Transfer and adaptation of self instructional materials

Raj Dhanarajan, Director of the Open Learning Institute of Hong Kong, and Shannon Timmers, Senior Course Designer at the same institution, present their reflections on the collaborative use of learning materials in distance education. Based on a presentation made at a Commonwealth of Learning seminar, their approach reveals how the global dimension of distance education is being grasped in some quarters. Their detailed consideration of how transfer and adaptation of materials should be managed throws a spotlight at the same time on the opportunities that the successful adoption of collaborative strategies brings for learners and institutions.