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Massey aims for Asia learning top spot
| Publish date | 2008-08-05 |
| Available Articles | Full articles without membership |
A New Zealand university aims to become the foremost provider of distance learning in the Asia Pacific region.
Massey University has appointed Associate Professor Mark Brown as its new distance learning director. The university sees distance learning as one of the most important parts of its business – hardly surprising, since online learning accounts for around 28 per cent of total full-time enrolment and 44 per cent of head count. The university currently has some 16,500 distance learners on its books.
Doctor Brown believes Massey will remain New Zealand’s and even Australasia’s pre-eminent supplier – but only if it moves quickly to embrace the technology that modern students expect.
He said: “We can’t afford to rest on our laurels; we need to invest in a number of core services and systems.”
The first task facing Doctor Brown is to standardise the ability to submit assignments electronically, a facility that can at the moment be used in some cases.
The second is to widen the use of new electronic tools for teaching – software that enables students to interact with each other online and with their teachers.
Increasingly, students have an expectation of course materials coming in a variety of formats including online audio and video, as well as printed material, Dr Brown said.
He added: “Rather than random acts of innovation, we want to get entire programmes to adopt a new, more contemporary ‘rich media’ approach to distance education.”
It is not just the technology that is available but the use to which it is put, he says, backed up by quality teaching.
Massey reckons it has two key features that make it one of the best providers of online learning in the region. The first is the library, which distance students rate highly, consistently.
The second is the Student Learning Centre, in particular the pre-reading assignment service that allows distance students to get assignments read and commented on, with a response within 48 hours, before they submit them for marking.
Dr Brown said: “That is a fantastic service we offer to distance students and it complements the excellent support for students provided by the Extramural Students’ Society.”
Massey has some of New Zealand’s best tertiary teachers, according to Dr Brown. He said that was demonstrated by the university’s success in the National Tertiary Teaching Excellence Awards.
He added: “I see my role as co-ordinating the work already going on among service units and academic units in the colleges. Much of that work is excellent but it needs to be pulled together and benchmarked against what other institutions are doing.
“If we aim to match or better what the best providers in the world are doing, we will achieve our goal of number one in the region.”
The other factor is that a lot of the competition for students is not so much from other New Zealand universities but overseas ones, particularly in Australia.
Distance education has created a global education market. Unlike in New Zealand, Australian universities are able to attract government subsidies for New Zealanders enrolled on their distance education programmes and therefore charge them Australian fees.
In New Zealand, Australian distance students usually pay international student fees. Dr Brown will devote 60 per cent of his time to the new role and the equivalent of two days a week in the College of Education co-ordinating the doctor of education programme.
Massey staff are to share their knowledge on best-practice distance learning as co-hosts of the Distance Education Association of New Zealand (DEANZ) conference, to be held in Wellington in August.
Keywords: distance learning, Massey University, rich media, New Zeeland.
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