El proyecto universidad desescolarizada: A feasibility study of teaching at a distance in Colombia S.A.

Abstract

Plans for a nationwide system of education at a distance in Colombia S.A. are now under way to meet growing demands for higher education and to decentralize the current university system. Prior to this decision, a feasibility project was mounted in 1973–1976 by the University of Antioquia. Code-named El Proyecto UNIDES, its goals were:

• - To check whether students could learn at a distance with no lowering of standards;

• - To identify critical logistical conditions;

• - To assess whether traditional university teaching methods could be renovated with systems resting on ideas from instructional technology.

UNIDES involved 70 staff of varying status and function who produced teaching materials and observed and assessed around 1500 students on and off campus under three instructional conditions covering a semester's work. D group students studied at a distance self-instructional materials in mathematics, psychology, and Spanish. S1 group students studied those materials individually on campus. S2 group students studied through conventional classes.

Political confrontations with non-project students, staff anxieties, administrative, production, printing, distribution, and communication difficulties, and a 50–60 per cent dropout were unexpected events observed. This yielded valuable information about critical conditions in distance-teaching for practical decision-making in the future, but made assessment difficult. In academic performance, measured by common examinations for course credits, the groups ranked: S1, D and S2.

There could be no clear-cut prediction from UNIDES. It suggested students can learn at a distance with no drop in standards, perhaps better through an autonomous system. Conventional systems might profit from adopting or adapting methods and materials developed for distance teaching.