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In The Death of Distance, Frances Cairncross (1998) postulated a set of trends in the new communications environment that would influence the way we live, work, and play. While the dot-com boom and bust experience of the late 1990s required a review of these postulations, many still have relevance in the context of educational services. One of these is that the size of an organization does not matter, as small or specialized organizations and even individuals can create and transmit knowledge products to many users (at the users" call) using the power of technology. The other trends that have relevance to the increased use of new technologies in the educational sector are as follows:
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The death of distance: The cost of communication will not be determined by distance even in the most regulated environments. Reaching out to students through the electronic highway will be determined more by the willingness of educational providers to utilize the newer technologies than by considerations of cost, as demonstrated by the application of satellite and Web technologies in India and the South Pacific.
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The cost of appliances: Such costs will continue to drop even as their computing capacities increase.
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Location does not matter: Providers of educational services can be located anywhere on earth and still reach learners wherever they may be as long as there is a basic communication infrastructure. For example, students in India have access to courses in North America without having to be in North America. Similarly, courses in educational institutions in India can and should travel across the globe.
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Content customization: Learning can be a multi-channel or a mono-channel experience. The final authority on customization will be the target learning outcomes for the subject and the learning preference of the learner.
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People as the ultimate scarce resource: The really difficult challenge for institutions will be to recruit people with the necessary skills to perform the tasks required, as well as to train and retrain those already in service to work in the new environment.
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Emergence of a global language: The emergence of English as a dominant second language of science, technology, business, and international relations, as well as education and training, will mean the availability of globally usable knowledge products. There will be an increase in the choice of educational and training courses.
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Communities of culture: The opportunity to make available content in languages other than English will become feasible. Declining costs and ease of use of the communication tools will make possible the creation and preservation of cultural products and traditions.
As we look ahead to the future of technology-supported learning in the Asia Pacific region, the challenge will not be the availability, cost, maintenance, and versatility of technologies. Rather, the challenge will be about the capabilities, capacities, imagination, and aspirations of our institutions of learning and pedagogues to use technologies to their full potential.
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