Bates+Model


 * Presenter Names:** Venus Watson, Ananda Moore

A Brief History of the Bates Model
Anthony (Tony) Bates, one of the early leading distance educators, developed a model based on a philosophy of open learning. Open education, or open learning, is a vision of an educational system accessible to every individual with minimal restrictions. This philosophy stresses the flexibility of the system to eliminate problems caused by barriers of, for example, age, geographic location, time constraints, and economic situations. Bates specifically stressed the importance of interaction and flexibility he felt was lacking in distance learning.

In 1995, when the model was developed, Bates had the foresight to assert the ways in which modern technology would achieve open learning. He expressed that technology could expand access to education and training, improve the quality of learning, and reduce instructional costs, as well as garner popularity, have platform independence, be easily accessible, remove time and situational barriers, and remove the biggest barrier to learning -- distance between places.

At the time he offered the following forecast of how technology could be used:  Bates’ ultimate goal was to create a distance-learning environment that would enhance the experience for the learner through interaction. In considering educational settings, Bates also claimed "because gender, race, and physical appearance, status, or experience are not readily apparent, and because access to conference can be made available to students and teacher alike, everyone participating is judged solely on the value of their contributions (although this is heavily dependent on the approach adopted by the tutor or moderator" (Bates, 1995, p.11). Over the last 15 years, the model has changed significantly to compensate for equally significant changes in technology. What must be kept in mind is that institutions that explore the new technologies should fulfill the needs of the students of the 21st century. to Bates his model is based on a systems approach which Gustafson and Branch found to only be implied rather than specifically addressing all components of ADDIE.
 * Integration of television, telecommunications and computers, through digitization and compression techniques;
 * Reduced costs and more flexible uses/applications of telecommunications, through developments such as ISDN/fiber-optics/cellular radio;
 * Miniaturization (tiny cameras, microphones, small high-resolution display screens);
 * Increased portability through use of radio communication;
 * Increased processing power, through new micro-chip development and advanced software techniques;
 * More powerful and user-friendly command and software tools, making it much easier for users to create and communicate their own materials.

Main Components of the Bates Model
Existing as part of the Bates model is the ACTIONS framework, highlighting elements of distance learning that must be addressed during planning.



The Original Bates Model
Overall, the ever-evolving Bates model stresses the utilization of carefully considered technology, criticizing the use of new technology based solely upon the fact that it is new. He stresses the benefits of using “tried and true” technology, interwoven with the new. The original Bates model focused greatly on the delivery of course material, specifically “the issues of warehousing, packaging and mailing of print materials, library services, and tutoring” which is less essential today, where an encrypted PDF replaces many of the issues he originally addressed (Gustafson & Branch).

Bates' model has what he calls a front-end system design. A front-end system design has four phases: course outline development, selection of media, development/production of materials, and course delivery. Within each phase, Bates has properly identified the team roles and the actions or issues to be addressed. Bates admits he borrows heavily from the ADDIE model from which he derives many of his ideas. One of the reasons Bates may have felt compelled to create an additional model to ADDIE is because ADDIE has been widely and often criticized for being too systematic. ADDIE is often said to be too linear, too constraining, and even too time-consuming to implement with regards to e-learning. While Bates may have been making an attempt to simplify ADDIE, he cautions course design may take as much as two years (Fauser, Henry, and Norman).

The organizing framework that Bates proposed for assessing learning technologies is called ACTIONS. The ACTIONS model includes consideration of access, cost, teaching and learning implications, interaction and usability, organizational issues, novelty and speed of training intervention. Each of these issues is imperative to consider in the development of new training models, especially when one is considering the use of new training methods that have not yet been fully validated. The development of ACTIONS was prompted by Bates’ desire to create a method for distance learning that discouraged the development of instruction, which is face-to-face instruction without the interaction.

**The Evolved Bates Model**
In Bates’ second edition of “Technology, e-learning and distance education” he re-organizes it to emphasize new technologies, stating that “New technologies are just different, and we need to understand the difference and the appropriate circumstances for applying various technologies for effective teaching and learning” (Bates p. 3).  He provides the framework for the selection of appropriate technology, “explains the intricate issues related to technology adoption in distance teaching and learning, and discusses how to deal with rapid technological change” (Mishra). He covers the different approaches to the organization of distance education, including single-mode distance teaching institutions, online universities, virtual institutes as part of traditional distance education or campus based operation, dual mode distance education programs, for-profit distance education institutes, consortia, and corporate universities. He urges readers to understand that no technology is bad, but that it is important to be mindful when selecting a technology to guarantee that it will be effective. Bates emphasises the four types of e-learning—supplementing classroom teaching, supplementing print- or broadcast-based distance teaching, mixed mode, and fully online. He covers the pros and cons of many technologies, including print, tv and video, radio, asynchronous and synchronous web-learning and the importance of interaction and synchronous technologies such as audio-, video- and web conferences.

In his summary of the second edition of his book, Bates provides twelve rules for using technologies in education and training:
 * 1) Good teaching is important: It may overcome poor use of technology, but technology can never save bad teaching.
 * 2) Designing effective learning experience requires instructional designers who understand the technology.
 * 3) Each medium has its own idiom and grammar to follow for professional production.
 * 4) Educational technologies are flexible and can be used in a variety of ways limited only to human imagination and creativity.
 * 5) There is no “super-technology”.
 * 6) Make all mediums (face-to-face, print, audio, video, interactive multimedia) available to the learners.
 * 7) <span style="font-family: Arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Interaction is essential.
 * 8) <span style="font-family: Arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Student numbers are critical for economies of scale.
 * 9) <span style="font-family: Arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">New technologies are not necessarily better than old ones.
 * 10) <span style="font-family: Arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Teamwork is essential in educational use of technology.
 * 11) <span style="font-family: Arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Teachers and resource persons need training to use technologies effectively.
 * 12) <span style="font-family: Arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Technology is not the question—decide what the students need to learn through the use of technology.

Basis for the Model
A systems approach, heavily based on ADDIE, the Bates model exists to develop open and distance learning courses. It is a front-end design with four phases; Course outline development, Selection of media, Development/production of materials, and Course delivery. It uses a team approach, with a two-year course development cycle. Within the model, it includes cost, access, copyright clearance and tutoring considerations.

<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">The Bates model is based on constructivist thought in that activities are largely student oriented with the teacher serving mostly as a facilitator; feedback and structured content allows for students to make connections between their prior knowledge to current; and a flexible wide choice of possibilities is available to students (i.e. permission to start, interrupt, and finish study at any time that suites the individual, individualized and peer-group interaction is encouraged).

E-Instruction Adaptability
The Bates Model was specifically created to manage distance learning. It has been modified significantly since its creation in 1995 to adapt to current communication capabilities, specifically web-based learning.

About Tony Bates
Tony Bates is President and CEO of Tony Bates Associates Ltd, a private company specializing in consultancy and training in the planning and management of e-learning and distance education. The company was started in 2003, and since then has served over 30 clients in 18 countries. Currently he is on contract to the Government of Alberta, assisting with the development of strategic directions for information technology management in the post-secondary education system. (Taken directly from TonyBates.ca, read more )


 * Awalt, Carolyn. "Interview: Speaking Personally–With Tony Bates." American Journal of Distance Education 21.2 (2007): 105-109. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 14 Feb. 2010.
 * Bates, A.W. (Tony) (2000), Managing Technological Change: Strategies for College and University Leaders, San Franciso: Jossey-Bass. [|ISBN 0-7879-4681-8].
 * Deeson, Eric. "Technology, e-learning and distance education – A W (Tony) Bates." British Journal of Educational Technology 37.6 (2006): 975-976. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 14 Feb. 2010.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Fauser, Marlene, Kirk Henry, and David K. Norman. "Comparison of Alternative Instructional Design Models | David Norman." //David Norman//. Web. 14 Feb. 2010. <http://deekayen.net/comparison-alternative-instructional-design-models>.
 * <span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Gustafson, K., & Branch, R. M. (1997). Instructional design models. Syracuse, NY: ERIC Clearinghouse on Information and Technology. Pages 57-59.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,helvetica,sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">Huitt, W. (2009). Constructivism. //Educational Psychology Interactive//. Valdosta, GA: Valdosta State University. Retrieved 2/12/10 from [|http://www.edpsycinteractive.org/topics/cogsys/construct.html]
 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; line-height: 19px;">Mishra, Sanjaya. "Technology, e-learning and distance education – By Tony Bates." British Journal of Educational Technology 38.6 (2007): 1134-1135. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 14 Feb. 2010.

**Further Reading**
= = [|Interview with Tony Bates] (PDF)<span style="font-family: sans-serif,helvetica,sans-serif;"> Tony Bates Official Site