Premier’s Xstrata Coal Rural and Remote Education Scholarship
Providing diverse cultural opportunities
through distance education
Ann Rattey
Centre for Learning Innovation, Strathfield
Sponsored by
In 2004 I was honoured to be a recipient of a Premier’s Xstrata Coal Rural and Remote
Education Scholarship. In September 2005 I travelled to Cambridge, London and New
York to attend the 11th Cambridge International Conference on Open and Distance
Learning and to visit world-renowned cultural institutions offering education programs
for students and teachers. This scholarship provided valuable opportunities to engage in
a study of distance education and the arts, to gain knowledge and understanding of
international trends in distance education, and to immerse myself in the international art
world.
Study focus
Advances in technology provide opportunities to open communication and break down
barriers of distance. For Australia’s distant and remote students, technology can bring
direct communication with teachers and students, eliminating time delays and providing
access to delivery modes appropriate to syllabus content. However, these questions
remain:



How can distance education provide diverse cultural opportunities for students and
teachers isolated by geography or circumstance?
What modes of delivery will enable distance education and isolated students to
actively and safely participate in physical learning activities such as dance and drama?
How can technology facilitate equity and access, enabling isolated students and
teachers to participate in state cultural events accessible to students living in cities
and larger towns?
In order to address these questions I attended lectures, talks and workshops conducted
by international distance educators and engaged in tacit knowledge experiences made
possible by the residential Cambridge International Conference on Open and Distance
Learning. A study of programs offered by a number of international cultural institutes
and education facilities was also conducted. Institutions included in the study were:


Britain:
o Tate Modern Museum;
o British Council;
o Teachers’ TV ;
o Qualifications and Curriculum Authority;
United States:
o Museum of Modern Art;
o Bronx Zoo;
o Guggenheim Museum;
o Metropolitan Museum.
Cambridge International Conference on Open
and Distance Learning
The 11th Cambridge International Conference on Open and Distance Learning
(CICODL) established a global community of learning. It demonstrated the acceptance
of distance and open education as a global agent of change, facilitating access and equity
in education for both developing and emerging countries. Participation in this conference
provided opportunities to share ideas, question practice, address problems and issues,
reflect on personal practice and anticipate future directions.
Changes in the nature and application of distance education are evident when
considering nomenclatures associated with it: correspondence schooling, distance
education and open education. Sir John Daniel, President of the Commonwealth of
Learning, in his keynote address at CICODL noted a trend towards defining open and
distance learning in terms of technology. He stated that on a recent trip to eight countries
in southern Africa, ‘ministers of education and others wanted to talk about ICT as much
as about open and distance education’ (Daniel 2005). The influence of new technologies
on this field of learning is clear when we consider the profuse range of related terms that
have developed: e-learning, mixed-mode teaching, multimedia education, virtual
classrooms, online learning and technology-enhanced learning to mention a few.
Sir John Daniel claims that learning is ‘the common wealth of humankind’ and that ‘a
better future requires a massive increase in learning by people everywhere’ (Daniel 2005).
In developing countries, increasing the literacy rates and building knowledge-based
societies that can gain access to local and global markets and the worldwide information
network is considered paramount to the reduction of poverty. Distance and open
education is viewed as a major vehicle to educational access and equity.
Professional gain
One can never underestimate the importance of meeting colleagues from many nations
who are grappling with similar issues. As a result of the structured learning and the
informal professional dialogue at CICODL, I have widened my professional network and
gained a greater understanding of:







The widening definition of distance education to encompass students who are not
necessarily isolated by distance;
The value of distance education on a global scale;
The changing nature of distance education in line with the introduction of and
accessibility to new technologies;
The variety of teaching methods engaged in by international distance educators;
Teachers’ resilience in their efforts to give students the best possible educational
opportunities regardless of situation;
The opportunity for teachers to assist one another and share on a collegial basis
locally, nationally and internationally via technologies; and
The importance of reflection in educational practice.
British education and cultural institutions
Tate Modern Museum
While offering many education programs, Tate Modern is not presently providing
courses and/or activities for distance education. It does offer an outreach program for a
limited geographic area.
Tate Modern can provide a PowerPoint presentation for isolated teacher training.
British Council
The British Council’s Global Gateways project assists schools to make links across the
globe via the Internet, email, and digital technology. The formation of such partnerships
makes possible:



Joint curriculum development between distant schools;
Appreciation of diversity;
The exchange of ideas on a global basis;

Study in a real world situation, for instance, languages, geography, environmental
issues.
In support of Global Gateways and to promote internationalism, the British Council
offers funding for school projects and teacher professional development. Global Leap,
an online resource, encourages the integration of videoconferencing in the curriculum
and especially aims to ‘facilitate working with pupils who don't have access to a full-time
curriculum e.g. Hospital School, Special Schools’ (British Council, Global Gateways
2005).
In 2000 a 16-hour distance learning event launched Global Leap. Ten thousand students
from 50 schools across 14 countries participated in a videoconference, including a virtual
visit to the Great Barrier Reef to meet divers and students camping at the reef. Other
virtual opportunities included a ‘visit’ to Kosovo and to Melbourne Zoo, and meetings
with mathematicians at Cambridge University, zoo wardens in a South African game
park, astronauts at NASA and Amy Johnson at London’s Science Museum. The day also
featured a live link to and question time with British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
Godwin Primary School (East London) has embraced Global Gateways. In response to
the large number of Godwin parents originating from Jamaica, three Godwin teachers
visited Jamaica in 2002. The teachers shared knowledge and best practice around issues
of boys’ school attainment. Links were formed between a Kingston school, Godwin and
six other local schools, which used videoconferencing to create a global opera with a cast
of 600 students.
Comment
While the Global Gateways program offers a wonderful opportunity for engagement in
local and global learning, it has been taken up by only a small number of schools.
Reticence in using the program might relate to teachers’ perceptions of it adding to the
already overloaded curriculum rather than its function in a central position in the
curriculum. Other problems might revolve around access to technologies. The unrealised
potential of Global Gateways provides a lesson for Australian educators, who must think
creatively when introducing new programs that they want Australian schools to take up.
Global Gateways and the global opera project provide insight into methods that could be
employed to include isolated Australian students in state, national and global
performance events.
Teachers’ TV
Teachers’ TV (TTV) is a digital television channel for schools personnel and is funded by
the United Kingdom Department for Education and Skills. The channel provides
training and development, and insight into the practice of a variety of schools, and it
encourages reflection on self-practice.
TTV is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week and has a website where many of the
programs can be viewed (www.teachers.tv). This innovative television service enables
teachers to access training and development on a needs basis, at a time and place most
suitable for them. Programs cover such things as:





News related to education;
Career development;
Master classes in teaching technique and behaviour management;
Approaches to addressing contentious issues in school curriculum;
Subject- and grade-specific curriculum materials; and

Programs targeting newly qualified teachers.
TTV is now moving to the inclusion of television programs for teachers to use with
students.
Comment
TTV is an exciting initiative and its practicality and success is evidenced by the growing
number of teachers accessing the channel. The potential of a facility such as TTV for
Australian education is worthy of exploration.
In Australia a TTV model could:








Provide accessible, cost-effective training and development for distant and remote
teachers;
Support beginning teachers and those with responsibilities outside their area of
expertise;
Reduce isolation for distant and remote teachers;
Inform parents about new educational initiatives, syllabuses and methods to assist
student learning;
Feature educational collaboration between schools and cultural institutions;
Introduce new educational resources and demonstrate their application;
Stimulate forum discussion around national and international trends and challenges
in education; and
Provide a beginning point for the realisation of shared research and a vehicle for
communicating findings.
Qualifications and Curriculum Authority
The Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA), sponsored by the Department of
Education and Skills, is responsible for the development of National Curriculum for the
United Kingdom. As well, it develops assessment, tests and examinations, and monitors
qualification for the provision of educational courses. QCA is at present trialling
onscreen and on-demand basic and key skills testing for levels 1 and 2.
This form of e-assessment provides flexibility through delivery on demand. It assures
that students can take tests when they are ready and wherever they are located and will
enable students to move through stages of learning at their own pace.
Comment
The impact of electronic assessment on demand is far reaching. Flexible movement from
one learning stage to another will necessitate new approaches to teaching and changes to
schools as we know them today. Flexible movement through the learning continuum will
require adaptable programs that can be individualised on-demand rather than a graded
system. This does not suggest a lesser role for teachers but rather a role where teachers
will tailor programs to student needs.
Teachers will need access to high-quality teaching/learning resources that can be tailored
to student needs and adapted for the delivery mode. They will also require learning
management programs to efficiently develop and track individual learning programs. The
Centre for Learning Innovation has a pivotal role to play in such a vision.
US education and cultural institutions
Virtual Informal Education Web
The Virtual Informal Education Web (Project VIEW), an outreach of the Schenectady,
New York City school district, is funded by a $US10,000,000 Federal Technology
Innovation Challenge Grant awarded by the US Department of Education. This project
aims to facilitate the creation of new learning environments and pedagogies using
interactive digital technologies. Project VIEW enables schools and external partners such
as museums, libraries, zoos and art galleries to work collaboratively to develop
curriculum-based learning opportunities. Project VIEW:



Provides teacher training for the integration of interactive digital technology;
Facilitates communities of learning via interactive digital technologies;
Encourages the integration of technologies to expand the classroom through such
methods as videoconferencing and web-based technologies.
Three institutes involved in Project VIEW partnerships with schools are the Bronx Zoo,
the Guggenheim Museum and the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA).
The Bronx Zoo
The Bronx Zoo uses two-way videoconferencing to take the zoo into the classroom live.
The zoo’s education officer can teach from her studio using small animals or take
students into such places as the zoo’s Congo gorilla forest or the alligators’ environment
via remote live-cams.
Museum of Modern Art
MoMA offers its program Looking with MoMA as a series of videoconferences that
introduce students to the museum’s permanent collection. The two-way videoconference
sessions focus on discussion between students and the museum’s art educators around
observations and interpretations of the artworks.
MoMA also offers videoconference teacher training and development.
Guggenheim Museum
The Guggenheim Museum offers a videoconference opportunity similar to that of the
Bronx Zoo and MoMA.
Metropolitan Museum
The Metropolitan Museum, while offering a wide array of student learning activities in
face-to-face mode, does not offer any activities in distance mode at this stage.
Comment
The huge amount of money invested in Project VIEW has enabled exciting collaborative
initiatives such as the videoconference programs offered by the Bronx Zoo, MoMA and
the Guggenheim Museum. While operating under the banner of distance education, these
fee-paying programs are not specifically designed for individual students learning in
isolation but rather take the institution into the classroom regardless of whether the
classroom is geographically near or distant.
Many of Australia’s cultural institutions do not have Department of Education and
Training (DET) staff and rely on a small number of educators and voluntary staff to
meet the demands of face-to-face teaching. A videoconference program would require
financial support to ensure significant collaboration, adequate staffing and necessary
training.
Institutes participating in the videoconference model acknowledge that it cannot replace
the real experience. This model in tandem with a real visit could, however, enable distant
and remote Australian students to participate in city-based cultural experiences.
Significant learning
The study made possible by the Premier’s Xstrata Coal Rural and Remote Education
Scholarship has led to significant learning and will contribute greatly to my expertise as
an educator. As a result of this study trip I have:











Had first-hand experience of influential European and American art, and I have built
upon my knowledge of art history and technique while contextualising Australian art;
Seen real artworks rather than experiencing these virtually through books and the
web. This opportunity has reignited my passion for art teaching and learning and
heightened my realisation of the importance of the real experience alongside the
virtual;
Returned a better educator, more informed about teaching and learning, particularly
in the area of distance education;
Experienced new ways of looking at teaching for the future;
Broadened my understanding of distance education and the potential for distance
education techniques in the face-to-face teaching situation;
Witnessed successful links between cultural institutions and the education sector;
Increased my awareness of the need for innovative resource production to assist
teachers to continue their efforts to provide individualised learning programs for
students;
Been inspired to take my own work forward, learning from successful projects and
new approaches that I was exposed to during the trip;
Realised the potential of my work as a learning design officer to support teachers and
to contribute to innovative changes in the education arena;
Developed an international network with professional colleagues; and
Returned with new knowledge that will benefit DET.
Lessons for New South Wales
Distance education is a powerful form of education which is constantly evolving, often in
line with new technologies. The distance education concept taken into the face-to-face
school environment has the potential to change schooling by providing truly flexible
learning, tailored to the individual student. Two-way videoconferencing is now being
widely used in the United States, but in New South Wales it is mostly used to link
clusters of students across schools with a teacher based in one school providing the
teaching expertise. This has generally occurred in remote communities to resolve staffing
problems and offer students a more extensive range of subject choices.
Videoconferencing has enormous potential for face-to-face classroom teaching as well as
distance education teaching and is particularly relevant to Australian conditions.
In New South Wales the videoconference could enhance teaching and learning across the
field in both remote and non-remote venues. This would require a focused plan to
consider how appropriate technology might be made available to all schools, how it
could be used and what support would be required to ensure best practice.
Videoconferencing could advantage NSW education in the following ways:





Two-way videoconference is becoming less costly as technology advances and could
bring the world to the classroom and/or the home, breaking down isolation for
distant and remote students.
Videoconference could break down teacher isolation, offering potential for teachers
to share teaching expertise across sites and for the provision of teacher training and
development.
If partnerships were forged between DET and outside agencies, there would be the
chance to develop great learning opportunities with real-world application.
Videoconferencing could provide opportunities to learn from worldwide best
practice.
Videoconferencing could address Australian needs in distance education, not just for
schools but for a variety of vocations.
Teachers Television is another model that could be of great value to teachers in New
South Wales and more widely in Australia. If such a system were to be developed in New
South Wales, education would benefit in the following ways:



Greater training and development opportunities for teachers, especially those isolated
by geography or circumstance;
The possibility of reaching many teachers with one program rather than the need to
repeat face-to-face training and development to cater for large numbers;
The ability to cover a wide range of topics through TV production and/or
international sharing of specific programs.
Conclusion
The term ‘distance education’ no longer applies only to students in remote and isolated
situations. Today’s diverse interpretation of the term has the potential to revolutionise
education and provide diverse cultural opportunities for students and teachers in various
school situations.
Modes of delivery such as videoconference with two-way synchronous participation
provide opportunities for remote teaching of physical learning activities. Students
working alone or in a classroom situation could, for example, join a two-way video dance
class to learn choreography for such events as their school spectacular. The teacher could
demonstrate techniques and also watch student progress without the need to be in the
same physical space.
Such technology can facilitate equity and access, enabling distant and remote students
and teachers to participate in state cultural events presently accessible only to students
living in cities and larger towns.
In order to provide quality teaching and continuous improvement, educators must:





Learn lessons from our past and from the experience of other educational systems;
Provide good planning;
Inform teachers about new innovations and their benefits;
Ensure that technology is accessible, easy to use and demystified; and
Ensure that the various arms of DET work together to improve educational
outcomes.
References
Daniel, John 2005, ‘Open and Distance Learning: What’s in a Name?’ 11th Cambridge
International Conference on Open and Distance Education, Cambridge.
British Council, Global Gateways, Britain, 2005, www.globalgateway.org