1 DISTANCE EDUCATION AND THE NEW INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGIES: AN ANALYSIS OF PROBLEMS FACING A DEVELOPING COUNTRY Mr. Ayoku A. Ojedokun Subject Librarian University of Botswana Library, Gaborone, Botswana. Ojedokun@noka.ub.bw Introduction Distance education, sometimes synonymous with distance learning, started in a more organised form with the print-based correspondence study in the 1800s (Erdos, 1967). Distance education is the instructional delivery that allows the student to be in a separate geographical location from the instructor (Steiner, 1996). Its acceptance by many DCs, particularly Africa, for solving educational problems is attributed to reasons of geographical and socio-economic circumstances, educational imbalances, the emergence of adult education units and departments in African Universities, the development of improved communication systems, the diffusion of colonial practices, and the dogged tenacity of many of the protagonists of the system of instruction (Adekanmbi, 1997). However, colonial influence and the rapid technological changes especially in information and communications technologies in the past decade seem to be the driving force for its acceptance. Aikat (1998), identified seven groups served by distance education. They include: • those who are geographically isolated • professionals who cannot attend classes on traditional campuses • students who cannot attend on-campus classes due to family, job or other commitments • non-traditional students such as house wives • physically handicapped individuals • people affected by socio-economic factors that make distance education not an alternative but rather the only access that they will have to quality education • students in developing countries whose information infrastructures, supported by recent technology, will provide a quantum leap forward in educating their people. Distance education in its earliest form, meant study by correspondence. However, as new technologies were developed, distance education was delivered electronically through such media as audiotape, videotape, radio and television broadcasting, and satellite transmission. Today, microcomputers, the Internet, and the World Wide Web (WWW) are shaping the current generation of distance learning (Kerka, 1997). Virtual reality is gradually taking over and artificial intelligence, and knowledge systems may be next. These delivery systems provide real time, interactive and dynamic instruction. They create flexibility regarding the time, place and pace of study and provide a highly interactive learner-centred environment. Telecommunications infrastructure remains the backbone of the application of this wide range of communications and multimedia services. Effective delivery of distance education using information and communications technologies requires ready availability of telephone lines, adequate (optimum) bandwidth, technical expertise, reliable power supply and quality telecommunications loop/network. However, there are regions of the world that have no access to telecommunications, and others where access is extremely limited. According to Hudson (1997), the vast majority of telecommunication facilities are located in the industrialised world. This limits the adoption of the new information and communications technologies for distance education in developing countries. Its adoption is also limited by the socio-economic and cultural conditions of many developing countries. For example, in most parts of Africa, in South and south-east Asia and in Central and Latin America, the peoples main concern, according to Navaro et al, (1996), is getting some food and water, fighting diseases, poverty, wars, and political pressure. These people cannot therefore for the time being think about using information and communications technologies for distance education delivery as long as they have concerns about providing the basic needs for their citizenry.