Distance Education Technologies in Asia

In Asia, Distance Education (DE) is providing major solutions in the areas of education and training. DE methods that are standard in other parts of the world, however, have yet to demonstrate their full potential in Asia. Covering nine DE projects by 39 researchers from 13 countries, this book analyzes the DE scenario in Asia, the successes, the failures, and the reasons behind them.

This book is a unique collation of the results of studies of educational technologies across an extensive network of Asian countries. It also provides a useful snapshot of DE′s development in Asia in the early years of the 21st century. The surveys reported cover different DE contexts, methodologies, and levels of generalisability, and add to the existing scholarship on the subject by providing previously unavailable, firm evidence about DE′s prospects in Asia.

The contributors give important recommendations that can be translated into practical and political actions to help solve critical socio-economic problems of Asia as well as other parts of the world.

Tian Belawati is Professor and currently Rector of Universitas Terbuka (Indonesia Open University). She has been working in the field of distance education since 1985 and has presented many papers at national and international conferences, and has published numerous books and academic journals. She has served as Secretary General (2008–2009) and President (2009–2010) of the Asian Association of Open Universities (AAOU) and is President of the International Council for Open and Distance Education (ICDE). She has also been actively involved in research on the use of ICT for education in Asia with the PANdora Network, on which she now serves as a Board Member.