Chapter 15: International Perspectives on Distance Education and Learning Communities Within Anglophone Commonwealth Countries

The expression “distance education” (DE), from among the many in use then, was accepted formally at the 1982 ICCE/ICDE Conference¹ held in Vancouver to mean the kind of educational transaction best exemplified by the pioneering model put forth and implemented by the British Open University (UKOU) beginning in 1969, in which the course content was/is provided in self-instructional printed modules supplemented by limited audio and video (TV) materials and supported by well-organized student support services including some tutorials and counseling in person. The term implied spatial as well as temporal distance between the learner and the teacher/institution as the main feature of this new modality. In this paper, however, “distance education” is used as a cover expression to include its various manifestations along the path of its evolution—correspondence education, distance education, open distance education, teleconferencing, online education, virtual education, and transmodal and/or blended education. Second, only briefly touching on the achievements and the potential of DE, which are neither in question nor lacking in extensive exposition, this paper focuses on its weaknesses as they obtain in the developing countries of the commonwealth and suggests possible solutions to overcome them. Third, within the broad international perspectives on DE and learning communities, this paper brings together various experiences from the Anglophone Commonwealth currently comprising 54 countries spread east to west from Tonga to Belize and north to south from the United Kingdom to South Africa.