This Dossier will be published in RUSC Volume 10, No 2 (July 2013).



Theme

Latin American countries are struggling with problems associated with technology and telecommunications infrastructure, known as the 'digital divide', and also with higher education models, laws and regulations that prevent this mode of education from becoming a real, quality alternative for thousands of young people and adults that want to carry on studying, for whom traditional face-to-face education is not really an option.

Regarding digital competence, many Latin American countries are marked by a series of contrasts and contradictions, as well as endless problems associated with unequal access to technology: the most modern institutions located in big cities allow practically every student to make digital spaces part of their daily learning environment, irrespective of whether or not they physically attend a university. Consequently, there is a need to analyse what is actually happening with interactions of various types, including those between students and their learning environments, between students and their lecturers, and between students and their fellow students.

At the opposite end of the scale are university institutions located outside capitals or big cities. While not benefitting from the same financial advantages as the others, they are often subject to the centrally designed and implemented demands of providing the same coverage, education and academic quality. Such institutions manage to survive on very few resources and very few or almost no digital competence options for their students or teaching staff. They are under great pressure to provide coverage and, quite rightly, they see technology as a way forward in terms of offering professional training to the growing population of young people who want it.



However, the lack of planning, sustainability and knowledge about the characteristics, needs and requirements of distance education tends to raise false expectations and ultimately leads to poor results.



While there are many success stories and effective new approaches to these and other problems, very few of them have been documented; hence the importance of this joint RUSC and SINED effort to publish a compilation of them in a special issue.



We believe that this Dossier will represent a space for reflection on and the analysis of education policy and its relationship with distance education. Furthermore, it will allow us to learn about the success stories and good practices of many Latin American institutions in the field of distance education.





Thematic areas

We are interested in receiving research articles on the theme of the Dossier from all educational sectors around the world.



Specifically, the thematic areas of the Dossier are:



•Distance higher education policies
•Distance education innovation
•National distance education organisations in the 21st century
•The challenges for distance higher education in Mexico and Latin America in the 21st century
•Success stories and good practices


Guest editors

Margarita Ontiveros y Sánchez de la Barquera holds a bachelor's degree in Communication Sciences (Autonomous Metropolitan University, Xochimilco Campus, Mexico) and a master's degree in Educational Technology and Communication (ILCE, Latin American Institute for Educational Communication).As a grantholder of the National Council of Science and Technology (CONACYT), Mexico, in 2003 she did a stage in France to study the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) at the University of Paris V and the INRP (French National Institute for Pedagogical Research).

She is currently a lecturer at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, where she has taught in a number of faculties; she has also lectured on postgraduate courses at the following institutions: Anahuac University, Xalapa University and Panamerican University.

She was the general coordinator of University Extension in the Cuautitlán Faculty of Higher Education (FESC) for six years. During that time she was responsible for the institution's editorial project: Revista de Divulgación Científica Multidisciplinaria. She was also the head of Continuing and Distance Education at that institution. Her articles have been published in Periódico Universal, Revista PC Semanal and RV. She coordinated the chapter "Producción de Materiales: la savia de la Red" in the book Uso de la tecnología en la educación: Un lustro de UNETE,published by Panamerican University and UNETE, a civil society association. She was co-author of the book "historias de la Historia del cómputo en México" published in 2008. From 2005 to 2007 she was deputy director for Production and Systems at the Educational Technology and Communication Studies Centre (CECTE) at ILCE. She was an advisor to the Under Secretary for Higher Education for the Secretariat of Public Education's (SEP's) Open and Distance University project (2008-2010), which was implemented as the Programme for Open and Distance Higher Education on 12 August 2010. As at 27 September, more than 33,000 students had enrolled on 13 open and distance higher education courses. She sat on the Technical Committee of the Higher Education System-National Association of Universities and Higher Education Institutions (SES-ANUIES) for the implementation of the National System of Distance Education, to which she is currently a permanent advisor for the development of special projects. She sits on the Technical Committee for the test on Digital Competencies for Education and Work (CODIET), which assesses the ability of young people in further and higher education to apply technological skills to the labour market and higher education studies. She is currently the general coordinator of the National Consortium of Scientific and Technological Information Resources (CONRICYT) at CONACYT, and is responsible for the database of scientific journals for that Council.





José Raúl Canay Pazos holds a bachelor's degree in Business Administration and Management specialising in Economics (University of Santiago de Compostela, USC) and a doctorate in Economics (University Institute of Studies and Development of Galicia at the USC). He also holds postgraduate qualifications in e-Learning Project Management (Open University of Catalonia, UOC), in Auditing (USC-Spanish Institute of Sworn Auditors) and in Finance and Taxation (USC).



He has undertaken research internships related to the management of online education processes at the Virtual University of Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education (Nuevo León, Mexico), the Real Colegio Complutense at Harvard University (United States) and the University of Valparaíso (Chile).



He was the Director of the Learning Technology Centre (CeTA) at the USC from the time it was created in 2003 to July 2010, where he was in charge of implementing and managing the USC's current Virtual Campus, as well as a variety of initiatives connected with teaching innovation policies related to the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) at the USC.



Since it was formed, he has been a member of the expert research group that has collaborated with the ICT Analysis and Planning Working Group of the Conference of Spanish University Rectors (CRUE) on the elaboration of the report on ICTs in the Spanish university system known as UNIVERSITIC, the seventh edition of which is about to be published. He is a member of the Editorial Board of RUSC-Universities and Knowledge Society Journal published by the UOC, of the Scientific Review Board of the journal Comunicar and a founding member of the Spanish University Network of University Campuses (RUCV) association.



He is the author and co-author of various books, book chapters, papers and guest lectures on the impact of ICTs on universities' actions from organisational and pedagogical perspectives. He is currently a lecturer in the Department of Financial Economics and Accounting at the USC.






Submission deadline

The deadline for submissions is 31 December 2012.

No articles received after that date will be accepted.

This Dossier will be published in RUSC Volume 10, No 2 (July 2013).