Page 60 - Universitas Terbuka Center of Excellence In Asia 2010 and The World 2020 (A Journey Towards a Leading Open and Distance Education Institution 1984-2008)

During the preparation of UT establishment in 1983/1984, the Preparation
Committee was only having about 10 months time before the launching of UT

study programs . Among many things that the committee had to prepare were

course materials to be used. By taking into account the distribution of students,
accessibility, flexibility , and some economic considerations, as well as limited
time for preparation , printed course materials were considered the most

appropriate materials to be developed . Other media to support the printed course

materials were developed in the following years.

Printed Materials

Most distance education institutions in many countries use printed course
materials as the main media of delivering learning to its students. Even in

institutions claimed mainly use non-printed media , the percentage of printed
media used is still high. UT is categorized as a printed-based distance teaching

university, as it mainly uses printed course material in its delivery. The decision
to use printed media at distance education institutions is generally based on

cost, accessibility, and flexibility. This consideration does not only apply to
developing countries, but also to developed countries as well. In the course of 22

years, there has been improvement in the development of UT printed course
materials , called Module or Main Textbook (Buku Materi Pokok-BMP), in terms of

format, content, and cover.

Development of Printed Course Materials

Since the beginning, UT has been used writer-editor team approach in
developing course materials. This approach involves two professions which are
writer and editor. Writer is the one who has expertise in content or subject

matter, and editor has skills in wrapping up the content in a certain format which

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