7.2 " REGISTØTION
Note 5 The courses of study must be appropriate to the stage of development and potential of each student
7.8 DISTANCE EDUCATION .1 Background
Distance education in NSW has traditionally been provided by the Department of Education through a Central Correspondence School located in Sydney and through the School of the Air at Broken Hill. This structure, although it has served isolated students effectively, provides only minimal opportunity for students and parents to have regular and direct access to teachers.
While there is a level of family involvement at the School of the Air, lengthy travel is usually required in order for children to participate in the variety of planned activities organised by the school. In the case of the Correspondence School, its Sydney location has meant that opportunities for personal interaction between the school and its students and parents are very limited indeed. Students have minimal direct access to their teachers and virtually no opportunity for social/peer interaction with fellow students.
These circumstances make it difficult for students and parents to develop that commitment and sense of belonging to a school which is a characteristic of most school communities.
The existing decentralised Distance Education Centres at Cobar, Walgett and Bourke appear to have effectively addressed many of these problems. By having these centres located at regular schools, the distance education students have been able to identify with their peers with resultant high levels of interactive learning. The decentralised centres have also enabled greatly increased personal contact between each centre's teachers and the communities they serve.
The opportunity for participation by Distance Education Centre teachers in staff development programs and curriculum planning activities with the regular staff at the school to which the decentralised centre is attached has also been of benefit to the quality of education being
delivered by the centre — as well as being a cost effective means of providing essential professional development.
There are other cost benefits arising from the delivery of education through these decentralised centres. The "host" regular schools are able to assist in the provision of resources necessary for the implementation of various education programs. The decentralised centres are able to keep the annual costs of regular, planned field trips to isolated homesteads to a fraction of the amount expended by the School of the Air and by the Correspondence School.
7.8.2 Decentralisation of Distance Education
Because of the advantages of decentralisation for the delivery of efficient and effective distance education, a number of proposals are presently being introduced for the restructuring of distance education by locating the service closer to the isolated student. The process of decentralisation will be accompanied by the establishment of a major Distance Education Centre (DEC) at Belrose in Sydney. This centre will be a joint facility with TAFE and will accommodate the course production and servicing units of the Correspondence School.
It will also become the production and dissemination centre for all Distance Education materials required by schools enrolling distance education students.
7.8.2.1 Decentralisation: Primary
The recently announced decentralisation of distance education by the NSW Department of Education proposes that Distance Education Centres be established in the major areas of the state where there are concentrations of isolated children. This will involve a decentralisation of the primary section of the Correspondence School and the Schoo1 of the Air. The new centres will be situated in locations where clusters of primary students exist and where the town itself is a service centre for families in the district. This structure is based on the premise that all geographically isolated students will attend the nearest centre logistically appropriate to their place of residence.
The proposed centres are: Bourke, Broken Hill, Cobar, Dubb°, Hay, Casino, Port Macquarie, Tibooburla, Walgen апд Sydney, with both the Dubbo and Sydney centres exercising additional functions.
The Dubbo Centre, because of its size and status, will cater for the needs of randomly scattered isolated students whose numbers are insufficient to justify the cost of establishing a Distance Education Centre. Dubbo may also take on the additional tasks of in-servicing the more remote and scattered DECs and providing the base centre for a possible counselling program catering for the needs of isolated students.
The Pre-School and Student Support Units of the Correspondence School will also be re- located at the Dubbo Centre.
The extension of the decentralisation process to medical cases, travellers and overseas students Will see such students being enrolled in the Distance Education Centre serving their region.
Such a dispersement will nevertheless require the establishment of a Distance Education Centre in Sydney. This centre will cater for all students enrolled from Papua-New Guinea and some additional secondary enrolment categories; confinements/nursing mothers, the vocationally talented, and SSP students.
7.8.2.2 Decentralisation: Secondary
In secondary education it is proposed that the major Distance Education Centre, established as a joint facility with TAFE at Belrose, will undertake course production and be the major service unit of the Correspondence School. It is further. proposed to develop a Distance
Education Open High School at the Belrose site with responsibility for all part-time enrolments as well as all the language programs currently offered at the Correspondence School.
The centralisation of the design and production of curriculum documents, learning materials and other educational resources at Belrose for distribution throughout the state will enable such material to be produced at minimum cost.
However, the application of the principle of decentralisation to secondary distance education presents a more complex set of problems than applies to primary education. The range of subjects is greater, and there are examination requirements to be met. Two variations have been proposed:
(a) Selected secondary schools designated as Distance Education Centres whose students are enrolled in an integrated mode. The suggested centres are Dubbo, Port Macquarie, Walgett and one of either Hay, Coomealla or Balranald. Each centre will bè supported with resources from the Production Unit at Belrose..The staffs of these schools will be supplemented to ensure appropriate provision for isolated students.
(b) Enrolment of the student at the nearest secondary school, again in an integrated mode.
This model will undergo trial in south eastern NSW. Telephone and facsimile links will enable students to communicate directly with their teachers.
7.8.3 Technology and Distance Education
The role to be played by present and future developments in communication technologies
is
of course critical to the success of such restructuring.There is no one technology that can satisfy the diverse needs of distance education students.
The solution lies in using the best and most cost-effective mix of technologies available.
The Telecom network provides a proven facility for the delivery of four modes of interactive communications — audio, text and graphics, data and TV. At present, a combination of terrestrial and Interra satellite links will be required to service all rural areas but Telecom's Rural and Remote Areas Program aims to provide automatic telephones to all rural areas by late 1992.
Telephones are an established high quality technology which is familiar to the majority of people. They enable fully interactive processing of voice and data with no delays between speaking and being heard. However, not everyone has a phone and there are currently high recurrent costs for users. The practical application of large scale bridging of users and for data transfer also remains to be proven. Nevertheless, reliable voice communications would improve the quality of the education provided to distance education students.
Although the quality and reliability of HF radio transmission can be unsatisfactory due to atmospheric conditions, it is a proven technology with low capital and recurrent costs. It has severe limitations when it comes to data and facsimile transmission but until all outposts are provided with automatic telephones, HF radio use
will
continue to playa
role in the delivery of distance education.Proposals involving the use of satellites for the delivery of distance education are still at an investigative stage. There appears to be a potential role for one-way television broadcasting to centres and homesteads, supported by a terrestrial audio conferencing facility. However, initial indications are that the utilisation of L-Band satellites for interactive audio conferencing will be neither as effective nor as cheap as efficient telephone communication.
Satellite transmission quality is very good and not subject to atmospheric interference and, unlike land based communication, its cost is not related to distance. Satellites also provide reliable reception and speedy data processing over
a
wide area. However, it is a newtechnology requiring die development of special equipment and software and the simultaneous linking of a number of students and a teacher would appear to be difficult. It is also an extremely expensive technology with both high capital and recurrent costs. Costs are also incurred based on the elapsed time of each transmission. Trials by the Queensland Education Department using the satellite for interactive transmission were discontinued because, although the system was very effective, the cost could not be justified.
Effective distance education can obviously be provided by a combination of the cost-effective technologies indicated above. It may also be possible to augment these technologies with new and relatively inexpensive technological developments such as facsimile machines and computers. Such technologies could provide a cost-effective means for the electronic transfer of data from school to student and vice-versa. Attempts should also be made to enhance the quality of proven "Low-Tech'' technologies — audio tapes and video tapes as support technologies for printed material.
Most of these technologies are either part of established, or proposed, networks and facilities.
They also comprise hardware and software which is relatively cheap, widely available and within the immediate experience of students.
Such technologies could efficiently provide, on a cost-effective basis, the necessary support functions to facilitate the full integration of distance education students into their nearest school community.
7.8.4 The Committee's Approach
The Committee suggests that the best method of Distance Education will provide, to the maximum extent possible:
(a) Personal interaction between teacher and student.
(b) Social/peer interaction with other students.
(c) Retention of parental/home environment.
(d) Interaction with other students in relation to the programs of work.
(e) Effective presentation and explanation of content by visual and written means.
(t) Speed and effectiveness of marking and follow up of student work.
(g) Access to study for the НSC, that is, Years 11 and 12.
(h) A reasonable range of subject choice throughout Years 7 to 12.
On these criteria the approach whereby secondary distance education students are enrolled either at a Distance Education Centre or at the nearest secondary school, and attend on a part-time basis while receiving education by distance methods, seems to be the goal to be pursued. As the vast majority of students live within possible travelling distance from an established central school or high school, it is feasible for most students to be enrolled at the nearest central/high school, though they might attend only perhaps one day a fortnight.
Full integration of isolated students would provide for extensive personal interaction by Placing such students in a "local "school structure and encouraging a greater opportunity for direct contact between the teacher and the student and between the student and his/her Peers . The isolated student would live close enough to the school to be able to participate regularly in both class and extra-curricula activities along with fellow students. This would enable the isolated student to develop a strong sense of identification with a regular school community whilst retaining the stability of the parental/home environment.
The central/high school would be able to integrate into its own curriculum the materials
Prepared for students not physically in attendance at the school. The material could be
prepared at a central location and dispatched in bulk to the central/high school for distribution. Such material, augmented by the teacher at his/her discretion, would include leaflets, tapes and videos. These would be dispatched, in sequence and as appropriate, to students who are not physically in attendance but might also be used by the teacher for those students physically at the school. Such a procedure could significantly enhance the curriculum and educational programs which the school itself could offer.
For those students not physically in attendance, the materials would be worked through in the home but this would be facilitated by daily teleconferencing, conducted by the school, on all core subjects. Such teleconferences might, on occasions, include the school class in each subject in order to maintain a regular and high level of student/teacher and student/student interaction. The use of facsimile, audio and video tapes would be a major feature of the distance education procedures. Video copying facilities would enable the regular lessons at school to be videoed by the teacher and forwarded to the student not physically in attendance. Cable TV might, in the future, allow instantaneous transmission. These present and future technological developments would make full integration an effective and efficient means of decentralising distance education.
The relatively close proximity of the school to students not physically in attendance would enable the material they complete to be marked by the class teacher and returned to the student with the minimum of delay and would assist in the effective follow-up of student work. Local transport arrangements would be necessary and probably would require a courier.
With some funding assistance provided to parents for travel costs, students not physically in attendance should be able to visit the school a minimum of once a fortnight. Such regular visits would strengthen the social and educational bonds between the student and the school.
In view of the relatively short distances which such students will need to travel, this cost could be kept to a minimum.
The staff of the central/high school would need to be augmented to allow for the teaching of those students who are not physically in attendance. Any staffing thus gained would also assist the school in extending the curriculum and educational programs it was able to offer.
7.8.4.1 Study for the HSC — Years 11 and 12
A related issue is the question of access to Years 11 and 12 for secondary students attending central schools. There are currently a large number of central schools run by the NSW Department of Education which do not offer Years 11 and 12.
Given that there is now an expectation that all students should study a full six years of secondary education and that it is government policy, both Commonwealth and State, to encourage retention to Year 12, it is now essential that these schools provide the means for their students to undertake study in the senior years.
Traditionally students completing Year 10 have travelled greater distances to enrol in a high school in another town, or they have gone into full correspondence, or they have left school altogether.
Changes in the provision of distance education may provide at least part of the answer.
Within the context of a full integration program, the ability of the central school to meet
the needs of these senior students could be achieved through the use of distance education
technology. The central Distance Education School could provide audio-visual resources,
supplemented by written notes, in a wide range of subjects. The central school could provide,
through the technologies already described, for a senior curriculum both for students
physically in attendance and for those not physically in attendance.
7.8.5 Recommendations It is
recommended that:7.8.5.1 The criteria listed in this report be used to determine future methods of providing distance education.
7.8.5.2 The decentralisation of distance education measures recently announced be progressed.
28.5.3 The approach of integrating secondary distance education students by enrolling them in Distance Education Centres or the nearest secondary school be continued and extended.
7.8.5.4 The NSW Dеpaгmеnt of Education make provision for all students in central schools currently not proceeding beyond Year 10 to receive opportunities for study in Years 11 and 12.