singh


 

 
 
 
 
 
Book Review 
 
Distance Education and the Mainstream: Convergence in Education. 
Peter Smith and Mavis Kelly (eds) (1987). London: Croom Helm. ISBN 0-
7099-4499-3. 
 
 
What will education be like in the year 2000 and beyond? The contributors 
to this book share a vision that it will differ from the present system in 
radical ways in terms of access, methods used and the range of resources 
available for teaching and learning. In particular, the book focuses on 
trends which are blurring the boundaries between distance education and 
mainstream, campus-based education - hence the sub-title reference to 
convergence in education. 
 
The authors assume that distance education and mainstream education are 
located at the extremes of a continuum, students in the former receiving 
less face-to-face teacher support than in the latter. Another continuum 
distinguishes open (student-directed) education from closed (teacher-
directed) education. Open learning systems are characterised by open 
access, freedom from time constraints choice of resources for learning, 
choice of learning strategies and student control over assessment. 
 
The authors believe that distance education and mainstream education can 
be perceived to be converging and moving towards becoming open 
learning systems. Convergence at another level can be observed as 
distance and campus based systems begin to share more of each others' 
instructional methods. (For instance, modern communications technology 
is enabling distance education to share in the most obvious advantage of 
campus based learning: interactivity). Finally, the traditional clienteles 
served by each mode are changing and intermixing and therefore 
beginning to converge. 
 



Australian Journal of Educational Technology, 1988, 4(1) 71 

In the ten papers which comprise this thought provoking collection, the 
theme of convergence is thoroughly explored from various perspectives. 
Regrettably, in a review of this length not all of them can be given the 
attention that is their due but I will mention those which I personally 
found to be of particular interest. In the opening chapter Fred Jevons 
convincingly argues against the traditional prejudices held against 
distance education and shows that this mode of learning can offer benefits 
justifying its claim for parity of esteem. James Hall draws attention to 
what he terms "the pedagogy-technology gap" - a reference to the often 
overlooked fact that the availability of sophisticated technology does not 
automatically ensure effective learning: "It is not enough to convey facts 
and to develop students' communication skills. Rather, analysis, synthesis, 
application and, finally, evaluation or judgement are the hallmarks of the 
educated person... Emerging interactive telecommunications hold high 
promise to accommodate teaching and learning pedagogies which nurture 
and elicit such advanced skills and abilities from students. But those who 
create these educational pedagogies will need to be guided by well-
defined concepts of what higher learning is really about and how it can be 
stimulated... Can we capture those concepts, those techniques for 
advanced learning, and realise them in distance education? This is the 
technology-pedagogy gap which must be overcome if the use of 
telecommunications in serving distance education is to be effective." 
 
The remaining papers form a useful overview of the field of Distance 
Education. The complete list includes: Distance education and campus-
based education: Parity of esteem (Jevons); Distance education and 
educational change (Smith); Bridging the technology-pedagogy gap (Hall); 
Distance education in Kenya: A third world view (Matiru); Towards open 
learning (Foks); Collaboration between the industrial and educational 
sectors (Ledwidge and Miller); Convergence in practice at Griffith 
University (Ross); Staff development needs for universities: Mainstream 
and distance education (Paul); Staff development needs in distance 
education and campus-based education: Are they different? (Sewart); 
Barriers to convergence in Australian higher education (Kelly). 
 
Kenneth Singh 
!University of New South Wales 
 

Please cite as: Singh, K. (1988). Review of Distance Education and the 
Mainstream: Convergence in Education. Australian Journal of Educational 
Technology, 4(1), 70-71. http://www.ascilite.org.au/ajet/ajet4/singh.html