Interviewed by Sirje Virkus in Tallinn, Estonia, August 6, 1997.
1. In your opinion, are academic institutions in Estonia ready for distance education?
I think that Estonian universities are as well prepared for distance education as conventional universities in other countries. At least the following conditions are fulfilled: there are a lot of very good experts with professional connections in the international field of distance education. There is already cooperation among universities in Estonia. There are also people who are able to manage a system and subsystems of distance education in Estonia. So, I think that some major conditions have been fulfilled, but these conditions are on the level of individual or departmental initiatives. I think to open real opportunities for distance education in Estonia a few steps more must be taken: universities as institutions have to commit themselves to distance education and to adult education. This includes that universities produce some kind of policy paper about distance education, about the target groups they want to reach. For example, do Estonian universities want to organise some degree programs or some coherent continuing education programs at a distance for adult learners in Estonia? If the answer is yes, then they have to think about how to organise this. Different models are possible, perhaps sometimes combining the advantages of distance education and face to face education, and using international resources. The ideas can be fostered by individual experts already in place.
The next step can be that universities as institutions define their strategic management in this field, and that they define an institutional framework to make structural progress.
Such discussions can be promoted by the Ministry of Education. I think that there must be also some financial support from the Ministry of Education, for example for the development of high quality course material which must reach the standards used in advanced distance education systems in Europe, and for international networking. My personal experience is that university teaching staff is very keen of reaching those standards when they produce such materials in a team where information technologists and educational psychologists play their role.
2. Would you like to give some evaluation to the seminar "Estonian Possibilities to Integrate into the European Distance Education Network" you participated in Tallinn?
It is the first time I have such kind of contacts with the distance education world in Estonia. I heard about it already in the framework of the PHARE Project, but in this seminar I felt, and that seems to me very important, that there is a strong connection with basic educational concepts which we need in distance education. I think, it is very wise to have good contacts with high quality distance education centres and research centres in the world, like in this seminar with David Hardy and Leslie Mapp of the Open Learning Foundation and with Elizabeth Burge of the New Brunswick University in Canada. And I feel also that the experts in Estonia are really familiar with these basic educational concepts. I am sure that they will contribute to the further development of those concepts and that they will integrate those concepts in the practice of distance education in Estonia. Further I think that this seminar showed permanently a connection with the institutional level policy. I think everybody understood that distance education is not only a question of acceptance by the university management, but that flexible education is really a matter of institutional policy and institutional strategy. I heard from the Rector of the Tallinn University of Educational Sciences, Prof. Mait Arvisto, the Vice Rector of Tartu University, Prof. Teet Seene and from Prof. Raivo Vilu and others that they understand very well that this is also a matter of modernisation of universities. It belongs to the core of university education.
It is promising that those people understand that a new balance between the faculties and an institutional framework must be developed, based on the mission statement of the universities. In most cases, the teaching staff is preceding the management of the universities in this field. However, the general framework has to be elaborated by the management: which are the basic goals and the basic target groups of the university? Which educational strategies will be adopted, taking into account that teaching staff and students are not operating anymore in a world of paper but in an electronic environment with world-wide access to electronic libraries or databases all over the world? Distance education will be an integral part of the reality at any university. I think people in this seminar understood this, that is very important.
Finally I think that this seminar was very positive in this sense that one of the final conclusions is that a small working group will make up some general conclusions on different levels: on the level of practice, on the level of institutional management and on the national level where the Ministry of Education is involved.
3. Would you like to make some general suggestions to countries which have just started their distance education activities: what must they take into consideration?
The European Association of the Distance Teaching Universities (EADTU) has just created a strategy group on distance education in Europe at the a university level because we feel that not all countries in Europe are at the same speed with regard to the penetration of the market for adult learners. In some countries there is a higher percentage of people, of adults, in distance education than in other countries. I speak only about the higher education level now. It is clear that in countries where there are dedicated open universities, which teach only adult learners, for example in the United Kingdom, you find higher numbers of adult students, evening classes, etc. In other countries, like in France, Italy, Belgium or Germany (except Nordrein-Westfalen) where there is no dedicated open university, you don't find those big numbers of adult learners. That means that conventional universities in general either don't fulfil this task of adult education or they don't fulfil it efficiently. Nevertheless there is a huge market in each of our European countries. Starting from this analysis, our strategic group will elaborate a strategy for open universities and conventional universities to penetrate the market of adult learners in a common effort. This strategic group will be chaired by Dr. Geoff Peters who is Pro-Vice-Chancellor of the Open University in Milton Keynes. Participants are open and conventional universities. We will stimulate collaborative models between open universities and conventional universities in order to develop new institutional strategies and policies for adult learners. It is true that in the past conventional universities didn't feel the obligation to think about adult education because they were really confined to research activities and to the education of conventional students. But in the framework of lifelong learning and with declining numbers of conventional students all of the European universities will take up this task. Using the methodology, the approach, and the media of distance education, we will optimise the approach of conventional universities towards those new target groups and towards the conventional target groups as well.
I think that the first thing which a university has to do is to develop its own educational strategy with a real business plan where all the faculties can play their own role, and to allocate a budget at the central level to support the faculties in developing materials and in supporting students, in training teaching staff. But universities also have to be aware that, in this field, it is not really feasible to work alone and that cooperation between universities must be stimulated, for example, cooperation in developing courses. In many countries is it shown that cooperation between universities is really possible, and that joint development of course materials really can be done.
Also it must be clear that at the national level, the Ministry has to encourage distance education. In Estonia, we already see, that in the framework of the PHARE Multicountry Project, some structures were created. I think that these kinds of structures make very much sense and have to be promoted and supported by the government.
At a European level I think it is very useful to exchange good experiences between countries and to develop materials jointly, to exchange and adapt each others materials, to exchange students and teaching staff, to be involved in a broader network like EADTU. European projects from different directorates of the European Commission can be used as testbeds for future developments.
Last updated August 17, 1997
sirvir@tpu.ee