Tamar Kahn
CHANNEL CAMPUS, which launched a range of new courses last month, is one of a myriad of South African organisations specialising in distance education.However, it does so electronically, offering multimedia courses aimed at the upper secondary school and tertiary level.
Each course is based on a set of videos, accompanied by workbooks. Learning material is also available on CD-ROM and computer disk, and the company is currently developing material on the Internet.
Time for work, and the student switches on the video (or pops a CD-ROM into a computer) and follows the lesson, pausing to answer the questions posed in the accompanying workbook. “Students don’t have to worry about taking notes; they just have to fill in the blanks,” enthuses Rael Lissoos, co-director of Channel Campus.
One of the strengths of video-learning is the ability of students to determine the pace at which they learn; if things are confusing or the lecturer is going too fast, the student can easily stop the video, rewind, and have another go. However, this is not without its problems. A number of educators present at the official launch of Channel Campus in May felt that the very fact that a student can go over the same material time and time again encourages rote learning.
“This material does not exploit the medium to encourage learners to engage critically with the information presented in the video,” says Emelia Potenza, a curriculum specialist. “It is effectively transmission education and although it fulfils the current matric requirements, it does not further the aims of the new curriculum in terms of learning outcomes.”
The video lecturer uses the standard teaching aids: computer graphics, overheads and a video board. The overall presentation is very simple (no complicated cuts to the outside world) and essentially reproduces the classroom or lecture hall. It is obvious that the video production process involves a minimum of editing, presumably to keep the costs down. “We strive for affordability” says David Modlin, co-director of Channel Campus. “The average cost of a university level course is R300, a cost that can be shared by a group of learners or an institution.”
The videos are in English, and educators have raised the question of how fluent a learner needs to be to follow the lessons successfully. Modlin stresses that because the video format is so simple it is very flexible, and can easily be tailored for a specific teacher’s needs (making a video in another language, for instance). And he says that teachers are welcome to approach Channel Campus to help them make their own videos. The simplicity of the videos and workbooks has another advantage – new courses in new subjects can be made very quickly.
However, rapid product development is not necessarily a virtue, say some educators, time should ideally be spent on developing the materials. Modlin says his lecturing experience has shown him what students need most, and that the other lecturers featured in the videos are similarly experienced.
Despite its reliance on transmission- learning in a country moving towards an outcomes-based system, Channel Campus has undoubtedly found an enthusiastic market.
“More than 5 000 pupils from around the world have passed through our doors in the four years we’ve been running,” says Modlin. “And we are looking into establishing a 24-hour telephone hotline to answer students’ questions.”