brief survey of the literature

I contacted Ms. Kennedy re: my topic, and she thinks it makes sense to talk about distance education in India. I think I will emphasize the differences in the local Indian discourse pre- and post- Internet. Is the Internet seen as a panacea by Indian scholars of distance higher education?

I started my research, found a few books Thursday, and am now at Robarts with a bunch of them, which I think are interesting. Here, a quick list of the books, their bibliographic info, and a few lines on what they are about.

Pre-1995

Faith, Karlene Ed. (1988) Toward new horizons for women in distance education - International Perspectives, Routledge, New York.
This book is the Western, feminist perspective into distance education. I hope to find the "utopian" vision of the possibilities opened by distance education. This book will also allow me to identify certain gaps in other writers' analyses, in terms of women issues. It includes a case-study of India, written by Indian scholars.

Mohsini, S.R. (1993) History of adult education in India - From literacy to diversified educational programme, Anmol Publications, New Delhi.
This book will be helpful to understand the development of adult and distance education in India, as it tries to underline the rationale behind the implementation of adult education programs. It obviously does not talk about the Internet, but does mention audio-visual media, infrastructure, etc.

Sahoo, P.K. (1993) Higher education at-a-distance, Sanchar Publishing House, New Delhi.
Just like Mohsini's book, this book will be interesting to understand the bases on which distance education were laid. The theme of technology is evaluated.

Post-1995

Daniel, Sir John (1996) Mega-Universities and Knowledge Media - Technology Strategies for Higher Education, Kogan Page, London.
This book was written by a past Vice-Chancellor of the Open University. really early after the Internet became "real". It will be interesting as a forecast of what is coming up next, what is to be expected of the new technological advances.

Manjulika, S. and Reddy, V.V. (1999) Unexplored dimensions of open universities, Vikas Publishing House, New Delhi.
The book is a survey of the different open universities projects in the world. It focuses on India. There seems to be very little mention of the Internet, regardless of the fact that it is a book about distance higher education.

Sondhi, M.L. and Tyagi, K.G. Eds. (2001) India in the New Asia-Pacific, Manas Publications, New Delhi.
This book is written by scholars who are wondering about the future of India in a "globalized" world. The whole first part is written about ICTs, and how they should be put to use in India's favour. It focuses on knowledge creation, innovation, scholarship and education. Highly pertinent.

Dikshit, H.P., Garg, Suresh, Panda, Santosh and Vijayshri (2002) Access and equity - Challenges for open and distance learning, Kogan Page India, New Delhi.
The book offers a very nice survey of different issues in distance education as experienced in India. Issues of technology and technological determinism are raised. Very pertinent.

Reddy, V.V. and Manjulika, S. Eds. (2002) Towards virtualization - Open and Distance Learning, Kogan Page India, New Delhi.
The book is a collection of case studies about virtual, dual mode and open universities. A few are written about India. It tries to refocus the attention on ICTs. Seems very pertinent.

Shafi, Zeenat S. and Powar, K.B. Eds. (2002) Networking of universities, research institutions and industry, Association of Indian Universities, New Delhi.
This book is a collection of short papers questioning the possibilities and advantages of networking between teh different institutions creating knowledge in the Indian society. One of the studies is about open education. ICTs are not a main feature of the discourse.

Assie-Lumumba, N'Dri T. Ed. (2004) Cyberspace, Distance Learning, and Higher Education in developing countries - Old and emergent issues of access, pedagogy, and knowledge production, Brill, Boston (MA).
Most of the essays in this edited volume are about Africa, but the issues that are raised are very important in my analysis of the Indian case.

Merh-Ashraf, Sushama (2004) Adult education in India - Search for a paradigm, Sunrise Publications, New Delhi.
The book tries to put higher education in the Indian context, and hopes to suggest avenues for broadening the literacy base in India. There is very little talk of distance education, the open universities, and about the role of technologies for education. Strange, given it is a very recent publication.