Those planning a distance education system in the hope that they will reap economies of scale must ensure that: • The variable cost per student is less than that found in conventional systems operating at a similar education level; • The number of students S is large enough to bring down the average cost per student to a level where it is lower than the average cost found in conventional educational systems. The average cost per student (AC) is found by using the formula: AC=(Cµ + F)/S+ [pi]; • Drop out rate is kept at a reasonably low level; • The number of courses or volume of materials C does not grow so large as to increase the value of (Cµ + F) to a level where it becomes difficult, given the likely volume of students (S), for the average cost per student (AC) down to a level that is “competitive” with the average cost per student in conventional educational systems. (Rumble 1998)
Published in Chapter:
Technology in Distance Learning
Fernando da Cruz Bandeira (University Fernando Pessoa, Portugal)
Copyright: © 2008
|Pages: 9
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-59904-885-7.ch214
Abstract
The origins of distance learning (DL), as an alternative way of learning, can be traced back to the 19th century (Rumble, 1988) although it was only with the foundation of the Open University (1969 United Kingdom) that it won its reputation, not only as an alternative way of learning with its individual pedagogic and didactic model, but also as an academic discipline (Holmberg 1989). Since then, and although DL has developed in many ways, according to the different geographical, political, and social circumstances (Moore & Anderson, 2003), it converged into a common ground of practices, concepts, and theories that are widely accepted as its field of practice and theory.