Will these developments serve the interests of developing countries? There is clearly much need for caution. We need to moderate the developments reported above with concerns for access to the education both in terms of the students’ own prior knowledge and cultural perspectives, and in terms of access to the technology through which to access the education. We also need to be concerned about the impact upon the local culture that may be matte by imported materials and the developed world’s culture that these embody.

National Distance Learning Programs

In developing countries there is a natural desire to extend educational provision to the whole population.

Online education at the schools’ level began in both countries during the colonial era in the 1950s and 1960s, partly through voluntary organizations and partly through government support as `a palliative for the colonial conscience’. The provision has taken various forms -correspondence schools, radio programs to supplement normal provision, radio and poster campaigns to promote literacy, health and other issues, as well as more formal online education programs. These programs have continued in the post-colonial era, with 70,000 students involved in Tanzania, and 42,000 in Zimbabwe. There has been a major focus on teacher training. Programs in both countries have suffered from inadequate funding (10% and less than 5% of the educational budget, respectively, in Tanzania and Zimbabwe). Neither country has established their own open university. One was advocated in 1989 for Tanzania, with use of radio and television broadcast, but not the full use of IT. In 1993 the University of Zimbabwe established its Online education Centre which now has some 1,500 students. We believe that this uses the conventional correspondence approach based on text.

Online education saves the need to build university campuses with teaching facilities, and for students to travel and to be accommodated centrally. IT and networking further helps this, but requires access to the technology – and as Zindi and Aucoin have pointed out for Tanzania, even something as basic as electricity may not be available within the community that you are wishing to serve. Such infrastructure problems are not faced by developed countries, though sometimes, as in Russia which is also seeking the use of online education to meet an educational need, there can be infrastructure difficulties: thus in Russia conventional postal delivery can be problematic while delivery electronically via satellite to the best of current equipment could be perfectly feasible.

Transnational Programs

We have seen that a large provider of education like the OU is already reaching out beyond its national borders, helped by IT and networking, to provide education globally. Geography is no longer a barrier.

This means that local students could subscribe to courses that may be supplied purely on the networks, and through this would obtain qualifications from the suppliers in the developed world. Presumably these qualifications would be recognized locally, and could indeed have some special standing.

It is worth noting that one motivation for Zimbabwe to establish its own national programs was to reduce the 163 million dollars flowing out of the country from the 40,000 students annually enrolled on online education courses. Developing countries may, just not be able to finance transnational educational programs.

The language of teaching is not the only concern. Teaching materials often draw upon case studies and examples, and these may not make any sense in other contexts. An example from the training materials for a database tool was the use of baseball, which was, of course, incomprehensible outside the US – a translation into football made the training much more widely acceptable.
The transnational and trans-cultural use of educational materials must be viewed with caution

Almost all universities in the United States of America offer graduate and undergraduate programs in teacher education. All the colleges and universities have definite goals and objectives for teacher education, and focus on molding quality teachers. Schools have laid down principles and philosophies to guide them in training leaders in education and contribute a great deal to shaping the young generation.

The University of California, San Diego (UCSD), offers minors, majors, graduate and undergraduate programs in education studies. The UCSD Education Studies (EDS) also offers M Ed, credential programs and doctoral degrees to certified teachers who want to further their careers and add to their knowledge base and skill sets. Their special programs include MA Deaf Education and M Ed Credential programs in multiple subjects.

The Harvard Graduate School of Education wants their graduates to have an impact in the schools and indirectly in the society. Their graduate programs include the Teaching and Curriculum (TAC) program and the Mid-Career Math and Science (MCMS) program. Undergraduate Teacher Education Program (UTEP) at the school has trained students for more than 15 years for K-12 schools. They aim at getting aspiring teachers to certify for teaching in public schools in the United States.

Central Washington University has teacher education programs for teachers of all age groups. Undergraduate programs include minors in Bilingual Education, Reading and Second Language English teaching, and majors in Elementary Education, Early Childhood Education and Special Education. The Masters programs in the university comprises of Instructional Leadership, Special Education, Educational Administration and Reading Specialist.

There are a lot of “what ifs” when it comes to education costs. Tuition will certainly be more expensive if you attend a private school as opposed to a public school. But you will not find any great cost savings by attending school online instead of on-campus. The courses you choose, whether online or on-campus, will generally cost you a specified amount per credit. Depending on the amount of credits your degree or certificate needs, will decide the total cost of your tuition.

If you do happen to come across an unbelievable deal for achieving your degree online, then beware. The validity of the degree may be as unbelievable as the price. Diploma Mills will take your money in exchange for a fake degree. They are a huge business and make lots of money off of the unsuspecting student. A sure sign of a Diploma Mill is if you see “Achieve your Bachelor’s Degree for $425” or “Get Your Degree in as little as 27 Days” –Beware! If what the online school is offering seems too good to be true – it probably is.

So, despite its convenience and flexibility, online education offers no cost advantage on your tuition. But wait, you can still save money. Having the ability to engage in your education from the comforts of your own home has many cost savings benefits attached to it. You could save hundreds or thousands of dollars alone in:

Auto Expenses – first off, there isn’t the extra expense of gas and we are all aware (and sensitive) towards our rising gasoline prices. Depending on how far you would typically have to drive to university, this could be a substantial savings. Parking on campus can also do a good job at keeping your wallets empty over the course of a semester. And there are always other accompanying costs which come with owning a vehicle.

Room and Board – If the college or university offering your program is too far away that you can’t commute, then online education can save you a huge chunk of cash on not having to pay for food and lodging close to the campus. Costs for room and board alone can sometimes add up to more than the tuition fees.

There are still other minor cost savings benefits that are recognized from taking your courses online. But the real benefit is that, if it wasn’t for online education, some people wouldn’t have the ability to pursue a post secondary education at all. Many are working or have families and they cannot attend school during the day. For others, online education can be the source of “hard to find” course that they need. The benefits are many.

The costs of developing, implementing and delivering distance education courses can be substantial. Online Institutions have not passed these costs onto the students as one would think. We are actually fortunate that the cost of online education isn’t higher than on-campus tuitions.