• ❑ CULTURAL APPROPRIATENESS
    • ✓ APPROACH TO DISTANCE ED: Lal, V. (1989). The study strategies of outstanding distance education students at USP. Suva: Fiji Center, University of The South Pacific.
    • ✓ DEVELOPING WORLD: Perraton, Hilary (2000) Open and Distance Learning in the Developing World. London: Routledge.
    • ✓ STORY-BASED: "a good curriculum should consist of a story in which students play a key role" Roger C. Schank (http://www.socraticarts.com/aboutscc.html)
    • ❑ LOCAL METAPHORS
      • ❑ USE LOCAL EXAMPLES: "We must strive to understand our students' level of familiarity with the topic under discussion and meet them halfway in terms of the vocabulary and examples we use in our classrooms... creating oppurtunities for students to find out and/ord use their own knowledge of their culture or country" Thaman, Konai, Of Teachers and Lecturerers: Understanding student's cultures, from Centrepoint, Newsletter of the Centre for the Enhancement of Learning and Teaching, November 1999, UNiversity of the South Pacific
    • ❑ AVERSION TO QUESTION AUTHORITY
      • ❑ "Self-pride and the 'fear' of making mistakes

        Sometimes Pacific Island children, especially those who have just arrived in the country, appears to be indifferent when asked about something. A child who is reluctant to answer a question may be a victim of this condition: he does not want to give the wrong answer for fear of a possible deluge of ridicule from his peers." --http://alex.edfac.usyd.edu.au/acrosscurric/Paradise/POP/centre_handbook.html

      • ❑ E-anonymity: "6... For those whom English is their third language like those of us from the Solomon, our communication reflexes a bit slow in that it takes time to formulate a question or answer a question using English vocabulary. Sitting alone in front of the speechless object gives us flexibility to put together English words to form a question or make a contribution to any issue on the discussion board. there is no time constraint..." (Carole Hunter, 2002, The Centre students' experience of VBCs)
      • ❑ E-anonymity "7. ... This fear is absent in the discussion board. I can freely express whatever I think of without body chemicals coming into play. No fear." (Carole Hunter, 2002, The Centre students' experience of VBCs)
      • ❑ ELABORATIONS OKAY "people can ask questions, but in a certain way... need to request elaborations, not 'why this, not that?'" (Personal Comm. with Teaero, Teweiariji, 2003, Indigenous Education in Kiribati, Chapter 11. From Educational ideas from Oceania : selected readings / edited by Konai Helu Thaman. [Suva, Fiji] : Institute of Education in association with the UNESCO Chair of Teacher Education and Culture, The University of the South Pacific , [2003])
      • ❑ SOMEONE THEY CAN TRUST "In the initial encounter with their school environment Pacific island student do not look for teacher or instructor, they seek someone whom they can trust." (http://alex.edfac.usyd.edu.au/acrosscurric/Paradise/POP/centre_multiculture.html)
    • ❑ COMMUNAL LEARNING
      • ❑ COLLECTIVIST LIKE COMPUTERS LESS: "A recent study(Anakwe, 1999) investigated the media preferences of students from collectivist versus individualist cultures and concluded that collectivist students were significantly less comfortable with computer-mediated interaction favoring face-to-face interaction. The study concluded that students from collectivist cultures would be less receptive to distance education than students from individualistic cultures." [Anakwe, U. P., Kessler, E., & Christensen, E. (1999). Distance Learning And Cultural Diversity: Potential Users' Perspective. International Journal Of Organizational Analysis, 7 (3), 224-244.]
      • ❑ CONSENSUAL DECISION MAKING: Consensus is built by agreeing and then honing or adding to a previous statement (Personal Comm. with Teaero, Teweiariji, 2003, Indigenous Education in Kiribati, Chapter 11. From Educational ideas from Oceania : selected readings / edited by Konai Helu Thaman. [Suva, Fiji] : Institute of Education in association with the UNESCO Chair of Teacher Education and Culture, The University of the South Pacific , [2003])
      • ❑ EMAIL USE AND CULTURE--access, not culture, is the issue(but doublecheck): "400 USP students located at different regional centers were surveyed about their use of email. In the CQU study, postings to course discussion lists by 867 students based in Fiji and Australia were analyzed. The results suggest that there are significant differences in the use of email by students from different cultural backgrounds. "http://ifets.ieee.org/periodical/vol_3_2002/frank.html ... "These results tend to suggest that when students have an equal access to technology, their use of email will be similar independent of the extent of their collectivist cultural background." "http://ifets.ieee.org/periodical/vol_3_2002/frank.html\
      • ❑ I and WE

        "IiWE
        There you say big I
        There you say big I
        There you say big I

        Here there's no big I
        Here there's no big I
        Here there's no big I

        Only small i
        Only small i
        Only small i

        And big WE
        And big WE
        And big WE"

        - Teaero, Tweweiriki (2000). On Eitei's Wings. Pacific Writing Forum, Suva. Fiji.

    • ❑ LANGUAGE
      • ❑ "every group reported 'understanding the lecturer' as their main learning difficulty... difficulty in understanding his/her accent; speaking too fast; using difficult words; not using local examples; not explaining clearly, noit approachable..." Thaman, Konai, Of Teachers and Lecturerers: Understanding student's cultures, from Centrepoint, Newsletter of the Centre for the Enhancement of Learning and Teaching, November 1999, UNiversity of the South Pacific
      • ❑ "Breaking the language barrier is still the mainstay of cross-cultural educational approach. In regards to language, it is crucial to note that Pacific island cultures are oral cultures" (http://alex.edfac.usyd.edu.au/acrosscurric/Paradise/POP/centre_multiculture.html)
    • ❑ IMPORTANCE OF RELATIONSHIPS IN KNOWLEDGE
      • ❑ INTERPERSONAL, NOT TECH:
        • ❑ "The solutions, if they exist, are more likely to be found in the interpersonal dealings between people in specific contexts and locations...work to understand and accomodate the local cultural traditions and circumstances into their educational practices... rather than just 'delivering' their courses via one medium or another." Guy, Richard (1991) Distance education and the developing world: Colonisation, collaboration and control. In Terry Evans and Bruce King (eds.) Beyond the text: Contemporary writings on distance education. Geelong: Deakin University Press, pp. 152-175. In L. Rowan, L. Bartlett, & T. Evans (Eds.), Shifting borders: Globalisation, localisation and open and distance education (p. 21). Geelong: Deakin University Press.
        • ❑ "Greater than the Physical installation with its Canadian hardware is SIDEN's people, sectors and collaborative relations" (Claire Matthewson, The South Pacific: Voyages of Navigation in Distance Education, p. 76, Distance Education in the South Pacific, Nets and Voyages, ed. by Richard Guy, Toshio Kosuge, Rieko Hayakawa, Institute of Pacific Studies, USP, 2000)
      • ❑ FACE TO FACE vs. REMOTE: "The courses that I did through Extension, I forgot most of the materials and I’m pretty sure that the materials that I did in my Summer School, I won’t forget for a long time and I think similar to courses that are run full-time. People don’t forget, they apply that. I think, well, the two reasons that I said, that there is a lecturer teaching you, and you sharing your knowledge with a lecturer and other students." http://ifets.ieee.org/periodical/vol_3_2002/frank.html
      • ❑ IN TONGA: *'''Ilo'' "refers to information about something or someone, as well as to different types of knowledge and skills" (p. 76)
        *''"the traditional use of ''poto'' being the maintenance of good interpersonal relations and helping one another, and not simply being successful in school'' (p. 77, from Havea, 1931:3: 'Koe Mau kuo fakapale 'I'. Tohi Fanongongo 4(1):3)
        *''"What is the use of your degree if you are only looking after yourself?"'' (p. 77, from Tu'itupou, 1981, Personal Comm to Thaman) from Thaman, Konai 2003, A Conceptual Framework for Analysing Pacific Educational ideas: The Case of Tonga, Chapter 6. From Educational ideas from Oceania : selected readings / edited by Konai Helu Thaman. (Suva, Fiji) : Institute of Education in association with the UNESCO Chair of Teacher Education and Culture, The University of the South Pacific , (2003)
    • ❑ ACTIVE LEARNING
      • ❑ FAIAKO = TO MAKE TO LEARN The term faiko literally translates to 'making learning': fai - to make; ako - to learn. Faiako presupposes instruction, active participation, mastery and, most importantly, modelling." Thaman, Konai, Of Teachers and Lecturerers: Understanding student's cultures, from Centrepoint, Newsletter of the Centre for the Enhancement of Learning and Teaching, November 1999, UNiversity of the South Pacific
      • ❑ Active Learning: to teach = to learn
        * 'Ako' means "to teach" as well as "to learn"
        * same with Vuli-ca in Fijian (see Sala Bakalevu Communal Learning and Vuli-ca in NmFiji)
        * encompasses both knowledge and skills (p. 75) from Thaman, Konai 2003, A Conceptual Framework for Analysing Pacific Educational ideas: The Case of Tonga, Chapter 6. From Educational ideas from Oceania : selected readings / edited by Konai Helu Thaman. (Suva, Fiji) : Institute of Education in association with the UNESCO Chair of Teacher Education and Culture, The University of the South Pacific , (2003)
      • ❑ CULTURAL CONCERNS: LEARN BY DO: This fits into the wisdom about characteristics of how those in the Pacific learn best: through “learning by doing…learning in real life situations…[and] learning skills and understanding for specific contexts” (Thaman quoted in Va’a, 1997, p95).
      • ❑ ACTIVE LEARNING ON COMPUTER: must be interactive to be active "if the computer directs, this is active learning. Go here, answer this. If it is just filling in forms it is not active." [from Bisun Deo in NmHindu on Wiki]
        Prodding: "give opportunities to think: after an answer 'have you thought about this? have you thought about this? now discuss with a friend'" [from Bisun Deo in NmHindu on Wiki]
    • ❑ CONTEXTUAL VS. UNIVERSAL EMPHASIS of CULTURE:
      • ❑ CONTEXT vs. UNIVERSAL: " pacific emphasis on context vs. western emphasis on universals" from table, page 85, Va’a, R. (1997). Cultural accountability in the USP science courses at a distance. In L. Rowan, L. Bartlett, & T. Evans (Eds.), Shifting borders: Globalisation, localisation and open and distance education (pp. 83-97). Geelong: Deakin University Press.
      • ❑ CONTEXT vs. ABSTRACT: "The emphasis of learning shifted from the 'here and now' to the 'there and then' and the abstract" (p. 75) from Thaman, Konai 2003, A Conceptual Framework for Analysing Pacific Educational ideas: The Case of Tonga, Chapter 6. From Educational ideas from Oceania : selected readings / edited by Konai Helu Thaman. (Suva, Fiji) : Institute of Education in association with the UNESCO Chair of Teacher Education and Culture, The University of the South Pacific , (2003)
    • ❑ FORMAL ED AS NEW COLONIALISM:
      • ❑ EDUCATION AS KIDNAPPING CULTURE (POEM)
      • ❑ BLACK FEAR OF BLACK BOARD
        "Books, book, books. Teacher covers the board with black fear;" ... "Teacher with a rod directs me towards stairs of white volumes;" ... "I take a step and find myself on a road paved by the pen, taking me onward into the future." -Celestine Kulagoe (Kulagoe, Celestine (1975). Booked Future, from Some Modern From the Solomon Islands, p. 9. Mana Publications, Suva, Fiji)
      • ❑ LOCAL LANG NOT ALLOWED IN SCHOOL
        "If my Kiribatese is not as good as you might expect, do not blame me. Don't blame me for this,. or anything else. Blame it on others, like my teachers at Tabwiroa. When I was there, they punished me for speaking my own language." - Teaero, Tweweiriki (2000). On Eitei's Wings. Pacific Writing Forum, Suva. Fiji.
      • ❑ CULTURAL CONCERNS/IMPORTANCE OF DISTANCE ED: "The are commonly known as the Pacific Islands is arguably one of the most culturally diverse, geographically isolated and fragmented areas on earth. It consists of more than twenty countries and thousands of islands spread over millions of square miles of deep ocean. Perhaps nowhere is distance education more important as it provides Pacific peoples with greater access to formal education. However, because of the diversity, distinctiveness and resilience of these cultures, and the fact that they differ signifigantly from Western, urban-industrial cultures, there is concern about the capability of distance education providers to make learning materials culturally relevant and meaningful to the needs and values of Pacific peoples." Thaman, Thaman, K. (1997). Considerations of culture in distance education in the Pacific Islands. In L. Rowan, L. Bartlett, & T. Evans (Eds.), Shifting borders: Globalisation, localisation and open and distance education (pp. 23-43). Geelong: Deakin University Press.
      • ❑ CULTURAL APPROPRIATENESS OF TECHNOLOGY TEACHING: "But this can be considered another kind of colonization, and South Pacific educators raise concerns about the suitability of such models. Va’a (1997), although acknowledging the importance of improving science teaching, pleads for a curriculum that does not alienate students from their cultures. Similarly, Wah (1997) criticizes USP distance programs for conflicting with students’ cultures, whereas Mugler and Landbeck (1997) discuss cultural learning styles and institutional culture. For many years Thaman (1997) has argued for more culturally appropriate teaching and learning in education in general." http://cade.athabascau.ca/vol15.1/landbeck.html
      • ❑ "The major 'weakness' to the current model is the product, and its effect on the peoples of the Pacific. Many of the techniques used, to produce the product, are diametrically opposed to the cultural norms of the people who are being served." p. 73 Wah, R. (1997). Distance education in the South Pacific: Issues and contradictions. In L. Rowan, L. Bartlett, & T. Evans (Eds.), Shifting borders: Globalisation, localisation and open and distance education (pp. 69-82). Geelong: Deakin University Press..
      • ❑ THE ELECTRONIC COLONIZATION OF THE PACIFIC: "'any technology represents a cultural invention, in the sense that it brings forth a world, it emerges out of particular cultural conditions and in turn helps to create new ones.' (Escobar l994, p. 211)". [http://www.december.com/cmc/mag/1996/feb/spentrad.html] AND ALSO SEE "The ethics of present and future webmasters need to be challenged to ensure a more equitable environment that is equitable towards women, equitable towards those economically weak, and equitable towards cultures with languages other than English." [http://www.december.com/cmc/mag/1996/feb/spenmors.html]
      • ❑ CONCERNS OF ENCOURAGING BRAIN-DRAIN : "Does the pacific really need so many more teachers and 'goverment' men? Are we caught up in the myth of manpower planning because we have failed to examine the basic premises of a devlopmental philosophy?" beyond scope of this project to determine which types of courses are most appropriate, only how we can most effectively and appropriately design the multimedia resources which support these courses. see p. 74 Wah, R. (1997). Distance education in the South Pacific: Issues and contradictions. In L. Rowan, L. Bartlett, & T. Evans (Eds.), Shifting borders: Globalisation, localisation and open and distance education (pp. 69-82). Geelong: Deakin University Press..
      • ❑ FOREIGNERS CRUSHED CULTURAL ASPECTS THAT WEREN'T RELIGIOUS OR $$$:
        • ❑ "Only those elements of our cultures that are regarded as potentially important for economic development are valued." (p. 74) from Thaman, Konai 2003, A Conceptual Framework for Analysing Pacific Educational ideas: The Case of Tonga, Chapter 6. From Educational ideas from Oceania : selected readings / edited by Konai Helu Thaman. (Suva, Fiji) : Institute of Education in association with the UNESCO Chair of Teacher Education and Culture, The University of the South Pacific , (2003)
        • ❑ "...the foreigners tried to teach them to reject those aspects of Pacific cultures which they regarded as detrimental to their purposes, whether motivated by religious faith or economic gain or both." (p. 73) from Thaman, Konai 2003, A Conceptual Framework for Analysing Pacific Educational ideas: The Case of Tonga, Chapter 6. From Educational ideas from Oceania : selected readings / edited by Konai Helu Thaman. (Suva, Fiji) : Institute of Education in association with the UNESCO Chair of Teacher Education and Culture, The University of the South Pacific , (2003)
      • ❑ FORMAL EDUCATION DESTROYS CULTURE: "Instead of providing our societies with a means of cultural renewal, formal education is providing them with a means of assuring their cultural demise" (p. 74)from Thaman, Konai 2003, A Conceptual Framework for Analysing Pacific Educational ideas: The Case of Tonga, Chapter 6. From Educational ideas from Oceania : selected readings / edited by Konai Helu Thaman. (Suva, Fiji) : Institute of Education in association with the UNESCO Chair of Teacher Education and Culture, The University of the South Pacific , (2003)
    • ❑ ROTE TO CONCEPTUAL
      • ❑ ALSO SEE KIRIBATI THOUGHT-FLOW
      • ❑ ABORIGINAL LEARNING STYLES "Harris identified five major Aboriginal learning styles
        (Harris 1992:38-39): first, Aboriginal students learn: by observation and imitation rather
        than by verbal instruction (learning by looking and copying, not by talking); second,
        they learn by personal trial and error rather than by verbal instruction with
        demonstration (learning by doing, not by talking plus demonstration.); third, Aboriginal
        students learn in real life, rather than by practice in artificial settings (learning by real
        life, not by 'practice'); four, they learn context-specific skills, versus generalisable
        principles; and five, they prefer person-orientation in learning, not informationorientation
        (focus on people and relationships rather than on information)." - Jeremy Pagram, Tony Fetherston and Elaine Rabbitt, Edith Cowan University, Learning together: Using technology and authentic learning experiences to enhance the learning of distance education students, Refereed paper presented at the Australian Indigenous Education Conference, Fremantle, 3-7 April, 2000.
      • ❑ FAIAKO MODEL FOR IMITATION "The term faiko literally translates to 'making learning': fai - to make; ako - to learn. Faiako presupposes instruction, active participation, mastery and, most importantly, modelling. A faiako is a role-model from whom students learn by observing, listening and imitating. Recent attempts by educationists to shift the focus of classroom interaction from teachers to learners... would have the effect, at least in many Pacific contexts, of devaluing the traditional role of a faiako" Thaman, Konai, Of Teachers and Lecturerers: Understanding student's cultures, from Centrepoint, Newsletter of the Centre for the Enhancement of Learning and Teaching, November 1999, UNiversity of the South Pacific
  • ❑ EDUCATIONAL MULTIMEDIA MUST
    • ❑ Distance learners as workers: students + employees, so more time-constraints. Multimedia can give the quick fix, but still leave the resource for future learning later when time permits.
    • ❑ LAYERS OF SIMPLICITY
      • ❑ "Provide Immediate Success

        Learning situations ought to be realistic and conducive to the attainment of immediate success, e.g. the child should feel that he has mastered a certain point or has learnt a principle which he can apply with confidence to future learning situations. Lack of immediate success has unfortunate residual effects on future development." - http://alex.edfac.usyd.edu.au/acrosscurric/Paradise/POP/centre_handbook.html

      • ❑ segment (layers of simplicity) " A second challenge to broadening participation is the diversity of users (Kobsa and Stephanidis, 1998). Since skill levels with computing vary greatly, search engines provide a basic and advanced dialog box for query formulation. Since knowledge levels in an application domain vary greatly, some sites provide two or more versions. For example, the National Cancer Institute provides introductory cancer information for patients and details for physicians. Since children differ from adults in their needs, NASA provides a children"s section on their space mission pages. Universities often segment their sites for applicants, current students, or alumni, but then provide links to shared resources of mutual interest. Segmentation creation and management tools would help developers wishing to pursue this strategy. " [http://www.universalusability.org/definition/diversity.html]
      • ❑ provide alternate explanations (layers of simplicity) “it’s just you and the books” (Mugler & Landbeck, 1998). “If it’s a statement or paragraph that I don’t have any idea abut it, then that’s the time I ask a teacher or someone to help” (WE, p. 10)." identifying the most important concepts of the course (rather than concentrating on covering content); sequencing them; helping students relate them (with advance and graphic organizers, for instance); and helping them work through misconceptions toward new understandings. This last aim, although vital for the development of deep understanding, is extremely difficult and seems almost impossible to achieve in this present context."Landbeck, R., & Mugler, F. (2000). Distance Learners of the South Pacific: Study Strategies, Learning Conditions, and Consequences for Course Design. Journal of Distance Education: 15, 1. http://cade.athabascau.ca/vol15.1/landbeck.html
      • ❑ Allow them to skip to relevant sections, (layers of simplicity) ". Those with a pragmatic approach focus on the material relevant to the assignment and limit themselves to what needs to be done to pass the course, ignoring all other material (compare Chief & Hola, 1995). Some say that they would like to study the material more thoroughly but cannot because of time pressures: “I mean, most of the time I look at the assignment and the first assignment is based on such unit, so those units I read first” (NG, pp. 4-5)." Landbeck, R., & Mugler, F. (2000). Distance Learners of the South Pacific: Study Strategies, Learning Conditions, and Consequences for Course Design. Journal of Distance Education: 15, 1. http://cade.athabascau.ca/vol15.1/landbeck.html
    • ❑ give student the hands-on application of concepts they miss
      • ❑ concepts need social application (CULTURAL): "The courses that I did through Extension, I forgot most of the materials and I’m pretty sure that the materials that I did in my Summer School, I won’t forget for a long time and I think similar to courses that are run full-time. People don’t forget, they apply that. I think, well, the two reasons that I said, that there is a lecturer teaching you, and you sharing your knowledge with a lecturer and other students." Jonathan Frank & Janet Toland, Email as a learning technology in the South Pacific: An evaluation. Educational Technology & Society 5 (3) 2002. http://ifets.ieee.org/periodical/vol_3_2002/frank.html
      • ❑ Cultural Orientation (CULTURAL): " pacific emphasis on context vs. western emphasis on universals" from table, page 85, Va’a, R. (1997). Cultural accountability in the USP science courses at a distance. In L. Rowan, L. Bartlett, & T. Evans (Eds.), Shifting borders: Globalisation, localisation and open and distance education (pp. 83-97). Geelong: Deakin University Press.
      • ❑ Pedagogically: situated learning points to application of concepts/ hands-on simulation of activities (In Situ paper + refs)
    • ❑ have a generic extensible base: Vermeer (1999) enthusiastically states that digital resources “can, with varying degrees of difficulty, be transported, transcribed and sometimes transformed into an infinite variety of shapes or vessels [because] they are portable, reproducible and malleable in ways traditional printed texts or face-to-face lectures can never be” http://ifets.ieee.org/periodical/vol_1_2002/gold.html
    • ❑ simulate group learning (+ in Situ methods of social simulation)
      • ❑ Student-lead research in own language (ED353: Konai Thaman)
      • ❑ Experiential Learning Modules/ Objects (Thaman, 14 May, Personal Comm)
      • ❑ Culturally Inclusive/ Contextual (Application based) (Collaborative Web Apps)
      • ❑ Utilise existing community structures (Open University, Aborigines, ICT) (Indonesian farmers with email in "Banana Sheds") (Thaman, 14 May, Personal Comm)
    • ❑ Developer must understand target culture: "Baron(1995, p. 123) cites Hites (1991) as going even further, she reccomedns that someone from the culture of the students should be on the course-wrtiting team and that there should be some analysis of the unique needs and characteristics of the culture, including language competency, value differences, expectations, cultural adjustment problems and motivation" Wah, R. (1997). Distance education in the South Pacific: Issues and contradictions. In L. Rowan, L. Bartlett, & T. Evans (Eds.), Shifting borders: Globalisation, localisation and open and distance education (pp. 69-82). Geelong: Deakin University Press.
    • ❑ computer alleviates the "loneliness of books" because it is interactive, like a person, has images and sounds, helps communicate with people - Sala Bakalevu on NmFiji
    • ❑ Provide flexibility that other media cannot
      • ❑ Less Reading/Writing Based: "the fact that reading and writing are difficult for Pacific island students for whom print as a medium of information and instruction is culturally and relatively new;
        the wider range of opportunities for teaching strategies to help overcome language and communication difficulties for students for whom English is a second language;
        that the distances between the campuses and the rest of the region make a multi-media approach inevitable for interactive links between teacher and student;" Tuimaleali’ifano, E. (1999). Multimedia course delivery at the University of the South Pacific: Comparing rhetoric and practice. Paper presented at ICDE Conference, Vienna, Austria, 22-24 June 1999.
      • ❑ Less time-dependent than Satelite broadcasts " In the trial run in semester one of this year of the centre-based video delivery of EC309 (a third year Economics course) feedback from centre staff and students indicated that compulsory attendance at the centre at scheduled video-viewing times was a major problem for the students. To require students to attend centre-based activities at fixed times may make their participation impossible, and for this reason satellite tutorials have been, by policy, an optional course component for extension students. " "Although all centres may be linked up in the USPNet upgrade, the number of reasonable useable hours (usually after work from 5 to 8pm) for interactive purposes across the region is significantly reduced by the 4 time zones of the region." Tuimaleali’ifano, E. (1999). Multimedia course delivery at the University of the South Pacific: Comparing rhetoric and practice. Paper presented at ICDE Conference, Vienna, Austria, 22-24 June 1999.
      • ❑ “owing to the scattered nature of the populations, the best information technology is needed to reach the public, or the advances in education and information will be confined to privileged elites in the places where physical centres of learning exist” (Crocombe and Bahlman, 1988)." Tuimaleali’ifano, E. (1999). Multimedia course delivery at the University of the South Pacific: Comparing rhetoric and practice. Paper presented at ICDE Conference, Vienna, Austria, 22-24 June 1999.
    • ❑ Provide Active Learning
      • ❑ Provide feedback for isolated students
        "provision of (effective) learning support;
        quick evaluative feedback to students and
        opportunities for interaction (in the use of communcation technology);
        provision of parity of learning opportunities with face-to-face students;" Tuimaleali’ifano, E. (1999). Multimedia course delivery at the University of the South Pacific: Comparing rhetoric and practice. Paper presented at ICDE Conference, Vienna, Austria, 22-24 June 1999.
      • ❑ must be interactive to be active "if the computer directs, this is active learning. Go here, answer this. If it is just filling in forms it is not active." -Bisun Deo, NmHindu
      • ❑ Prodding: "give opportunities to think: after an answer 'have you thought about this? have you thought about this? now discuss with a friend'"
        -Bisun Deo, NmHindu
      • ❑
  • ❑ ACCESS
    • ❑ ACCESS AT CENTRES: "Williams (2001) found that “85 percent of the respondents [to her study of women distance learners at USP] indicated that they could not have access to computers as and when they needed them, and close to 98 percent do not have access to computers at home” (p. 10)." http://ifets.ieee.org/periodical/vol_1_2002/gold.html
    • ❑ ACCESS AT CENTRES: Outside of Fiji little email use for education: "The Kiribati-based students had very limited access to email with 80% of students never using it, The 20% of students who did use email had access to it at home. Access to the Internet was even more limited with over 90% of students never using it. The Solomon Islands and Vanuatu students did have access to email at the USP center, and like the main campus students, they used email socially. However it was used in a much more limited way for contacting lecturers. When the data from the regions are compared with the rest of Fiji a clear contrast emerges, there is much less use of email away from the main center." http://ifets.ieee.org/periodical/vol_3_2002/frank.html
    • ❑ ACCESS AT CENTRES: "The main learning resource is the Center or Sub-Center library, and most students within reach use it, although early closing hours in some locations are inconvenient for working students. Others, particularly those enrolled in pre-degree courses, use high school libraries. In Fiji mini-libraries have been set up in high schools away from towns, but their resources are limited. Some interviewees report also going to government departments and other organizations (e.g., the tourism bureau) for basic information. But many students in remote areas have either few or no resources. Although they are often quite ingenious in seeking out sources of information, calling or faxing their USP Center, for instance, and try to make the most out of the little they have, they are hampered in what they can get out of a course." http://cade.athabascau.ca/vol15.1/landbeck.html#1b
    • ❑ ACCESS in RURAL AREAS: "Two interviewees have access to computers, but they use them only to word-process their assignments. The use of the Internet, offering unprecedented access to information in many forms to a wide variety of people, is limited in many parts of the region by limited telephone services, a narrow bandwidth, and unreliable hardware servicing. At this stage the gap in information access is widening between developed and developing countries such as those in the USP region." http://cade.athabascau.ca/vol15.1/landbeck.html#1b
    • ❑ ACCESS and TELE-INFRASTRUCTURE: "Realistically, the average Pacific Island home or family complex is unlikely to be connected anytime in the near future. Even with drastic price reductions in computer hardware over the past year, the cost of even a cheap computer that will allow Internet access is beyond the yearly income of many island families. Emerging technologies such as WebTV may be more viable for some homes. A look at some of the exorbitant hourly costs charged by telecommunication and ISP providers on many islands makes this an impossible expense in cash poor economies. The exception is Niue, where the government offers free Internet access to all residents. " http://www.usdla.org/html/journal/MAR01_Issue/article02.html
    • ❑ ACCESS AND ELITIST A large number of students do not have physical access to the centres. For these students inequity of opportunity will continue to be an issue. In the extreme, the tendency might develop among course developers to ignore the needs of this group of students and to concentrate on opportunities made possible for centrally-based students by the USPNet upgrade.
      Many students do not have access to equipment and basic infrastructure that will enable them to take advantage of the new technology e.g. computers, telecom connections, and even a (continuous) supply of electricity.Tuimaleali’ifano, E. (1999). Multimedia course delivery at the University of the South Pacific: Comparing rhetoric and practice. Paper presented at ICDE Conference, Vienna, Austria, 22-24 June 1999.

    • ❑
  • ❑ USABILITY IN PACIFIC
    • ❑ CHINZ: http://www.usabilitynews.com/news/article941.asp
    • ❑ UNIVERSAL USABILITY: http://www.universalusability.org/index.html
    • ❑ MULTIMEDIA SYSTEMS RESEARCH LABORATORY: http://www.business.otago.ac.nz/infosci/MSRL/
  • ❑ POLYMELAMICRO
    • ❑ Course by Dr Elise Huffer UU 104 Part 2. Pacific Heritage
      http://library.kcc.hawaii.edu/external/psiweb/contemporary/huffer.html
      Topic 1 of the second part of the course looks Pacific Education, particularly the conflicting emphases between Pacific (Indigenous) Education and Schooling. Topic 2 examines when and how Pacific peoples came to settle the islands and how they move around today. It will also discuss how Pacific societies organise themselves. Topic 3 will discuss Pacific literature and orature.
      Week 7 Topic 1: Pacific Education Guest Lecturer: Teweiariki Teaero
      Class work: An examination through lectures and group exercises of Pacific concepts of learning in Tonga, Fiji and Kiribati.
      Readings: Thaman, Helu, Konai. 1995. "Concepts of Learning, Knowledge and Wisdom in Tonga, and Their Relevance to Modern Education", Prospects, vol.xxv, no4.
      Nabobo, Unaisi, 1994. "Exploring Yalomatua: Fijian Education and the Missing Link", Directions 16:1.
      Teaero, Teweiariki, 1997. "Indigenous Education in Kiribati: Process and Concepts".
    • ❑ NOT JUST POLYNESIA: "communities do not inhabit a common non-English world but, rather, myriad linguistic worlds of differing conceptual framework" "265 distinct languages are soken in the USP region" (Claire Matthewson, The South Pacific: Voyages of Navigation in Distance Education, p. 45, Distance Education in the South Pacific, Nets and Voyages, ed. by Richard Guy, Toshio Kosuge, Rieko Hayakawa, Institute of Pacific Studies, USP, 2000)