Flexible Learning Systems: Opportunities and Strategies for Staff Development in Industry

Professor James C Taylor
The University of Southern Queensland

Introduction

Training is now recognised as a critical ingredient of all successful industrial enterprises, whether local, national or global. Capitalising on the human resource potential of employees is becoming even more critical as we encounter the trends towards rapid developments in technology, globalisation, knowledge-based organisations and the attendant emergent need for lifelong learning. Ensuring that employees acquire expertise in a range of complex tasks quickly and effectively is now an essential organisational objective to generate and maintain a flexible, competitive workforce. Achieving this objective in a cost effective manner is critical to sustainable economic and social development. Why is it, then, that so much money is wasted on training that doesn’t work?

As Schank (1997) recently highlighted, "Incompetence is damaging our productivity and profitability" (p.2). Schank bemoaned the problems of inefficiency and incompetence that confront many people on a regular basis in a wide range of interactions with the employees of airlines, rental car companies, hotels, restaurants, retail chains and a wide range of repair services. He concluded that the conventional approach to training is largely ineffectual, and that employees are not provided with appropriate opportunities to develop the knowledge and skills that underpin the expertise necessary to perform their duties in an efficient and effective manner. While, the philosophy, policies and procedures emanating form quality assurance initiatives can certainly help organisations develop and maintain a competitive edge, the quality assurance process alone is not sufficient to solve the problems created by the present lack of efficacy embedded in traditional approaches to training.

Traditional approaches to training based primarily on face-to-face instruction are fundamentally flawed from a cost effectiveness perspective. For example, in highlighting the costs associated with the human resource development industry in the USA, Romiszowski (1992) estimated that of the total cost of $100 billion per year, only $30 billion was actually spent on training, with indirect costs such as travel, accommodation and time off accounting for the remaining $70 billion. If the approximately 70% of training funds currently spent on indirect expenses could be allocated to the design, development and delivery of high quality , self-instructional courseware, there could be a quantum leap in the flexibility, efficacy and cost effectiveness of training programs. As Romiszowski (1992) concluded, "In the medium term, as travel and subsistence costs continue to climb, and as the investment costs in both hardware and software for interactive multimedia continue to decline, the economic equation will evermore favor the use of interactive multimedia ...."(p. 42). Why, then, is so much money still being wasted on traditional face-to-face training programs?

A Myth and Three Tyrannies

In the first instance, the myth of the supremacy of traditional face-to-face instruction has been sustained by the following belief systems: the tyranny of proximity, the tyranny of futility and the tyranny of eternity. For many centuries, institutionalised teaching and training has been conducted in the face-to-face group mode. Before the advent of technology, the traditional classroom based approach had become well and truly entrenched as the unchallenged norm in many parts of the world. "Such a state of affairs wherein teaching as a process is more-or-less taken for granted stems from the "tyranny of proximity", a frame of mind in which important issues remain unchallenged and unquestioned" (Taylor, 1994, p.180). Many CEOs and managers of training have a mindset dominated by traditional face-to-face teaching, based on their own experience in school, college and university and tend not to seriously consider alternative, more flexible modes of delivery. Even those who will be offended by such an assertion, and will loudly proclaim that they are using a wide range of educational technologies (audiotapes, videotapes, computer based learning etc) would probably still have to concede that such initiatives typically take place in a traditional classroom setting. This tyranny of proximity is a significant barrier to the achievement of cost effective training, and it has generated another significant barrier: "the tyranny of futility".

The widely held myth that face-to-face teaching is inherently superior to other forms of teaching has spawned a major industry worldwide. It is difficult to believe that videoconferencing would have become such a major activity worldwide, without the intellectual complacency associated with the tyranny of proximity. The investment in videconferencing has been quite staggering despite the widely held view that the lecture is a process whereby the notes of the lecturer are transmitted to the notes of the student, without passing through the minds of either. As Bligh (1972) pointed out, the lecture is extremely ineffective and primarily a waste of time, as the majority of our own experience as students would testify.

The apparently unwavering enthusiasm for the proliferation of videoconferencing systems for the purpose of enhancing teaching and learning represents "the tyranny of futility". If most lectures are relatively futile from a pedagogical perspective, why spend vast sums of money promoting expensive futile exercises? A reasonable explanation is related to the rate of change, or lack thereof, in the educational context - a phenomenon known as "the tyranny of eternity". Pedagogical approaches to education and training tend to change direction with much the same agility as an ocean-going oil tanker.

Yet another widely held view (so revered, it approaches the status of a universal truth) is that "education never changes". One major reason that the lecture has been around for hundreds of years is that "it works". It is also cheap. The fact that it is ineffectual is irrelevant. It has become institutionalised. The late Professor Ram Reddy, a former Vice-Chancellor of the Indira Ghandi National Open University, once outlined the advice given to him by an experienced senior academic when he first embarked on his university teaching career, "It doesn’t matter what you say, as long as it lasts for 45 minutes!" The total curriculum throughout the world of institutional education and training is a simple variation on this theme. Schools don’t change; colleges don’t change; and universities don’t change. Changing an education and training institution is like moving a graveyard. It is extremely difficult, and you don’t get much internal assistance.

It is in this context of an apparent lack of significant change over many years, that the senior managers and leaders of education and training programs have been lulled into a false sense of security, "the tyranny of eternity". Why make a decision today, when you can put if off until tomorrow, next week, next year? Such an attitude is no longer tenable. The rate of change of technology with the potential to enhance teaching and learning is exponential. The world is shrinking. As Lowe (1992) highlighted recently, "The power of information technology lends a new dimension to the pace of change, as it allows the rapid transmission of new knowledge from one corner of the world to another" (p.10). The relative geographical remoteness and isolation of Australia is now largely irrelevant, since it takes an email from Toowoomba to Kuala Lumpur only marginally more time than one from Toowoomba to Brisbane. The changing scale and scope of technological change now means that the tyranny of eternity as a modus operandi for management is no longer sustainable. The opportunity for industrial leaders to be proactive to ensure that the new technologies become a structurally integrated part of the education and training process has never been greater. But, from whom should they get their advice? Answer: from professional distance educators with experience and expertise in the use of various technologies for educational purposes.

While professional distance educators were often at the forefront of technology based educational innovation, they were not, of course, immune from the conventional wisdom of the day, which promoted the supremacy of face-to-face teaching. Accepting the assumed, though unquestioned, limitations of the lack of face-to-face interaction between teachers and students, distance educators worked assiduously to overcome the "tyranny of distance" (Blainey, 1964), and embraced vigorously the application of a wide variety of new technologies, with the result that distance education has been at the leading edge of many educational innovations, especially during the past twenty years.

Four Generations of Distance Education: A Pedagogical Perspective

Apart from the more traditional technologies such as print, broadcast television and radio, distance educators applied the following new technologies as they strived to enhance the quality of teaching and learning: audiotapes, videotapes, computer-based learning packages, interactive video, interactive multimedia (IMM), audio-teleconferencing, audiographic communication systems, videoconferencing, and video on demand (VOD). In recent times, they supplemented these technologies with the opportunities for interactivity and access to instructional resources provided by the computer communications networks popularly referred to as the "Internet", the "World Wide Web" (WWW) or the "Information Super Highway". A potentially useful framework for reviewing developments in educational technology is, therefore, the emergence of four different generations of distance education (Taylor, 1995) which was generated by the feverish activity of distance education professionals.

The Correspondence Model is widely regarded as the first generation of distance education. It has since been subsumed by the second generation Multi-media Model, which entails the use of highly-developed and refined teaching-learning resources, including printed study guides, selected readings, videotapes, audiotapes, and computer-based courseware, including computer managed learning (CML), computer assisted learning (CAL), and interactive video.

While many institutions have evolved from using the Correspondence Model to the Multi-media Model, another significant trend is the move towards the third generation Telelearning Model (Nipper, 1989; Pelton, 1991; Taylor, 1992). This third generation of distance education is based on the use of information technologies, including audio-teleconferencing, audiographic communication systems, video conferencing and broadcast television/radio with attendant audio-teleconferencing.

The emerging fourth generation of distance education, the Flexible Learning Model, promises to combine the benefits of high quality interactive multimedia (IMM), with access to an increasingly extensive range of teaching-learning resources and enhanced interactivity through computer mediated communication (CMC) offered by connection to the Internet.

As Bates (1991) has highlighted, there are two very different types of interactivity in learning: social and individual. Social interaction between learners and teachers needs to be balanced with the individual student’s interaction with teaching-learning resources, including textbooks, study guides, audiotapes, videotapes and computer assisted learning programs. He argues that the view that students in conventional institutions are engaged for the greater part of their time in meaningful, face to face interaction is a myth, and that: "for both conventional and distance education students, by far the largest part of their studying is done alone, interacting with textbooks and other learning media" (Bates, 1991, p.6). One of the strengths of the Multi-media Model of distance education is that it has concentrated efforts on improving the quality of the student’s individual interaction with learning materials, such as specially designed printed materials, audiotapes, videotapes and computer-based learning packages, aimed at teaching concepts and cognitive skills associated with clearly defined objectives in the context of a coherent curriculum.

Distance educators have also recognised the need to provide opportunities for social interaction to support effective learning. They have therefore tried to simulate face to face communication through the development of instructional systems based on technologies such as audio-teleconferencing, audiographic communication systems, videoconferencing and computer mediated communication (CMC). These technologies can support contiguous two-way communication between students and teachers. Alternatively, residential schools or local tutors have been used to provide the social interaction that can facilitate effective learning. It is worth noting that the necessary balance between social and individual interactivity will vary from course to course and will be a function of such variables as the subject matter, the specific objectives of the course, the structure and quality of the learning materials, and, very importantly, the student target audience.

In many contexts, including continuing professional education, the clientele for distance education consists mainly of part-time students in full-time employment. Distance educators have, therefore, had to provide teaching-learning resources (printed study guides, audiotapes, videotapes, computer-based courseware, etc) of high quality that could be used at a time and in a place convenient to each student. In effect, these "flexible access" technologies (Taylor, 1992) allow the student to turn "the teacher" on, or off, at will as lifestyle permits. Similarly, access to the Internet facilitates interactivity, without sacrificing the benefits of flexible access, since it can be used to support asynchronous communication. Such flexibility has a major pedagogical benefit - it allows students to progress at their own pace. Thus varying rates of individual progression can be accommodated, unlike in typical conventional educational practices where the whole class tends to progress at the same pace in synchronisation with the delivery of information through mass lectures and tutorials. Some of the characteristics of the various models of distance education that are relevant to the quality of teaching and learning are summarised in Table 1.

Table 1: Models of Distance Education: A Conceptual Framework

However, while the trend towards "technology-mediated" flexible learning systems if perhaps inexorable in a wide variety of education and training contexts, it is crucial to realise that the use of a range of instructional media does not automatically enhance the quality of teaching and learning. It is crucial to realise that no technology will automatically improve education and training to a significant extent.

Instructional Design and Technology

A detailed discussion of instructional design and technology is beyond the scope of the present paper. However, it is important to note that delivery technologies (printed materials, audiotapes, videotapes, computer-based instructional systems etc) simply package information and instruction to give students access to educational experiences. What really matters is the quality of the instructional message, rather than any inherent characteristics of the instructional medium. The need in education to differentiate clearly between the medium and the message was highlighted by Clark (1983), who made the point that educational technologies are "mere vehicles that deliver instruction but do not influence student achievement any more than the truck that delivers our groceries causes changes in our nutrition" (p.445). It is entirely feasible to surround a teacher with a team of audio-visual technicians, graphic artists and computing specialists, to vary the style of the delivery of the educational message, without producing a significant increase in pedagogical efficacy.

The key process for improving the quality of teaching and learning is instructional design (Braden, 1996), which has received a significant boost from recent advances in instructional science (Anderson, 1982, 1985; Glaser, 1984, 1991; Kidd, 1987; Landa, 1976; Reigeluth, 1983; Winn, 1990). In the first instance, the process of instructional design entails a systematic fine-grained analysis of the knowledge base and associated cognitive skills that provide the foundation of professional expertise in a particular discipline. This approach entails the application of such techniques as cognitive task analysis (Ryder & Redding, 1993), novex analysis (Taylor, 1994) and concept mapping (Novak, 1990) in order to design a sequence of well-structured learning experiences, thereby significantly enhancing the efficacy of the teaching-learning process. In effect, distance educators gradually came to realise that the advances in instructional design that directed many innovations created an education and training process that was in many respects superior to traditional face-to-face instruction. Why is it, then, that so much money is still wasted on traditional classroom based approaches to training?

Because of the aforementioned myth and associated belief systems, there is still a lack of awareness among CEOs and senior managers of the potential of the experience and expertise gained through distance education methodologies to enhance significantly the flexibility, efficacy and cost effectiveness of education and training systems. The judicious application of distance education methodologies and technologies can make training better, faster and cheaper. Indeed, some leaders have already benefited from taking distance education initiatives, as the following examples will illustrate. The examples selected focus primarily on industrial training initiatives, which have based their respective approaches primarily on just one of the four generations of models of distance education.

A First Generation Example - Queensland Fire Service, Australia

The University of Southern Queensland’s Distance Education Centre (USQ DEC) assisted the Queensland Fire Service (QFS) to initiate the first two stages of its statewide training program. The QFS employs 1,800 full-time fire-fighters, located at over 150 fire stations throughout the state. Additionally the QFS coordinates the activities of 1,800 auxiliary fire-fighters and 40,000 volunteer fire-fighters, who are organised into local bush fire brigades. The QFS training function is clearly both technically and logistically complex. The adoption of distance education methods by the QFS entailed the use of printed study guides and associated equipment manuals, the latter using information mapping techniques, to continue the training of recruits following an initial 14 week live-in, face to face course at the QFS Training Centre. The printed materials provided a consistent set of instructional materials to assist the senior officers at the local fire stations, who act in a mentoring/coaching role for the trainees as part of their normal duties.

Over a three year period, the implementation of the distance education based training program proved to be just 20% of the cost of achieving the same outcomes through traditional face-to-face training (Appendix A). Further, there was general satisfaction with the actual performance of employees under the new training system, which was regarded as being at least as good as that produced by the conventional approaches used previously. A positive attitude towards the new training system was also evident in feedback gathered from both trainees and trainers at QFS. Although QFS management is currently interested in introducing a computer managed learning element into the project, the success of an essentially first generation (Correspondence Model) approach suggests that organisations need not necessarily invest in expensive technology to achieve cost effective training outcomes.

The Second Generation Example - Woodside Offshore Petroleum Pty Ltd., Australia

Woodside operates the North West Shelf Gas Project, which is Australia’s largest ever resource development, entailing an investment of over $12 billion (Taylor, 1995). Woodside’s operations are centred on a gas treatment plant near Karratha in the north west of Western Australia, and the associated offshore production platform (the world’s largest) in the Indian Ocean approximately 134 km north west of the port of Dampier. Woodside awarded a contract to the USQ DEC for the development of self-instructional, multi-media learning materials in the field of occupational health and safety to support the company’s Core Safety Training Project aimed at all 700 employees working on the North West Shelf.

During the training program, employees are required to attend a thirty minute face-to-face induction program, following which they are expected to work independently through a series of learning activities. The courseware is based on printed materials, videotapes and computer assisted learning modules. Once trainees have successfully completed the computer managed learning tests administered via the Student Management System, they are required to take necessary field tests under the supervision of the appropriate line manager.

When considered from the perspective of a four year time scale, the minimum expected utility period of the courseware, the technology-based approach proved to be just 67% of the cost of running the Core Safety Training Project through conventional face to face delivery, albeit in a remote location. This result is especially noteworthy when it is considered that most of the courses used video, and all entailed a computer-based training and assessment component. Thus the application of a second generation (Multi-media Model) approach in this case provided support for Romiszowski’s (1992) aforementioned view that as the cost of face to face instruction continues to rise, and as investment costs in both hardware and software continue to decline, the economic equation will increasingly favour the use of self instructional, multi-media.

A Third Generation Example - John Deere & Company, Mexico

The use of technology-based courseware, including printed materials, videos and software has provided an important platform for the operations of John Deere & Company in Mexico, where the company now has three plants which produce a varied range of agricultural machines. In 1987 the company initiated a project aimed at the process of integral total quality (ITQ). This project involved all employees and entailed a philosophy of integral quality which was defined as "a permanent philosophy of work which requires personnel involvement and commitment in each one of their products and services, always searching for client satisfaction and a way of making things every day better at work and at daily life" (de Hernandez, 1996, p.5). The ITQ project led to the widespread use of self-learning materials by employees.

The company also utilises telecommunications technology for running videoconferences between its plants in Mexico, its base in the United States and units in other parts of the world. The videoconferences are utilised monthly for directors’ meetings and for the revision of special projects. Additionally, electronic mail is used for both internal and external communications. As a result of such initiatives, the Monterrey-based component of John Deere & Company was the recipient of the Quality Prize of Nuevo Leon State in 1991 in the Organisation of Transformation category.

A Fourth Generation Example: A Global Prototype for Lifelong Professional Education

The rapid growth in the field of instructional design and technology has promoted a shift from a system wherein a single teacher is more or less solely responsible for the design, development, delivery and evaluation of education and training programs, to a multi-disciplinary team approach, wherein a wide range of specialist expertise is applied to the generation of training programs. The necessary range of expertise for the development of technologically sophisticated teaching and learning systems, tends to be beyond the capacity of individual teachers and appears to demand the deployment of an expert teaching team, with a wide range of specialist skills. The following example of a global initiative entailing the use of fourth generation distance education technologies would not have been feasible without pooling the expertise of a wide range of experts. These include specialists in instructional design, systems design, electronic information systems, database design, graphic design, student administration, electronic publishing and project management. And the discipline content experts!

The final example is drawn from the education and training industry. In a recent paper, Plater (1995) argued that faculty in all fields must know how to use the technology and be able to teach effectively through distant interactions with students and peers. One of the acknowledged difficulties, however, is the need to provide appropriate staff development opportunities for teachers to become familiar with new technologies and the associated pedagogical potential for the enhancement of teaching and learning. Thach (1995), for example, made the point that, " Faculty and instructors are often thrown into distance learning settings with little or no professional development and instructional design information to assist them in adapting to the new teaching environment" (p. 93). Given the rapidly growing influence of educational technology, stimulated by the exponential growth in access to the Internet, the need for continuing vocational education and training has never been greater in the teaching profession.

In response to this need, the USQ initiated a global faculty development program for teaching at a distance. The development of the courseware was initially supported by the Australian Government through its Committee for Staff Development, with a AU$100,000 grant. The AT&T Foundation provided a further US$50,000 (AU$67,000) to develop the international network. The project entails the development of an international network of institutions to support the offering of a Graduate Certificate in Open and Distance Learning -

(http://www.usq.edu.au/material/course/us59/).

The following institutions worked with the USQ to launch this initiative in 1996:

• Fundação Brasileira de Educação, Brazil
• Universiti Brunei Darussalam, Brunei
• Open Learning Institute, Hong Kong
• Universiti Malaysia, Sarawak
• Institut Teknologi Mara, Malaysia
• Instituto Tecnológico de Monterrey, Mexico
• Rhodes University, South Africa
• Georgia Southern University, USA
• Solomon Islands College of Higher Education
• University of Manitoba, Canada.

The Grad Cert (ODL) is offered solely via electronic means. Participating students need to have access to appropriate hardware and software to communicate via electronic mail and to download materials through the Internet. The courseware that has been developed makes extensive use of existing electronic resources already available on the World Wide Web. A recent search of electronic materials revealed 31 electronic journals and magazines and 43 newsletters relevant to educational technology, as well as 12 electronic journals related to distance education, 29 electronic journals related to instructional technology, 28 associated electronic discussion groups and numerous databases all specifically related to the content of the course. Students gain access to these materials through the use of an Internet Browser such as Netscape.

Additionally, systems developed to support the AT&T project allow students to: (i) find out about the course by accessing an electronic brochure, (ii) enrol electronically, and (iii) submit assignments electronically. These initiatives underwent a formative evaluation phase during Semester 2 1996, with the first formal offer of the course initiated in Semester 1, 1997. During the formative evaluation phase, enrolments were restricted to a maximum of 25 with two or three faculty members from each of the participating institutions embarking on the course during the second semester of 1996. These faculty members may subsequently act as local tutors in their own regional contexts.

The design of the electronic teaching and learning environment, although developed independently by the USQ team, has much in common with the technological environment created by the Laboratoire d’Informatique Cognitive et Environments de Formation (LICEF) at the Télé-université in Montreal. Ricciardi-Rigault, Henri and Damphousse (1996) articulated the design and operation of a "pedagogical virtual space" to support a learning process that is non-linear, collaborative and interactive. The USQ approach embodies these principles.

Students are provided with an interactive study chart. This sets the broad parameters of the subject matter content to be investigated, and lists a number of exemplary references. References are both to traditional print-based materials that might be found in a local library and to electronic references which are hot linked via specific URLs. The lecturers were assisted in the task of locating relevant materials on the WWW by a research assistant, who surfed the Net for potentially useful materials according to lists of key words provided by the teaching staff. These materials were then bookmarked and made available for evaluation. As members of the teaching team assessed these materials, each electronic reference was annotated with a comment on the relevance of the content for particular modules of the course. Because of the transient nature of many web sites, any material which was evaluated as being essential, was cleared for copyright and stored on the local USQ server. This electronic database of courseware is referred to locally as the "AT&T Treasure Trove". As Owston (1997) highlighted, "What the Web can offer, that traditional media cannot, is information that is instantly available, often very up-to-date, worldwide in scope, and presented in a more motivating format for students to explore" (p.31).

In due course, students will also contribute to this database, which will be highly amenable to efficient searching because of its inherent structure and selective nature. Naturally, the students are free to surf the Net for teaching-learning resources that meet their specific needs. They are also able to download assignments, with those of sufficient quality being added to the database for reference by future students. The interaction with courseware materials is, however, only one element of the interactivity built into the USQ pedagogical approach.

Interaction with other students, teaching staff and other experts, who act as mentors, is achieved through the use of computer mediated communication (CMC), using the Web-based conferencing system, "About", or "Netscape Newsgroups". Students are encouraged to communicate through various electronic conferences, established for specific content areas as well as for informal social interaction through the "Coffee Chat" Conference. It is worth noting that there is a qualitative difference between traditional tutorial (real-time verbal) and computer conferencing (asynchronous written communication), with the reflective and precise nature of the latter being very different from the spontaneous and less structured nature of oral discourse in either a face-to-face, video or audio teleconference context. "The reflective and explicit nature of the written word is a disciplined and rigorous form of thinking and communicating ....... it allows time for reflection and, thereby, facilitates learners making connections amongst ideas and constructing coherent knowledge structures" (Garrison, 1997, p.5). Computer conferencing is not just another technology, its capacity to rehumanise distance education represents a qualitative shift which has the potential not only to reshape learning at a distance, but also to pervade conventional education systems.

Time zones and local infrastructure permitting, the socio-cognitive dimension of learning in the Grad Cert (ODL) is also being enhanced through the periodic use of audiographic communication, videoconferencing and the use of Internet Relay Chat (IRC) systems. Since the current cohort of students comes from 10 countries covering six time zones, this use of synchronous communication is limited and supplementary, with the primary mode of communication being asynchronous, thus maintaining flexible access for students.

At a more specific level, some members of the teaching team are exploring different styles of interaction, including the use of reflections as a basis for collaborative learning (Naidu & McAleese, 1996), which tends to demand a controlled sequence of learning activities. Others are emphasising independent learning with permits greater choice of learning sequence and style for individual students. Further, another member of the team (Ross, 1997) is basing his pedagogical approach on the simulation of a company involved in the design, development and marketing of multimedia products. This subject unit, "Creating Interactive Multimedia", entails a number of innovative features, including the design and development of multimedia products using software available via the WWW, collaboration between students through the running of production team meetings via Internet Relay Chat, supplemented by real audio.

These approaches are supplemented by a mentoring system in which each student has access to a mentor through email in an effort to provide individual support and advice. Each of these pedagogical variations is being systematically evaluated through the use of an online evaluation system, which will lay the foundation for continuous improvement. It is planned that the results of such action research will lay the foundation for a series of experimental research studies in the future. Initial indications are, however, that the quality of student learning outcomes is extremely high and in some respects quite exceptional. For instance, the student project generated through collaboration among 18 students in 11 countries, who were learning to use multimedia, was superior to that of the same unit taught on campus (http://www.connect.usq.edu.au/students/d9710775/con1.html).

The USQ AT&T project appears to provide an appropriate prototype for the future of continuing professional education and training on a global scale. Although focussed primarily on the teaching profession, and those employed in industrial training roles, it could well act as a prototype for continuous professional education in many professions. The approach has the flexibility to meet the needs of busy professionals in full-time employment, irrespective of their geographical location. Further, it has the interactivity to engender efficacious learning outcomes in a time efficient manner. The immediate access to current materials and associated professional discussion with colleagues from around the world creates a socio-cognitive learning environment from which all who participate will surely benefit. Indeed, the professional networking which is likely to emanate from such approaches seems likely to engender genuine lifelong learning.

Conclusion

In the future, distance education methodologies, technologies and pedagogies are likely to play a more significant role as globalisation becomes the norm. Distance Education deserves to be promoted for reasons of both equity and efficacy. It can improve access and thereby promote equity. It can enhance the quality of the teaching-learning process, and thereby offers the most efficacious approach to lifelong learning. Distance education initiatives, especially fourth generation flexible learning systems, appear to provide opportunities for staff development and training that are more effective, faster and cheaper than traditional approaches to classroom based instruction.

As Swannell (1997) highlighted recently, flexible learning systems are based on a "philosophy of giving people what they want, where they want it, when they want it (WWW happens to be almost incidental) ..." (p.17). Further, as Patry (1995, p.7) has highlighted, "Traditional education systems throughout the world have been stretched to the limit by the population explosion, scarcity of resources and expansion of knowledge". The expertise already gained in sophisticated distance education systems could well be the key to the future. In the future, flexible learning systems are probably the only viable option to meet the escalating worldwide need for training and education. Finally, as Lowe (1992) has highlighted, we are not staggering unsteadily towards an uncertain future, we are actively engaged in creating the future. It is our decisions and our actions which will largely determine the structure of education in the twenty-first century. It is critical that such decisions and associated activities are driven by pedagogy, rather than technology.

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Attachment 1

The Cost Analysis of Mixed-mode Training Systems

It is extremely doubtful whether mixed-mode approaches would have achieved increasing prominence in industrial training systems without the belief that they can be a cheaper form of education and training than traditional methods. Whether mixed-mode is cheaper depends on a number of factors, including choice of media, the number of courses and subject areas offered, the range of student support services provided and, the number of students. While it is self-evident that each system will be different, with costs varying according to the environment, the technology available, and the range and size of target populations, certain issues can demonstrate why mixed-mode training systems can be cheaper than conventional face-to-face approaches.

In examining the economics of education and training systems, it is useful to differentiate fixed and variable costs. Whereas fixed costs do not vary considerably in relation to changes in volume of activities, variable costs tend to increase or decrease directly (linearly) with fluctuations in the volume of activity. For example, in the distance education context, the costs of preparing self-instructional materials (printed study guides, audiotapes, videotapes, etc.) are incurred irrespective of the number of students who study the course. These development costs can be regarded as fixed in relation to the eventual output of students, since the investment of resources in course design and development is not directly related to the number of student users of the courses, although some of the related costs of producing multiple copies of materials and many of the costs associated with distributing such copies do vary directly in accordance with student numbers. Other costs which vary linearly with student numbers include costs of marking assignments and examinations, providing individual counselling and the like. Such variable costs tend to increase or decrease directly with variations in the volume of activity. While fixed costs do not vary continuously in relation to changes in volume of activities, they are subject to significant changes in volumes, such as the need to employ additional instructional designers and audio-visual personnel to cope with rapid, extensive increases in course development. In light of this fundamental distinction between fixed and variable costs, it is interesting to examine in more detail the basic cost function of mixed-mode approaches based on distance education methodologies.

As delineated by Rumble (1988) the basic cost function for any educational system may be expressed in general terms as follows:

Total cost = (Number of students x direct cost per student) +(Number of courses under development x direct cost of course development) + (Number of courses being offered x direct cost of presentation) + (Fixed cost of the system infrastructure).

The fixed costs in this equation are the direct cost of course development and the costs associated with establishment of the system infrastructure, whereas the other costs tend to be influenced directly by volume of activities and can be regarded as variable. It is important to note that all the costs on the right hand side of the equation are a function of management decisions, and are essentially subject to choice.

The senior management personnel of both QFS and Woodside recognised that by using the sophisticated infrastructure already present in a well established DEC, costs could be contained. To initiate and maintain both the physical and human infrastructure required to generate high quality multi-media self-instructional training materials is an expensive and time consuming activity. The use of an existing system means that organisations working with a DEC can develop more flexible approaches to training in a cost efficient and time efficient manner. The costs associated with the design and development infrastructure are embedded in the fees paid to the DEC for involvement in the multi-disciplinary team approach to design and development, and the subsequent use of the DEC sub-systems to produce multiple copies of print materials, audiotapes, videotapes and/or computer diskettes.

It is the level of the initial investment in multi-media materials that differentiates mixed-mode approaches based on distance education methodologies from conventional face-to-face training. In essence, this capital investment replaces much of the labour component aimed at providing traditional tutor-trainee interaction. The potential economic benefits derive from the fact that the course materials, once produced, can be used to teach many times the number of trainees that can be catered for in conventional settings, without the need for additional capital investment in buildings for use as classrooms, tutorial rooms and the like. So while it may be initially more expensive to pay for the use of an established sophisticated infrastructure (including facilities for media production, word-processing, printing, warehousing, distribution, etc.) to support mixed-mode initiatives, the potential scope of the approach to reach numerous target populations in widely dispersed locations far outweighs the cost-efficiency of providing conventional face-to-face training. This is so, as long as a sufficiently large number of trainees is required to undertake training. In effect, the potential economies of scale inherent in mixed-mode training, like mass distance education, are dependent primarily on a sufficiently large number of trainees being enrolled to warrant capital investment in the development of course materials.

The investment in course materials is, of course, somewhat subject to volume of activity, since the more courses on offer, the greater the total investment required. The most cost-efficient system would be one with a relatively small range of courses and very large numbers of trainees. A range of courses at varying levels of specialisation, however, is usually required to satisfy the training needs of staff in most organisations. For example, in matters of occupational health and safety in the Woodside environment, there is no room for compromise. Similarly, in the QFS context the development of the necessary skills of fire-fighters is of paramount importance. However, in both the Woodside and QFS contexts, training needs do not vary significantly over periods of approximately five years. It is therefore often the case that the life of a course can extend for a number of years without loss of relevancy. The costs of such courses can therefore be written off over a number of years, thereby retaining some of the benefits of economies of scale, even where the numbers of trainees are not large. Such costs can also be contained somewhat by undertaking larger print runs to cover course offerings over a number of years, depending on the cost and availability of storage facilities. Cost efficiency, however, also depends on the containment of trainee variable costs when the courses are actually implemented.

In mixed-mode industrial training systems, it is often necessary to provide some form of face-to-face support for trainees. At Woodside, for example, contact with training staff is integral to the induction course, during which the flexible training system is introduced and training profiles are established for particular categories of staff. Further, at later stages in the programme a number of field tests have to be undertaken under the close scrutiny of a supervisor. Similarly, during the QFS training programme, supervision is required from time to time to provide specific performance-related feedback on a number of critical psychomotor skills. Nevertheless, in designing a mixed-mode system, efforts must be made to keep the variable cost per trainee (duplication cost of materials, distribution costs, tutor-marked assignment costs and face-to-face counselling/supervision costs) below the direct cost per trainee in conventional systems (primarily, the cost of staff and consumables).

It is clear that the cost per mixed-mode trainee is a function not only of the total enrolment number, but also of the quantity, type and quality of course materials provided and associated support services, including personal supervision. While it is difficult to make definitive statements about the general cost of mixed-mode training, which is moderated significantly by management decisions made in particular organisational contexts, it is possible to delineate a number of parameters, which can provide a framework for establishing the cost efficiency of particular approaches to mixed-mode training systems. These parameters are highlighted in Table 1.

Table A: General framework for undertaking cost analysis of mixed-mode training systems

Table B: Summary of cost analysis of mixed-mode delivery of the Q-STEP project over a three year period.

Table C: Summary of cost analysis of face-to-face delivery of Q-STEP curriculum over a three year period

Table D: Summary of cost analysis of mixed-mode delivery of the Core Training Program over a two year period

Table E: Summary of cost analysis of face-to-face delivery of the Core Training Program over a two year period.