which they are providing education. This principle is, however, augmented by the understanding that managing the process of learning by using a 'talking lecturer' to transmit content is in many cases neither educationally nor financially effective. This is especially important in contexts in which quality solutions to educational problems are required on a massive scale.
In essence, the notion of resource-based learning means that a significant but varying proportion of communication between students and educators is not face to face, but takes place through the use of different media as necessary. In fact, a recent study undertaken as part of the South African Survey of Student Engagement (Strydom & Mentz 2010) reveals that students involved in traditional contact-based study spend on average only 16 hours a week, or 40% of their time, on scheduled campus-based activities, including face-to-face contact based on varied student support activities like tutorials, peer group discussion and practical work.
The introduction of resource-based learning emerged strongly in the second half of the 20th century as more 'contact' institutions (particularly universities and colleges) became 'dual-mode' institutions, offering both distance and face-to-face educational programmes. While there are many motives for this shift, contact institutions have most often been making this move both to cope with increasing pressure on places and to find more cost-effective ways of providing education in a context of dwindling funds. As the distinctions between the two 'modes' of education has continued to collapse, however, it is becoming increasingly difficult to identify which programmes are being offered in which mode, particularly as resources developed for 'distance education' programmes are now being used in many 'contact' programmes. The emergence of Information and Communications Technology (ICT), which allows for much easier and cheaper production and dissemination of knowledge through various media, has made this even more complex to define.
The possibilities of resource-based learning
Some years ago, in a report written for the South African Institute for Distance Education (Saide), renowned South African educationist and educational theorist Wally Morrow described a fundamental problem in higher education as follows:
- The traditional culture of Higher Education is based on a picture of teaching and an idea of Higher Education institutions which, in combination with each other, constitute a (perhaps the) major barrier to the accessibility and availability of Higher Education. (Saide 1996: 97)
He went on to suggest that the principal recommendation that can contribute to the dismantling of this barrier is to think of teaching in terms of resource-based learning.
26
