Cost-effectiveness of distance education for teacher training

The results of the study reported here (examining teacher education programs in Sri Lanka and Indonesia) indicate that there is a relatively inexpensive way for governments to increase the effectiveness of their teaching force. Distance education programs, at least those in Sri Lanka and Indonesia, are cost-effective, especially those which combine self-instruction with tutor-supported small group learning; and particularly in subjects that are verbal and information- oriented, as opposed to math and skills oriented. The critical factor in distance education is not the expensive hardware of radio and television transmitters and receivers. Successful programs can be run using correspondence methods, and broadcast over unused commercial television channels or radio stations. It is not the technology of transmission that makes these programs effective, but the kind of learning situation they create. The most effective distance education methods rely on cooperative or collaborative learning, in which groups of teacher trainees meet to discuss their lessons and the difficulties they are having with them. These meetings help sustain the motivation to study, and partially substitute for the presence of a teacher. The network of relationships established during the training program continues after it is finished and helps to maintain the teachers" morale and motivation when they are back in their classrooms. Since the low institutional costs of distance education result from economies of scale and high cost recovery, it is important that these programs keep their enrollments up and their student cost-burden relatively high. Nevertheless, policymakers should make sure that total student costs (direct and indirect) do not become too high, since this will suppress demand and undermine the economies of scale that low-cost programs depend on.