Open and Distance Learning in adult education: the case of Open University in

Greece
Michail Georgiadis

Life Long Learning has been considered to be of vital importance, on the one hand, for the
economic development of the European Union in a global competitive environment and on the
other hand for the elimination of the pernicious effects of social exclusion among citizens:
education and training according to the European Commission is the answer to the problems
caused by three major trends, which are the internationalization of trade, the emergence of
Information Society and the rapid growth of scientific and technical world (European
Commission 1995).
According to the guidelines set by the European Commission, Greek education policy has
tried to establish a network of educational institutions for continuing professional training,
funded by the European Social Fund through the1st and 2nd Community Support Framework.
During 1994-1999 period, that is the period of application of the 2nd Community Support
Framework, educational policy set a cluster of standards and a network of educational
institutions concerning the target groups for continuing professional training and, also,
established an organization charged with accreditation procedures. The establishment of Open
University in 1997 and its further development was included in the Operational Programme for
Initial Vocational Education and Training (EPEAK), one of the three major programmes of the
2nd Community Support Framework, aiming at the upgrading of initial training and the
improvement of the educational infrastructure. The fact that the dimension of the initial
training was deemed as an integrated part of continuing education and training, was a clear
indication that a life long learning policy was adopted officially, and that happened for the first
time in the education history of the country: initial training as an integrated part of continuing
training would provide the base for life long education.
The public reception of the establishment of the OU has been positive: there were not any
objections or any kind of opposition and generally it was admitted publicly that the newly
founded institution could contribute to the upgrade of educational quality and could be an
alternative to the traditional – conventional university sector of tertiary education (Lionarakis
1999). The majority of the courses are offered to those who aim at acquiring a graduate
degree, but there is also a small number of them that are offered in a post-graduate level.Those
who attend the post-graduate courses are awarded with a master degree or a certificate. All the
programs offered by the Open University are based on Open and Distance Learning principles,
which are a) the modularized character, that promotes a horizontal organization of the studies
and an interdisciplinary approach b) the interactive teaching materials and Information
Technology that favours self directed learning c) the role of the educator as a consultant, not
simply as a teacher. In general the emphasis put on the learning of the students and the
facilitation of their access to the educational resources.
“Adult Education” is a major (module) belonging to the “Education Studies” master
program, is offered to graduates from University and non University tertiary sector, and
provides with qualification those who want to be accredited as adult educators (Open
University of Greece 2002). Therefore, the curriculum of the above mentioned course is
examined as an element of an adult education process.
The main concern of this paper is to examine to which extent adult education principles are
applied to the above mentioned program and to identify its character
Internationally in the area of adult education a great variety of types of programs has
emerged (Boone 1985: 20-37) and it is not far from being true that these programs as a whole
are heterogeneous (Vergidis 1992, Kelpanidis &Vrinioti 2004: 171). Generally, this
phenomenon is due to the tendency of this sector to respond to a variety of educational needs
and also to the informal character as a distinctive feature of adult educational processes.
Despite of what has been mentioned above, there are some certain lines (Open University
Vol.2 1998: 19-49), along which relevant programs should be organized, that are always
expected to be followed, so as to promote adult learning ( Brookfield 1986): Specifically,
• Predominance of the dialectic liaison between the practice and theory component
• Response to the educational needs of the students
• Euristic approach in the learning process and self directed learning
• Critical thinking as prerequisite for the learning process
• Two way relations between educators and students (Klevins 1987, Waldron & Marc
1991, Caffarella 1994, Open University 1998: 19-49, Rogers 1999:109-163).
Concerning the process of planning of the “Adult Education” course provided by Open
University, a crucial remark must be made: there is lack of any process of educational needs
assessment and there is no provision for students participation in the process of planning. The
program of the course is designed by those who are academically responsible for its running
and it is addressed to all those who are holders of a graduate degree of any kind, granted by
tertiary institutions.
The Aims of the “Adult Education” course are as follows:
• The development of the student’s knowledge about the theoretical context of the
adult education as a scientific field and also about the special position of this field among other
scientific areas.
• To make the student able to perceive the socio-economic function of the adult
education as an education process.
• The development of an integrated knowledge concerning the way that adult
education programs function (in a national or local level).
• To make students able to plan and organize programs of this kind.
• To prepare students as adult educators .
• To make them able to evaluate adult education programs. (Open University of
Greece 2002:2).
From what is described above, it is obvious a double purpose: The first one is academic and
the second one is professional. This implies that the program should include not only theory
but also a practice component. Practice is a necessary condition for the development of
professional skills, bearing in mind that the kind of skills that are developed are always
dependant on the type of relationship between theory and practice. Furthermore, the theory
must comprise academic and applied component.
With regard to the aim concerning the preparation of adult educators and especially to the
objectives concerning the teaching skills, every student is expected, at the end of the course:
• to discern the advantages and disadvantages of the lecture, which the
most traditional and most often used teaching technique
• to describe the whole spectrum of the techniques in use
• to use the participative educational techniques
• to select and combine the proper techniques, corresponding to the needs
of the learning process (Open University IV 1999).
The techniques that are included among those which enhance the active participation of
the students are a) case studies b) role playing c) question – answer approach d) brainstorming
e) cooperative learning z) practical exercise. All these techniques constitute the equipments of
an educator who acts as a facilitator, catalyst, intermediator, consultant.
If someone go through the objectives in every unit of the printed teaching material (Open
University of Greece 1999), could realize that these are referred mainly to the cognitive
dimension. Of course, part of them are referred to the skills or competencies, such as designing
or evaluating an adult education program, but all these are not to be practiced in real situations,
that is in teaching adults. All the skills that a student is asked to acquire are in theory.
As to the content of the course, it covers all the aspects that are of vital importance for adult
education as scientific area: Sociology and Psychology, History and all the aspects relating to a
relevant program, although the use of open and distance learning methods makes very difficult
the task of applying a base of rules and principles provided by foundation disciplines, such as
Social Psychology (Tennant 1988: 153-152, Keegan 2001: 53-54). Apart from this, there is
also a satisfactory amount of applied theory (Race 1999). Furthermore, some reference books
present some technical aspects in the form of the tips (Courau 2000, Northedge 2001).
Although practical dimension of the teaching captures the position it deserves, there is an entire
lack of practice exercising in real terms. This results in depriving the students from the chances
to change their behavior in a broad sense, that is to form an integrated culture as adult
educators. In more specific terms, there is no chance for them to contact adult education
institutions and to get familiarized with the problems of group dynamics as they are presented
in terms of real life, an aspect which is of crucial importance for adult education (Brookfield
1986: 60-89, Tennant 1988: 153-152, Keegan 2001: 53-54), so as to act as facilitators for self
directed adult learning.
From the 61 activities of the hand – book concerning “ Planning, Organizing and
Evaluating programs” , and the 29 contained in a hand book unit concerning the teaching
techniques, the majority are those that lead the students to deepen the aquired knowledge
through the books, while the rest are exercises that ask students to apply it in virtual conditions.
The only activity within the framework of the program, which is devoted in practice
teaching is possible to take place during the five meetings in an academic year( each of them
lasts four hours). Teaching practice of this kind is devoted to a version of microteaching.
This state of affairs is reinforced by the way that students are evaluated: it is obligatory for
them to submit 4 papers during their one year studies and of course to sit the final written
examination. The student is awarded with the certificate, which accredits him as an adult
educator, without having developed any practical skill through teaching experience. It seems
that the dimension that really counts is the cognitive one: for those who are going to teach
adults the necessary condition is the knowledge about academic and applied adult education
theory. The porspective adult educator is not provided with chances to develop critical thinking
and to relate theory to their professional needs.
The program as a whole is one of those who introduce students to a different professional
role. This implies that students should be provided with the chances to exercise this role during
their studies in institutions of adult education, to foster them to develop a critical thinking on
such an experience in the context of their future work place and through this process to develop
a base for their professional development. The use of open and distance learning seems to give
no opportunity to face all these problems that related to the management of a group of adult
learners, an issue which lies at the heart of the role of the educator as facilitator and animator.
If so, the preparation leaves something missing. Theoretical and practical knowledge remains
unrelated to real environment that future adult educators will be confronted with. This
knowledge is not accompanied by a change of the behavior so as to produce a change in
cultural terms which in turn will change their prospective professional environment.
Prospective adult educators are asked to learn and use teaching techniques by studying the
printed and audiovisual material provided by the University and, afterwards, to sit examination
in order to be certified. They are not given any chance to have any feedback by experiencing
these techniques in real situations, of course supported by their trainers, which is the most
effective way to integrate them into their personality . The task to make these techniques even
understandable becomes more difficult, because of the fact that a great number of the students
are characterized by the lack of any Pedagogical at all, since they did not attend any relevant
course, during their graduate studies.
Although OU admits that teaching practice should be one of the program components, not
such practice is included in the curriculum. In order to overtake this contradiction, it should
integrate open and distance learning dimension in a more effective way. Nowadays
Information Technology provides the means for those who teach prospective adult educators
to support them from a distance in a effective way during their practicing in adult education
institutions, provided that a net work of such institutions will be established under the
coordination of OU
Euristic and self –directed learning could very well mean students find answers to
questions deriving from the experience of the professional reality, seek for the relevant
knowledge and evaluate this knowledge through applying it during teaching practice. In such a
way self evaluation could provide a feedback on action and in action.
As a conclusion, we could argue that the model that prevailed in the preparation of those
who are going to teach adults follows the institutional pattern, where the aims and objectives
are set by the educational institution and are external to learners, there is not any kind of needs
assessment or any kind of negotiation with students concerning their educational needs
(Brookfield 1986: 201-232). Students in no way participate in the construction of the program.
They are just called to evaluate the programme in a summative way. In addition, the whole
program suffers because of the lack of an integrated professional component and the question
of theory-practice disjunction remains unresolved.
To a great extent the institutionalization of the operation of the program stems from the fact
that Open University, although it was established with a view to be an alternative to the
traditional university sector, it reproduces the administrative terms of the latter. The
organization of the program is again a centrally planed process. The establishment of Open
University in Greece followed the decision of the policy makers in the country, in 1997, to
increase the number of entrants in the tertiary education and, consequently, to expande this
sector, in order to absorb this increase. Partly for the education policy it constituted a means to
absorb the increase of the entrants in the tertiary education. It is not very clear if those who
register as students seek to cover their life long learning needs or seek for extra qualification.
Open University is far from being a flexible structure in the center of a resource net work. The
prestige of University degree seemed to have its effect.
As a matter of fact, the education policy for lifelong learning, which is an imperative for
the quality improvement of education and economic development, is put in risk in a long run,
since the great opportunity that the establishment of Open University presented through the use
of open and distance learning methods for the non institutional dimension and informal
education activities has not been utilized sufficiently.
There are also some other suggestions concerning the context which could contribute to
the improvement of the operation of Open University from a life long learning perspective:
Educational policy should set as a priority to deepen the link between initial tertiary education
and continuing education. From this point of view, its a high time for Pedagogy to be a
compulsory component in the tertiary curricula, for the graduates from various faculties who
follow an postgraduate course in Education
There is a need to be deepened the cooperation between those who teach in “Adult
Education courses in Universities or carry out the research in this area. This cooperation could
be for benefit for both sides.
The ultimate question addressed to national educational policy is whether it will keep on
funding adult education, after the end of the funding by the European Union.
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