Design and development of third generation distance learning materials: From an industrial second generation approach towards realising third generation distance education

Abstract

Distance education is going through a paradigm shift from the second to the third generation. In the first generation (correspondence education) teachers were craftsmen who coupled traditional learning materials to self-made personalised lessons that they mailed to their students at a distance. In the second generation new, pedagogically enhanced materials were designed and developed via an industrial model specifically for distance education, but the accent remained on a traditional learning paradigm. In the third generation personal, competence based, interactive materials for learning communities are being designed and developed. This chapter first outlines the haracteristics of the first two generations. It then presents a framework for the design, development and delivery of distance education study materials according to the industrial approach. It concludes with a look at how this will change as we go to the third generation. In another chapter (Valcke, Kirschner & Bos) an environment for this new paradigm is worked out.