Page 36 - Open and Distance Education In Asia : Good Practice From AAOU Members

16 OPEN AND DISTANCE EDUCATON IN ASIA
Good Practices from AAOU Members

CONCLUSION Radio lectures were seen as a limiting and
For over 50 years since its foundation in antiquated medium in this regard. Even
1972, KNOU has been developing as Korea’s though they required a lot of effort to
first open university. In terms of its teaching- produce, TV lectures might contain a large
learning methods, KNOU has gone through number of audiovisual resources. The TV
continuous development. lectures were well received by the students,
and they helped to improve their reputation.
First and foremost, the development of Despite the fact that the amount of lecture
high-quality teaching materials has become content is limited, TV lectures have proven
increasingly vital. KNOU has placed a strong to be popular due to their benefits. KNOU
emphasis on releasing high-quality teaching was able to take the lead in realizing a true
materials, believing that these are critical learning society as a future university that
to the success of beginning correspondence leads an information-oriented society after
education. Since that time, the KNOU Press obtaining the permission to run a cable TV
has remained true to its mission of publishing channel.
“specialist instructional materials.” Based
on-printed instructional materials and Third, multimedia lectures have progressed
texts, TV, radio, and audio lectures have significantly. Web-based instructions have
been offered. Without printed instructional been used in all graduate courses since
materials, it is difficult to create good lecture the twenty-first century, while multimedia
content. Multimedia lectures and web-based lectures have been used in all undergraduate
instructions, on the other hand, can be courses since 2006. In both technology and
accompanied with a variety of references and education, they have advanced enormously.
texts. This feature has a lot of potential, and As a result, they can now replace pre-existing
it has the potential to outperform traditional radio/audio and television lectures. Web-
printed training materials. based instructions and multimedia lectures
could partially replace printed teaching
Second, KNOU has been looking for a materials and mimic the impact of face-to-
technological change to bring about a face lecturing in offline classes.
transformation in broadcast media. Initially,
KNOU’s broadcast lectures were only Furthermore, the widespread availability
available via radio and terrestrial television. of the internet and the slow rise of cyber
Many employed students, on the other hand, colleges in Korean culture have increased
found it difficult to attend TV lectures or the standing of web-based and multimedia
listen to radio lectures that were transmitted lectures at KNOU.
at regular intervals. Students might listen
to audio lectures at any time, which could
substitute TV/radio lectures. Radio lectures
were, in particular, losing popularity and
were unable to give visual information.

Korea National Open University (KNOU)