Chapter 4
Centro para la Inovación y Desarrollo de
la Educación a Distancia (CIDEAD)
Category: Government training centre
Country: Spain
Location: Madrid
Language of instruction: Spanish
Tel: 341 527 15 46- 527
Fax: 341 429 97 71
Argumosa 43,
Pabellón 6,
28012 Madrid.
Spain
Creation of CIDEAD
The restructuring of an earlier institution (INBAD), which
dealt with non-university distance training, led to the foundation of the
Centro para la Inovación y Desarrollo de la Educación a Distancia
(Centre for innovation and development of education at a distance). CIDEAD
was a response to the LOGSE, a 1990 law which restructured and redefined
the scope of educational policy at a non-university level in Spain, CIDEAD
was created in 1992. Although the law was primarily concerned with the
effective application of compulsory education until the age of 16, it also
contained the following observations:
-
the accelerated changes in the cultural and productive processes
require a more versatile common formation, this should respond to the needs
of each citizen and be capable of achieving the maximum development possible
-
adult education should be made possible for those who cannot
follow regular lessons
-
discrimination should be avoided in the administration of
adult education.
Distance education was seen as an efficient way of achieving
some of the objectives of the aforementioned law, however it would require
a new structure which would be much more diversified and of a much greater
ambit than any previous distance educational structure in Spain. CIDEAD
is, then, a crucial instrument for the realisation of this new model of
distance education its function is therefore to organise and co-ordinate
the elements and processes of distance education. The creation of a structure
such as CIDEAD was particularly important in the light of the great innovations
in, and the accelerated evolution of, the information technology sector.
The possibilities that the application of the new IT products and systems
offer to education in general and more particularly to the distance education
sector are many and varied, in this light, the creation of a central structure
to monitor the potential for the application of these new tools represents
a well co-ordinated approach.
Official status and Functions
CIDEAD is a wholly public entity attached to the Ministry
of Education and Science, its territorial application is equal to that
of the Ministry. As mentioned above, the territorial structure of Spain
means that some Autonomous Regions are competent for the application of
education policy whilst others are regulated centrally.
Its main functions are:
-
To investigate the training demands of the adult population
who might be potential candidates for an open education system.
-
To plan different courses on offer from the Open University
-
To adapt different syllabuses according to the requirements
of adult pupils and the nature of Open University methodology
-
To design and evaluate course materials
-
To design different models for tutoring, teachers' guides
and counselling
-
To investigate new techniques of information and communication,
and to incorporate them into the Open University system
-
To develop training programmes for teachers involved in the
open distance education system
-
To evaluate the open education system and educative processes
-
To put forward proposals to the Ministry of Science and education
concerning the authorization of suitable centres (ordinary or specific)
where open adult training can be carried out including the management and
co-ordination of these centres
-
To put forward technical measures to make effective the management
and didactic resources used in the Open University (that is, editorial
and production)
-
To give financial and administrative management and advice.
CIDEAD, however, through various conventions and agreements,
endeavours to develop common positions with regard to distance education
between both levels of administration; it thus often bridges the cleavage
between the central and autonomous administrations.
The structure of CIDEAD reflects the five main functions
which is carried out by the centre:
|
Educative Innovation
Teacher training
technology |
Academic regime
Secretary
Didactic Research
|
Economic Development
|
Production and distribution
Design and machinery
|
Documentation and library
|
Under the above general structure the CIDEAD also performs
the following functions :
-
Investigating the educational and training
demands of various groups that could be fulfilled by distance education.
-
Planning new educational offers at a distance which renew
and diversify the existing public offers for the instruction of the EGB,
BUP and COU. These offers must be considering the needs of the adult population
and having regard to their personal social and working circumstances.
-
Designing, elaborating and evaluating models and instruments
for the evaluation of students.
-
Evaluating the educational processes and the didactic modules
and systems in general.
-
Investigating new technologies in information technology
and communication and their incorporation and extension to distance education.
-
The development of training programmes and the perfection
of teacher training for adults and distance trainers.
-
CIDEAD may propose that the ministry for education should
authorise other centres that impart courses at a distance.
-
To attend to students who are not adults and who, due to
special circumstances, must be educated at a distance.
Finances
The CIDEAD is dependent upon the ministry for education and
science (Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia- MEC) and is therefore
a wholly public institution which is funded by the government.
Employment
The CIDEAD uses a network of study centres throughout the
national territory. It comprises ordinary public centres in addition to
centres specifically designed for adult education. The basic functions
of the centres are as follows:
-
To provide information about entry requirements and registration
-
Distribution of didactic materials
-
Academic development
-
Tutorial help
-
Evaluation.
The network of centres itself provides employment for about
2,000 tutors.
Certification
The CIDEAD, covers a broad category of qualifications and
levels of education and training; these are:
-
primary education; this is divided in three parts
and aimed at children from ages 6 to 12 years, the courses at this level
in the CIDEAD are aimed at those who because of exceptional circumstances
cannot attend ordinary face-to face-schools
-
basic formation: this is aimed at adults who are unable
to dominate the basic educational requirements, either because they have
never attended or it is a long time since they have attended the educational
system
-
secondary education; this course is based on the obligatory
secondary education curriculum which is designed to provide a broad secondary
education, this terminates with examinations to obtain the BUP
-
courses of preparation for entry into university;
COU in conjunction with an aptitude test (selectividad) gives the student
the necessary requisites for university entry
-
languages courses
-
professional formation; these are further education
courses, in a variety of disciplines, designed to add to one's skills repertoire.
The certification offered by CIDEAD in the various courses confer the same
rights and degree of qualification as those offered by the ordinary public
educational system.
Training
An integral part of the functions of CIDEAD has been the
development of courses for tutors, the aim is to prepare tutors for training
and educating at a distance the numbers of tutors participating in these
courses is large and provides a specialised pool of employees:
|
YEAR
|
Professional
Formation
|
That's
English
|
Basic
|
BUP
&
COU
|
TOTAL
|
|
92/93
|
79
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
79
|
|
93/94
|
129
|
230
|
328
|
-
|
687
|
|
94/95
|
158
|
127
|
146
|
348
|
779
|
|
95/96
|
48
|
96
|
143
|
290
|
577
|
CIDEAD enrolments from '92-'97
CIDEAD has developed a course aimed at allowing teachers to gain expertise
in distance education. It is based on manuals and didactic guides and provides
a recruitment pool for the CIDEAD itself. CIDEAD has shown a large degree
of expertise in performing this task and a particularly impressive innovation
has been the Cd rom based Training Course for Trainers in Open and Distance
Learning. This initiative was carried out in partnership with:
-
The Spanish Ministry for Education and Science
-
StOHO
-
UNED
-
Deutshes Institut für Fernstudienforschung an der Unniversität
Tübingen
and it was supported by EUROFORM . The layout of the course is particularly
user friendly and will surely be a most helpful tool for trainers in the
future.
The workdesk of CIDEAD's course
The course revolves around a central point in the form
of a desktop from which one conducts oneself through the various modules.
An overall map, this is enabled by clicking on the globe on the desktop,
acts as a guide and lets one know one's position. Various tools are also
accessed from the desktop these allow one to take notes, look up references,
and everything else necessary to complete the course.
Publications
CIDEAD contributes significantly to the development of knowledge
in the field of distance education through the publication of the RED (Revista
de Educación a Distancia) every two months. The Red provides
an excellent reference point for the major innovations and changes in the
distance education sector in general and it also gives a comprehensive
picture of the state of distance education in Spain. RED also provides
much commentary on the more theoretical studies and developments in distance
education.
Undoubtedly the excellence of the publication has much
to do with the fact that the distance education sector in Spain is particularly
healthy and provides much material for commentary, the national profile
on Spain in this study shows the very high standard of distance education
provision there.
Enrolment Statistics
The statistics referred to in below do not contain the enrolments
from the Autonomous Communities, which are included in the national statistics
of Spain.
1993/94
| Graduado Escolar |
11.382
|
| BUP and COU |
22.408
|
| Professional training |
1.272
|
| "That's English!" |
33.122
|
| TOTAL |
68.184
|
1994/95
| Graduado Escolar |
10.985
|
| BUP and COU |
20.604
|
| Professional training |
1.874
|
| "That's English!" |
39.414
|
| TOTAL |
72.877
|
1995/96
| Graduado Escolar |
10.578
|
| BUP and COU |
21.793
|
| Professional training |
1.420
|
| "That's English!" |
43.350
|
| TOTAL |
79.141
|
Cidead enrolments 1994-'97
D