J-DEPM+625

Some Initial (Random) Thoughts on Development Author: Stuart Adams Created: 9/17/2010 Some random thoughts from the Todaro and on Martinussen readings on the issue of development: Todaro, M. P., Smith, S.S. (2003). Martinussen, J. (1997)
 * DEPM 625 Distance Education Globalization, and Development** Fall 2010
 * 1) There are alternative models and views of development.
 * 2) The idea that simple economic growth, driven by extensive foreign investment seems to have failed. The lessons of the Marshall Plan do not translate/transfer
 * 3) The idea that the developing folks should have a say in how development is to proceed seems consistent with both the understanding that that those who are living the experience understand the issues better, and that development should not require divestment of dignity
 * 4) The Neo-Marxist perspectives fail both because they misunderstand/misrepresent the intentions of the developed nations (attributing aid as Neo-colonialism) ad because they offer no concrete course of action
 * 5) Gender equity and environmental concern (sustainability) are relatively new additions to the idea of development. These are positive additions.

Part of the Problem or the Solution Author: Stuart Adams Created: 9/20/2010 Did anyone consider "development" an issue when all people lived in subsistence agrarian societies. When the only salient distinction was between settled growers and migratory hunter/gathers was there any question of "being developed"? What changed?

People began to have surplus and were thus able not only to store up food and other commodities for their future, but were able to trade. Storage allowed larger settlements, eventually cities. Trade allowed for further economic growth, giving the society access to goods that they could not produce and possibly introducing them to new technologies. Political institutions grew up with the society and culture developed that could support and embrace the new economic and social order. Some societies could extract resources (e.g. precious metals) that might further increase their wealth. Still, the societies remained principally agrarian/extractive.

The industrial revolution changed the course of economic, political and cultural history. Goods could be mass-produced and food could be mass-distributed. Trade could expand, cities grew large, and technology advanced at a more rapid pace. This distinction between agrarian and industrial/urban has become a critical discriminator between what we now understand as developed as compared to undeveloped or underdeveloped.

The course of economic history as been one in which the world's societies have gained material well-being at divergent rates. Why this is the case, how some were able to advance when others did so more slowly if at all, is a subject for lively debate. But it is the case and the industrial revolution seems to be something of a dividing line.

Somehow, those wealthy, developed societies concluded that what they had needed to be shared. Perhaps a sense of moral responsibility was the driver. Perhaps a sense guilt at the inequity of it all. Maybe a recognition that in the long run, the bill would come due for years of ignorance and exploitation. It could be a byproduct of competition between the wealthy great powers. Mass communication almost certainly played a role.

At the same time, once it became obvious to societies in the underdeveloped world, the "have not" societies were no longer willing to be plundered and exploited, they began to throw off the imperialist/colonialist powers that had exploited them.

<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; marginbottom: 0in; marginleft: 0in; marginright: 0in; margintop: 0in;">﻿It seems unlikely to me that the "have not" countries would be able to develop without the aid and support of the wealthy ones. Or, put another way, if the wealthy ones were set on preventing the undeveloped countries from developing, development could only take place at a very slow pace, if at all. A society's possession an extremely valuable natural resource, i.e.: oil, could alter this dynamic.

<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; marginbottom: 0in; marginleft: 0in; marginright: 0in; margintop: 0in;">On that basis, are the developed, Global North countries more part of the solution or part of the problem? I think we are an indispensible part of the solution. Are doing the all of right things to support development in a manner that is both effective and respectful? To what degree are our efforts to aid and support the development of underdeveloped countries helping those countries?

<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; marginbottom: 0in; marginleft: 0in; marginright: 0in; margintop: 0in;">For starters, we're doing a lot better than if we were trying to prevent their development. We have left the era when overt colonialism and exploitation were the norm. Beyond that, we're involved in a learning process to discover and understand what are the best ways to aid and support development in the underdeveloped world. We've certainly made mistakes, but, on balance it seems that we're headed in the right direction.

<span style="color: #000080; display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; marginbottom: 0in; marginleft: 0in; marginright: 0in; margintop: 0in;">Selection of My Topic <span style="color: #114488; display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%; margin: 0in;">Author: Stuart Adams Created: 9/25/2010 <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; marginbottom: 0in; marginleft: 0in; marginright: 0in; margintop: 0in;">The first order of business for this class was to select a topic for the grand research paper that is the focus of this course. The requirement is to do sufficient research to be able to present a conference to the class on the topic and then to write a 5000 word paper on the subject. Thomas, the professor, provided a list of topics that he wanted people to write on that fir his goals for the course (question for the androgogists: who should be setting the learning goals?) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; marginbottom: 0in; marginleft: 0in; marginright: 0in; margintop: 0in;">As a general rule, I prefer to make choices in topics and commentary that shifts the perspective from post-secondary learning and adult learning to K-12 schooling ad to try to apply my learnings to that arena. Thus, my first choice was to look at the education and training of teachers. As it turned out, that topic was grabbed by another student. This probably was a blessing in disguise. From my preliminary readings (in Perraton) I concluded that the ways that teachers are trained for developing countries would have little applicability to my areas of concern. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; marginbottom: 0in; marginleft: 0in; marginright: 0in; margintop: 0in;">As it happened, I chose to look at "Open Schooling" as a topic. Open schooling focuses on programs that use DE as a technique to reach primary and, especially secondary students along the lines of the OU UK and other open universities. I now think that this will be a much better contrast to US public K-12 education and will provide me a more useful project to focus on. Thomas added the topic on Mexico's Telesecundaria system and Interactive Radio Instruction (IRI ) to my responsibilities. They are clearly related to open schooling. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; marginbottom: 0in; marginleft: 0in; marginright: 0in; margintop: 0in;">Whether it is part of the professor's initial conception for the topics or not, I plan to use US K-12 education as a baseline for understanding these topics. <span style="color: #000080; display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; marginbottom: 0in; marginleft: 0in; marginright: 0in; margintop: 0in;">Selection of My Question <span style="color: #114488; display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%; margin: 0in;">Author: Stuart Adams Created: 10/7/2010 Wow!!! I don't ever remember being so deluged by reading assigments and loads. I got the Annotated Biblio AND the Essay on Human Capital yesterday and therer's not a moment to waste/loose in getting ready to present my conference on October 21. I selected my question the other day as a sort of an inspiration. Reading one of teh background chapters from Abrioux & Ferreira I was impressed by their breakdown of Open Schooling into the "features" of flexibility, openness, use of innovative pedagogy, and TECHNOLOGY. AH, there's where I found home. I plan to use technology as the focal point for understanding Open Schooling. For my statment of the question I wrote:

// Two key implementations of technology to accomplish Open Schooling are the use of television in the Telesecundaria program and radio in the Interactive Radio Instruction approach. I will consider these approaches as well as traditional paper-based dissemination of instruction, the use of computer-based technology, and the evolving use of mobile computing devices to perform Open Schooling. // // I will explain Open Schooling and assess its role in an overview. From there, I plan to give a qualitative assessment of each technological approach, using specific examples from various countries, and providing information regarding the remaining three features (flexibility, openness, use of unconventional pedagogy) of Open Schooling. I then plan to offer quantitative evaluation of return on investment, if such data can be found. Finally, I hope to offer some thoughts on future directions for Open Schooling. // Hope this works. Sometimes you take on a topic.question and discover that there isn't near enough material to work with. I think that I should be OK here.