This project draws on a series of research studies designed to explore and capitalise on the integration of ICTs with DE, understood to be a way to deliver high-quality education and to make higher education affordable and accessible (thereby helping to address equity issues).

The PANdora project has been designed to facilitate communication and collaboration among Asian experts, so that they can study, investigate, develop, and experiment together as a team. It is expected that in this way they will learn from each other, synergise their expertise, and avoid repeated mistakes. The networking approach is designed to build on the strengths of individual Asian research teams, and to prevent overlap and duplication between projects and nations. In that sense, PANdora is not only a network with multiple institutions in each country and multiple participating countries across Asia, but it is a design wherein researchers from multiple countries work together on one or more themes of relevance to them. This design challenges the typical design of research networks in an effort to encourage real learning and sharing across multiple cultures. Resources are built into the project to support the research capacity development of the developing country researchers.

A key tool for facilitating this networking is the PANdora website, which provides a focal point for information about the projects, and for online collaboration among the project teams through a password-protected "members' section. The 9 PANdora sub-projects, which are detailed here, are complementary in scope, and, it is hoped, will lead to the development of DE methods appropriate to South and SouthEast Asia generally. Some of the projects are aiming to explore the benefits of new technologies by pilot-testing them, while others are aimed at doing ground-level research to improve understanding of the various issues surrounding DE, especially from the Asian perspective. For example, researchers are looking at how short message systems (SMS) could be used to handle student registration; evaluating various kinds of distance learning software; sharing learning objects; and analysing how to rigorously e-assess students’ work to ensure high standards. All of the projects share a focus on learning lessons from previous online projects, developing access models and understand how they work and in what circumstances. (Please click here to learn about each of the specific projects, and the participating institutions).

Education, Technology.

In the words of one PANdora organiser, "The basic issue is that we have a huge Asian population mass and a corresponding demand for higher education that the existing number of colleges and universities have no ability to address. Compounding this problem is the fact that we have a very small supply of qualified faculty." In Pakistan, for example, only 3% of the country's 18- to 24-year-olds are enrolled in higher education institutions. Part of the problem is that students in the countryside must move to the city to get an education; many cannot afford this. Thus, the core issue with DE in the Asian context is about access.

Organisers observe that much, if not all, of the current DE paedagogy - whether theory, literature, software, tools, applications or methods - is inaccessible to Asian teachers, who cannot access this knowledge because it is not expressed in local languages that they can read, learn from, compare, adapt and generate anew. Asia is different from other continents, they explain, because of its tremendous diversity of languages.

Organisers cite early findings from the sub-projects to highlight the potential significance of their findings. For example, as part of one study, "the problem of introducing and using newer technologies in Asian countries is being identified and understood, while the acceptability of DE as a serious alternative to traditional face-to-face techniques is being examined. New techniques such as text messaging on cellular phones are being studied, and learning management platforms are being compared and evaluated."

Depite the promise they see in the collaborative research approach, organisers acknowledge challenges: "Since the project started in 2005, we have found that some people are not as active in communicating their thoughts and activities as others. The poor Internet infrastructure in some countries and the partner institutions has been blamed for the silence of some project members...But I think the problem also lies in the different levels of commitment and expertise..."