LEGITIMATION OF DISTANCE EDUCATION: A SOCIAL HISTORY OF THE OPEN LEARNING INSTITUTE OF BRITISH COLUMBIA 1978-1988 by LOUISE MORAN B.A. Australian National University, 1968 Grad. Dip. Educ. Admin., Adelaide College of Advanced Education, 1980 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES (Department of Social and Educational Studies) We accept this thesis as conforming to the required standard THE IV?’RITISH COLUMBIA Decener 1991 Louise Moran, 1991 _____________________________ In presenting this thesis in partial fulfilment of the requirements for an advanced degree at the University of British Columbia, I agree that the Library shall make it freely available for reference and study. I further agree that permission for extensive copying of this thesis for scholarly purposes may be granted by the head of my department or by his or her representatives. It is understood that copying or publication of this thesis for financial gain shall not be allowed without my written permission. Department of J(cXZGtc?LQ.. k-.az The University of British Columbia Vancouver, Canada Date I I I s CQ-tQI DE-6 (2/88) ii ABSTRACT As Canadian higher education expanded from the 1950s, new institutions sought institutional legitimacy, meaning credibility and prestige in relation to educational peers and the state. Three dimensions to institutional legitimacy were identified: hierarchies of institutions, curricula and pedagogies; horizontal status within institutional sectors and fields of knowledge; and external legitimacy in relation to the state. New distance education institutions have found institutional legitimacy unusually problematic because of widespread scepticism about an educational form in which teacher and learner are separated in time and/or space. Distance educators typically balance industrial organizational forms using modern communications technologies, with attention to individual learners and accessibility. The study examined how a new, publicly-funded, distance education institution acquires legitimacy. The British Columbia government established the Open Learning Institute in 1978, over extensive opposition, with an unusual mandate to teach programs from degree level to adult basic education at a distance. OLI never fitted easily into either university or college sector. Ambiguity persisted over its roles as credential-provider and service agency, but OLI quickly proved its popularity with students. Its leaders adopted existing norms and standards, especially those of the universities, while insisting on college characteristics of openness and accessibility. Government Restraint policies in the 1980s materially affected OLI’s curriculum and pedagogies, and contributed to continuing debates over OLI’s role as provincial coordinator of distance education. iii By 1988, OLI’s credentials were accepted in BC; inter-institutional collaborative agreements confirmed OLI was an acceptable partner; and OLI was a significant leader in the international distance education field. The Institute challenged traditional indicators of hierarchical institutional legitimacy through its sophisticated distance education techniques and new organizational patterns. Horizontal legitimacy, especially in relation to OLI’s accessibility and its distance education expertise, was more important to its overall institutional legitimacy than position in traditional hierarchies of prestige. Its relationship with the state was also crucial to fiscal prosperity and perceptions of distance education’s capacity to serve state functions. Conclusions are drawn about distance education’s effects on the three dimensions of institutional legitimacy. iv CONTENTS Page Abstract ii Acknowledgements vii INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY I Statement of the Problem 1 Institutional Legitimacy - a Definition 3 Distance Education - a Definition 11 Open Learning Institute of British Columbia 19 Nature and Methodology of the Study 21 Significance of the Study 26 Outline of the Study 27 2 THE CONTEXT: CANADIAN HIGHER EDUCATION, AND DISTANCE EDUCATION 30 Legitimacy and Canadian Higher Education 30 Growth in Higher Education 30 Stratification of Knowledge & Allocation of Status 34 Legitimation of Stratification and Allocation 40 Consequences for Institutional Legitimacy 44 Legitimacy and Change in Distance Education 47 Growth of Distance Education 48 Structure of Distance Education 51 Systems of Distance Education 53 Inter-Institutional Collaboration 60 Why did these Changes Occur? 63 Conclusions 67 3 THE CONTEXT: HIGHER EDUCATION IN BRITISH COLUMBIA 70 The Environment of British Columbia 70 British Columbian Politics 71 Expansion of Higher Education 74 The Universities Prior to 1978 78 The Colleges and Institutes Prior to 1978 85 Coordination of a Higher Education System 88 Conclusions 91 4 GENESIS OF THE OPEN LEARNING INSTITUTE: 1975-1978 98 Social Credit, McGeer and Hardwick 98 Educational Commissions 1976-1977 103 Interior University Programs Board 106 Distance Education Planning Group 111 Conclusions 121 V Page 5 TO SURVIVE AND PROSPER: THE INSTITUTION 1978-1980 130 People, Place and Community 130 First Principles, Plans and Budgets 134 Governance and Organizational Structures 140 Board and Principal 140 Organizational Structure 143 No Full-Time Faculty 145 Design and Delivery Systems 147 Course Design 147 Communications Media 149 Acquiring and Adapting Others’ Courses 151 Teaching Strategies 152 Student Support Services 154 OLI’s First Students 156 Conclusions 157 6 REACHING OUTSIDE OLI: 1978-1980 164 The Curriculum Takes Shape 164 University Program 165 Adult Basic Education Program 169 Career, Technical, Vocational Program 172 Continuing Education 175 Relationships With the State 176 Relationships With Higher Education Institutions 180 Relationships With the Universities 180 Relationships with Colleges and Institutes 184 Conclusions 186 7 RESTRAINING HIGHER EDUCATION IN THE 1980s 193 The Restraint Policy 193 Effects of Restraint on Higher Education 195 8 CONSOLIDATION AND COMMUNITY WITHIN OLI: 1980-1988 206 A New Principal 206 Impact of Restraint on OLI’s Growth 207 Curriculum Development 212 Career, Technical, Vocational Program 213 University Programs 217 Adult Basic Education Program 224 Continuing Education 226 Distance Education Systems at Work 227 Course Development and Production 228 Teaching and Support Services 234 Management, Structure and Culture 242 Labour Relations Within OLI 242 The OLI Community 245 A New Principal and a New Structure 246 Conclusions 247 vi Page 9 COLLABORATION AND COORDINATION OUTSIDE OLI: 1980-1988 257 OLI’s Students 257 OLI in the Distance Education Field 264 Inter-Institutional Collaboration 271 Patterns of Collaboration 273 Models of Sectoral Collaboration 276 The Knowledge Network of the West 283 Provincial Coordination of Distance Education 289 Conclusions 298 10 CONCLUSIONS 308 OLI’s History - a Resume 308 Securing Survival and Prosperity 312 OLI and Traditional Indicators of Legitimacy in BC 317 OLI and the State 322 Legitimacy in the Field of Distance Education 326 Distance Education and Institutional Legitimacy 333 Implications for Future Research 339 BIBLIOGRAPHY 341 APPENDICES 362 1 Tables 362 2 Members of OLI Board 1978-1988 374 3 Interviews Conducted by the Author 376 4 Abbreviations and Acronyms in Text and Endnotes 378 vii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS A PhD thesis is the product of one person’s obsessive wrestling with the data, but its successful conclusion is greatly aided by more disinterested colleagues, friends and family. This study is no exception. My deepest thanks go, firstly, to my research advisor, Dr Donald Fisher, and the other members of my thesis committee, Dr William Bruneau and Dr Ronald Neufeld, whose encouragement and advice were invaluable. Secondly, I am very grateful to Dr Glen Farrell, President of the Open Learning Agency, for his generosity and openness in giving me access to the Agency’s archives. I owe a considerable debt to Dr Ian Mugridge and Dr John Bottomley, of OLA, for their unflagging willingness to provide information and comment critically on my findings, and for their continuing friendship withal. I am grateful, too, to Ms Connie Fitzpatrick, OLA’s Librarian, for her help in bringing the archives together and making the most of them. I appreciated the enthusiastic response and thoughtful comments I received from those who gave so freely of their time to be interviewed for this study. My warm thanks to Dr Hilary Perraton for wise counsel, sustaining friendship, and tough comments on seemingly endless drafts. I acknowledge my debt to Deakin University for granting me three years’ leave to undertake this degree. Finally, but very far from least, I dedicate this study to my mother and my late father, without whose lifelong encouragement to seek new horizons I would not have had the courage to undertake this work. 1 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM Higher education has expanded enormously in most quarters of the world since 1950. Massive growth has occurred in the number and variety of institutions, students, subjects and credentials. Pressures for increased popular access have vied with efforts to retain traditional elite characteristics of higher education. Canada has been no exception to these trends. Before 1950, Canadian higher education was largely conducted by a small number of autonomous universities with denominational affiliations, accessible to the privileged few. Each province now has