Open and Distance Education in Asia: Status and Strengths

Kam-Cheong Li Secretary-General, AAOU &

Director, University Research Centre, OUHK

NCODeL 5 – 6 November 2015

Contents

2

Strengths and opportunities

Papers to AAOU conference 2014

Profile of AAOU member institutions

Some facts about Asia

Some facts about Asia

3

Population projections

4 Source: Gerland et al. (2014). World population stabilization unlikely this century. Science, 346, 234-237.

2012

2025

2050

Online population (2015)

5 Source: Telecommunication Development Bureau, International Telecommunication Union. ICT Facts & Figures. May 2015.

Top 10 Asia Internet countries (June, 2015)

6 Source: http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats3.htm

Population and Internet penetration

ASIA Population

Internet Penetration

( 2015 Est.) (% Population)

Timor-Leste 1,231,116 1.1 %

Myanmar 56,320,206 2.1 %

Turkmenistan 5,231,422 12.2 %

Afganistan 32,564,342 12.3 %

Laos 6,911,544 14.3 %

Pakistan 199,085,847 14.6 %

Nepal 31,551,305 15.4 %

Tajikistan 8,191,958 17.5 %

Sri Lanka 22,053,488 25.8 %

Bangladesh 168,957,745 26.4 %

Mongolia 2,992,908 27.0 %

India 1,251,695,584 28.3 %

Indonesia 255,993,674 28.5 %

Cambodia 15,708,756 31.8 %

Bhutan 741,919 34.4 %

Thailand 67,976,405 34.9 %

Kyrgystan 5,664,939 38.7 % 7

ASIA Population

Internet Penetration

( 2015 Est.) (% Population)

Philippines 109,615,913 43.0 %

Uzbekistan 29,199,942 43.6 %

Vietnam 94,348,835 48.3 %

Georgia 4,931,226 48.9 %

Maldives 393,253 49.3 %

China 1,361,512,535 49.5 %

Kazakhstan 18,157,122 54.9 %

Azerbaijan 9,593,038 61.0 %

Malaysia 30,513,848 67.5 %

Armenia 3,056,871 69.6 %

Macao 592,731 69.8 %

Brunei Darussalam

429,646 74.2 %

Hong Kong 7,141,106 80.5 %

Singapore 5,674,472 82.0 %

Taiwan 23,415,126 84.0 %

Japan 126,919,659 90.6 %

Korea, South 49,115,196 92.3 % Source: http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats3.htm

8

97.94

96.35

96.32

95.74

91.48

90.23

90.23

89.88

89.65

88.64

83.18

82.37

81.54

75.59

72.35

58.21

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

Philippines

Syrian Arab Republic

Myanmar

Vanuatu

Cambodia

Yemen

Lao People's Democratic Republic

Nepal

India

Bhutan

Bangladesh

Timor-Leste

Iraq

Pakistan

Papua New Guinea

Afghanistan

Source: Source: UNIESCO, Institute for Statistics

Youth literacy rate (below 98%)

Profile of AAOU Member Institutions

9

Asian Association of Open Universities

Founded in 1987, the Asian Association of Open Universities (AAOU) is a non-profit organization of higher learning institutions that are primarily concerned with open and distance education. It strives to • widen the educational opportunities available to all people in Asia and • improve the quality of the institutions in terms of their educational

management, teaching and research. Objectives: • promotes education by distance teaching systems, as well as

professional and ethical standards; • develops potentialities of open and distance education; • cooperates with official bodies and others directly or indirectly

interested in education at a distance; and • facilitates cooperation with other similar regional and international

bodies.

10

11

AAOU member institutions

Full member Associate member

Only member institutions in Asia.

Year of establishment

Before 1950

1950s

1960s

1970s

1980s

1990s

2000s

12

1 3 5 9 12 14 12

Only member institutions in Asia.

India

China Hong Kong Mongolia

China x 2 Malaysia Philippines Thailand

China x 5 Korea Pakistan Sri Lanka Thailand

India x 4 Hong Kong x 2 Indonesia Iran Japan Philippines Taiwan Turkey

India x 4 Malaysia x 2 Vietnam x 2 Bangladesh Myanmar Nepal Palestine Philippines Taiwan

India x 4 Malaysia x 4 Korea Pakistan Singapore The Arab World

Regions of the institutions established in each period of time

Year of establishment

Before 1950

1950s

1960s

1970s

1980s

1990s

2000s

13

1 3 5 9 12 14 12

Only member institutions in Asia.

India

China Hong Kong Mongolia

China x 2 Malaysia Philippines Thailand

China x 5 Korea Pakistan Sri Lanka Thailand

India x 4 Hong Kong x 2 Indonesia Iran Japan Philippines Taiwan Turkey

India x 4 Malaysia x 2 Vietnam x 2 Bangladesh Myanmar Nepal Palestine Philippines Taiwan

India x 4 Malaysia x 4 Korea Pakistan Singapore The Arab World

Development stages of ODL institutions in each region

Regions of the institutions established in each period of time

Types of institutions

14

public 78%

private 22%

Only member institutions in Asia.

N = 37

15

Numbers of students

above 1 million 0.1 – 1 million 10,000 – 0.1 million below 10,000

N = 30

Levels of programmes

16

Region Postgraduate Undergraduate Diploma No. of

institution

Bangladesh 45% 45% 10% 1

China 0% 38% 62% 6

Hong Kong 31% 49% 20% 2

India 57% 25% 18% 10

Indonesia 22% 71% 7% 1

Iran 42% 58% 0% 1

Japan 92% 8% 0% 1

Malaysia 38% 48% 14% 7

Mongolia 50% 50% 0% 1

Myanmar 0% 95% 5% 1

Nepal 71% 17% 11% 1

Pakistan 76% 23% 1% 2

Palestine 0% 95% 5% 1

Philippines 53% 38% 10% 2

Singapore 14% 86% 0% 1

Sri Lanka 44% 44% 11% 1

Taiwan 0% 100% 0% 1

Thailand 59% 41% 0% 1

The Arab World 0% 100% 0% 1

Vietnam 28% 65% 7% 2 Certificates and short courses are not included.

17

Region Postgraduate Undergraduate Diploma No. of

institution

Bangladesh 45% 45% 10% 1

China 0% 38% 62% 6

Hong Kong 31% 49% 20% 2

India 57% 25% 18% 10

Indonesia 22% 71% 7% 1

Iran 42% 58% 0% 1

Japan 92% 8% 0% 1

Malaysia 38% 48% 14% 7

Mongolia 50% 50% 0% 1

Myanmar 0% 95% 5% 1

Nepal 71% 17% 11% 1

Pakistan 76% 23% 1% 2

Palestine 0% 95% 5% 1

Philippines 53% 38% 10% 2

Singapore 14% 86% 0% 1

Sri Lanka 44% 44% 11% 1

Taiwan 0% 100% 0% 1

Thailand 59% 41% 0% 1

The Arab World 0% 100% 0% 1

Vietnam 28% 65% 7% 2

More provision on postgraduate programmes

Certificates and short courses are not included.

Levels of programmes

18

Region Postgraduate Undergraduate Diploma No. of

institution

Bangladesh 45% 45% 10% 1

China 0% 38% 62% 6

Hong Kong 31% 49% 20% 2

India 57% 25% 18% 10

Indonesia 22% 71% 7% 1

Iran 42% 58% 0% 1

Japan 92% 8% 0% 1

Malaysia 38% 48% 14% 7

Mongolia 50% 50% 0% 1

Myanmar 0% 95% 5% 1

Nepal 71% 17% 11% 1

Pakistan 76% 23% 1% 2

Palestine 0% 95% 5% 1

Philippines 53% 38% 10% 2

Singapore 14% 86% 0% 1

Sri Lanka 44% 44% 11% 1

Taiwan 0% 100% 0% 1

Thailand 59% 41% 0% 1

The Arab World 0% 100% 0% 1

Vietnam 28% 65% 7% 2

More provision on undergraduate programmes

Certificates and short courses are not included.

Levels of programmes

19

Region Postgraduate Undergraduate Diploma No. of

institution

Bangladesh 45% 45% 10% 1

China 0% 38% 62% 6

Hong Kong 31% 49% 20% 2

India 57% 25% 18% 10

Indonesia 22% 71% 7% 1

Iran 42% 58% 0% 1

Japan 92% 8% 0% 1

Malaysia 38% 48% 14% 7

Mongolia 50% 50% 0% 1

Myanmar 0% 95% 5% 1

Nepal 71% 17% 11% 1

Pakistan 76% 23% 1% 2

Palestine 0% 95% 5% 1

Philippines 53% 38% 10% 2

Singapore 14% 86% 0% 1

Sri Lanka 44% 44% 11% 1

Taiwan 0% 100% 0% 1

Thailand 59% 41% 0% 1

The Arab World 0% 100% 0% 1

Vietnam 28% 65% 7% 2

More provision on diploma programmes

Certificates and short courses are not included.

Levels of programmes

Mode of delivery

Past Present

Provision of printed materials via postal service/little interaction

Telecommunication (TV and radio broadcasting): limited interactions (e.g. tutorial, teleconferencing)

Internet-based learning using digital technologies: e.g. synchronous and asynchronous interactions

Mixed modes of Leaning and Teaching

Use of educational technology to enhance learning and teaching

Blended learning

Online learning

Full-time face-to-face learning

Mobile learning

Distance learning (mainly print-based)

Example: Open University of Hong Kong

Digitization of learning materials

Online version (HTML)

ePub format PDF format

Mobile App

Audio and videos

Print materials Digitized materials

Example: Open University of Hong Kong

AAOU Conference 2014

23

AAOU conference 2014

24

• The Conference explored research and practices in ODL and ODL institutions, as well as a wide range of other related topics.

• Conference theme: Advancing Open and Distance Learning: Research and Practices

• A total of 112 papers were presented, of which 96 papers are from AAOU member institutions.

Number of paper (by country)

25

0.5

0.5

1

1

2

2

2

2

2.5

3

4.5

5

5

6

9

12.5

20

33.5

United Kingdom

Taiwan

Nepal

Turkey

Australia

Fiji

Japan

Vietnam

Korea

Iran

Sri Lanka

India

Thailand

Pakistan

Philippines

Malaysia

Indonesia

China

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40

26

1

2

3

5

6

7

7

8

9

9

11

12

12

20

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20

Funding and infrastructure for research and…

Quality assurance

Nurturing an institutional research culture

Development and adoption of OER

Staff development

Studies on OCW and MOOCs

Planning and management

Blended learning

Development of instructional materials

Assessment and evaluation

Use of ICT in course delivery

Multi-mode education

Institutional advancement and innovations

Student learning support

Number of paper (by theme)

Example of ODL practices

27 Source: Yilmazel, O. & Ekin, E. (2014). Mobile applications at a mega university: Anadolu University campus app. AAOU Journal, 10(1), 13–21.

The use of mobile applications to aid on-campus and off-campus students at a mega university — Anadolu University. • with functionalities available to faculty members, staff and students,

e.g. choice of courses, library, campus map, book reader, cafeteria menu, news, calendar.

Yilmazel and Ekin (2014)

Example of ODL practices

28

Implementation of blended learning to teach university students presentation skills at the Open University of Hong Kong. • with features such as online video lectures on non-verbal

communication and interactive online writing tasks.

Source: Tso, A. W. B. (2014). Reflections on blended learning: A case study at the Open University of Hong Kong. AAOU Journal, 10(1), 77-86.

Tso (2014)

Strengths and Opportunities

29

Growing online population

How many more students can we access when online population continue to grow?

30

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

Internet Penetration Rate (2015)

Source: http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats3.htm

Expertise in online education

While online learning has started to gain recognition by conventional face-to-face teaching universities, we already have substantial experiences in ODL.

31

How can we exploit our strengths and the opportunities of new educational technologies?

Trend of open access resources

How can we utilize the available open access resources to enhance teaching quality?

32

Free to use

Free to change

Free to share

Government support

Most ODL institutions in Asia were established and are funded by governments.

33

How can we cooperate with governmental bodies and cope with their policies in education?

Inter-institutional collaboration

How can we collaborate with other AAOU members to bring greater impact of our ODL provision?

34

Conclusion

35

To capitalize on our strengths

We may: • Make best use of online channels; • Utilize open access resources; • Collaborate with official bodies and other

institutions.

36

These align with the missions of AAOU.

Thank you.

Questions are welcome.

Thank you.

Questions are welcome.

37