Abstract

The concept of the learning organization which continually updates the skills of its members and in the process, is itself transformed, has become an important idea in recent management theory, accepted in many business environments and also as a general planning concept. The reasons for this are largely due to the changes in society and in the workplace which are being brought about by the rapid impact of technology. We now have a situation where every generation of adults, through their working life, has to re-train and adapt to changing work environments and changing social contexts on an almost continual basis. This need for continuing education and updating has rendered some of the more conventional models for the provision of education and training somewhat outdated. The model of the learning organization espouses an environment in which all individuals in the organization are actively involved in both planning and participating in learning programmes adapted to the specific requirements of the changing work or social environments in which they are placed. What are the implications for those involved in distance education?

In this paper we apply the concept of the learning organization to organizations, including distance education institutions, that have embarked or intend to embark on the use of new technologies, particularly those involving networking activities through the use of computer-mediated communication (CMC). We look at a variety of developments in Singapore, Europe and the Americas, using the metaphor of the learning organization as a conceptual framework. This is followed by some speculative scenarios for the future which relate to Indonesian distance education projects known to the authors. Finally we finish with a suggested list of learnings that a distance education learning organization might consider in its efforts to learn from the experience of other users.

Abstract

The literature indicated that although there was evidence that audiographics conferencing was used for education and training purposes, relatively little information on professional development programs was available. The objectives of this study were to
(1) evaluate participants' perceived value of the audiographics professional development program,
(2) identify areas for revision and improvement, and
(3) collect and disseminate information about professional development programs for audiographics conferencing of the Queensland Open Learning nertwork (QOLN).

A questionnaire was administered to participants of an audiographic professional development program to gather data for a comprehensive evaluation of the training program. The data was quantitatively and qualitatively analysed. The results of the evaluation indicated, amongst others, that
(i) the majority of the participants found the training workshop very beneficial, easier than they had expected, and that computing skills had no relationship with their mastery of the use of audiographic conferencing equipment;
(ii) they were pleased with the interactivity characteristic of the audiographic equipment, and the learning environment requirements for the use of audiographic conferencing; and
(iii) participants considered audiographic conferencing.

Based on the results, a number of recommendations were made relating to policy on training and professional development opportunities for teachers using audiographics conferencing, encouraging teaching staff and instructors to use audiographics conferencing, and the need to disabuse the minds of people of the myth that high computer literacy is very essential for successful audiographic conferencing.