The Distance Education and Training Council: at the cutting edge
| Pages | 26-28 |
| Date | 01 December 1996 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/09684889610146163 |
| Published date | 01 December 1996 |
| Author | Michael P. Lambert |
| Subject Matter | Education |
26
With the advent of the Internet and the
launching of the World Wide Web, its com-
mercial outlet, it has become increasingly
apparent that the so-called global village is
fast becoming a reality. No longer can educa-
tional institutions take provincial, xenophobic
approaches to enrolling students if they
intend to be around in the next century. The
world has become our campus. Political
boundaries have no meaning in this context.
There is a whole new, interconnected world
out there, and the educational institutions
which will survive will be those making intelli-
gent decisions today about how best to capi-
talize on the distance education method that
has taken the academic world by storm.
For example, in a recent survey called
Campus Trends 1995, published by the Ameri-
can Council on Education, Washington, DC,
most of the universities responding indicated
that they will be making more use of distance
learning in the next five years. From our
experience in working with several dozen
institutions in the USA in recent months, this
survey finding understates the real situation:
distance learning is phenomenally popular. It
is the key to institutional survival.
All this is by way of introducing one of the
groups that helped to pioneer distance learning,
a group of US institutions that is little known
outside of the USA: the Distance Education
and Training Council (DETC). For over 104
years, member institutions of the Distance
Education and Training Council (formerly the
National Home Study Council) have been
enrolling millions of adult learners in home
study or correspondence study programmes.
An estimated 95 million Americans have
enrolled in correspondence courses in such
subjects as accounting, electronics technolo-
gy, computer programming, management,
art, writing, academic degree studies, hospi-
tality training, gemology, health care topics
and hundreds of other certificate, degree and
professional-level courses of study.
Historically, the National Home Study
Council, which was founded in 1926, has
worked steadily for the past seven decades to
upgrade correspondence study and promote
sound practice in the USA. Its nationally
recognized voluntary accreditation
programme has been a singularly successful
force for ensuring high ethical standards, and
the overall level of “customer satisfaction”
among the millions of consumers of home
study programmes has been quite high for
many years.
With the evolution of traditional corre-
spondence instruction from print-based to
multimedia and telecommunications-based
Quality Assurance in Education
Volume 4 · Number 4 · 1996 · pp. 26–28
© MCB University Press · ISSN 0968-4883
The Distance Education
and Training Council:
at the cutting edge
Michael P. Lambert
The author
Michael P. Lambertis Executive Director of the Distance
Education and Training Council, Washington, DC, USA.
Tel: 202 234 5100; Fax: 202 332 1386; E-mail:
detc@detc.org
Abstract
Argues that there is no place for parochialism in distance
learning institutions and that their survival in the face of
fierce competition will depend on their ability to under-
stand and manage change, make bold and intelligent
choices regarding the best strategy to follow to become
learning organizations and master the ever-changing
technological revolution in order to serve fully the needs of
customers in an expanding marketplace. Lists the desired
characteristics of an effective distance-learning organiza-
tion, provides a current profile of Distance Education and
Training Council member institutions and offers practical
suggestions for distance learning programme design.
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