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Institute of
International Education
809 United Nations Plaza
7th Floor
New York, NY 10017
USA
Tel: +1 (212) 984 5367
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LINC - Learning International Network Consortium. A new distance learning initiative in education in developed and developing countries
BY RICHARD C. LARSON AND JANET WASSERSTEIN
"Half the world’s population is under age 20; we have essentially no hope of educating these young people by conventional means. New learning modules, however, can provide access to high-quality learning opportunities for a wide variety of students, the vast majority of whom will never have the luxury of a residence-based higher education."1
To provide quality higher education, soon, distance learning is the only option available to many, perhaps most, developing countries. Educational leaders in these countries need a trusted supporting international society, to share goals and objectives, plans of action and experiences; to learn lessons from others; to start innovative programs and evaluate them rigorously. A group of scholars and practitioners is forming with a primary goal of creating in-country infrastructure and systems, to promote higher education to its citizens, often in concert with international collaborators.
This is the motivation for a new MIT-managed initiative, the Learning International Network Consortium (LINC). The purpose of LINC is to help facilitate the implementation of world class tertiary education in developing countries, leveraging Internet, television and radio technologies. The fraction of young people who receive some form of tertiary education is often less than 4 per cent in contrast to numbers greater than 40 per cent in developed countries. In a global economy that increasingly rewards those with skills honed for the ‘knowledge industries,’ developing countries will be left further behind unless their youth receive quality higher level education. Investment in such an effort is required not only for social fairness and justice but also for world accord. LINC will be an association of professionals and practitioners whose primary concern is quality tertiary e-learning in developing countries. It is a community of active scholars and doers.
A pioneering LINC workshop, to put together a new model of international cooperation in tertiary education based on openness and inclusion, is being held on February 6 and 7, 2003 at MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Confirmed participants represent or bring experience from the following countries: Armenia, Canada, France, Hong Kong, Japan, India, Ireland, Iran, Israel, Mexico, Niger, Nigeria, Pakistan, Qatar, Syria, and the United States.
Initially, once substantially funded, LINC will support the following types of activities:
- An annual international symposium on best practices in e-learning
- Publications, including a magazine reporting case studies and a refereed journal reporting on LINC-relevant research
- A collaborative interactive web site that will support those who are focusing on LINC-related activities
- R&D projects in developing countries aimed at new initiatives such as alternative pedagogical models in e-learning
- Provision of technical assistance in ‘training the trainers,’ who will serve as initial key e-learning personnel in a country
- Involvement of college and university students in developed countries in internships on e-learning in developing countries
- Creation of collaborative educational web sites to which all LINC members can contribute and from which all can access contributed materials
- Identifying and encouraging foundations, private firms and governmental institutions that may want to scale up one or more LINC-supported starter projects to significant size
- Facilitating the matching of expert resources to the e-learning needs of any particular LINC member
LINC will be a voluntary e-learning network and resource center connecting and building upon individual national and international efforts currently underway. Using e-learning and related technologies, LINC will empower educators working in their own country to bring higher education to a wider population. Students of current ‘brick and mortar’ university programs will join faculty members and others in collaborative research and development to help create positive change.
The Consortium will be assembled from diverse efforts now operating within many developing countries, utilizing best pedagogical practices. LINC will bring world-class educational opportunities to those who do not have access to quality education by partnering with and training teachers in developing countries, who will then work within their own country to increase outreach. At the same time, those in developed countries will have the opportunity to learn about different cultures through the educational networks established by LINC. Members of LINC will be both individuals and institutions, the latter including colleges and universities, not-for-profit organizations, foundations, private corporations and selected governmental agencies. Expanding and sustaining e-learning efforts throughout the developing world will be the primary focus of LINC. LINC will be supported financially by membership dues and support from foundations, private companies and governmental institutions. LINC is not another educational content provider though it is probable that LINC institutional members will be content providers to other LINC members, both institutions and individual members.
As MIT's President Charles Vest states “…the industries and institutions in which our graduates will live and work are highly globalized, so that even from a purely pragmatic perspective, cross-cultural and cross-national learning and experience are highly valuable and in our national interest.”2
Results of the LINC Workshop will be posted on the IIE website in March 2003, and news of LINC's progress and founding member institutions will be available at that time. For further information about LINC and its mission please contact rclarson@mit.edu.
Professor Richard C. Larson is MIT Professor of Electrical Engineering and Director of the Center for Advanced Educational Services. He is Co-Editor of the Internet and the University, Forum 2001.
Janet Wasserstein is an Associate Director for Foundation Relations at MIT and a writer on issues of distance learning.
References
1 Introduction to The Internet and the University, Forum 2001, edited by Maureen Devlin, Richard Larson and Joel Meyerson
2 Response and Responsibility: Balancing Security and Openness in Research and Education, Report of the President of MIT for the Academic Year 2001-2001
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