MODEL DESIGN l

The model was designed by taking into account the limitations in Maldives as described in Chapter Three. In addition to the limitations, chapter three also outlined what technologies were available in Maldives. The proposed distance education model focuses only at content delivery and two-way interaction between students and instructors. It does not attempt to covers aspects of assessment. The main reason for this is that students in secondary and higher secondary school in Maldives prepare for external examinations from overseas and it would be impossible to incorporate that into this model. However, student progress is continuously monitored in the proposed model. While considering appropriate delivery mechanisms for distance education, the first and foremost decision to make is what technology or communication mechanism can be employed. Hence the choice of technology for delivery mechanisms is addressed.

4.1 . 1 Choice o f Technology and Delivery Systems

The advent of advanced learning technologies has seen distance education moving from the individualised correspondence model to a more interactive mode. Use of different technologies and modes of instruction can be described using the dimensions described by Aggarwal and Bento (2000) to classify teaching environments. They use time and place to classify four major types of teaching environments. These four types can be used in categorising technology used in delivery systems for distance education. The four types of instruction are: same time I same place, any time I same place, same time I any place, and any time I any place. A similar approach has been used in this research to identify the best media technology suited to deliver instruction in Maldives.

The first category "same time I same place" represents traditional face-to-face classrooms where students attend classes at the same time for instruction (Aggarwal and Bento, 2000). The fact that this category of instruction delivery is not feasible in Maldives is the major rationale behind this research. Maldives is unable to build schools in each of the islands to deliver secondary education using traditional face-to­ face classrooms.

"Any time I same place" occurs when students attend study centres and labs to interact with teachers and other students. Major distance education providers like British Open University use local study centres to support students by means of tutor support, library facilities, and other interactions (Mclsaac and Gunawardena, 1 996). Bangladesh Open University (BOU) uses tutorial centres to deliver tutorials to the students on a fortnightly basis (Rumble, 1 999 and Bangladesh Open University, n.d.). 1 07

As mentioned earlier, this alternative is not feasible because there are no regular ferry services between the islands, hence students will not be able to travel to regional centres for regular tutorials or classes. However, people travel between islands within an atoll almost everyday and students will be able to travel to a regional centre at least once a week. In most of the distance education institutions study centres have been used to provide students with access to media equipment, library facilities, computer access, and so on, rather than tutor-student interaction (Mclsaac and Gunawardena, 1 996). Alternatively Maldives can use local island government offices, computer centres, and schools with computer facilities as local study centres where student can have access to computers.

"Same Time I Any Place" is where instruction is delivered simultaneously to students widely dispersed geographically via one-way broadcast or using interactive communication media where students interact with teacher and other students while staying at their own locations. Broadcast media, such as radio and television, is an ideal technology for this type of instruction. Radio is widely used in developing countries because it is a much cheaper option compared to other more sophisticated technologies (Tripp and Roby, 1 996). Radio is universal in Maldives and almost everyone listens to it. Radio is mainly used for informal informative programmes without any interaction on the part of the listener. Television has been used for similar programmes, which were mainly public awareness programmes. Work is being carried out to universalise television as well (Sodiq, 200 1 ). Broadcast media is excellent in reaching the public with these kinds of programmes due to its immediacy. However, with formal education, interactivity is an important component which broadcast media lacks.

Teleconferencing is another technology that can be categorised under this type of instruction. Teleconferencing has been used in Maldives to support distance education programmes. In these programmes teleconferencing was used between the centre in the capital and the coordinators in different islands on a weekly basis (Sodiq, 200 1 ). Teleconferencing as a means of communication between students and tutors is not feasible in Maldives because most students do not have telephones in their homes and separate facilities need to be established for this purpose.

Two types of technologies can be categorised in "any time I any place" instruction. They are technologies that deliver one-way information such as print, audio and videocassettes and those that provide interaction (Mcisaac and Gunawardena, 1 996). Print, audio and videocassettes will work in those parts of the world where postal service is reliable. Maldives postal service to the islands is highly unreliable hence this medium of instruction is impractical in Maldives. The second set of technologies (interactive) is further divided into instructor-learner interactive technologies and learner-machine interactive technologies. Again, instructor-learner interactive technologies need to be minimised in this research because instructors are not available in majority of islands in Maldives. Hence, more focus is given on how to maximise on learner-machine interaction and identify a suitable model for Maldives.

The communications infrastructure has contrasting levels of development between the main island and other islands in Maldives. In the main island, communication infrastructure is generally highly developed with the public having universal access to telephones, radio, television, and Internet. In contrast, as mentioned earlier, only 55

percent of the island population have radios at home and only 1 5 percent of the island population have televisions at home (United Nations Development Programme,

1 998). Therefore deciding to use radio and television as the main medium of delivery in distance education is not an alternative. In addition, radio and television only allow one-way delivery, restricting the pathways to learning. Internet availability and usage also paint a similar picture in Maldives between the main island and the other islands as radio and television do. Although Maldives provides universal Internet access to all the islands, the high costs of installation and usage limit the number of users (Asian Development Bank, 200 1). The Internet is charged on a per minute basis and the charges are much higher than those of the developed countries and many developing countries (Asian Development Bank, 200 1 ). Therefore individuals in the islands cannot afford to use the Internet on a regular basis. Hence Internet cannot be used as the only medium of delivery because learners cannot afford frequent online connections. However, the Internet can be used for infrequent exchange of information where another medium is used for instruction and delivery.

Although Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU)'s model of virtual campus (Sharma, 200 1 ) is too advanced for Maldives, the Maldivian government is in the process of implementing a national information infrastructure, which involves the interconnection of all inhabited islands of Maldives with a modem information infrastructure (Ministry of Communications, Science and Technology, n.d. (b)). Upon completion this infrastructure may be able to cater for virtual campuses in some island centres. In the meantime, the existing infrastructure needs to be utilised. These include the computer centres established in schools through the Ministry of Education project, Internet kiosks and cyber cafes in the islands. In addition, the project

promised by Villa Foundation (Villa Foundation, 2005) will provide adequate number

of computers.

In addition to focussing on the strengths and weaknesses of different technologies, Maldives has to capitalise on the available technology at different levels. For

example, computer-based instruction with Internet could be used in parts where

possible, while computer based instruction using computer networks at schools and

other planned kiosks could compensate in other areas. Consequently, Maldives

requires a distance education model where medium of communication is selected

according to availability and which allows easy transfer from one medium to another if and when more advanced telecommunications capability is introduced. The

proposed model therefore uses the existing computer networks to deliver the instruction, with Internet for teacher-student interaction. A three-tier architecture of communication is used to provide effective interaction between the teachers and

students. In essence, the current infrastructure allows us to use computers as a

medium of delivery without any access to Internet for individual students. However,

at a regional level, Internet access is available and can be used for a limited amount of

time without having to incur huge costs.