Educational Technology/Distance Education
Appendix D
A Model of the Changing Education Process
James B. Martin
University of Michigan School of Public Health
The changes that are occurring in higher education related to distance education can be best understood by explaining them in terms of a "stakeholder model". The four stakeholders in this model are:
- Producers: those individuals who create educational content and materials.
- Publishers: those individuals who disseminate educational content and materials.
- Recipients: those individuals who receive the education.
- Administrators: those individuals and/or entities that manage/administer the educational process.
Producers
The producers of educational materials have traditionally been professors on university campuses. The movement to the use of non-traditional "remote campuses" has brought about an increased use of part time, non-tenure track, adjunct faculty members and an increased reliance on multimedia consultants and course designers. It is no surprise that changes in producers have raised questions regarding the level of quality provided by some of these non-traditional programs.
Publishers
In a traditional on-campus, non-technology-based setting, there was no distinction between the role of "producer" and "publisher". A professor would prepare ("produce") a lecture and deliver ("publish") it in a classroom setting with no reproduction and/or replication. The new learning technologies allow educational materials be reproduced in various media and redelivered multiple times to diverse audiences that can be located at a distance from the location where the materials were originally produced. These new media possibilities allow publishers (including for-profit companies as well as the administrators of non-for profit universities) to publish the materials, perhaps exclusively of the producer. The emergence of the publisher stakeholder raises substantial ownership and revenue sharing issues.
Recipients
The prototypical recipients of higher education have long been students seeking degrees in an on-campus setting. We are now experiencing two major changes in this traditional model. First, students are seeking degrees in non-main campus settings—both "remote campuses" and at-home. While the remote campus may not involve distance education, (instead relying on adjunct faculty and/or the travel of main-campus faculty), the wider availability of learning technologies makes this increasingly likely. Recipients in the home setting, exclusive of the traditional paper-based correspondence courses, are expected to grow rapidly with the availability of distance education offerings.
The second major change in the recipient stakeholder involves participation in non-degree programs. Such programs normally fall under the realm of continuing education (CE), and may or may not involve the offering of some form of certification. While many CE programs have long been campus-based, the availability of distance education alternatives is likely to substantially change the traditional back-to-campus approach.
Administrators
The administrator stakeholder has traditionally been a coordinator of not-for-profit on-campus programs, handling activities such as admissions, record keeping, governance, alumni and governmental relations, and development. Recent changes in this stakeholder have included the emergence of both for-profit entities as well as not-for-profit universities extending their reach into non-traditional markets. Many of these endeavors to date have involved the use of remote campuses and adjunct faculty, rather than distance education. However, the rapid evolution of learning technologies and the emergence of the publisher stakeholder are expected to drive even more rapid change in the traditional administrator role.
 EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY/DISTANCE EDUCATION TASK FORCE
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