Globalisation: A myth, fantasy or reality? G. (Chandru) Kistan Faculty of Education University of Durban Westville

Marshall McLuhan in the early sixties coined the famous slogan "the world is like a global village", where "the concept of distance becomes irrelevant, and the question of availability of information becomes reduced only to how to access a network" (Thota, 1995). Technology has made it possible to 'transmit' information 'live' to any part of the universe breaking all barriers of time and distance. Against this scenario, globalisation is a reality.

Nonetheless, fifty percent of the world population belong to the Third World. Communication and information flow are serious constraints to the development of these nations. Technology is yet to make an impact in these regions and globalisation is a myth to these information poor communities. In order to close the information gap, accessibility to resources and facilities is not enough. There should be provision for education and training which afford opportunities to master the application of technology, both as users of existing hardware and software, and designers and developers of new materials.

Global information explosion is ever widening and the horizon on the technological frontiers continue to expand. The paper will focus on various aspects of globalisation and the need to come up with possible stop gap solutions as we enter the next millennium.

Introduction

One feature of globalisation is a policy of sharing and borrowing between nations. Modern technology has contributed to this global environment where the Internet community is actively interacting socially, economically and educationally. "People no longer have to be together to work together." (Reynolds, 1992, 10). Bill Gates in an article in the Daily News (20 November 1995) described the information highway as a market he believed would eventually become the world's central department store. "It will be where we social animals will sell, trade, invest, haggle, pick stuff up, argue, meet people and hang out."

New technologies

One must not lose sight of the reality that with the advent of globalisation is the increasing poverty that has come to characterise most of the Third World Nations. It is estimated that over a quarter of the world's population lives in abject poverty. Proponents of globalisation tend to ignore the social, economic and political consequences of this phenomenon. Many developing nations are on the verge of losing their capacity to ever address even the basic welfare and educational needs of their inhabitants. For example, two thirds of the South African schools lack mains electricity, a telephone line or both. Research has shown that there is a telephone for every 100 people in the rural black areas. It is also interesting to note that South Africa is ranked as the eighteenth highest user of the Internet in the world, yet approximately 50% of its citizens have never made a telephone call.

A mythical, euphoric rhetoric, often emanating from the marketing strategies of technology vendors, builds up around the potential of new technologies to solve all problems. Developing countries fantasise on global trends and have the desire to catch up and compete in the global market. This can lead to very real political pressures to make investments in such technologies, either at government or institutional level, as political leaders wish to demonstrate their willingness to stay in touch with latest global trends. Such pressure can be exacerbated when the technology has its own 'missionaries", people whose love of the invention generates tremendous enthusiasm. Television is a classic example of a technology which as an invention, held out great promise to address problems in education, health etc This electronic media raised massive expectations which prompted often huge investments, and ultimately created a world wide legacy of failed educational schemes,

Furthermore, Tony Bates noted that "The history of education is littered with the corpses of technology based projects that were killed because of their high operating costs, problems of adaptation to local conditions, lack of skilled personnel to operate the technologies, and the lack of effectiveness." (Butcher, 1996, 79).

When technologies fail to deliver solutions to new challenges, a key reason for this is often that the technology to be used is identified before a clear understanding of the needs has been developed, With the introduction of new technologies, there should be provision for education and training which afford opportunities to learn how to apply technology, both as users of existing networks and also as designers and developers of new materials and software. There is an urgent need to empower people to use technology. Vice President of America, Al Gore (1991, 150) stated in an American journal: "no longer will geographic location, gender or any other factor limit learning. There will be all kinds of ways to access data in the future, and people must be open to learning these new skills if they want to use the information super-highways".

Globalisation: The great divide

Further, globalisation, with its attendant features of deregulation and privatisation, has been accompanied by a radical curtailment in the provision of basic social services. "Education has been one of the social services most severely affected by this phenomenon throughout the world." (Kallaway et al, 1997, ii). Neo-liberal ideology is also marked by its intense attack on the nation-state, thus seriously undermining national sovereignty of many countries. One of the implications of this policy for education is that there is now a global discourse on knowledge and its production, which assumes that one needs to structure and fashion ones national education institutions to fit into this global reality, otherwise one will perish or ones education is held to be not up to standard. Many developing countries are on the verge of losing their capacity to address even the basic welfare and educational needs of their populations.

At the other end of the continuum, we have the developed nations which possess the more sophisticated technology. These superpowers belong to the electronic age and rightly belong to the global village. Access to other networks and the advantage of sharing information quickly with no stringent barriers have made communication particularly easy and exciting. New technologies, namely email, Internet, world wide web, CD-ROM, hypermedia, cyber cafes and virtual campuses, are a reality today.

The super-power nations are living in a world of rapid telecommunications advances. Presently digital communications has opened up the world of satellite transmission. PC-TV sets are being marketed in these countries. This provides the television set with the much needed additional interactivity. The digital satellite TV channel has already programmed its operating system so that an Internet browser and TV channel can be accessed simultaneously on the satellite channels. Satellite communications will make good quality video conferencing more achievable.

The world wide web has already gained a reputation as a multi media resource. On the world wide web one can see animations, hear Mnet's jingle, watch video clips and view 360 degrees surround virtual reality complete with zoom. Thus the computer/television screen becomes the vehicle for the general delivery of a wide range of media with true interactivity built in.

I do, however, remain concerned about this global trend. Firstly, how accessible will satellite technology be to the masses and how soon? Secondly, will educators deliver when even more innovation is required? Thirdly, will we ever reach the stage when these technologies can be securely placed in classrooms?

The first question is very simple. Third world countries are not only struggling with insufficient resources but have much more important needs and priorities than to introduce satellite technology, For example, Africa is facing growing marginalisation in the global economic system. Its share of global production and trade is declining. The education system is in dire crisis as there are not enough classrooms, electricity, water, textbooks and adequately qualified teachers. The printed media is the only source of information. Even within these developing countries there are great disparities even between rural and urban areas. The information revolution has not touched the souls of these inhabitants. These people cannot even dream of Internet access in their current circumstances. They will remain the information poor or deprived nations of the world. The concept of globalisation will remain a myth to them for many years.

The second problem, I believe, the lack of success in the introduction of new technologies has not always been entirely with the technology itself. One must examine the role that technology has played in the traditional classroom. Has it prompted change in the didactic approach of the average teacher? In most cases it would not have. Teachers have used the overhead projector to display notes which are religiously copied out by the pupils. Teachers use the video machines and television sets to entertain or occupy their pupils. Unfortunately most schools do not have computers, even more do not have Internet access. Those who do have Internet access do not all really know what to do with it. Too few teachers use the Internet in ways which encourage enquiry and experience. Many still ignore it completely.

I have read extravagant claims that technology will revolutionise education. Personally, I have struggled to identify the exact nature of these claims, supposedly, the Internet as a panacea. Is the Internet really going to revolutionise education and the world at large? One must hasten to ask: Can the Internet succeed where TV, radio and computers themselves could not succeed. There is a tendency to want to use the Internet to deliver standard lesson material to classes in remote schools. I do not think this is an appropriate use of this technology. Further, one cannot talk of the same Internet of tomorrow which one may see in Australia. There are major issues with regards to Internet access in schools and the same challenges do not exist in the global arena. Local circumstances will differ and similarities will exist. It will be left to individuals not to slavishly use foreign ideas but to adapt them to local conditions.

The last concern dealt with the safety and security of technology, Very real problems of theft, burglary and vandalism exist in third world countries. If these crimes are not carried out by students and the local communities, the criminal elements see educational institutions as easy and soft targets. The lack of proper security and storage rooms has resulted in frequent break ins at school. The policy of education departments and institutions is not to replace stolen or vandalised equipment. This has left the institutions with little or no resources to replace and acquire new technologies. The exorbitant cost of security is another factor which is associated with new technologies.

Conclusion

Accompanying this reality are the fantasies and myths of globalisation. The developing nations have very poor infrastructures and resources. If globalisation has affected them, it was mainly to their disadvantage, as it has created expectations and competitiveness. Their presence hardly affects the global village.

Investment and development in human and physical resources must accompany emerging technologies, if the world super powers intend to address the merits of globalisation. While the World Trade Organisation is focusing on the trading aspects, similar bodies need to be established to address education, welfare and health if we are all serious about globalisation and its impact on all of us as we enter into the next millennium.

Bibliography

Daily News (1995). Internet will open gates: Microsoft. 20 Nov, p.2.

Gore, A. (1991). Infrastructure for Global Village. Scientific American, 256(3), 150-153.

Kallaway, P., Kruss, G., Fataar, A. and Donn, G. (1997). Education after apartheid: South African education in transition. University of Cape Town Press. Cape Town.

Mengisteab, K. (1996). Globalisation and autocentricity in Africa's development in the 21st century. Africa World Press, Eritrea.

Reynolds, G. W. (1992). Information Systems for Managers. 2nd ed. West Publishing Co. New York.

Roos, G. (1997). The Internet in tomorrow's South African classroom. Unpublished conference paper. Western Cape.

Thota,V. (1995). Internet: The new electronic frontiers. Paper presented at the International AECT Convention. Anaheim, USA, 8-12 February.

Author: Dr G. (Chandru) Kistan Deputy Dean, Faculty of Education University of Durban Westville Private Bag X54001, Durban, South Africa 4000 Tel: +27 31 204 4258/5046/4064 Fax: +27 31 204 4866 (South Africa) Email: kistan@pixie.udw.ac.za Please cite as: Kistan, G. (1998). Globalisation: A myth, fantasy or reality? In C. McBeath and R. Atkinson (Eds), Planning for Progress, Partnership and Profit. Proceedings EdTech'98. Perth: Australian Society for Educational Technology. http://www.aset.org.au/confs/edtech98/pubs/articles/kistan.html