Extension

(A.k.a. "correspondence", "external studies" or "distance education")

With thanks to John Clapton, YouthCARE

These units are characterized by self-study paper materials sent through the mail, but are deliberately equivalent to traditional lecture-and-essay subjects. The best materials are educationally excellent but take considerable expertise to design and produce.

They are generally designed to be self-contained, and typically comprise:

• a set of instructions,
• a set of reading materials with structured readings,
• a set of learning tasks (exercises) usually written work but sometimes practical, and
• formative assessment tasks (including self-evaluation).

Depending on the kind of learning, they might also include summative assessment tasks with an assessment procedure.

All self-study materials take considerable expertise to design and produce, especially if they are to be on-line. Some Internet tuition systems allow for very large numbers of students, although assessment is a limiting factor as it requires supervision of some kind.

For any delivery of learning by extension, the college needs qualified staff tutors to help students. Tutor assistance is normally available only by distance, through email or telephone. The trend is toward Internet contact (e.g. email, chat room, teleconferencing). The tutors also assess any written work that students submit.

A possible time structure for wholly extension is seven hours per week using self-study materials and two hours per week of background reading.

In Fifth Generation Distance Education,* James C. Taylor suggests other forms: Multimedia, using video or audio tapes alongside paper-based materials, and Tele-learning, using telecommunications alongside paper-based materials.

__________

* Higher Education Series, Report No. 50, June 2001, Department of Higher Education, Training and Youth Affairs, Higher Education Division.