegrate distance learning in the framework ofconventional institutions, especially for teachertraining and higher education studies . InColombia, for example, accredited universitiesalso offer courses at a distance. In teacher

trammg, a program split between distancelearning and in-residence learning has become acommon pattern (Commonwealth Secretariat,1986). The concept of in-service courses is alsobeing applied for other professionals, such asnurses in Lesotho, or the agricultural extensionworkers in Malawi and Brazil. Fifth, distance­learning institutions are benefiting fromcomputer technology to improve the admini­stration of their programs, to produce instruc­tional materials, and sometimes to deliverinstruction to students in learning centers(Johnston and Gardner, 1987). Sixth, there isan increasing collaboration at the internationallevel on matters related to training, qualitycontrol of instructional materials, accreditationand joint undertakings for share coursewaredevelopment and utilization. Finally , distanceeducation is creating new realities that arestarting to be recognized by employers andgovernments. In India , for example it has beenreported (personal communication by MrBathia, Secretary of the India Ministryof Education) that some employers preferstudents from distance-learning institutionsbecause they are better able to work on theirown. National frontiers and national educa­tional systems are being confronted by newrealities created by technologies. The NovaSchool of Social Sciences in the U.S. is offeringmaster's degree programs using a computer­based distance learning mode. Students fromover 18 countries, including developing ones,are participating. In Malaysia, the governmentis becoming obliged to recognize courses takenby Malaysians through, say, Australian andCanadian distance-learning institutions, especi­ally when credits and diplomas from thesecourses are acceptable at most Canadian andU.S. Universities (Dhanarajan and Mugridge,1988).

Some problems remain , however. Drop-outrates are a major problem faced by mostdistance education institutions , and it is acritical factor affecting cost-effectiveness.Several attempts have been made to addressthis issue, as for example through chargingtuition charges in advance , requiring studentsto respond within strict time constraints, peerand tutor counselling, and, particularly, bytightening admission requirements. In highereducation particularly , prestige and reputationare still important, and distance education(irrespective of its actual quality) is perceived

CAN TECHNOLOGY ADVANCE EDUCATION? 241

by many as second choice , indeed second rate.There are several reasons for this: comparisonsare typically made with the most prestigious ofthe country 's universities; sponsoring govern­ments and distance-learning institutions tend toemphasize cost savings and widespread availa­bility rather than scholarship; the institution'sreputation is associated with its clientele , andeven in England where the credits from theOpen University are accepted by otherconventional universities, the O. U. has beenlooked down on for a long time because most ofits students are housewives; then most of thedistance-learning institutions are too new tohave earned any kind of a reputation; andfinally, criticism has been reinforced becausemany distance-learning institutions have beeninadequately financed , and there have beenproblems in the implementation of theirprograms .

Smith (1987) identified the six factors thatmake for distance education effectiveness:quality of material and services; status;acceptability of graduates; throughput; studentreaction; and economic benefits to the country.Most institutions being considered at lowerlevels have very low status and poor qualitymaterials because of hasty implementation andunder-funding. Criticisms are often associatedwith the high front end costs, while it must beborne in mind that payoffs will come over verylong periods. Nonetheless, the experienceaccomplished so far both in developed anddeveloping countries seems to suggest that theessential ingredients for success are reasonablywell known. Given proper care, adequateinfrastructure and appropriate management,distance learning can be cost-effectively used invirtually all countries and across a number ofdifferent disciplines, educational levels andtypes of training .

BEYOND THE 'MYTH OF GREATPOTENTIAL'

Twenty-five to twent y years ago, conferencesand review articles on the subject of thispaper would have had a title such as TheGreat Potential of Educ ational Technologies .Disciples would have gathered to hear about thelatest gadgets. Most participants would bediscussing over coffee whether the new

technologies worked, whether we could learn ata distance. Disbelievers would simply discardwhatever they heard or read. Fifteen to tenyears ago, such great expectations remainedunfulfilled. Most of the major projects indeveloping countries failed to give adequateresponses to the challenges they were supposedto meet; evaluations provided less spectacularresults than advertised ; implementation raninto more problems than expected. Media andequipment were not so easy to use. Teachershave seldom been adequately involved in theimplementation of educational technologyprojects. Moreover, after the spectaculargrowth of education in many developingcountries in the sixties and early seventies, therewas still a hope that universalization ofeducation could be achieved through the use ofconventional means alone . Thus , the title wouldlikely have changed to the Myth of the GreatPotential of Educational Technologies. Thisnegative mood toward technology, however, ischanging. It has certainly changed in thedeveloped world, as far as distance learning andcomputer-based technology is concerned. Newneeds , new possibilities , and new realities allseem to be contributing to a new, qualifiedhope . The field now seems ready to movebeyond the myth.

Past experiences and a clearer understandingof the potential of a number of technology­based interventions and alternatives warrantreconsideration of their use in addressing someof the challenges that confront education today.In case of the scarcity that envelops manydeveloping nations, and the variety of clienteleand situations demanding all types of educa­tion and training, it becomes imperative to lookat alternatives and supplements to conventionalschooling.

If carefully chosen and implemented in theproper context, some technologies can help toimprove the quality of instruction, or to preventit deteriorating when educational systemsexpand . They can help to change the nature ofthe teaching process and make more effectiveuse of the teacher's time. They can lower capitalcosts, substitute for rising labor costs , or help tostrike a better balance between the two. Theresearch and policy agenda has clearly changedin this field. The issue that people are nowaddressing is no longer whether technologiescan work , but why where and how to use themin the most cost-effective ways.

242 JOAO BATISTA ARAUJO E OLIVEIRA

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